Castle Aching

[Hroth]

It is, perhaps, useful to be readily able to distinguish between content (model and prototype, railway and non-railway), actually germane to CA and its world on the one hand and, on the other hand: 

 

(a) other content concerning the prototype, because there is quite a lot of interesting non-GER/MGN/Norfolk prototype discussion to which many have contributed; and,

(b) the weird but interesting stuff

 

I don't envy you, David, I must say.

 

( c ) JA

 

Might I suggest an expansion of Category C to; pre-Raffs, Hilda, JA and other persons of interest...

[runs as required]

Corr, Uncle David, is that our new topic index?

And old Unk dave thought JA was GWtelegraph speak CAspeak for JAmes

[Northroader]

Stolen from another thread:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/62412-things-that-make-you/page-418&do=findComment&comment=3194711

Edited June 10, 2018 by Northroader

[laurenceb]

I very much fear that you would be proved right, and I very much doubt that Bachmann/TMP are planning the O with a future BTP in mind!

 

My assumption is that, in common with much RTR, the 'gubbins' that makes it go will expand to fill the side tanks available!

 

Although I understand that wheel diameters and wheelbase varied across the BTPs, the various NER diagram book drawings are all a match for the O Class, IIRC.

In Model Railway's profile of the BTP's the writer remarked that many pre-grouping classes ended up like the proverbial 57 varieties but that the BTP;s started that way and diversified!

[Killian keane]

In Model Railway's profile of the BTP's the writer remarked that many pre-grouping classes ended up like the proverbial 57 varieties but that the BTP;s started that way and diversified!

Ian Beattie said the same thing about the Great Western 517 class in the October 1997 Railway Modeller

[Annie]

In Model Railway's profile of the BTP's the writer remarked that many pre-grouping classes ended up like the proverbial 57 varieties but that the BTP;s started that way and diversified!

Oh very much so. They were built by several makers and with Fletcher's easy going attitude to exact specifications they varied a lot in their final details and fittings.   I've just got myself one as no sleepy backwater NER secondary line should be without at least one example of the breed.

[Edwardian]

At Braham horse trials this weekend, so no progress.

 

But the detailed photos found by Shadow reveal that just about everything I've done so far on the drill hall is wrong!

Edited June 10, 2018 by Edwardian

[Northroader]

Rule one, dear boy, rule one. I suppose horses on trial need solicitors same as the rest of us.

[Compound2632]

But the detailed photos found by Shadow reveal that just about everything I've done so far on the drill hall is wrong!

 

... but surely no-one can dispute the accuracy of your model of the Castle Aching Drill Hall?

[Hroth]

At Braham horse trials this weekend, so no progress.

 

But the detailed photos found by Shadow reveal that just about everything I've done so far on the drill hall is wrong!

You can either

 

1. Take the view that the Castle Aching Drill Hall is unique of itself and shares some similarities to the photographic sources, OR
2. Follow the photographic sources more closely, producing an accurate representation of a Drill Hall and re-purposing your splendid model. Perhaps the Erstwhiles funded a Market Hall to encourage Local Agriculture.  It would have a splendid entrance but behind that would be a big shed....

 

Its a win either way!

 

My word for the day:  Splendid!

Edited June 11, 2018 by Hroth

[Hroth]

A Market Hall I'm familiar with, Nantwich:

 

Outside

 

 

Rather less flamboyant than that proposed for Castle Aching...

 

 

Inside

 

 

A barn.... 

 

Being a Cheshire Plain town, the market used to be big on cheese, nowadays there's a lot of generic market stuff.....

 

[Edwardian]

It's more a question of getting the architecture right rather than the need to copy the prototype slavishly, as this is an imaginary building.

 

One interesting point is that I heed not have bothered at all with the double buttresses that flank the door.

 

These were not present when the hall was built, but must have been added at some stage by the Edwardian period, judging from the pictures Shadow linked us to.

 

An example is the brick quoins.  With my distant low res images, I could make out the inevitable fact, but not the detail, of the quoining.  I, thus, resorted to my usual 3-brick high quoins.

 

Not so, the quoins are formed in singe rows of brick.  See the shot below, where I have started to convert from one to the other.

 

The point being that I want to represent the prototypical masonry style that the Victorians felt it necessary or appropriate to adopt for such a non-standard building, even if I am free to, and have, departed from the prototype building in a number of regards.

 

 

[Marly51]

It's more a question of getting the architecture right rather than the need to copy the prototype slavishly, as this is an imaginary building.

 

One interesting point is that I heed not have bothered at all with the double buttresses that flank the door.

 

These were not present when the hall was built, but must have been added at some stage by the Edwardian period, judging from the pictures Shadow linked us to.

 

An example is the brick quoins.  With my distant low res images, I could make out the inevitable fact, but not the detail, of the quoining.  I, thus, resorted to my usual 3-brick high quoins.

 

Not so, the quoins are formed in singe rows of brick.  See the shot below, where I have started to convert from one to the other.

 

The point being that I want to represent the prototypical masonry style that the Victorians felt it necessary or appropriate to adopt for such a non-standard building, even if I am free to, and have, departed from the prototype building in a number of regards.

Love your reasearch and attention to detail!

[runs as required]

It's more a question of getting the architecture right rather than the need to copy the prototype slavishly, as this is an imaginary building.

