The Hintock Branch-1930's Dorset Joint GWR/SR Workings in OO

[john flann]

AndyP and AnyR, glad you liked the images those Prairies do  so look the part and photograph nicely.

 

From your posting I assume all is well with you in NZ. I was wondering and this is re-assuring. Obviously many others have fared badly.

 

I also live in an earthquake zone being relatively not all that distant from Yellowstone NP. There have been over the years several minor shocks but with no damage. It's a very odd feeling to experience.

 

Regards,

[backofanenvelope]

Hello John,

 

Like you last pics and am intrigued by the NE van from Grimsby as surely there must/would be plenty of local fish for the inhabitants of Hintock and wider environs. Maybe I am showing my dimness now!

 

Regards

Tom

[westerner]

Even down in Torbay during the season there were fish trains from Grimsby. The locals could not catch enough fish to satisfy the demand of the holiday makers

[backofanenvelope]

Ahh that makes total sense thanks Alan.

[Gwiwer]

Good day John and all followers of the Hintock region.

 

I dropped in over afternoon tea for a quick catch-up and found that it extended, very comfortably, into an evening ale with an interval for dinner.  Such is the pace of life around Hintock, Port Bredy and the whole of the coastal region in west Dorset.  There is no rush and little haste.  Time for everything and everything in its own good time.

 

I like the new work John and I look forward to seeing this develop.  Your comments on earthquakes are relevant here too.  While we don't suffer to anything like the extent the Kiwis do (and thoughts to those over there in yet another time of need) we have had several decent tremors over the years.  The largest was I think 4.2 and centred out in the Bay quite nearby and quite shallow with it.  That caused a few minor cracks and a couple of losses as things fell off shelves.  Out on the railway it actually derailed a stationary train photos of which were duly taken with the men in orange in attendance.

 

There is something inexplicably relaxing about your work and it compels the viewer, in the best possible way, to step aside from their daily chores and business into an altogether calmer and quieter place.  If the gulls at Port Bredy could talk I'm sure they would do so in polite tones and not the raucous squawks of the urban airborne rat!

 

Best wishes from a steadily-warming Australian Spring.

[john flann]

Tom, I see Alan has responded and thank you Alan, it does seem I agree, rather like coals to Newcastle and my original thought when I first found about it was similar to yours. The other thing is that there are different species of fish in the North Sea (eg, cod, haddock, whiting) to that in the English Channel (sole, mullett, mackerel) and thus to suit all tastes and to meet the demand such traffic was required-and the railways provided it.

 

Rick, you always wax lyrically as well as poetically about the delights of the Dorset coast, the Vale of Hintock, Hintock and Port Bredy. I do enjoy your prose in praise. You clearly feel it as a place as I do-and that perhaps accounts for its presence.

 

I'm very flattered that it is so, not only by your own interest but all the others in this community. Top and bottom of it is I'm having fun; and it shows.

[Andy R]

Many thanks for query regarding earthquake. Yes we live well up in north island but we absolutely felt the shake at 12.10 am! It is caused major devastation in upper South Island. Very bad.

Regards Andy R

 

AndyP and AnyR, glad you liked the images those Prairies do so look the part and photograph nicely.

 

From your posting I assume all is well with you in NZ. I was wondering and this is re-assuring. Obviously many others have fared badly.

 

I also live in an earthquake zone being relatively not all that distant from Yellowstone NP. There have been over the years several minor shocks but with no damage. It's a very odd feeling to experience.

 

Regards,

[backofanenvelope]

Tom, I see Alan has responded and thank you Alan, it does seem I agree, rather like coals to Newcastle and my original thought when I first found about it was similar to yours.

 

Thanks John, although nice to see some NE in Dorset as growing up in the North Country although far to young to remember such things was still infused by it.

 

Top and bottom of it is I'm having fun; and it shows.

And that's all we all hope for

[john flann]

 

Tom, I appreciate your interest (as I do all other) in Hintock and its concerns: my knowledge of north eastern England is very limited except that for a series of articles I wrote for BackTrack I did quite a lot of research of the early railways in that area and came away most impressed with the activities and style of the North Eastern. So I'm glad I can pay some  homage to it with "the Grimsby fish". (The  clue to this traffic was gleaned from a caption to a photograph.)

 

Their wagons too make a change from the more often found SR and GWR stock around Hintock and in the southern areas of England.

 

The above photograph has no pretensions to artistry but all the structures you see are scratchbuilt and it also shows the general arrangement of Hintock Dairies. This never seems to appear as the subject matter itself and generally when seen, as back ground. So I thought it deserved a bit of a show.

