Wilton Carr - North Eastern Railway Diorama

[thetalkinlens]

I've been chipping away at this diorama over the past few months. It represents a real location on the North Eastern Railway's Pickering to Seamer branch on a 13" x 20" board so it can fit in a standard plastic storage box. The vast majority of the items are scratch built and I'll aim to include some more detailed posts on how various bits have been made. The focal point is Wilton Carr gatehouse and level crossing. Included is a recent photo of the diorama in a reasonably advanced state, with some further details to add.

 

Why have I chosen to build this in the first place? Well I have aspirations to build a layout of one of the Pickering to Seamer branch stations, but for the time being the space is not available for that. So to tide me over, I started building the gatehouse design used for all the branches level crossings. Once completed, decided it could do with something to sit on. The Pickering to Seamer is just over 16 miles in length, but had 19 of these gatehouses, so there were quite a few to choose between. I first discovered the disused branch line in 1995 and have had something of an obsession with its history ever since. Wilton Carr was the first building I found and at the time it was virtually completely as it was some 45 years previous when the line was closed. It had no mains electric or even a generator, just a couple of car batteries to power the tv. The toilet was still in the outhouse at the back and the only tap was outside the back door. Still an upgrade on the pump from the surviving well which the N.E.R. provided. With so much original character, this was the obvious choice, so it was time to work out the what's and how's...

[D5158]

Love it,  very well executed.

 

More pic’s please.

 

regards

 

alan

[Solo]

That's a lovely scene and looking forward to more - what scale are you working in?

Andy

[thetalkinlens]

2 hours ago, Solo said:

That's a lovely scene and looking forward to more - what scale are you working in?

Andy

 

Thanks, it's modelled in 4mm.

 

Here's one more picture for now. I will be hoping to take some better photos with a backdrop in time.

[Enfys_Rainbow]

Very nice, reminds me of Catcott Burtle !

[Sweet pea]

That's a great looking photo, lovely work on your North Eastern Railway diorama.

[thetalkinlens]

To set the scene a bit, here is a photo of the real Wilton Carr I took in 1995. It was modernised around 2001, so doesn't look like this anymore. At the time the NER enamel sign was still on display, though I believe it would originally have been on the railway side of the property. I remembered the well tended garden hedge, so have included something similar in the model, regardless of whether it would have had it when the railway was there.

 

I printed out the 6" to the mile OS Map dated 1910 scaled as close as I could get to 4mm. This map is available to view online from the National Library of Scotland. A direct link to view Wilton Carr is here:
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18.0&lat=54.22737&lon=-0.67352&layers=168&b=1

 

One thing I established fairly quickly was that the railway would run along the short width of the board, allowing more space for the land upon which the gatehouse takes.

 

As well as working out scales and angles of the road, railway and surroundings, the OS map has some incredible detail. The N.E.R. purchased enough land for the line to be double track should that ever be required in the future. As such, the single track was off centre to the boundaries. I haven't seen any photographs of Wilton Carr during railway days, which leaves some guess work in a lot of details. But looking at other crossings and the OS map, there would have been four level crossing gates, with the railway going through the northerly pair.

 

The OS map also indicates "SP" for a signal. Despite looking like something from the beginnings of the railway era, the Southern Division of N.E.R. used rotating board signals at crossings like Wilton Carr. They weren't short lived either, some were still around into the 1970's in the Hull area, so it's highly likely the Pickering to Seamer would have had them until closure in 1950. The signal involved a square red board with notched corners on top of a white post which would be rotated to face either the road or the railway depending on which way the gates were closed. Around half way down the post was a four aspect lamp, two aspects being green (blue) and two red. A photograph exists of Brompton Carr crossing in the early 1950's, a few miles further east and the rotating board signal can be clearly made out.

 

The OS map also has "P" in the back yard. My assumption is this indicates the pump for the nearby well which was about 30 or so yards to the east.

 

So in addition to the gatehouse, I now have four crossing gates and an interesting and unusual signal to make. More on the construction of these later!

