Ex-Great Central London Extension in the East Midlands.

[Fat Controller]

On 12/08/2022 at 20:19, Chamby said:

Just a quick update to show the completed cobbled roadway and paving on the raised section, now much improved thanks to the Redutex sheets:  

 

 

 

The stuff doesn't come cheap, but I have found it easy to use and to my eye it looks much better than the paper alternatives.  If you take into account the price of new RTR rolling stock these days, it doesn't compare so badly!

 

Now to find some manhole covers, drains and tone it all down a bit...

 

Scalelink might have something?

[Chamby]

7 hours ago, Fat Controller said:

Scalelink might have something?

 

Thanks @Fat Controller ... I have recently sourced some suitable period ones from Wizard models.  Waiting for a rainy day to paint them up, it looks like this weekend might oblige!

[Chamby]

A bit more progress over the last couple of weeks, detailing the layout.

 

The drains and manhole covers from Wizard Models have been painted and installed on the high level road, it was a relatively simple matter of cutting the right shaped hole in the Redutex surface and securing them with a dab of glue:

 

 

 

The growing collection of figures that has been slowly accumulated and painted over the last couple of years (Modelu) have now been added to the station.  I decided to leave one side of the platform almost empty (London bound) but more heavily populate the northbound platform, as if there is an imminent arrival of a well patronised Sheffield/Manchester-bound service.   Benches (York Modelmaking) were assembled, painted and installed, and a slightly simplified ticket inspector's cabin was scratch built (plasticard framework on an acrylic shell) and placed at the top of the staircase.  I'm unsure about the colour scheme, it might have been varnished wood, but the reference photo's are all black-and-white and it fits in well enough.  Wooden gates have also been scratch built, as per the prototype, to funnel passengers past the ticket inspector sat on his stool!

 

 

Etched brass safety railings have been measured/bent/painted to suit and installed around the staircase and the ends of the bay platforms, again as per the prototype:

 

 

 

I have also been working on the hydraulic buffer stops for the bay platforms.  The buffers were again designed and resin 3D printed by my son as a birthday gift, so it was another straightforward task to mount them on a plasticard box at the right height for the rolling stock.   Interestingly, they sit a bit higher compared to the platform than the original, perhaps suggesting that my own platforms sit a bit too low...  oh well its too late to change them now!

 

 

I have decided to keep the through tracks in situ under the buffers/platforms and station building, so these all now sit on top of the rails.  This will make life a lot easier if I get the opportunity to extend the layout sometime in the future and reconfigure the station to achieve a more prototypical platform length.

 

Next up: finish off the water towers at the ends of the platforms, install platform signage, lighting and a newspaper stand; and then on with signalling and installing that turntable.  It all will be done dreckly, as they say locally.  

[Chamby]

An opportunistic purchase of Bachmann Scenic's Great Central Signal Box last weekend has prompted the next stage of the layout build.  

 

Leicester Central had two signal boxes, one at each end of the station, Leicester Passenger South, and North respectively.  The Bachmann model is based on the Loughborough box, which is fortunately the same size and general style of those at Leicester, but with a few significant differences.  Most notably, the Leicester boxes were built all in timber, unlike the brick-based Loughborough version.  Timber boxes were a lighter weight, so used where a box was located on an embankment or similar location where a brick construction would be too heavy and require a more substantial foundation.  Leicester was one such location, with the station being raised above the surrounding ground level on a brick-arched viaduct.

 

Other minor variations were in the style of chimney, the covered porch at the top of the stairs, and the staircase itself was aligned differently.  It was normal GC practice to have a landing and right-angled turn part-way down the stairs, this had the benefit of ensuring that entry and exit was parallel to, rather than directly facing the tracks (ie: safer) and it also allowed for a less steep staircase.  At Leicester, however, space constraints dictated a straight staircase.  So then, some modifications required to the standard Bachmann model.

 

This is the original Leicester Passenger South box:

 

 

And this is the standard Bachmann product:

 

 

I decided to cover the brickwork over with thin styrene strip to represent the timber construction.  Strip of the right dimensions is currently on order from Eileen's Emporium but in the meantime I have been adding the timber framework using some coarser strip I already had in my spares box.  The staircase will be a fairly straightforward replacement, as will the chimney pot.  The porch, I am tempted to just live with this small difference for now.

 

The 'Ready to plonk' Bachmann Scenecraft buildings give a very good representation of the original, but the model itself does benefit from some minor improvement.  The woodwork on the  staircase is rather heavy, this will be corrected in its rebuild.  The openings along the bottom of the box, to accommodate the point rodding, are unpainted and benefit from darkening.  I will also touch up some of the paintwork once the cladding is installed.  

