Oxford 2017 - Announce - 'Oxford Structures'

[The Stationmaster]

I'm not particularly impressed by the water tower but the pub (or what I presume is the pub?) looks pretty good - it will be interesting to see what the other railway models look like and if their 'GWR dna' extends a bit further than a colour scheme.

 

http://oxfordrail.com/76/structures.htm

[micklner]

I'm not particularly impressed by the water tower but the pub (or what I presume is the pub?) looks pretty good - it will be interesting to see what the other railway models look like and if their 'GWR dna' extends a bit further than a colour scheme.

 

http://oxfordrail.com/76/structures.htm

 

Pub , I think that is the cottage? Maybe the photo but the Roof looks enormous compared to the Windows looks like OO  gauge Roof and N gauge Windows !. The Shop looks like a direct copy of the Skaledale version.

Edited June 3, 2017 by micklner

[Hilux5972]

The skaledale shops never had windows on the sides, though I dont see much more different. As for the OO Gauge roof, N Gauge windows cottage ...

Edited June 3, 2017 by Hilux5972

[melmerby]

They should have pushed the boat out and included a standard GWR coaling stage, which there hasn't been many models of.

 

Keith

[micklner]

The skaledale shops never had windows on the sides, though I dont see much more different. As for the OO Gauge roof, N Gauge windows cottage ...IMG_4411.JPG

 

Bizarre way of building ,a huge amount of lost accommodation space on one side and a lot of Roof Tiles as well !!

[Hilux5972]

Bizarre way of building ,a huge amount of lost accommodation space on one side and a lot of Roof Tiles as well !!

Haha yes it definitely is bizarre.

[melmerby]

Bizarre way of building ,a huge amount of lost accommodation space on one side and a lot of Roof Tiles as well !!

Possibly one of these 1½ storey thingys where the side away from you has an upper floor, bit like a bungalow on steroids!

 

Keith

[bigherb]

Maybe the photo but the Roof looks enormous compared to the Windows looks like OO  gauge Roof and N gauge Windows !.

Not unusual for the period to have small windows when glass was a very expensive material.

[Adams442T]

       Photos and list of structures:

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

 

[melmerby]

That tank should have been like this:

http://www.docbrown.info/docspics/southwest/OxfordTrip/P6305314.jpg

 

Surely in later years tanks over coaling stages were more common than the free standing tank?

 

Keith

[The Stationmaster]

That tank should have been like this:

http://www.docbrown.info/docspics/southwest/OxfordTrip/P6305314.jpg

 

Surely in later years tanks over coaling stages were more common than the free standing tank?

 

Keith

 

At loco depots - yes.  

 

But there were plenty of individual water tanks about at stations etc and the larger ones, and some of the smaller ones, were on brick bases - but I can't recall ever seeing, or seeing a picture of, one like the Oxford structure.  Probably far better for them to have gone for a  branch line structure such as the one in my picture below or one of the proper larger ones (although many seem to have been as much for hydraulic power purposes as water for engines and therefore tended to be quite large).  And of course they are a feature for which numerous original drawings are readily available - if you know where to look.

 

[tractionman]

The water tower looks a bit like the one at Birmingham Moor Street station

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/birmingham_moor_street/index25.shtml

 

rebuilt from Tyseley according to the inf on Disused Stations website.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[melmerby]

The water tower looks a bit like the one at Birmingham Moor Street station

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/birmingham_moor_street/index25.shtml

 

rebuilt from Tyseley according to the inf on Disused Stations website.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

I wonder where that would have been at Tyseley?

I thought it was a replica built when the station was re-developed backwards.

Tyseley had a large 2 road coaling stage with tank over and it is still in situ!

 

https://goo.gl/maps/VuTtX9ecTnw

 

Keith

 

EDIT I think Moor Street had a water tank but on steel legs on the South side of the station throat. (not the wagon hoists!)

