Wolverhampton West Park - A run down city terminus

[Calidore]

I've been enjoying the videos and photos @turtlebah, this is a really nicely proportioned scene. I've been admiring the track weathering and the look of the platforms for a while, but with the buildings in place it looks like the scene will be changing quite dramatically. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

Adam

[turtlebah]

My partner’s taken my daughter out for the early morning stroll today so jumped at the chance to whip out of bed, cut some more foam board and produce this little video complete with half the station building mocked up in the background.

 

 

[turtlebah]

19 hours ago, Calidore said:

I've been enjoying the videos and photos @turtlebah, this is a really nicely proportioned scene. I've been admiring the track weathering and the look of the platforms for a while, but with the buildings in place it looks like the scene will be changing quite dramatically. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

Adam

 

Thanks for the kind words, Adam.

 

For someone who doesn’t have the space for prototypical mainline running i thought the invention of a secondary terminus could work. Layouts like Earls Court show that with platforms running straight into a fiddle yard can create the illusion of a complete scene.

 

I can’t remember where i stole the idea from, but somewhere on this site someone suggested having platforms much longer than the trains you intend to run, which gives the impression of a station that was much busier in its heyday, but also everything appears a bit more important. The lines around Birmingham and Wolverhampton also had a good array of shorter formations pulled by larger locos being repurposed as the diesels and hydraulics took over the express work.

 

I’ve never scratch build any buildings before so god knows how it’s all going to turn out / come together. I imagine the workshop will be full of false starts (as per usual ).

 

Been having a cheeky look at St Mabyn...another lovely thread for me to follow now. A very atmospheric scene - great work!

[Calidore]

Earl's Court is just the thing I've been thinking of when looking at this, yes, it's succeeding on the same kinds of principles. I like that you've been able to introduce a bit of flow and curvature into the trackwork as well on West Park though.

 

Just the hint of a building with windows and doors in the background is looking really nice already too. I have to admire the confidence in scratch building on this scale from the get-go!

 

I admire your restraint re train lengths, it's quite right of course; unfortunately I'm a sucker for a Bulleid and eight coaches so if I had the platform length I'd invariably use it 

 

Adam

[turtlebah]

5 hours ago, Calidore said:

Earl's Court is just the thing I've been thinking of when looking at this, yes, it's succeeding on the same kinds of principles. I like that you've been able to introduce a bit of flow and curvature into the trackwork as well on West Park though.

 

Just the hint of a building with windows and doors in the background is looking really nice already too. I have to admire the confidence in scratch building on this scale from the get-go!

 

I admire your restraint re train lengths, it's quite right of course; unfortunately I'm a sucker for a Bulleid and eight coaches so if I had the platform length I'd invariably use it 

 

Adam

 

I’d love to say i have confidence, but the scratch building route was simply the result of not being able to find anything that closely resembles my imagined scene out of the box.  I left myself little choice. 

 

That said, I am getting someone else to laser cut the basic building shells in mdf.  I find the hardest thing was stopping previous attempts from warping either during construction or after painting. I’m hoping a sturdy well cut shell will help alleviate some of these issues.

 

I’d love to run 8 coaches in to a terminus, but that would require a house move.  I do have a Bulleid to run a football special from Southampton though 

Edited April 11, 2020 by turtlebah

[turtlebah]

The view from the top of Waterloo Road bridge.

 

The station area mock up is coming along and the next step will be to finalise the measurements before getting some proper drawings completed.

 

 

An idea of what under the canopy might look like - i still need to finish the platforms...

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by turtlebah

[lezz01]

I do like that canopy. Good old  Airfix.

Regards Lez.

[danstercivicman]

1 hour ago, turtlebah said:

The view from the top of Waterloo Road bridge.

 

The station area mock up is coming along and the next step will be to finalise the measurements before getting some proper drawings completed.

 

 

An idea of what under the canopy might look like - i still need to finish the platforms...

 

 

 

 

Great stuff

 

I’m also a fan of the Airfix canopy.  I love the WV themed layout  nice! 

[danstercivicman]

Just now, danstercivicman said:

 

Great stuff

 

I’m also a fan of the Airfix canopy.  I love the WV themed layout  nice! 

 

 

I also like that you have gone across with them.  In hindsight I should have done that as it would have given me my cross beams!!! 

[turtlebah]

1 hour ago, lezz01 said:

I do like that canopy. Good old  Airfix.

Regards Lez.

 

Thanks Lez, the old Airfix canopies work super well as a base structure if, like me, you lack the patience to scratch build canopy supports.

 

With a bit of work you can do some really interesting stuff with them 

[turtlebah]

1 hour ago, danstercivicman said:

 

 

I also like that you have gone across with them.  In hindsight I should have done that as it would have given me my cross beams!!! 

 

I was going to use canopies conventionally on the platforms as well as build my own canopy shed, but by pure chance i placed a couple of completed Airfix structures across the platforms and noticed they were a perfect fit. It meant i could build a much bigger (and more structurally sound) overall canopy.

[turtlebah]

A new addition to the fleet this Easter weekend.

 

As West Park runs into further disrepair and the Western Region services were moved away as Low Level closed, these class 101s became more popular on local services as the station came under the control of BR Midland Region.

 

Please ignore the SPAD, i haven’t got round to wiring up the signals yet, but rest assured, there will be a full investigation 

 

 

[turtlebah]

I’ve previously been set on using Kadee couplings on West Park.  The overall canopy means that when exhibiting I would require some form of magnetic uncoupling and Kadee seemed the most straight forward way to go.  However, a recent trawl of YouTube made me think about Sprat & Winkle as an alternative.

