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Bekonscot Light Railway Extension; and model village in winter pics
Topic Started: 5 Jan 2007, 06:12 PM (667 Views)
Timbo
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Timbo
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Work on the extension to our circuit is nearing completion.

There is not a great deal of extra track length being laid, but the new convoluted route that results on the top circuit of track increases trip length by about a third.

Those of you who have been to Bekonscot will know that the Light Railway is an add-on to the main model village: there are also a lot of pics here of the village in its "deconstructed" state with models removed for refurbishment and replacement during the winter.

Bekonscot re-opens for Half Term in February. I am assured by those who work full-time there (rather than volunteer at weekends, as I do) that all will be ready... there's always a bit of a rush the last few days before opening...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69329876@N00/...57594460943838/
Tim Dunn
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peterbryant
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Thanks for the news and photos Tim. Interesting to see the extension, though is this the last possible extension of the line?
Peter Bryant
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Timbo
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I think it's the last extension of any great note. The only route "out" of the circuit area was blocked by some new workshops a couple of years back. I don't think we'll see any further track laid for public running in the forseeable future.

There are two reasons for not extending into the model village "proper": One; it would detract from the miniature landscaping which has existed for almost 80 years; Two; that crossing so many paths with high volumes of pedestrians in a confined space just isn't safe or practical.

There is a way to bypass the workshops, which would take a route previously suggested in the early 1980s (which was to be built with Severn-Lamb equipment). However, this is now a major pedestrian route around the edge of the site.

I for one don't like the idea of 230,000 annual visitors on a 6ft wide path meeting a frequent train carrying some of its 60-90,000 annual passengers...

It is often commented that Bekonscot is both blessed and cursed by its location. Whilst our large plot is in the centre of a busy commuter town, right by the mainline station (25 mins to London Marylebone), one junction up the M40 from the M25 and have a catchment area of several million people; the by-product is that we are in one of Britain's most expensive postcodes. Land values have soared; many detached houses in Beaconsfield sell for well over £1 million. Land is at a premium; we will never again be able to expand as we did in the 1930s. Of course then the builder of Bekonscot owned half of Beaconsfield and sold it off, not expecting his little plaything of a model village to outlast his own life!
Tim Dunn
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