Edited June 4, 2017 by melmerby

[The Johnster]

The two shops could be weathered into something suitably grim and northern, and the sides seem to be commendably thin for resin mouldings.  But the cottage is very chocolate box (yes, I know the Birkenhead route has plenty of that sort of thing and not all of it is in the Home Counties).  The water tower doesn't quite pull it off as a GW one, with that deep curved roof, and it is a shame that Ox do not say if it is based on any particular prototype, although given the outrage if they'd missed a rivet I can hardly blame them!  But as a generic railway water tower it's fine, and will look as if it was an original structure on many layouts.  Nice pipework.

 

Chocolate box or not, I reckon that cottage will sell like hot cakes; it is full of character and would be fairly difficult to attempt as a scratch build, nicely weathered and toned in as well, with a very effective tiled roof.

[Dunsignalling]

There seems to be some uncertainty about whether the rather nice building illustrated is "The Bush Inn" or "Hazel Cottage".

 

The initial release mentions a thatched cottage, which this clearly isn't, and it looks at least twice the size of any cottage I've ever been in, so it will be used as the basis for a pub or a fairly substantial farmhouse when I get one.  

 

John  

[ady77014]

Anyone know what the station building will be based on. I have been very surprised n the kits and the ready-to-plant buildings that when it comes to GWR station buildings it always seems to be buildings based on those used on one line that was built by a indepenant company, not one of the standard GWR designs which were built across the country. The only one I know of was the Prototype Models Card Kit for Chalford Station (from the 1890's?). So if Oxford were to do for example: the turn of the century blue brick buildings with the large canopy over the whole building, or maybe even one of the classic looking timber buildings (see the preserved Totness station), or the ultimate, the massive building that stood at Ross-on-Wye, I image it be very attractive to a lot of modellers. Less incentive to go build something I guess, but then maybe it could maybe make some people be different as well...

 

(I been tempted to do the Uxbridge High Street building but A. I couldn't find any plans B. I not much experience of building. C. Become demoralised with modelling if to be honest.)

[The Stationmaster]

I wonder where that would have been at Tyseley?

I thought it was a replica built when the station was re-developed backwards.

Tyseley had a large 2 road coaling stage with tank over and it is still in situ!

 

https://goo.gl/maps/VuTtX9ecTnw

 

Keith

 

EDIT I think Moor Street had a water tank but on steel legs on the South side of the station throat. (not the wagon hoists!)

 

The Moor Street tank is just visible over the roof of a dmu in the '1950 - 170' photos in the link (4th picture down from the top) posted by 'tractionman'.  If it had ever been at Tyseley it was maybe inside a building or came from the TMD.  

 

While the Moor Street original undoubtedly supplied water cranes it looks quite large and possibly served for hydraulic use as well for the goods depot.

[melmerby]

The Moor Street tank is just visible over the roof of a dmu in the '1950 - 170' photos in the link (4th picture down from the top) posted by 'tractionman'.  If it had ever been at Tyseley it was maybe inside a building or came from the TMD.  

 

While the Moor Street original undoubtedly supplied water cranes it looks quite large and possibly served for hydraulic use as well for the goods depot.

What would the hydraulics be used for in the goods yard?

All Moor Street's various contraptions were electrically powered from the start. (traversers, wagon hoists, capstans, cranes etc.)

 

Keith

 

EDIT

I wonder whether the "new" water tank is in fact the old one re-mounted on a new GWR inspired brick base on the platform?

Edited June 5, 2017 by melmerby

[rue_d_etropal]

Pity they are following the others, rather than trying something new. That Llego idea would have been much better. No wonder interst in the hobby is getting less, when all you have to dois open a box and put yout building on your layout.

One good thing is that it makes alternatives look more resonably priced, even 3D printing.

Expect to hear more grumbles about layouts being even heavier to carry now, and possibly sagging basesboards!

Edited June 7, 2017 by rue_d_etropal

[melmerby]

Following the above comment: Why are so many buildings now so called "Stonecast"?

Apart from the excessive weight, it doesn't seem to take detail as well as injection moulding and it's also pretty expensive way of populating a layout with buildings.

