Jump to content
 

The railways of Ben Ashworth country.

Recommended Posts

Hi. Haven’t heard from you for a while. What I wanted to avoid is rail joins which  don’t follow curves but suddenly jerk left or right like the edges of an old UK threepeny piece.

 

The original Speech House Station site is right on the edge of Speech House Road a few yards before you reach it - yes. But DFR’s intention is for a station on the far side of the road to be within easy reach of Beechenhurst Visitor Centre. Cars approach from both directions downhill and straight at 70 mph and to offload people who would have to cross the road is out of the question nowadays. A bridge or tunnel to get the railway to the other side of the road is required by the planners. 

 

Edited by ParkeNd
clarifying last sentence
  • Informative/Useful 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the clarification re the DFR's intentions at Speech House Road. I'm familiar with the road itself - one of the steepest ones in the Forest I think, from the station site up to the Speech House itself, & yes the downhill speeds are high - far too dangerous to re-instate a level crossing there these days.

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Now four days into building the curved platforms which, as with my N gauge layout, are the biggest construction items on the layout. Will photograph them when both undetailed “carcasses” are built - only one is at the moment.  I’m using Daler Board for the decks with cut and sanded balsa for the sides, and cross bracing and it’s working well. Detail will come from Slaters Plasticard (on the way) coarse stone, paving slabs, 2mm scale pebble dash for gravelled tops, 2mm scale bricks for platform edges, and diamond pattern metal sheet for drain covers etc. Finally dry brushing with acrylics. Also bit by bit, because it’s boring, I shall paint all the rail sides with sleeper grime, which has arrived, applied with a rigger brush, which hasnt arrived yet. 

8A234924-B736-4535-A54C-96357B81AE5D.jpeg

9E8C863B-257E-4C1F-96F1-B0C898D6189C.jpeg

Edited by ParkeNd
Added photos
  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Still no availability of track power in the form of Prodigy Advance2, and no news on when it might arrive either, so I’m doing what I can - daren’t ballast. The bare carcasses of both platforms are finished awaiting detailing with Plasticard which still isn’t here yet - maybe today?  Had to change the method of construction of the platform ramps because the method I used for straight N gauge platforms wasn’t going to work - used side struts as outriggers plus sandable balsa slope. Slopes a bit steep perhaps but I need longest possible deck length to accommodate trains.  Now have rigger brushes and Railmatch Sleeper Grime acrylic paint so might start painting side of rails although I would rather ballast first. Need that power!

FB6A8AB8-F246-47CF-9FCA-C823D1586EE1.jpeg

A2B0C73C-F96E-409A-955C-F2296642482F.jpeg

FDBF8233-BCF5-415C-BB01-274CDEF38228.jpeg

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

Construction has been delayed until today whilst I spent three days on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Very very good. Today, since I am waiting for Rocket gel glue to attach the embossed thin Slaters Plastikard of various types to the currently bare platforms (still awaiting DCC kit) I decided to start building a Peco Parkside Dundas kit of a GWR CCT which I thought would look good outside my Goods Shed later on. I already have Liquid Magic glue for the job. You wouldn’t do this to save money - it’s going to cost somewhere between £200 and £300 in labour alone. To start with it took me about an hour to realise that the sides are 2mm too long, and that’s too much to file off so I resorted to scalpel and steel rule and holding my breath. Next comes the chassis!!  As you can see the plans were possibly drawn by a 4 year old with a Bic Biro, which coupled with duplicate parts for different wheels and Hornby couplings meaning some are not required. Furthermore my lack of knowledge of the real names of the components of a braked wagon is hurting. They might as well say “cement the trundling whoopers to the back of the grunging pins and fix in their correct position as per the diagram. Work continues. 

