Cromford Wharf Shunting layout - structures and scenery

[t-b-g]

That is some lovely modelling there on a prototype that has nearly been modelled by me once upon a time. My dad once took a photo of 27505 (an NLR 0-6-0T) shunting there in 1947 and I got as far as building 3 locos, that one, the LNWR Chopper 6428 (both GEM kits) and the LNWR 0-4-2T (M & L kit), all in EM gauge, before the project ground to a halt in favour of something much bigger when more space became available.

 

The locos now run on "Narrow Road", which has an unfinished canal wharf scene but not one based on Cromford.

 

Seeing a taster of what it might have looked like has awakened some happy memories.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Tony Gee 

[Alister_G]

I've been away for a couple a three weeks and when I get back you've done more than I've achieved in the best part of a year, wow! well done!

 

 

Pete.

 

Thanks very much Pete, it doesn't feel like I've done a lot, to be honest, I keep feeling frustrated at being unable to work on the layout, but too many other things going on at the moment.

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

[Andrew P]

Thanks very much Pete, it doesn't feel like I've done a lot, to be honest, I keep feeling frustrated at being unable to work on the layout, but too many other things going on at the moment.

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

Soon be nice weather again Al, and you can throw it outside and work till late at night with a nice cold Beer for company. hahah

[Alister_G]

That is some lovely modelling there on a prototype that has nearly been modelled by me once upon a time. My dad once took a photo of 27505 (an NLR 0-6-0T) shunting there in 1947 and I got as far as building 3 locos, that one, the LNWR Chopper 6428 (both GEM kits) and the LNWR 0-4-2T (M & L kit), all in EM gauge, before the project ground to a halt in favour of something much bigger when more space became available.

 

The locos now run on "Narrow Road", which has an unfinished canal wharf scene but not one based on Cromford.

 

Seeing a taster of what it might have looked like has awakened some happy memories.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Tony Gee 

 

Thanks very much Tony.

 

Too my shame, I'd never heard of Narrow Road before, but I found your website, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the layout, and reading your article about it. There is some exquisite modelling on there.

 

You've also made me go and look for GEM kits, and they still do both the body and chassis for the Chopper tank, although sadly it appears Brassmasters don't do their chassis for the North London 0-6-0 any more.

 

Thank you for you interest, and I hope I can do the layout justice.

 

Al

[Alister_G]

Soon be nice weather again Al, and you can throw it outside and work till late at night with a nice cold Beer for company. hahah

 

Sounds good to me Bodgit, looking forward to it.

 

Al.

[t-b-g]

Thanks very much Tony.

 

Too my shame, I'd never heard of Narrow Road before, but I found your website, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the layout, and reading your article about it. There is some exquisite modelling on there.

 

You've also made me go and look for GEM kits, and they still do both the body and chassis for the Chopper tank, although sadly it appears Brassmasters don't do their chassis for the North London 0-6-0 any more.

 

Thank you for you interest, and I hope I can do the layout justice.

 

Al

The NLR I built was long before the etched frame kit was available and it still has the white metal block. I used Romford wheels which have too many spokes so I started to modify them by cutting all but 4 spokes from one wheel with the idea of replacing 3 metal spokes with 2 black plastic ones. Then I bought some correct Sharman wheels which never got fitted. So it has been running for years with one 4 spoke wheel. Yet another unfinished model.

 

Thanks for the kind words about the layout. It is now part of a system with 5 stations, 3 of which are just wired up track and a few mock up buildings but one day.....

[Alister_G]

A quick update.

 

As I posted earlier, at the moment I've not had much time for modelling, but in what little time I've had, I have been continuing to add roof slates to various buildings.

 

For some obscure reason, the hipped roof workshop has some quite intricate slates, when compared to the rest of the buildings on site, as you can see here:

 

 

So I wanted to try and replicate that in some way on the model.

 

Over a few evenings, I tried a variety of different methods to produce what I wanted using the Silhouette cutter.

 

Eventually I settled on these:

 

 

When removed a strip at a time they look like this:

 

 

and then with a lot of fiddly scalpel work, they end up very roughly like this:

 

 

which looks awful, but when applied to the roof, doesn't look so bad:

 

 

and with a few alternating rows, captures the feel of the prototype, I think:

 

 

Hopefully this weekend I can get some more substantial work done.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Joe MCMLXI]

Always capturing that little bit 'extra'..... nice work Al, well done.

[Alister_G]

Thanks mate.

 

That closeup unpainted shot looks awful, hopefully it will look better when it's painted, and from 6 feet away

 

Al.

[Stubby47]

I've just bought a Silhouette Portrait so am intrigued in how you've designed the tile edges.

 

Why didn't you cut the sheet right through ? ( Too thick ?)

[Alister_G]

I've just bought a Silhouette Portrait so am intrigued in how you've designed the tile edges.

 

Why didn't you cut the sheet right through ? ( Too thick ?)

 

Hi Stu, that's great, they are brilliant for tiny detail which you'd never do by hand, and for repetitive things like tiles and windows.

 

I've set up two custom cutting plans for 10thou styrene, one to cut, and one to score, but the sheet of 10thou I did the tiles on was that horrible shiny stuff, and when i set it to cut depth it just broke up into tiny bits, it looked like I'd had a snowstorm, so I did them using the "score" setting and hamfistedly cut the curves out by hand.

 

I've got some better quality matt styrene on order, so shouldn't have that problem again.

 

Al.

[Joe MCMLXI]

Once you've painted and weathered the those buildings, Al, they will capture the 'flavour & atmosphere' of the old C&HPR to a 'T'....

and will look great from any distance

 

Joe

[Alister_G]

As you can probably tell, I haven't had much modelling time recently.

