Bacup - Mills in the hills

[Donw]

Nice work Jason. Some places built around the 60s have external soil stacks which go through the soffit where the roof overhangs and then through the tiles rather than bend round. Mind you this is down south so may not be right up north.

I manged to spill some daywatt over a chair whilst in digs managed to convince the owner it was basically dry cleaning fluid.

Don

[Jason T]

Guttering and downpiping continues apace, along with a few other bits n' bobs that aren't worth photographs (top stones added to walls but not yet painted, etc).

 

Having now finished making the downpipes for the mill at the back of the station, I gave them a first coat of paint (really old, crap paint) and left them aside for 24 hours. I got a bit impatient and attached one of them to the mill. another five to attach on the front, as well as gutters and another two on the sides (which I admit I had forgotten all about so made this morning)

 

The one attached pipe shows up the lack of others quite a lot

 

Just for Paul, here are the painted (well, first coat and not weathered) gutters on the awkward house I was moaning about the other day.

 

A couple of panoramic shots. Of the houses on the hill, the nearside have all their water goods whereas those on the other side are awaiting raw materials; so far, the shop and the front of the top row are done. Do I bother adding them to the backs which face the retaining wall? I probably will.....

 

 

 

You can see how far I got in this one.

 

When they are all on, they will be toned down considerably as the bright colours currently jump out at you (although not as much in real life as in the photos). Mucky thinners ahoy !!!!!!!!

[Guest 2750]

Terrific Photos and some Terrific Modelling.

[A Murphy]

Where's Elsie?

 

Alastair M

[2ManySpams]

In the continuing saga of the drainpipes, I am about halfway through the houses now and have run out of both wire and semi-circular rodding for the gutters so attention has instead turned to one of the mills, namely the one behind the station that has a number of pitched roofs. As such, for the mid-sections, there are no gutters required but there needs to be some method of getting the water off the roof.

 

So, I set about making hoppers to collect the water and then adding the downpipes from these. As I have no wire and wanting to try something different (and taking inspiration from the Wills guttering / downpipes packs), I have fashioned brackets to mount the downpipes to the wall, to which I may add further detail later using the finest Microstrip I can muster from the 'Microstrip Box' (a fancy name for the old shoebox I keep my Microstrip in)

 

An invaluable tool that enables plastikard, wood, etc., to be cut to the same measurements and angles consistently. I picked this up at Midland Railex the other week (after Chris 2ManySpans showed me the one he'd just bought) and this is the second time I've used it - first being to trim some C&L sleepers the other week.

 

The hoppers are made from two pieces of Plastikard trimmed to have 60 degree angled sides. A recess is cut out of the rear piece and then the front and back are joined with sections of .030 x .060 Microstrip and when the glue has set, trimmed and filed. The small hole in the base is opened up with a round file until the drainpipe fits into it.

 

The brackets are formed from .040 x .125 Microstrip. A length of about 2 inches was cut off and a lines scored down the centre, opened up slightly with a scriber and then a small round file rubbed along it to make sure it was partly curved (to take the drainpipe better). Then, using the chopping tool, 1.5mm wide strips were cut off widthways, placed next to a steel rule (both to check the spacing and to ensure alignment) and the drainpipe (.060 rod) glued to sit in the filed out groove. Once all of the required brackets were added, the drainpipe was slotted into the hopper and glued. The result being that I now have six downpipes with consistent brackets, etc., that can be glued to the building (once painted, etc).

 

Evening Jason, I used my NW Chopper for the first time last night - impressed, should have got one ages ago. You have certainly used it to full effect on those rainwater goods. 

 

I must remember though not to reach under the blade.... 

[Alister_G]

Guttering and downpiping continues apace, along with a few other bits n' bobs that aren't worth photographs (top stones added to walls but not yet painted, etc).

 

Having now finished making the downpipes for the mill at the back of the station, I gave them a first coat of paint (really old, crap paint) and left them aside for 24 hours. I got a bit impatient and attached one of them to the mill. another five to attach on the front, as well as gutters and another two on the sides (which I admit I had forgotten all about so made this morning)

 

The one attached pipe shows up the lack of others quite a lot

 

 

Just for Paul, here are the painted (well, first coat and not weathered) gutters on the awkward house I was moaning about the other day.