3C9628E4-E45B-4B2B-8F98-EA96E3628222.jpeg

B8D8FA40-280D-4B0D-8AC3-B9ED228DA3D9.jpeg

  • Like 1
  • Friendly/supportive 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

8 hours into the Park Dundas CCT wagon kit. The build is done other than attaching Peco Anita R-4 tension lock couplings which I have sent for - there’s adaptors for each end in the kit. Cost so far for kit, adaptors, and labour at my pre-retirement rate is £215. There’s still painting and transfers to apply yet. I haven’t found a CCT other than in Southern green so there was no option but to make one. Would I build another one?  Well, the instructions are useless, all the parts as supplied are either too long or too short, the handling and positioning of parts has had me swearing, and it may yet go in the bin if it doesn’t look good painted and weathered. At a final cost of about £300 ......... No. 

47E04EE2-B8CA-4D16-8641-646092F0674D.jpeg

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Hi Chris - you should have said you were after a CCT - we've literally just taken delivery of some BR Mark 1 CCT's in BR Maroon. Not sure if they would have fitted your era though, but there is one down at Lydney Junction (albeit in BR Blue!).

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Dan. If it's the Bachmann Branchline Mk1 CCT it's too big and not a GWR item. The Bachmann item is 165mm long compared with the Peco Park Dundas item at only 110mm. The bigger item is perhaps unlikely to have appeared at a GWR Branchline Terminus and in the case of my small layout  it would look more like a Mk1 suburban passenger carriage than a goods vehicle - I'm being as realistic as possible and running only small items. Although I have had to make it the Park Dundas Python CCT is a GWR wagon introduced in 1914 and surviving into BR days - much more likely to be found delivering parcels to a country area IMHO and maybe of more interest to a heritage railway. Thanks anyway for the interest and the suggestion.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Now that all the fitting and fettling is done (there is no way the word assembled can be used for this kit) and the first two of three very dilute coats of Humbrol acrylic undercoat are on, I feel a little kinder towards this Python CCT. The Anita tension lock couplings are on too. Now for one more undercoat then top coats, transfers, and light weathering. Then it’s on to finishing the platforms while I still can’t power up. 

4338D491-38EC-48F3-B7A6-D08986B11EC7.jpeg

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Still can't power up the layout because of absence of new spec DCC startup kit so I've carried on with the CCT wagon kit. Finished it now - it's a heritage railway so this is supposed to be a subject awaiting preservation. Next - decorate the platforms.

2019-09-05-13.03.11 ZS DMap-2.jpg

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I'm still treading water because there are still no Prodigy Advance 2 starter kits available to purchase so I can power and prove the electrical connections before I ballast and paint the sides of the rails - but one is on pre-order. So what am I doing?  I shall have to pick my words carefully, but I have seen platforms surrounded by beautifully scratch built buildings which show up the far simpler nature of the platforms themselves. Since my platforms constitute about 25% of the length of the layout (not counting the L shaped fiddle yard) I have to try that bit harder. At the moment I have added  textured Slaters Plastikard to both card/balsa basic structures to replicate stone courses, paving slabs and edge stones, stones and gravel walking surfaces, and concrete slopes at the "pointy end".  I shall now dry brush paint them but wait until later in the layout build to super-detail them as was my way with the N Gauge layout. Photos soon - too early right now.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Now 1st October and still no stock anywhere of my chosen DCC controller starter kit. Between coats of acrylic washes and dry brushing on the two platforms there is too much time spare not to do something else as well. The station building will sit in a shallow  locator slot on the rearmost platform so will be removable and I have started that. My chosen station building is Coleford Severn and Wye stone building before it was replaced by a simpler structure. DFR might find it as a pile of stones in a field somewhere! There is a superb scale line drawing on Page 95 of "Forest of Dean Railways Layouts and Illustrations" by Peter Smith (the bright yellowy orange book) and several useful photos - but neither the line drawing nor the photos show the back - which must have had more than a plain stone wall since that was what you must have seen when you arrived at the station. 

 

I'm using Peedie brass etched windows, doors, and canopy valance that have now arrived from Orkney . Other than the back, I have drawn out the four walls on Rowney Daler Board and transferred the LH edge positions and heights  of each window and door - my technique is to only cut the apertures to the size of the actual etchings I have sourced, which in turn are the nearest to the real thing though not obviously identical.

