Hemyock - Down on the farm...

[aberdare]

Thanks for the positive comments again, they are much appreciated as are all the likes.

 

Stefan & Duncan - glad you like the colours and texture, some thanks has to go to the wife for her colour sense and making sure I stick the right label on the right tin of my homemade stuff.

 

Mikkel - You made me smile with that comment, a unique end quote, yes, but hardly a great cliff-hanger. I must admit I'm very glad I took the extra time and trouble to get it right but I must let the wife have her scouring pads back now before she discovers they are missing.

 

Andy - I only 'frightened you for a few moments', I must do better next time, Hahaha..... hang on that's your line.

Jon - It makes up for the night before, those hedge nightmares.....they were terrible.

 

 

 

Enough light-hearted banter and a final update for now to bring things up to date.

 

 

A view of that wall and of the 'string tree' end

 

I should really have used some extra lighting but you can see the wall itself pretty well covered.

 

 

I thought it was about time we saw some stock here and there, so I had a quick rummage through a box and pulled a couple of bits out from my modelling days 30+ years ago, this was when I had no books of my own and assumed anything with panelling was c1900. I've learnt a lot since then.

 

A few general views that show the work on the river area.

 

 

Looking toward Tiverton from the bridge.

 

 

 

The afternoon passenger train is glimpsed through the trees from across the river in the pasture.

 

 

 

A quick sprint to the riverbank means I could capture a closer shot, good job there's a speed restriction on this line.

 

 

 

A shot down the river between the trees.

 

 

 

As I leave on the next train I couldn't resist one final shot.

 

 

 

 

So it's goodnight from me until next time.

 

I'd better go and make something.

 

 

 

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

[ChrisN]

Jim,

Popped in after a busy weekend and Wow!  You have lost none of your modelling skill or ingenuity.  It all looks fantastic.  The ywo types of bushes would not look out of place I two cottages next to each other, one which has someone who looks after their hedge and one who does not.

 

What is the tank engine?  I am not sure it is a Meto, but I am not too familiar with GWR tanks of that time.

[emt_911]

Jim

 

Absolutely stunning vegetation. The colours are spot on.

 

Duncan

[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]

Loving your foliage ideas

[Jaz]

Loving the pictures, but those of the water taken at a low angle and catching the light are wonderful.

[kandc_au]

Jim,

What have you used to make the roadway/pathway in from of the house in post 327 please?

 

Khris

[gazmanjack]

More great pics of the riverside. The dry stone wall has come up very nicely with the over-growths. But the third pic down with the dry looking grass clumps below the cattle dock and the sixth photo of the river do it for me.

 

Cheers, Gary.

[aberdare]

Thank you all for the replies and likes I have received. It was a pleasant surprise to see the response after the last post  so I guess I must be doing something right.

 

Just to answer a couple of questions that cropped up:

 

Chris - Yes, the tank engine is a Metro tank, it was the closest to N^o 1300 until I get time to have a go a scratch-building it, even so I would still need to alter the cab to the open version to get it to look right for the period. I just wish I had the knowledge I have now years ago, I would have got things right from the start.

 

Khris - That is one of my local finds when out walking. I live up a quiet, no through lane and a bit further up on the hill is 'Chalk lane', after heavy rain it gets washed down and some settles in front of my house, gets crushed by the odd feed lorry supplying the farm at the top and I end up with this lovely finely ground mix. It's a bit strange though as I end up with a light mix on the far side of the lane and a darker one on this side, the latter being the one I like to use. Not much help to you though I'm afraid but I do try and use natural materials if I can and always wander out with a carrier bag just in case I see anything useful, especially at this time of year.

 

 

It's good to hear which are peoples favourite shots as well, most of them are the same ones I like too.

 

I'm trying to get this end of the river complete so that I can then work on the next board (or two) to get the full length in  - which includes a pool - that will end being around 13ft long, once that is formed I'm hoping to get a few larger trees in again, including a weeping willow of which I have a specimen to copy and will get reference photos of over the next week or two. I've got a few ideas that I believe will work but that is very much a wait and see project, no-one will see it until/unless I succeed.

