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Basford North


dibateg
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  • 2 months later...

I've been exploiting the good weather while it lasted - garden, outside jobs and out on the mountain bike for some great rides exploring the remoter parts of mid Wales. Now the weather has turned, it is back to the railway and I'm concentrating on the Park Lane bridge. This was a wrought iron structure with a wooden parapet that was declared weak during the war and blocked off for road traffic. It was not replaced until the mid '60s shortly before the line closed. They did a good job, its about the only structure still in place in that location.

The main beams are made from sheet brass with 3mm brass 'T' section obtained from Barry at Metalsmith. Yes, I didn't have any sheet quite long enough.. It should be covered in rivets really, but it is set back on the layout and there is only so much time available.

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Here they are temporarily in place, I just need to decide on the deck structure. It will look better with the parapets and pilaster caps.

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90437 passes underneath with empty minerals. I run trains from time to time, and curiously after 6 months or so of being down, it does show up the odd dry joint or unconnected section of rail. But they are gradually being eliminated.

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The platform faces are next and then..... the ballasting...

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've now added the wooden ( brass ) parapet, the base colour to the brickwork will need toning down.

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The original brick colour is quite light, it looks like there have been a lot of repairs and the original arches were bricked up a few years ago. The deck was replaced around 1964.

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Thanks Byron -

I suspect the reds were original and that the blues were used later on in repairs.

 

Well, by happy accident, I got closer to the appearance I wanted with the Park Lane bridge abutment. I plastered on too much dark brick colour and they looked awful. So I tried some fine sandpaper to rectify the situation, and it is actually getting towards the look I want. It now needs toning down with some dark grime... Work in progress...

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With some weathering on the abutments the bridge is now starting to look the part, the next stage will be interesting as the wooden parapet appears to have been painted white... I'm working on the pilaster caps, experimenting with DAS clay at the moment.

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In the meantime I've been working on the platform faces ( York Modelmaking ), they came from a design by Paul Scott. The main platforms should be in stone, but I wanted to do them in brick.

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I've also been working on the topography around the Vernon Road bridge. The area is temporarily functioning as my painting station. It feels like there is a long way to go...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks Richard - 

 

Progress grinds along, I've made the mock up for the good shed. This has had to be reduced by half to fit reasonably in the space. I'll also might leave off the weighbridge office on the other end as it will just look to crowded around the loading dock.

 

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I'm also working up the kit that Geoff Taylor designed and laser cut for me in MDF for the Northern road bridge over Vernon Road. Here it is post closure. It was demolished a year or two later.

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It is straight - the camera lens has distorted it a bit... I chose not to stand on the swivel chair to get more height!

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Scenic work has commence around the Vernon Road bridge. Geoff T has kindly brought along his skills to help out. It is a big transition for me - from purely loco building...

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An O1 rumbles over the bridge with a loaded coal train on it's way to Colwick yard. the bridge is in undercoat and yes, they are yellow bricks in the arch...

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  • 1 month later...

Happy Xmas everyone -

 

I had a lovely Xmas present in the form of the buildings for Basford North, made for me by Peter Leyland. They are absolutely superb and now the scene of the layout is set, it becomes instantly recognisable as the GN Derbyshire extension. As Tony W says, many layouts are a re collaboration of skills, I'm not sure I would have the time or skills to create these buildings. Basford North was unique in that it was the only stone built station on the line, all the others were brick. I now have to crack on with the scenic work to do them justice. I had a 1962 Morris traveller just like that a good few years ago, I wish I still had it now.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am making slow but sure progress with the scenery... I've formed the path that runs from Vernon Road to Brooklyn Road around the back of the station. A removable section of ply has been made up- with the white card on top is for the council house. This will allow access to that remote part of the layout.  The road base has been made out of hardboard, that will have a surface added on top. I just need to weather and finish the bridge and then the banks to the wing walls can be finished off.

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I've been experimenting with the backscene by using printed photos of the council house that was made for me by Peter Leyland. I'm going to need to refresh my Photoshop skills...:-

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I'm making up the platforms with 2mm MDF, there will be a certain amount of trimming and I am waiting for a vising Princess to check the clearances...

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On 27/07/2021 at 08:57, dibateg said:

I've been away from the railway for a bit as we opened up the garden under the NGS scheme for charity. 

I was just doing odd jobs here and there. There was a warm day where I could open up all the windows and dig out the Sparmax spray gun and spray the track. That went pretty well, once I started using the right thinners... I tried using a piece of hardboard to get the wet paint off the rail tops, but it made an awful mess. So I made up a scraper from some scrap N/S rail to do it after it had dried. That took a few days... well nearly a week... A steel scraper did too much damage to the rail head.

