Tweedale - Phantom Industries for Slaghill
Entry posted by awoodford
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Slaghill is dominated by steel and chemical industries, which provide plenty of varied traffic for the Tweedale Railway. However it became apparent early on that there wouldn't be enough room on the layout for loading and unloading facilities for them. So it was decided to make them into 'phantom industries', situated just off the layout and supposedly fed from extensions of the two sidings. In reality the sidings just fizzle out behind buildings. Wagons for the steel works are left in the station platform. To maximise operation they are shunted into a particular order, as specified on a destination list (coking plant, ore, lime, and scrap stockpiles, rolling mill, etc). It is assumed the wagons are moved along to the appropriate loading/unloading spots and returned, magically, between operating sessions. Similarly wagons for the chemical park are shunted into the siding behind the station in a specific order (food additives, chemical fertilizers, acid, plastic pellets, toxic waste, etc). The nice thing about phantom industries is that it's so easy to change your mind about them... remove some, add others, change the order in the lists etc. It also means the backscene and modeled buildings don't need to be too specific, and can just represent a general industrial setting.
Slaghill has turned out a lot different than originally intended. My earlier vision was for the railway here to be enclosed claustrophobically by tall buildings and bridges. However some tests with mocked up buildings showed that it would look rather more boxed in and cramped than I wanted. So in the end I've gone for a more open aspect. The backscene was made up from interesting looking features picked from Internet photos of steel and chemical works, which were then traced and painted onto watercolour paper. I did get rather carried away here, and added more fiddly bits than I probably should have. The scenic gurus are always telling us not to make backscenes too detailed, so just grey misty silhouettes would probably have been sufficient.
There were only a couple of small areas where modeled buildings would fit. In the left corner, some low-relief conveyer sheds help to hide the exit to the short extension stick that holds the spare loco.
While at Slagaloid's premises behind the viaduct, some pipework and tanks (purpose unknown) were added. More sheds and pipework are still to be put in here. Behind the placeholders for those are the miners' cottages at The Pits, which have finally been completed. They don't have much of an outlook, but I've known worse!
One of the advantages of using restricted viewpoints is that it allows you to get away with quite a lot of cheating. Like most of the buildings on the layout, the miners' cottages only have two sides and a bit of bracing at the back. No ground floor windows and doors, as they'd be hidden from view anyway.
From the bow in the wall, I suspect mining subsidence, surely not cowboy builders.
Finally an overall view of the industrial scene so far. Nearly ready to make a start on the foreground Grimley area.
Cheers, Alan.
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