 

And, in contrast below is an equally informative image and definitely with some pictorial qualities. (Perhaps, however it could have benefited from some cropping-except I believe in publishing "what I took" and -without embellishment.)

 

[john flann]

Time for a Port Bredy update: there have been changes to what was shown before and I like to think there is an overall improvement of operational matters and scenic. As far as matters go something like this will be the finished track layout and the scene enhanced considerably.

 

The basic changes can be summarized: the bridge has gone as it proved to be too intrusive, the engine shed similarly was out of place in the goods yard and now with its attendant water tower and coaling stage is a standalone subject on the LH board previously occupied by the goods shed, and that is now in its proper home in the goods yard to the right. This now has three decent length sidings in Inglennok fashion, and to serve the small yard  next the quay the approach will be by a railway private road crossing.

 

The following images illustrate this, and other the work in progress.

 

 

 

 

 

The work in hand involves improving the electrics, ballasting and painting track, new builds-the cottages for example,and finishing off others, setting the fiddle yard up and adding a fascia to avoid locos and stock coming to grief on the floor.

 

All enough to keep me busy and, I hope, remain on schedule for a promised completion date to suit Steve Flint and a summer article.

[Andrew P]

That's looking excellent John, I do like that Goods Yard arrangement, all very neat.

[Andy R]

John. More great lessons in layout building. Always enjoy your updates and evolutionary thinking.

Regards Andy R

 

Time for a Port Bredy update: there have been changes to what was shown before and I like to think there is an overall improvement of operational matters and scenic. As far as matters go something like this will be the finished track layout and the scene enhanced considerably.

 

The basic changes can be summarized: the bridge has gone as it proved to be too intrusive, the engine shed similarly was out of place in the goods yard and now with its attendant water tower and coaling stage is a standalone subject on the LH board previously occupied by the goods shed, and that is now in its proper home in the goods yard to the right. This now has three decent length sidings in Inglennok fashion, and to serve the small yard next the quay the approach will be by a railway private road crossing.

 

The following images illustrate this, and other the work in progress.

 

DSCN0283-1.jpg

 

DSCN0279-1.jpg

 

DSCN0280-1.jpg

 

DSCN0290-1.jpg

 

The work in hand involves improving the electrics, ballasting and painting track, new builds-the cottages for example,and finishing off others, setting the fiddle yard up and adding a fascia to avoid locos and stock coming to grief on the floor.

 

All enough to keep me busy and, I hope, remain on schedule for a promised completion date to suit Steve Flint and a summer article.

[john flann]

Thanks gentlemen for your likes, and the two Andy's comments that are so very encouraging. I'm very happy with where I'm at and wonder now why it's taken me so long to get to it!

 

One of the reasons, I think was I felt the bridge was necessary to break up the scene whereas what it needed was the opposite-opening up. Nicholas on a visit opened my eyes to that.

 

Anyway I can see a fruitful way ahead now.

 

In other respects the operational aspects are enhanced. Apart from the passenger traffic principally, GWR and SR I wouldn't be surprised to see excursions off the S&DR.There now too are three distinct sources for goods, in the yard itself, the Harbour and seasonal traffic in the Quay sidings. There is too parcels and milk traffic in churns across the platform.

 

It means that Port Bredy in itself has grown in stature but I have no problems with that. It still fits into my initial overall Hintock Branch scenario.

[Edwardian]

Time for a Port Bredy update: there have been changes to what was shown before and I like to think there is an overall improvement of operational matters and scenic. As far as matters go something like this will be the finished track layout and the scene enhanced considerably.

 

The basic changes can be summarized: the bridge has gone as it proved to be too intrusive, the engine shed similarly was out of place in the goods yard and now with its attendant water tower and coaling stage is a standalone subject on the LH board previously occupied by the goods shed, and that is now in its proper home in the goods yard to the right. This now has three decent length sidings in Inglennok fashion, and to serve the small yard  next the quay the approach will be by a railway private road crossing.

 

The following images illustrate this, and other the work in progress.

 

DSCN0283-1.jpg

 

DSCN0279-1.jpg

 

DSCN0280-1.jpg

 

DSCN0290-1.jpg

 

The work in hand involves improving the electrics, ballasting and painting track, new builds-the cottages for example,and finishing off others, setting the fiddle yard up and adding a fascia to avoid locos and stock coming to grief on the floor.

 

All enough to keep me busy and, I hope, remain on schedule for a promised completion date to suit Steve Flint and a summer article.

 

Excellent, John, your touch is as sure as ever.

