Copenhagen Fields

[APOLLO]

I prefer the old days - wasn't the house in the centre a mock up for the film "The Ladykillers" ?

 

 

Brit15

[CF MRC]

Yes. Made for the film. We don’t have space for it on CF. 
 

Tim

[CF MRC]

Life has become a bit brutal on CF just lately.  
The representation of the KX Goods Yard has featured some magnificent (and large) warehouses, based on some of the buildings at KX, that Mike Randall laser cut and made to produce a critical structural mass.  In fact, the warehouse had already been shortened at the front by a bay, before our MRJ photoshoot last February. 

The problem is that these big buildings aren’t quite right for this part of the yard, as they should have a whole load of canopies and smaller structures at 90 degrees to them - the famous potato market.

We never claim 100% accuracy with CF, especially when we have to compromise on space grounds.  So over the last few weeks I kept thinking it was time to do something about this.  The warehouse was taken outside and a jig saw applied, lopping off the first floor on the nearer building over a few bays.

The front wall was reinstated as the wall at the back and a flat area filled in, ready to take four hipped roofs with a parapet in front.

Canopies and the beginnings of the massed smaller roofs were still lacking. I therefore took a finer saw and Stanley knife to the ground floor area at the south (left hand) end of the building, with a view to moving it forwards to make the offices and ‘inside’ warehouses. 

Various styles of roof were sketched out with paper templates but six pitched roofs should look about right; the shorter, long building will also get taken to the layout boundary (the overhanging bit visible in the picture was the sacrificed roof from the north end)

What can also be seen in this picture is that the south-facing ramp road has been removed. At the time we started sketching out this area we knew that there was an access road to the yard, but with the big warehouses hard up against York Way viaduct there wasn’t space to put it in correctly - so we turned it the other way round.  With the modifications to the warehouses, it became apparent that there would be space for a correctly orientated ramp. The pavement and railing wall were lifted and the ramp and retaining walls splintered off; fairly traumatically as it happens. 

The structural integrity of the board was beginning to become compromised at this point, so some remedial blocking and gluing was needed to reinforce the node where quite a lot of stresses accumulate (the tube station is removed in these images).

The current status has all the reinforcements and the footings in place for the new retaining wall. The new ramp road will be modelled at the far south end, with the gates closed: It was originally an access route for some cattle pens, although these were long gone by our time period.  The solid potato warehouses will be supplemented by open awnings which will butt hard up to the retaking wall and the railed fence will be moved south. The north end will feature a wall which should be good for some advertising hoardings and a bit of colour.  This little patch should all end up being that bit more convincing.
 

Whilst this whole area will look quite different when complete, is this butchery fine scale modelling?  I hope that not too many illusions about how we plan CF to the ‘Nth’ degree have been shattered - we never have - it just evolves...

 

Happy New Year to all and looking forward to ‘21!

 

Tim
 

 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2021 by CF MRC

[CF MRC]

The re-working of the goods yard ramp has progressed quite well over the last 36hrs. The angle of the road is less steep that the previous iteration and was made from 4mm ply clamped and glued. The natural S shape of the plywood was straightened out with a packing to clamp against. 

Once in place, the top end of the ramp had some fill-ins from substantial styrene strips on which to fix the walls. The strength in the long retaining wall would arise from using packings and stiffeners fixed to the styrene sheet, rather than the layout whilst the wall was under construction. 

As this isn’t close to the front of the layout, I used Slaters brick styrene.  This is always sanded heavily to flatten the bricks and make them less ‘knobbly’.

The paving and capping stone was set up to give a reasonably flat joint for subsequent fixing of the railed fence and new brick wall. 

This is the mainline driver’s operating view. The two gate pilasters are re-cycled from the old wall.

I think it’s looking a bit tidier and finer than the previous version which, to be fair, had only been sketched in with wood. 

Tim

 

Edited January 2, 2021 by CF MRC

[CF MRC]

Meanwhile, deep underground, Thunderbird 2 has released the ‘Mole’, driven by the intrepid Richard Wilson. 

Any guesses what this is?

Tim

[Caley Jim]

18 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

Any guesses what this is?

Implant moulds Tube linings for the cross-over?

 

Jim

[CF MRC]

It’s all beginning to look busy around the KX Goods Yard middle entrance. After a bit of fettling, the pavement was laid on York Road, before placing the railings (lying loose on the road in this image), so avoiding having to make the slabs fit the back wall as well as the pavement edge. 

