Rayners Lane in P4

[TravisM]

Apart from the DM and T that was scrapped at Neasden depot by a unknown, Vic Berry in the early 80's,  I believe all the A Stock was refurbished, but I could be mistaken.  There are three, three car sets of 83 mkll tube stock at South Harrow and yes, they are in seriously poor state.  I tried to photograph them last year and it's damn near impossible to do so without trespassing.

 

Julian Sprott

[GoingUnderground]

My granddad said he used to get his cigarettes from Vera Lynn in the tobacconist kiosk out the front in the 30s! his anecdotes about the area are the main reason I chose to model it

 

Those kits are rather nice but the station will be scratch built because I want to make sure it fits together with the shops either side

Scenic modelling is my favorite bit so i tend to make what i can by scratch, although one of the semis will be a hacked around metcalf kit

The three or four shops are just single storey buildings on the left side, including a Wimpy bar IIRC. On the right the shops are typical Suburbia, but I can't remember the building immediately to the right of the station. If you are modelling "today's" station, the doors on the right side are now blocked off, I think it was to create the space for the Oyster ticket machines, and you can only get in to/out of the booking hall from the left side. The right side is a bit squalid as a result. The buildings are rather uninspiring red brick, see Google Streetview, and apart from housing different businesses, are unchanged from the 1960s.

 

If I were you, I'd use the Kingsway Models kit and fit the shops round it. The Street Level staircase is a good match designwise, but the stairs come down next to the back of the platforms on the real thing. You need a Harrow style rounded end waiting room on both platforms. The canopy runs from the overbridge, around the stairs so you are under cover and ends in a curve like Harrow at the waiting room which is just under half way down the platform. There is a newspaper kiosk on the London bound platform, but none on the Uxbridge bound one. 

 

In 2012 Rayners Lane still had the cast concrete "picket fence" style fence panels at the back of the platforms. I'm not sure if they're still there or have been replaced by metal railings.

 

Across the road from the station, the old buildings remain, including the wedge shaped one with the round tower at the end closest to the station, complements the Art Deco style of the station building very well, behind which Rayners Lane itself runs southwards. Next to it the old cinema has been turned into a Zoroastrian Centre - honest, just look at Google Maps.

[TravisM]

Might take a trip to Rayners Lane next week and take a load of pictures.  Being disabled, I like to get out a do a field trip.

 

Julian Sprott

[outcastjack]

And now for something completely different.

 

I haven't got the space to start working on the layout proper at my uni house so the majority of work is small scale cameos to be dropped into the final model, here are some interior bits for one of the semis.

 

 

A time trial bike for the garage, steering works and the wheels turn =D

[Tony M]

I have to say I live this station too.

I'm bacing my station building on Rayners Lane and think it's a lovely design (the real one that is..)

 

Here's a copy of an OS map that I have:

 

 

Here's my station building (still under construction)

 

Some day I will get it finished :-)

 

I look forward to seeing more photos of your layout

 

 

 

Tony

[outcastjack]

That looks really nice, do you have a thread? I chall have to follow your progress

[stewartingram]

Probably of no help for the layout, but a pic taken inside Rayners Lane signal cabin.

 

Stewart

[outcastjack]

Every bit of info helps, when I get round to making the signal box it will need an interior, if I have a photo to work from then the better it will be   
so thank you! 

[TravisM]

Since getting caught up in this thread, I can't but not help thing "should I do Rayners Lane as well"?  I had thought about it previously but talked myself out of it.  Would anyone be upset if I had a stab at it as well?

 

Julian Sprott

[outcastjack]

I wouldn't, the more the merrier

[Lord of Narnia]

My records indicate that cars 5170-6170-5171 5029 5116 were scrapped between 1981-87. In 1994 cars 5218 5029 6208-6209 5121 and 6171 were also scrapped. Some re numbering had taken place before and after OPO conversion which also involved the resurection of 8 cars which had not even undergone OPO conversion. Ultimately, 56 1/2 trains were refurbished by Feb 1998.