 

Progress to date:

 

 

I quite enjoy this kind of 'RTP-bashing'.  It saves a lot of time compared to scratch-building (why re-invent the wheel?) but it still allows me to achieve a decent end product that also has a modicum of individuality.

 

 

[Chamby]

Today I have made the final touches to the signal box conversion of the Bachmann Scenecraft GCR signal box.  It's not a perfect replica of the ones at Leicester as I've been rather conservative about the modification, being relatively new to this sort of thing.  Next time (I need two boxes for Leicester GC: North and South) I will have the confidence to be more aggressive with the Dremel and also add extra height between the interlocking room windows and the window walkway, and remove the outside loo leaving just the porch.

 

Modifictions include cladding the box to represent timber rather than brick construction, replacing the brick chimney with a stove pipe, replacing the staircase to remove the right angled steps and repainting from GCR to LNER colours.  Also added is a Ratio signal box interior (with a second set hacked to extend the run of signal levers) and a ModelU signalman leaning on the railings at the top of the stairs.  

 

Photographs:

 

 

 

 

 

I notice in these photo's that I've already managed to snap off one of the roof finials!  

 

The final location of the box has yet to be firmed up, if I site is as per the prototype then I will be looking at the back of it with all the interesting detail facing the wall... do I go for accuracy, or aesthetics on this one?  Decisions, decisions!

 

Otherwise, the only thing left to do is fit internal lighting and wire it into the layout.  Now for a celebratory cup of tea and slice of home-made flapjack!

 

 

[TrevorP1]

Interesting work on the signal box Phil. There's something quite satisfying about 'bashing' these RTP structures. They do save a lot of time which can be used on other things - like building the interior, which took me ages for Tremewan 'box!

[Chamby]

A little more progress on the layout over the last couple of weeks, in between family visits... the warm Autumn has extended the tourist season down here in Cornwall, to everyone's delight but it has meant rather less modelling time than expected.  

 

I have been working on the second signal box conversion, again a modification of the Bachman Scenecraft model of the GC box at Loughborough.  I decided to be a bit more brutal with the Dremel this time to get a more accurate representation of the Leicester Passenger South box.  The original toilet, staircase and brick chimney were removed, and the box sliced in half just below the wooden walkway underneath the main windows.  The walls were raised by approx 2.5cm using plasticard sections to achieve the required increase in height:

 

 

 

It looked a right mess at this stage, fingers were crossed!  The windows of the interlocking room were given more prominent frames, in anticipation of the additional timber cladding, and some of the resulting gaps in the raised walls (my Dremel work is not pretty!) were filled with Liquid Green Stuff - a very useful liquid filler that hardens off in about 30 minutes and is easy to carve when set.   It's a Citadel product, used by wargamers and available from Games Workshop.  

 

Thereafter it was a case of attaching the cladding (plastic strip), making good the downpipes across the raised section of wall, fashioning a new stovepipe chimney, building a new staircase and adding interior detailing as with the first box.  I also added an LED under the roof, and wired it up ready to link into the layouts accessory bus. The result, after repainting and seen here temporarily placed on the layout, I'm quite pleased with:

 

 

 

The first box I modified has been renamed Leicester Pass Nth and now sits comfortably but rather less prominently at the other end of the station.   There's still a lot of work to be done with the signalling and all its associated paraphernalia still to install, so for a while the two boxes look the part, but sit in splendid isolation!

 

After a club visit to the premises of Scale Model Scenery last week I came away with some bits and pieces to work on over the winter.  We were made very welcome by Justin and his team, who plied us with tea and coffee, whilst showing us around the workshop and showroom.  I was very impressed with the quality of materials used, and the range of items they have: seeing so many of the models assembled and painted in the showroom is far more inspiring than looking at pictures in the catalogue, or browsing a bank of packaged up kits at exhibitions!

 

Firstly, some plants and park benches were purchased, which now reside in an awkward corner on the layout that has been turned into a small civic flower bed.  Also visible here is the (very) short tunnel and the main line where it runs, normally out of sight, behind the raised roadway.

 

 

Other acquisitions from SMS included more line side fencing, a long run of 27 blue-brick retaining arches and parapet walling for the station area, and a terraced house.  The latter is to trial assembly and see how I might be able to fit a terrace of housing at the opposite end of the layout to the raised roadway.  Provisional measuring up suggests that I will need a run of about 18 terraced houses...  more on that later, no doubt!

