Manchester Central, CLC & GN Warehouses & Castlefield Viaducts

[28XX]

Bizarrely shaped buildings, often caused by mediaeval property boundaries, are far more common than the ready-to-plonk merchants would have us believe.

[Chalfytich]

Presumably the odd shaped flat area was a lead lined parapet gutter. I assume the rainwater pipes are at the rear with lead lined boxes passing through the building as there are no outlets on the front wall. I've seen plenty like that on full size roofs and they always cause trouble eventually, which is why I get called in to clear them out.

 

Dave

Edited April 7, 2016 by Chalfytich

[Ron Heggs]

Presumably the odd shaped flat area was a lead lined parapet gutter. I assume the rainwater pipes are at the rear with lead lined boxes passing through the building as there are no outlets on the front wall. I've seen plenty like that on full size roofs and they always cause trouble eventually, which is why I get called in to clear them out.

 

Dave

 

You are right. There were no external drainpipes from either of the roofs. They must have been run internally and down into the Undercroft, which would have had suitable drainage arrangements to prevent flooding. Probably into the disused canal which ran through/under the undercroft

 

Ron

[runs as required]

Your sensitive modelling of this complex is a total delight to follow.

I particularly enjoy your representation of the fenestration patterns and door details - just the right weight of scale joinery sizes.

 

I must admit I failed to follow how you contrived modelling the angled blue brick courses using the silhouette cutter and solvent welded styrene.

 

Bravo!

dh

Bizarrely shaped buildings, often caused by mediaeval property boundaries, are far more common than the ready-to-plonk merchants would have us believe.

I agree with the above - particularly in a city such as Chester or York where the post Roman overlaying settlements 'softened' the original four square Roman grid iron plan.

 

Looking at the the older maps of the Peter Street area of Manchester, the curved plan of Central Station's parcels office appears to have been  'SLOIP'  derived from the curved access to the Goods Station for horse-drawn road cartage waggons from Peter Street drafted onto the site plan by the civil engineers.

dh

 

'SLOIP' = Space Left Over In Plan 

[Horsetan]

Bizarrely shaped buildings, often caused by mediaeval property boundaries, are far more common than the ready-to-plonk merchants would have us believe.

No alternative to scratchbuilding sometimes.

[Ron Heggs]

I must admit I failed to follow how you contrived modelling the angled blue brick courses using the silhouette cutter and solvent welded styrene.

 

 

Will put the method on a post - probably late Friday

 

Ron 

[Ron Heggs]

Method used to produce the decorative double row of angled brickwork -

 

The CAD drawing needed for the Silhouette cutter -

The length each 45 deg angled face is 1.103mm, and each double strip is 5.78mm wide and 132.5mm long

 

One half of the cut 10thou styrene sheet -

 

Three cut double strips ready for splitting. To split the individual strips, they are first folded in half, and then pulled apart -

 

Split strips ready for laminating (3 strips for each row of brickwork) -

 

Two sets of offset laminated strips assembled as a single unit -

 

The next step in using this type of unit in the detailing of the Station Wall build is still a week or so off

 

[runs as required]

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to respond to my comment by "unpacking" this most effective use of a laser cutter.

 

dh

[Simond]

I don't think it's a laser, I think Ron uses a cameo silhouette

 

Best

Simon

[Arthur]

Jonny777 has kicked off this thread with a link to some CGI/VR footage showing a trip between Cornbrook and London Road in 1850. Based on contemporary maps and much CGI imagineering it's an interesting trip back in time.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/110216-vr-train-journey-into-manchester-1850/?p=2272346

Edited April 13, 2016 by Arthur

[GoingUnderground]

Ron,

 

I continue to be amazed by your skills, patience and abilities. When you have finished, it will be a truly remarkable piece of re-creation in miniature of a piece of Mancunian railway history.

 

At grave risk of being considered macabre or ghoulish, have you thought about its long term future? It would be truly horrendous if it all ended up in a skip one day in the far and distant future. So please would you consider bequeathing it to the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, or to the NRM, or some similar organisation so that future generations can also marvel at it and at your immense dedication in creating it.

[Ron Heggs]

Ron,

 

I continue to be amazed by your skills, patience and abilities. When you have finished, it will be a truly remarkable piece of re-creation in miniature of a piece of Mancunian railway history.

 

At grave risk of being considered macabre or ghoulish, have you thought about its long term future? It would be truly horrendous if it all ended up in a skip one day in the far and distant future. So please would you consider bequeathing it to the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, or to the NRM, or some similar organisation so that future generations can also marvel at it and at your immense dedication in creating it.

 

As mentioned in a previous post, it was never intended that the layout was to be made to be transportable. The fragile nature of the station structure alone would necessitate a surgical team to remove it from the layout and the railway room for transportation. Luckily, the whole layout is built for lightness, on 30mm thick foamboards over an open 400mm x 400mm x 150mm deep egg crate support structure, so a dedicated team could probable cut it into suitable sections for extraction, and transportation, but I wouldn't envy them their task

 

Ron

[Horsetan]

....a dedicated team could probable cut it into suitable sections for extraction, and transportation, but I wouldn't envy them their task

 

It would cease to be a concern to you anyway after you're gone!

 

That's a thought - what will happen to this masterpiece when the time comes, and what would be the logistics of trying to transport to the UK or even further afield? Would it go on permanent display at G-MEx? Would they appreciate it?

[Enterprisingwestern]

Re gauged and tagged onto El Wibdenshawo just down the road ;-).

 

Mike.