[john flann]

Gentlemen first let me say how I value those warm responses to my endeavours: and second, I had a kind inquiry as to my welfare and what was currently going on at Port Bredy.

 

I was happy to tell him that I was fine and that quite a lot had been done in the way of relaying track and points (75 to 100), new electrics installed, small but significant changes had been made along with some new builds. I'm also glad to say that PB is now complete in all main respects. The finishing off and the real fun stuff like scenics can then be implemented. I also added that my principal computers keyboard had just failed. (It's now been replaced so hence this post.

 

Attached are a series of shots that illustrate much of the above.

 

 

Culvert Mark 1.

 

 

 

Culvert Mark 2. The bridge work is  only loosely emplaced. It will be properly bedded  in later..

 

 

The O2 will be replaced by an Adams Radial and the coach by a genuine ex L&SWR example. This train will the form the local SR service between Port Bredy. Hintock, Hintock Junction and Yeovil.

 

 

The carcase of the cottages to be added.

 

 

Fascia added to the RH board. It needed to be high enough to provide security to the running line but not so high as to obscure the view across and into the goods yard.

 

 

Above and below works in progress to produce a widening and extension at the LH end. (more on this to follow.)

 

[Gwiwer]

Good to hear from you John and I shall look forward to future posts showing the need for this little extension.  Meantime the culvert looks very realistic.

 

Not far from Port Bredy lies the village of Uploders, nestled leeward of the lower slopes of Whiteway Down.  The honey-coloured stone buildings are of course accurately reflected at Port Bredy and throughout the Hintock region.  I mention this in passing because it's one of the possibilities on my list for a "plank" when I have much less space than I do now.  Somehow a branch there should connect with Flannshire Railways though my era would be 1950s-60s.   Why specifially Uploders?  Eminently model-able and a nice pun for the computer generation who are uploaders.

[BWsTrains]

Hi John,

 

I've now caught up will all your recent PB posts that I'd missed, you've made excellent progress. Just a couple of questions:

#1 - what settings are you using for the photos on the new camera? (ISO aperture etc.). As someone else noted they are very good, I tend to have both depth of field and light intensity issues without using flash. Is it under your normal internal lighting?

 

#2 what is your source of materials (exterior walls, tiling etc) for the scratch built cottages, factories?

 

Your Blog might yet inspire me to put up something about my own more modest efforts

 

Colin 

[Andrew P]

Nice addition to the left hand end John, I did the same with the right hand end on Porth Merryn, and it opened the Goods Yard out to make it more believable and less model like. I also did a culvert on Loch Leven and used an N Gauge tunnel mouth and filled it with water, weeds and brambles to hide the fact that it was only 3 inches deep.

Superb work and photography as always and such a pleasure to follow your thread.

 

All the best.

Andy.

[john flann]

Thanks for your likes and the like. Now to respond:

 

Rick, always a pleasure to see what you have to say. Dorset isn't a large County but I'm sure there is more than enough space in the Vale of Hintock for your Branch line-well as much as you can accommodate.

 

Size is isn't everything and I get a lot of fun out of my stand alone "plank" Hintock Town Quay which is less than 5'0 long.

 

Port Bredy started off a lot smaller than it has now become and not what what I thought it would become. As built to date at the LH end for that reason it lacked presence, that is until I recognized that it could be lengthened slightly without affecting access to a door.

 

Glad you approved of the culvert, it seems appropriate, makes a nice feature and readily done from bits and pieces.

 

Colin, nice to meet you on here, please do visit again. And when you are ready let us see your stuff.

 

To answer your questions:

 

#1. The card I get as scrap from picture framing shops. Full size sheets are very expensive. It's customarily of a high quality and tempered on one face. They're a bit hard to cut and for that I use single sided razor blades. I find it easier too to cut door and window openings in larger rather than smaller pieces of card.

 

#2. I have no idea what the settings are. The camera does all that for me. I use high quality 'point and shoot' cameras. The earlier pictures are with a Nikon Coolpix 5600 and I now have a S7000. That cost me, I think, about 300 USD.

 

The trick is to have the subject flooded in light. I 'm now using overhead LED's and experimenting with horizontal LED spotlights. These to bring out the lower detail in locos, coaches, wagons etc. It's a long learning process. My images have to be good because many are used to illustrate my articles and magazine editors demand a high standard. To date I have satisfied them. To that extent I'm a keen photographer but the ins and outs of settings I have not the slightest interest. Why have a dog and bark yourself?

 

AndyP, I quite agree these openings up and additions are easy enough to do and add so much as you have demonstrated.