 

[TrevorP1]

That's good Phil. Nothing like a bit of RTP bashing.

 

Funny you should mention Scale Model Scenery. I've just redone part of the roof on my clay dry using their slates. Very pleased with the result. I'll definitely be looking their way for the buildings on my 'bonus project'.

[Chamby]

This week is, apparently, National Tree week, formerly known as 'plant a tree week'.  Co-incidentally, I was impressed with the products of Primo Models as demonstrated on their stand at Warley last weekend, and bought some Larch trees to embellish the layout.  These are hand-made and much more realistic than the more widely available commercial products, and reasonably priced considering the work that goes into them.

 

So my contribution to National Tree Week - although perhaps not quite what the organisers envisaged, here they are on the layout.  Apologies for the poor depth of field, the photo was taken on my phone.  The largest tree still has its small ply base affixed, it is awaiting some plastic tube of sufficient diameter to accept its trunk, before being properly planted into the scenery.  I'm very impressed with these, and sorely tempted to acquire a few more...

 

https://primomodels.co.uk/

 

[Graham T]

Those do look good.  I expect I will get some for Chuffnell Regis Mk II.

 

[Benjamin Brady]

Only just catching up since your September posts. I am not sure how I missed them but excellent work on the signalboxes. 

 

I really like what you have done in turning them into timber construction. 

[Chamby]

Retaining Walls

 

A minor milestone achieved today, with the installation of the arches at Leicester station.  The real station was raised above the surrounding cityscape on an arched viaduct built of Staffordshire Blue Brick.  After some deliberation about the best way to capture this in model form, I decided that the best approach would be to line the baseboard edge with a representation of the arches.  Once you start looking, there are a number of different manufacturers who produce these, in different materials and to different profiles.  The closest I found to the Great Central arches at Leicester, are the 3D laser cut versions manufactured by Scale Model Scenery... so I measured up and duly purchased 27 of them (nine kits of three arches) to line the front edge of the layout.

 

The kits as supplied go together very well, albeit a little time consuming.  SMS provide printed sheets of both blue and red brick, but after some experimentation I decided that I just wouldn't have the patience to laminate every piece of each kit, so I assembled the basic components in their raw MDF state, and painted them instead.

 

The kits were assembled on a backing board of 4mm ply, in runs of six arches at a time to simplify their installation and aid future removal for maintenance:

 

 

This old photo shows the baseboards before installation of the arches.  The accessory control panel was attached to the baseboard edge: I had to remove it, and reposition it below the baseboards:

 

 

The new arches installed along the baseboard edge, secured by sticky-backed velcro:

 

 

And a view from the other end, showing the resited control panel:

 

 

Not only does this improve the station area visually, but it also provides some protection should anything decide to leave the rails and head towards the baseboard edge!

 

I'd now like to replicate this process on the far side of the layout as well, though I won't need the full kit for this.  Perhaps I'll have a chat with that nice Mr Justin at SMS, and see how easy it would be to do a series of partial-kits...

[TrevorP1]

I like that Phil. Jolly well makes a change from green or grey MDF!

Edited December 6, 2022 by TrevorP1

[Chamby]

A happy new year to everyone, if it's not too late to say that!   A lack of posting over the holiday season does not mean that I have been idle...  However I am starting to realise that my progress on the layout has a random aspect to it, and my late activity is no exception.  

 

Leicester Central around the time of my model was surrounded mainly by factories and warehouses, and this is something that I want to represent in the surrounding scenery.  Not an accurate model of what was actually there, because the spatial constraints preclude that, but some representative buildings were required.  Having discovered their stuff online, I was pleased to see that J S Models were one of the traders attending Warley, so their stand was duly visited and goods inspected, and I was duly impressed.  So once back home, measurements were taken and paper 'footprints' cut out and tried for size, resulting in an order for a boiler house, medium chimney, small stone warehouse and a canal warehouse.  These arrived by return of post, to be immediately whisked away by family members and disappear under Christmas wrapping paper....

 

Once back in my possession and opened, I was immediately impressed with the quality of materials and workmanship that has obviously gone into these kits.  Everything slots together perfectly and looks amazing, the instructions are very clear and fully illustrated.  These kits are proving to be a joy to build, although requiring some patience particularly re: painting.  They are still work in progress, but sufficiently advanced to be worth sharing.  The components are mainly laser cut MDF, comprising an inner shell with the windows, and an outer representing the stonework.  The inner shell goes together quickly and I used these to play around with the positioning in a corner of the layout that needed filling.