 

 

A couple of panoramic shots. Of the houses on the hill, the nearside have all their water goods whereas those on the other side are awaiting raw materials; so far, the shop and the front of the top row are done. Do I bother adding them to the backs which face the retaining wall? I probably will.....

 

 

 

 

 

You can see how far I got in this one.

 

 

When they are all on, they will be toned down considerably as the bright colours currently jump out at you (although not as much in real life as in the photos). Mucky thinners ahoy !!!!!!!!

 

Jason, there are some stunning photos here. I think my favourite though is the view down the street, all it needs is a grimy smoke filled sky in the background.

 

As you said earlier, you don't notice the lack of water goods, until you start adding them, and then the houses without look wrong.

 

My personal view is that you won't need to weather them down much, growing up it always struck me that the people who lived in these rows of terraces were very houseproud, and freshly painted downpipes, windows and doors were very common.

 

Awesome modelling mate, congratulations.

 

Al.

[ChrisN]

Jason,

It is looking the buisiness again.

 

Just a thought, and after Al's comment above perhaps it could be tried on the buildings that are not private dwellings.  Would it work if you painted them black and then put some gease on them which you rubbed off, then painted them in the colour you wanted.  The paint would not stick everywhere and you may get the impression of flaking paint?

 

Probably we are it too small a scale, and you have lots of other things to do.

[L&Y]

Cracking job. Love the view down the street also. Really like the way you painted the stonework. Only comment, Most gutters & downpipes would have been painted black. Because black bitumastic was & still is the cheapest colour. And in 1950 most of these terraces would have been in the hands of a private landlord/mill owner.  Even the mills were rapidly closing.  I live in such a house (In Halifax/)  & all the downspouts here are still black. If a landlord had a preference for green or red then the whole block would be painted the same colour. Downspouts were often shared. 2 or 3 housed to one spout. It was cheaper that way. Once in private ownership people started fitting there own downspouts so as not to be dependent on there neighbors cleaning there gutters out!  Also square section stone window sills were often painted in the same way to keep the water out. Sandstone is soft & porous. (Not sure if this practice was common in Bacup.) Though most of the front doors have rotted away & are now white plastic. I have a back log of 40 years of maintenance to get through before I can do some modeling... So your model is helping me stay sane. Thanks for sharing it. 

[Jason T]

I did wonder about the colour of the water goods being black but I guess I wanted to include at least a hint of colour as the layout is a sea of browns and greys. Saying that, they will all be dirtied up somewhat. I wish I could have shared downpipes between houses and where there are two on the same level (and on the row with the continuous sloping roofline) they are but as I messed up and built these ones stepped, I had no choice really.

 

Thanks for all the feedback and notes on how things were; growing up in the 70's in Cumbria, I have no memory or experience of how things looked back then other than old photos and other people's recollections.

[black and decker boy]

Also square section stone window sills were often painted in the same way to keep the water out. Sandstone is soft & porous. (Not sure if this practice was common in Bacup.) Though most of the front doors have rotted away & are now white plastic.

 

I concur with the painted door steps and window cill stones - my house in Rochdale (millstone grit mid-terrace built 1875) features just such items.

 

Jason, photos down the street and of the backs are fantastic and very reminiscent of the Rochdale / Bacup east Lancs areas.

 

Have you considered the need for back-to-back terraced houses - ie the similar size & shape as your current single house terrace but actually split in half so there is no rear to the building, both are fronts if get my meaning. These were very commonplace in the area (swept away or knocked through eventually) and my Grandma lived in one in Whitworth for many years. Still 2 bedrooms. One side was often just on a walkway not a road (and facing another matching set) so it was a good way of cramming more houses into a small space.

 

Google OL12 8DH and look at the stone terrace, especially the gable end, its quite different from a normal full width terrace (I can't grab the picture to post here sorry).

