5&9Models

Thank you Ray. Yes, it was all demolished in the 1980s, the Upper grange Road is now called Dunton Road, Greyhound Place, the pub and the bridge all long gone. Well done for identifying William Rolls, he is indeed from the family you're thinking of. They lived at the Grange (hence Grange road), William Rolls owned much land and property in Bermondsey around the Bricklayers Arms site. He owned The Greyhound pub but was not landlord, that was William James Peirse. Rolls received a significant amount of compensation from the SER for the inconvenience of having a bridge built right outside his pub, so much so that he was able to have it rebuilt so the public rooms were moved up to the first floor to be level with the rising road outside. He also owned a floor cloth manufactory on the Old Kent Road which suffered substantial fires around the time of the building of the railway. The b&w photo was taken in the 1960s, the Greyhound pub stood where the advertising hoardings are, they're basically pinned to what remains of the building. The photo of the Greyhound itself was taken around 1890-1910.

Thank you Phil, they're really interesting. These were built later than those on the Upper Grange Road (I believe by the railway to house employees). Architecturally similar but perhaps a bit larger. The b&w photo shows the houses to the left of The Greyhound pub just outside the boundaries of my layout. Unfortunately I can't include Pages Walk either as the layout is already pretty big and space is limited.

Thank you Dave, much appreciated.

Thanks Mike, I agree about the phone camera. I may have to ask Santa for a new one!

Thanks Mikkel. The carriage is wired on with some very fine wire and a small amount of epoxy resin too. Hopefully it’s not going anywhere so it enables me to add reins and so on without fear of them being broken in handling. The wire is the fine brass stuff they put round wine bottles to make you think you’re getting much better quality than you really are! Good point about the header photo. I edited it four times to try and get round the cropping, then gave up!

Thanks Kit PW, I’m glad you like it. Lots done but loads more to do yet.

That looks excellent. The very definition of the ‘Craftsmanship/Clever’ icon!

Ex petty officer Solly is in a bit of a pickle. Having recently been suspended from active naval service owing to a regrettable incident with a cannon, he has decided to consume an increasing quantity of London’s best porter. Unfortunately, not only did the calamity result in the loss of his right leg below the knee, it also neatly removed his left thumb. He now has to swap his crutch to the left in order to hold a bottle in his right hand. After several bottles this balancing act can prove increasingly challenging. Meanwhile, Archibald Plummer calmly makes his way past the undignified display. He’s seen it all before and he knows it rarely ends well. A cab clatters past the houses at Greyhound Place. Inside, William Rolls peruses the morning papers on the way to his floor cloth manufactory. In January 1837, James Braby a coach builder of Duke Street, Lambeth was granted patent no.7279 to cover ‘Certain Improvements in the Construction of Carriages’. His patent was well illustrated with drawings of three designs for hackney carriages and one omnibus. The first, a one horse hackney carriage is the subject of my model. It's cast in white metal as a ‘kit’ and the driver, a heavily modified ModelU character. The horse was a spare from the scrap box. Whether James Braby actually built any of these carriages is unknown. Unlike many inventors he was at least in a position to manufacture his designs, even if only in model form to promote his ideas to prospective clients. Figures are ModelU’s finest (with minor and occasionally major modifications). The layout is my ongoing project to recreate Bricklayers Arms, Bermondsey, c.1845 in 4mm scale. Apologies for the low resolution of these images, I must buy a new camera!

Well done! a very well deserved trophy. It was a pleasure to read your report which brought back fond memories. I used to be a member of Uckfield MRC (albeit some 35 years ago)! All familiar territory though as I spent the first 18 years of my life in Newick. Thanks for the write up and best wishes for the next trophy!

Thanks very much Mikkel. Interesting point about the possible trading. The short answer is I don't know, perhaps there would be some sort of historical record if such a thing did go on. I had intended the pens to be holding pens for both incoming and outgoing stock, although I suspect the latter was fairly uncommon. Bermondsey was the heart of the leather industry in London and, at its peak, the whole country. Therefore the pens would most likely be used for incoming cattle headed for the slaughter houses and tanneries. The pens would hold the stock until it was collected by whoever was responsible for taking it to the knackers yard. They also handled sheep although whether that was mostly incoming or outgoing I don't know. I suspect the former as sheepskins were just as regular a product of the tanneries.

Thankfully, in my case at least, lack of blog updates has not meant lack of activity. The past few months has seen slow but steady progress towards completing the cattle yard at Bricklayers Arms c1845 and therefore entering the final straight in terms of completing the first baseboard of this four baseboard exhibition layout. The following pictures are a collection of various cameos and scenes which hopefully go some way to telling the story of a busy (ish) mid 19th century yard in 4mm scale. The first scene shows a couple of chaps having some difficulty with a new chaff cutter. Chaff, or chopped hay/straw was an essential part of a horses diet. This particular model was Ward & Colbourne's Patent Chaff Cutting Engine, new in 1844. I scratch built it using brass scraps, following a drawing on the cover of Mechanics Magazine August 4th 1844. It's unusual in that it is a guillotine cutter and probably quite dangerous too! I modelled it so that it works. As you turn the handle the tiny crank turns and the blade goes up and down. Utterly pointless I know but fun all the same. The figures are modified ModelU 3D prints. I've fettled the clothing and hats a bit to take them back to mid-19th century labourers. Farmer Thompson is pleased to finally arrive at the cattle yard having driven his prize bull all the way from his farm just south of Peckham Rye. He got a good price for it so once it's on its way to Kent he'll reward himself with a pint in the Greyhound before heading back. The bull started life as a large white metal cow from the Dart Castings range. I cut the udders off, added some 'cahunas' and horns and beefed it up a bit with some judicious soldering before filing to shape. The characters are more modified ModelU figures. Of course a cattle yard would not be complete without a cattle wagon. This one is from my own range of kits, an early open South Eastern Railway type. Strictly speaking it's about 5-6 years too modern for the period I'm modelling but it's as near as I can get to an authentic vehicle. The characters hand-shunting are in fact me. I was lucky enough to be scanned by Alan Buttler from ModelU at the Severn Valley Railway a few weeks ago. He's done a fabulous job tidying up the scans and printing these out, and for once I haven't felt the need to modify them! It amazes me that even details such as individual fingers are reproduced. The only concern is the the painting does them justice, especially in 4mm scale. At the end of a busy day, Abraham is exhausted. He's diligently swept and shovelled to keep the cattle docks clean and is ready to go home to tea.

