Three Bridges Shed C.1900

[J-Mo Arts]

Hello! 

This is my first proper layout thread on RMweb and the start of a micro layout/photoplank which I may or may not extend if I enjoy the process. Hopefully it's not too garbled and you may find it interesting. 

 

I suppose the layout started when I picked up a "slightly defective" Dapol 00 gauge Terrier (Boxhill from the NRM stand, and no I can't see the defect but I won't argue with a discount!) at Ally Pally earlier this year, and took it the following week down to my club. I'd recently got a new phone with some nice editing options in the standard 'gallery' app so I played about a bit and got this:

I thought it looked rather nice so immediately my brain set to work trying to justify building a new layout where I could take proper pictures of my models and of my 3d prints to sell as I feel it showcases them much better when they look 'at home'. 

 

I have a Rapido goods green E1 on order with plans to rename it to No.110 Burgundy so I thought Three Bridges, its home shed, would be an appropriate subject. 

 

Upon finding this picture of the back of the shed where Millwall was set up as a static boiler I thought it'd make quite a nice scene. In all honesty I dived head first into this idea and only after putting significant work into it did I realise Millwall was not on rails. I am therefore imagining that some track had been laid here to provide two sidings, where Millwall and the (presumably) static carriage sat. Whoops! Oh well. 

The shed is to the west of the station and just north of the Horsham line. 

 

Apart from the fictional track plan I want this layout to be as realistic as possible in terms of both stock and scenery. The shed was demolished by 1911 so I have chosen 1895-1905 as my modelling period. 

 

The track plan is very basic but I didn't want to overcrowd the layout too much.

I won't go into baseboard construction as it's pretty simple topped frame and as it's my first time it is a bit wonky in places. 

 

I made the shed out of airfix shed kit spares and it is only one road of the two road shed as the layout is only 25cm deep. I will paint or print a picture of a loco for the inside which I hope will create some depth. I airbrushed the main colours and next I need to add the mortar, which I plan on doing with cream paint and IPA to reduce surface tension. Once the shed is painted I will glue down the track and move on to the ground cover. I have a pot of loco smokebox ash for this which I'll glue down then spray over with the airbrush as there are quite a few white flecks in the ash which will look bad in the scale scene. My partner very kindly bought me a static grass applicator too so I'll be testing out some WWS grass on the field in the foreground. 

 

I think it looks rather authentic already. 

 

I also have an E5, Inspector, Grosvenor and a standard G class which will eventually make this layout their home- does anyone know of any E5s based nearby which I could plausibly use the name of? The G class will be Imberhorne. 

 

The future extension would be continuing on the track from the shed parallel to the station towards the main road, where I believe this picture was taken and would transform the layout into something a bit more interesting to operate. Let's get part 1 done first though! 

 

Thanks for reading! Comments and (constructive!) criticisms most welcome. 

Edited June 13, 2023 by J-Mo Arts

[Compound2632]

Looking good - I especially like the good use being made of the venerable Airfix engine shed kit!

[Schooner]

5 hours ago, J-Mo Arts said:

my 3d prints to sell

?

 

It looks to me like a charming project is off to a fine start. Following with interest :)

Edited June 10, 2023 by Schooner

[J-Mo Arts]

Many thanks for the encouraging words @Schooner! 

 

I'm afraid that wagon isn't one of my designs - it's from Small Loco Works. Rather a charming one! 

 

This is one of mine though:

Still a WIP I'm afraid... 

Edited June 10, 2023 by J-Mo Arts

[Nick Holliday]

17 hours ago, J-Mo Arts said:

 

 

I also have an E5, Inspector, Grosvenor and a standard G class which will eventually make this layout their home- does anyone know of any E5s based nearby which I could plausibly use the name of? The G class will be Imberhorne. 

 

For what it's worth the following E5 Class were on shed in nearby locations.

