20 Casualty Clearing Station WWI

[Michael Hurt]

Hello everyone,

I have started my second layout which will be an 00 and 009 exhibition layout set in Boisleux au Mont, France in 1917. 20 Casualty Clearing Station supported the 46th North Midland Division and many of the soldiers from the village where I was born served in this division. Several of them did not return.

My first ever layout was in June when I built a Thomas layout for a child's birthday. I enjoyed it so much I thought I would build one for myself. I am combining my interests of WWI and military trauma care (I was an army medic).

I am using a 5ft x 3ft 9mm plywood baseboard, covered in cork with support to stop it warping. I experimented with various track plans before deciding on this. The 00 is because I needed to have an ambulance train siding to take casualties further down the evacuation route and 009 to bring them in from the front, along with horse drawn and motor ambulances and buses for the walking wounded.

Here are my plans which I have largely stuck to.

(tried the image code but it didn't show photo)


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1agC3o2_HFLI88cTCiUiZEPOR7-Q6qpBa/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MxqkP325pEMcF0KaZWsDJQAnF1yLfHIj/view?usp=sharing

[JulienW]

Good to meet you at the group meeting on Monday.

That certainly looks promising Michael and I shall watch progress with interest.

[B.Meldon]

I woulds recomend that you try and use the 12 inch electrofrog 009 points rather than the 9 inch dead frog set track 009 points.
You do have the space to use these on this layout and you may find that locos stall on the dead section if you use the dead frog points.

Brian Meldon

[Jeff Schumaker]

Looking forward to future posts on your progress.

Jeff S.

[Michael Hurt]

I woulds recomend that you try and use the 12 inch electrofrog 009 points rather than the 9 inch dead frog set track 009 points.
You do have the space to use these on this layout and you may find that locos stall on the dead section if you use the dead frog points.

Brian Meldon

Hi Brian, I had already put them on the board. I am very new to this and bought the standard Peco set track which I think are dead points. I have had some issues with one of the points but the other is ok. The issue seems to be on just one rail. If I spend time getting the loco around the point, it works every time. If I change the point back again, I start all over again. The other point always works ok. After going to my first regional meeting the other night, I have started to build a test layout and have tested all my locos on it and they work ok.

[Michael Hurt]

Good to meet you at the group meeting on Monday.

That certainly looks promising Michael and I shall watch progress with interest.

Thank you Julien. I enjoyed meeting everyone. There is a lot of knowledge in that room.

[Michael Hurt]

Looking forward to future posts on your progress.

Jeff S.

Thanks Jeff

[Michael Hurt]

Once the track was decided I tried out a few buildings and even a background made up of WWI photos but the scale was out so I decided on a sky background. I then added roads.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iXv-385Pb1yLMxNCSym_fSh50xvg6mCm/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11lf5AfQHq_tYQQ_mAyMeqTEyGwLoI2LD/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YSHg6HOiWv5yxjybpSnKbnuokfogbl6X/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HO327kw5phDAQjzEYZN4R0cymyLAmAeG/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18JmgP_omWxQTBMqclIp96YEHk51deU4F/view?usp=sharing

I will add colour and texture to the road later.

[B.Meldon]

Hi Brian, I had already put them on the board. I am very new to this and bought the standard Peco set track which I think are dead points. I have had some issues with one of the points but the other is ok. The issue seems to be on just one rail. If I spend time getting the loco around the point, it works every time. If I change the point back again, I start all over again. The other point always works ok. After going to my first regional meeting the other night, I have started to build a test layout and have tested all my locos on it and they work ok.

The problem sounds like the blade to fixed rail electrical connection.
These often fail on the Peco 009 points. I always fit frog polarity switches on every electrofrog point because of this problem, just to make sure they are reliable.
You will find that they always appear to fail at the worst possible moment!

Brian Meldon

[Michael Hurt]

Hi Brian, I had already put them on the board. I am very new to this and bought the standard Peco set track which I think are dead points. I have had some issues with one of the points but the other is ok. The issue seems to be on just one rail. If I spend time getting the loco around the point, it works every time. If I change the point back again, I start all over again. The other point always works ok. After going to my first regional meeting the other night, I have started to build a test layout and have tested all my locos on it and they work ok.

The problem sounds like the blade to fixed rail electrical connection.
These often fail on the Peco 009 points. I always fit frog polarity switches on every electrofrog point because of this problem, just to make sure they are reliable.
You will find that they always appear to fail at the worst possible moment!

Brian Meldon

Hi Brian,

Yes it is that. That is where I press and it works straight away. I've tried cleaning it but seem to have ot do this every time.

[Michael Hurt]

Another update. This time showing some initial work on buildings in my ruined part of the village - The Germans blew them up as they retired to the Hindenburg Line and then shelled the area for the first few days the CCS set up the hospital

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18WzESl7jTpAVJ1CaXoeNNXmx2qmCh_Cl/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LAUtAuxPUcCZ3e8ziFelfy9mnTM-T6Mp/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BmAtsWkL9BvwIl8xHamTzcBPNOFvhMa-/view?usp=sharing

I built either side using polystyrene and shaped it with a hot knife and heat gun. To add strength and to make it easier to paint, I added a thin layer of plaster.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iTXKgygdN5A-nFlaCmBPMWO-_2hVqmsp/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14Gveel3j7JCb12FzAcLJwYXY9UPKPa7e/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JE86N6dOQQiMLZazXth0-Kigv2GUcC0r/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EH7zziRbFnTRQdYz5NRfN7eTjyrgrBjI/view?usp=sharing

[Richard Pike]

Out of interest where did you get the ruined buildings from?

[Michael Hurt]

Out of interest where did you get the ruined buildings from?

Hi Richard,

They are all Airfix then I added the corrugated iron sheets (which still need finishes). The buildings are a sort of white resin when you buy them except one which is taken from a WWII kit. My first Youtube video shows them in their boxes.

[Michael Hurt]

I decided to put some dug-outs on the backscene to give a feeling of depth. I put a polystyrene bank and coated it with plaster to give it strength and make it easier to paint. I placed a colour photograph of a dug-out on the back scene to give the appearance of a 3D room from the dug-out window. I then added a Nissen Hut front to them and a light inside. I could add a dug-out to the left of the layout so opened the door of the dugout and put furniture inside.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19FdpqYFWs7LUc6wFdicq-RPuF6JTua_x/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gfMiuuJYtoJwid2zT6-MV3LoV2rhp8U4/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vx-O_6sYFTZThlM5obnbd4tjhzUafcn2/view?usp=sharing

It was then time to add some mud!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x1AM7W14FyF79W-lqkVWF6W1zJRDOLqN/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RLOjCI5mK8y5nBBxMcR2Lk1ieaXU3xiX/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gpJsRlmQakhK82IHTFx-ti4GvvyCHHC-/view?usp=sharing

[Jeff Schumaker]

Nicely done.

Jeff S.