Like making endless fences for the cattle dock….!

Thanks Mikkel. There has been a bit of interest but as you say, jumping from RTR to kit building can be quite daunting for some folks. I think a simple wagon kit is a good place to start though. It’s a bit like running your first 5k, a great achievement and two years later you find yourself entering a marathon…!

The LCDR and SER vans were very similar but the most noticeable difference is that the body either side of the door on the LCDR vans was divided into two panels, the SER into three panels.

Not that these two will ever run at Bricklayers Arms but by request I dug out the old Woodham Wagon Works masters for a LSWR open wagon and made a new mould to produce the kit again. It went together very well and makes a lovely sturdy wagon. Not convinced about my choice of dark brown but I don't think the lighting helped. I'm in the process of reviving two GER open wagon kits as well, 1870 and 1883 versions, but more of that later. The LCDR van or 'covered goods wagon' to give it its proper title is from masters made by the skilled hand of Simon Turner. It went together very well as his masters always do and looks reasonably at home although both vehicles are somewhat 'modern image' for my tastes. I had an absolute nightmare when it came to painting this pair. Like a fool I decided to spray the etch primer when the weather was really cold back in April. The tiny particles of spray left the can, solidified, then deposited themselves like fine sand all over the kits. Both were shoved to the back of the cupboard in disappointment for a couple of months. i finally plucked up the courage to have a go at sanding down the LCDR van which resulted in a slightly better finish but I didn't bother with the LSWR wagon as you can see from the photos. It's particularly noticeable around the detailed areas like buffers etc as these are almost impossible to sand down due to the high risk of removing the detail altogether. I decided to hand letter them as well, I doubt transfers would take too well to a surface resembling course sandpaper. Hey-ho! Won't do that again...! Plenty more old masters to dig out and revive (eternal thanks to Burgundy for this) but it's a long slow process and a bit pricey if you consider the cost of the mould rubber these days. However, it keeps me busy and I suppose we should all have at least a few models that 'look ok from a distance'!

Hi Ray, Thanks. I’ve used a bit of artistic licence with the stables as we don’t know what the original 1844 stables looked like. So I reproduced a range I have always been fond of at Camden. One of my other blogs shows the project more clearly. Chris

Well, not being a massive footie fan I decided to amuse myself yesterday evening fitting the cattle yard office and back wall to the baseboard in front of the stables. This has created a more Dickensian alley feel to the forecourt which is what I had hoped would happen. There is still much to do in terms of fitting the cattle docks, weathering the surfaces, adding muck and the assorted figures and of course, cattle. There are a few final touches, the steps to the office are too clean and there needs to be a bit of blending between the muck and the setts, perhaps the odd shovel or broom etc, but I couldn't resist a quick photo to mark the occasion. The headline image gives a pigeon's eye view and the somewhat 'too clean' cattle yard can be seen at the top.

That looks superb. If anything it could perhaps do with a bit of dirt and gunk between the base of the slab and the cobbles but it's such a minor point. Excellent modelling, looking forward to more pics.

What no comments yet? This is superb modelling and deserves a bit more feedback surely? the weathering and level of detail is fantastic. You've really captured a period and atmosphere, I can hear those flanges squealing!

Extraordinary work. Your creativity and problem solving abilities never cease to amaze me. Fantastic!

Isn’t it weird how the most prosaic posts can be the most useful? Thanks for the research and advice Mikkel. I need to make some droppings for the stables at Bricklayers Arms and generally add some dirt so this blog is very handy.

Fantastic progress. The assembled loco is looking great. The interesting thing about those wheels is that they have a prototypically fine rim and tyre, something that is lost on commercial wheels with chunky rims and tyres. I always feel even the best wheels can still be too chunky for 1840s locomotives.

Fascinating stuff, thank you. I’ve just completed Brian’s two volumes which were absolutely superb. I can’t wait for vol.3. I’ve been modelling three Rennie locos for the standard (or narrow) gauge. It’s fascinating to see that they were not good locos until they built Mazeppa and Arab for the Broad Gauge. Since these were built to Gooch’s exacting standards they were good engines and interestingly Rennie’s subsequent locos for the standard gauge were also good. However, when you look at the drawings you can see why. They are all smaller copies of Mazeppa and Arab. I believe it was due to Gooch’s Fire-Fly design (and Stephenson’s Stars) that the Rennie brothers managed finally to produce a decent loco.

This is superb work and absolutely fascinating. I wonder if you would be interested in printing further splashers? I could do with some of a slightly smaller radius for my Rennie locos and your solution is so good.

Considering this is in 2mm, the standard of your work is breathtaking. I am in awe! A really interesting and impressive project, thanks for sharing it.