GWR Outer London station in a Holdenesque style, 4mm

[nomisd]

I say Holdenesque but its Holden. I need a station building for my layout. I had this mad idea a few months ago that the station building on Greenford Green should be something in the style of a Charles Holden station building but built for the GWR. Having used the Kingsway Models to build my High Street, I looked at what suitable tube stations he had (at the this point, the obligatory just a satisfied customer disclaimer). Quite a few options. Something I realised quite quickly was if this was going to be a GWR station that was taken over by BR it couldn't really have any trace of Underground branding on it. I decided that Arnos Grove was tbit too much "iconic" in its own right. Redbridge and Bounds Green were possibles - the branding on the towers may have been problematic. I kept coming back to the model of Ealing Common.

 

What was good about Ealing Common was the roof windows. One thing that it is important to include on this layout are lights. Mrs nomisd likes lights on model railways, so there must be lights. One of the reasons for going Holdenesque is lights through the roof windows. There are cardboard windows so they would have to go but thats alright because at least one has a LU roundel in the glass. I then didn't think about it for a few months and did nothing/ Last week I was watching Jago Hazzards video about the real Greenford. It turns out that Greenford has a station built by GWR but designed in Holdens style. This reignited my idea. So I have ordered said station, along with a set of escalators and two Holden bus stops for outside the station.

 

Other than the windows the station name needs changing but that should just be a straightforward create new ones and print on card easy. This presents some interesting options for Great Western, British Railways and British Rail signage where the standard LU signage is. If I were feeling adventurous, I would like to think about the possibility of creating a GWR cast concrete sign on a pole where the roundel is on the front but that may be a bit ambitious.

 

So far I have come up with three replacement window options - 3d printing, building up from material (plastic strip for example) on window material or draw straight onto window material. I think I am veering towards the last one. Any other suggestions gratefully received. I await the kits arrival with anticipation.

 

[spsmiler]

Quite a few station buildings were built by the GWR for London Transport - West Acton and Perivale come to mind, I feel sure there were more.

 

re: station names, I asked for my chosen station name when I bought the card kit.

 

I bought Mile End, its not been built yet as I'm doing the platform first.

 

I too would like light to shine through the windows. For this I am contemplating cutting out the windows and using clear plastic, perhaps frosted with cereal packet plastic so that light shines through but its not possible to see what is inside. But I might decide to try to thin the card where the widows are and add plasticard strips inside as this will prevent light getting through the metal window frames between each pane of glass - how I will then cope with the LT Bullseye symbol metal frame is an unresolved  issue.

 

btw, if you need any extra LT style flooring or walling you may find what you need in the freebie section. This contains 'print at home' resources and more.

 

Good luck with the escalators!

 

Simon

[nomisd]

On 04/12/2022 at 01:57, spsmiler said:

re: station names, I asked for my chosen station name when I bought the card kit.

 

 I did think about this but decided that I didn't want the corporate LU. AT the moment I am not sure what colour I want or the style I want the sign to be in - British Railways, BR 1960s, BR 1970s-80s. 

 

On 04/12/2022 at 01:57, spsmiler said:

I too would like light to shine through the windows.

I think that I have settled on the clear thin plastic sheet and drawing the frames on. Its certainly the cheapest and easiest option. O hadn't considered seeing not in.

[nomisd]

On 04/12/2022 at 01:57, spsmiler said:

btw, if you need any extra LT style flooring or walling you may find what you need in the freebie section. This contains 'print at home' resources and more.

Thanks  for pointing that up - I had never noticed it before. Very useful stuff there.

[Chris Snowdon]

Evening all

Can anyone help with sourcing Bilteezi prints?  Their Weeblysite is pretty, but no links seem to work and although they promote similar products and producers such as Scalescenes, no links actually work when I hover/click.

For those who need LU/Holden buildings:  I bought several prints from Kingsway during the Bad Times, but haven't actually built them yet, so can't comment on construction or finished appearance - anyone got anything to share?

regards

cs

[Chris Snowdon]

For illuminating an Underground station, I thought that "white" LEDs would work OK but but limited experimentation suggests that yellow ones are simpler and (very much) cheaper.  That, for the above-ground buildings, as well as for sub-surface or platform-level scenes.  "Natural" and blue ones are far too bright and simply too "blue" for my eyes, as well as expensive.  Tunable LEDs are wonderful for an art, but are too pricey for a hobby.