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About this blog

Colin's Blog describes my return to railway modelling after a long absence. The plan is to create a Blog where my grandchildren and others can explore the various activities in three main areas:

 

Since first starting this Blog my interest has evolved, my Westown-Heathfield layout is no more, and I've moved on and I'm creating Upper Hembury, Which is reported elsewhere on here.

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/173620-upper-hembury-east-devon-a-gwr-sr-branch-line

 

To share key steps with my grandchildren, feature photos from the Upper Hembury project are also presented here in my Blog.

 

My 1930s West Country setting with both town and rural components, was signed to capture the essence of the time, the trains and places rather than strictly adhere to prototypical metrics. I call this place "Westown - Heathfield" very loosely based on Weston-super-Mare (my home town) and a Quantocks village.  Presently the time and date is Winter 1936.

 

Since starting this blog, my work has run as far as I feel is worth pursuing and I'm now moving on to build a new layout. Space constraints mean the end has come for Westown-Heathfield so my new posts here are a retrospective covering some of the more interesting parts

 

HeathfieldatDusk-Winterpano.jpg.dc0339a0bb07cfb39f38d81e2677fc20.jpg

 

 

 

My other project is the rolling stock of the Weston Clevedon & Portishead Railway. This will have no dedicated layout, it is an exercise in kit building which has proved most timely as it's seen me thru the recent shutdowns and recovery from a broken foot.

 

 

Entries in this blog

Westown-Heathfield

Westown-Heathfield - some background

Westown - Heathfield   Having come back to modelling after a long absence, this has been a learning experience.   I’m not aiming for perfection; I want the layout and individual settings to look plausible at a macro level. “I do enjoy making a miniature world where trains go to and fro”   I wanted to capture the sense of place and settings of my home county Somerset; set in the context of the railways I knew and loved as a child. I wanted to engage my 6 grandch
Westown-Heathfield

Heathfield Village -1

The space I allocated to the village falls inside the main track loops and is a modest 600mm * 800mm providing me with a challenge to develop a realistic but not cramped setting. The core was a series of Metcalfe buildings, cottages, the Norman church and the Stone-built Wayside Station Shelter (now discontinued), later supplemented by a scratch built manor house and various minor items.   These were early steps back into modelling and I soon became dissatisfied with the look of the or
Westown-Heathfield

Heathfield Station and Surrounding Hills

In my fictional Quantocks setting, Heathfield Station is a tiny spur off of the West Somerset railway, near the southern end of the hills. My highly restricted space means prototypical settings are impossible so I made do with what I had available.   The station has a service often worked by an Autotrain, in these shots operated by pannier 6424.       Heathfield station sits in an idyllic spot alongside the Heathfield River, presently cascading after som
Westown-Heathfield

Heathfield - Church and Village Playground

These two I've grouped together as they sit side by side in the town so tend to appear together in my photos.   The Metcalfe Norman Church requires little comment. I've added interior lighting of which more later, then regretting not using coloured cellophane behind the glazing to give greater effect. In the end I dialed down the soft LEDs to low current and painted over them (to little effect). It is one of my favorite models, from the building challenge to the final product.  
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