The ramp walling is now complete and whilst it’s not immediately obvious there is a significant narrowing towards the entrance. This will give a useful perspective effect when viewed from the front of the layout.

The public view from the south end has now become a whole lot more interesting, especially as the areas of black styrene will have multiple M roofs on them.

The eye is now drawn down into the yard. Problem is we’ll now need a whole load of horse drawn wagons and small lorries for the potato market. Some large colourful LNER hoardings on the railings would also help to draw the eye into the layout at this point. 
 

I really am looking forward to seeing all of this in place on the layout, but that won’t be for a little while I suspect.  At least the silver lining to the COVID cloud is that I have been able to work on this bit of layout far more intensively than our normal build timetable.
 

Tim
 

 

 

 

 

 

[bécasse]

11 hours ago, CF MRC said:

The eye is now drawn down into the yard. Problem is we’ll now need a whole load of horse drawn wagons and small lorries for the potato market.

 

Sounds like a natural for 3D printing.

[CF MRC]

The first part of the potato warehouses have now been sketched out.

The red brick M styrene will be mostly hidden by the canopies in front, but might be discernible through the glass, so best to put it in. The black styrene is the foundation layer for the roof, the final covering being Slaters slate styrene sanded almost flat. The clear sky lights will sit on top of the black styrene in cut outs within the slates. There are also some substantial chimney stacks to be made, emerging through these rooves, which will add a bit of character. 
 

Tim

Edited January 5, 2021 by CF MRC

[queensquare]

On 03/01/2021 at 22:07, CF MRC said:

The eye is now drawn down into the yard. Problem is we’ll now need a whole load of horse drawn wagons and small lorries for the potato market. Some large colourful LNER hoardings on the railings would also help to draw the eye into the layout at this point. 
 

Tim

 

Are there specific horse drawn vehicles for potatoes or is it predominantly regular drays etc. Any pictures?

 

Jerry

[CF MRC]

Would be simple drays I expect, Jerry. Probably not particularly big. No old pictures of the road vehicles, as yet; most pictures show the railway wagons inside the warehouses. Later pictures show lorries, usually flatbeds with side & end  boards.
 

Tim

Edited January 6, 2021 by CF MRC

[bécasse]

There is a (small) drawing of a two horse dray in Beal's Modelling the Old Time Railways and there should be a copy in the MRC library - once you can get back to Keen House, of course.

[Bedders]

On 06/01/2021 at 08:41, queensquare said:

 

Are there specific horse drawn vehicles for potatoes or is it predominantly regular drays etc. Any pictures?

 

Jerry

 

The now extinct London Potato Horse was a remarkable specimen.

[bécasse]

Judging by the 5kg bags that I buy in the supermarket, potatoes are quite heavy items for their bulk and that leads me to believe that two-horse drays would have been used. Coal merchants generally got away with using a single horse but, firstly, their deliveries were usually quite local and consequently the dray was probably stationary for unloading more than it was on the move, and, secondly, the load would have got progressively lighter as the round progressed; both factors significantly reducing the total effort required by a single horse.

 

[Simon D.]

Delivering Potatoes in 1920’s.  https://www.heritagesouthholland.co.uk/article/delivering-potatoes-1920s/

 

Rural, but might be indicative...

[bécasse]

2 hours ago, Simon D. said:

Delivering Potatoes in 1920’s.  https://www.heritagesouthholland.co.uk/article/delivering-potatoes-1920s/

 

Rural, but might be indicative...

Interesting that that was a three-horse dray, although I think it unlikely that they would have been used in the (relatively) heavy traffic in London - too difficult to control. Photos in Oakwood Press's book on the potato railways of Lincolnshire show two horse and one horse (but with an assisting horse) drays. The cost of moving potatoes, even in a rural area, by horse and dray was, of course, the rationale behind the creation of the county's many potato railways many of which were worked by horse.

[CF MRC]

3 hours ago, Simon D. said:

Delivering Potatoes in 1920’s.  https://www.heritagesouthholland.co.uk/article/delivering-potatoes-1920s/

 

Rural, but might be indicative...

A young horse was often put in the traces like that to train it. Wagons such as that are incredibly specific to locality, so probably well off type for London. Modelling the full and empty sacks is another matter. 
 

Tim

Edited January 7, 2021 by CF MRC

[CF MRC]

The building works continue. Rooves, rooves and more rooves. 

