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Cereal Sidings - A Clean Slate in 7mm Scale


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I've included a pipe gantry on a shoebox layout, and I'm pleased with the texture and detail it adds to the edge of the scene. I think it will be even better if it looks like it "goes somewhere", e.g. a water tank, a building etc, rather than just into the ground or on pillars on both sides.
Whatever you choose, I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with your small space.

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I said I would explain a little more about the background and premise for this diorama and the proposed 'proper' layout to follow. So welcome to my fantasy world...... :bye:

 

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Labour government was keen to promote the health and well-being of the country by ensuring that the population was eating well. Years of rationing were gradually coming to an end and the politicians wanted to improve the diet and nutrition of the nation, particularly for children and young people. As part of this, it is a little known fact that amongst the various organisations nationalised in the late 1940s, Clement Attlees' Labour government set up the British Cereal Corporation (or BCC) in 1948. This brought together numerous organisations into a collective nationalised group, providing cereals to the nation and promoting the importance of breakfast as a start to the day. Factories were established in County Durham and Suffolk, to serve the north and south of the UK, with a number of regional distribution depots also being set up across the country. The BCC gradually grew and expanded with significant investment again being pumped into the collective by the Labour administration of the mid-1960s under Harold Wilson. 

 

The factories had their own internal rail systems and each of the distribution depots were served by private sidings. A number of second-hand locomotives were acquired by the BCC when it was established, mainly ex-WD austerity tank locomotives but also some locos of earlier vintage from various sources. In the early 1960s, a handful of new Ruston diesel shunters were bought to supplement and gradually replace the steam locomotives as and when they became life-expired. Despite this, many of the sites continued to operate steam locomotives into the early 1970s, with the last examples only being withdrawn in 1977 after spending the last couple of years as spare locomotives. Some internal user rolling stock was used at various locations, assisting with the day-to-day operation of the sites. The finished cereal products were usually loaded into standard BR vans and transported to exchange sidings for onward distribution throughout the UK. 

 

As I said, it is this concept that will provide the basis for my layout. I intend to model one of the distribution depots on a larger scale in due course; the timeframe for modelling will be the late 1960s and early 1970s, after the end of mainline steam but with industrial steam still being very much in evidence. At the moment I am I drawing up ideas for that, as well as very slowly building and acquiring stock for the project. However, for the time being, this micro-layout will capture a tiny corner of one depot and allow me to practice my skills and modelling techniques. 

The working title at the moment is 'Cereal Sidings' :derisive:


 

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I like this idea.

 

Related to food, the wartime Ministry of Food had 43 frozen food/meat depots built to a standard design, all rail connected. I remember one at Chelford station and wondered what it was. Here is a link to the one at Goldsborough which might be useful for a low-relief building and rail-served loading dock.

 

  http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/g/goldsborough/index1.shtml

 

 

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On Tuesday, August 06, 2019 at 07:55, south_tyne said:

 

You're right, it quickly helps to bring it to life. Track is not properly down at the moment. Below is an photo (before I painted the backscene) with some cereal packet buildings to try and give an impression of how the 3d scene could look. The scenic break is a bit of a puzzler - current thinking is maybe a pipe gantry or footbridge as a view blocker.  

 

 

 

20190704_151346.jpg

 

 

Top stuff, Styne. 

 

Coming on well. 

 

You'll soon be a cereal layout builder.....oh, hang on..........

 

 

Rob. 

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22 hours ago, Porkscratching said:

That's a great and original idea, very interesting bit of history too..never heard of this scheme before, so I've learned something over my coffee this morning ! :good_mini:

...You see how convincing your back story is..!

 

18 hours ago, Dava said:

I like this idea.

 

Thanks for you kind comments guys. It's all a flight of fancy and a product of my overactive imagination but there's nowt wrong with a little dreaming after all! :derisive:

 

12 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

Top stuff, Styne. 

 

Coming on well. 

 

You'll soon be a cereal layout builder.....oh, hang on..........

 

 

Rob. 

 

Rob, the jokes write themselves! :laugh_mini: Hopefully my 'history' will pull the wool over some people's eyes (see what I did there!!:haha:)

 

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21 hours ago, Porkscratching said:

You'll have to design a suitably 'modern 40s' style BCC logo now...

Keep Calm, & Eat Cereals..;)

 

Definitely! My thoughts have been preoccupied with ideas about logos and branding! :)

 

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Made some canny progress over the last week or so. The track has now been laid, wired, painted, ballasted and weathered. I've strengthened around the hinged baseboard joint by adding PCB sleepers and soldering the rails to it. I might hide this with some kind of barrow crossing to make it a little more inconspicuous. 

 

Also been experimenting with the traverser/cassette contraption. It is not the most highly engineered piece of kit - bit of a bodge to be honest from ply, foamboard, aluminium angle and a some small offcuts of other wood -  but it seems like it might do the job. 

 

Need to have a think about the buildings next. I have explained a little more about the basis/setting for the layout and there will be a few factory buildings needing to be constructed. The use of a pipe gantry for a scenic break seems to have got the thumbs up, so I think I will run with that idea. 

 

20190806_155302.jpg

20190806_155250.jpg

20190806_155225.jpg

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26 minutes ago, OOman said:

It’s always great to get some track down, looks really good.

 

Thanks! You're right, getting track down feels like a real positive and I always think that getting a little bit of greenery planted and some buildings mocked up quickly starts to bring a scene to life. 

 

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Nice bit of progress there. 

 

Once the track is down,  things just seem to gather momentum. 

 

Rob. 

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On 13/08/2019 at 09:29, NHY 581 said:

Nice bit of progress there. 

 

Once the track is down,  things just seem to gather momentum. 

 

Rob. 

 

Thanks Rob, you're right there. I just wish I could be as productive as yourself! 

 

10 hours ago, Porkscratching said:

I'm convinced I've been eating more Shredded Wheat since you started this...!

 

Ah you see, that is the power of the BCC's subliminal advertising!! :laugh_mini:

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23 hours ago, Porkscratching said:

Any ideas for the logo yet..?

 

I have had some thoughts but it is a job for this weekend. I'll get my pencils and doodling pad out! Some creativity is necessary

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A craft brewery I knew called Big Spruce in Canada named one of their most popular beers Cereal Killer as it was made with wheat. Went down well.

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