 

Question - who knows what the back of the building looked like?

  • Like 4
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Painting of platforms continues - finally got the chipping surfaced tops (except for slabs etc at edges which are still covered with masking tape) mimicking DFR’s current taste for pink tinged chippings done, and washed in the blackened gaps between main stonework - much more to do beginning with dry brushing details into stones. 

 

In in the meantime it’s taken a surprising amount of time with pencil, ruler, line drawing, purchased brass etchings (just one type shown in photo), and a scalpel to get this far with recreating Coleford original GWR station building in OO scale. It never looks very impressive at this stage considering how many hours it takes. 

C120BAF9-C41D-4A14-AD36-2A2E9FAAA843.jpeg

8352665E-448B-41F1-A414-49D5FCAAFE01.jpeg

Edited by ParkeNd
Second photo added
  • Like 5
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

A brief update before I visit the Bluebell Railway’s Giants of Steam Gala tomorrow. Platform paving slabs and edging stones now dry brushed with 3 shades of Humbrol acrylic and four different brushes. Only a worn white line to dry brush around the chipped edges - I plan to mask off 1.5mm for a line representing just under 5” wide in real life. Will post “proper” photos taken with a camera on tripod rather than iPad when finished. 

 

Have started adding Slaters Plasticard stone sets to cardboard cutouts - going OK. The photos of the Coleford GWR station building show that windows and doors were inset behind the depth of stonework so I’ve had to line the door recesses with 2mm strips of the stone sets Plasticard which is a tweezers and squinting job. Should have the four walls ready for assembling together by end of next week in primer and with window/door etchings in place. 4 toilet windows have wooden slats over them and I’m considering cutting these from Ratio N Gauge industrial cladding sheets. 

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Platforms are now as finished as is wise before the station building is added. The Prodigy Advance 2 is still not available to buy so powering up is still not possible. Thus work will now still be treading water and be directed solely to the station building.

 

Pictures below show progress - and I have included a shot of the main Parkend platform around which I have based colours.

 

 

2019-10-15-14.05.00 ZS DMap.jpg

2019-10-15-14.15.07 ZS DMap.jpg

_DSC4219.jpg

2019-10-15-14.23.16 ZS DMap.jpg

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

When setting up the photo above with the Bubblecar I discovered that my widest coach was not my widest coach. So I’ve had to modify the width of the platform bay and move slightly and straighten the track into the bay. Lucky it wasn’t ballasted yet!  The work continues on the station building because Gaugemaster have no idea when Prodigy Advance 2 will arrive. Hope the photo below midway in lining the window recesses with stone shows the deceptive amount of work required for an apparently simple building. 

97518C2A-3227-490C-966E-AC00668C8451.jpeg

Edited by ParkeNd
  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

I spent a couple of days hunting out colour pictures of Coleford GWR station building and it’s caused me to have to swerve again. The building was constructed from fairly large bricks - not dressed stone. Also the doors and windows were set back so deep into the building for reasons I don’t understand that the walls of my building need to be 3mm thick. I have had to send for 7mm scale brick Plastikard, meanwhile sanding down the the stone Plastikard, and then glueing the brick material over the stone, recutting the door and window apertures as I go. Furthermore the Peedie brass etched doors are excellent, but the very skinny framed etched windows (thinner than N gauge even) would hardly be noticed - so I’ve had to cut windows from thin white Plasticard. Assembly of the four dry brushed walls is only a couple of days away. Photos soon. 

 

PS. I’ve found a way around the skinny window frames issue - so I can continue to use the brass etchings as planned. Photos soon. 

