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Building a Southern Region layout


Tim Hale
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Back to the layout,

 

I am the first to admit that I am a creature of habit with no imagination whatsoever, every layout seems to follow the same pattern, consequently I use the methods which I find most comfortable.

 

Scenery, better known as the 'lumpy bits', tends to be offcuts of polystyrene foam culled from various sources - skips and the local tip are favourites - so the photo of the eastern tunnel mouth should be no surprise. I did, however, purchase a foam cutter which made the tunnel liner much easier to make and two hours later, the basic forms are in place but sticking it down with solvent-free Gripfill can wait until I have done so more cutting and shaping.

 

There-in lies a problem, the faithful Dustuster is always running out of charge and I do not cut polystyrene foam unless there is a vacuum cleaner on stand-by - that is a mistake that I do not intend to repeat. The other must-have is a big plastic dustbin (fitted with liner) to store the detritus.

 

Without further waffle, the eastern tunnel mouth:

 

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However,

 

I loathe the nausea of hoovering the workshop, my clothes, the Jack Russell after every session. However the foam still has its uses and I will place it under the hillsides where I will be planting trees but only as a user-friendly base otherwise it is cereal packets, cardboard and newspaper. Thanks to the unwitting influence of Geoff Forster and Barry Norman, I am abandoning 30 years of cutting polystyrene foam sheets for scenery and I am about to give their method a try.

 

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The speed of construction with a Bosch hot glue gun is astounding, the only delay is waiting for the PVA to dry on the foam/cardboard joints. The next step is to create a lattice support for the hillside by weaving strips of thin cardboard across the tops of the uprights. The concept of re-cycling the surplus boxes from Sainsgogs really appeals and I wish that I had tried this years ago.

 

IMG_0715.jpg

 

 

Real Blue Peter stuff.

 

 

Tim

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Tunnels on curves are horrid - not my favourite task and Beaminster Road needed one at each end. On the eastern (Crewwkerne) end, slices of polybead foam was used but by the time the western (Chard Junction) tunnel was built I had switched to cardboard boxes from Sainsgogs.

 

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The image raises another comment from visitors to the 'shed' - the window is a bit too posh. It was salvaged during the modernisation of a brothel in Amsterdam, it seems that the city historic building agency ignores such establishments and 40 Guilders was all it needed to buy a genuine design by Piet Mondrian, no doubt the window is worth more than the shed?

 

IMG_0724.JPG

 

A bit of art from Amsterdam

 

Tim

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The window is lovely, no question. Piet Mondrian is well up the pantheon of "modern" artists, so value is assured. Many people would shiver at the thought of such a piece being at risk of breakage etc. in shed, so well done for having it on display. Brothel Modernisation has seldom been mentioned on RMweb, even in Wheeltappers, as I suspect few of us have been patrons of such establishments - and even fewer want to brag about it!

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I merely salvaged the window from the property, not the former inhabitants :nono:

I was confident you had not been a patron, Tim! I suspect the average modeller has far better uses for the money than that!

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The Royal visit to Dorset in '52

 

The Diamond Jubilee visit of HM The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to Sherborne was a rather special day in West Dorset, it repeated a visit by Her Majesty in '52, when a young un-crowned Queen visited the West Country, a year before her coronation.

 

The first visit was by train, this time the old SE&CR Pullman parlour car Malaga was flanked by set s845 of four Bulleid coaches in immaculate carmine and cream, hauled by Bulleid 35019 French Lines CGT in sparkling BR blue.

 

Malaga-1_S40.jpg

 

The coach was used on by King George VI when travelling on the Southern Railway, built in 1921 for the SE&CR boat traffic, it was withdrawn in 1961 and sold to Ian Allan publishers and used as an executive dining room. Unfortunately, it was offered for sale in 2001, its fate is unknown.

 

The model is a modified Hornby, it will occasionally run on Beaminster Road, accompanied by a rake of Bulleid coaches in carmine and cream hauled by a Merchant Navy.

 

The photo below is the locomotive of the Royal train at Sherborne, in May 2012, thankfully the station survives and is still at the heart of the community.

 

RoyalTrain1.jpg

 

Tim

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A couple of weeks ago Tim asked if it would be possible to build another station building for Beaminster based upon the architecture of William Tite. He followed this up with a visit and the loan of three books to give inspiration. I've just completed this building based on, but strictly not a model of, Axminster. It's got the Gothic style gables and sandstone blocks which appear to have been used fairly extensively in Tites buildings. The model had to be made to fit Tims existing platform which is already installed, which meant it had to be stepped at the rear to bring the public entrance down to road level. Whether it gets used on Beaminster depends entirely on Tim and how it looks when in place.

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A couple of weeks ago ..... Tim asked if it would be possible to build another station building for Beaminster based upon the architecture of William Tite.

A couple of weeks???? That would have taken me a couple of months at least!

Terrific piece of work there Bill,

Dave.T

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A couple of weeks ago Tim asked if it would be possible to build another station building for Beaminster based upon the architecture of William Tite. He followed this up with a visit and the loan of three books to give inspiration. I've just completed this building based on, but strictly not a model of, Axminster. It's got the Gothic style gables and sandstone blocks which appear to have been used fairly extensively in Tites buildings. The model had to be made to fit Tims existing platform which is already installed, which meant it had to be stepped at the rear to bring the public entrance down to road level. Whether it gets used on Beaminster depends entirely on Tim and how it looks when in place.

