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Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.


MrWolf
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One of those formerly battleship grey no frills jobs with slatted seats?

That's a proper bus. That would definitely smell of old engine oil and stale cigarette smoke. Lurking under a bridge would probably suit it. 

Come to think of it, despite being static models, I don't think that I have ever seen one placed beside a suitably period bus stop on one of those pauses so that they don't turn up early and of course wait for the arrival of the other two. 

Just don't stop in the middle of an overbridge.

It would hold up other road users and doubtless incur the wrath of your friendly local Stukageschwader.

 

@treggyman has got it right with his horse and cart though. If I were driving such a thing over a narrow occupation bridge in the middle of nowhere and I heard a train approach, I'd pull up short of the arch in case the sudden blast of steam and smoke over the parapet scared the #### out of my horse. 

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18 minutes ago, Nick Gough said:

 

Don't worry about that - the roses would appreciate it.

 

It's the muzzle velocity of said fertilizer under panic conditions that would bother me.

It might just be sufficient to propel horse and cart forward at a dangerous rate.

Those skinny wooden wheels don't come with Z rated tyres y'know....

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This picture took my interest, especially as I have a facsimile of that sign in my stash.

 

1270413991_ModelRail-GreatWesternRailNotice-ChrisLeigh.jpeg.1720778385e436782bdea573b00002f5.jpeg

Chris Leigh

 

So having been inspired by @KNPs poster boards, I have had a go over lunchtime. The post and brackets are leftover from the càttle dock kit.

 

IMG_20220727_154350.jpg.6bb7f4f9b2cd99ac913567d84d068dcd.jpg

 

 

I'll paint the back later when the glue has dried.

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On 01/12/2021 at 11:31, MrWolf said:

One of those formerly battleship grey no frills jobs with slatted seats?

That's a proper bus. That would definitely smell of old engine oil and stale cigarette smoke. Lurking under a bridge would probably suit it. 

Come to think of it, despite being static models, I don't think that I have ever seen one placed beside a suitably period bus stop on one of those pauses so that they don't turn up early and of course wait for the arrival of the other two. 

Just don't stop in the middle of an overbridge.

It would hold up other road users and doubtless incur the wrath of your friendly local Stukageschwader.

 

@treggyman has got it right with his horse and cart though. If I were driving such a thing over a narrow occupation bridge in the middle of nowhere and I heard a train approach, I'd pull up short of the arch in case the sudden blast of steam and smoke over the parapet scared the #### out of my horse. 

Going under a bridge has it's dangers too, of course... Taken next to Chelmsford station a few years ago. Presumably not a local driver. (No injuries).

 

 

1783050977_2013-05-1616_52.32(2).jpg.8038cc6e37885e579d391e9445a87f7c.jpg

 

Edited by Barclay
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3 hours ago, Barclay said:

Going under a bridge has it's dangers too, of course... Taken next to Chelmsford station a few years ago. Presumably not a local driver. (No injuries).

 

326679961_2013-05-1616_52.32(2).jpg.0c9f5d331df7b6457e59442861967ffb.jpg

 

 

 

3 hours ago, MrWolf said:

He's done a proper job of that! 

 

That reminds me of something I saw around 50 years ago.

 

My late father worked for Ribble Motors in Preston as a maintenance fitter. He didn't work on the buses themselves, his job was to maintain the machinery in the works.  Because of this, a lot of his work was done on overtime on Saturdays & Sundays, and he used to take me into work with him.

 

On one occasion we were in the body shop and there was a double decker in there which had suffered a similar unexpected open top conversion courtesy of a road bridge.

 

Above the windscreen there is usually a reminder of the vehicle height, supposedly to prevent drivers doing this.  On this bus it said 'Height 14' 3".'   Somebody with a sense of humour had taken a piece of chalk and altered it to read: ' Was 14' 3", now 10' 6".'

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I've been busy trying to figure out what should be in the front yard of this house. I'm assuming that there's a piece of land behind the house containing the outside WC and a vegetable plot. Around the house itself would be a blue brick yard, leading to a gate onto the road and another gate by the corner of the building leading onto the railway. Beside the box van at the end of the short wall I'm thinking of a pair of gates and a bit of an ash track leading to the open fronted shed which would be stacked with firewood. 

What to do with the rest of the yard / garden I currently have no idea.

Any suggestions?

 

 

 

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Ordinary is what it would be. I'm just not sure what was ordinary in the 1930s.

I have a reasonable recollection of how my grandfather's garden was in the 1970s. It was laid out in neat order behind a Victorian house.

Brick surfaced yard, wood and corrugated iron workshop for motorcycles, radios and odd things people brought for repairs, rows of chrysanthemum, which he grew and sold to the village flower shop, vegetable plot, rows of small fruit trees, chicken shed.

Up the centre of the garden was a path of diamond faced blue bricks as per the yard with those rope twist edging stones which would have dated back to when the house was built in 1892.

It wouldn't surprise me if that garden had never changed in the previous forty years.

I've seen some very well modelled gardens and others that look like I had the wrong mushrooms for breakfast.

How to go about  convincingly making any of the above flora is something that I don't know. 