The front, long, warehouse has been extended southwards and a start has been made on the hipped rooves at the north end.  It will be good to get some slate sheets in place as working with black styrene is a bit depressing.  The complexity of the building is beginning to give a better impression of KX Goods; not accurate, but a bit more of the atmosphere perhaps. 
 

Tim

[CF MRC]

A full day of a College Teams meeting: ‘Teacher Education Day’, saw steady progress on the KX GY sheds. 

As an aside, I tend to use a fine liner for marking out styrene these days. When I’m using one piece as a pattern for another, e.g. with the hole for the hipped roof lantern lights, then I always extend little crosses at the corners to make it easier to know when to start and stop cutting.

Next job slating the potato warehouses. 
 

Tim

[richard i]

I hope that no one who works with you sees this honesty. I full understand the approach, but am not brave enough to admit doing it.

richard 

[CF MRC]

I don’t think they would be at all surprised, Richard. I actually contributed quite a few times to the meeting. 
 

Tim

[CF MRC]

I think I can at last begin to see an end to the KX GY sheds (collective sigh all round), with the slating now mainly complete, they aren’t the most exciting bit of modelling....

It’s interesting to compare this view with a photo taken just under a year ago. The ramp has changed direction, of course, and the buildings reduced in height and increased in complexity. When Barry took this photo the YR tube was just a mock up, so is carefully cropped out of the view.  

(photo Barry Norman courtesy MRJ)

The skylights will soon need to be made for all these rooves and, there is a substantial ventilator clerestory of the large roof for most of its length. It will be good to start to get some paint on the buildings but best not to rush that because loads of details still need to be added.  I have improved my technique for slating the gently curved rooves as can be seen here - it should be self explanatory and much simpler than using individual pieces. 

It is so frustrating not being able to see all of this new work in the context of the whole layout. I suspect that the viewing public will be more equitably distributed down the front of the layout now, as there is now so much more to see at the southern end.

Tim

[richard i]

10 hours ago, CF MRC said: I suspect that the viewing public will be more equitably distributed down the front of the layout now, as there is now so much more to see at the southern end.

We had the same problem on charwelton. Even though it was just shy of 40ft every one wanted to be in front of the station. As half the length was a long cutting. This did not happen on stoke summit. Perhaps because the trains just passed through, but more likely because people like to see the sides of trains and in the cutting you mostly saw their roofs. Not an issue on stoke summit the front side cutting wall had been removed. 
richard

[CF MRC]

When we first started CF we exhibited the Holloway Bank section for a while: trains were only visible in a cutting. Lots of people couldn’t understand why we had hidden the trains, but that was partly the effect we were after - having to look for the trains is common  in the urban scene. Of course, the rest of the layout compensates for that quite well, it was unveiled in stages, with the very visible NLR and the open vista of Belle Isle and the goods yard. 
 

It’s only five years ago that the south end of CF looked like this:

Quite a short time window in CF terms, but the lifespan of some layouts...

 

Tim

[bécasse]

On 05/12/2020 at 11:46, APOLLO said:

I prefer the old days - wasn't the house in the centre a mock up for the film "The Ladykillers" ?

 

 

Brit15

I meant to comment on the roofs visible in this photo when it first appeared but somehow failed to do so.

 

Most domestic properties in the inner suburbs of London whose roofs are fronted by parapet walls, as these are, have twin slopes draining down from the fire walls either side (an LCC Building Regulations requirement) into a central front to back gully, and there are plenty of such examples modelled on CF. These, however, have a single slope which drains down to a (hidden in this view) gully along the nearer fire wall. This might just give more usable attic space but I suspect at the expense of keeping the fire wall clear of damp penetration; it is certainly an arrangement I haven't noted before and may be linked to a particular developer. The roof on the furthest building from the camera on the right (a public house?) is also unusual in having a single slope down, parallel to the road, with its apex immediately behind and level with the top of the parapet, again an arrangement new to me - I must spend more time looking at Google Earth views of such surviving buildings in this area.

 

It is also worth noting the number of roofs where the covering is apparently of pantiles (but possibly concrete tiles) instead of the original slates. Given that we know, from the presence of the Ladykillers "house", that the photo dates from the early 1950s, these are presumably wartime or immediate post-war replacements for slate roofs damaged during air raids (when bomb blasts would lift roof coverings almost within a wider radius than they would blow in glass windows).