 

Some photo's then: The first three show the 'inner shell' of the canal warehouse, small warehouse and chimney in their provisional location (apologies for the poor depth of field owing to the use of an i-phone camera):

 

 

 

 

The outer shell demands a bit more work, specifically re: painting.  A bit of head-scratching ensued, and some internet research regarding the colour of stonework in Leicestershire.  There proved to be a huge variation, from the whites and greys of North Charnwood, to the warmer pinks and ochres just north of Leicester, to golden brown farther south towards the Northamptonshire border.  Granites, limestones and sandstone.  I settled on a colour palette approximating to Mountsorrel Granodiorite 🥴, so Ochre, mixed with a mid-grey and pink.  I decided not to paint each cut stone 🤪  as individual cut stones are not a single colour: rather I sought to represent the range of colours using a base coat of pink tainted ochre, then dry-brushed additional patches of stronger pink, and then dark earth, using Revell matt acrylic paints.  Under a harsh LED modelling light, the technique can be seen here:

 

 

The above photo also shows clearly how the windows of the inner shell become nicely recessed when the outer skin is added.  The sills and glazing are still to be added at this stage.  The following two photo's show how the paint effect is more subtle at a normal viewing distance.

 

The large canal warehouse, where the outer skin is being glued to the inner shell after separate painting:

 

 

And the smaller warehouse with walls assembled:

 

 

Probably another three more modelling sessions are required to add and paint all the sills, and roofing.  I might also decide to tone down the stonework with a heavy wash to represent industrial smut, my memories of the time are of grotty blackened buildings, rather than the pristine sandblasted stonework of the present day.  Some barrels and crates to go inside the windows, and the odd ModelU bod to bring them to life should then do it!  I'm still debating whether to illuminate the interiors, it would be nice to do but I doubt if the result would be worth the effort, given their location tucked away in that corner. 

[Chamby]

An interim progress update on the industrial corner of the layout:  The kits have now been built and painted, it has taken a little longer than I anticipated but enjoyable nonetheless.  I may yet still do a little further detailing, specifically adding guttering and downpipes that are not included with the warehouse kits.  

 

I took the time to add internal lighting to two floors of each warehouse, using pairs of yellow LED's that will be powered from an accessory decoder wired in to the accessory bus.  I also stuck some barrels, oil drums and packing cases inside the floors to be illuminated, for additional detail.  Fine chain was used to represent the lifting tackle, with a spare wagon coupling hook being repurposed.   The exact siting of the buildings has still to be finalised, and I have yet to add detailing such as line side fencing, people (Modelu figures are currently on the painting bench) and goods, but some photo's herewith.  Again my apologies for the small depth of field, I blame my phone camera:

 

The small warehouse:

 

 

The large warehouse, with its boiler house and chimney:

 

 

 

 

As a distraction from warehouse building, I have also acquired a few more spruce trees from Primo, giving me sufficient to create a small forest out in the countryside section of the layout:

 

 

I will need to dismantle the layout and remove the corner board, so as to give good access to undertake all the detailing in that corner.  I'll probably also then take the opportunity to install the turntable in the other corner at the south end of the station.  I probably won't start that work until we have got back from exhibiting the club's Old Elms Road at Alton in a couple of weeks time... helping to prepare the layout and stock for that has to take priority over the next couple of weeks!

[Chamby]

Further progress on the layout has required some of the sections to be removed to access the corners, and do some work under the boards.  Having installed the warehouse in the 'north end' corner, the 'south end' one looked decidedly incomplete so the turntable installation has commenced.  

 

The turntable installed at the South end of Leicester Central was a Cowans and Sheldon 70-foot vacuum operated well turntable.  There is not a kit currently available for this, although Metalsmith Ltd have had one "in development" for what seems a very long time now.  I decided to crack on and use the Heljan DCC operated version instead, with modifications.  A 90-foot HO scale model, this works out at 78 feet in 4mm scale: overscale but workable.  The deck-mounted operators hut has been removed and the vacuum operating gear included side-mounted tanks will be fabricated and added in due course.

 

I'll let pictures do the talking:

 

The empty corner:

 

Board removed and marking up for the turntable install:

 

Raising the surface to track level:

 

Installing the pit:

 

Tracklaying:  sleeper spacing and alignment courtesy of these natty little gadgets 3-D printed by club-member Phil Tombs:

 

Testing the alignment of approach tracks using a couple of wagons:

 

Turntable in situ, showing the station approach:

 

Starting work on the 'surround wall' for the turntable - this was something of a feature at the Leicester Central site.  Foamboard is used for the wall core, to be covered with Redutex brick sheeting:

 

Some further scenic work and painting to go, then it will be underneath the board for connecting up the wiring...