I think that if I had been the architect taking Lord E's brief  C1880 I would have been delighted with the commission and (a la B St Edmunds using the old abbey ruins) accept:

• his notion to site the Drill Hall rhetorically to defend against invaders at the Gatehouse using the 'affordance' principle of considering how can it practically help us economically in terms of structural stability.
• I'd also be concerned to learn from Lord E what exactly should be required spatially of the interior for 'drill' and for ancillary accomm - secure storage etc.
• But I'd also (remembering "affordance") invite Lord E to consider it  also offering other possible uses:of the spacious interior (dry goods) market, place of Assembly etc which he might be pleased to be able to deliver
• I'd be sufficiently up to the minute to be enthusiastic about Viollet le Duc's Theory writings to accept all modern technological advances and combine them with time honoured stylistic regional characteristics.

That adds up, I suggest to your plan shown on an earlier page of the noble thick walled gatehous ruin being leant against by a brick trimmed/ flint or iron stonefaced walled building with iron frame and truss interior with gothic or Tudor windows and ornamental clay tiled  roof.

It would also surely be rather more modest and utilitarian than the lavish buildings of C19 Norwich - self-proclaimed 'Fine City'

dh

Edited June 11, 2018 by runs as required

[Donw]

It's more a question of getting the architecture right rather than the need to copy the prototype slavishly, as this is an imaginary building.

 

One interesting point is that I heed not have bothered at all with the double buttresses that flank the door.

 

These were not present when the hall was built, but must have been added at some stage by the Edwardian period, judging from the pictures Shadow linked us to.

 

An example is the brick quoins.  With my distant low res images, I could make out the inevitable fact, but not the detail, of the quoining.  I, thus, resorted to my usual 3-brick high quoins.

 

Not so, the quoins are formed in singe rows of brick.  See the shot below, where I have started to convert from one to the other.

 

The point being that I want to represent the prototypical masonry style that the Victorians felt it necessary or appropriate to adopt for such a non-standard building, even if I am free to, and have, departed from the prototype building in a number of regards.

 

 

The two quoins on that butress are close together so the use of large stones would be problematical. I suspect that is why the mason has used the single brick steppping of the quoins which will work with smaller stones rather than the more usual  3 or more courses  of each step. I wonder whether the architect specified the way the quoins were done of whether just brickwork quoins were specified and the descision as to how it was done was down to the mason. 

Don

[runs as required]

The two quoins on that butress are close together so the use of large stones would be problematical. I suspect that is why the mason has used the single brick steppping of the quoins which will work with smaller stones rather than the more usual  3 or more courses  of each step. I wonder whether the architect specified the way the quoins were done of whether just brickwork quoins were specified and the descision as to how it was done was down to the mason. 

Don

Do we really believe it is a traditionally built roughly built stone wall, trimmed with brick quoining ( string course and cornices?).

I wonder, looking at the 'double buttress', if it isn't a bit of C19 builders' corner cutting.artifice: i.e. common brick built 9" and 13½”  walls trimmed with decent bricks and faced with lime mortar render with flints pushed in (an antecedent of spec 'stone dashing'.

My sister in law lives in a 'artfully' contrived former Norwich builder's own house in an area of Thorpe Village (opposite the old Eastern Counties bus HQ) all built by them speculatively in the 1880s. There is so much trickery going on whilst feigning traditional flinty vernacular and grey brick.

dh.

[wagonman]

 

It would also surely be rather more modest and utilitarian than the lavish buildings of C19 Norwich - self-proclaimed 'Fine City'

dh

 

 

One local wag took to the "A Fine City" board (the Aylsham Road one) with his felt-tip and changed it to "Alpine City". Anything less apposite is hard to imagine.

[Hair_Dave]

"we built this city.... On card and old photographs"

 

From a personal point of view, i think the single brick quoins you are moving to look better than the triple brick you started with.

[Shadow]

At Braham horse trials this weekend, so no progress.

 

But the detailed photos found by Shadow reveal that just about everything I've done so far on the drill hall is wrong!

Not wrong, just different.

[Hroth]

One local wag took to the "A Fine City" board (the Aylsham Road one) with his felt-tip and changed it to "Alpine City". Anything less apposite is hard to imagine.

One of those blokes who reletter To Let signs?

[Caley Jim]

One of those blokes who reletter To Let signs?

Or 'No Parking' ones?

 

Jim

[wagonman]

One of those blokes who reletter To Let signs?

 

 

 

Very probably...

 

...and odds on it was 'a bloke' and not a blokette, or whatever the term is.

Edited June 12, 2018 by wagonman

[Clearwater]

We're currently inNorfolk. A quick visit to a local church showed some interesting variation in stonework. Noticeable how the lower levels are more washed out upper ones. I also liked how you can see the scar of an older, steeper roof on the side of the tower

 

David

[wagonman]

We're currently inNorfolk. A quick visit to a local church showed some interesting variation in stonework. Noticeable how the lower levels are more washed out upper ones. I also liked how you can see the scar of an older, steeper roof on the side of the tower

 

David

 

 

 

The former, steeper pitched roofline was likely thatched. A number of buildings in Norfolk betray their origins in this way. There are still a few thatched churches around...

[Compound2632]

This feature may also indicate the master mason's original intention for the nave, from which the next generation of builders deviated.