Hawkhurst originally featured a two-road engine shed but it was closed in 1931. After that, one of the lines was removed leaving one for access if required. I wanted to feature an engine shed on Addleford Green. My reasoning was that those in charge would not have repeated the same mistake twice and opted to build a single track version. I used the plans for the original two-read shed as a template for my own paired-down design.

 

Once again, I must give huge thanks to the Wild Swan book regarding the Hawkhurst branch, which features some lovely plans for the engine shed - amongst other buildings - in the back. These were invaluable in designing my own version, otherwise I would have had very little to go on.

 

As with most of my scratch build projects, I started by drawing up a scale plan and cutting the first pieces from embossed Slaters Plastikard. I started with the end walls. The front piece was double-sided with brick and padded out with a layer of foamboard to give a realistic thickness. The lintel and door frames are wooden coffee stirrers with doors purchased from Scale Model Scenery - the size of these doors largely dictated the size of the opening, but they were ultimately chosen for being very close to the original plans. The roundel at the top is a 3D printed piece from York Modelmaking. The clamp is shown trying to square up a slightly wonky opening!  

 

 

The rear panel was built in a similar fashion, although it would feature recessed brick panels which required a little extra work. The window is a generic industrial window from my spares box, most likely Ratio or Wills in origin. Shown below are the two sides of the rear wall. 

 

 

One wall was padded on the inside with some plastic strip. The strips which faced the outer edges were themselves faced with strips of embossed brick plastikard.

 

 

This allowed me to form a recess in the brickwork and carry the appearance of bricks round the corners. Below shows the process!

 

 

 

It's not perfect, but it looks good at a distance and when painted!

 

 

Thin strips were layered up at the top and bottom of each panel to give the impression of stepped brickwork.

 

 

The sides were measured, cut and assembled in a similar fashion. The windows on the sides are also from Scale Model Scenery - they do some great stuff!

 

 

 

 

Soon enough, all pieces were ready. Care was also taken to ensure that the ends of each piece would fit well with each other and form a neat corner. A certain amount of overlap was required on the sides so that they fully covered the thick walls of the end panels.

 

 

I always try to paint as much as possible before assembly, so the interior went first. I sprayed with a white primer and then used a thin black wash to give a grimy, used look. I had achieved a better result in the past but I was happy enough with this; the inside won't be massively visible. Glazing was added to the inside of the window frames at this stage as it will be much harder to align once the walls are assembled.

 

 

Assembly time. Proses' magnetic corner clamps help no-end with ensuring everything sets square and tight.

 

 

 

 

The outside of the whole model was primed with a white primer spray. When the paint had dried, the windows were masked off to avoid getting paint on the glazing. I later found that the windows were more likely to have been black. Another good reason to keep photos of the prototype to hand!

 

 

 

The exterior was painted and some interior roof trusses were installed. I found these on eBay from a seller who was 3D printing them. There are other options on the market, but these ones almost perfectly fit the size and roof pitch of my model. I actually modified the initial plan slightly to allow for them to work. I had no idea what colour the trusses would be in real life but guessed they were likely black. I ultimately went with Halfords red primer because it looks very much like red oxide and I really enjoy the effect it gives. EDIT: I have since learned that the roof trusses are more likely to have been made from wood, so the exact colour is unknown to me. Is it possible they were painted white?

 

I'm going to use the excuse that the trusses were primed when the shed was built but no one ever got round to painting them. Which is kind of the truth!

 

 

Using some mount card I made a solid base for the engine shed. It was important that it sat just below the rail level so that the rails could still be cleaned. The piece in the centre also had to be away from the rail sides enough so that it didn't interfere with the wheel flanges.

 

 

A few quick coats of paint and voila! Now to turn my attention to some of the surrounding scenery to help better blend this piece in.

 

Part 2 coming soon...

 

All for now,

Jonathan