Modern Image London

[steviesparx]

For me, one thing that says 'London' to me are those blocks of brick-built flats that have an open walkway along the front of each storey. They seem to have been built over a long period of time, initially as part of slum clearances, then later to replace bomb-damaged homes after WW2. They seem to be all over the capital, often close to the railway.

 

LCC built council stock - a quick Google even gave me this low-relief card kit...http://www.modeltrainsuk.co.uk/cdc-card-kits-street-level-models-low-relief-council-block-lcc-flats-cdc59-uncut-kit-modeltrainsuk-1558-p.asp

[Southern_Trains_Fan]

LCC built council stock - a quick Google even gave me this low-relief card kit...http://www.modeltrainsuk.co.uk/cdc-card-kits-street-level-models-low-relief-council-block-lcc-flats-cdc59-uncut-kit-modeltrainsuk-1558-p.asp

 

Very interesting. Both the image and the kit may well come in handy as a nice background for the layout.

[Southern_Trains_Fan]

Ok guys, shoot me down in flames if you wish, but I have decided that I may start work on this dream layout sometime this year. I will probably start by working on a single 2x4' board, And, if worst comes to worst, it can all go away in storage or, God forbid, be gotten rid of without too much hassle if need be. I may only work on and maybe complete the first board, and then in the future if I still want to work on it more, I can move on and start work on the next board along.

 

This way, I can get a bit of a taster and see if I enjoy trying to recreate this South London scene, whilst also kind of making a start on a portable layout. What do all you think?

 

Cheers, 

Matt

[bensanchez43310]

Nice one, go for it, you got us supporting you

[Southern_Trains_Fan]

Nice one, go for it, you got us supporting you

 

Thanks very much. I'l probably still give it some thought, but it's something I'm looking forward it starting. Every since I started to ravel around London it's kind of been am ambition.

[sandwich]

Hi Matt

 

In the space you've got I can't help feeling you would be better off in N! The 319 is only due in N from Farish.  The 350s (also available in N) run through Willesden and certainly used to run through Kensington Olympia (some are dual voltage).

 

Cheers, Mike

 

There's also a reasonable range of 3D printed N gauge EMU bodies available too if you look on Shapeways. From what I've found you can get 313s, 508s, 365/465/466s, 377/379/387s, 378s and there's 455s and a few other units in the works. These can all be fairly easily motorised with a Tomytec chassis or by clipping the bodies onto a 170 chassis. And this is on top of the 319 and 321 units coming soon in RTR and the 350 already available. Obviously a change of scale isn't easy (or cheap), but there's a much wider range of London-based stock available!

[Southern_Trains_Fan]

There's also a reasonable range of 3D printed N gauge EMU bodies available too if you look on Shapeways. From what I've found you can get 313s, 508s, 365/465/466s, 377/379/387s, 378s and there's 455s and a few other units in the works. These can all be fairly easily motorised with a Tomytec chassis or by clipping the bodies onto a 170 chassis. And this is on top of the 319 and 321 units coming soon in RTR and the 350 already available. Obviously a change of scale isn't easy (or cheap), but there's a much wider range of London-based stock available!

 

Hey sandwich,

 

Yes, I have seen these on Shapeways and I was very delighted to see what was there. The Electrostar and Capitalstar would certainly be of interest to me, but sadly I don't think N gauge will quite cut it for me, after leaving the scale behind to return to 00 gauge. N gauge just wasn't my cup of tea. 

 

Cheers very much,

Matt

[wn 1A]

Ah, this is going to be 00; I thought it was N.

 

In 00, my gut feeling is that Willesden Junction is definitely out.

 

What about the "terminating" side of Richmond? That has an interesting mix (if you like EMUs), and nice old-fashioned architecture.

 

Or Gospel Oak, if you want to run freight?

 

And, West Brompton has a very nice station on the District Line (less said about the WLL side the better, but it does have some freight).

 

K

Willesden Junction, the new station as it was called, the station that is opened today is very compact and in '00' in scales at 6 feet not including ramps, it is slightly longer now as the bay has been extend for the five car 378 with the City Goods line behind. So with two 4 Feet baseboards you would be pretty close to scale length from station road road bridge to the High level footbridge, the footbridge next to High level line east bound , if you used a little bit of modellers licence and reinstated the footbridge over the city goods line, that linked Clifton road to path from Harrow road (removed middle 60's) this would give your diorama the wider the baseboards the longer the longer the city goods line would be, unless you straightened them.   

 

Alan

[Pete the Elaner]

Sorry to be late on it, but I have just seen this.

London is good for a compact main line layout because some stations are closed in by their surroundings:

Maryland / Manor Park/ Forest Gate on the GE.

South Hampstead / Kilburn High Road / Kensal Green on the WCML

Kentish Town on the Midland.

