Shalfleet Quay, Isle of Wight 1927-35.

[LBSC123]

Hi Ray, 

I saw that book on a recent visit to the Ian Allan bookshop near Waterloo, it's certainly on the list of books alongside the others previously mentioned!

 

 

[LBSC123]

After a week away in North Wales, it is time for another update on the layout. 

 

Following the completion of the quayside, I have now turned my attention to the ground that goes behind this. Looking at period photos of St Helen's quay, it was clear that this wouldn't be concrete, and looks to be a mix of ballast gravel and soil. To replicate this, I used Chris Nevard's DAS technique to create the ground around the tracks and quay. 

 

This consists of flattening DAS onto a smear of PVA until the texture is smooth and the DAS clay clear of the tracks. To get it smooth I used a paintbrush, screwdriver and an old teaspoon. I also used the same technique for the road at the rear of the layout. 

 

 

 

I'm pretty happy with how this has turned out and will wait for it to dry before I weather this, the white looks rather stark at the moment! 

I'm not quite sure what I'll tackle next, but contenders are either preparing the backscene for paint, bedding in the quayside wall, river banks and bed, or finishing the corrugated iron warehouse for the rear of the layout. 

 

More soon. 

 

[LBSC123]

23 hours ago, LBSC123 said:

 

 

 

 

I have been giving some more thought and consideration to the building at the rear of the layout and this photo nicely shows the problem with the foamboard shell I've knocked up. I don't think it's big enough, and in the shot above it looks smaller than the building in front of it, even though it is slightly larger. I'm not happy with the building as is, so what to do?

 

1) Build a larger corrugated iron building in similar style. I'm in two minds on this, I am not entirely sure if it would look 'right' being made out of corrugated iron much higher? 

 

2) Something different. The other option is to put in place a higher brick built building. Looking at the Island there are several possibilities for contenders, such as the Tide mills located at St Helens and Yarmouth. 
 

St Helens tide mill, source: https://www.wightpedia.org.uk/detail2.php?id=125

 

Yarmouth Mill 

 

There was actually a mill at Shalfleet, although smaller in size and located somewhat further away from the location of the quay, however a little bit of modellers license could mean a suitable brick built building could run alongside the rear of the quay, possibly as some sort of store? 

 

Shalfleet Mill, source: http://www.shalfleet.shalfleet.net/

This is increasingly becoming a more favoured option, but what to build it from? I sadly think it's a bit beyond my skillset to scratch build something of that size and with that many windows.  So that means I'm reliant on kit built/RTP options. I've not seen anything that really fits the bill, bar possibly something modified and extended from LCUT Creative. 

Any thoughts or potential suggestions for suitable buildings is welcomed. 

More soon. 

[tomparryharry]

On 20/08/2020 at 09:41, LBSC123 said:

Following protracted problems with the wiring for the point motors, which was eventually traced to the copper tape I had used, I have been able to make some more progress on the layout. 

 

In the intervening period I have painted the ground cover in burnt umber. The next job I tackled was the quayside, the planks of this are made from 3mm x 1.5mm strip wood, and the upright supports will be made from 5mm x 5mm Balsa wood.

 

 

Planks after weathering prior to fitting. 

 

I first chopped these into scale 30ft lengths and gave the planks a preliminary wash with some black, grey and dusty coloured acrylic paints. These were then glued to the wall side. The joints will be covered with the 5mm Balsa wood, weathered in the same manner, then all of this will receive weathering to tie it in together, alongside gluing a representation of some sea weed. 

 

Planks glued into place. 

 

A rough mock up of the Balsa wood rubbing strip and uprights. 

 

I quickly offered up some Balsa wood to give an idea of what the uprights will look like, naturally these will be weathered, evenly spaced and level when it comes to fitting them properly!

 

 

 

Just an 'observation,' if I may. Piling for quaysides and the like have been going on for centuries, at least as back to Tudor times. This was borne out by contractors  repairing the pier at Yarmouth. The places they intended to use was already taken by the original uprights, and still in remarkably good condition. As a result, the new uprights were installed directly alongside  & adjacent the original uprights. As a result, I'm pretty sure they're not quite equal-distant, but   check them out, nonetheless. It's been donkeys years since I took my dogs over to Newtown.

 

Liking the thread very much. 

 

Ian.

