Humberston on my Mind

It's funny how both the backscene images used on the rebuild of 'Beck Bridge' were from the Humberston area. Just south of Cleethorpes this village has an interesting place in the history of narrow gauge railways, with lines in the past serving quarrying, a brickworks and of course the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway, the pioneering green field narrow gauge preservation line that served a real transport function between the bottom of North Sea Lane and the Fitties holiday camps.

I never saw the railway at Humberston, first seeing the stock in storage at Burgh le Marsh as a child, but I later properly made it's acquaintance at Winthorpe near Skegness in 2013. Towards the end of February it seemed that there might be something happening model wise, with the arrival of a Bachmann ex-WD van in LCLR red and a Meridian Models Ashover coach kit. 

Now these won't fit on my 009 layout 'The Old Quarry Line', I can only just get the shorter WD open wagon around the corners! Several ideas are bouncing around for dioramas, I even made up a cardboard mock-up of the popular "cake box" (8" x 8" x 5") size to see what was feasible. Ironically I realised that I could have rebuilt 'Beck Bridge' from it's original cat food box form to this size quite easily had I though of it at the time...

One thing I have learnt from recent experience is that if I am going to build dioramas, they need to be capable of being displayed somewhere, preferably protected from dust. Could I get the atmosphere of the LCLR in one of my 7cm deep display case scenes? Well quite possibly - the yellow line is the outline, the Ruston should be a Simplex and please excuse the cardboard coach mock up! A simpler version without the van is also a possibility.

You might wonder why use the Meridian kit coach rather than the forthcoming Bachmann model. Well, firstly, it is forthcoming with no release date announced. Secondly, and more importantly, study of the LCLR coaches reveals they are very different from Ashover condition, and I suspect that Bachmann may not address these issues. The original sliding doors are gone, as are the droplights and original window frames, and there are differences in the panelling. Also the two LCLR vehicles differ from each other. Using the kit, altering the doorways and some subtle changes will make create a model much closer to the vehicle I have travelled on.

Of course if I pursue this path I'll have to built one of the LCLRs distinctive rebuilt Simplex locomotives as a static loco too, there are several to choose from, the best source material is on Dave Enefer's davesrailpics site (be prepared to lose a few hours in there...)

Colin