Langford Lane & Marlingford - GWR 1940s Oxfordshire

[The Great Bear]

More drawing up of buildings, this time the shelter for the up platform. I may give building this a crack soon to allow me to get on with the up platform and earthworks and also practise for the more complex station building.

 

The bit at the back of the shelter I cannot find any angles of not suprisingly - I've just assumed it's a space under cover where things could be dumped out of sight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Great Bear]

Here's the "fabrication" drawings:

 

   

  

 

 

The stone texture has been taken from a photo found on the web of Aynho, not as crisp that close up but fingers crossed will look ok from a sensible viewing distance. If not I'll have to go up to Northamptonshire and take photos myself. The image is referenced in to the autocad drawing and scaled to suit. Details like the decorative stones at the corners i've done in Autocad and played with hatch colours with a concrete pattern hatch overlaid to the solid cover to give a bit of variation in texture.

 

And construction in progress:

 

Construction methods are the same as the Scalescenes kits, only difference being I've had to use an extra layer of card to get the wall thickness (400mm or so) of the protoype, hence 2mm card outer plus 2mm+1mm card for inner faces.

 

One little hiccup was adjusting some walls based on a printout of the plan, only to find I hadn't plotted that to scale. Wondered why thigns were out, but subsequently fixed and one of the gaps in the card above has gone.

 

So far, so (fairly) good.

 

Jon

 

[The Great Bear]

A bit more progress on the shelter building:

 

Bit of a lucky shortcut that the colour of the stone texture is such that for the window surrounds, cornicing etc the colour of the card is pretty good match. The camera is a bit cruel in this close up, but in place on the layout with the canopy should be good enough, hopefully!

Edited December 23, 2013 by The Great Bear

[Twright]

Excellent work

[The Great Bear]

Train services disrupted over Christmas, line clear but access to station obstructed...

 

 

 

Next door's tree so not my problem I guess but they are away. Father Christmas didn't bring a chainsaw, probably just as well given my lack of confidence with power tools.

[gazmanjack]

Just hope those train services resume before the new year. The last thing you want is disgruntled passengers !

 

Merry Christmas Jon, (although belated) and all the best for 2014.

 

Cheers, Gary.

[The Great Bear]

Just hope those train services resume before the new year. The last thing you want is disgruntled passengers !

 

Merry Christmas Jon, (although belated) and all the best for 2014.

 

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thanks, Gary. The weather here in the UK on the run up to Christmas has been absolutely foul and many people have had a lot worse than me, loss of power, flooding so in that respect I've been lucky. Being an armchair modeller at the moment is allowing me to get on with doing the drawings for the station building.

 

All the best to you too for 2014

 

Jon

[The Great Bear]

I've now got the station building drawings done. The drawing for Heyford has been tweaked to reflect differences between Kidlington (and Aynho) and that, different windows and chimney positions and I have assumed different interior layout. A few walls have been moved or things simplified to make it hopefully a bit more manageable to build.

 

 

I always got confused with engineering projections when doing my O level Engineering Drawing and I haven't improved since then. On the plan I added part numbers to help work out where the myriad of bits of cut card should go. Waiting for weather and garden to clear to access the shed and get on with things...

 

Whilst writing, once again thanks to all those reading for the interest shown and the "likes" and support and help and I wish you all the best for this coming year.

 

Cheers

 

Jon

[The Great Bear]

At start of December I stuck the backscene to the board. At the time I thought I'd done a more or less OK job of it. Now it doesn't look so:

 

 

Unless my mind is playing tricks it wasn't this bad when I put it up. Looks like temperature or moisture has played a part, even though the shed is insulated. I intend to get the pictures reprinted on something water resistant - looks like Art-Printers.com who do the ID Backscenes can do this. Serves me right for trying to cut corners using the plotter at work

 

You can also see in the above plenty of debris on the lines preventing services running

[The Great Bear]

At last some (physical) progress with the station building...

 

 

The windows aren't great, especially the one in the foreground with superglue stain. I should have planned this more. In the end I've gone with the expedient option of address labels on tranparent film. If I'd tried making them this way before sticking the layers of card for the walls together I could have sandwiched the windows neatly in the walls rather than wedging them in afterward. They aren't too firmly fixed so if they really grate/spoil the whole model maybe I'll try something else.

 

Waiting for the glue to set overnight then onward!

[The Great Bear]

Recently I've been carrying on with the station buildings, but for a bit of variety I fancy having a crack at the signal box.

 

 

 

Again construction will be from card, but the windows and stairs will use etches from Churchward Models.

