Westerham, + Weald. Tarmac surface for the platform

[westerhamstation]

Here I am standing on this cold, windswept, plywood and plasterboard platform, waiting for a train to come in sight along the felt tip railway track,when a thought comes into my head, why not have a nice bit of vinyl cushion floor underneath my feet that would help keep them from feeling the cold, so as the train still hadn't arrived a start was made.

A piece of vinyl was trimmed to width using a bit of card folded to make a simple gauge for measuring this I find easier than making pencil marks which don't show up very well on the vinyl.It was cut 6mm short of the finished width of the platform to allow for the edging stones, the ramp ends had a groove cut in the back to allow them to follow the ramp, the vinyl that I had available had to be joined which just meant overlapping the two pieces and cutting through both. this was all glued to the plywood using flooring adhesive,were the edging stones on the platform will go, was built up with card till it was just below the surface of the platform, a gap has been left in the platforms surface for some sets to put in.It's all been given a bit of a sand. Next steps will be the brick on the face of the pltform and the edging stones.

[Jaz]

I would have said never going to work, but you have have already done stuff I would have sworn would never work.

Shall be interested to see the results on the layout. I love ingenuity.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

 

Looks just like tarmac.

 

manna

[Blandford1969]

Morning all, have you seen this wonderfull set of images on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/31890193@N08/sets/72157637796742156/with/10928728885/  ?

 

Kind regards

 

Duncan

[westerhamstation]

Hi Duncan,

I am gobsmacked at those pictures that you have so kindley posted, as you can imagine I have spend an endless amount of time looking for images of Westerham and Brasted Stations and have never seen any of these!!! What a find, and if any one else is modelling this area what a wonderful source of detail.Many thanks for posting these. kind regards Adrian

[Blandford1969]

No worries, this guy has got some amazing shots of various places.

[westerhamstation]

A bit more work on the platform for Brasted today, The brick facing has been put on using Slaters english bond plasticard, the edging stones for the platform were cut from plasticard planking. All that remains to be done is the painting and weathering.

[Jack00]

Really enjoying watching progress on Westerham station.

Been looking through for a while now (few months) and never commented.

Good luck with the rest of the venture.

 

Cheers

Jack

[ronstrutt]

This really is coming on apace. It's exciting watching it come to life.

 

I trust that you intend to have a miniature Mr Marples striding out across the backscene, complete with dark glasses, and the infamous David Serpell running up the station approach to catch his train.

 

I just wish that my research was coming on anywhere near as fast. There is just so much stuff to go through. I have resorted to going to Kew at intervals, photographing dozens of documents, and then working on them at home, else I'd spend most of my life in south-west London. But it's all really great stuff.

 

Just as a teaser:

 

It is often thought that the WVRA were at least half to blame for the preservation scheme's demise through some inept handling and KCC the other half. In fact, it turns out that there were some very, very senior figures at the Ministry of Transport and in BR (people far above the normal level for dealing with a tiddly preservation scheme) who, within a few months of the scheme being announced in 1962, were working hard to stop it. No positive evidence to support it yet but the inevitable suspicion must be that they were worried that if the scheme succeeded and the WVRA could run a commuter service at a profit, it would make BR look stupid and it would undermine the whole Beeching closure plan. I have no doubt that Marples himself was at least aware of what was going on. The WVRA people had no idea what they were up against.

 

Another interesting discovery:

 

It turns out that the branch bridges were all too small to officially accomodate full-height Mk1, Bulleid, and Maunsell stock. Either nobody ever thought to check or, more likely, as track was relaid and reballasted over the years, the gap between rail top and bridge undersides lessened. So, I am afraid that as Chief Inspecting Officer of Model Railways I am issuing a prohibition order on your use of such stock. I will take your Maunsell pull-push set off you for a reasonable price. ;-)

 

Ron

Edited November 21, 2013 by ronstrutt

[westerhamstation]

Hi Ron.

  You certainly seem to be turning up some interesting facts,  I have a soft spot for Ernest Marples it's around the lakes at Chipstead,what a disgrace that man was. Did you see the images from Flicker that were in post  255 I had never seen any of these before. Thanks for the information and keep plugging at away at your research.