[ozzyo]

 

The west edge of the canopy was carried on steel tube supports which were also used for carrying the roof drainage downpipes. At ground level the water was dispersed across the cobblestone surface from under large concrete safety bases. The eastern edge of the canopy was carried on stone blocks built into the office building at high level

 

 

Hello Ron,

 

I'm not sure about how you are reading the water dispersement from the roof, ie. sending it across the top of the cobbles. If it worked as you say it would have to come up from under the concrete safety bases. Also sending it across the top of the cobbles could cause undeterminedment of the base of the cobbles near to the base of the columns.

 

Or did the steel columns double as down pipes until above the hard ground level and then it then became a large water soak-off, this would have been a large area for a roof like this.       

 

Would it not be better if the down pipes ran to drains that were next to the support columns and then ran to all of the main drains, then the safety bases would be what we would call man hole covers for cleaning out any rubbish. 

 

All of this is conjecture as I've not seen any of the plans.

 

Lots of good work going on Ron.

 

ATB

 

OzzyO.

[Steve K]

It would cease to be a concern to you anyway after you're gone!

 

That's a thought - what will happen to this masterpiece when the time comes...?

 

I've got some lovely Thomas stock that would look a treat, whizzing up and down at a scale 300mph, if that's any help.

[GJChurchward]

I can't help but think that the posts on this thread went a little off-topic on 14 April.  Ron hasn't posted anything since 16 April, and I hope he's just giving us a lesson in patience.

[darrel]

Can you get a knighthood for outstanding model making? If so Ron should be Sir Ron

[LongRail]

I can't help but think that the posts on this thread went a little off-topic on 14 April.  Ron hasn't posted anything since 16 April, and I hope he's just giving us a lesson in patience.

If you check on Rons profile his last post on rmweb was 9 May

[Ron Heggs]

Hi, All

 

Certainly not taking umbrage or inflicting silence on anyone

 

The month of May is a very busy period for my wife and I, as we both work part time for the local charity fundraising organisation which covers nine local villages in the valley. Barbara is the central stock warehouse manager, and I provide the transport for the stock movements to and fro, between the warehouse and the two charity shops. In addition we both had three busy and successful weekends (Friday through Monday) involved in local village May Fairs

 

Also to add to the temporary pause in the layout modelling, I am involved in a rather extensive commission, of which I am not at liberty to post any details at the present time. This is a bit of a two edged sword, as the pause has allowed me to investigate additional sources for materials in Spain, with success in achieving some spectacular discounted prices and shorter delivery times. With a bit of planning, continuation of the layout construction should start again this next weekend

 

Cheers to all

 

Ron

[runs as required]

Living in Spain, Ron seems an exemplar for the Remain campaign!

 

Not only is he able to fit about 5 times more productivity into a day in Spain compared to a retiree modeller like me based in Britain, he is also:

involved in a rather extensive commission, of which I am not at liberty to post any details at the present time. This is a bit of a two edged sword, as the pause has allowed me to investigate additional sources for materials in Spain, with success in achieving some spectacular discounted prices and shorter delivery times

 

Britain seems poised to lose an important  EU customer for enormous quantities of export styrene sheet and glue 

 

dh

[GoingUnderground]

I can't help but think that the posts on this thread went a little off-topic on 14 April.  Ron hasn't posted anything since 16 April, and I hope he's just giving us a lesson in patience.

Off topic? How can asking about the long term future of such superb modelling be "off-topic"? It is no more off topic than the many compliments that we've all paid to Ron for his skills and dedication. I wish that I had just 1% of his abilities.

 

Like everyone else, I look forward to more of Ron's progress updates.

[GJChurchward]

Off topic? How can asking about the long term future of such superb modelling be "off-topic"? It is no more off topic than the many compliments that we've all paid to Ron for his skills and dedication. I wish that I had just 1% of his abilities.

 

Like everyone else, I look forward to more of Ron's progress updates.

 

My comments were made slightly tongue-in-cheek, and I agree with everyone else's sentiments about Ron's skills and dedication, however I can't help but think that paying close attention to this thread is like viewing a DVD of Ron's life in fast-forward, stopping only to watch 'the good bits'.  I like to enjoy seeing each new development as it appears, and I'm not at all impatient to fast-forward right to the end, however much I would like to see the finished project!

[Horsetan]

.....involved in a rather extensive commission, of which I am not at liberty to post any details at the present time. This is a bit of a two edged sword, as the pause has allowed me to investigate additional sources for materials in Spain, with success in achieving some spectacular discounted prices and shorter delivery times. With a bit of planning, continuation of the layout construction should start again this next weekend...

 

I wonder if this has anything to do with the ongoing transfer to Spain of a certain EM layout called Wibdenshaw......

[60012 Commonwealth of Australia]

Hi Ron,

 

First I note that you haven't posted in a while. Hope everything is ok?

 

I have spent the last two days reading through this outstanding thread. It's raised the bar miles above what I previously thought possible, and it is incredibly what you have been able to achieve. Indeed after seeing the buildings, I have decided to not use any RTR buildings and a minimum of kit buildings on my layout, and have also gone and put more flowing trackwork in the plan! Although I doubt I can get anywhere near the skill level you do! It's certainly made me do a rethink of how I'm going to do my layout, and if I can get mine anywhere near the amount of detail yours has (even though not trains are running yet!) I will be incredibly happy!

 

*mutters incoherently... i am not worthy.... i am not worthy...*

 

Hope all is well and look forward to some updates soon!

 

Astonished and amazed,

 

Peter

 

Edit: Oh, and I doubt you could hear it... But my jaw just created a 10m deep hole in the kitchen floor!

Edited July 19, 2016 by 60012 Commonwealth of Australia