 

Bill,

 

I am in awe of your latest masterpiece. Having studied the buildings of the Yeovil and Exeter Railway for my own inspiration, I would say that yours is spot on. You have captured just about all of Tite's signature for that period, including the colour of the brick and stonework.

 

PB

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The scenery base is growing around the outer edges of the layout, I have persisted with 'glueshell' and it is beginning to look like a layout. The dips and wrinkles are covered with further layers of paper towel, fortunately this process is much easier as I apply the glue to the existing shell and merely lay the damp towel atop. All the outer edges should be complete by the weekend.

 

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Iain Rice was correct when he described this technique of building scenery, it is light and cheap but tedious.

 

 

Geoff's (of Penhydd) advice has been invaluable, although I have omitted to use plaster at this stage and will wait until everything to dry and rigid before making a decision on further treatment - the scenery almost out of view has been painted with 'Hana' from the B&Q Colours range - wonderful stuff and just right for West Dorset.

 

IMG_0753.jpg

 

And scenery forms at the other end of the layout are now in place. Just three weeks of evenings and a Jubilee weekend - well spent.

 

Tim

Edited by Tim Hale
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Tim

 

It occurs to me that you might like this to complement Bill's main station building. It is a standard Yeovil and Exeter design, and was built a number of years ago for a loft layout of Chard Junction, and situated in Beaminster.

 

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Regards

 

PB

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  • 2 weeks later...

One of the pleasures of West Dorset is the National Garden Scheme which provides access to many beautiful cottage gardens, such is their beauty that the model of the Waggon and Horses, from Scenecraft's Pendon collection, will become Hillside Cottage, complete with garden.

 

To start the process, a base to accommodative the cottage and garden is cut from 3mm ply and 6mm softwood locating pieces are glued in place. The raised edges of the flower beds is simply cut from corrugated card, these will be blended in to hide the sharp edges before the base is painted in natural earth colours.

 

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More to follow......

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  • 3 weeks later...

Tatty+buildings.jpg

Tatty buildings

 

A clutch of typical Southern buildings that really need being bedded-in and a lot more detail, the inspiration came from Verwood (S&DJR) on the downside. I have some nice swan-neck lamps from Dart Castings and a few plants would not come amiss.

 

Verwood_Down.jpg

 

Tim

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aussiebrfan wrote:

 

Hi Tim, was admiring your photos of the Bulleid catering set earlier. Just came back for another look and theyve disappeared! As an aside I am considering purchasing a Modelzone Bulleid set of coaches and wondering whether you would be so kind as to post some photos of them and give me your opinion on them. Thanks in advance, regards Glenn

 

PS. Your Waggon and Horses is looking very good!

 

PPs. Just found photos of Catering set in Bulleid thread, very nice they are to, Im coveting your coaches!

 

Glenn,

 

Just for you, I have relocated the post on these vehicles

There is a tavern in the town....

 

 

Introduced on the SR by Bulleid, the Tavern car sets were the precursor to the ubiquitous BR Mk1 catering sets.

 

These coaches are Comet sides on Bachmann donor vehicles built by Chris White of SR Models.

 

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They are a good match for Bachmann revised BR (S) green and I have swapped the outer bogies for those with normal couplings.

 

Tim

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Guest Max Stafford

Tim, I haven't looked in here for a while but this is progressing wonderfully! Your buildings are wonderful and the Tavern Cars really look the part, they are extremely lifelike in appearance and I'm really looking forward to seeing them as part of a formation in the context of the layout with full scenery. It's all looking very promising so far!

 

Dave.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Comparison2.jpg

 

 

 

The layout needs a station building that is appropriate to the location and Bill has kindly modified the Tite building that he had built, see above.



 

This necessitated raising the approach road to the level of the platform and creating a shallow road down to the goods yard, see below.

 

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And yes, that is the base for the station master's house in the background. The location is similar to Breamore see below:

 

Br1.JPG

 

Hopefully, the scenery on the 'inside' edge of the layout should be completed (grassed etc.) by the end of September, the remaining scenery by end of December and the layout will be ready for exhibiting in late 2013

 

Tim

Edited by Tim Hale
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IMG_0057_1600.jpg

 

A bit more effort and I will extend the scenery along the inside edge of the layout, including the out-of-shot tunnel mouths except I have run out of foam sheet.............bum.

 

 

This is the inspiration for the actual site of the station had it been built:-

 

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It is a bit overgrown but the land on the right hand side of the track is owned by the railway - rumour has it that it was supposed to be the site of Beaminster Road but as Crewkerne is just 2 miles to the east and Chard Junction a similar distance to the west, what was the impetus for purchasing this parcel of land? The nearest hamlets are Wayford (this is Wayford Hill) and Clapton but neither offers more than 100 inhabitants between them.

 

Unless there really was to be a branch to Beaminster but there is no mention in Hansard or Lucking moreover the hills between the rumoured junction and Beaminster are formidable.

 

Tim

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Tim-"Railway Records in the Dorset Record Office" (an indispensable publication if ever there was one!)page 44 mentions the "Beaminster Railway" running from Crewkerne to Beaminster.1864 plan and book of reference under ref QDP(M):R3/80.Hope this helps.

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Thanks Tim,from your earlier post I wasn't sure if you had come across the DRO publication. If one is planning a fictional railway in Dorset, it could prove very useful.(or even a non fictional railway I suppose!)I do have a rather grainy map of the proposed Beaminster Railway.If this wouldn't breach DRO copyright I would be very happy to send you a copy. Best wishes and keep up the good work.Tim.

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