Horsham had 410 Woldingham and 403 Fordcombe; and Brighton 406 Colworth and 567 Freshwater

However, I wonder if locally based locos would actually enter the shed area at Three Bridges - water would be available elsewhere, and there shouldn't be a need to take on coal mid-duty.  You would be more likely to see a New Cross or Battersea loco being topped up, although that would assume the service stopped at Three Bridges.

[J-Mo Arts]

33 minutes ago, Nick Holliday said:

For what it's worth the following E5 Class were on shed in nearby locations.

Horsham had 410 Woldingham and 403 Fordcombe; and Brighton 406 Colworth and 567 Freshwater

However, I wonder if locally based locos would actually enter the shed area at Three Bridges - water would be available elsewhere, and there shouldn't be a need to take on coal mid-duty.  You would be more likely to see a New Cross or Battersea loco being topped up, although that would assume the service stopped at Three Bridges.

Thank you so much for the info! Good point about the taking on coal- that opens my scope for loco names. I found a picture of 574 Copthorne on a Victoria-East Grinstead working so not implausible that it got near TBD and it looks to have a B shed code? Would be nice to give the model a local name. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/31514768@N05/24211240220

 

 

[Nick Holliday]

Thought you might be interested to see the various locations assigned to the E5 Class.  Certainly Copthorne is by far the nearest to Three Bridges.

[J-Mo Arts]

Thank you for going to the trouble of making that! Copthorne it shall be. 

[Nick Holliday]

Just to add to the mix, this map shows the approximate locations for various loco names in the immediate vicinity of Three Bridges

[Matloughe]

It looks great!
 

I used to live at Ifield West, so Crawley/Three Bridges is still home after all these years. I think you've already developed a great sense of depth and scale with what you've made already. Boxhill looks 'just right' infront of that engine shed. I've subscribed to see more - I am a big fan of the LBSCR and your choosen location being so close to my old home is brilliant.

Also I am loving the look of that double-ended van, I am keeping an eye out for that!

Kind Regards,
Gary

[J-Mo Arts]

1 hour ago, Matloughe said:

It looks great!
 

I used to live at Ifield West, so Crawley/Three Bridges is still home after all these years. I think you've already developed a great sense of depth and scale with what you've made already. Boxhill looks 'just right' infront of that engine shed. I've subscribed to see more - I am a big fan of the LBSCR and your choosen location being so close to my old home is brilliant.

Also I am loving the look of that double-ended van, I am keeping an eye out for that!

Kind Regards,
Gary

Thanks so much Gary! Kind words indeed. I hope to have the double ended van finished soon, once I've got one printed, painted and shown on here I'll offer them for sale. Watch this space, as they say. 

 

I'm a local too, and also an IoW volunteer. With the Rapido E1 on the way and our No.110 being based at three bridges it seemed silly not to have a go. Then Boxhill came a long and started the project properly. I am really hoping to do justice to the scene, and in fact while on holiday I've just bought some good looking scenic products. Somehow they appear much better in Europe! 

[J-Mo Arts]

Just remembered I have a GA D3 kit awaiting a cheap M7 chassis and backdating... Not sure if moving the dome is something I'm prepared to do but new safety valves, whistle, smokebox door and possibly chimney are on the cards. If anyone complains at exhibitions etc I shall praise them for their deep subject knowledge. No prizes for guessing what the loco's identity will be! 

Source: https://www.lbscr.org/Rolling-Stock/Locomotives/R.J.Billinton/D3.xhtml

 

So far in named engines local to TBD I have (in varying states of un-readiness) 

-Three Bridges 

-Copthorne

-Imberhorne

And if the Ebay gods smile upon me, 

-Rowfant ;) 

 

Does anyone know of sources of IEG lining transfers? From what I've heard we have a worldwide shortage! 

 

[J-Mo Arts]

Rowfant secured. 

And I've started on the mortar for the shed. I'd be interested to hear opinions on this as personally I think it's made the whole shed look too bright and I may try a black wash over it to bring it back to a darker overall look. 

