Grindleford Station Hope Valley Line 1960s BR - Station Café build

[Alister_G]

Hi Dave,

 

I'll make a note!

 

Yes you are probably right, the roofs could stand a bit more weathering to tone them down. It's a matter of lighting, as much as anything, 'cos in certain lights the current colouring looks very dark, but in the above photos it looks too light.

 

I'll give them a grey wash to tone them down a bit.

 

Hopefully I'll have more modelling time now, beginning of the year always seems to be frantic at work, but it's died down now (hence me being on RMWeb and not working)

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

[eastwestdivide]

Hi, may I order a soup sandwich please.

To give the full picture, £3.15 was the price for a Tuna sandwich over on the left, and the price for soup was out of shot on the right, below the fried bread price. However, it was partially obscured by a printed sign reading "Due to recent cutbacks, the light at the end of the tunnel has been switched off".

 

On the plus side, it's good to find a cafe that hasn't succumbed to gentrification, baristas and "coffee culture". There was an enormous choice of hot English breakfast stuff at 9.30 on a Sunday, and the bacon butty and tea was just fine. Anyone wanting coffee would have to do with instant however.

Edited April 10, 2017 by eastwestdivide

[Alister_G]

 

On the plus side, it's good find a cafe that hasn't succumbed to gentrification, baristas and "coffee culture".

 

Absolutely! Those wanting a machiato-latte-frappe-mocha-choco-half-decaf-with-soy should go elsewhere.

 

I was recently out with the family for a meal in a little pub in the Peak, and after our meal I requested a coffee. The poor confused boy who was taking our order didn't know what I meant, the phrase "a coffee" obviously didn't compute.

 

I'm afraid I must be gaining "grumpy-old-man" status.

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

This evening I've added the gutters, and some bits of trim round the cladding panels:

 

 

 

 

Following the advice of Dave (Waverley West) I've also added a wash over the roofs to tone down the contrast a bit:

 

 

 

Looks a lot better.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Waverley West]

Nice Al. There's still some good variations in tones, but it all blends together better and looks more natural to me.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

PS I'm still waiting for my fried bread soup... 

[Alister_G]

Nice Al. There's still some good variations in tones, but it all blends together better and looks more natural to me.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

PS I'm still waiting for my fried bread soup... 

 

Thanks mate, thanks very much for pushing me to do it.

 

I do apologise for the delay, I'll just go and check in the kitchens...

 

Al.

[Sasquatch]

Thanks for the nostalgia. I'd almost forgotten what a "Chip Buttie" was, I'll get back to my "Skinny Soy Mexican Mocha". 

 

Sombrero, Poncho and adios amegos.

[Alister_G]

Well, I got a bit annoyed at Cromford, having made a bit of a stupid mistake, so I decided to do some work on Grindleford instead.

 

You may remember that the Café was hanging off the edge of the baseboard, so I built a small extension to support it:

 

 

 

 

I can now start considering repairing the road surface, and blending it all in with scenics:

 

 

 

The view from one of the platforms, I think captures the prototype very well, with the chimneys poking above the trees:

 

 

I'm a bit more of a happy bunny now...

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

A bit more work done this afternoon, now I've built the extension piece for the Café to sit on, I've started to hide the plain lump of plywood and build up some scenery.

 

So I took a couple of offcuts of PIR foam, and shaped them lovingly with a bread knife:

 

 

 

Then. I took the board up to work on separately.

 

First I glued the PIR to the board with PVA:

 

 

Then, whilst letting that dry, I knocked up some quick sections of retaining wall:

 

 

 

These were then painted in Matt Tan, and left to dry:

 

 

 

More later,

 

Al.

[Andrew P]

More brilliant work mate, that will blend in really well.

[Alister_G]

Cheers Andy.

 

After tea, with the Matt Tan having dried, I applied a couple of dilute washes of Humbrol Black Green (91) to the retaining walls:

 

 

 

and then stuck some Hanging Basket Liner over the PIR landscape:

 

 

 

Back in position on the layout, here's some views:

 

 

 

 

And a distant view showing the setting:

 

 

That's all for now, thanks for looking,

 

Al.

 

 

[Alister_G]

Today, I've been on a day trip.

 

See if you can guess where?

 

 

This might help:

 

 

and a more distant view:

 

 

If you haven't already got it, I've been to Conwy in North Wales. The pictures above are of Robert Stephenson's Tubular Bridge, which crosses the river Conwy.

 

Looking back the other way from the previous photo, you can see a goods crane:

 

 

A closer view:

 

 

This is all that remains of the extensive goods yard which was once here. The railway builders dug away some of the foundations of the Castle to create a large enough flat area for the yard, but nothing now remains except the crane.

 

There are three bridges over the river here, Stephenson's Tubular Bridge, Thomas Telford's Suspension bridge, and the newer road bridge:

 

 

A better view of Telford's bridge:

 

 

At the Bangor end, the suspension chains are anchored conventionally by large lumps of cast iron set in concrete:

 

 

but at the other end, once again demonstrating that the Victorians didn't bother much about historical remains, they anchored the chains to the castle!