                                                        Regards Adrian

[JCL]

Hi Ron.

  You certainly seem to be turning up some interesting facts,  I have a soft spot for Ernest Marples it's around the lakes at Chipstead,what a disgrace that man was. Did you see the images from Flicker that were in post  255 I had never seen any of these before. Thanks for the information and keep plugging at away at your research.

                                                        Regards Adrian

 

You taught me something today Adrian. I'll be honest and say that I'd never heard of Ernest Marples, but now I have I don't think I'd have lent him a tenner.

[Jaz]

That platform looks so good I am tempted to copy it. 

[westerhamstation]

What goes round comes around, or in this case what used to go round is now going to be a bridge. I was given the remains of an old Airfix turntable sometime ago, it was well battered and broken, but as usual I thought that might come in handy one day as has proved the case. A bridge is needed for Brasted station where the the line crosses Hogtrough Hill and Station Road, I've used the sides of the turntable for the bridge section and Slaters strip for the handrails, the handrails proved to be more difficult to replicate than I thought, as they are not flat but have a bend in the uprights, I had a try at making them individualy but it was just not working out right, so I just glued all the uprights in place, and bent them all in one go, over the edge of the table with a bit of thick card to give me the distance from the top of the bridge to the bend. Next job will be building the abutments and retaining walls. I only have a couple of pics of the actual bridge, so some guess work was involved.

 

[pointstaken]

An excellent piece of work, the whole layout and the backscene have really caught the Southern atmosphere. Great pity we can't download the whole thread in one fell swoop, and study it at leisure, as an object lesson in howterdoit.

 

Dennis

[Jack00]

Really nice work on the bridge.

Like the picture with the Unit passing over.

 

Jack

[Oldddudders]

Really nice work on the bridge.

Like the picture with the Unit passing over.

 

Jack

Actually Jack, the "unit" is a pull-push set with a tank engine out of view. Implausibly, Hornby actually sell the exact same set, and very nice they are, too. I think further supplies are imminent - to the extent that anything from Hornby can be said to be so, these days!

[Jack00]

Hi Ian.

-interesting stuff. The 'Hornby' efforts do look nice just tapped it into google images

 

Cheers

Jack.

[westerhamstation]

Hi Jack,

thanks for your interest, this link was posted some time ago http://www.bigginhill-history.co.uk/westerhamstation.htm

but it might me of interest to you and others who missed it. the image of the pull push going over the bridge was a screen capture from it . Regards Adrian

[Jack00]

Those video's are wonderful!

Really giving it some stick out of Westerham station there.

 

Cheers

Jack

[westerhamstation]

The continuing story of Brasted Station and It's bridge.

Abutments and wing walls ( sounds like a dodgy dress size, and chinese takeaway ) these have all been made from card covered with plasticard, the capping stones are made from foamex carved to shape, the deck for the track is two layers of thick card with one layer cut to represent the beams, these will only be seen if you get down on your hands and knees (if I do that I will need someone to get me back up again).

  I thought that making these would  be quite quick, but It's taken me a couple of days to do, it all needs painting and weathering now, and then fixing together, I will paint the bridge abutments and wing walls at the same time as I paint the platform, just to get a bit of uniformity with the colours. Off to the model shop tommorow to get some paint ( I may be gone for quite a while).

[lash]

Lovely innovative modeling , l love the bridge and the whole approach to building it

 

Ok inspiration taken and I'm heading to patch some ballast and try some grotty paint effects on Portsea

[ady77014]

Did the forth doctor come round with his jellybabies?

[westerhamstation]

Did the forth doctor come round with his jellybabies?

I just put it in to see if you were all paying attention, it was a present from my grandson

[Jason T]

That bridge is lovely; nice use of the turntable too. I really admire how you take whatever you have to hand and turn them into such lovely structures (and yard lights).

[Twright]

Having caught up with this thread, I must say I am amazed. This is very realistic and atmospheric. I look forward to more updates.