THE PASSING OF AN OLD FRIEND

The end of the line for the Charford Branch

On Tuesday 31 July 2001 the last train ran from Charford, on the Dorset coast, to Chard Junction.  The following weekend the wrecking crews moved in and the Charford Branch was no more.  No, this was not yet another dreary branch closure in England, adding to the toll of lines closed since the railways were nationalised in 1948.  In fact, the Charford Branch of the Southern Railway was never nationalised, as the clock down there in deepest Dorset was stuck at July 1947.  Yes, I witnessed that last train, and sadly saw the closure of another chapter in model railway history.  It was truly the passing of an old friend.  Most of you I’m sure will know of this wonderful model railway, so let me tell you about it and my sense of loss with its closure.

G6 0-6-0T 275 shunts the Dorset Dairies siding Charford Mk 1 (Photo by John Charman)	M7 0-4-4T on a parcels train approaching Charford Charford Mk 1 (Photo by John Charman)

Back in the early 1950’s, when I started in this lifelong hobby of ours, I very soon discovered pictures of John Ahern’s beautiful Madder Valley Railway (happily preserved at Pendon), and John Allen’s Gorre & Daphetid (sadly lost forever), the beginnings of the scenic revolution.  I wanted my layouts to look like theirs!  I devoured the books of Edward Beal, and the definitive book by P. R. Wickham (and I still have them!).  They showed me I could plan and build my own layouts, and make them look railway-like.  Then, in 1955, I read a layout description in the Railway Modeller – it was by a fellow called John Charman describing his Charford Branch.  This was a very small layout, very portable as its owner lived in a mobile home.  But the fascinating thing about it was that he gave it a real-life setting, and even showed how to work out a proper timetable and run it like a real railway.  This must have been one of the very early terminus-to-fiddle-yard layouts that we take so much for granted these days.  Charford turned me into an operations enthusiast, and every layout I have built since for my own use has been operated on the principles first laid down all those years ago by John Charman.  In 1966, when the Navy sent me to spend a year in UK, I met up with John, and we have been friends (albeit mostly at a distance) ever since.

There were actually two Charfords.  The first, the most well known and described in the model press, was begun in 1953 and lasted until 1991.  It began as a very compact, portable layout, first just a narrow shelf in the mobile home.  Later, in more conventional housing, it grew to an L-shape.  Those who have a copy of Model Railway Journal 35 will find there a detailed description and many photographs of the layout in this form.  However, in 1962 John retired from the Royal Air Force and settled into his permanent home (and it is still his home).  There the layout grew to fill a small room, and in this form was the “Railway of the Month” in the January 1966 Railway Modeller.  This is probably the best of the articles describing the Charford Branch, complete with a good track plan, and well worth getting a hold of if you want to see the layout at its best.  And this is the way it was when I first saw it.  There was a further article on this version of the layout in the March 1969 Model Railway Constructor.

Beattie Well Tank 3314 approaching Bridport Branch Junction Charford Mk 1 (Photo by John Charman)

Probably the ultimate event for this layout, Charford Mk I, was its inclusion in the fabulous Model Railway Journal Exhibition at the Central Hall in 1991.  (Did anyone get to see that?  Unfortunately I didn’t).  However, by this time the layout was very much showing its age, and so John took the decision to scrap it and build a new one.  And so Charford Mk II was born.

Make no mistake, Charford Mk I was a wonderful layout to operate.  It represented the last few miles of John’s fictitious “might-have-been” LSWR/SR branch from Chard Junction on the Exeter main line to the coast at Charmouth (renamed Charford).  In its final form, the layout included the junction of an equally fictitious GWR link from Charford to Bridport, and the original fiddle yard from L-shaped days became the carriage sidings.  I had many hours of operating fun on that layout!  But John wanted more!  He wanted to be able to run some bigger locos (other than Bullied light Pacifics) which would have been barred from the Charford line.  So, in designing Charford Mk II, in his purpose-built shed John put in a double main line round the walls fed by hidden loops in the adjacent garage and behind the new Charford.  Down one wall he built the Charford Branch Junction, a track formation like Worgret Junction on the Bournemouth line.  Then on a peninsula in the middle of the room he placed the new Charford terminus.  The nineteen miles of the Charford Branch was lost in the width of a road overbridge!  As a result, he had the best of both worlds – an improved Charford, plus the Southern’s Exeter-West of England main line!  A friend did some research for him, and produced a layout timetable that reproduced the trains that really would have passed the Charford Branch Junction in July 1947.  This was all built in the early 1990’s.

You can read all about Charford Mk II in Model Railway Journal 100, and find the track plan in Model Railway Journal 101.  The photographs in that article are just magnificent! (And certainly much better than mine.)

I have visited Charford on a number of occasions, although it wasn’t until the year 2001 that I was privileged to see and to operate Charford Mk II.  To my mind, it was a truly worthy successor to Charford Mk I, but I think most people would remember the earlier layout as it featured so frequently in the model press in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.  For many of us, it was a truly inspirational model railway, and one we all learned so much from.  Imagine my shock then, when John told me in late 2000 that Charford was to be scrapped, never to be replaced.  I think it took many people by surprise, because we all thought that Charford would go on forever.  But, like many of us, John is getting no younger, and his eyesight is not what it used to be.  Furthermore, in the space of twelve months John lost two of his closest friends, both of whom were his regular layout operators.  So he decided the best thing was to quit while he was ahead.  You may recall that in an MRJ in early 2001 he advertised the sale of his locomotives, rolling stock and layout components.  Mind you, John is keeping his favourite locos and coaches in a showcase at home.  But much of his stock has now moved to good homes, both in UK and overseas.  I am fortunate in now being the possessor of one of his scratch-built locos and some rolling stock.  Of the layout, the whole Charford station area has gone to a good home, and will be incorporated into another layout, as has the main line junction section gone to yet another layout.  So, to be truthful, Charford may be dismembered, but is certainly not dead!  John himself is happily working with the full size Kent and East Sussex Railway as a volunteer – he tells me he can see that stuff better!  He is certainly very hale and hearty and no less an enthusiast.

I am sad that the layout which has so inspired me since my boyhood is now no more.  But I still have my friendship with its creator, and whenever I give “Charlie” a run I am reminded of that wonderful little place in Dorset called Charford.

Words and colour photos by Phil Knife

The above is mostly the text of an article I wrote for "The Clearing House", the journal of the British Railway Modellers of Australia, and published in the December 2001 issue. I am happy to be able to share it with a wider audience.

Last updated 11/2/05