 

I have three Bachmann Scenecraft, only because they were half price or less. I wouldn't consider them at RRP.

 

Keith

[Andy W]

Stonecast implies the model is made from a plaster-based compound, the name Stonecast is the tradename for the material used. That would indeed be heavy for a complete building. Manufacturers like 10 Commandments use Stonecast, but their larger buildings are low relief.

Bachmann Scenecraft and Hornby Skaledale are moulded from plastic resin, which is considerably lighter than plaster.

Why do they use it? Tooling costs are a lot less, it is much easier to make a complete building in one piece so only details like downpipes need to be added by hand.

Injection moulding has high tooling costs and it is between difficult and impossible to make a building of any size in one piece.so assembly is needed before painting. They won't necessarily be cheaper to buy by the time you've added in the cost of the paint and glue, and they certainly won't be cheaper if supplied ready assembled and painted.

Have a look online at the US company Walthers, and see the ranges of injection moulded building kits they offer. Not UK prototype obviously, though modern industrial buildings look the same worldwide. Some are 50-60 year old tooling just like the Dapol (Airfix) ones we have here and prices reflect that. Others are brand new tooling and seriously expensive - even though they are "just" injection mouldings supplied in kit form, That's with a market 5 times or so the size of ours so costs are spread over longer runs.

[The Stationmaster]

What would the hydraulics be used for in the goods yard?

All Moor Street's various contraptions were electrically powered from the start. (traversers, wagon hoists, capstans, cranes etc.)

 

Keith

 

EDIT

I wonder whether the "new" water tank is in fact the old one re-mounted on a new GWR inspired brick base on the platform?

 

Interesting that everything was electric - at many places lifts, in particular, were hydraulic as were the capstans at some places.  Hydraulics were the main reason for the large tank at Reading for instance and it outlasted the steam era in order to supply certain lifts such as the one in the goods shed.

[Andy W]

I suppose it is a question of age. The Moor Street complex of passenger and goods stations opened as late (in railway terms) as 1909-1914. By then nobody was going to put in an entirely new hydraulically powered installation, especially in the middle of a large city with reliable electricity supplies. At sites where hydraulic power was already in use it made sense to make use of the investment in high pressure water pipes, pumping stations and header tanks even when individual buildings were added and/or equipment renewed.

And it was Birmingham - home of an awful lot of high-tech (for the period) industry. What better way of showing potential customers how much more advanced the GWR was than its competitors the LNWR and MR, still stuck in the 19th century!

[Welchester]

And it was Birmingham - home of an awful lot of high-tech (for the period) industry. What better way of showing potential customers how much more advanced the GWR was than its competitors the LNWR and MR, still stuck in the 19th century!

 

Completely off-topic, but there's an old story of a Birmingham businessman who disparaged one of his rivals by saying, 'He travels to London by LMS.'

[iL Dottore]

I'm not particularly impressed by the water tower but the pub (or what I presume is the pub?) looks pretty good - it will be interesting to see what the other railway models look like and if their 'GWR dna' extends a bit further than a colour scheme.

 

http://oxfordrail.com/76/structures.htm

Actually, Mike, my view is the diametrically opposite: I think that the water tower looks pretty good, but the Pub (and I'll go with your assumption that it is a pub) doesn't look anything special - although they have done a very nice job on painting the roof. I hope that Oxford Rail don't follow the Scenecraft and Skaledale route whereby the preproduction model looks very good and the production model is very crude in comparison (I got "burnt" on the Scenecraft GWR footbridge - what arrived in the box was nothing like photograph of the pre-production model). Hornby has made considerable improvements in their resin RTP buildings, but I haven't seen any recent Scenecraft models to tell whether or not they have also improved.

 

If Oxford Rail can avoid the pitfalls I have noted with competing RTP buildings that I have noted (over thick walls, no interior partitions, poor assembly, differing - sometimes considerably - to the preproduction model) then some of the models will be very useful indeed (although the shops they have designed [i would be surprised if they are copies of a prototype] do not convince).

 

I await further news with interest.

 

iD