Moorish Arch diorama

[Dunalastair]

Time for another 'diorama-a-day'. Most of us have grown up with the iconic image of the Moorish Arch on the Liverpool & Manchester. There have apparently even been calls for it to be rebuilt.

 

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/most-people-never-heard-one-15045883

 

The Arch was situated in Cavendish cutting, between Edge Hill and the Wapping tunnel. I for one had not realised how close the Arch was to the distinctive triple tunnel mouths, one of which was originally a workshop, later opened into another running line. An early OS town plan shows the arrangement, extract below courtesy of NLS, dated a little after the opening of the diversion to Lime Street.

 

 

My most recent 1:450 diorama is a 3D print of the area between the Arch and the tunnels. The print was monolithic, which while avoiding unsightly joins, made painting difficult, and the result is untidier than I would like, especially where the window colouring on the Arch spilled onto the surrounding stonework.

 

FIrstly the view seen in so many early railway prints - no two of which were the same, so even with a map there is some design conjecture.

 

 

Then the view from the other end, with the two tall chimneys for the winding engines housed in the Arch. The much simplified representations of the Planet locos are not as upright as they should be. Note the rope pulleys. Prints do not seem to show pulleys on the Crown Street passenger line on the right, but logic would suggest that they ought to be there ...

 

 

And two three-quarter views. The squares on the cutting mat are 1cm - this is not a large model!

 

 

 

Focus is a challenge when photographing these dioramas - focus stacking is probably the way forward. It would probably also help if I dug out the tripod.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Dunalastair

[Dunalastair]

For comparison, an early print of the Wapping tunnel mouths ...

 

 

... and how it looks today

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wapping_Tunnel

 

The Moorish Arch was partway towards the camera - the bridge is more recent. The wall on the left hand side was moved when Cavendish Cutting was widened.

 

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by Dunalastair