Cannons Hill - NLL in the late 90's

[simon b]

Welcome to Cannons Hill, my North London line micro layout/diorama. 

 

This layout takes over from my unfinished Imperial gate layout, which I just didn't have the room for. It will portray a small suburban station somewhere in north London during the early privatization era, a part of the silverlink trains network. 

 

The plan for this layout is fairly simple, consisting of a island platform station in a cutting, overlooked by house backs on top of a retaining wall. The baseboard size is 42" x 14" built from mainly 9mm plywood offcuts.

 

Although I'm building this as a working layout, it will mainly be used as a backdrop for photographs.

 

Now a couple of pics of how things will look.

 

 

 

[simon b]

Got some work done on the layout today, managed to get the retaining wall in and mocking up the station building. The wall is made from SEF brick sheets topped with some old triang viaduct tops, which I think will turn out ok once I remove the date stone molded into them and add a few drain pipes to cover the joins. 

 

The station building is also another triang item, which I'm going to lengthen and cover in more brick sheets. Then I just need to find the old Hornby gwr covered footbridge to give access to the platforms.

 

 

Edited June 28, 2020 by simon b

[simon b]

1 hour ago, JimRead said:

Hello Simon,

 

What an excellent idea, just how it should be, somewhere up Enfield way perhaps. I really do like the old station building on the road above juxtaposed with the modern stuff on the platform.

 

You've got the start of something  with a large development potential, I'm sure I'll not be the first to say, "More please"

 

Cheers -Jim

Thanks Jim, hopefully it will capture the atmosphere of the old suburban stations in that part of the world, especially once I fit lights in the buildings for some nighttime shots.

 

For the moment the plan is to use the layout for photo's, but I wouldn't rule out incorporating it into something bigger at a later date. The layouts I normally try to build are quite time consuming, so this makes a nice change. 

[simon b]

This old triang model will form the basis for the station building. The plan is make it wider by taking the unseen front side and using it to extend the back wall, the join will be on the passage way through the building. Then I'll cover the whole lot with more SEF brick sheet. 

 

 I'm using this building as I think the windows have just the look I'm trying to capture, also it will be a sturdy base to use.

[simon b]

Which looks something like this. I may put another window where the door is or just cover it over altogether, but the effect is there. Obviously the covered stairs will partly fill the gap in the center, but I need to wait for more brick sheet to arrive before I continue.

 

I think a Banner repeater signal will look pretty good fixed up there too.

 

Edited June 28, 2020 by simon b

[simon b]

So after alot of searching web stores I have some more brick sheets on their way, it seems due to the current situation all the usual suppliers had sold out.

 

I'm now thinking that some of Peco's OHLE would be a good addition to the layout, a class 90 or 86 hauled freight-liner is something I'd like to recreate.

 

 

Edited July 5, 2020 by simon b

[simon b]

Not had much time this week to play with the layout, but I did manage to get some paint on the retaining wall. Also my order of SEF brick sheets have arrived so I'll make a start on the station building next, I've found some old Hornby windows which may look better than the triang building so watch this space.

 

Edited July 10, 2020 by simon b

[Sweet pea]

Simon nice work on the retaining wall. I like the colours you have used.

[Jerry1975]

Looking good,  looking forward to seeing more. 

 

Jerry. 

[simon b]

5 hours ago, Kevin Johnson said:

Simon nice work on the retaining wall. I like the colours you have used.

 

Thanks Kevin. 

 

I sprayed the whole lot with Halfords khaki green to get the mortar color, then dry brushed hubrol matt 28 over the bricks, followed by a random light mist of matt black spray.  I'm not sure if it looks a little too brown for the london brick I'm trying to represent, so I might try a light mist of khaki over it all to lighten it up.

[croydon junction]

On 05/07/2020 at 18:24, simon b said:

So after alot of searching web stores I have some more brick sheets on their way, it seems due to the current situation all the usual suppliers had sold out.

 

I'm now thinking that some of Peco's OHLE would be a good addition to the layout, a class 90 or 86 hauled freight-liner is something I'd like to recreate.

 

 

you can easily scratchbuild/kitbuild your OHLE to suit the layout at a lower cost than any RTR ohle, and it would probably look much better as it was designed to suit the situation. You can get brass trusses here: https://modelshop.co.uk/Shop/Item/Brass-truss-2-5mm-11-lengths/ITM1920 to make twin track cantilevers, along with other building materials such as I and H sections. I recommend that the contact wire should be no thicker than 0.5mm, and that you go for one that can be soldered so it will be stronger. You can find brass or copper wire on amazon and ebay at about the right size without paying too much.

 

best of luck

 

Matthew

 

P.s. Clive Mortimore has loads of diagrams on this site for different types of OHLE, have a look around and that will give you an idea of what to build if you are struggling for dimensions