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Structures

GWR stables (1): Towards an overview

The following are my notes on GWR stable blocks – a subject that does not seem to have received much attention. I am about to build one for Farthing, and have noticed various style differences that may be of interest to others.   Chipping Norton stables in 1983. Built 1904. Rebuilt with end doors to serve as a garage, but otherwise it features the main elements of the "archetype" standard design, ie "hit and miss" vents in windows and above doors, and those characteristic boxy roof ve
Mikkel

Mikkel in Structures

35

Fake news and wagon sheets

On Twitter today:                   Anyway, enough fooling around. The wagon sheets (aka tarpaulins) seen in these photos are the preliminary results of experiments with aluminum foil. My original plan was to go the whole hog with cords and ropes etc, but as I started fitting sheets to my wagons I got cold feet. My wagons are nothing special but I like to look at them, and here I was covering them up!      
Mikkel

Mikkel

16

Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall

Here’s an update on Farthing – and some new ideas.         The “biscuit” and “jam” sheds have been painted and are ready to embed on the layout. The buildings are an attempt to hint at the past railway history of the area. They were originally built for the old N&SJR terminus at Farthing, which was alongside the Great Western station. When the GWR swallowed up the N&SJR, it kept the buildings and used them as loading and distribution facilities for the town
Mikkel

Mikkel

21

Agricultural merchant's warehouse

Here's a summary of my latest build, an agricultural merchant’s warehouse, inspired by this prototype. As has become my habit I've modelled all doors open to allow for… ...see-through opportunities. That approach does mean that the interior walls and framing have to be indicated - don’t look too closely though! I used Will’s corrugated iron sheets for the main walls. They are rather thick so I fitted sliding doors on the outside
Mikkel

Mikkel

15

GWR 1854 Saddle Tank (2)

My GWR 1854 ST is now done. To recap, this is a much modified Finecast body on a Bachmann chassis. My original plan was to find an acrylic spray paint that gave a suitable representation of the pre-1928 green. When that failed, I was recommended the Belton bottle green which has the RAL code used for landrover green. However, while this and some of the others looked fine outside in the sun, they all looked wrong under my layout lights. So in the end I reverted t
Mikkel

Mikkel

22
Structures

A shed and a lock-up

I’ve scratchbuilt some more buildings for Farthing.         First up is this small goods shed, adapted from a prototype built by Eassie & Co. at Speech House Road station on the Severn & Wye. The contractors Eassie & Co. had an interesting history, nicely described in this PDF file by the GSIA.         The prototype had a brick base, but I decided on a timber base and a few other detail changes to suit my tastes. The roof is
Mikkel

Mikkel in Structures

33

The Biscuit Shed

I've been working on the “Biscuit Shed”, the first of the buildings for my new Farthing layout. It is inspired by the “beer shed” in the GWR Goods yard at Stratford on Avon, which was used as a loading facility for beer traffic from the Flower & Sons brewery.         The biscuit theme draws on the so-called “biscuit siding” in Gloucester Old Yard, which served a small loading shed that was used by various industries over the years, including Peak Freen’s biscui
Mikkel

Mikkel

21
Track & Traversers

Rising from slumber

After a quiet spring things are moving again on Farthing. The Slipper Boy story is featured in the June 2016 BRM, which seems a good way to mark the end of work on that layout. Many thanks to BRM for featuring the story. It’s all just a bit of fun of course, but while studying the court case that inspired the story, it did occur to me just how much scope there is for modelling particular historical incidents on the railways.         Meanwhile there has been progress
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Mikkel in Track & Traversers

32

The honourable slipper boy - Part 3

This is the third and final part of a story based on a real incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. It draws on the transcripts of a court case at Old Bailey. The story is narrated by Dennis Watts, a slipper boy in the employment of the GWR. The story began here.     Having produced their damning evidence, Detective Benton and constable Walmsley rounded up the four thieves and took them to court. I was the star witness at the trial, and made sure to tell
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Mikkel

42
Stories

The honourable slipper boy - Part 2

This is the second part of a story based on a real incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. It draws on the transcripts of a court case at Old Bailey. The story is narrated by Dennis Watts, a slipper boy in the employment of the GWR. Part one is here.       As I stood there, surrounded by thieves in a dark corner of the goods yard, I thought my last hour had come. Luckily the moon came out, which seemed to unsettle them, and so they let me go.  
Mikkel

Mikkel in Stories

18

The honourable slipper boy - Part 1

This blog sometimes tells some pretty tall tales, but this one is based on a true story. I recently came across a fascinating account of a court procedure at Old Bailey, involving an incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. I decided to re-enact the incident, with Farthing as the setting and a little, ahem, modeller’s license. Dennis, will you take it from here?       My name is Dennis Watts, that’s me on the right. I’m a slipper boy with The Great Weste
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Mikkel

28

Andrew Stadden 4mm figures

Line dance, 4mm style. I’ve been painting some figures from Andrew Stadden’s excellent new 4mm range of Edwardian figures.       A group in primer, showing the detail of the figures.       Being pewter, the Stadden figures are a little harder to modify than whitemetal ones. It’s not impossible though. This gent had his bag removed…       … making him look more like a railway employee. I sometimes file the caps to repre
Mikkel

Mikkel

32

Shiny domes and safety valve covers

Oooh… shiny! This is the dome belonging to SECR No. 592 on the Bluebell Railway….         …and this was the dome on my ageing GWR Buffalo class loco, painted brass on a whitemetal casting. Not a very favourable comparison, and my loco crews were in uproar.         It was time for drastic measures. The whitemetal dome was removed by drilling from underneath. The safety valve cover caused more trouble, and had to be sawn off and filed d
Mikkel

