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I was going to use the Wills setts on my goods yard but I found the gaps between the blocks too wide and too deep, a 4mm figure would break their ankle and riding bike impossible. So I went for printed "textures".

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4 hours ago, chuffinghell said:


Have I taken my cobblestones too far out?

 

Probably.

 

Canals (like railways) were usually built as cheaply as they could, fancy bits were only put where prestige (or the landed gentry) demanded it.  Laying cobbles would have cost money, so surfaces only tended to be paved where they needed to be.  Under the bridge, around locks and wharf sides (but even then not always - we used to have canal side premises, and the only paving was where the crane had been, and in the door ways).

 

Late twentieth and early twenty first centuries saw the canals developing as places of leisure, so tow path surfaces started to get improved.

 

Adrian

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Our nearest canal has a mixture of hard materials underneath the bridges.  These are mainly cobbles or bricks.  The canal is edged with large stones under most bridges but sometimes the builders have used bricks with a rounded edge nearest the water.

 

Most, possibly all, of the locks have an arc of bricks with raised brick slip bars.  A number of locks have a brick towpath with slip bars at the lower end of the lock.  I can think of one lock where the brick towpath continues for a few metres because the lower end of the lock is close to a bridge.  Most of the canal is in open countryside and the towpath is still a mixture of compacted earth with a rough footway in the middle much like you see in old photographs from the days of horse drawn boats.  It is only just starting to be improved for leisure by being dug out a little and a level surface of compacted gravel laid.

 

This is the Worcester and Birmingham canal.  Roughly speaking it was build in two stages.  The section from the centre of Birmingham to near Hopwood was built in the late 18th century and is a barge canal i.e. wide.  The section between Hopwood and Worcester was built in the early 19th century and is a narrow canal.  It is slightly ironic that the towpaths are only now being improved as Hopwwod is only near where Tom Rolt used to live who was one of the pioneers of restoring the canals.

 

There is another canal running from Droitwich to the Severn which is one of the earliest canals build by James Brindley and was only restored this century and still has large sections of rough towpath which are gradually being improved.  This canal was joined to the Worcester and Birmingham canal a couple of centuries ago and now forms a neat little 21 mile cruising ring with part of the route using the Severn.

 

There are rough paths from many of the bridges giving access by foot and if you are pondering whether or not to have some steps up the embankment to justify the extended setts I'd say that there is no reason why you couldn't model what started as a muddy path and got 'improved' by adding a few brick steps (just banged into the ground rather than properly laid) and perhaps a crude wooden handrail.  This kind of thing was particularly common if there was a pub nearby or if the towpath provided a short cut for workers.  It wouldn't have to had been built as part of the canal.

 

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19 minutes ago, chuffinghell said:

alternatives:-

 


689D7619-D434-4ED4-84A0-9FC4A1FF9211.jpeg.8c7998c4bfc8d9d56a0c46fcd90a8d7b.jpeg

 

I like the green line

 


I clicked ‘agree’ to this post but just want to quantify that it’s the green line alternative I’m agreeing with! :D

Edited by Banger Blue
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Just now, Banger Blue said:

 


I clicked ‘agree’ to this post but just want to quantify that it’s the green line alternative I’m agreeing with! :D


Thanks for clearing that up :lol:

I just like the idea of the rest of the towpath blending to the setts rather than an abrupt straight line

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Likewise, I imagine that even if laid neatly in 1790, a good few would have sunk or gone MIA by 1930.

 

I spotted @Banger Blue's post first and the mention of a Green Line and thought for a moment there was some kind of debate about @#£& buses again! (Two bridges, two buses....) :crazy:

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22 hours ago, chuffinghell said:

Fortunately nothing has been glued in place so I’ll be able to redo it tomorrow with the setts just under the bridge.

 

Its a shame but if it’s not correct then it’s best that it’s redone.

 

Given the attention to detail that you've shown elsewhere, it would be a shame to not carry it on with the non-railway bits.

 

From Leek, you aren't that far from several canals, so a field visit ought to be relatively easy.

 

Adrian

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Well it’s glued in place and had a base coat sprayed on so there’s no going back now

 

DE8B9355-DA3F-45C2-A7CE-CE60761CE537.jpeg.2d24bf399bbbad0b416dcf71eb2805fa.jpeg
 

Ignore the gap at the back as it’s not visible when the bridge is in place

 

E8F1D361-170E-4796-851C-73BF7E3395CB.jpeg.bcdee2fc7c17cea9de1c37f7d416119b.jpeg

 

Once I’ve weathered the granite setts and the canal edge under the bridge I can put it all in place....only because it’s going to be easier to do it without the bridge in place

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8 hours ago, Rowsley17D said:

Might I suggest a skim of plaster/filler over the setts to try and reduce the depth of the gaps?


I’ve mixed a few drops of black paint with some ready mixed filler and this was the result


FF918604-486D-4F04-BCBF-7FA29FCB8774.jpeg.70224a1c44a4eae8c26d4dd1770461c9.jpeg

 

Also tried it with dark umber but I didn’t like it

 

81F92204-63DD-47A9-9B8B-A0F55C720AD0.jpeg.1eedb7a52abc0ebafb20bb5ab07cd328.jpeg

 

 

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19 minutes ago, Ponthir28 said:

A greeny moss and black as under the bridge not much sun light. Just my thoughts you can totally ignore them. 


I’m afraid I won’t be ignoring you because a bit of moss will also help to disguise any gaps :o 

 

I’ll leave that as a ‘finishing touch’ though :)

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