[outcastjack]

some fuse boxes which will sit just beyond the end of the north (London bound) platform.



 

[Horsetan]

And now for something completely different.

 

I haven't got the space to start working on the layout proper at my uni house so the majority of work is small scale cameos to be dropped into the final model, here are some interior bits for one of the semis.

 

 

A time trial bike for the garage, steering works and the wheels turn =D

 

That's proper dolls' house style, that is! 

[roythebus]

C stock also visited Rayners Lane. There were stock transfers from Neasden to Acton works, and from West Ruislip via North Acton, Ealing Broadway, Ealing Common, Rayners Lane to Neasden before the new spur at Ruislip was built, circa 1974. 

[Lord of Narnia]

There is also a photo of the Chesham set of bogie stock in one of sidings at Rayners assumed to be on its way to Acton works.

[outcastjack]

I did a little work on detailing the interiors of some vehicles for Rayners Lane, the majority of those from the first attempt at the layout are Carrarama 1:72nd which at the time were pretty good but have the obvious scale problem and were also mostly left hand drive, back at that time (about 7 years ago) the Oxford diecast models were pretty dire and as a result I do not have many but their more recent models are very good and even better right hand drive.

Here I am showing a carrarama Range Rover and Oxford Taxis and a Transit I have painted the interiors but they still need passengers and exterior work.

Taxi (LTI TX4)

the plastic colour was not ideal so the whole lot was painted a dark grey similar to the carpet colour in the real thing

 

The painted interior

 

 

Transit

This was kept very simple and to maintain the "plasticky" look of the grey facia only bits which are not grey in the example that was sat on my street yesterday were painted, a take away coffee cup and a newspaper were also added

 

Range Rover
The carrarama interiors are made of many more bits than the oxford one so needed a bit more dissasembling

 

All of the bits painted

 

Dash reassembled

 

full interior

The cars lined up 

[outcastjack]

Hello all, 

I have started a new job and moved to the East Midlands, leading to no time at all being spent on the railway for the last few months, and I expect this may continue for some time with another house move into somewhere a little more permanent on the cards as soon as I have found the right house.

 

I have started to think about the compression  required to Rayners lane to get the feel of the main road in about 500mm and have come up with the following sketch of what i want the row of shops to look like, with the front of the layout on the left and the station which will be about midway back visible on the right.

 

 

for those who know the area, what are your thoughts on this interpretation? would you include other houses or do it wildly different in any way?

 

I have also decided that I will definitely include a scenic area over the entrance of the fiddleyard to provide space for the old cinema opposite.

[Welly]

That's a beautiful Art Deco building, it really does deserve to be modelled!

[GoingUnderground]

When I was a lad it was the Odeon cinema. Can't ever remember going there though. It is one of the few cinemas in the Harrow and Hillingdon boroughs that have survived in any form. Most were demolished to make way for supermarkets, which themselves have now moved out to even larger premises away from the High Streets.

 

There is another Art Deco building between the Odeon and the track with a rotunda at the junction between Rayners Lane itself and Alexandria Avenue. It used to house "Peters" pet shop. Together they would make an excellent scenic break with the road bridge forming the exit to the fiddle yard.

 

One of the shops in your sketch is a Wimpy bar, and as such predates McDs by many years. You would need the houses on High Worple which back on to the goods yard area running parallel to the track alignment on the south side.

[The_Laird]

This may be of some interest.

 

http://www.ltmcollection.org/photos/photo/photo.html?_IXSR_=k30nbLM59B4&_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=2001/16787&IXsummary=results/results&IXsearch=metropolitan%20railway&_IXFIRST_=580

 

It's the old booking office hut, which stood on the east side of Rayners Lane until the 1980s, when it was removed. There are now galvanised railings where the hut used to stand.

