Bristol Barton Hill (or part of it) in 4mm

[JonKing]

Unfortunately due to the current situation I had to dismantle my old layout Embankment Road TMD. It was permanently located along one wall in my home office and had to be evicted when I started home working and it became clear quite quickly that trying to share the office with a layout wasn't feasible (albeit it did provide an interesting backdrop for Teams calls and trigger some rather interesting conversations!).

Thoughts have now progressed towards a replacement layout. Initially I gravitated towards completing a layout based on Bury Interchange just before closure, I even started converting another GMPTE 504 (my first conversion is on this forum somewhere) however I soon succumbed to the lure of late 90s diesels again and Bury / the 504s were put back in hibernation. The late 90s railway scene holds most interest to me, I have very fond memories of spending summer evenings on an overbridge near my house watching 37 hauled freights climb Rattery bank and trips with my Dad to  locations such as St Blazey, Cardiff Canton, Toton & Peak Forest. This time I wanted to model a prototype location and considered a number of potential prototype locations including Crediton, Goodrington Carriage Sidings and Newport Stabling point. Unfortunately all of these would require a large area to model prototypically, as the layout has no permanent home I really didn't want to model anything more than 8ft (exc. staging area).

 

I have therefore decided to model another TMD (!), or specifically roads 6-8 and fuel point sidings at Bristol Barton Hill. The Google Maps screengrab below shows the area I will model, with a bit of scaling it will fit in an area approx 8ft x 2ft. Despite its size there will only be three points in the modelled area as per the prototype giving access to shed roads 6-8 and the fuel point road. The carriage shed (formerly planned maintenance shed) will form part of the backdrop and sidings between the fuel point and carriage shed will be non-functioning and used to store rakes of RES coaching stock and a TPO set. The layout will be set in the period between 1998 - 2001 (e.g loaded with RES & EWS 47s and latterly EWS 67s).

 

 

Baseboards have been built using modified laser cut Grainge and Hodder baseboards (modified to taper from 600mm width at the shed end of the layout to 400mm at the cabin end). I have also started building the main shed building. Unlike my previous models the shed is solely built from plasticard, previously I have always used a MDF shell but didn't want to here as I wasn't sure where the layout would be stored and MDF wouldn't cope well with the humidity in the loft or garage. The shed is almost entirely formed from 1mm plasticard laminated to give varying degrees of thickness and strength for the key structural elements. The shed walls are formed from an inner and outer layer of 1mm plasticard sandwiching 4 layers of 1mm plasticard spacers giving an overall thickness of 6mm. Stonework is slaters coarse stone with plasticard strip used for cill details etc and custom laser cut brick lintels from York Model Making. The cladding (including roof) is slaters corrugations. I have modelled the shed so that the door to road 6 is closed (I always tend to have at least one door closed on my depot buildings). I was initially worried around how strong the building would be given its size (its 2ft long and even at that size slightly under scale) however using laminated plasticard for the key structural elements has made it very robust.

 

 

The base model has been painted using a base colour for the stonework followed by darker washes and picking out random stones in brown. Roof has a base coat of grey, translucent fibreglass roof panels have then been painted on and then weathered with washes of darker and lighter colours. The roof vents are from Aughagen with replacement panels surrounding the vents picked out in lighter grey as per the prototype (I assume the ventilation system has been renewed at some point necessitating replacement of localised roof panels).

 

 

Next job is to fit windows, doors and other details. 

 

 

[JonKing]

Following some rather glacial progress the layout is starting to come together (slowly!).

 

The carriage shed which forms the majority of the backdrop to the rear of the layout has been constructed from plasticard clad with slaters corrugated slate. The structure straddles a baseboard joint so has been constructed in two sections, the "station end" structure being 4ft in length representing the original carriage shed building with the "shed end" building approx 2 ft in length representing the later extension constructed in the early 2000s. Whilst the later extension was constructed slightly later than my chosen time period its not too much of a compromise. The joint between the two does need some slight fettling as does the backscene board.

 

 

Track around the shed area has also been laid, wired and tested. Some initial weathering has also been applied with humbrol track colour. The carriage sidings have not been laid yet. All track is Peco Bullhead, slow progress has been partially due to trying to get hold of the bullhead points.

 

 

In addition to the shed buildings the station end cabin (photo below) has been constructed as has the transformer building located to the rear of the carriage sidings and tank room. Front view of the station end cabin below, unfortunately this is the side that wont be seen when its in place!.

 

 

Rear view of the small "tank room". Not entirely sure what this building is, its also worth noting that on the prototype this building is painted white whereas I prefer a brick finish.

 

 

Next job is the hardstanding outside of the main shed. I have chosen to use plasticard for this which takes a lot of cutting, sanding and fettling to get to the correct shape. I thought about using plaster but shied away as it looked to be a very messy task. Joins between the plasticard will be disguised as casting joints, service trench scars etc. Its starting to take shape but some way to go.

 

 

 

 

 

[Gilbert]

As a "local" I will follow this with interest..

Chris

[JonKing]

The hardstanding in front of the shed area is now finished. Whilst not an exact match to the prototype I have tried to copy the general layout of the hardstanding particularly the curved area towards the station end.

 

Prior to painting I lightly cut casting joints and repair patches into the plasticard with a craft knife being careful to only score the surface and not go all the way through. Edges of the plasticard adjacent to the rails were also chamfered to ensure sufficient flangeway clearance. 

 

I was keen to try and achieve the right colouring and avoid a solid grey block of colour. Firstly I primed the harstanding with Halfords Grey primer and then used an airbrush to apply a paint mixture (light grey / brown mix) over the primer. I wasn't looking for an even coat with the airbrush as I wanted some tonal variation. Newer patches of concrete & repair patches were then hand painted with a lighter grey mix. Once dry I used a large soft brush to apply a thin dark grey wash, this created some initial staining but also darkened the casting joints cut in previously. Photos below show these steps.

 

 

 

Once dry I then mixed up a thin dark grey / black paint for use in the airbrush. I lightly sprayed this along the flangeway gaps building up to the desired density. I also sprayed the edges of the hardstanding adjacent to the building with the same mix, this has the effect of blending and disguising the joint between the hardstanding and building. The same mix was then also used to build up colour in areas where locos will stand and also used to create traffic route marks across the hard standing (if you look at google earth photos there are clear marks of the traffic routes where road vehicles are crossing the hard standing).

 

 

Overall pleased with the finish. Now to glue it down and get on with the rest!.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by JonKing
poor quality photo removed.