Upbech St Mary, Upbech Drove and Pott Row a journey through 00 and then into EM and 009.

[mullie]

A few people at SWAG asked how I achieve the colouring on the layout. As I was starting to develop the scenics on the harbour module this afternoon I took a few photos.

 

A few colours are used; yellow ochre, white, warm grey, burnt umber, raw sienna. Black is very rarely used at this stage and I often mix it from other colours as an artist would for scenic work so it is not too intense. I do however, make a lot of use of black Indian ink in a wash of IPA alcohol. My palette is a tear off one from 'The Works.' Paints are a mix of artists acrylics and cheaper ones from our local Works shop.

 

 

Colours are applied in a fairly random way usually referring to photographs, extensive use is made of talc as a way of adding texture and as a matting agent. This is basic colouration that can be added to, and scenic treatment added and contrast with the bottom left corner where the clay has only been sealed. The talc is held in trays that once held our daughters dummies. The youngest will be 22 in a few months time so they are very old!

 

 

I plonked the pub onto Upbech St Mary to get it out of the way, however, the setting gave me some ideas as to how I would eventually like it to look.

 

I wear a mask when using talc and usually have the garage door up by a few inches to keep the air moving. More to follow due to upload limits.

 

 

[mullie]

Diversion away from layout construction, some of the Kadee fitted wagons now have S&W couplings. This opens up the possibility of a transition era sequence as well.

 

Some Airfix 16 tonners on Masokits chassis.

 

 

Cambrian SR brake van and some more open wagons, first one is a Parkside kit.

 

 

I'm looking forward to running these again, for me, the S&W couplings will be so much more reliable and no stock springing towards magnets. Once set up these are good couplings, just the occasional adjustment needed.

 

[wiggoforgold]

I  particularly like the 16 tonners. You have resisted the temptation to heavily weather them which I think is right for a period when they would not have been that old.

Alex

[mullie]

Backscene is currently being sorted and some additional DAS clay was put in today and a start made on yet more S&W couplings so nothing worth photographing today.

 

So instead, these are the last photos of my recent Essex visit. Travelling along from Low Street I went to the area around Tilbury Fort. This has changed completely since we moved away. Riverside station is long gone and more recently the power station meaning a new port area has been constructed including additional rail sidings. The passenger ferry to Gravesend still runs though the area around it is not at all photogenic and the old station building is boarded up and can't be accessed.

 

Here is a view of the entrance to Tilbury Fort, the origins of which date back to Henry VIII and where Elizabeth I made her famous rallying speech. A brief history is here.

 

 

This is a down river view showing the walls that protect the low lying countryside behind the muddy shore.

 

 

The river was busy that morning, a number of ships of varying sizes were seen though really large ships can't get this far up river. A very large new port has been built down river on the site of the Thames Haven oil refinery that can take the largest container vessels.

 

 

On the Kent side there used to be tugs moored, these too are no more. Our first marital home was 2-3 miles from here on top of a large hill meaning we had a fantastic view of shipping moving along the river.

 

After this I went and had a coffee then made the long drive home to Dorset. It was an enjoyable morning revisiting places with a family connection.

[mullie]

Have photos of soldering couplings got more interesting?

 

 

Er........ no!

 

 

This is the outcome of a session to make couplings for all the remaining 60s period wagons. Progress is evident as coupling bases are now glued to the remaining 60s period wagons.

 

The saga of the back scene continues. On Pott Row I created my own with rattle cans but on this layout I nicked a tip from @NHY 581 and used artist mount board. I use misty grey and that has become difficult to buy locally and I couldn't even buy it in the much larger stores at Lakeside when I was in Essex recently.  I tried to match the colouring by painting but wasn't happy with the results so ordered some sheets from an art supplier. Parcelforce helpfully drove all the way from Poole to deliver it, needless to say we were at work so instead of taking it to the Portland sorting shed, they drove it all the way back to Poole! I have now arranged for them to deliver it to the sorting shed (sorry office) but won't be able to collect it until later in the week because they are only open from 8am to midday. 48 hour delivery will have taken a week! I know a lot of people like photo back scenes but they are too dominant for my eyes so I prefer something different, I did have one for a while on Pott Row.

 

Still at least the couplings will all be done so I will be running a 60s service with reliable couplings.