[Nearholmer]

There’s a danger if you go for one of those wonderful, but very large, tide mills, it might over-dominate the scene, making the whole layout look very small, so personally I would advise staying on the small side.

 

What about something inspired by one of the low-ish buildings that were used by the salt-planners in the dim and distant? It could be characterfully re-purposed as some sort of warehouse for the railway age.

 

The other thought is that putting it on/near the centre line of the field of view could become compositionally troublesome. It might look better a third of the way from either left or right end of the scene, or even towards the far right.

 

The backscene is going to be hugely important, because I guess it has to convey spaciousness and the piping sound of sea birds where neither exist ........ I’m rambling-on about that because the building has to look right against the background, and to me that says ‘keep the horizon low, and keep the building low’.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Nearholmer

[phil_sutters]

Here are a couple of smaller scale warehouses on the Medina at Newport

[LBSC123]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

There’s a danger if you go for one of those wonderful, but very large, tide mills, it might over-dominate the scene, making the whole layout look very small, so personally I would advise staying on the small side.

 

What about something inspired by one of the low-ish buildings that were used by the salt-planners in the dim and distant? It could be characterfully re-purposed as some sort of warehouse for the railway age.

 

The other thought is that putting it on/near the centre line of the field of view could become compositionally troublesome. It might look better a third of the way from either left or right end of the scene, or even towards the far right.

 

The backscene is going to be hugely important, because I guess it has to convey spaciousness and the piping sound of sea birds where neither exist ........ I’m rambling-on about that because the building has to look right against the background, and to me that says ‘keep the horizon low, and keep the building low’.

 

 

 

Thanks for the feedback @Nearholmer, I think a fair bit of that rings true. As I've already got the materials to build a corrugated iron shed I'll have a go at that and see how it looks. 

With regard to the salt-panners buildings, do you mean something like the one below? It's the best photo of something I've found from around the area. 

 

 

 

On the quay itself, the only buildings of substance are these wooden and stone affairs/and corrugated iron affairs, as shown below. 

 

 

 

I agree about the comments on the backscene, I'm thinking 'less is more' with that one, mainly focussing on the sky and a few low-lying hills, I'll use a few small trees/shurbs to hide the exit from the board and the join with the backsene.  These two postcards from the 1960s nicely surmise the effect I'm hoping to achieve. 

 

Source: http://www.shalfleet.shalfleet.net/shalfleet_creek.htm

 

Source: http://www.shalfleet.shalfleet.net/shalfleet_creek.htm

 

 

More thinking required, I think!

 

 

[Nearholmer]

Yes, that's the sort of lowness I was thinking of.

 

The first building has potential, being all very mixed-up in construction materials, so interesting.

 

Getting a complicated roof-line always helps make things interesting, and I wonder if this has idea-potential ........... mentally strip away all the tacky bits, and imagine fewer, and less-awful window frames. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4286667

 

Worth thinking about having a gable-end facing the front, to vary from the other hut, and if IoW vernacular allows think about hip, or better still half-hip, which is tops for visual interest.

 

I'm even wondering if the Will's kit barn might be a viable starting point (the roof always looks like Horsham Slate to me, so might need changing), with other bits and pieces tacked-on to extend it in length/bulk.

 

Now, this lot I do like! Look at the mix of materials, varying roof-slops, obvious made-up-as-it-went-along-ness. https://www.bcm.co.uk/assets/uploads/pressrelease/Press Releases/151109 Sale of Park Green Farm IOW.pdf

[LBSC123]

Thanks for the response @Nearholmer. There's a lot to consider with regard to the buildings at the back still. 

 

I saw this relatively low wooden and corrugated iron bash of two of the Will's 'Station Garage' kit. Loose the vents and I think this has a lot of potential to look like one of the buildings I'd posted before....

 

Source: http://www.p4newstreet.com/category/brettell-road

[LBSC123]

I've been in the process of moving house, so time on the Layout (and finances) has been fairly limited the last week, but I managed to find some time to make some progress. 

I bedded the bottom of the quay into the river bed with some plaster filler, this has hidden the join nicely. Next I'll paint weather the wood and paint the plaster a mud colour prior to further seaweed effects and then the resin pour.

 

 

I also made a tentative start on the rear warehouse, having roughly cut out the holes for the doors. These need squaring off and then filling (what with, I'm not quite sure). Any tips on how to construct doors would be greatly appreciated. The jury is still out on the whole building, but it's a learning process either way. 