Ealing Broadway / West Ealing on the WR

 

Willesden Junction has been mentioned. Quite interesting if you included the WCML's 4 lines, NLL & eastern freight lines but this would be big. Cut it down to just the DC lines & you would be running just 1 class of BR DC unit & Bakerloo service, none of which are available RTR.

 

Take some buildings from several close locations & use them together, for example, the footbridge from K Olympia with the station building from Ealing Broadway.

London also seems to use a lot of engineer's blue brick in place of the more standard red brick, giving many of the stations a dark & dirty feel.

 

I have never scratchbuilt a building before either, but I have to for my current layout (a 4mm scale copy of an actual London station). I am finding that copying is actually the easiest way to create a 'general feel'.

 

If you have not been to London for a while then spend a day there with your camera. Now you have decided to model it, you will notice a lot more about the place which will be of use. I am sure you will come back with all sorts of new ideas.

If you take lots of photos, you will in print (or on a screen) exactly what you want to achieve, even if you don't notice it for several months.

 

Youtube is a good way to see different locations from a driver's point of view too. I have a couple of tunnel mouths on my layout which you can only see from a cab so this has helped me out.

I have enjoyed researching my layout as much as building it. I still have a long way to go & I may well have to spend more time there taking photos of the surrounding buildings.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Pete the Elaner

[bensanchez43310]

Sorry to be late on it, but I have just seen this.

London is good for a compact main line layout because some stations are closed in by their surroundings:

Maryland / Manor Park/ Forest Gate on the GE.

South Hampstead / Kilburn High Road / Kensal Green on the WCML

Kentish Town on the Midland.

Ealing Broadway / West Ealing on the WR

 

Willesden Junction has been mentioned. Quite interesting if you included the WCML's 4 lines, NLL & eastern freight lines but this would be big. Cut it down to just the DC lines & you would be running just 1 class of BR DC unit & Bakerloo service, none of which are available RTR.

 

Take some buildings from several close locations & use them together, for example, the footbridge from K Olympia with the station building from Ealing Broadway.

London also seems to use a lot of engineer's blue brick in place of the more standard red brick, giving many of the stations a dark & dirty feel.

 

I have never scratchbuilt a building before either, but I have to for my current layout (a 4mm scale copy of an actual London station). I am finding that copying is actually the easiest way to create a 'general feel'.

 

If you have not been to London for a while then spend a day there with your camera. Now you have decided to model it, you will notice a lot more about the place which will be of use. I am sure you will come back with all sorts of new ideas.

If you take lots of photos, you will in print (or on a screen) exactly what you want to achieve, even if you don't notice it for several months.

 

Youtube is a good way to see different locations from a driver's point of view too. I have a couple of tunnel mouths on my layout which you can only see from a cab so this has helped me out.

I have enjoyed researching my layout as much as building it. I still have a long way to go & I may well have to spend more time there taking photos of the surrounding buildings.

 

On the NLL, a good point is raised, of course you can run the full station which is near 8 foot and with modellers license you can always narrow the plan, keeping the goblin lines straight instead of curving off. Hampstead heath is compact, its a 5 car platform so that is rather compact. Also at Willesden jct high level you can always move the station slightly further north and link up the wcml-nll lines to the station.

 

Edit* and if you need any pictures of the prototype, I live in London so any pictures you need I can source.

Edited June 15, 2017 by bensanchez43310

[RJS1977]

Yup - Lilley Bridge Depot.  Technically it was an Underground depot - works trains for surface lines albeit I have seen Tube battery locos in there.  Also the High St Ken - Olympia shuttle used to run only when there were exhibitions at Olympia.  But I think that now there are regular through services travelling between  Clapham Junction and Willesden, the Olympia shuttle is daily. 

 

Five times a day on weekdays (three between 6am and 8am, then two between 7:30pm and 9pm.

 

On Saturdays it's every 20 minutes.

 

However apart from being on the online journey planner and working timetables, TfL make very little effort to publicise this service. The DMI boards at Earl's Court simply read "See front of train" when one is coming in, signs on the platforms advise passengers to get the bus and there are announcements telling people that "there are no trains from this station to Kensington Olympia, please catch the bus," even when the Olympia train is in the platform waiting for passengers!

[bensanchez43310]

By constructing the likes of Acton mainline, you could get some nice results. If you build say, the two platforms closest to Acton T.C. and model the entrance, there is plenty action with anything from a 66 to a 60,56 and even 70's in DB,Colas,Freightliner and the odd DRS machine, and even DCRail. Then there is the range of liveries on the 59's which can be picked up cheap from Hornby and depending on the size of the layout, copuld both look the part with simple touch up's and even have the haulage capabilities. This should help save some money for the rolling stock and scenery. I will be going there this summer to get footage for my YT so if you want any pictures yet again I'm happy to help.