Now I understand why the modern equivalent of "not another GWR branch line terminus" is "not another run down city diesel depot" .:D

 

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12 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Ordinary is what it would be. I'm just not sure what was ordinary in the 1930s.

I have a reasonable recollection of how my grandfather's garden was in the 1970s. It was laid out in neat order behind a Victorian house.

Brick surfaced yard, wood and corrugated iron workshop for motorcycles, radios and odd things people brought for repairs, rows of chrysanthemum, which he grew and sold to the village flower shop, vegetable plot, rows of small fruit trees, chicken shed.

Up the centre of the garden was a path of diamond faced blue bricks as per the yard with those rope twist edging stones which would have dated back to when the house was built in 1892.

It wouldn't surprise me if that garden had never changed in the previous forty years.

I've seen some very well modelled gardens and others that look like I had the wrong mushrooms for breakfast.

How to go about  convincingly making any of the above flora is something that I don't know. 

Now I understand why the modern equivalent of "not another GWR branch line terminus" is "not another run down city diesel depot" .:D

 

 

My feeling is, given the presence of the van body and shed, it wouldn't be a very "garden" garden, more a yard filled with clutter, but maybe an unkempt  floral border down the side wall. I would avoid bright coloured flowers though, maybe think of autumn / winter with bare stalks and not much else? Slaters' York paving works well if you don't want brick paving:

 

station-house049.jpg.407debdbf4f246898e408db43e2f974a.jpg

 

You could have a small walled bed or a couple of planters:

 

station-house046.jpg.1a43535b95318f5f8ed46f890c53b0c8.jpg

 

Al.

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I'm thinking a bit of a scruffy yard / track across the front of the van body to the firewood store and filling the gap 'twixt that and the footpath around the house with a veg patch. 

Between the front door and the gate to the road could be vaguely 'garden' with a couple of hydrangeas flanking the gate to the road. Something that you used to see a lot of in old houses.

I'm going to have to search modelling vegetable patches.

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10 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

I'm going to have to search modelling vegetable patches.

What time of year is it set? That makes a big difference as to what you'd see in a veg patch. For summertime, spuds, beans & brassicas are the obvious choices - they wouldn't have had anything exotic.

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2 hours ago, Nick C said:

What time of year is it set? That makes a big difference as to what you'd see in a veg patch. For summertime, spuds, beans & brassicas are the obvious choices - they wouldn't have had anything exotic.

 

I hadn't put that much thought into the precise time of year. I've used spring grasses because I thought that the summer ones were a bit too bright and the river is well down, so I'd have to say late spring early summer.

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1 hour ago, Rowsley17D said:

You'll need a washing line How about a couple of upturned dolly tubs and a mangle under a tarp? You could hang a tin bath somewhere too

 

It will have to be the old style square wooden posts. 

I do have some domestic junk including a mangle to go by the back door.

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21 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

I hadn't put that much thought into the precise time of year. I've used spring grasses because I thought that the summer ones were a bit too bright and the river is well down, so I'd have to say late spring early summer.

Here's our plot in June - Onions (and Garlic our of shot) ready to pick, Spuds on the two larger beds in full leaf, beans in the middle still quite small, strawberries coming into season, the other summer fruit not quite ready. We can't grow brassicas, they alway seem to fail (The other end of the site they grow fine, but onions don't...). Go back to April/early May and it's more bare soil with smaller shoots, the onions half that size or less, and the Potatoes just getting established.

IMG_20200614_201226231_HDR.jpg.87cd49ea2aa12a2a6c657ed681ac1790.jpg

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Thanks, that's really useful, substitute the bark chippings for beaten earth or ash and anything plastic for wood / metal and it's sorted. I miss having a veg patch at home (parents had an allotment that I got volunteered to help with.) Where we live now it's not an option. Nothing much edible will grow on cobblestones!

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If we say around May  an Aplle tree would be in blossom. Aquadulce Broads Beans were often sown in Autumn  so would be a reasonable height. Not sure about the climate there when we lived in the hope dale along the Wenlock edge  the area was a frost pocket as the hills rose on both sides so last spring frost was May earliest autumn frost was september so nothing tender was planted out spuds might be covered in straw if they came through early . Somewhere else stuff might be being set out in may specially in the southwest. 

Just had a look Aston not covered but for Clun the last expected frost is s2nd week in May suggested planting out Chiited potatoes 2nd week in April so they would be coming through in May so you would need to watch out. Runner Beeans wouldn't go out until June so I don't suppose the sticks would be in yet (probably fill the bean trench with compost in May this was always a highlight for the ducks they would have their heads through the fencing after the compost worms). Thats a point you would have  had a compost heap 

For flowers the Forsythia would be over by May Ceanothus would have lovely bllue blossom but possibly not 'usual'. Lilac either white or Purple would be in bloom in May.

 

Don

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2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I miss having a veg patch at home (parents had an allotment that I got volunteered to help with.) Where we live now it's not an option. Nothing much edible will grow on cobblestones!

A surprising amount will grow well in pots though - especially herbs. Fresh herbs make a huge difference when cooking, I find.

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