Edited October 13, 2022 by thetalkinlens

[Sweet pea]

Love the real photo of Wilton Carr. You have captured the scene nicely.

[thetalkinlens]

Here are a series of photos showing the build of the gatehouse, which is entirely built from plasticard excluding the window panes and glued with liquid poly.

 

Something I've found very valuable in becoming familiar with modelling a structure beforehand is to create my own diagrams, even if they have already been drawn by someone else. For the gatehouse, the diagrams were originally in a North Eastern Railway Express from some 20 years ago. These diagrams were for the terraced version of the cottage, so some modification was needed. Combined with taking measurements from a surviving gatehouse these were redrawn using Adobe Illustrator.

 

The brick face and roof slates are Slaters plasticard and the rest is from various thicknesses of plasticard sheet. The roof is removable and for the time being there is no interior, but provision has been made to allow for it in the future.

 

The window frames are made from 0.5mm square lengths of Plastruct and guttering is a half round length of Plastruct. To get a clean finish, these items were painted before fitting to the model, leaving un unpainted surface to allow the liquid poly to adhere.

 

I feel the slating from Slaters is far too over scale in thickness, so I may well do another roof at some point.

 

The brick with mortar effect has been achieved by painting in a terracotta acrylic, allowed to dry, then a pale grey painted all over and wiped off with a finger. Still a technique I need to improve on as the finish is not as good as would like particularly around the edges where the "mortar" paint has collected more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2022 by thetalkinlens

[Sweet pea]

The modelling of the gatehouse is very good. Thanks for sharing your build pictures. 👍

[Solo]

Great work with the gatehouse - looks very realistic and I personally think the brickwork is coming along nicely.  I was drawn to this thread because there’s just something about lone houses like this standing sentinel over the railway landscape.  Have you any ideas yet regarding a backscene?  I’m thinking big stormy sky might be just the ticket, remember driving through Lincolnshire a couple of years back after a heavy rain shower and seeing a house like this prominent among the fields next to a disused railway, grey and black storm clouds and just the hint of a rainbow….Thought  it would make an excellent model..

[thetalkinlens]

12 hours ago, Solo said:

Great work with the gatehouse - looks very realistic and I personally think the brickwork is coming along nicely.  I was drawn to this thread because there’s just something about lone houses like this standing sentinel over the railway landscape.  Have you any ideas yet regarding a backscene?  I’m thinking big stormy sky might be just the ticket, remember driving through Lincolnshire a couple of years back after a heavy rain shower and seeing a house like this prominent among the fields next to a disused railway, grey and black storm clouds and just the hint of a rainbow….Thought  it would make an excellent model..

 

Many thanks for your positive reply, I think there is an element of a lone gatehouse that has drawn me in to it too.

 

For the backscene, I'm not planning on putting anything permanently in place. Instead, I'm intending to create several boards that will be held in place in a temporary manner. This should allow for different weather conditions and to cover all four sides of the board, depending on which way it is being viewed from. I will probably experiment with prints of my own photos and painted. A moody rain shower is certainly something I'd like to try.

 

I'll probably also experiment with taking pictures outside with the real sky for a backdrop.

[thetalkinlens]

The 6" O.S. map and photographs of other level crossings on the line indicated there would have been four gates rather than two at Wilton Carr. I mainly referenced the next crossing along adjacent to Ebberston Station, with there being more photographs available.

 

 

The crossing gates are to a standard N.E.R. design. There is a tube gate diagram in the NERA's book of standards. Though this is not a level crossing gate, it is similar in design so I used it as a starting point. I also paid a visit to Beamish where measurements were taken from the crossing gate at Rowley.

 

 

With diagrams drawn up, again in Adobe Illustrator, the build is entirely plasticard again, in this case using various lengths of Plastruct. The pipe is described as 1" gas pipe in the NER book of standards. 0.3mm Plastruct rod has been used for this. The verticals which the rod passes through were drilled out, but the diagonals are made from three layers, two outsides and then the middle filled in around the rod rather than attempting to drill at an angle.

