Waverley West, Princes St Gardens and Haymarket MPD

[Waverley West]

After putting the tunnels on the layout, I decided to make a few minor alterations to it, as I felt that the joints between the stone blocks were too  dark and prominent compared to the real thing. 

 Just a coat of matt varnish and some detailing left to do on it.

 

I’m happy now. 

 

[Waverley West]

Hi folks,

 

LOCKDOWN: THE WALL OBSESSION - DAY 428

 

Well, I am still getting more modelling time as a result of the lockdown situation. Boy is it frustrating being limited to getting out once a day in this fantastic weather we're having at the moment. Typical! I bet it starts tipping down as soon as the restrictions are lifted!

 

I have been tinkering away on the north station wall for the past week or so. I've been doing far too much tinkering in fact, as I have come close to scrapping it and starting again on a couple of occasions. It really is time I took a step backwards and decided enough is enough. 

 

So here is a quick update on the current situation:

 

After studying many photos, I suddenly realised that two stone courses had been added to the tunnel entrance shortly after electrification in the very early 1990s. I don't know why I hadn't noticed that before. So much for my powers of observation. As my version was based on the tunnel portal as it was in the early 2000s, it needed to be modified to represent the portal as it was during the 1980s.

 

So, off came two courses, followed by yet another repaint and here is the finished article...

 

 

Next it was back to tinkering with the wall. This involved adding more weathering and distressing until I got to the point where I thought I had overdone it. This was followed by stripping of the weathering and then repeating the process, over and over. I then looked back at some earlier efforts and wondered why I hadn't stopped back then as it looked OK!

 

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I have now got to a stage where I am pretty happy with the results, so here are some shots of the wall (not yet attached) in its current state...

 

 

 

 

 

A close-up of one of the greyer areas of the wall. The colour of the wall varies considerably over its length, as per the real thing.

 

 

One of the major problems with modelling something like this is the effect of lighting. Here are two shots of exactly the same part of the wall under different lighting.

 

One of the more buff-coloured areas in direct sunlight...

 

 

...and in the shade, when it looks much more grey-like...

 

 

And a final typical shot looking over the platforms to the wall. I'm pretty happy with the final outcome, as I think it has the right blend of uniformity and variation in shades.

 

 

Here, the weathering maybe doesn't look quite dark enough. Under other lighting, it looks too dark. So, I guess that means it's about right!

 

The next job is to watch the paint dry. Well, to leave it to dry long enough to spray a final coat of acrylic matt varnish. One of my major crises last week was caused by not waiting long enough. I thought I had finished it about a week ago, sprayed it, took one look at it and thought "Yes". I then came back to it a few hours later and the varnish had turned milky grey. Lesson learned. Hopefully. Until I forget it again.

 

The grass on the embankment above the wall has now been sown and the grass is growing nicely. The next job will be to spray the wall with one final coat of matt varnish and then attach it. The coping stones will then need to be added and then the fence and the hedge behind. The finishing touch will be provided by the trees, but I haven't decided what to do about those - whether to make some new ones of my own or just refit the old ones for now. That's a decision for another day though.

 

Then there's the re-ballasting to be done and then the bit I'm looking forward to most - adding all those details I've been wanting to add for far too long.

 

Then I'll have to do it all again - in Princes St. Gardens. Hopefully this time with some lessons learned in mind.

 

The question - is has it been worth it?

 

Possible answers:

 

1. No, it looked far better as it was before. You've just completely wasted three weeks of your precious spare time.

2. No, it doesn't look any better than it was before. Just a bit different.

3. Yes, but your therapist says you need to get a life. At least he can't say I need to get out more.

4. Why didn't you do it 15 years ago?

 

Well. I think it was worth it anyway, so I guess that's what matters.

 

There, I've managed to bore you all senseless by talking about nothing but a wall at a station as it looked 30-35 years ago. Sad, hey? So perhaps the answer is 3. And probably 4 too.

 

Hope you're all managing to stay safe and well. Covid-19 has well and truly hit our area, and I know several people who know others who have died from it locally. Our neighbours also think they have had it but fortunately seem to have recovered now. It really is a menace not to be messed with, whatever age you are.

 

Hope to be back soon with another update after taking advantage of all the extra modelling time I'm getting at the moment. One thing about being a railway modeller is that you're never bored. Unless you're doing the ballasting, that is.

