Railwaymodellers.com Visits… ‘Tinsley TMD’

Railwaymodellers.com Visits… ‘Tinsley TMD

Railwaymodellers.com have had the honour & pleasure of visiting one a fellow club member’s layouts. So today we a closer look at Dave’s stunning layout of Tinsley TMD. The layout is still work in progress with a lot of work already done so far, & lot still to do. On first seeing the layout for the first time straight away it’s like going back to my younger days & seeing the real Tinsley TMD depot for the first time. Dave has modelled Tinsley spot on, & just how I remember it. Dave spent a good part of his railway career working at Tinsley TMD, so what he doesn’t know about the depot isn’t worth knowing. His knowledge & history of the depot, & the locos he worked is second to none. I certainly have learned a lot from our visit, with the history of the depot as well as some of the histories on some of the locos there. Got a question about a certain type of BR loco, Dave’s your man to ask!

As expected the layout features all the buildings that the real Tinsley TMD had, including the marshalling yard complete with the famous Tinsley Yard Hump & control tower. When stood looking at the layout, to the far right end of the layout room is the Sheffield Parkway road overbridge, which has been cleverly modelled in low/half relief. Below the Parkway bridge, the lines runing into the wall as though carrying on, Dave has fitted a junction here to allow the trains to loop round on to the hidden fiddleyard. The line runs through the hidden fiddle yards & splits into two. One turning right back onto the layout which forms the tracks that run on the south side of the marshalling yard & up into the TMD area. The other set of lines drop down an incline & run under the marshalling yard which then turns right to come up along the far side of the layout, taking the mainline through the cutting as per the real Tinsley.

Halfway along the layout is Wood Lane Bridge, which sort of divides the layout into two, with one side featuring the TMD reception lines & part of the yards. Whilst the other side of Wood Lane Bridge features the marshalling yards, the famous hump & control tower as well as some more shed & office buildings. Dave has put a mirror to clever use, it sits at the end of the marshalling tracks. It gives the impression that the layout is much bigger than it is, very effective it is too!

The Marshalling yard is currently the focus of the current ongoing work, having been lifted to allow the fitment of the main loop line to be installed under the marshalling yard. Dave has fitted DCC Concepts Powerbase to the incline which allows locos to pull full-length scale trains up the incline. It works a bit like the old Hornby Magnatraction system, which aids traction & grip. It works really well, watching a Bachmann class 47 haul a rake of 30 covered hopper wagons without wheel slip or stalling up the incline is impressive!!

Work is now on to refit & relay the marshalling yard, which should be done over this winter modelling season. Looking around the layout Dave has also modelled the Tinsley undershoot with the railway bridge flyover. On the depot is everything you’d expect to see, including interior details such as overhead cranes, raised concrete walkways, lifting gear etc. The buildings are all lit inside, which allows you to spot details you’d miss with them being turned off.

On the locos, every class you can think of that would have been at Tinsley can be spotted somewhere around the layout, including the famous Tinsley class 13 master & slave shunters (Two class 08 shunters that worked permanently as pairs with the leading shunter having the cab removed & controlled from the rear shunter). Also can be seen are the famous Woodhead route electrics with these being produced by Heljan. As per the real Tinsley, the layout features the 1,500 volts DC OHLE catenary that the Woodhead Route was famous for. Dave has scratch built the masts out of Brass, & on the yard in the cutting below the TMD, a mixture of brass combo with Hornby OHLE gantry spans. The wires as per the real thing have been modelled with weathered green effect, which really looks the part.

Also on the depot is a loco that has just been named complete platform & the curtains to reveal the nameplate. Dave has also a good use for non-running locos, which he puts under his modelling knife to convert them with roof panels open & full engine room details. Some locos also feature crash damage & are in the process of the bodies being fixed, one i spotted was a class 47 that had one corner removed which allows you to see the framework & into the cab. The framework dave has used strips of Plastic to form the cab superstructure. Also featured is the loco load bank & associated equipment as well as the snow ploughs. Some locos are also fitted with DCC sound which really adds to the feel of the layout.

The layout is DCC operated by two handheld DCC controllers from Gaugemaster, but also part of the layout is controlled via traditional analog control. The layout features the tall gantry yard lights, street lighting & interior lighting. More lighting is being installed as work progresses. One thing of note, that Dave has modelled the lighting with some L.E.D’s representing bulbs having been changed for a new bulb thus being a slightly different colour as per the real thing. More yard lighting towers are going to be installed.

The cars, vans & trucks etc are all of the period type the layout is portraying, these being from the likes of Oxford Diecast. A nice selection can be seen in the depot’s car park. Other details are railway spotters up on the bank looking down into the depot, hoping to cope that elusive loco they’re hoping to cop!!

You can see more of Dave’s layout on his Youtube Channel which can be found here, well worth a watch:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC04SX2aTtg8R7dIyv-ESpsw

Many thanks To Dave & his good lady for the visit.

Below is a selection of photos taken around the layout.