 

More soon.  

[Mikkel]

What a gem you are developing here. That rustic look of the quayside is superb.  

 

I do agree on the 'less is more' approach to a backscene on a layout like this, where the focus is on a particular smallish scene, cameo-style.

[SteveyDee68]

Hi

 

I'm enjoying your build so much that it is encouraging me to (a) rethink my harbour walls on my micro Woodhey Wharf and (b) rebuild my baseboard (slightly longer!) using 5mm foamboard. Possibly the only difference being I am thinking of not cladding it with ply!

 

I've put a general question out on this, but wonder how you intend joining/aligning baseboards?

 

Steve S

[LBSC123]

On 26/09/2020 at 06:39, Mikkel said:

What a gem you are developing here. That rustic look of the quayside is superb.  

 

I do agree on the 'less is more' approach to a backscene on a layout like this, where the focus is on a particular smallish scene, cameo-style.

Thanks for the kind words Mikkel. My current thoughts on the backscene is to try and emulate what Chris Nevard has done here: http://nevardmedia.blogspot.com/2017/03/forest-of-dean-colliery-update.html?m=1 

 

This would mean mostly a blue sky with a few low hills in the distance to represent the other side of the creek and other hills on the west of the Isle of Wight. Hopefully this will be blended in with some small trees, hedgerows and other shrubs. 
 

 

On 26/09/2020 at 10:29, SteveyDee68 said:

Hi

 

I'm enjoying your build so much that it is encouraging me to (a) rethink my harbour walls on my micro Woodhey Wharf and (b) rebuild my baseboard (slightly longer!) using 5mm foamboard. Possibly the only difference being I am thinking of not cladding it with ply!

 

I've put a general question out on this, but wonder how you intend joining/aligning baseboards?

 

Steve S

 

Glad you’re enjoying the updates Steve, and good to see another quay in the process of being built! I would recommend cladding foamboard in ply or some other ‘knock resistant’ material, particularly if you’re going to be moving the layout around. 
 

With regards to joining the baseboards, I only have two (or rather will), this one and a fiddle yard which I haven’t built yet. This will be built in the same way as the main board, the intention is to join it with either Dowels and clamps or coach bolts (or both). This goes through the 5mm ply

on the ends of the baseboard. The track at the join is attached to a piece of copper clad.

 

Hope that helps! 
 

P.S. sorry I’ve been a bit quiet over the last few days, I’ve been in the process of moving flats, now completed! More updates to follow soon.

[LBSC123]

I’ve not managed much time on the Layout of late but have recently purchased a Gaugemaster Prodigy to enable to layout to be controlled by DCC.

 

Another arrival has also been spotted on the quay, this will become the former South Western & Isle of Wight Junction Railway  contractors locomotive and later Shalfleet Harbour Railway ‘Shalfleet’ (It was a bargain, honest!). 

Edited October 6, 2020 by LBSC123

[Graham_Muz]

Snap... 

 

Mine has lost the pretentious chimney cap and been renamed in honour of an inspirational engineer! 

[LBSC123]

Looking good @Graham_Muz, what did you use to get the Blue Circle logo off the side of the cab?

 

 

[Graham_Muz]

9 hours ago, LBSC123 said:

Looking good @Graham_Muz, what did you use to get the Blue Circle logo off the side of the cab?

 

 

 

My usual method is to soak the printing in good quality enamel thinners and then rub the printing off with a cotton bud also soaked in the thinners. rub evenly with some pressure but not too hard to remove the main body colour. This does leave a shiny surface, which if applying new decals is a good thing, I then spray the area with Railmatch satin varnish from a rattle can to restore the finish to match the factory finish.

[LBSC123]

4 hours ago, Graham_Muz said:

 

My usual method is to soak the printing in good quality enamel thinners and then rub the printing off with a cotton bud also soaked in the thinners. rub evenly with some pressure but not too hard to remove the main body colour. This does leave a shiny surface, which if applying new decals is a good thing, I then spray the area with Railmatch satin varnish from a rattle can to restore the finish to match the factory finish.

Thanks @Graham_Muz I'll act accordingly when the time comes. For the name plates did you remove these or just get custom plates to cover up the old ones?

[LBSC123]

Spent a few hours this morning on the layout, generally tidying things up but also making some more progress. 