 

 

The posts are also Plastruct, painted a light grey and then WWS concrete dust and black soot weathering powders. The hinges are all achieved with Plastruct too - these being 0.5 square rod rather than round.

 

The gates are on stems which push into Plastruct square tube set into the baseboard, allowing for easy removal and fitting.

 

 

N.E.R. level crossings originally had a single large black lamp with red tinted glass. The lamp looked much like a platform gas lamp. This was another reason to visit Rowley at Beamish rather than any other N.E.R. pattern crossing gate, as it is the only example of the lamp I've been able to track down. So far, I haven't attempted to model this, but it is on the todo list.

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by thetalkinlens

[thetalkinlens]

The N.E.R. rotating board signal I'm particularly pleased with how it has come out. It is all made from various sizes of Plastruct including the lamp, apart from the steps which are etched brass, taken from an MSE N.E.R. slotted signal kit. An NERA member who has one of these lamps in his garage kindly supplied it's dimensions, which helped with a bit more accuracy which the diagrams lacked.

 

As per the gatehouse and level crossing gates, I was able to source a diagram from the NERA via @Worsdell forever (thanks Paul), which again I redrew in Adobe Illustrator.

 

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by thetalkinlens

[Sweet pea]

Nice work on the rotating board signal. 👏 

[thetalkinlens]

Fencing is based on two types from the N.E.R. book of standards. The field boundaries are N.E.R. standard post and rail fencing, which are five bars with tighter spacing at the bottom to stop livestock getting onto the line. The fencing also faces the field for when livestock push against it. This is all scratch built using Plastruct strips.

 

The fencing outside the house is based on N.E.R. standard close board fencing at a reduced height to the book diagrams. This is based on photographs that exist of the next gatehouse along the line opposite Ebberston Station. Again scratch built from Plastruct, each board being an individual strip as opposed to a sheet of boarding.

 

The finish for both fences is achieved with grey primer, then a heavy coating of black soot weathering powder.

 

I started making the pedestrian crossing as a wicket gate, but decided it was a bit tight on space so opted for a more simple layout. The gate itself is based on the diagram from the N.E.R. standard wicket gate with some modifications to reflect those also documented in photos of the gatehouse next to Ebberston Station.

 

A photo included here of the Heljan/Rails Autocar No.3170. A rather appropriate model for Wilton Carr, given it was allocated to Scarborough to work shuttles to Filey and on occasion was known to work onto the Pickering to Seamer branch. No passengers on it today it would seem, perhaps it was an out of service move.

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by thetalkinlens

[splodgestudios]

The autocar looks right at home on this layout! Thanks for sharing your process it’s very insightful and inspiring :)

[Ian Holmes]

Great work. Very impressive

 

Ian

[thetalkinlens]

A homemade backscene has arrived. A print from Photobox at 30" x 20" from a phone pic taken from the real location.

 

In this scene all is quiet, however the gates are against the lane, so perhaps something is due?

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2022 by thetalkinlens

[thetalkinlens]

At least ten minutes later, a J27 trundles through with the pickup.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2022 by thetalkinlens

[thetalkinlens]

Back to around 1916 as an E1 trundles past Wilton Carr.

[D5158]

Lovely.

[thetalkinlens]

I wonder where he's going with that? It's the middle of Summer, but stranger things have happened...

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by thetalkinlens

[micklner]

What did you use for the Snowplough Works Plates please ?? I have three which need some.

[thetalkinlens]

6 hours ago, micklner said:

What did you use for the Snowplough Works Plates please ?? I have three which need some.

 

Ah well, glad you asked! I painted the profile of the plate black first, then used the white lines from the transfer sheet in the kit to line the edges. The N.E.R. is from a Slaters P7 waterslide sheet and the 18 has come from another waterslide sheet from a Parkside kit. Its easier to see the plate on my workbench post: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/174961-thetalkinlens-north-eastern-railway-workbench/?do=findComment&comment=5054324

 

 

 

The plate should have "Snowplough" in the middle and "No." before the 18, but I didn't take it that far.