 

 

[mullie]

In the absence of anything interesting on the layout how about some photos of the Merchants railway on Portland. This was a cable worked system to get stone from 285 feet above sea level down to the port, the pictures do not convey just how steep the line was. To move stone and spoil traction engines, early lorries including steam powered were used, there was a narrow and standard gauge railway system. These photos were taken some time ago though I don't think I've posted them here before. 

 

I would love to build a model of this system, even a simple diorama. By the second world war it had stopped operating but I have interviewed someone who remembered it. These are shots of the remains, many of the old routes can still be traced though not completely.

 

DSC_0028 by Martyn Mullender, on Flickr

 

DSC_0020 by Martyn Mullender, on Flickr

 

DSC_0017 by Martyn Mullender, on Flickr

 

This is the old engine house, used by standard gauge locos working on the top of the island. This system lasted longer. There have been various proposals to reuse the shed but it remains empty.

 

DSC_0074 by Martyn Mullender, on Flickr

 

DSC_0073 by Martyn Mullender, on Flickr

 

DSC_0087 by Martyn Mullender, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2022 by mullie

[AdeMoore]

Interesting post Martyn, there was always a portable steam engine out by the turning to the Bill, all sorts there I seen to remember.

Anything to do with this system?

Also interested in your backscene developments.

Cheers

Ade

[MrWolf]

I remember taking photos of the portable engine when I was still at school in the 80s, it was a big Marshall 6NHP, behind it was a Marshall single cylinder diesel tractor from about 1950 and bizarrely, behind the house they stood beside was a 1950s Lotus XI racing car that had been modified for road use by the fitment of Mk1 Ford Cortina tail lights and a coat of mustard yellow paint. That has at least been saved, it's restoration was covered in one of the classic car mags back in the 90s.

Last time I went to Portland, about 2004, both the Marshalls had gone too. Hopefully they're running again.

[mullie]

16 hours ago, AdeMoore said:

Interesting post Martyn, there was always a portable steam engine out by the turning to the Bill, all sorts there I seen to remember.

Anything to do with this system?

Also interested in your backscene developments.

Cheers

Ade

 

In a roadside field on the edge of Southwell,  the turning for the bill, used to be to be some sort of quarrying device so covered in weeds it was difficult to work out what it was and I think at one time the remains of a Land Rover.  I haven't been down there on foot for at least a year so am not sure what is there now.

 

I did take a photo around 2006 but cannot find it.

 

The Merchants railway is right at the front of the Tophill and goes down to Underhill. The two are connected by a steep road with a hairpin bend at the bottom. The cyclists overtake the cars on the way down doing around 40mph. The two areas are very different.

 

Southwell is further down the island and beyond the reach of the standard gauge line though there were narrow gauge lines and plateways used to  move stone. The Geoff Kirby site is a useful introduction to the place. Some of it is out of date, no steam engines are restored here any more it is a crane depot. We live near St George's Church.

[mullie]

Is this what has been talked about? I think I took this photo around ten years ago. It is in a small field as you enter Southwell, just past the entrance to one of the few working quarries remaining. Not a great photo reflecting phone technology of the time. I have walked much of Portland especially during lockdown.

 

 

I am not sure what this is, looks like some sort of digger/excavator to me? Would make a great exercise in weathering.

 

 

[AdeMoore]

Yes Martyn that was one of the bits of machinery there I’m sure.

Quick Google turned up the portable that was there.

"Dr Neil Clifton / Portable engine on the Bill of Portland" 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portable_engine_on_the_Bill_of_Portland_-_geograph.org.uk_-_739053.jpg

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by AdeMoore
Attribution to add photo

[MrWolf]

4 hours ago, mullie said:

Is this what has been talked about? I think I took this photo around ten years ago. It is in a small field as you enter Southwell, just past the entrance to one of the few working quarries remaining. Not a great photo reflecting phone technology of the time. I have walked much of Portland especially during lockdown.

 

 

I am not sure what this is, looks like some sort of digger/excavator to me? Would make a great exercise in weathering.

 

 

 

That's a cable operated (pre hydraulic) face shovel, a smaller diesel or possibly petrol powered version of the steam navvy.

 

[mullie]

Progress with the back scene at last. 

