The buildings play a major part in getting the feeling and look of the layout right and I give a massive thanks to Phil Eames for providing me with loads of detailed shots of the buildings, some of which have been attached below with Phil's kind permission.  The main feature of the layout is the loading silos with extensions and I had to get these right or as close as possible.  I mentioned before that the first version of this building I built was wrong and I unfortunately forgot to take photos of the construction process for the final version.  The main body of the silos was made from gutter downpipe bought for a few quid from B&Q then various bits of plasticard and Evergreen sheet were attached.  The silos were made from a frame of Evergreen/Plastruct I beam and clad with Evergreen sheet.

Photo produced with kind permission of Phil Eames.

The building right behind the silos was constructed at an angle to the back scene which proved a little more difficult than I had originally thought.  The first build made from various bits of plasticard and Evergreen sheet warped badly so had to be thrown out.  The final version was built from a 3mm plywood frame clad with Evergreen sheet.

Photo produced with kind permission of Phil Eames.

The last big building is actually situated further back from the silo in real life but I rather liked it so thought it would be fun to build from scratch.  I again started with a frame of 3mm plywood then clad it in Evergreen sheet.  The silos are made from larger diameter drain pipe bought for a few quid from B&Q.

Photo produced with kind permission of Phil Eames.

There are still loads of details to add to the buildings and more weathering but I'm happy with progress so far as I feel it captures the prototype well.  The other thing that struck me while building them is how massive they are.  They wouldn't look too out of place on a 4mm scale layout!

More to follow.

Martin