Old signs and buildings that you might want to use or model.

[westerhamstation]

That's useful. I'm thinking of doing something similar to the overhanging bit with the Scalescenes Factory/Warehouse, and thought it would need much bigger girders than that. Was there track under there originally? I'd need track under mine, and the occasional loco would go under there.

Hi. The building was late victorian and was used to store cast iron grates, and ranges. Railway wagons were shunted underneath and loaded from above.

                                              regards Adrian

[Rivercider]

I was out walking earlier this week and went past this little chapel that I remember from my childhood in the 1960s, and remembered this thread.

Bridford is a small village on the edge of Dartmoor. Although it is peaceful now this area, and along the Teign Valley, was once a very busy mining and quarrying area for various minerals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something like this would not take up much room

 

edit - another view of one sign on a sunnier day

 

 

cheers

Edited April 7, 2017 by Rivercider

[allan downes]

Absolutely magnificent and brilliant photography.

 

A touch of the England I remember and so inspirational. Must find an excuse - or even not find an excuse - to model it all.

 

Thanks for sharing this wonderful find. Much appreciated.

 

Cheers.

 

Allan.

[steve1]

Thought I would throw in a bit of backstreet urban grot from Scotland

 

 

 

steve

[timbowilts]

Re the frosted windows in the Bans's pub, anyone got any suggestions as to how to get that effect? In the era I model, South Wales before 1959, that's how it would have been.

 

TIA Tim T

[westerhamstation]

It's been a long time since anything was posted on here, but I saw this building today and was rather taken by the facia which has a mixture of type faces and looks like it was cut out of ply. 

No doubt this will vanish in the next few months and be gone forever. All the best Adrian.

[grahame]

The village where I live has a number of characterful, interesting and modellable buildings of different styles and types. I photographed a few last year:

 

 

The village hall with upstairs a village club (cheap beers, snooker and so on) and a hall with stage and kitchens downstairs available for hire.

 

 

1930s terrace of shops

 

 

The Plough pub which is mentioned in the 'War of the Worlds'. Originally sited near Plough bridge over the Wey it was moved complete to this location opposite the village green.

 

 

The village bakery complete with Hovis sign.

 

 

This used to be the head brewers house and commercial offices for the brewery that was located behind the Plough.

 

 

Superb art deco style motor garage was once a petrol station.

 

 

The Blue Anchor pub - famous for a 1920s murder when the landlady along with her French lover poisoned the landlord : http://wokinghistory.org/onewebmedia/160527.pdf

 

 

The Clockhouse, just across the road from the Blue Anchor, was an old peoples home with fantastic internal wood panelling but is now converted to apartments.

 

There are plenty of other interesting buildings in the village including an old mill and the Manor House where Henry VIII had his childhood before moving to Oatlands and Hampton Court: http://www.byfleetmanor.com/history/ A lot of the roads around are named after famous visitors to the house such as the Black Prince, Gaveston and Aragon (who was given the house by Henry).

 

G

Edited May 9, 2019 by grahame

[westerhamstation]

Hi Grahame, thank you for your contributions to this thread, some lovely photos and information of the buildings in your village. You think they will be there for always, but blink your eye and they are gone and you only have your memory of them.

 All the best Adrian. 

[grahame]

For period urban building and infrastructure inspiration I'd recommend these two books:

 

 

They are basically photo albums and can be picked up for around £10 each rather than their listed price of £16.95 each.

 

G

 

[Bill_J]

The Art Deco service station is quite magnificent. Could be the inspiration for many scratch-builds. 1920s bus depot anyone? Re-built railway station frontage?

[HonestTom]

What an excellent thread. I’m always exploring London and I have a load of photos. Here’s a start.

 

This is in Spitalfields, what was Newton Folgate. There are loads of 18th and 19th century buildings that once were slums in a poverty-stricken district and are now highly desirable residences in a popular and vibrant part of the city (he said cynically)

The above is a sign seen in Camden Passage, Islington.

Edited May 24, 2019 by HonestTom

[grahame]

On ‎14‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 05:56, Bill_J said:

The Art Deco service station is quite magnificent. Could be the inspiration for many scratch-builds. 1920s bus depot anyone? Re-built railway station frontage?

 

Yes, Art Deco style is immensely modellable. And of course there are wonderful Art Deco stations such as the one at Surbiton which is considered one of the finest modernist stations in the country as well as being grade II listed. I took a snap of it earlier in the week when there to meet some friends for a drink.

 

 

And while in Surbiton I noticed a lot of other very handsome and modellable buildings like these:

 

 

 

 

Back to Art Deco there is, of course, the very nice St Olafs House at London Bridge, also Grade II listed:

 

 

and of which I've slowly been building a model (unfortunately still not complete) for my future railway layout project:

 

 

G

 

 

[westerhamstation]

Thank you both for the additional photos to this thread, some really useful reference pictures. Toms first pic is just that little bit of street detail I am looking for at the moment.

All the best and keep them coming Adrian.

[HonestTom]

Here are some photos of a 19th century pub in Islington. This is, in fact, the Angel from which the station takes its name.

 

 

[HonestTom]

Here’s an early 18th century house in Twickenham.

 

[HonestTom]

Another from Spitalfields.

 

[HonestTom]

A 19th century pub in Hampton Hill and a Town house in Paddington.

[grahame]

Very nice and interesting building pics.

 

Near to Twickenham there is Walpole's Strawberry Hill House - considered the world's finest Georgian Gothic Revival architecture. I visited an exhibition there earlier this year. I found it difficult to get a good outside photo but it's the interiors that are also stunning. Well worth a visit: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_Hill_House

https://www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk/

 

But you'd need a big layout to consider making a model of Strawberry Hill House to go on it.

 

 

G

[grahame]

Found an outside pic of Strawberry Hill House with no copyright issues. It's by Chiswich Chap and is licenced for use (including to copy and distribute) under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

 

 

G

 

[HonestTom]

These buildings are cold stores alongside Smithfield meat market.

 

[HonestTom]

Former factory and brewery in Clerkenwell.

 

 

[grahame]

For more pics and info about the Cannon Brewery see here: http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cannon_Brewery_Co._Ltd

 

G

[monkeysarefun]

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I've always thought this abandoned church down the road would make a good exercise in modelling delapidation and weathering.. and give the static grass applicator a workout.

Edited May 27, 2019 by monkeysarefun

[westerhamstation]

Hi, great pic would fit easily into the English countryside, good example of neglect and weathering thanks, All the best Adrian.

[K14]

Reminds me of this GWR Postcard view of St. Mary's, Perivale:—

 

 

Not sure what the chap (Sexton?) is carrying. It looks suspiciously like a petrol can, so perhaps the photo was taken on the eve of the local Wicker Man festival.

 

 

P.

 

)

Edited January 5, 2023 by K14
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