 

However, I've managed to sneak a couple of hours here and there to finish off the hipped-roof workshop, and do a couple of other things.

 

So here's a round up.

 

I'm not sure if you've seen this photo before, but it shows the end of the hipped-roof workshop whilst the line was still in use in the sixties, and as you can see there is a stone, timber and corrugated iron lean-too stuck on the end.

 

Copyright John Evans - used with permission

 

So I thought I'd have a go at that...

 

I took some offcuts of SE Finecast embossed stone, and some styrene tube, and some half-round styrene rod, and stuck them all together:

 

 

 

 

It looks a bit like a wall, doesn't it?

 

In position:

 

 

 

Then, I took some 4mm square tube, and some SE Finecast corrugated iron, and made a weird spider affair:

 

 

 

Which, when turned the right way up, looks a bit lean-too ish...

 

 

 

 

More in a moment...

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

Then, I took the bits off to have a basic spray paint, Matt Tan for the wall, Dark Earth for the wood, and Gunmetal for the corrugated iron:

 

 

 

 

When those had dried, I set too with dry brushing and various washes, and eventually ended up with this:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty pleased with how that's turned out.

 

 

Also, just visible in John Evan's photo above, you can see a grounded van or carriage, here's an enlargement:

 

Copyright John Evans - used with permission

 

I posted this image in the "Prototype Questions" area, asking for help to identify the type.

 

I very quickly got a response, and it appears to be half of an LNWR Brake coach to Dia 350.

 

Andy G (uax6 on here) has very kindly sent me some Silhouette cutting plans for a number of the LNWR designs, so I hope to be able to model this convincingly.

 

 

And finally, some delicate negotiations are ongoing which, if successful, should see me being able to put the layout up permanently to work on it. If all goes well I should be able to do much more modelling, soon, and get Cromford finished and return to completing Grindleford.

 

That's all for now, Thanks for looking.

 

Al.

Edited July 19, 2017 by acg_mr

[Andrew P]

Hi Al, Great work as always mate, certainly glad to see you back on here and able to at least get some bits done.

 

Cheers.

[Bogie]

That is certainly very life like as one thing I noticed on my recent trip to the UK (mainly because I was paying more attention to things this time) is that there does not appear to be a straight edge anywhere in the country - let alone anything level.

[Alister_G]

That is certainly very life like as one thing I noticed on my recent trip to the UK (mainly because I was paying more attention to things this time) is that there does not appear to be a straight edge anywhere in the country - let alone anything level.

 

I think you are probably right, but you mistake this for poor craftsmanship, whereas it is in fact carefully calculated to give "Rural Charm" ...

 

Al.

[Gordon A]

Please excuse me for being critical but compared to the photo your lean to is missing the right hand leg. There are three legs, and the outer legs are thinner than the middle leg, also the roofing extends further to the right.

 

Grabbing hat and coat and heading out. :-)

 

Gordon A 

[Alister_G]

Thanks Gordon,

 

So what you're saying is, go away and do it again...

 

 

[Gordon A]

Hi Al,

 

You have done such a good job so far..............

 

Have a look at the details in your posted picture of the lean to compared to your model.

 

Are you satisfied with your first effort? If so I will shut up and retreat to my hole.

 

Gordon A

[Alister_G]

Hi Al,

 

You have done such a good job so far..............

 

Have a look at the details in your posted picture of the lean to compared to your model.

 

Are you satisfied with your first effort? If so I will shut up and retreat to my hole.

 

Gordon A

 

 

Don't you dare go hiding in that hole!

 

You are quite right, it isn't up to par. I'll see what I can do to make it better.

 

Thanks very much,

 

Al.

[Andrew P]

Even an average build by you, is to a far higher standard than some mere Mortals like me could ever achieve mate, It's looking pretty VERY good to my eyes.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Andrew P

[Alister_G]

Cheers Andy,

 

I know I sometimes rush things though, and I could do better if I just took my time.

 

Sometimes I need a nudge to do it better.

 

Anyway, here's a new three legged version:

 

 

 

And now, with added guttering!

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

I snatched another hour tonight, and did some more on the Engine Shed.

 

First, I added the door frames for the front doors:

 

 

 

I did that, and then looked at the door aperture, and just had to check, so here's the faux-Kitson on a short length of C&L flexi:

 

 

 

Ooh!

 

Might have to put the Shed on top of the ground cover, rather than set it in...

 

Then I painted the frames:

 

 

 

 

Next, I started the doors.

 

I took some Slater's 4mm planking, and added a frame of 20thou x 80thou strip:

 

 

Then added the bracing:

 

 

I added the frame round the wicket gate, and cut it out:

 

 

 

Then I built the frame for the wicket gate out of 20thou x 40thou strip:

 

 

and added it back into the main door, slightly ajar:

 

 

I also added the hinges and handle, and the hinges and latch for the main doors:

 

 

Then, I painted and weathered the doors.

 

The paint is still wet here, and thus these are very cruel close-ups, it doesn't look half as bad in reality:

 

 

 

Tomorrow, I hope to be able to wire up my garage for mains power, and I will then be able to set up the Cromford baseboard and work on the layout properly.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

Another week gone, and finally I get to steal some modelling time.

 

I managed to get the board set up, so I was able to continue adding the DAS ground cover, and bed the workshop buildings into it.

 

I've also painted some of the dried DAS with a mixture of Dark Earth and Dark Grey acrylic washes, to see how it looks. Note that the paint is still wet in some of these shots, so it looks more shiny than the eventual end result will be.

 

Anyway, here's some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.