 

Looking back through the thread it was only August last year when the boards were pretty bare and I was relaying some areas of track after Hemyock was re-assembled in the new shed, so even though progress seems slow to me it has moved on a lot when I look at it now compared to then.

 

An overall view last August.

 

 

 

 

Compared to now.

 

 

 

This time next year may well see this section complete and I can move onto the Junction to fill the rest of the shed.

 

 

Thanks again to all who have looked in and replied and/or rated.

 

 

 

 

[Mikkel]

What a difference a year makes. You are showing us some very interesting views, that last one is one of the most inspiring layout pics I've seen for a while.  I'm trying to figure out what makes it so convincing. I guess it's your use of gradients, textures and "deep" scenery (as supposed to narrow and elongated scenery). We get the railway in the landscape, but it doesn't drown.

[Jock67B]

Afternoon Jim,

Superb and truly inspirational modelling, it really is an education reading through your thread and I imagine that lots of people take notes!

Good to hear in another post that your good lady seems to be recovering.

Look forward to the next episode,

Kind regards,

Jock.

[Andrew P]

Hi Jim, just catching up again, and looking at the pics of the river, I have to say, its spot on, and wow what a difference from last August.

 

Fantastic mate, well done indeed.

[aberdare]

Thanks again for all the likes from everyone.

 

Thanks Mikkel, the layout is currently 10' 6" by 2' 9" and I have tried to include as many things as I could that created a number of differing views, it took me ages at first with a scale drawings of the board and layout being twisted all ways to include the bits I wanted to model. One of the reasons for me turning it around was to put the flat area (the pasture) to the back as it is then easier to photograph from both sides as well as being easier for me to operate. When I think that I'm only just completing 20% of the whole project I know I will keep busy for a while yet. I just hope I can maintain the standard and my enthusiasm.

 

Thank you as well Jock & Andy for your comments. As for your comment Jock I was inspired by others when I first joined and it feels good to be able to give something back to the forum that I took so much from. I hope to reach completion of this section in another year plus a bit more, I need to keep ahead of Andy.

 

I'm hoping to complete the thatched ridge (slow going though) and the butter factory over the winter as other scenic work takes too long to dry.

 

 

All the best

 

 

Jim

[emt_911]

Jim

 

Once Andy starts, it'll be interesting to see if you can keep ahead of him. I wouldn't even try.

[Sweven]

Jim,

Thanks for your kind comments over on my thread. I have really enjoyed reading through your progress and am inspired by the superb structures and scenery you have built. Some wonderful tips, scratch building, photography and modelling. I will be following future developments eagerly.

John

[allan downes]

I'm probably a year late with this Jim as I've just found your Hemyock thread and what a wonderful thread it is too.

 

I can undersatand your attraction to Hemyock as it once inspired me to build it in O gauge some while back now and it was really wonderful researching such an antiquated old line with probably the shortest run round loop anywhere on the entire railway network until they lengthened it.

 

However, although my effort looked something like Hemyock, I can't say that it was any where near as convincing as yours. A wonderful job. well done.

 

Cheers.

Allan.

[aberdare]

Thank you John and Allan for your comments and the ratings.

 

One of the reasons for modelling a prototype was to try copy what was there as close as possible, not easy from the limited photographs of the period, as for the colours I'm so glad to have got them somewhere near, a lot taken from more modern information though.

 

As long as it's recognisable as the early Hemyock I'll always be happy, I just hope to do the same with the Junction in a couple of years time.

 

Currently still planting up the rest of the riverbank with weeds, ridge making and preparing for baseboard extension.

 

Thanks to everyone for looking in, following and commenting.

 

 

Jim

[Alister_G]

It looks absolutely brilliant Jim, I love that overall shot in post 335.

 

As Mikkel says, it is one of the most believable "railways in a landscape" that I've ever seen, and in my opinion it's partly the superb trees that lend it that authenticity, normally model trees are nowhere near big enough.

 

The other thing is of course the pasture and river, which are just exquisite.

 

Your colourings, and eye for detail, just work so well.

 

Beautiful,

 

Al.

[NHY 581]

Just lost a good hour catching with this lovely layout.

Inspirational modelling of the highest order, Jim.