 

The other things some may notice are the Marsh boiler and coal rails on the D1. These were later modifications which unfortunately don't fit in my 1895-1905 time period. I'm not really keen on the umber livery but I don't think I can modify the boiler to represent the Stroudley boiler without ruining it. I'd like to know if people think I should extend my period slightly and paint my D1 in Marsh Umber as 282 or whether I should carry on with my plans to paint it in IEG proudly named as Rowfant, with added condensing pipes but likely the Marsh safety valves/dome? I have no qualms about removing the coal rails, it's the boiler fittings which I'm reluctant to change. 

 

I think I'll try 3d printing an insert for the trailing wheel as it won't do having a driving wheel there! 

[J-Mo Arts]

A bit of scenery and such done on the layout, I've cut some polystyrene to form a hill behind the shed to show the natural form of the land, this will be profiled a bit more in due course. I've also laid down cork over the whole yard area and cut a groove in it for the point rodding. There is a short retaining wall in front of the hill and I'll put some wooden buffer stops on/above it. 

 

I've also cut a hole for the point switch and cut the wire and tube (pen ink chamber - I'm on a budget here) to length, which isn't glued down yet as I still need to wire up the track. 

 

I'm aiming for DCC control which I suppose also means the layout will work for "one engine in steam" analogue control- it's a photoplank so it won't be a hive of activity! 

[J-Mo Arts]

We have power! 

 

 

A contractor's loco is seen on a tracklaying train on the freshly constructed sidings beside the shed. 

 

 

I'm rather happy with my terminal solution (sounds a bit sci fi, that...) 

The loop screws go through the board and have wires threaded and soldered round them. I use the inelegant but trusty crocodile clip to get power to my layouts, so this allows me to quickly clip the controller on. 

 

Now onto the scenics! 

[J-Mo Arts]

So I know I said I'd like this to be realistic... 

 

The second locomotive to be build under Stroudley's tenure was 0-4-2T No.21, which conveniently for me was station pilot at Horsham. Less convenient is its withdrawal date of 1888. 

You can see the Stroudley shape of the tanks but many of the other features are distinctly un-Stroudley! I wondered which changes, hypothetically, would have been made had 21 (by now 467) survived to my time period. I photoshopped an E1 cab onto the image above, played around with it a bit, and arrived at this:

Which I don't think looks too bad! I have a spare Hornby 14xx chassis being of little use to me, which is unfortunately has 6mm too long a wheelbase but as the loco is completely hypothetical anyway and I'm on a budget I may as well suffer with it. 

Being based at Horsham it isn't unreasonable that she may have been seen very occasionally around Three Bridges... 

 

 

Please do add any comments or thoughts you may have about this, I thought it might be quite a fun little project and I'd be interested to hear what you think! 

[burgundy]

To be honest, it might be easier to start with the EBM kit.

Best wishes 

Eric 

[J-Mo Arts]

13 minutes ago, burgundy said:

To be honest, it might be easier to start with the EBM kit.

Best wishes 

Eric 

Thanks for the link to your thread Eric, each and every one of those locos is a stunning piece of modelling. I have one of Killian's No.115s waiting for some love at some stage, I'm very much looking forward to seeing how you finish yours for inspiration!

 

I think if I were to use the EBM kit I'd build the loco as per the prototype, I wouldn't like to desecrate such a nice kit! Perhaps the 14xx chassis will remain stowed away for a rainier day. 

[J-Mo Arts]

A question while glue dries on the layout - was the Three Bridges Shed code always 3-B or was it just lumped in with HORS for Horsham when Horsham was the principle of the pair? I know they were managed as one entity so it's plausible that Three Bridges locos carried HORS as the Horsham allocation catered for both. I've only ever seen 3-B by the time Three Bridges was the principle. Cheers! 

Edited August 28, 2023 by J-Mo Arts

[J-Mo Arts]

Boxhill is due back soon from a trip to see @Jack P and so my attention has turned to stock to run her with. Those of you familiar with Jack's work will know that it simply won't do to run Boxhill with factory finish models, so today I set about weathering my rake of Hornby 4 wheelers. I'm quite pleased with how they've turned out, and I can't wait to stick them behind Boxhill!