 

Stay safe one and all,

Dave

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Waverley West

[lmsforever]

Hallo Dave I was watching a dvd of Scottish railways in the seventies and eighties a sequence in Edinburgh showed your wall I studied it carefully and then looked at your pics.You have cracked it  the colour is perfect well done, its amazing just what can be found to do on the layout when all this time is available.I completely rebuilt my goods yard painted some new ModelU figures and I am considering  weathering some stock only done a few basic things before. Your layout is brilliant keep up the posts hope all of you stay well just seen on news this lockdown could go on till June will I go mad?  Keep safe Chris

[Waverley West]

34 minutes ago, lmsforever said:

Hallo Dave I was watching a dvd of Scottish railways in the seventies and eighties a sequence in Edinburgh showed your wall I studied it carefully and then looked at your pics.You have cracked it  the colour is perfect well done, its amazing just what can be found to do on the layout when all this time is available.I completely rebuilt my goods yard painted some new ModelU figures and I am considering  weathering some stock only done a few basic things before. Your layout is brilliant keep up the posts hope all of you stay well just seen on news this lockdown could go on till June will I go mad?  Keep safe Chris

 

Thanks Chris. That's very reassuring! I've come to realise that, with the information I have available, it's not possible to reproduce the wall exactly as it was in any particular year, so I'm going to have to accept that it's never going to perfectly match every photo I have from that era, especially as it looks so different in almost every photo I have. 

 

I certainly have plenty of projects to keep me going too (including some ModelU figures of some BR men, which I really want to put on the platforms). They look incredibly detailed.

 

Stay safe and thanks for all your posts and comments. They really are much appreciated.

 

Cheers
Dave

[Waverley West]

 

 

Enough talk just for the moment, let's see some trains.

 

27052 waits to leave Platform 17 with a service to Dundee...

 

 

 

After 27052 had departed, 47001, which had brought in the previous service, exits the platform road...

 

 

 

Meanwhile, over on Platform 13, a well-loaded Strathclyde-liveried class 107 unit arrives on a local service, with a push-pull unit in the background on Platform 14...

 

 

 

BRUTES, BRUTES and more BRUTES...

 

 

Douglas Fir is still waiting for his service to arrive, as 47001 trundles by. A Class 101 unit occupies Platform 18 in the background, alongside a King's Cross-bound HST on Platform 19.

 

 

 

Finally for now, 47001 again. That's my younger self on the barrow by the way. Marks and Sparks jumper, Adidas tracksuit bottoms. The height of fashion.

 

 

Stay safe my friends,

Dave

 

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Waverley West

[SHMD]

Where's the 'super like' button?

 

 

Kev.

 

[lambiedg]

Dave

This appeared on the Railscot site today.

it’s perhaps too late to influence your wall work but does show it up well in bright sunshine 

Edited April 20, 2020 by lambiedg

[Waverley West]

21 hours ago, lambiedg said:

Dave

This appeared on the Railscot site today.

it’s perhaps too late to influence your wall work but does show it up well in bright sunshine 

 

Many thanks for that! A fascinating shot that makes me wonder whether the wall was cleaned again during the 90s, maybe in connection with the remodelling? It looks pretty clean in that shot. That vegetation on the tunnel mouth suggests otherwise though! 

[Waverley West]

Hi folks, 

 

A few more pics which didn't make the cut last time.

 

This time it's 47745 which steals the show, as it arrives in Platform 16 with a parcels service...

 

 

 

 

 

[Crisis Rail]

Edinburgh Summer Sunrise or Sunset?

 

Ian

Edited April 21, 2020 by Crisis Rail

[Waverley West]

6 minutes ago, Crisis Rail said:

Scottish Summer Sunrise or Sunset?

 

Ian

 

Model: late afternoon summer sun in the west

Prototype: sunrise in the east I guess!

 

Dave

[Crisis Rail]

2 hours ago, Waverley West said:

 

Many thanks for that! A fascinating shot that makes me wonder whether the wall was cleaned again during the 90s, maybe in connection with the remodelling? It looks pretty clean in that shot. That vegetation on the tunnel mouth suggests otherwise though! 

 

Dont go down the vegetation route Dave.

Dont even think about it........ 

 

Ian

 

 

[Waverley West]

7 minutes ago, Crisis Rail said:

 

Dont go down the vegetation route Dave.

Dont even think about it........ 

 

Ian

 

 

 

Rest assured, Ian, I have absolutely no plans to.

 

There are some weeds on the top of that brick hut near the tunnel portals which I might model and some moss-like weeds on the ground near the foot of the station wall, but that will be all. It will be very subtle. No bushes or trees growing out of the portal or anything like that.

 

[St Enodoc]

37 minutes ago, Waverley West said:

Prototype: sunrise in the east I guess!

...and winter rather than summer judging by the angle of the shadows.

[ColinK]

Surely those latest photos should be in the prototype pictures section, they look like real trains to me.

[Crisis Rail]

Dave  - Going back to the Summers of '79 and I think '80 on test were the Class 47/7 St Mungo? etc with DVT in Br Blue rolled out of Crewe for the push pull Glasgow  - Edinburgh  - it was quite a thing near us in Lancashire on the Blackpool line as they were regularly on test after mod conversion and refurbish?  the first locos seen with the hi intensity beams so we knew they were different -  they were through  Salwick  to Blackpool N  -  I am a bit vague on this period as other "things" were starting to attract my attention...!

