Shardlow

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Still smoothing the track bed and fettling the points. I don't like big gaps between the rails and dog-leg joints, so was filing to get the rail ends level. Some ol sleepers will be threaded onto the rails before that point is laid. Another thing I have a bee in my bonnet about - big sleeper gaps at joints.

Just had to order a new soldering iron. Couldn't find mine anywhere - have the stand and solder, but no iron. I think my son might've "borrowed" it at some point...

[lmsforever]

Snap I have just aquired a new soldering iron could not find my old one spent at least a couple of weeks looking in every part of my shed;

[Peter Kazmierczak]

There will be a short pause in my daily "Shardlow" posts as I had an operation yesterday so I'm not allowed to drive and have to be on light duties for a while. Fortunately I was allotted the only bed in the bay which overlooked the railway between Poole and Parkstone, so  I could get a bit of "spotting" in. Also saw the Barfleur on its daily run to Cherborg and could see the Studland chain ferry in the distance too.

[Rowsley17D]

If you do go for powered points, Peter, I have a some Peco stuff, to you, FOC.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

31 minutes ago, Rowsley17D said:

If you do go for powered points, Peter, I have a some Peco stuff, to you, FOC.

That's very kind, Jonathan. I'll let you in on a secret, in all my modelling days I've never, ever had electric points...

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Not having ventured beyond our front door, or even into the garden all week, so time for a story...

The October days are rapidly shortening as driver George Clements and his fireman Frank Booker are off to find their loco in No.4 shed at Derby. Ah, there sits a Johnson 3F which will be their steed today as they work the early turn to Shardlow. Coupled to it are another two engines; the regular way to Chaddesden Sidings, where their train commences, is for Derby to send a convoy of engines around to Chadd to pick-up their trains.

After the usual hoots, the three engines set off, joining the main London line at Way & Works signalbox, after a brief pause to let a Nottingham-bound local pass on its way.  No need to rush as we'll be reversing soon opposite Spondon Junction box. We cross the misty River Derwent near Alvaston Park, coast under Raynesway road bridge - a relatively new structure but quite advanced for the late 1930s with a dual carriageway, cycle paths and pavements on both sides too. Coming to a stand on the up main, just after the box by Megaloughton Lane, the smell from the nearby sewage farm isn't too bad this morning. 

The dummy soon drops - the signalman doesn't like us standing around here too long - and now running tender-first we take the crossover and clatter across the junction heading for Chadd Sidings. Under Raynesway again, on our left is a large 12 road wooden carriage shed. Used as a bit of an overflow nowadays; there's probably a few ex-MR clerestories hidden in there, contrasting to some of the latest products from Derby Carriage & Wagon works.

 

Soon we're at Chaddesden South Junction. The other two engines drift off find their respective trains, whilst we head for the South End Short sidings, where our train should be waiting for us on either the number 8 or 9 roads. Our guard, Tom Bates, gives us a wave as we couple up and tells us the load. Jack Hicklin, a travelling shunter, also drops down from the brake van; he'll be accompanying us to speed up the shunt at Shardlow, and Wilne sidings on our return. We draw forward into one of the departure roads and await the off from Turntable Sidings box.

To be continued...

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Peter Kazmierczak

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Before continuing on our imaginary journey to Shardlow, I thought I'd do a bit of actual modelling. 

I cleaned and tested the 40-year points, finding that underneath all the grime, they still worked perfectly. I used Bar Keepers Friend - a white powder which one mixes with a little water to form a paste and applied with a cloth - that really works well. Though I didn't use that on the contacts under the switch blades - just scraping these with the blade of a craft knife. When I'm out and about again, I must get some WD-40 Contact Cleaner (not the usual WD-40) to finish the job.

A bête noire of mine, regarding track, is seeing large sleeper gaps at joints.

Photo 1 illustrates what I mean. Now PECO Streamline  tends the be over-sleepered for the British scene. Usually I reduce the number of sleepers on plain track - not much came be done with points, though some have done good work to try to improve it appearance-wise. But as I was reusing the track here, I'll just leave the spacing as it is.
Photo 2 shows that I use a scrap sleeper, that I insert into the gap. Don't just cut-off the rail fixings though. You need to make the sleeper thinner underneath the rail-joiner (especially if they're the insulated plastic ones), otherwise they won't sit snugly.

Photo 3 shows the finished effect. I did also slip another sleeper into the gap on the other bit of the point too.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Before laying the track I need to think about the positioning of some of the buildings. I'm not making an exact model of Shardlow, but do want to use actual examples found there, though I will rearrange their location a bit.

 

Thought I'd start with the Salt Warehouse. This is one of the oldest buildings canal side - it's now the Shardlow Heritage Centre. Fortunately, there are loads of photos online of Shardlow and I've managed to find views of all four elevations of this structure. Not sure if the windows have been altered though. Certainly it wouldn't have had Velux window lights...

 

Attached is a sketch of the canalside elevation, along with some of my scribblings trying to work out dimensions. From old maps it's about 75ft x 26ft; a simple rectangular brick structure under a slate roof. 

I like to make my building out of card. Not sure whether to model this at 4mm/ft or 3.5mm/ft; having a ponder on that.  I've downloaded the "old brick"  pattern from Scalescenes, though my printer is a bit iffy at the moment and not printing it the right shade. 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Well, I think it's time to complete our imaginary journey to Shardlow...