 

It pre-dates the rebuild on the west side and is typical of similar booking office huts that were found at smaller halts on the Uxbridge branch. Such an example can also be seen at street level on the lower picture of Ickenham here;

 

http://ickenhamonline.com/history/station.html

 

and Eastcote here;

 

http://thincities.tfl.gov.uk/projects/station-further-information.php?id=48&pageNum_detailPagePhotos=1&totalRows_detailPagePhotos=3

 

I have a strong feeling that the booking office hut at Rayners Lane may have been relocated to its ultimate position on the east side of Rayners Lane.  On the Britain From Above site there is a hut that looks remarkably like it positioned on the the west side on the up line side of the bridge. Where the booking hut was eventually sited, there seems to be a much larger hut, with the appearance of a temporary construction site office or an estate office.

 

It is my guess that when Rayners Lane station was being rebuilt, the original booking office hut was relocated to the east side of Rayners Lane, perhaps to service temporary station platforms on the east side of the bridge.

 

Edit: Having reviewed the available information, it seems that the original station building and the booking office on the East side of Rayners Lane were not one and the same. Although of a similar Met Railway rural halt vernacular, the booking office hut was considerably smaller than the street level station building on the opposite side of the road and upon examination of old aerial photographs, it is clear that the two structures co-existed before the Holden/Uren rebuild of the station. 

 

The reason for the old booking office hut is now even more of a mystery. There was no access to the platform level on the East side of Rayners Lane and my earlier theory concerning a temporary platform on the east side of the bridge would not have been possible. The very short distance to the Harrow/South Harrow junction would have precluded it.

[Engineer_London]

Views of 1930s Rayner's Lane in the Britain from Above archive - among others:

 

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw031581

 

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw044204

 

Another useful image at:  http://www.ltmcollection.org/photos/photo/photo.html?_IXSR_=SYVdrmw0MmV&_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=1998/13130&IXsummary=results/results&IXsearch=rayners&_IXFIRST_=4

 

 

[rmnik]

I an not sure if these help but here are a few photos that I took around 1980ish

[rmnik]

Apologies for the quality of the above photos.
It seems taking photos of glossy prints handheld in a darkish room doesn't give the best results.

Here's one using the scanner, I will scan the rest if anyone is interested.

 

[C&WR]

Haven't been into this part of the site for ages.  Some lovely modelling here, and before you get to the railway!

[PhilJ W]

I did a little work on detailing the interiors of some vehicles for Rayners Lane, the majority of those from the first attempt at the layout are Carrarama 1:72nd which at the time were pretty good but have the obvious scale problem and were also mostly left hand drive, back at that time (about 7 years ago) the Oxford diecast models were pretty dire and as a result I do not have many but their more recent models are very good and even better right hand drive.

 

Here I am showing a carrarama Range Rover and Oxford Taxis and a Transit I have painted the interiors but they still need passengers and exterior work.

 

Taxi (LTI TX4)

the plastic colour was not ideal so the whole lot was painted a dark grey similar to the carpet colour in the real thing

 

The painted interior

 

 

Transit

This was kept very simple and to maintain the "plasticky" look of the grey facia only bits which are not grey in the example that was sat on my street yesterday were painted, a take away coffee cup and a newspaper were also added

 

Range Rover

The carrarama interiors are made of many more bits than the oxford one so needed a bit more dissasembling

 

All of the bits painted

 

Dash reassembled

 

full interior

 

The cars lined up 

I am going to repaint the interiors of a few Oxford and Cararama vehicles and this is a good guide thank you. As you said many of the Cararama models are left hand drive, however most of them have the 'plug in' dashboard mouldings like the Range Rover and I was wondering if it would be possible to produce replacement right hand drive dashboards for such models out of resin or even 3D printing. The problem is that most modern cars have asymmetric dashboards so that swapping the steering wheel over is not an option. Scratch-building a new dashboard would be difficult and the intricate moulded detail would be impossible.