 

Just wondered what you know about these.

 

Ian

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, Crisis Rail said:

Dave  - Going back to the Summers of '79 and I think '80 on test were the Class 47/7 St Mungo? etc with DVT in Br Blue rolled out of Crewe for the push pull Glasgow  - Edinburgh  - it was quite a thing near us in Lancashire on the Blackpool line as they were regularly on test after mod conversion and refurbish?  the first locos seen with the hi intensity beams so we knew they were different -  they were through  Salwick  to Blackpool N  -  I am a bit vague on this period as other "things" were starting to attract my attention...!

 

Just wondered what you know about these.

 

Ian

That would be about right. 47704 and the first set of coaches were under test, based in Derby, throughout the summer of 1979. The full service started with the May 1980 timetable change if I recall correctly.

[Crisis Rail]

7 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

That would be about right. 47704 and the first set of coaches were under test, based in Derby, throughout the summer of 1979. The full service started with the May 1980 timetable change if I recall correctly.

 

47703 Push Pull conversion St Mungo Eastfield 1982.

 

 

(RM Web image - Alcanman)

 

 

Edited April 24, 2020 by Crisis Rail

[David Bell]

Dave, 

Absolutely amazing layout, and takes me right back to many happy days in Waverley. I must have spent hours there in the seventies and early eighties. You have really captured the character of the place in a relatively small space.

For my part I am going to do the other end of the line, Glasgow Queen Street. I am going to set it in the 50's/60's.(though I will occasionally run the odd cl27 push/pull set when no one is looking!) Keep up the great work.

Regards

David

[Waverley West]

Hi folks,

 

Just another pitstop update as Project Station Refresh continues.

 

The tunnel portal is pretty much complete and the wall is also finished and has now been glued on.

 

Here are a few shots of the current state of play...

 

 

 

 

 

I've also been experimenting making some new trees for the station area and Princes St Gardens using seamoss.

 

Here are my first results...

 

 

 

 

The plan is to replace all the trees alongside the station throat area first. These are the first two trees and more are currently in the pipeline.

 

A hedge has been ordered which will be placed behind the fence along the top of the station wall. The cable trunking has now been glued down and the next job will be to apply a new top coat of pre-weathered ballast (i.e. pre-sprayed with my favoured mix of Railmatch roof dirt and frame dirt. Pre-weathering will hopefully reduce the amount of mess caused in the station area by eliminating the need to weather it in situ. It also means that if the ballast ever gets scratched, it will remain the same colour.

 

Hope to be back soon with another update.

 

Stay safe.

 

Cheers for now,

Dave

 

 

[colin penfold]

Dave, I don't  think I missed it. Can you please tell us the colours you used on the walls? Although my layout is freelance I'd  like to get to something similar with my retaining walls. Thanks mate.

[saxokid]

11 hours ago, Waverley West said:

Hi folks,

 

Just another pitstop update as Project Station Refresh continues.

 

The tunnel portal is pretty much complete and the wall is also finished and has now been glued on.

 

Here are a few shots of the current state of play...

 

 

 

 

 

I've also been experimenting making some new trees for the station area and Princes St Gardens using seamoss.

 

Here are my first results...

 

 

 

 

The plan is to replace all the trees alongside the station throat area first. These are the first two trees and more are currently in the pipeline.

 

A hedge has been ordered which will be placed behind the fence along the top of the station wall. The cable trunking has now been glued down and the next job will be to apply a new top coat of pre-weathered ballast (i.e. pre-sprayed with my favoured mix of Railmatch roof dirt and frame dirt. Pre-weathering will hopefully reduce the amount of mess caused in the station area by eliminating the need to weather it in situ. It also means that if the ballast ever gets scratched, it will remain the same colour.

 

Hope to be back soon with another update.

 

Stay safe.

 

Cheers for now,

Dave

 

 

Trees look great Dave,im growing seamoss trees at the moment in the greenhouse..

[P.C.M]

As always Dave it's looking good. I like the seafoam trees myself. what foliage did you use?

 

Cheers Peter.

[LongRail]

Dave just an idea when taking low level photos which look through the tunnel is it worth using a black board behind to clock the view of the scenery beyond so that you get more of an impression of the depth of the actual tunnel

[Waverley West]

On 27/04/2020 at 12:12, David Bell said:

Dave, 

Absolutely amazing layout, and takes me right back to many happy days in Waverley. I must have spent hours there in the seventies and early eighties. You have really captured the character of the place in a relatively small space.

For my part I am going to do the other end of the line, Glasgow Queen Street. I am going to set it in the 50's/60's.(though I will occasionally run the odd cl27 push/pull set when no one is looking!) Keep up the great work.

Regards

David

 

Thanks David, that's very kind. I look forward to watching your progress!

 

Dave