Lancaster Green Ayre - The Barn Owls have returned.

[45156]

you can use any in my flickr album https://www.flickr.com/photos/59562189@N03/albums/72157667281330760

Thanks, Sam - problem is the printing as my printer and my PC aren't talking to each other, and I have tried to reload the drivers a few times.  I manged to get some response from it when I replaced  the cable - that didn't last, and I am now getting the Device Not Recognised message every time I try to print.  I suspect it's the printer which is faulty, and may need to get a new one.

 

So I wonder if you could make an elderly tea lady happy and pick out a couple, print them off, and post them to you, and I'll reimburse you the postage when I see you or Jamie next.

 

If that's a goer, please PM me, and I'll let you have my address to send them to.

 

Cheers again

Stewart

Edited July 18, 2016 by 45156

[45156]

Thanks for the PM Jamie.  Answer sent and mow in cyber space.

[Ohmisterporter]

Thanks for the link to your flickr album Sam. In the first pictures in Lancaster Library there are good views of the curved ceiling windows. Someone at the show told me that it was discovered that the glass had been painted over as an air raid precaution in 1939 and forgotten about until the library refurbishment three or four years ago. A nice story, I hope it is true.

[ozzyo]

Hello all,

 

sorry that I did not get to see the show. But I would like to ask a few questions if I may.

The show was in the library / museum in the main city square?

 

Did any one see the plates from City of Lancaster (about half way up the stairs)?

 

Any of the other bits and bobs that related to Lancasters railway history?  

 

OzzyO.

[jamie92208]

Thanks Ozzy,   the answer is I think yes and no.    

 

The museum did it's bit over the weekend but the main museum wasn't open as it was a Sunday and Bank Holiday.  However there was a major railwayana exhibition in a part of the museum that was accessible from the street.  This was put on by Rob Daniels and was fascinating with a lot of items relating to Lancaster and Green Ayre.   In the Library there were displays about the other stations that have been closed as well as items from the Library's own collection.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Some work has finally started down in the clubrooms. Sam and I have nearly sorted the road surface at the Skerton Bridge end. The mounting board that it was covering had warped so had been replaced with thin ply and now has a decent skim of Hyrdrocal over it. Paul has sorted the edge of the ply out.

 

We have also spent some time discussing how to put a protective edge on the boards to protect the plaster work. The final decison is to put a skin of 3mm ply along the frontage and leave it projecting a few mm above the road surface. This skin will then be painted.

 

Hopefully some more work will be done this afternoon.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

More progress.   Last night I went over to Tony's house and picked up the material for the Stationmasters House that unfortunately he never got around to making, however all the parts were neatly packed in a box with his drawings and sketches. Rather sad that he'll not be around any more and very poignant picking through the contents of the box.   He will be sadly missed.

 

Tonight I went down to the club.  The Hydrocal on the road section had dried and I rubbed down the newly laid parts.  Sam and I then set to working marking out the setts.

The first task is to draw lines 7mm apart on the area apart from the but around the tram tracks. 

Then the lines are scribed out.

Finally each row of sets is scribed In freehand and the dust brushed off.

By the time we got fed up a good area had been finished and more of it had been marked out.

 

Not a bad evenings work.

 

Jamie

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by jamie92208

[roundhouse]

Jamie

 

I know what you mean as we had to go through our friends modelling stuff when his relatives wanted to clear the house to complete the sale. I  Just felt guilty doing so but its far better than it all being thrown away whihc is certainly what our late friend wouldnt have wanted.

 

back to the layout, when is it next out?

[45156]

Ian, I think it's at Telford in September, as I was offered a weekend's helping. 

[jamie92208]

Ian, I think it's at Telford in September, as I was offered a weekend's helping. 

Yes Ian, Telford, 3rd and 4th Sept then Ally Pally in March 17.

[roundhouse]

Yes Ian, Telford, 3rd and 4th Sept then Ally Pally in March 17.

Will see the layout in March then.

[jamie92208]

Will see the layout in March then.

I might be recruiting helpers.

 

Jamie

[roundhouse]

I might be recruiting helpers.

 

Jamie

So might I as there with DOBRIS otherwise I would gladly offer my help.

[45156]

Will see the layout in March then.

And well worth seeing as well. 

[emt_911]

Looking forward to seeing it in March as well

[paulr1949]

I might be recruiting helpers.

 

Jamie

I will also try and get to Ally Pally, having only seen the layout in an "under construction" phase (Warley a few years ago IIRC?)

[jamie92208]

Evening all form a quiet and dark village. In between other things I even managed to get some modelling done today. Last night Sam and I scribed some more setts and Paul started adding an outer skin to the boards ready for painting them. While he was working on that I spent some time sanding up the laser cut ply pieces for the Stationmasters House. We got some criticism at Nottingham for having foam and cardboard mock up buildings. The Cardboard ones were of the smaller sheds in the coal yard that we had no information about. Much of what we needed was gathered at the Lancaster event. The Stationmaster's house was in foam because Tony, who was building the house was very ill. In fact he had been diagnosed with cancer just over a year previously. He'd done the drawings, working from photos, and sourced lots of detail parts. We had then jointly decided to get the main ply parts laser cut and he was then going to assemble them. Unfortunately he was never well enough to finish the house and died a few weeks ago. He did however do the gates for the coal yard and the locoshed doors. These are now ready to be fitted. He also made a lovely set of advertising hoardings which goes on the front of the layout. His final task was to repair the bogies on the 12 wheel diners that then ran in the Heysham Boat Express at Lancaster..

