Hadleigh, Suffolk

My first proper gauge O layout was a mixed LNER/LMS affair in the attic. This morphed into one based on Victorian/Edwardian GER Wells-on-Sea which had ambitions to link up somehow with the M&GN Joint Railway. But when these ambitions became too much for the space available ( and the skills of the modeller)  I made the decision to begin again.  I chose to model Hadleigh because it had been a compact small rural terminus with an interesting range of freight and merchandise options, a typical GER space-efficient track plan and the opportunity to include a bit of topography into the modelling mix. Furthermore, the station throat and most of the associated buildings had been reasonably well-captured on camera in 1911 and are available from the Windwood collection at the NRM.    Some remnants still exist as recent conversions to apartments and other forms of housing and there is a helpful local history group who helped me to fill in a backstory.  This imagines that Hadleigh parvo became far more commercially successful than its full size version and continued to support thriving silk weaving and matting industries well into the late 1800s which had strong connections with the Midlands and Scotland. 



Caption 1.  This wide angle shoot was captured by Chris Nevard and published in Model Rail magazine issue 242 in December  2017.  GER S44 #1112 is departing with the 11am mail train for Ipswich with a mixed rake of teak 4- and 6-wheel coaches.  Behind them is a short train of 8 and 10 ton vans loaded with barley awaiting access via the private siding to T.W. Wilson’s maltings.  Much of the malt (and many of the maltsters) ended up in the Burton-on-Trent area providing an excuse for an occasional LNWR link. On the left a Dia. 16 and a Dia. 17 5-plank wagons’ loads are being made ready for transhipping to Parkeston (and thence to Antwerp) in a “Continental” wagon waiting outside the goods shed. The transport of sheep and cattle to the livestock market held in Ipswich every Monday is also an important feature of the WTTs.  The Hadleigh Young Farmers Association hosted the region’s annual livestock fair which attracts a large volume of excursion traffic. 



Caption 2.  Beyer Peacock Class A 4-4-0  #25 hauling a silk buyer’s excursion special comprising a  mixed rake of L&YR, MR and M&GNR 6-wheeler coaches bound for Lynn and  the Midlands.  The right hand buffer of #25 partially obscures the wagon table giving access to the Maltings.  Photo Chris Nevard. 



Caption 3.  During lock down I have been finishing off a private owner wagon building project which has taken the best part of five years to complete taking   into account of research and procurement.  This photo shows a standard Slater’s kit for a 6 plank coal wagon built according to RCH 1887 specifications.  Livery  W. H. Booth, of Ipswich, as seen in a Windwood photo of the coal reception siding. Photo Dave Studley. 



Caption  4.  Early Fosdick Coal Wagon : Built from a Mercian Model Rail LNWR dumb buffered coal wagon kit and converted to a POW. Based on Windwood photos at NRM and details published by GERJ. Photo Dave Studley. 



Caption 5.  The majority of non-mineral traffic would have been transported in sheeted open wagons and so the loads would be invisible for most of their journey.  I am experimenting with various ways of modelling the sheets, particularly the ropes and strings that attached them to the truck. The photo shows my first attempt with a GER 5-plank sheeted wagon using a homemade cotton sheet design printed with an inkjet printer. 



Caption 6.  I am also researching and modelling the loads carried by the railway.  Hay, manure, wool, fish and different forms of coal are at the top of my list.  This photo shows a model of an un-sheeted GER wool wagon based on the Ragstone Models kit carrying bales of  scoured ewes wool from the Brookong and Gwydir farms in New South Wales en route to Bradford having been transhipped in the London docks.  As always the fun is in researching the backstory!