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Folgate Street


PaternosterRow

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Some initial pictures of my latest scheme.  Like most of us modelling fanatics I haven't been idle during the lockdown period!   These are strange times indeed and I have no doubt that many of us have worried about income and job security so, with the exception of purchasing a second hand Hornby Q1, I have managed to construct the layout with materials and track I had to hand.  Folgate Street is a fictitious slice of third rail London and is an old scheme that has been revamped for the purpose.  The original station throat was constructed about 11 years ago and was made at the start of my railway modelling journey.  I was still fumbling about at this earlier stage hence the use of Code 100 and Insulfrog points.  It was a copy of a throat drawn up by the famous Cyril Freezer.  The original layout was actually once used as the basis of my 1984 model (see previous posts) and was gathering dust in a forgotten corner of my loft so I thought I'd put it to good use.

 

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The fabulous Hornby Q1.  This was picked up cheaply from Hattons.  It had a missing sand box and steps which have been knocked up from bits out of the spares box.   Despite a thorough wheel clean it runs intermittently and I wonder if has anything to do with the DCC decoder that it is fitted with?   I don't need it as I'm analogue and I know they'll run on DC current.  If I remove the decoder will I need a blanking plate? - any help would be greatly appreciated as it's a smashing model and it deserves to run properly.   The roof is another of my soldered wire schemes - to add a bit of interest I've used a downloadable texture from CG Textures for the roof lights.  Note the cardboard strips at the side of the track.  These have been made form thin card to replicate the wooden boards used at Southern stations to contain the third rail - they help to hide the absence of insulators and also disguised the oversized profile of Code 100 track.  

 

 

 

 

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A Hornby 2 HAL emerges from the right hand scenic break.  The Lyceum Theatre is a freelance structure made from Scalescenes Textures whilst the buildings on the overbridge are downloaded photographs from CG Textures.  These have been layered to give a little relief.

 

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The superb Heljan Class 33.  The station tower is another freelance structure loosely based on the Towers found at Cannon Street Station.  Again, I've used Scalescenes sheets to construct it.   The station roof is loosely based on the Suburban station one at the side of Kings Cross Station.

 

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Two tracks on a slight incline were added to the front of the original layout to add a bit of operational interest.  The signal box gantry, based on the one found at Holborne Viaduct Station over the Widened Lines incline, has been made from Plastruct girders and bits from various Dapol kits.  All the signals work apart from the one on the signal box - I think super glue seeped into the fine electrical wires and have caused a short circuit!

 

The 5.5 foot layout is an end to end scheme with a main 5ft long fiddle yard to the right hand side.  The half station side is fed from a three foot long 'black box' section during normal operation.   I utilised a mirror at this end to lengthen the look of the station for the above photographs.   More pics to follow.

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Hello Mike, glad to see that your work is as excellent as ever. Hope all is well with you.

 

all the best,

 

Alex.

 

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Beautifully conceived and photographed.  You have shown that RTR stock and careful weathering can bring that elusive sense of 'reality', when treated so imaginatively

 

Mike

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Hi Mike. Good to have you back, it's been too long! Back to Perry Barr form. For some reason High Trees just didn't quite do it for me. It seems that your more constrained projects are a more natural fit for your style of modelling. I don't mean to push you into a particular box but you do seem to have a particular talent for tightly defined scenes. Look forward to more pics of the latest opus.

 

David

 

PS I would expect a blanking plug to solve your problem with the Q1. DCC chips can be very variable in performance when asked to process DC.

Edited by DavidLong
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12 hours ago, Alex Duckworth said:

Hello Mike, glad to see that your work is as excellent as ever. Hope all is well with you.

 

all the best,

 

Alex.

 

Cheers Alex, all well here although I had a wee stint in hospital (not virus related fortunately).  Hope all is well with you and yours.  

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1 hour ago, MikeOxon said:

Beautifully conceived and photographed.  You have shown that RTR stock and careful weathering can bring that elusive sense of 'reality', when treated so imaginatively

 

Mike

Thank you, Mike.  High praise indeed from a great modeler.  I spent a while this morning looking at your very interesting blog. I die a happy man if I could create that picture of yours of the Broad gauge train.  Early steam is a fascinating story that is rarely modeled.  

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Wonderful, Mike. The master of atmosphere - and much more. The "Lyceum" structure, while simple in some ways, is a visual delight!

 

I'm impressed how you keep turning out new layouts (even when they are revamped ones). The rest of us post when we've got some small detail done, you post every time you've got a new layout.

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1 hour ago, DavidLong said:

Hi Mike. Good to have you back, it's been too long! Back to Perry Barr form. For some reason High Trees just didn't quite do it for me. It seems that your more constrained projects are a more natural fit for your style of modelling. I don't mean to push you into a particular box but you do seem to have a particular talent for tightly defined scenes. Look forward to more pics of the latest opus.