 

The peg comes off and we depart from Chaddesden. Passing under Raynesway for the third time that morning, we clatter again over Spondon Junction and start to accelerate along the straight stretch through Spondon station. No sign of any of the little green 0-4-STs at the Celanese works on our right. Henry, George (and the more shy Victory) must be shunting elsewhere on the complex today. There's a train of hoppers in the power station sidings though, waiting to return to Gedling Colliery for another load. 

 

There is a slight curve as we approach Borrowash and then we're soon slowing for our stop at Draycott. The cutting here is well known for flooding, but it looks dry on our visit. Making sure we draw forward past the crossover, the ground disc soon drops, there's a wave of a newspaper from the brake van, so we propel our train from the up to the down line and stop in the platform. Jack joins us on the footplate as he'll be operating the level crossing gates at Wilne Cross. 

The Draycott to Sawley road is quiet, as Jack nips off the engine and opens the wooden gates for us. We draw forward across the road and stop so that he can get onto the brake van for the remainder of our journey. Another wave of the newspaper and we're off again.

Soon we're approaching Wilne Mill on our right and the ground frame operating the connection to the sidings. We'll call here on our return to drop-off and pick-up some traffic. We take it easy as we cross the Mill Stream, then the longer bridge over the River Derwent itself. 

Not much further, as we pass the hamlet of Church Wilne on our left, then we begin to make out the buildings of Shardlow itself in the distance coming out of the morning haze. Slowly entering the small yard there we stop in the loop. Time for a brew methinks...

 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Continuing with the construction of the salt warehouse at my glacial pace...

 

When I worked in libraries/achieves, we sometimes chucked out some nice cream/yellow mounting card. But I had other uses for it...

So I've cut-out the four elevations, and done the doors/windows on one of the sides. Not sure of the style of windows as I don't think those on the building at the moment (even though Grade 2 listed) are originals. Sent off email to Shardlow Heritage Centre and awaiting their reply.

[Dunsignalling]

On 20/10/2022 at 12:19, Peter Kazmierczak said:

That's very kind, Jonathan. I'll let you in on a secret, in all my modelling days I've never, ever had electric points...

A true digital pioneer!

[Peter Kazmierczak]

The Shardlow Heritage Centre got back to me really quickly; good job I checked my "spam" folder as their reply was in there.

They provided me with a couple of photos of the building in earlier days, and as I suspected, the windows were different. One was also in a completely different position, whilst the building also had a chimney stack on the western elevation. There were also some rooflights that differed from the "Velux" ones seen today.

 

Need to make a few alterations before continuing with the build.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

If you compare this sketch with the previous one of the canal side elevation of the salt warehouse - apparently its name was the "A" Warehouse - with the one below, you'll see quite a few differences. 

 

I'm probably getting bogged-down in the history of this building, and the changes over the years, but I find this as fascinating  a part of the hobby as modelling locos and stock.

 

Suppose it's all down to creating that "sense of place" in a model.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

So with some rectification work, the canal side elevation is now cut-out. Now for the other three to do...

[Peter Kazmierczak]

After five days, I've finally finished cutting out the four sides of the salt warehouse. Modelling a real building can have its frustrations, particularly when window and door positions are altered over the years. But there's a satisfaction too, in recreating a real structure.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

I'm very much of the "old school" when it comes to constructing structures; card and brick paper I'm afraid.

 

So here's the four sides - front and back.  

 

Now to do the doors and windows...
 

[Rowsley17D]

Nothing wrong with old school, Peter. My buildings too are card and stone/brick paper. In as light deviation to this I recently ordered the laser cut "card" from chrisinden.co.uk where the 2mm thick stuff is ply for the low relief buildings on a slope which will be built on the level! Whose "textures" are you using? 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Jonathan, I used Scalescenes brickpaper (aged red brick). One downloads a pdf and you can print as much as you want. However, my printer was on the blink (and has since died...) so it wasn't printing all the colours correctly. 

 

The prototype looks to have quite orangey brickwork, so I use Derwent Inktense pencils to make the brickwork colour more to my liking. Still needs more on this though.

[Rowsley17D]

Thanks, Peter. I've many Scalescenes' kits and a number of their builder's yard textures.

 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Starting to add details to the side elevations of the salt warehouse, but I have a question.

 

Has anyone ever used spaghetti (the dried stuff, not the Heinz in a can of tomato sauce type) to make rainwater downpipes?

[AdeMoore]

I haven’t Peter but I imagine it’s best stored in its unopened packet or air tight container for a reason.

My guess is it goes soft?

[Enterprisingwestern]

15 minutes ago, AdeMoore said:

I haven’t Peter but I imagine it’s best stored in its unopened packet or air tight container for a reason.

My guess is it goes soft?

 

I would imagine it goes exceptionally brittle and probably disintegrates over time?

 

Mike.

[30368]

Good luck with this project Peter.

 

As many have said, I have found memories of the area when we lived in Mickleover and later Marston Montgomery.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Finished the east elevation of the warehouse.  Three more sides to do...

[Peter Kazmierczak]

West elevation done; two down, two to go...