Building the King’s Arms

Background

About two years ago I decided to take up railway modelling again after a break of about 35 years – the usual reasons: children and career followed by early retirement! The standards of all aspects of the hobby have improved so much during my time away that I was very apprehensive about my ability still to produce models of exhibition quality. Before trying to build my own layout, I decided to build a diorama to test my model making skills, before committing myself to a larger, more expensive project.

For about a year I enjoyed myself greatly doing research, some of it quite esoteric, in Cornwall, Kew and Swindon, about the subject of my diorama – a Brunelian timber viaduct. However, about a year ago I was given the chance to be involved in the start of a rather interesting arts project and my diorama was put on hold for a bit, though it didn’t go away. As a result of the arts project I was asked three months ago to build a doll’s house-sized model of the building in which we perform, and when I started to draw working diagrams for the doll’s house I realised that it would make an interesting model building for an urban scene on a layout.

Why do I think that it’s a suitable subject for a model? It’s a Victorian pub with very intricate brickwork ornamentation and stone carving; it’s got a host of garrets and gables peeking out around the roof; it’s got a very unusual footprint – best described as a trapezium with two curved corners; and it has an upstairs performance space which is an oval with a domed roof. All in all I thought it would stretch my abilities.

The prototype

The King’s Arms in Salford was described by a journalist on The Guardian as “Britain’s most bohemian back street boozer”. It’s less than 100 metres from Salford Central station and therefore very close also to Manchester Victoria. It was built in about 1870 in a working class area and is typical of the sort of large pub that was common at that time. Its accommodation is spread over five floors and although it has been modified many times over the years, its basic shape remains the same, - especially those curved corners and the oval dome. It serves very good beer.

In OO it scales out at approximately 270mm x150mm x 330mm high and would make a decent building for any layout with an industrial town centre feel where the predominant building material is brick rather than stone.

Drawing the plans

I started by brick counting from a couple of good photographs that Mr Google found for me and some others that I took myself. The first thing I noticed was that the style of the brickwork was, shall we say, lacking in uniformity! The bonding of the bricks was not one I recognised and was not consistent over the whole building. I see from this month’s edition of British Railway Modelling that Il Dottore had a similar problem recently. Thanks to his article I now know that the majority of the brickwork is laid with English Garden Bond, but his solution was exactly the same as mine – go for the nearest commercial match and not worry about complete fidelity to prototype. Having said that, the chimney stacks and the most recent alterations are plain stretcher bond which is commercially available, and the rear curve is entirely laid with header bricks, no stretchers at all, giving it an unusual and distinctive appearance, so I may try and replicate that section more accurately.

The second problem I encountered was that although I was able to draw quite reasonable front, rear and side elevations from my photographs, I wasn’t able to reconcile the numbers of bricks in the curved sections with a plan that linked the front and rear of the building!

Eventually I decided that I would be forced to visit the pub and take some proper measurements. Obviously I had to do a quality control check on the guest bitter whilst I was there.

The measurements caused me to make some minor changes to my elevations, but I still could not complete the plan of the curved end with its angled wall to my complete satisfaction – I was about one and a half bricks out. Eventually, however, I spotted that because of recessed brickwork, the radius of one curved wall at measurement height was different from the radius at ground level, so, allowing for this and with a bit of creative draughtsmanship, I have finally been able to draw a plan view which I find acceptable.

Now, at last, I’m finally in a position where I can take scalpel to plasticard and start construction.