Edited by ParkeNd
PS added
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Still no Prodigy Advance 2’s in the country so station building being further progressed. The two basic L shapes of the walls are at this moment glueing together. Doors are in, windows are in and glazed. The back is my guess based on other GWR branchline stations because, although it faces away from viewers, I don’t like bare backs to buildings. Next work is to combine the two Ls and fit internal braces in case it bows inwards. Then there is three rows of bricks to go all the way around like a plinth, window sills, and more bricks and concrete lintels at the roof line. But while all the glue is setting I shall develop the hipped roof with its downward extension to form the canopy - I love doing that with compasses and paper patterns. I shall include cutouts in the roof for chimneys to go through properly vertical. And because it’s OO I suppose I shall have to tackle properly overlapping slates - scary!

 

PS. The fins sticking out at the end of the walls get cut off later and dry brushed - they prevent the edges of the Daler card showing at the corners. 

45D267D4-02B9-4023-8257-195094301401.jpeg

D466A15F-D363-4F68-8386-8ECD45071703.jpeg

Edited by ParkeNd
PS added
  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

Station building continues. Additional brickwork added around the top and the base. Hipped roof built - but just placed loosely on top in the picture. Now for the fiddly bits - vent on roof end built and ready to glue on, window sills, lintels, a small assembly to hold canopy brass etchings, roof slates, chimneys,doorsteps etc etc etc. 

499319F9-77B9-41F3-8BBE-85E63D63AD71.jpeg

  • Like 6
  • Craftsmanship/clever 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Progress on adding detail so far but still a long way to go on the fiddly bits. But it’s progressed a long way from the first cuts into the Daler Board. I have strips of Slaters Plastikard roofing slates which overlap each other to add, have made the brick bits  for the chimneys but awaiting the oversize “kings and queens” pots in whitemetal, before moving on to drainpipes and guttering etc. 

 

PS. 1. Kings and Queens whitemetal chimney pots have arrived from Langley Models. They are a perfect choice - when seen in a line drawing or not from below as in the picture above (see 5 Oct post) they are 14mm tall and really dominate the roofline. 

 

PS. 2. No-one has queried why I have chosen Coleford GWR station building for this heritage layout. DFR plans put this station in a remote and unpopulated area with no security - I figure a typical SVR wooden hut building would be prone to vandalism or arson - as in the case recently of the East Kent Railway station. 

97A0450F-0391-4F0C-9BD7-4A82DE30D3EB.jpeg

8A01D6B1-4E5B-428B-9A12-26FBFE1C0AA7.jpeg

F6CCA859-C44D-416D-AB9D-C0B4324DB5E5.jpeg

Edited by ParkeNd
PS added
  • Like 6
  • Craftsmanship/clever 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
On 26/08/2019 at 22:58, ParkeNd said:

I decided to start building a Peco Parkside Dundas kit of a GWR CCT which I thought would look good outside my Goods Shed later on. I already have Liquid Magic glue for the job. You wouldn’t do this to save money - it’s going to cost somewhere between £200 and £300 in labour alone.

 

 

On 28/08/2019 at 22:45, ParkeNd said:

At a final cost of about £300 ......... No. 

 

I'm sorry to hear that the Parkside kit isn't up to scratch, that's certainly worth knowing.

 

But what I don't understand is where figures like £300 come from, assuming you are building this kit for yourself and for use on your own layout?

 

Not being funny, but have I missed something?

 

Thanks.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

On 07/11/2019 at 12:48, ParkeNd said:

 I figure a typical SVR wooden hut building would be prone to vandalism or arson...

Quite a few of the original S&W buildings did succumb to fire in the early 20th Century when passenger services were still running. Milkwall is one I can think of, off the top of my head. Whether the causes of the fires were down to vandalism or arson or not is probably lost in the mists of time; maybe it was an un-attended fire in the grate after a long day, who knows?

But these days sadly, yes it most likely would be vandalism and/or arson. :sad_mini:

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Just back from a 16 day holiday in Northern and Southern India. Jet lagged and still processing photos. Will resume work on station roof in the next few days. Have received info that Prodigy Advance 2’s arrive Jan 2020 so will have to start signal box build before more track work like ballasting and rail painting can start. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...