 

 

Biggest change is that the original cottage has been replaced by the thatched cottage. This is because when shunting this module, the original cottage obscured the view where the uncoupling magnet is placed. As it is smaller and at the front I plan to develop the area around the cottage with an autumnal garden. Thatched roof needs painting, I have the Pendon cottage book for reference.

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

I can imagine the owners of the Thatched cottage, living in fear every time a steam loco went passed !!!!

 

manna

[MrWolf]

I think that people were less worried about just about everything a hundred years ago.

This place was still standing in the 1980s, though it hadn't served petrol for a couple of decades.

Cleveland was an alcohol blend fuel too!

 

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by MrWolf

[mullie]

18 hours ago, manna said:

G'Day Folks

 

I can imagine the owners of the Thatched cottage, living in fear every time a steam loco went passed !!!!

 

manna

Trams have spark arrestors, some J15s did too so they could work ammunition trains.

 

I'm sure open fires caused more problems, thatch may smolder for a while.

Edited July 4, 2022 by mullie

[MrWolf]

Chimney fires, cracked flues, oil lamps and later electrical fires in roof spaces caused by deteriorating 1930s rubber insulated wiring. I remember a couple catching fire from that when I was still at school. Being listed, great efforts were made to rebuild them.

[mullie]

"In fact there is no more risk, of a thatch roof burning, than a slate or tile one… Insurance company records, over two centuries, have proved this point." Thatchinginfo.com

 

A lot of problems seem to be caused by poor maintenance or not understanding the nature of owning and maintaining a thatched cottage. My brother and his family lived in a thatched cottage for over 30 years, it did need a lot of maintenance but as he was a surveyor he usually knew who to speak to.

 

I promise not to set fire to the cottage roof!

[mullie]

It is now the 1960s, the nature of freight traffic has changed, a group of vans at Upbech St Mary

 

Just one wagon of sugar beet today. No passenger service any more, like the prototype, a lot of these halts often looked little different until lines were fully closed and demolished.

 

 

All the wagons seen today  are kits and are now fitted with S&W couplings so no wagons flying towards magnets.

 

And in true prototype fashion, after a few years of reliable service the Hornby shunter has thrown a crank so the quartering is out, good job the Bachmann shunter is operational.

[mullie]

Bit  of scenic work on the quayside board today. Beginning to set the pub into the scene with a bit of hedging. The etched fret of pub signage donated by a kindly @NHY 581 has been undercoated too.

 

 

 

The thatch has been toned down using AK interactive dark grey pin wash thinned even more with IPA alcohol with a touch of Burnt umber in places.

 

 

[hayfield]

Mullie

 

Looking very good

[AdeMoore]

Excellent finish that Martyn.

[mullie]

A rural idyl, the toilet is at the bottom of the garden and the bath is kept in a shed but it is next to a railway.

 

 

Even in the late 80s there were still houses with the above facilities in the road where I grew up. When the occupants were moved out or died the bungalows were demolished or completely rebuilt.

[john new]

On 07/08/2022 at 17:12, mullie said:

A rural idyl, the toilet is at the bottom of the garden and the bath is kept in a shed but it is next to a railway.

 

 

Even in the late 80s there were still houses with the above facilities in the road where I grew up. When the occupants were moved out or died the bungalows were demolished or completely rebuilt.

First terrace house I bought in 1980 (York) still had an outside bog, live gas lighting points to supplement basic electric and a tin bath wash tub. I had a bathroom extension built on before I moved in during 1981. Progress in housing was not as rapid as people these days think, during the 1970s and 80s there was a good system of grants towards upgrades/modernisation as so many houses still needed the work doing.

[RANGERS]

12 hours ago, john new said:

First terrace house I bought in 1980 (York) still had an outside bog, live gas lighting points to supplement basic electric and a tin bath wash tub. I had a bathroom extension built on before I moved in during 1981. Progress in housing was not as rapid as people these days think, during the 1970s and 80s there was a good system of grants towards upgrades/modernisation as so many houses still needed the work doing.

Browsing in a shop in Mablethorpe a  few months ago I noticed gas lights still fitted. Mentioning them to the shopkeeper she said they’d been converted to natural gas in the 70s and were still in working order but it was impossible to get mantles that suited the burner. Although it’s still possible to get LPG types, the ones for natural gas have a different composition and have been unobtainable for some years.