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On 15/05/2020 at 21:19, brylonscamel said:

 

That's the kind of reminiscence that I love!

I found myself as a teenager invited into the signal-box at Stonehaven and discovered that they stuffed old notices in the window frame gaps to try and stop the North Sea winds howling through the cabin!

A friendly signalman at Marchwood (Fawley freight branch) revealed that he liked to give the mice names.

Like you say - distant moments of joy.

PS The signalman at Stonehaven let me take photos inside the box which I treasure to this day.

 

16065107556_13f756b8d4_k.jpg

 

Loving this layout, following with great interest, coming back to your photograph taken at Stonehaven box, the signalman is my girlfriend's father! He was rather pleased when I shared the photo with him!

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14 hours ago, BennyBobRM said:

Loving this layout, following with great interest, coming back to your photograph taken at Stonehaven box, the signalman is my girlfriend's father! He was rather pleased when I shared the photo with him!

Well that's outstanding!

Over the years, I have found out who some of the people are in my photos but they are usually incidental figures. In the case of your girlfriend's father, he invited the teenage me to come into the signal box  and show me around. You can pass on my regards - moments like that cemented my love of railways. Now here I am trying to recreate - in miniature - the places that were so familiar to me as a youth. 

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  • 2 months later...

Spinning proverbial plates

I've been utterly side-tracked recently with the commercial model-making and resin-cast cottages.

 

However, progress is quietly happening on this layout I share with Dad,  recently spurred on by my own sense of guilt at a promise as-yet-unfulfilled. The unfulfilled promise was to revamp the whole layout by tossing away the Metcalfe stuff and starting on scenery and buildings afresh. I tossed it away but have yet to complete all the scenic work.

 

I was actually doing ballasting this weekend and chatting with Dad about a 'brainwave' I had about the backscene.  I say 'brainwave' to make it sound impressive but it was really a passing thought that may prove really handy. We have a long (and flexible/floppy) backscene that is stored at the moment because it wasn't really doing it for me. On Saturday night I suddenly decided to try jamming it against the back wall and curve it along the open sidewall to see if it might solve the 'sidewall problem'. 

 

It really looks promising and will photograph it when we've hacked it into place.

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Hello Great North of Scotland, goodbye Metcalfeshire! 

The next thing on the list is to replace our remaining bit of 'Metcalfeshire' with a scratchbuilt station based on Aboyne (one of the last of the stations built by the Great North of Scotland Railway).

 

Project Aboyne' has made it to the cutting mat and now exists as a card & Foamex carcass. I had already prepared a set of etches, made from original architects drawings that I fell upon whilst digging about in the Historic Scotland archives.

 

As per usual, the conical roofed turrets, much beloved of the 'Scottish Baronial' style are going to be a challenge.

 

The main entrance from the road ..

bm-station-02.jpg.c041e47b2b484b338a9f0c6b25235932.jpg

 

Platform elevation

bm-station-01.jpg.2d602b4885111be060a118aef4f0ccd8.jpg

 

Edited by brylonscamel
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  • 1 month later...

Going Vintage

Dad treated himself to the McIntosh 'Caley' 0-6-0 for Christmas so we tested it out at Braeside, attached to the handful of vintage stock we had available from Hornby. All box-fresh models but looking rather magnificent in their pre-war liveries ..

 

braeside-trackside-06.jpg

 

braeside-trackside-07.jpg

Edited by brylonscamel
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1 hour ago, brylonscamel said:

Following a necessary break over the festive season, progress has been made on various projects for Dad at ' Braeside' - not least the station building.

 

Here is the carcass with the etched windows fitted and the stonework underway ..

 

 

51797952530_5a84e238b9_k.jpg.6bd3581c62f9df5ad2f8f4582ae3a79d.jpg

 

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I have to say that those windows are exquisite mate.

regards Lez.

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8 hours ago, Graham T said:

How were they made?

 

Hi Graham - the frames are getting some good feedback! The were made by drawing them up in illustrator, based on an architects drawing that I found in the Scottish National Archive. The Great North of Scotland Railway had a penchant for fancy windows and I decided that etched metal frames were the way forward ..

 

Here's the original architect elevations with my initial drawings superimposed ..

 

SCALE-aboyne-elevations-01.jpg.6ad292ff92e4cd62095cc96fa0388e6c.jpg

 

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8 hours ago, Graham T said:

How were they made?

The drawings were then expanded to include all the separate parts, including frames for the windows and doors.

This enabled me to create a design suitable for photo-etching.  I hope that helps explain it!

bm-aboyne-window-etch-RMWEB.jpg

Edited by brylonscamel
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  • 1 month later...

"Rip It Up & Start Again"

I'm very conscious  that my days of smashing up bits of Dad's layout need to end! The focus should be entirely on the restoration and renewal phase.

This should be the last bit of destruction, readying the harbourside for renewal ..

 

bm-braeside-feb-2022-00.jpg

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On 12/01/2022 at 20:14, brylonscamel said:

New Year Upgrade!

A small corner of the layout that's due an upgrade is the tiny triangle of water that provides a quay on the harbourside branch.

 

I made some Artitec fishing boats to replace the original card-and-wood models. Not only were they a bit crude but also hopelessly under-scale. The Artitec ones are HO but give a much better better rendition. I ripped the old plaster base off along with the boats but kept the quay walls and filled the wooden panel with a sheet of expanded polystyrene.

braeside-mk2-harbour-03.jpg.ece78da53e6ba34e886e4125d0fabca2.jpg

 

braeside-mk2-harbour-03a.jpg.f204b038cbbc23f4a18458d0becd6d0c.jpg

 

braeside-mk2-harbour-03b.jpg.cd028ad3eccae5d531c6a265ec8364a6.jpg

 

 

 

you should have Para  handy    and co on one of the boats ,oops you need a Puffer.

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43 minutes ago, brylonscamel said:

Before long, Aberdeen Kittybrewster's J72 could be found again, pottering around the harbourside tramway!

bm-braeside-feb-2022-03.jpg

 

 

Great stuff, Brian. 

 

That small cabin is lovely but I can't help but wonder what your Andrew Barclay with the skirts would look like thereon......

 

Rob. 

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10 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

 

 

Great stuff, Brian. 

 

That small cabin is lovely but I can't help but wonder what your Andrew Barclay with the skirts would look like thereon......

 

Rob. 

There's only one way to find out. l will have to pop the little skirted gas works Barclay on there and take a photo. I'll pencil it in for a future visit!

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11 hours ago, lmsforever said:

you should have Para  handy    and co on one of the boats ,oops you need a Puffer.

Para Handy would be great but he and his puffer would be a little far from home as Braeside is very much an East coast location.

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