 

There's a few things I'm not sure about/not clear from the photos I have - where door is to the locking room is, what is under the porch and what is on the porch at the back under cover - is this or the space below the khazi?

[The Stationmaster]

Recently I've been carrying on with the station buildings, but for a bit of variety I fancy having a crack at the signal box.

 

 

 

Again construction will be from card, but the windows and stairs will use etches from Churchward Models.

 

There's a few things I'm not sure about/not clear from the photos I have - where door is to the locking room is, what is under the porch and what is on the porch at the back under cover - is this or the space below the khazi?

 

It looks to me as if you have got the locking room door in exactly the right place Jon - usually positioned centrally at the same end as the 'box steps and door to the operating floor thus making it far easier for the Lineman etc to move from one to t'other.  BTW have you got the stairs in the right place - they look a bit too near the front to me?

 

Toilet position (and provision of in older 'boxes) varied a lot - are there any clues in any pics you've unearthed?

[The Great Bear]

It looks to me as if you have got the locking room door in exactly the right place Jon - usually positioned centrally at the same end as the 'box steps and door to the operating floor thus making it far easier for the Lineman etc to move from one to t'other.  BTW have you got the stairs in the right place - they look a bit too near the front to me?

 

Toilet position (and provision of in older 'boxes) varied a lot - are there any clues in any pics you've unearthed?

 

See PM. Photos perhaps indicate some form of drain coming down from the porch, a wash basin? The box was manned 24/7 and quite a long way from the station buildings so I'd have thought some kind of "facility" would be provided?

[The Great Bear]

Forgot to say that my drawing is based on photos of the box, angles limited, but thankfully show the porch end. The box dated from 1890s and looking at pictures on the Signalbox website, I'd surmised Brymbo was nearest there to what I had, proportions - width of box/roof angle looked similar to me and also Leckhampton which I found details of in this old thread on RM Web http://rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4003 and used the drawing therein as the basis for my drawing, stretching it to suit size of frame/window layout I could see in photos.

[The Great Bear]

I've been doing some experimenting with ground cover for the cess and between the running lines. Post war photos show ballast/stone here but pre-war photos show clear difference in material, the cess and this area being ash or something like that?

 

 

From the right:

1. mixture of fine dark & light grey woodland scenics ballast (the track ballast is mixture of fine and medium size)
2. carrs firebox ash
3. Plastikote Gotham Grey textured paint, with paint wash (badly done)

All are on the tracklay rubber I used as underlay for the track - in the case of the latter it being upside down

 

 

 

Not convinced about any of them:

1. looks to much like the ballast
2. right colour but close up looks like hair
3. Best of the bunch but too much texture still and colour iffy.

For the goods yard at Marlingford I used DAS this was time consuming and I was not convinced over the colour I had there either. I think I tried using textured masonry paint, talk and odd bits of sprinkled stone. Might need to give this another go after all. At least this way of doing it would cope with variable track spacing etc.

 

Any thoughts on the above or suggestions welcome.

 

Thanks

 

Jon

[The Stationmaster]

Jon,

 

The cess was probably smokebox char (rather than firebox ash) although it could have been crushed ash/clinker - this seemed to have been the predominant material in the steam age and was replaced by quarried material once the supply dried up although char/ash cess paths could be found well into the 1970s and later on lines such as branches.

 

I'm not so sure about the 6ft as that would require better drainage and would therefore be more likely to be stone I would have thought - need to study some pics of mainlines of teh eriod to get abetter idea

[The Great Bear]

Jon,

 

The cess was probably smokebox char (rather than firebox ash) although it could have been crushed ash/clinker - this seemed to have been the predominant material in the steam age and was replaced by quarried material once the supply dried up although char/ash cess paths could be found well into the 1970s and later on lines such as branches.

 

I'm not so sure about the 6ft as that would require better drainage and would therefore be more likely to be stone I would have thought - need to study some pics of mainlines of teh eriod to get abetter idea

 

Looking at my collection of photos again for Kidlington at least, looks like I was mistaken about the 6ft, does look like ballast/stone, possibly a bit finer? Now erring toward fine ballast mix

[The Great Bear]

1960s photo of the station, found on web

 

 

 

This does show ballast/stone between tracks too. Also the signal visible under the footbridge looks different from the arrangement in signal diagrams I've seen, this one looks to have mutliple arams and possibly something round on post beneath too? This metal post signal though looks to date after my modelling period so won't make the signals any more complex, though still curious of course.

