westerhamstation

Hi Shaun, my best guess as to what you will be doing for the rest of the day is praying. All the best Adrian.

The bus will be leaving shortly, just in time to avoid picking up any passengers from the train that is due in a few minutes.

Hi Graham, you are quite correct, the reason being that I cannot find anything that looks like Kent peg tiles in any material be it paper or plasticard (a royal charter of 1477 decreeing that plain tiles should be standardised to ten and a half inches by six and one quarter inches, Kent peg tiles typically remained at ten inches by six inches). this in oo gauge is quite a small tile if you take into account the overlap on the tiles, so i thought that when painted and weathered which I haven't done yet it might not be so noticable, we shall see. Thank you for asking, and it's not a dumb question at all. All the best Adrian.

Part 3 of the Oast House construction, the stairs up to the upper floor I found in my useful bits box, the handrail is made from coffee stirrers cut down the length. If you are wondering what the strange cardboard structures on top of the Oast are they the supports for what will be the twin cowls. I hope the pictures show the building so far and the trial fit on its future site. All the best Adrian.

Hi Grahame, Mojo is a elusive little git, it comes and goes without telling you, then comes back when it's had enough of what ever it was it went off for. Nice pictures and in N gauge some excellent modelling. All the best Adrian.

Hi Chris, you might have a look at this link. https://www.ebay.ie/itm/162760474237?hash=item25e547be7d:g:qDoAAOSwtGlZA42X

Hi Shaun, what a cracking job you have made on the house with some really nice bits of detailing. All the best Adrian.

Following on from my last post the next bits of construction will be to clad the walls and roofs with plasticard, and to make a louvre opening for ventilation in the barn. the door frames are made from cut down coffee stirrers and the weathboard has had a quick blast of primer. None of the roofs have been fastened down yet, thats why they are a bit gappy and the oast roofs overhang a bit to much. Some pictures of progress so far. All the best Adrian.

Hi Guys, it's pretty deep here as well, also spotted a very angry looking squirrel. All the best Adrian.

Hi Shaun, that's a top tip on the white glue and baking soda thanks for sharing, the build is looking really good, don't forget the cat flap when you get to making the doors. All the best Adrian.

Time to make a start on the construction of the twin oast house, I have opted to make the square version of the oasts and for the same reasons that this style of oast was later adopted for the real thing, they were easier to build and more efficient in use. For this build I will be using card and plasticard so here goes for the first part. Some of the parts One of the oasts Base of barn and oast bases Roof and oasts tried for position All the best Adrian.

Whilst clearing the site for the oast house the local farmer popped round to check on progress, and said he had a view across the Weald that he would plant for me, if he could have free beer in the pub for a week if and when it was built, I asked him when he could plant it and he said give me half an hour and some Pritt Stik and the job will be done. Here is the result.

Right that didn't take long to knock the Tesco Express down as well as the new houses built on the farm land, now it's back to how it was sixty plus years ago, this site will have a barn with twin oasts and a pub will be reinstated down the road opposite the goods yard for the locals and hop pickers , this will be a Maidstone brewery (style and winch) serving proper beer, people asking for cocktails, latte, or crisps that are any other flavour than plain with a screw of salt in blue paper will not be tolerated, ladies will be welcomed in the lounge bar. All the best Adrian.

Hi Shaun, it certainly was a better time for getting around, you could get from A to B without falling down bloody great pot holes, road works with temporary traffic lights with no one doing any work for months on end, and you could get parked when you got there. I sometimes have a drive around the places I remember from years back, all from the comfort of the settee and Google street view. What I have noticed is the amount of building that has gone on in what used to be orchards, hop fields and what was considered Green Belt land, all the old Oast Houses have been converted into housing, and proper pubs are vanishing in front of your eyes. I will be posting my build of the Oast House for Weald once I have knocked down the modern housing estate and Tesco express that is now occupying the site. All the best to you Adrian.

Some brickwork that looks to have had a few problems over the years, the building stands alone on the corner in what is now someones garden, I have know idea what it's former use was only that it is very near to the old glass working area of Stourbridge and looks like it might vanish in the next few years.

Some old sheds first two are at Porlock Weir Somerset, the others are at the black country museum.

Some really useful images that you are all posting with plenty of reference detail, thank you. All the best Adrian.

Hi Phil, thanks for your recent additions to the thread. Pargetting sounds like it should be in a episode of the Archers. All the best Adrian.

Hi Phil, great set of pictures thank you, a nice shot of the garage. All the best Adrian.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with oast houses and hop picking I have some pictures of the Oast houses to show you, these will help me in the construction of them you will notice that they are all different but all serve the same function that is drying the picked hops. If you look at the above post you will find a short youtube video and some other links which explain the whole process far better than I can. All the best Adrian. Horsmonden station with Oast house in background Present day same view Oast house construction Round and square Oasts

A description of oast houses and their construction. https://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Oast-Houses https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/hop-pickers-kent-old-photos/ A nice little snippet of hop picking All the best and enjoy your beer Adrian

Hi all, and thanks for the feedback it all helps to motivate me and to know that it is recognisable as somewhere in Kent. All the best Adrian.

Barges and canal basin, some railway barges, lift bridge, crane, and a man up a ladder tinkering.

After quite some time from posting about starting the platform build I have made a bit of progress, firstly I have decided to call the new station Weald junction which is situated somewhere south of Maidstone towards the Horsmenden area, for me it will serve two purposes it still connects Westerham to Brasted without it impinging on either station as it is the other side of the partition in the garage and trains from either station can just run through the junction, or stop and do a bit of shunting as required. secondly it gives me a chance to build a few typical Kent structures one being a Oast house which will allow a hop pickers special to be used, and it can be used on its own for a bit of shunting using Westerham as a sort of fiddle yard as required. Some pictures to show progress so far. All the best Adrian. Platform surface is 400 grit wet and dry

A nice bit of painted Teak as seen at Arley Station on the Severn Valley Railway.