 

I really did it the first time with Hintock, and the line now gently curves away through a bridge. And in which i put a mirror to give that illusion of depth you refer to.

 

And Andy for you, a picture to complete the post, that illustrates the above.

 

The intent at Port Bredy is that the branch will terminate at the station buffer stops and the line  to the Harbour shall continue to the L disappearing behind a building. Even in its rough and incomplete  state it adds an enhanced impression of length. .

 

 

[BWsTrains]

Hi John, re my question #2, I'm interested in the detailed brick, timber and stonework surface finishes you get. Are these from commercial sources? surely you're not making you own in some way. Either way the infrastructure looks amazingly realistic.

 

Regards,

 

Colin 

[john flann]

Colin. no I'm not that clever and again why make something the hobby trade (both in US and UK) can supply? Granted it has to be used protoypically, imaginatively and realistically. The finish applied makes a world of difference.

 

The basic 'stone' material is Slater's Plasticard, I tend not to use much 'brick' because it's so very difficult to finish off satisfactorily. Fortunately in Dorset stone is the basic building material of choice.

 

For timber I use the framing card as I do the roofs. To achieve a planked affect and similarly with slated roofs, I scribe them using a metal rule and square, with the end of a nail file.

 

Paints are cheap acrylic and using  a decent square end often 1/2" brush. Several coats of thinnish washes are better than one solid colour.

 

Windows, door openings and chimneys add character. I find a good source of windows are those by Tichy Trains (here in the US of A-no connection-just a satisfied customer). Whilst to HO scale-can you tell the difference at a normal viewing distance?

 

One too has to remember that many railway buildings, and those around them it were built of the local materials, often by the same builders and thus reflect local characteristics and style.

 

They also need to 'live' together.

 

Placement also is important: they are there to perform a function but further need be of a piece with the whole scene. I spend a lot of time in getting the 'right' structure in the 'right' place. An instance of that is an important building at the end of PB I'm currently working on. After thought I put in place in one position, OK it would do-but looked so much better when I simply turned it through 90 degrees.

 

I've gone on at some length for I don't normally write long posts. However, this is a subject I pay a great deal of heed to.

 

Any more questions, please ask.

 

Regards,

[BWsTrains]

John, thanks,

 

I appreciate the detailed info as scratch building is one of the main pleasures on my project. Useful techniques / sources of the materials noted for future use.

 

I've been very fortunate that the Metcalfe model kits for houses, stations, farm and a particularly fine Norman church are all prototypical for my layout location / timeline and look very good.

 

Colin 

[john flann]

Colin, I realized afterward that I had answered more than you had asked- but you did refer to the infrastructure and that, of course, is as important as any. Anyway I hope it will encourage you to scratch-build, On that you can put your own stamp.

 

I admire the cleverness of the Metcalfe designs and have purchased the odd kit or so and started them but then realized I 'd get more pleasure out of DIY., and produce something that was mine. But you do your own thing. They are nonetheless a very good introduction to the basic techniques,give rise to imaginative alterations and improvements along with individual embellishment. There are many fine examples of that on this forum and John Dew's Granby thread illustrates what can be achieved.,

 

Below are three images that show development of my Sheepcroft Yard with the Hintock Farmer's Trading Society warehouse. They also shows works in progress and two other rather nice structures ( and favourites of mine) Cruso Wilkins, the factors premises and the GWR stables.

 

 

 

[BWsTrains]

Thanks John,

 

just replied via email as content is off topic for here.

[john flann]

Thanks for the likes and now to get on:-

 

 

This shows an extension (which adds to the lost in the platform look) of the platform, the water tower (that is to be replaced by a new build) ) and the coaling stage. the engine shed is from Ratio (and the colour of which I'm emdeavouring to alter a lighter shade) and that will have an enginemen's cabin added, alongside, upside down is the track for the shed road and attached are the sides to the pit to be inserted in a hole excavated in the baseboard.

 

Finally the signal box has found a permanent home and that is to the right and will be next an occupation crossing to allow access to the small yard alongside the quay.

 

 

My camera has two modes, scene and close up, the last set of images were in the latter form and now are some experimental close-ups of a loco and stock.

 

 

The loco is lightly weathered, the SR van heavily. I prefer light weathering but this was necessary to kill the original bauxite. It must be assumed this van for some reason spent a long period off the SR and in some grubby clime.

 

 

 

The brake van is straight out of the box. It will be attended to.

 

On Edit: looking again (I really ought to wear my glasses)at the first image the track is right side up and I should have added that the siding by the shed has been removed. It served no real purpose and its absence increases the look of "space'..