 

 

I didn't spend all my time looking at railways and bridges though (otherwise I really would have been in trouble!) and the castle  itself and the town walls were fascinating to look round.

 

Here's the view from the tallest tower, looking back over the castle and town:

 

 

The weather was good, and we had a great day.

 

Al.

 

[Alister_G]

I did get chance to do some more modelling this evening.

 

It could fairly be said that I have never modelled with card. Today though, was an exception.

 

Here's a piece of card, carefully measured and cut:

 

 

and here's where it's going:

 

 

This is to form the roadway and car park in front of the Café.

 

Here it is in place:

 

 

and with the Café in situ:

 

 

 

This has now had lots of heavy things plonked on it to dry:

 

 

I also poured a load of ballast on the road at the back of the station leading to the goods yard:

 

 

I will hoover up the excess when it's dried, tomorrow.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

A bit more work on bedding in the Café into the scenery:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[cheesysmith]

Any updates? I've been having withdrawal symptoms.

[Alister_G]

Any updates? I've been having withdrawal symptoms.

 

Sorry about that

 

I'm currently working on Cromford, which was supposed to be a quick build, but for one reason or another is dragging on a lot longer than I envisaged.

 

I haven't given up, and will be returning to work on Grindleford as soon as I can.

 

Thanks very much,

 

Al.

[cheesysmith]

Work getting in the way of life, sympathies.

[Alister_G]

Well, it's been a long time since I posted here, or since I've logged in to RMWeb, what with one thing or another.

 

I suffered a complete lack of mojo during the latter part of last year, and it is only now that I've managed to get some interest back.

 

However, I was recently watching some videos on you tube of Peak Forest, and Toton and Tinsley in the 80's and 90's which got me interested in the sorts of traffic which would have been regularly seen through Grindleford.

 

This led to some impulsive Ebay shopping, and here's what I've bought.

 

Firstly, I already have a large rake of the PCA V tank cement wagons which were used at Hope Cement Works, but to run more prototypical rakes I needed to get some of the later "Metalair" type tank wagons as modelled by Bachmann. When they first came out they were horrendously expensive, but as time has gone by they have come down in price, and so I've now bought 8 of them:

 

 

 

 

And as a result of watching Peak Forest videos, I've bought a Class 37 in Construction Sector livery, which I've weathered to look old and work stained as they often seemed to appear.

 

 

 

So here's the metalairs and PCA V tanks in a mixed rake, as you still see them today:

 

 

 

 

The next thing I bought, which again would often be seen at Earle's Sidings, was a rake of HAA Merry-Go-Round coal hoppers.

 

 

 

These are the Hornby Railroad ones, which in their out-of-the-box state look very plasticy and toy like:

 

 

I've bought some weathering powders to try:

 

 

and this is what I've achieved with them:

 

 

In comparison:

 

 

As these will run as a fixed rake, I have removed the horrible massive Hornby couplings, and will join the rake with homemade wire connections instead.

 

Here's some of them, part dismantled, before I remove the couplings:

 

 

And here's how they should look together:

 

 

A lot less toy-like:

 

 

And to haul these, I thought a Class 47 might do the job so I bought one in Railfreight livery, and attacked it with more weathering powders,

 

 

 

I added a driver:

 

 

and some buffer beam detail:

 

 

and here's how it looks:

 

 

 

 

That's about all I've done, up to now.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Holmesfeldian]

Great to see you back in the groove !

This is a video I recommend regarding MGR fixed rakes and weathering.

(His channel is full of great 'how-to' videos.

[vulcan product fan]

great weathering work on the rolling stock and brush 4 Al good to see you post again mate .

[westerhamstation]

Hi Al, good to have you back, nice work on the weathering. All the best Adrian.

[Andrew P]

Hi Al, I went to bed after our PM's last night and missed this little lot. WOW Mate superb, some really good weathering as always and good to see Grindleford re kindled. 

 

I will be keeping KM in the Blue / Railfreight period of the 80's so will bounce off you now for inspiration.

 

All the very best, and really great to see you back.

[freebs]

Great to see you back modelling Al - great stuff with the rolling stock-  love it!

I just haven't had the time for any modelling myself - the garage being absolutely freezing doesn't help, but with a potential two commissions on the horizon, this could all change

[Alister_G]

Great to see you back in the groove !

 

This is a video I recommend regarding MGR fixed rakes and weathering.

 

(His channel is full of great 'how-to' videos.

 

Cheers Nick,

 

Yes, I watched how he did it before attacking mine

 

I've followed Richard's Youtube stuff for a while now, he does show some great techniques.

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

great weathering work on the rolling stock and brush 4 Al good to see you post again mate .

 

 

Hi Al, good to have you back, nice work on the weathering. All the best Adrian.

 

Thanks, Adrians...

 

I need to catch up on all your threads now.

 

Al.