Streetview OL12 8DH.pdf

[ChrisN]

Jason,

The last time I was 'op north' which was on a bus from somewhere, (Leeds?), to Harrogate I saw both types of roofs, the sloping kind and the stepped kind.  Not sure where either type was and I realise that where it is makes a difference but both types are prototypical. 

 

I do know that the water goods in Tottenham in the 50s & 60s was black though, which I am sure is a lot of help. 

[Donw]

Terrific  modelling Jason that view down the street is really good. Only quibble the street looks a bit too clean but I think you have plans to amend that. From my memory down south guttering was either black or the same colour as the windows/doors. When I visited my cousins in London we would knock about down streets like that some were designated play streets where there were signs warning the car drivers to take care and you will have to find some model cats there were always cats in streets like that, milk bottles out for collection the odd pram parked by the door. Not sure when you have set it. Early fifties not much vehicles about but towards 1960 cars started to appear in poorer streets. A motorbike an sidecar could look right. A folks on bikes so perhaps one or two in sight.

Don

[Jason T]

I have now added most of the downpipes to the mill at the back of the layout; the missing one is all ready to glue on but a lack of guttering raw materials means it can't be yet. To affix them to the structure, I've removed small patches of paint where the brackets go and then used Mek - some touching up to the missing stone colour will be done when they are all on and when the water goods themselves are getting toned down, distressed and rusted up.

 

And typically, the first shot that shows them in place (and also includes the Northlight extension with it's water goods) is from the side that is missing it's items.

 

As is this one. They do stand out quite a bit because of the colour but then, we are specifically looking for them in these shots whereas when I've finished boring you all with how I stuck some bits of plastic rod on some buildings, they should just blend into the overall scene.

 

Here is a longer view. If I told you that the Northlight section has had downpipes for months now, I wonder how many had noticed them?

 

What's that white thing behind the station? It was always my intention to put some kind of low relief backscene at that end of the layout although when in Oxford, there was a tiny sliver of space available and as the road past the station cuts diagonally across the board, I couldn't put buildings all the way across. Now, with the extra space I have been afforded, I can pop on another section of baseboard (nothing too large or fancy; my next house may not have room again) and actually add structures.

In real Bacup, the site of the station (Rockliffe Road) is some distance from the town centre and in the days of the railway, there were mills opposite the station front. These are long gone and the area now appears to be filled with those nasty modern industrial units, and the photos I have seen of how it was are not clear enough to be able to depict them in model form. So, I fired up the Googlemobile (Google Earth ) and trawled the streets of Bacup and the local environs to find a suitable candidate. And whilst pottering down New Line, I came across the Lancashire Sock Manufacturing Company Limited (I'm sure it was something else back then) which caught my eye and fits the bill. I love the way that the downpipe in the middle of the taller section goes straight across the window, the weird little doors for midgets at the base, the way the windows are not evenly spaced, at different levels, etc., the large arched windows, the small entrance building on the right, etc., etc.

I've been volunteered to give a demo of my buildings and methods at the Shipley MRS show next week (Sunday only) and as such, I'll be taking this one along and trying to progress it, etc. No point in showing a full view yet as it's just a piece of mounting board with holes cut in it.

 

 

When I was preparing to take the photos of the downpipes (that sounds soooooo exciting), I noticed that the stupid Hornby benches on the platform had fallen over. They are the most unstable things on the planet. Anyway, I removed the station building to attempt to get them upright and once I'd sworn a lot and managed to finally get the bar stewards in their proper orientation, it struck me that I had another photo opportunity.

 

Foreground is a bit blurry unfortunately

 

Wonky signs and an LMS liveried coach

[92220]

Every time you show us another view Jason, it looks even more right.

I love that Lanc Sock Mfg Co building and look forward to how it will sit on the layout.

Iain

[Arthur]

As I mentioned on Larry's Greenfield thread, I'm loving seeing theses London Midland Region layouts coming together, crackin' stuff Jason.

 

Dunno who weathered that red tank in front of Lancashire Sock but looks like someone just daubed dirty brown paint over it, you'd never see anything like that in real life........