 

David

 

PS I would expect a blanking plug to solve your problem with the Q1. DCC chips can be very variable in performance when asked to process DC.

Thank you David.  I couldn’t agree with you more.  Micro layouts have always suited my style and I prefer them entirely to Chocolate Box scenes.  There’s something about the urban environment that draws me, perhaps it’s simply because I grew up in a city.  Also thanks for the advice about the Q1.   

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34 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

Wonderful, Mike. The master of atmosphere - and much more. The "Lyceum" structure, while simple in some ways, is a visual delight!

 

I'm impressed how you keep turning out new layouts (even when they are revamped ones). The rest of us post when we've got some small detail done, you post every time you've got a new layout.

Great praise.  Thanks, Mikkel.  You know, my modeling obsession drives my wife batty sometimes.  I’m not a drinker so this is my way of relaxing and, consequently, my out put is very high.  I’m not a great Telly watcher either so that probably contributes too.  The lock down was very boring and we weren’t able to go into Killarney for our usual walks, meals and cinema trips so there was little else but to get my head down on the bench.  However, we were luckier than most and could still go for long walks down the country lanes out our way - so I’m not at it all the while!  You mention that you only seem to post when a small detail is completed, but ‘what’ detail it is!  I am, as always, in awe of your skills and patience.  That’s another problem I have; impatience and a need to find shortcuts toward completion.  Hence the wire and 2D textures - not everyone’s idea of railway modelling though.   

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8 hours ago, PaternosterRow said:

That’s another problem I have; impatience and a need to find shortcuts toward completion. 

Just the same for me :)  I spend ages trying to find short-cuts and 'cheat' solutions.

 

Mike

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That's a great looking layout. The shot with the 2hal looks very like the approaches to Victoria.

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Just a few night shots to show off the under roof section.

 

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I quite like this shot -  look at those superb valves and cocks under the cab.  It's a beautifully detailed model.

 

 

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A final shot of the whole layout.  The points are all push pull and the frogs are juiced by the blades, as in the old days, and as long as you keep the blade contacts clean they give no trouble at all.  I'm rather proud of the small control panel and took my time with it.  All of the connections are push together types and were salvaged from an old 'on demand' boiler that was being disposed of at work.   

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The shots under the canopy are stunning, very atmospheric.  :good:

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14 hours ago, simon b said:

The shots under the canopy are stunning, very atmospheric.  :good:

Cheers Simon.  That sort of London grot, canyons of brick feel is exactly what I was after.  

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4 hours ago, Killybegs said:

Fabulous work on the roof

Thanks very much, Killybegs.  It's sort of a freelance structure that has been copied from many different types of this sort of station roof.  It's so important to get everything straight as the one thing this hobby demonstrates is that the eye will forgive a lack of detail but it wont tolerate things out of true.  Mind you, if a qualified engineer put his eye along some of my joints then he'd have no choice but to condemn it!!   

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Hi Mike. 

 

How much of that galvanised wire have you got left? Enough for a few more station roofs?

 

Ever thought of doing your local station? That would use up a few lengths!

 

David

 

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6 hours ago, DavidLong said:

Hi Mike. 

 

How much of that galvanised wire have you got left? Enough for a few more station roofs?

 

Ever thought of doing your local station? That would use up a few lengths!

 

David

 

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Hi David.  That looks quite recent!  I’ve thought about it believe me because it’s a beautiful little place with its strange head shunt arrangement.  However, I prefer Tralee Station as it still has its old signal box and although it’s very much the same style it has a much larger siding facility.  The route of the old narrow gauge track line  (the Dingle/Tralee)  can also still be traced in part and you can still see the gates at the rear of the Station.  Tralee has many personal connections and I love to tell the story of my Uncle John who did National Service in Britain in the late forties (RAF).  He was so proud of his achievement that he wore his uniform on a visit back home to Kerry to see his Mom and Dad on Leave.  He got off the train at Tralee and a group of men threw stones at him and called him a Black and Tan!  He stood his ground, stared back at them and told them to get off their backsides and do something useful with their lives instead.  He owned a shop in Birmingham for many years and always thanked his lucky stars for having the gumption to go to Britain to seek a better life.  Like my Dad, he was a man that knew his own mind and always refused to follow the crowd. 

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It took me a while to work out the name of the station being more familiar with the English spelling.  The tables may have turned somewhat since the 1940s and Irish passports are now in demand here for those who want to retain EU status.  Certainly a lovely subject for modelling.

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On 29/09/2023 at 01:13, simon b said:

Is this layout still around? Would love to see some more pics.

Yep, go to my website - www.paternosterrow.blogspot.com for more.  Thanks for the comment. 

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