[The Stationmaster]

1960s photo of the station, found on web

 

 

This does show ballast/stone between tracks too. Also the signal visible under the footbridge looks different from the arrangement in signal diagrams I've seen, this one looks to have mutliple arams and possibly something round on post beneath too? This metal post signal though looks to date after my modelling period so won't make the signals any more complex, though still curious of course.

The signal would appear to be the splitting signal which was originally at the other end of the platform but moved further back when renewed in order to (greatly!) improve its sighting.  The object on the main upright looks very much to be a track circuit 'diamond' plate (Rule 55 exemption) which would make sense as no doubt track circuits were altered/added at some time and when the signal was moved.

[The Great Bear]

For a bit of variety, some work on signals! Not sure if too soon or not but figure as involves drilling holes in baseboard better done before have got all the scenics done?

 

Begbrooke will have four bracket signals. In the past trying to construct the Ratio kit and get the cranks and wires to work was an incredibly frustrating experience. Based on a recent thread I thought I'd try the same approach to reduce the frustration. Below is a very rough first test of concept, using broken bit of previous attempt at bracket signal. The pivot beam is too thick, its mounting to the bracket a bodge and the link to the spindle even more so; nothing like a back-blinder.

 

 

I thought using this pivot beam was a bodge, but it appears not. It appears the GWR sometimes at least used this approach but mounted to the front, some good pictures in "A Scratchbuilders Guide to Semaphore Signal Construction" by Peter Squibb (Wild Swan). (Most of the modelling techniques in there far too advanced for me at this stage, but lots of good photos of signals, as one might expect.)

 

The only example of this mechanism I can find on the web is 2nd image down here, albeit it's a concrete post.

 

The arrangement as shown not withstanding the bodges, a lot easier than the arrangement with cranks for me to get working The Ratio bracket is a bit flimsy as still is the joint between the spindle and the signal arm - but better than with the ratio original arrangement. Next step is to try something finer and sturdier - whole lot of goodies from MSE ordered.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Jon

Edited February 23, 2014 by The Great Bear

[The Great Bear]

Having done some testing making some signals using MSE components (with varying degrees of frustration) I thought I'd start looking at making some of the simple signals and place them. The plan, being to do ones on the outside along with the scenic work and work my way inward. Luckily the signals on the outside, the up direction, are the more simple ones. (My thinking being if I get the signals in early I only have to detail the cess once rather than make good after drilling holes.)

 

 

 

The signal on the right, on the refuge siding will have a goods ring. I have a 3ft arm on it, the running signal is 4ft arm.

 

I'm thinking the signal posts 26ft look too tall, both would look better 1/3 or so shorter, around 18ft. Just feels better to me and looking at the first phot, moves the arm lower so not on the horizon to improve sighting coming under the bridge? Could the goods signal be shorter again, perhaps to differentiate between the two, think that might look better too?

 

Also, here's the 3ft arm with the goods ring resting on it. It seems a bit stumpy to me, maybe be better when eventually painted.

Edited May 12, 2014 by The Great Bear

[sigtech]

Great Layout Jon, and has many similarities to mine, with short trains, limited space small fiddle yard and a creamery!

Sproston has developed a WR/MR feel about it, and also has mostly brick structures - the real Sproston is a hamlet near Middlewich in Cheshire, so I suppose that is a possible real location option, although I generally tend towards Shropshire/Worcestershire! (Somerset has also been considered, but I'm not so sure!)

Haven't got the small prairies or pannier tanks out yet to run on the layout (2 of each) -they are still in the boxes...

Really like what you have achieved and only hope that I can come somewhere close to it with Sproston..

Will keep an eye on this- to my shame have only just found it!!

.

 

Regards

SIGTECH (Steve)

[gazmanjack]

G'day Jon,

 

It has bee a while since I looked in...  The layout has come on some and the signals look great. Hopefully we will see another update before not too long !

 

Cheers, Gary.

Edited July 1, 2014 by gazmanjack

[The Stationmaster]

I would lower the arm heights Jon although it might work that the Main Line arm could be sighted over the top of the bridge - worth checking that before chopping down I think.  Drop the Goods arm to =12ft 6" above rail level, possibly even a tad lower.

[The Great Bear]

4 months or so, 2 signals complete and a rake of post and wire fence.

 

 

Only another 9 to go...These were the easy ones and a lot of trial error and some false starts. With the practise my model engineering skills are slowly improving, but it's a case of two steps forward, one and a half back most of the time.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Jon

Edited July 21, 2014 by The Great Bear