Mikkel

18

GWR 1854 Class Saddle Tank (1)

I’m building a GWR 1854 class saddle tank in 1900s condition, using a modified and detailed South Eastern Finecast body kit on a Bachmann 8750 chassis. The build is also in my workbench thread, but that tends to be a rather meandering discussion, so this is a summary of the main steps without the diversions.     I bought the kit part-assembled, but a bath in hot water dissolved the glue and allowed me to break it down into its main components.      
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Mikkel

24

LSWR stone wagon

I’ve always been fascinated by this old photo, which is reproduced in Matthew Bagnet’s “The Railways of Farthing” (not sure about copyright, hope it’s OK).         This enlargement (apologies for the poor quality) shows the presence of some interesting "foreign” wagons at Farthing, including an MSWJR 3-plank open and an LSWR one-plank stone wagon. I’ve already modelled the former, so I thought I’d do the LSWR wagon as well.         So
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Mikkel

19

Small crates and tea chests

I’ve been making my own crates and tea chests from printable veneer. Today I installed them in the goods depot at Farthing.         The mezzanine floor at Farthing was used as a storage facility. Traders could have their wares stored while awaiting dispatch and distribution.         Space was literally at a premium, and this floor was always tidier and more well organised than the busy decks below.        
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Mikkel

44

Progress on "The sidings"

The management is pleased to report some progress on the sidings. The baseboard was built some time ago. It is 10 mm foamboard topped with cork, giving a nice light baseboard which weighs in at 900 grams. So far no warping issues.       The height adjusters are DIY – a simple bolt and screw, fitted with rubber pads for silencing cupboard doors. The latter are very handy, as they hold the legs firmly in place on all surfaces, and absorb vibration. There will be 8 of thes
Mikkel

Mikkel

19

What really happened in the Cuban missile crisis

Farthing, 1904. With a rising sense of panic, Goods Porter E. Sparkler stared at the pigeon baskets he had just knocked over.         A lid had opened, and the pigeons were escaping.         The pigeons soon scattered around the goods yard.         They were white show pigeons, en route to a prestigious event at the London Philoperisteron Society.         One of the pigeons
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Mikkel

59

SDJR Road Van

Last year we had a discussion about SDJR Road Vans here on RMweb, which revealed that – contrary to what one might think – these vehicles travelled well beyond the SDJR on a regular basis, including foreign destinations right up to London. For details, please see Buckjumper’s notes in the thread.   I thought I might justify one of these vans making an occasional appearance at Farthing, perhaps carrying small consignments of cheddar, cider and other Somerset delicacies to satisfy the pa
Mikkel

Mikkel

35
Goods

Barrels, baskets, bales

I’m still working on the goods items for my goods depot. Here’s a selection of various items I've been working on recently. Apologies for getting a bit long-winded with this, but I enjoy learning a bit about goods items as I go along – it’s all part of the scene, after all.       H0 and 0 casks from Frenchman River Works. Great texture and six hoops, which is rare on model casks despite being very common in reality.         The FRW barrels
Mikkel

Mikkel in Goods

37

Fun with crates

I’m detailing my goods depot, something I’ve been looking forward to. As the layout is designed for close-up viewing I’ve been searching for goods items that could pass muster at a reasonably close range.   To begin with, here is a selection of crates. I'm afraid it's my usual unholy mix of kitbuilt, scratchbuilt, modified and ready to plunk! Hopefully it will all blend in with a bit of weathering and careful positioning on the layout.       First up are these
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Mikkel

23

Four o'clock blues, ca. 1902

Goods checker J. Peerybingle was tired. It had been a long day in the goods depot, and his feet hurt.     Life is so dull, he thought. I should have gone to sea. I should have married Emily.     He looked up at the skylights. There was a bird up there. Was it a crow?     He thought: How lucky birds are, how free.     Up on the roof, the crow looked down at Peerybingle.     It t
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Mikkel

30

Wagon propulsion

I've been testing the trackplan for “The sidings”, and got a bit carried away...     Jokes aside, there is a more serious side to this: As previously explained, the layout is inspired by the trackplan at the back of Gloucester Old Yard. This included the very short so-called “biscuit siding” which served a private warehouse through a kick-back arrangement.     In GWRJ No. 45 (p262), shunter Hayden Jones explains how the biscuit siding was operated:
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Mikkel

24

Traverser testing

I’ve been testing my somewhat "under-engineered" traverser, and made a little video to show it in operation.   It continues to work well, and I now have some faith in the basic concept. I’m in the process of re-enforcing how the tubes are fixed in the foamboard, but that is more of a pre-emptive move than a result of any actual problems so far. The running is smoother than rendered by the video.   PS: I’m aware of the period inconsistency between loco and wagons, it's all sti
Mikkel

Mikkel

19

LSWR 10 ton sliding door van

The LSWR was the biggest of the GWR's neighbours at Farthing, so I thought I'd better make myself some stock from that company for my 1900s goods depot. Last night I finished my LSWR sliding door van, to SR diagram 1410, built from the David Geen whitemetal kit.         Above is the kit assembled as it comes. Having done that, I realized that a couple of details didn’t match the photos and drawings in my newly acquired “Illustrated History of Southern Wagons, Vol 1
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Mikkel

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