 

Rob

[brianusa]

Looking toward Tiverton from the bridge.!

 

Your model photo is virtually like the one I have seen in a picture from a book on the subject.  Well done!

 

Brian.

[Jaz]

I missed the last picture for some reason, gorgeous, the trees by the side of the water and the reflections.....gorgeous, and all in one year......can't be bad

[Southernboy]

All I can say is 'awe striking'.

 

Having chanced upon the pictures in post 327 I had to go back to page one and follow the story in it's entirety. 

 

Superb modelling plus!  Hugely atmospheric. I'm half-convinced I could just pull my boots on and take a bracing walk through your landscape.

[ChrisN]

Jim,

I am not sure if you are looking in on the web or how things are going with you but all the best, I shall leave the rest to my 'friends'.

 

[aberdare]

After a break of several months for personal reasons the modelling has started again.

 

I would just like to thank those who replied and liked the posts, I do have to take breaks now and again but hope that they are not as long from now on.

 

It was around February time that I went to my shed, looked at all the furniture and disability items and thought to myself 'Jim. you really do need to get back to normal life', so I set about improving access and getting the shed sorted. While doing this I decided where I needed baseboards so put some in place, no , that's not the right thing to do is it, fix them in place properly and that is what happened over the following weeks. Now that I had started I spent what time I could in there, anything from 15 minutes to a couple of hours as long as progress was made I was happy.

 

It wasn't long before a few bits of track got spread over the boards and that's where I thought of the new title.

 

So there isn't too much to see as yet as I have only been baseboard building and laying track but here is a few photographs of the progress since February.

 

 

 

This is it after I chucked a few bits of track at it and shuffled it about to check it would all fit as I had planned it, which it seemed to so it was time to take this a bit more seriously now.

 

 

 

 

The next job was to complete laying cork across all the boards and around the end of the shed to what will be the storage yards. The track was again laid back on to get a rough idea of position.

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time to follow a scale plan as closely as space allowed, of course this is when all the niggly little issues arise.

 

The station is on a very slight curve and depending on what photographs you look at it sometimes looks very slight or sometimes a lot sharper and I had loads of attempts at getting it right - I'm still not sure now - but it's down now so that's that.

The other problem with the curve was having to bend Peco points and crossings, fairly simple to do (as discussed elsewhere on the forum) and it stopped that curve-straight-curve effect, however it meant that the main line was exiting the side of the baseboard sooner than expected from my initial rough alignment so a few adjustments to the curve were made again.

 

Anyway here are a few shots to show what I hope is the final positions,

 

 

Looking toward London with a temporary down platform on the right with the CVLR branch curving around it.

 

 

 

 

Looking across the yard toward the Exe Valley line, in the background are copies of the contractors building plans of 1897 (courtesy of the Wiltshire & Swindon History Museum) and the detail on them is amazing, I just hope I can do the building justice when I build it.

 

 

 

 

Looking towrds Exeter.

 

 

 

 

An overall view showing the full length except for two points off the bottom of the picture.

 

 

 

Well that's it, all I have to do now is complete the wiring and test it before ballasting and then.....

 

..... don't know really I haven't thought that far ahead so I'll see where the mood takes me.....mind you the thought of a weeping willow is constantly nagging......but then again,,,,,, hmmmmmm.

 

 

Hope to catch you later,

 

 

Jim

 

[Andrew P]

Excellent Jim, Great to see your motivated again after a difficult period. Now that's my way of Layout Planning, throw a few Points onto the board and see if it fits. I'm not familiar with the area so its difficult for me to see how it joins the rest of Hemyock Station.

[The Great Bear]

Is the s-bend at the far end in the last photo prototypical or practical? (I guess the latter) I hope you don't mind me saying but in that photo to my eyes it jars a bit with the smooth flow of track through the station. Presumably it would impinge too much into room if the curve through the station continued or reversed much less then tightened. Or will it be hidden by scenic break? If I've orientated myself correctly at the south end there was bridge you can use, but the north end nothing so ready?

 

Given the standard of your modelling of Hemyock, I really do look forward to seeing this develop, Jim.

 

All the best

 

Jon