CADDENFORD
A Scottish Borders Railway in 4mm Finescale by Ian Porteous and the 57 Study Group
I am very pleased to be given the opportunity for Caddenford to make its debut on the British model railway exhibition scene here at Stafford, but it has taken much longer than I ever anticipated to get the layout to the stage you see today.
When I was considering building a layout that would fit my railway shed and allow me to have a layout I could easily use I opted to continue the theme established by Hewisbridge by building a layout that portrayed the railways of the Scottish borders nothing too difficult just a simple branch terminus.
It was started back in 2014 and things progressed well until I got distracted and it lay dormant until the COVID lockdown when I decided to add the river bridge board and things progressed well until further distractions arose and again work stopped.
Had it not been for the kind invite received from the organisers of the exhibition I suspect I would have continued to find excuses to keep ignoring working on it but when I have a deadline to meet, somehow I end up not being so easily distracted!
The layout represents the terminus station of Caddenford a small town located somewhere in the Scottish borders.
The line was promoted by local businessmen who wanted access to wider markets for their goods and the NBR were happy to assist and the line was opened in 1866.
Like the other branch lines in the Borders area it was impacted by the motor car and road transport but retained its passenger and freight traffic longer than some others and it was not until October 1963 that the last passenger train left Caddenford with freight lingering on until the spring of 1965.
The layout although fictional attempts to recreate the atmosphere of a Borders branch line and is heavily influenced by the Selkirk branch.
The layout and uses SMP track with hand built points controlled by Fulgarex point motors.
The station buildings and goods shed are modelled on those that once stood at Selkirk, with the town scene based around the Station Hotel and Post Office which were directly opposite Selkirk station and are still extant today.
The bowstring girder river bridge a feature common to the area is modelled on the one at Cardrona on the Peebles Loop which still exists albeit now as a footpath within a golf course.
To further assist in setting the scene the locomotives are representative of types used on Borders branch lines that were based at St Margaret’s and Hawick sheds that worked in the area, although it is not unknown for a Canal based loco to make an odd appearance.
The layout is far from finished in terms of detail and I am delighted with how it is developing visually, however the challenge now for me is to maintain the momentum and ensure that I do submit to any further distractions so that I can get the various additional tasks completed within a reasonable timescale.
Myself and my colleagues in the 57 Study Group hope you will enjoy your visit to Caddenford and we will be delighted to answer any questions you may have regarding the layout.