 

[Chamby]

A new addition to the locomotive fleet arrived from Sheffield this week.  The new Sonic Models A5... very nice indeed.  69804 was allocated to Colwick in 1955, it is location-appropriate albeit sightly later than my modelled period and therefore I won't be renumbering it.  With the layout part-dismantled for the turntable install, I've not given it a proper run yet but first impressions are favourable.  I opted for the DCC version with pre-installed sound.  The sounds are OK but the "upgraded speaker" makes me wonder what the original one must have sounded like!  definitely something to be looked at later on.

 

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Chamby said:

The turntable installed at the South end of Leicester Central was a Cowans and Sheldon 70-foot vacuum operated well turntable.  There is not a kit currently available for this, although Metalsmith Ltd have had one "in development" for what seems a very long time now.  

 

Unfortunately Metalsmith stopped selling the Turntable kits over a year ago - the owner is looking for a buyer for some parts of the business but so far has been unsuccessful.

 

[TrevorP1]

Interesting developments Phil. That A5 tank looks a bit of a monster!

 

I like those sleeper alignment jigs. Does Phil Mk2 have any for sale?

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Unfortunately Metalsmith stopped selling the Turntable kits over a year ago - the owner is looking for a buyer for some parts of the business but so far has been unsuccessful.

 

 

Damn - that's not good news.  I was aiming to get a Metalsmith table for Chuffnell Regis Mk II...

 

[tigerburnie]

Some excellent work here, I kinda regret having to dismantle my rendition of Leicester GC, I spent quite a lot of time around there in my yoof train spotting, only criticism I might offer is you have way too many people on the platform to be realistic, sadly it was usually empty unless it was 1961 when Leicester City played Spurs at Wembley, then platform was packed with footie fans.

[tigerburnie]

On 19/02/2022 at 21:45, richard i said:

You make it sound like a4 were more than rare. I only know of photos of silver link, woodcock and mallard in blue. We’re there others?

richard 

Sorry for the late reply, I saw two of those, Mallard being towed on it's way to preservation, not under it's own steam.

[tigerburnie]

Sorry I've not visited this for a while, health problems get in the way, my memories are of the GC in and south of Leicester are after this modelling period as I was born in 1950, I did however move pretty much lines side in 1954 and at a very early age this railway became a large part of my life. Both my recollections and those of others older than me can confirm the status of Leicester GC as being quite unique on the railway, it had things like an ice house for the fish trains for example. If you study the timetable you can see which trains changed locos and which didn't by the amount of time they were given. Sometimes just the crew changed and the same loco continued, an example were the two evening Immingham fish trains, both stopped at Leicester, both had the wagons opened and staff frantically putting fresh ice into them to keep the fish fresh. The early one changed loco and crew, this often in the summer had a Great Western area engine and crew returning home to Swindon rostered. The second, almost always Britannia hauled in the later years only changed crews and not the loco, but again ice was added to the wagons. The smell from those trains could be smelt in our house as they went past.

Before 1957 and the passing over to the Midland region, Leicester had A3 pacific's on shed as it was a major loco/crew change station and I was told this was the case pre WW2 as well. After the removal of the name plates from the South Yorkshireman and the Master Cutler, the A3's were removed and Leicester had already become less important as a passenger station, most of the stopping trains were removed from the timetable as all the intermediate stations closed, Whetstone near to where I lived shut in '63 I think it was. As kids we went all over the country trainspotting, but the thrill on the GC when the peg went up, especially in the summer, I can still remember because you just didn't know what would turn up.

[richard i]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

Sorry for the late reply, I saw two of those, Mallard being towed on it's way to preservation, not under it's own steam.

Have also discovered number 8 went through on its way to the USA as well. There is colour footage on you tube.

richard 

[Chamby]

15 hours ago, TrevorP1 said:

Interesting developments Phil. That A5 tank looks a bit of a monster!

 

I like those sleeper alignment jigs. Does Phil Mk2 have any for sale?

 

Will see what I can do, Trevor.  They’re a very simple design and easy to use.

 

The A5 is a solid looking beast.  They were powerful and accelerated rapidly, ideal for commuter services.  Shame one wasn’t preserved.