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R & M QUARRIES
By Richard Timms and Steve Hitchcock
History
Originally designed and built as G.C.S. Quarry by Dave Peacey of Swindon in 1990 and first exhibited at York in the same year, numerous shows up and down the country followed until, in 1995, Dave decided to retire the layout and move onto something new. The opportunity to purchase the layout and rolling stock was taken up by ourselves, who had made up Dave's operating team in the preceding years.
Our main intentions upon acquiring the layout were to replace the tired old coupling system, re-scenic the layout and extend and improve operations throughout. It took two rebuilds over four years to achieve all this and more besides, but the end result is now so far removed from the original that after some consideration we relaunched the layout in 1999 as R & M Quarries.
Description
The main features of R & M Quarries are the two working stone loaders that dominate the far end of the scenic section. These are plywood structures over which plastic card has been laid, making use of Pikestuff and Wills materials. Most other structures and buildings are also scratch built but some modified kits are also used. Each loader has an internal manually operated mechanism that enables stone, in this case Woodland Scenics ballast to be loaded into waiting wagons. These mechanisms form the base of a large hopper within each loader and are able to hold a large amount of ballast for filling trains.
Trackwork on the layout is a mix of the original hand built and both SMP and PECO code 75 whilst the new fiddleyard uses the latter throughout. The visible track uses fine Woodland Scenics ballast and substantial weathering. The scenery follows usual practice in being polystyrene blocks over which various fillers are spread and textures carved, again final scenic scatter and finishes being from the aforementioned Woodland Scenics range
Locomotives and rolling stock come from both the Bachmann and Hornby ranges (with a few remaining Lima 59,s & 60,s) and comprises mostly classes 37, 56, 59, 60 and the new Bachmann 66, liveries are contemporary and include of course EWS as well as older Loadhaul, Transrail and Mainline examples, some Railfrieght liveried items also turn up from time to time. We are now upgrading our wagon fleet from the PTA and PGA hoppers to include the latest JHA, MEA/FA and HTA styles now they have become available from Bachmann. A range of kit built engineering vehicles are also being added and these are to include MBA and MC/DA monster boxes. All stock has been weathered and fitted for Kadee coupler operation and much has also been re-wheeled for better operation. At one time we used American `Switchers` to shunt with as these ran so much better then than anything of British origins, well, until the arrival of the Bachmann 08 that is, six examples of which are now in use, mostly replacing the SW1500's Also to be seen is the totally fictitious class 59 301 and train in RM GROUP company colours whose green and orange livery PREDATES that used latterly by Mendip Rail Limited, or indeed, Freightliner. And in answer to the question why are we using HTA coal hoppers on aggregate, well the official line is they are hired in for traffic flow increase by RM GROUP, in reality? They are mine and I like them! Incidentally, a fully loaded train weighs in at about three kilograms, role on the Hornby 60’s and their version of the 08/9.
Conclusion
R & M Quarries has been designed to depict a typical modern stone loading terminal with relevant facilities, features and functions. We hope you enjoy watching this contemporary operation and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask. Please try to find one of the off-duty operators though, as getting stone INTO the wagons and not BETWEEN them takes a little concentration and, occasionally, a vacuum cleaner!
The Future?
As the ability of model locomotives has increased, with better mechanisms and drives, as well as looking so much more like the prototypes, we are planning to increase the size of the layout yet again, 2006 will see a large fiddleyard, longer and wider, added and a further five foot scenic section added, this will be designed to cause both ends of the layout to turn is slightly creating a very shallow curve to the front. The new board will be quite plain, with continuous track across, a ‘haul’ road will be placed across a bridge allowing for display of more Norscott plant and machines. The fascia will be redesigned to follow the curve to the new layout and this planned expansion will allow for longer scale length trains to run so expect to see twenty plus bogie stone trains in 2007, when we hope to have the layout at Leeds for its first outing in the new format.
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