 

First I touched up the paint on the quayside which had been covered in plaster and DAS, for this I used washes of black acrylic paint. I then painted over the filler with some brown paint. Although this now needs a bit of detailing and seaweed and reeds, it's not far away from being ready for the resin pour. 

 

 

With that done I turned my attention onto the white DAS clay which I have used to build up the ground level on the quay away from the track. I'm imagining that this would be made up of similar but smaller gravel/shingle to what was used as ballast and have given this a few washes over with black, earth and dust from the MIG track weathering set. I then picked out the rails with some 'track dirt'. Without a doubt it still needs some more weathering, which I was planning to do along with the rest of the track with an airbrush and weathering powders. Nevertheless, it looks a darn sight better than when it was stark white. 

 

 

 

 

I'm also awaiting delivery of the Will's 'Station Garage' to see if this can be made into a suitable fisherman's store building at the rear of the layout. If this does prove suitable I'll get another to make it into a building as shown on the previous page. 

 

 

I also took delivery of these rather lurid wagons from Wessex Wagons. They are models of the Portland Cement wagons that ran between Shide and The cement works on the Medina river, with a bit of modellers licence they can be justified on the layout. In time I'll re-number and weather these. 

 

 

I've also been looking at materials for the backscene. As I've mentioned before, I was planning on adopting something along the lines  of Chris Nevard here. I'm a little stumped for what paper weight to use, I've found this stuff, which is 150gsm, would it be suitable? 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

More soon. 

[wainwright1]

I have a few of those Blue Circle wagons as well. I think that they had about twenty five planks and four six planks. They did not have very far to travel, up from the quarry south of Newport to the cement mills on the side of the Medina. Must have looked interesting running through Newport Station, bearing in mind that they were probably the only P O wagons on the island.

In theory they should be end tippers, so we will have to employ rule 1.

 

I shall be over on the island this weekend with a visit to the steam railway on Sunday.

 

All the best

 

Ray

[LBSC123]

56 minutes ago, wainwright1 said:

I have a few of those Blue Circle wagons as well. I think that they had about twenty five planks and four six planks. They did not have very far to travel, up from the quarry south of Newport to the cement mills on the side of the Medina. Must have looked interesting running through Newport Station, bearing in mind that they were probably the only P O wagons on the island.

In theory they should be end tippers, so we will have to employ rule 1.

 

I shall be over on the island this weekend with a visit to the steam railway on Sunday.

 

All the best

 

Ray

Yes, I think I’ve read it was 5 wagons that were 5 planks or around that number. They may be supplemented by some correct end tippers when time allows. Notwithstanding the lack of end doors I think they’ll look rather good weathered alongside a Olive Green Terrier!

 

There were also two Royal Daylight tank wagons not that dissimilar to the Oxford Rail  one just released. I’m looking of modifying one of these to match, or picking up an old Mainline Royal Delight tank wagon for variety, but for now I am *trying to* focus on the layout and not stock! 
 

Enjoy  your trip on the Island, I was there in August, it’s splendid!

[IWCR]

Sharps the timber merchant also had a small number of timber trucks in pre-grouping days.  At least 1 was an ex LBSCR long wheelbase double bolster, in very early days Ashey Chalk pit had some wagons and an "Incline Brake Van" the latter subject of a court case when the Central Railway "borrowed" it.

There were 2 or 3 off the Royal Daylight tank wagons, these carried Naptha (paraffin) which was used as a lighting oil.

Landed at St Helens Quay, known unloading points, Newport, Cowes, Ventnor West, Freshwater.

Wainwright 1, yell out when you visit, I shall be in the C&W workshop.

 

Pete

[wainwright1]

On second thoughts, I think that the Blue Circle wagons may have been 20 four planks and four five planks. I have 2 or three different four planks and one five plank from Wessex Wagons.

 

Will be making my annual inspection of the works to see how the Oldbury's are coming on and anything else of interest.

 

See you Sunday.

 

Ray

[wainwright1]

By the way, are there any pictures of the Royal Daylight tank wagons ?

 

Ray

[LBSC123]

1 hour ago, wainwright1 said:

By the way, are there any pictures of the Royal Daylight tank wagons ?

 

Ray

The best shot I've found of them is here: https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=153387&search=A1+isle+of+wight&page=3