Progress on the main Romford Station building. I need to finish the platform above until I can fit into place permanently (thus the gap in the corner). The building has been designed based upon some historical drawings and extensive photographs. Construction is laser cut Romark. The cornices are wooden molding from The Model Shop at Tower Bridge. The art deco lights at the front of the station are made from Biro pen shafts and are fitted with LED lights.
Once the platform above
There were two Queen Mary Brake Vans located in Romford Goods Yard (S56302 and S56304). They were positioned at the end of the sidings (apparently after an accident), in order to prevent loaded coal wagons shunting down the incline from the main line and over-running the buffer stops into South Street.
The Bachmann version provided a good basis to recreate the above image. What I considered to be a relatively straightforward detailing job, proved not to be the case. I started off by
“I need something to get my teeth into”, I said. In hindsight, I would have been better off with a Werther’s Original. Nevertheless, I decided to model the footbridge at the north end of Aylesbury station.
The actual bridge itself has undergone a number of reincarnations. I managed to obtain the original drawings. Unfortunately, the original contractor decided to do his own thing, the span being some 10ft longer than the drawing depicted. Fortunately, the piers remained relati
When it comes to railway buildings, there is nothing more iconic than the signal box. Therefore, my second building project for Aylesbury Town (Risborough & District Model Railway Club) was not a difficult choice. Aylesbury South signal box was a Great Central design, 35ft in length, 12ft wide and contained 55 levers. The top half of the box still exists at Swithland Sidings on the Great Central Railway at Loughborough.
I was unable to obtain any drawings of the box but there was
One of the more iconic features of Romford station are the overbridges. Bridge 102A (footbridge) was built in 1893 to link the Great Eastern Station to the London Tilbury & Southend Station. Bridge(s) 102 (Main and Electric lines) were built in 1931 as part of the four tracking and replaced the original brick arch structure, albeit some of the abutments were reused.
I managed to ascertain the span length from scale drawings that I had acquired. The depth of the main girders was c
Railway modelling for many of us is about recreating childhood memories. For me it was the Great Eastern Main Line. Despite the lure of the LMS with their magnificent Pacifics, it wasn't until I moved away from Essex that I realised how much I loved the Great Eastern with its varied EMUs and the resplendent diesels allocated to Stratford depot.
So why Romford? I wanted a location which offered an interesting mix of railway operations and also a busy street scene. Romford offered all
This EFE bus was bought second hand for £10. Whilst being a reasonably accurate representation, the gloss finish looked hideous.
The first job was to dismantle it entirely. The model is held together with three rivets. The front two rivets were removed by melting the plastic heads with a soldering iron. The rear rivet was drilled out, taking care not to remove too much material as the platform would be damaged.
The interior seating was painted and hand painted Preiser fig
A gap in the ready-to-run market for Eastern Region EMUs has led many of us to build our own. This represents my first attempt at such a model; namely a Class 307 unit. I originally intended to kit-bash a Bachmann EPB unit. However, on investigation the cab and chassis would have required extensive surgery, and I couldn’t bring myself to put a knife to £150 plus product. I therefore decided to utilise the cheaper Replica Railways offering, including their motorised chasis.
I decided to start
Inspired by Jim Smith-Wright’s creations on his New Street layout, I decided to try my hand at scratch building my own overhead line mast. The first baseboard on Romford contains three such masts; one four-track span and two double-track spans located on the main overbridges. I decided to start with the more complex four track span. Fortunately, the Mark 1 Great Eastern masts are a lot simpler construction than the WCML versions on New Street.
I started off by reviewing archive photo