Edited September 14, 2013 by Arthur

[A Murphy]

Jason the latest batch of photographs are superb. Adding the buildings behind the station will add yet more atmosphere. The place oozes it already, but I can't wait to see the new backdrop in place. It's a tour de force! But where's Elsie (don't forget the headscarf)?

 

Congratulations,

 

Alastair M

Edited September 14, 2013 by A Murphy

[2ManySpams]

Cracking photos Jason, layout is looking superb. Really nice to see imagination, research and an eye for detail all used well together to produce something that looks right and so everyday. Not many layouts achieve this. Well done that man.

[bluebottle]

Cracking pictures - what atmosphere! I'm sitting here looking at them with coat collar turned up and hands in pockets up to the elbows! Wheers me 'at and muffler ... 

[Andrew P]

Great pics mate,   lovely atmosphere and great ballasting. :locomotive: :locomotive:

 

Andy

[62613]

Wonky sign? Nah, It's blowing a gale again!

[gordon s]

Jason, this really is superb work!  I do find myself though reading Backup station name as FA Cup.  Probably subliminal thoughts as a lifelong footie man....

 

Some wonderful modelling that is right up there with the best.  It looks so right on so many fronts....

 

One question for you though on the North West Chopper.  I'm very tempted to buy one and I can see the merit on cutting pieces to length etc but I'm guessing it won't help when you need say a piece 300mm by 3mm?  Great when you have a strip, but it's cutting the strip in the first place that I'm unsure of.  Any secrets you can pass on?

[Jason T]

Cheers folks. I actually drove to Bacup today to have a look at the place for real and get a few photos (will pop some up later) and it's not quite as grotty as I imagined although to be fair it was a sunny day.

 

The Chopper wouldn't be much use at longer sections but looking on the NG Trains website (where I bought it from), they also have another tool called the Duplicutter which looks to be idea for the job; I'm quite tempted myself

 

http://www.ngtrains.com/Pages/Glues/gluestools.html#Tools

[black and decker boy]

Cheers folks. I actually drove to Bacup today to have a look at the place for real and get a few photos (will pop some up later) and it's not quite as grotty as I imagined although to be fair it was a sunny day.

 

The Chopper wouldn't be much use at longer sections but looking on the NG Trains website (where I bought it from), they also have another tool called the Duplicutter which looks to be idea for the job; I'm quite tempted myself

 

http://www.ngtrains.com/Pages/Glues/gluestools.html#Tools

Burnley were playing Blackburn today so the town would have been empty, lucky as you seem to have got back out with you wheels still attached. Did you spot any banjo playing yokels on the way through? As for the weather, you need to go back tomorrow, the gale force winds and driving rain may be unpleasant for the rest of the UK but are par for the course up in the east Lancashire hill towns, its what makes us so hardy :-) Edited September 14, 2013 by black and decker boy

[Donw]

There is some lousy modelling on that sock factory the sides of the chimneys are not straight. If you copy that it will not look right. Lovely atmosphere.

Don

[Jason T]

The Lancashire Sock Co building is just fantastic up close; run down, unloved, higgledy-piggledy, grubby on the side tat doesn't face the road, amazing that it is an ongoing concern (or seems to be) and what did strike me is that the mills in Bacup are not quite as elegant as the remaining ones in Bingley, which have ornate stonework, towers, etc. maybe the builders were trying to keep up with Sir Titus's nearby creation?

 

It was quite odd to drive and walk past buildings that I have based models on (Farholme Tavern and Mill, etc) and as I have visited the place virtually using Google Streetview so many times, I recognised loads of buildings, knew my way around etc. although one detour due to something happening (police and ambulances everywhere, road closed) led us down a back street to be faced with the backs of a row of utterly charming houses with the River Irwell running behind in a channel; camera out for those

 

It was quite sad to go to Rockliffe Road and see where the station was, and a surprise to see that the area that the station occupied was narrower than I expected.

 

More than anything though, I saw so many buildings and scenes that I would love to include in the layout but sadly don't have the space to do so. Grotty, a slight air of menace (some odd looks when taking photos of random buildings and walls!) but somehow charming too. Sofia thought that Waterfoot looked lovely