 

The positives are that obviously the Sprat & Winkle look much more realistic than Kadee, particularly on locos.  West Park also uses pilot engines to shunt stock into platforms ready for departing trains, so I would also require some electromagnetic uncouplers placed towards the station throat (running out of the station at slow speed over permanent magnetic uncouplers led to a few passengers being left in the platform!!!).  Those supplied by Kadee seemed fairly cumbersome and the Sprat & Winkle alternative (purchased via Wizard Models) looks like it’s easy enough to retro fit under the board with a bit of careful drilling.

 

The long and the short means that this arrived in the post yesterday - a Sprat & Winkle starter kit.  What have I let myself in for!!!!????

 

 

I’m sure over the coming months there is going to be much trawling of RMWeb in search of advice on how best to fit to a variety of stock. 

 

[turtlebah]

The view from Waterloo Road bridge looking towards the station exit.

 

The Platform 1 and centre road starter signals are now also in place (massive thanks again to Mark Seward).

 

[turtlebah]

I finally finished the majority of the scenic mock ups this evening ready to create the drawings required for laser cutting the basic scenic shells.

 

The overall idea is to make the scene feel constricted, as any urban terminus would be, but with enough viewing points to see what’s going on.  I do like layouts where the viewer has to work a little harder to get a view of the trains (whilst still being interesting).  Farkham is one of my favourite layouts with regards to creating this effect (shock horror - a modern image layout ).

 

The warehouse that the main running lines out of the station pass under will in reality be a little wider (6 windows).  Unfortunately I ran out of foam board at this point.

 

 

A couple of photos of the over bridge and proposed embankments.  I also was not able to fully kit out the warehouse in windows until a further order with York Model Making has been placed.

 

 

To the right of the warehouse will be a second goods warehouse, which the siding on the left runs into.  Whilst I have got a good idea of how I would like that scene to look, it’s a project to tackle further down the line once the station area has come to life.  I need to study some ‘how to make realistic concrete’ videos before that area takes shape.  Marcus Lambert from Gowerton Parkway provided some inspiration, although i don’t think i have the stomach to use real concrete, however realistic the finish. Maybe das clay?

 

Much inspiration for the second warehouse architecture will be taken from the goods warehouse at Moor Street.  If anyone has any good book recommendations (or photos other than google) covering the warehouse I would be very grateful.

 

 

The signal box is temporary.  I am hopefully going to get round to scratch building one at some point that resembles a slightly smaller version of Exeter St David. The narrow base is appealing in an urban setting where space would have been at a premium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[saxokid]

12 hours ago, turtlebah said:

The view from Waterloo Road bridge looking towards the station exit.

 

The Platform 1 and centre road starter signals are now also in place (massive thanks again to Mark Seward).

 

Realy like these semaphore signals

[turtlebah]

7 hours ago, saxokid said:

Realy like these semaphore signals

 

Thanks @saxokid.  I wish i could take the credit for them, but as mentioned above, Mark Seward is your man for these.  Signals were quickly identified as the weakest chink in my modelling armoury and quite a key feature of such a small layout so it seemed appropriate to get some help. Money very well spent.

[Calidore]

The views from the bridge are just the ticket, very nice... Should look great once the buildings come to life too.

 

Adam

[turtlebah]

14 hours ago, Calidore said:

The views from the bridge are just the ticket, very nice... Should look great once the buildings come to life too.

 

Adam

let’s hope so 

[turtlebah]

Back to work today after an extended Easter break and so little time for modelling.  A good excuse this evening to play trains for an hour.

 

It really would be much easier (operationally) to make these videos if i bothered to wire up the fiddle yard cassettes for trains running out of platforms 1 and 2 (that’s why you only ever see departing trains running from platform 3 unless a DMU.  Perhaps a job for the weekend...

 

In the meantime, here’s the latest trainspotters chronicles at West Park.

 

 

[danstercivicman]

16 minutes ago, turtlebah said:

Back to work today after an extended Easter break and so little time for modelling.  A good excuse this evening to play trains for an hour.

 

It really would be much easier (operationally) to make these videos if i bothered to wire up the fiddle yard cassettes for trains running out of platforms 1 and 2 (that’s why you only ever see departing trains running from platform 3 unless a DMU.  Perhaps a job for the weekend...

 

In the meantime, here’s the latest trainspotters chronicles at West Park.

 

 

 

Very nice  

 

[turtlebah]

11 hours ago, danstercivicman said:

 

Very nice  

 

 

Thanks, Dan.  Still a long way to go.

 

When you have an hour spare in the evening it is just too tempting to play trains 

[Adrian Stevenson]

Nice video. I like the weathered Black 5 very much.

 

Cheers, Ade.

[turtlebah]

14 minutes ago, Adrian Stevenson said:

Nice video. I like the weathered Black 5 very much.

 

Cheers, Ade.

 

Thanks Ade.  I wish I could take credit for the Black 5, but that was the handy work of the guys at TMC who did a great job as always.

 

It does still need detailing though and I've got a parts pack to fit, but there's more pressing scenic work to get done for now.

[turtlebah]

Whilst I would dearly love to just play trains the time has come to crack on with the next phase - the rather mundane task of producing detailed measurement drawings for the scenery shells before laser cutting can commence.

 

A lonely evening spent at the kitchen table with obligatory beer and documentary on North West steam for company 

 

The retaining wall and Waterloo Road bridge sketch

 

West Park station building basic shell