 

Ben

[grahame]

Hi Matt

 

In the space you've got I can't help feeling you would be better off in N! The 319 is only due in N from Farish.  The 350s (also available in N) run through Willesden and certainly used to run through Kensington Olympia (some are dual voltage).

 

Cheers, Mike

 

 

There's also a reasonable range of 3D printed N gauge EMU bodies available too if you look on Shapeways. From what I've found you can get 313s, 508s, 365/465/466s, 377/379/387s, 378s and there's 455s and a few other units in the works. These can all be fairly easily motorised with a Tomytec chassis or by clipping the bodies onto a 170 chassis. And this is on top of the 319 and 321 units coming soon in RTR and the 350 already available. Obviously a change of scale isn't easy (or cheap), but there's a much wider range of London-based stock available!

 

I can't help thinking, but like the two posts above, that you'd be better off in 'N' particularly with the space you have available. Buildings in London are generally big. For example a decent representation of the tenement block (pictured earlier in the thread) will probably take up about nearly half of the four foot board you are starting with. Pictured below are a couple of similar N gauge blocks that I built for a layout with the flat topped one being about 10 inches long. Even a two coach train will occupy a large chunk of the length.

 

 

 

G.

[Southern_Trains_Fan]

Thanks for the replies. Although this topic is a year old now, the idea of a London based layout is definitely still playing around in my head.

 

The idea of N gauge is seeming ever more tempting because there seems to be more modern SR stock available RTR than in 00 gauge.

 

Pete the Elaner, thanks for taking the time to reply all of that! Yes, I think using different buildings taken from several parts of London all used in one place will really enhance the atmosphere. Actually thinking about it, I would be really interested in adding a tube line(s) within a layout, because I'm actually a bit of a tube nut! Only downside, as you mantioned, is that there are no appropriate LU models available, except from those at Metromodels which could work. I would also love to know more about this prototype layout of yours, sounds very interesting!

 

bensanches43310, Yes, I think that modelling a station which is compact in reality would definitely be the way forward. Stations on the NLL have certainly been an option for me, and I plan to make a full journey from Clapham Junction-Highbury and Islington-Gospel Oak-Barking maybe some time this year if I can get down there, so I should be able to take some photos myself. Thanks for offering to take photos, but I wouldn't go to too much trouble

 

grahame, those buildings look fantastic! I might be wrong, but is this layout Stoney Lane Depot? If so, then I have been spending a couple of years trying to find more photos of the layout, as I absolutely love it! Real inspiration for a London based layout. As I mentioned above, N gauge may be the way forward in my case, as I can run some decent length rolling stock, there is more stock available, and I'll be able to fit more suitable buildings in at a more realistic scale. Well done on those buildings though, they look right at home next to the third-rail and EMU

[grahame]

 

grahame, those buildings look fantastic! I might be wrong, but is this layout Stoney Lane Depot? If so, then I have been spending a couple of years trying to find more photos of the layout, as I absolutely love it! Real inspiration for a London based layout. As I mentioned above, N gauge may be the way forward in my case, as I can run some decent length rolling stock, there is more stock available, and I'll be able to fit more suitable buildings in at a more realistic scale. Well done on those buildings though, they look right at home next to the third-rail and EMU

 

Thanks. Yes, they are from Stoney Lane Depot. Although I sold the layout over a year ago there are still plenty of pics around on the internet.

 

Also you may find this thread of interest which is my attempt at building more real London based structures for a future new layout: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/115057-scratch-built-card-and-styrene-structures-based-on-real-buildings/ You can see that some of the buildings are pretty big.

 

 

G.

Edited June 17, 2017 by grahame

[Southern_Trains_Fan]

Thanks. Yes, they are from Stoney Lane Depot. Although I sold the layout over a year ago there are still plenty of pics around on the internet.

 

Also you may find this thread of interest which is my attempt at building more real London based structures for a future new layout: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/115057-scratch-built-card-and-styrene-structures-based-on-real-buildings/ You can see that some of the buildings are pretty big.

 

 

G.

 

I'll check it out, looks very interesting!

 

Cheers,

Matt

[Pete the Elaner]

 

Pete the Elaner, thanks for taking the time to reply all of that! Yes, I think using different buildings taken from several parts of London all used in one place will really enhance the atmosphere. Actually thinking about it, I would be really interested in adding a tube line(s) within a layout, because I'm actually a bit of a tube nut! Only downside, as you mantioned, is that there are no appropriate LU models available, except from those at Metromodels which could work. I would also love to know more about this prototype layout of yours, sounds very interesting!

 

I have made a little progress since my last posting, but not got around to updating it yet.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/120795-south-hampstead-in-00/&do=findComment&comment=2693873