 

The week before he was admitted to the hospice he was able to see the express running at the chapel during our pre Lancaster test session. He was able to drop the handles on his wheelchair and duck down and scoot under the boards to get into the entre of the layout and the look of delight on his face as he watched the express was a joy to behold.

 

His funeral was earlier this week and the next day I went over to meet his daughter and collected the gates and doors and the box of piece and plans for the Stationmasters House.

 

There is no way that it will be complete it by Telford but I want to have the basic structure done. Thus last night I sanded and dry fitted all the parts and today I made a start.

An hour later I was able to glue the first side to the floor.

 

Two more sides were added and then after a good meal out with son and partner I glued the final side on.

Hopefully I'll be able to get the inner floors in and get at least one wall covered in stonework, and some sort of roof in place before Telford.

I now have to find some suitable way of remembering Tony on the layout. Perhaps there will be a coal carter's dray lettered for T A Bond.

 

Jamie

 

Edited for typos.

Edited July 25, 2022 by jamie92208

[45156]

I like that house a lot Jamie - and the idea of a lasting memorial to Tony is a sound idea.  The dray sounds like a fitting tribute to me.

[jamie92208]

Evening all from a quiet village.

After a busy morning at church I got some peace and quiet this afternoon when the boss went to a BBQ. I carried on with the house. The basic structure had dried and I then discovered that I'd glued a wall on upside down. Fortunately some water sorted that and the side is now reglued the correct way up.

 

The main task has been working out how to represent the stonework. Tony and I had talked at length about this and his preferred method was to cover the armature in 20 thou Plasticard then scribe it, add detail then paint it. I decided to follow this method and then use DAS for the corner quoins which are rough dressed stone rather than smooth.

Thus is the building in question.

You'll see some of Tony's marks on it when he was working out the proportions for the window placing. The house was built some time before the railway came and was the managers house for the Lune foundry. The foundry went bankrupt and the railway bought the site and used the house as the Stationmaster's house and the foundry buildings as garages, stores and workshops.

Anyway I cut the card for the front which is what the public will see.

 

As you'll see I've cut out for where the quoins are going to go. The windows were marked first then the course scribed and following faint lines on the photos I worked out the stonework.

The house was originally stone and was whitewashed sometime after the layout is set.

I can do the rear face that overlooks the yard then need to have the board erected so that I can sort out where the other buildings abut it at the back.

Not a bad afternoon and evening's work.

 

Jamie

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by jamie92208

[45156]

All of this work and quality just proves you right on using cardboard mock ups of the buildings at the exhibitions, regardless of what some of the pundits said.  It is starting to have the desired result of a much more accurate layout, which will wow the critics when done.

[jamie92208]

A good evening was had yesterday at the club and more scribing and marking got done on the tram track. I eventually found my scrawcker and spent the evening marking out the stonework on the Stationmaster's house sides. I finished these this morning and both of them were glued on with UHU.

I then procrastinated and avoided doing the trial DAS work on the corner quoins. I did spend he time ordering the various downpipe parts that I need from S & D. I'll need some for the house and others will got to Flavio over in Switzerland for the sand house and office.

 

After tea I finally plucked up courage and got to work on the DAS. This is because the quoins are raised rough dressed stone that stick up quite a way above the other stonework. I've used the same technique that's worked for viaduct covering.

The DAS was first rolled to about 1mm thick then a piece was cut to size to wrap round the lower storey. This was then put in place after the woodwork had been covered in PVA. Then it was marked and trimmed. Finally, using the plastic handle of a needle file I rolled round the edges of each quoin to produce the raised rough effect. When it's dry I'll clean it up and trim it.

Now all I have to do is to put some pieces of 40 thou card on to represent the window sills and other mouldings. Then a coat of paint to see where all the scrawcking mistakes are.

 

Jamie

[45156]

At this rate, the building might well be ready for Telford

[jamie92208]

At this rate, the building might well be ready for Telford

Not finished but will hopefully look presentable.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Good evening from a rather quiet village.  Much has been achieved in the last 2 days.  Last night I met John and Sam at the clubrooms and we got more setts scribed.  It's a never ending task it seems but it's looking good.   John has had his arm twisted and is going to finish off apart completed building that Mel Price started last year.  He built the shell and I've never had the time to take it further.  I'd looked out some photos of the building, most of which were indistinct aerial shots and John said that he'd have a go.  As the building sits right on the front of the layout it would be nice to have it at least partially complete. The building is listed as  a store and or stable on the railway plans but as we looked harder at the photos it became apparent that the front was dressed stone in a similar style to the Stationmasters House that predates the railway.

 

Today I made an appeal for info on a Facebook site and this photo turned up.

It shows the frontage and a lot of other detail very clearly.   I was also told by the guy who posted it that it used to be a National School.  A bit of googling and it turns out to have been built in approx. 1820 before the railway.  The school moved out shortly after the railway opened.

 

Anyway throughout the day I've been doing bits to the house and coated the other two walls with DAS.  They were on the non public sides facing the foundry and the works yard and were of much cheaper stonework.   The DAS will have to be scribed.

Here are where I'd got to this afternoon.

I was also cheered up by the arrival of two parcels of goodies, slates from York Modelmaking (No financial interest) and various chimney and rainwater goods castings from S & D.

Tonight I did a bit more DAS work and did the raised quoins on the other front corner, as well as adding the pediment in plasticard.

I've also started cladding the chimneys.  

Overall I'm happy with progress.

 

Jamie

Edited July 25, 2022 by jamie92208

[bbishop]

I might be recruiting helpers.

 

Jamie

Very willing to help out, including set up and break down.  Quid pro quo for Warley.

 

Bill