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Just catching up with your thread... 

A Peco track rubber is ideal for cleaning spray paint off the tops of the rail.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks Chaps...

 

In the meantime I've been working on the poster boards for the Vernon road bridge, it's easier to do them now than when they are in situ. As the wing walls lean back from vertical, there were some wooden frames to mount the hoardings. I found some images of the net and resized them in Photoshop. I wanted them to look slightly faded, so they are printed on plain paper and glued to the plastic board with MekPak. It's likely that some of these posters were never seen together, but there is something about that era that appeals to me...

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  • 3 months later...

Work has resumed on the railway, Geoff has started laying the basic ground covering, whilst I sort out sub structure, walls and platforms etc. There is a long way to go, but between the pair of us we should make some progress...

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I've been carving up Kingspan to make up some raised ground areas ( outside as it makes a hell of a mess ) .

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  • 2 weeks later...

More scenic work, but topography and boundary work proceeds with walls sprouting up and road surface prepared. I've changed the orientation of the Saxondale Drive house on to Vernon Road. Everything is compromised as the formation through the station should be straight of course. Not prototypically correct, but it looks better and the house that is actually there wouldn't fit.. Space space space - there is never enough!

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This photo turned up on Facebook, it shows that 34091 Weymouth was not so far off when I tested it on the railway!

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On 24/05/2022 at 09:24, dibateg said:

More scenic work, but topography and boundary work proceeds with walls sprouting up and road surface prepared. I've changed the orientation of the Saxondale Drive house on to Vernon Road. Everything is compromised as the formation through the station should be straight of course. Not prototypically correct, but it looks better and the house that is actually there wouldn't fit.. Space space space - there is never enough!

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This photo turned up on Facebook, it shows that 34091 Weymouth was not so far off when I tested it on the railway!

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Hi Tony,

 

I think that's one of the Southampton FC football excursions in 1963 presumably turning the whole train on the triangle in readiness for the return. 

Forest were playing Southampton in the 5th round of the FA Cup if I remember correctly. There were about 6 Bulleid light pacifics in Nottingham Victoria that day. It must be a record!

Edited by Clem
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Clem!

We are still concentrating on Vernon road, I've been putting in kerbs and the road and pavement surfaces. All those fiddly little gaps will need to be sorted out... Retaining walls are in and there is still a lot of Kingspan carving to do. Doesn't it make a lovely mess...

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  • 3 months later...

A week or two back, the goods shed was collected from Peter Leyland - it is much reduced in size to fit in the space, but I hope captures the feel of the original.

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I also managed to obtain a copy of the working timetable, I've been looking for one of these for a few years:-

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Now the weather has started to close in, scenic work is progressing...

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This is where I'm bogged down.. Due to the curve of the layout ( in reality, the line is straight here ) , the station approach is greatly compressed. So, I have had to make a few compromises to make it fit. The road to the yard now turns behind the curved wall, to then slope down next to Vernon Road to join it offscene. Otherwise, it would have been far too steep. In reality the footpath approach had a lot more width between the back of the platform and the buffer stops. At least the distictive stepped wall and triangular coping stones looks as per prototype, although there was only the adjoining pillar at the entrance. However, the topography is nearly there. I find loco building a whole lot easier!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I seem to be doing a lot of painting, platforms, walls, anything that doesn't move... Geoff is cracking on with the soft furnishings.. at last it's starting to look the right sort of colours..

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  • 1 month later...

Work in progress with background clutter. Geoff Taylor has been giving me a hand with the scenic work and we've started with the most inaccessible spot. In the meantime I've prepared what seems like miles of fencing, starting with the up platform. The path up to the back of the station also needs to be fenced... It's dark in this corner, so more lighting is waiting to be collected from Screwfix.

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The master scenic craftsman at work - the greenery is spreading, as is the fencing... It is a bit green yet, I want to make it more faded late summer. We are trying to work from the back forwards and the main platform is re-enforce so I can actually stand on it if necessary...

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10 hours ago, dibateg said:

Work in progress with background clutter. Geoff Taylor has been giving me a hand with the scenic work and we've started with the most inaccessible spot. In the meantime I've prepared what seems like miles of fencing, starting with the up platform. The path up to the back of the station also needs to be fenced... It's dark in this corner, so more lighting is waiting to be collected from Screwfix.

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The master scenic craftsman at work - the greenery is spreading, as is the fencing... It is a bit green yet, I want to make it more faded late summer. We are trying to work from the back forwards and the main platform is re-enforce so I can actually stand on it if necessary...

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Great stuff Tony,

 

You've got a cracking team together, and I look forward to seeing your wonderful layout in the flesh. 

 

Next year? I'll bring my camera (and lights!) if you wish.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

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