Burghclere Signal Box

[colin penfold]

I will try that next time as superglue is annying and unpleasant to work with and has in places affected the surface of the glazing. Fortunately it looks like natural imperfections and dirt which would be found on glazing of that vintage. Thanks for the tip!

[Jamiel]

Thanks for posting the photo and method you tried on the corner.

 

You can learn so much, often more, from experiments that don't work out.

 

I am sure filler, and a little filing will repair the corner.

 

Good luck, and a lovely interior in the earlier posts.

[colin penfold]

one good tip you might all like - I had a blister pack that I recycled to provide the glazing and I ran out of perfectly flat plastic. The last bit I cut off the pack was slightly curved. I got a flat sheet of metal and laid the plastic on top, on the draining board of my kitchen sink. I boiled the kettle and poured boiling water over the plastic which softened and laid flat to the metal below. I then put a flat bottomed glass bottle on top to keep it flat, and poured some more boiling water into the bottle. By the time the water in the bottle had cooled, so had the plastic and it was properly flat. Some you win.......

[colin penfold]

Start with an apology, I should have done stage photos with this but I forgot, and I'm not going to do it again.

 

Just made the name plate for the box and it went quite well so I thought you might want to hear how I did it

 

Materials - Slaters 2mm lettering and nameplate from craftsman models etch (same as the windows) I had to shorten it by cutting a section out of the middle and gluing the two ends together on a backing shim of spare brass.

 

I cut the required letters off the sprue, spent 5 minutes looking for the L that flew off onto the floor, then cut another L.

 

I laid a metal straight edge on the workbench and placed a ruler on top

 

I then arranged the letters in the right order against the edge of the ruler, using the point of a scalpel blade.

 

I then carefully removed the ruler.

 

I then put a small piece of sellotape folded over to be sticky on both sides, onto the straight edge, away from where the letters were, and stuck the nameplate down, face up.

 

I then took another piece of sellotape and gently lowered it onto the slaters letters, picking them up all together, by their faces.

 

I then brushed superglue onto the face of the nameplate and holding the sellotape containing the letters at both ends, lowered it into position on the nameplate.

 

I gently pressed the letters down onto the nameplate, waited for the superglue to "tack" and removed the sellotape.

 

All but one letter stuck first time. Reglued the one awkward one and voila:

 

 

This closeup is a little cruel and painting it is going to be a challenge, but I'm pretty pleased overall. I will post some more progress in due course.

[colin penfold]

so, as promised here is the painted, finished sign, in position (temporarily) on the front wall of the box. It's a little oversize compared to the prototype photos, but it's within tolerance IMO. I have sorted out the locking room brickwork and inset the lintels as well.

 

[colin penfold]

On the finishing straight now

 

False floor and strengthening glued into place

 

 

All four walls assembled aorund the false floor

 

 

Large lintel in place over the main windows, roof and chimney added

 

 

Lighting test

 

 

Hopefully my next update will be the finished, painted article. This being my first foamboard building I have to say I like the solidity and weight of the finished article, and as I have a load of it free of charge I suspect more use of this material will follow

[colin penfold]

Thanks for the likes chaps, glad you are still with me! Welcome back Oldudders - internet problems resolved?

[Oldddudders]

Thanks for the likes chaps, glad you are still with me! Welcome back Oldudders - internet problems resolved?

Yes, TVM, back in business - and well-pleased to be back in the real world of RMweb, believe me!

[colin penfold]

The final sprint to the finish line over three evenings this week

 

a few areas filled with green putty prior to final painting. Roof surface made of photocopier paper

 

 

First a dark grey coat on the flat roof, mixed with talcum powder for texture and to get the right shade of grey

 

 

An overall coat of humbrol red brick on the brickwork

 

 

Followed by some individual bricks and areas highlighted in white or black

 

 

Roof now dry and walls ready for mortar effect

 

 

Work in progress showing how mortar coloured paint is applied and then wiped off the surface, leaving it in the mortar lines and allowing a nice lightening of the main brick surface (to me the humbrol red brick is a bit red for the Berkshire/Hampshire borders where the bricks are lovely and warm in colour)

 

 

The finished effect!

 

 

 

 

And as I do not have a layout to put it on (yet!) I cheated:

 

 

I am a very happy bunny. Took me a long time but I feel very satisfied. I know it's far from perfect and I think I will use proper glazing acetate next time rather than freebies. My approach with the layout is that wherever possible I will buy "off the shelf" otherwise it will never happen, only scratchbuilding where RTR or kits don't fit the bill. Therefore, to achieve overall consistency of standards I want anything I build to be equal to the kits and ready built stuff out there. Just as well because I'm no Roye England! Thanks to those of you who have been watching all the way through - it's a great encouragement to keep going - hope you have enjoyed the posts.

[colin penfold]

Thanks Colin,very interesting project. look forward to more! Can heartily recommend Kevin Robertson's book as illustrated-a fascinating read.If more D.N.& S atmosphere is required, try Harold Gasson's excellent books,Firing Days, Footplate Days, Nostalgic Days and Signalling Days.

By the way, the "ex GWR" signalman you mention wasn't Adrian Vaughan by any chance?

 

Bizarrely after all this time I can now answer your question Tim. Yes it was! I just saw him interviewed on a programme called "off the rails" about the NNR and recognised him.

[Cheshire001]

Very interesting.

 

I bought a copy of Burghclere Signalman some years ago in a charity shop (lucky!) which fueled my ambition to build a working lever frame.   Useful to have the correct lever colours etc., thanks.

 

Another ambition is to build a real station true-length in N-scale without the usual compression.   Burghclere looks manageable.   Worked it out in my head and it looks about 2m for the length of the main loop.   Assuming my mental calculations were correct!

 

[Edit.   My mental calculations weren't correct.   Length of the loop looks more like 4 - 4.5m in N-gauge.]

 

Sadly the project is all resting in the 'when I get time' file...

 

While we are on the subject of lever frames and the DNS, I picked up a copy of Signalling & Lever Frames (ISBN 978-1-906419-61-5).   Amongst other things the author builds a locking tray, working out the interlocking for Whitchurch, a couple of stations up the line.   Also includes diagrams for relay interlocking.   The number of relays and diodes should clear out your local Maplin store!

 

[Edit.   The Whitchurch track plan in Trax appears much simplified and somehow mirrored/reversed compared to the plan in the OPC book.   The lever numbers for the frame they derive are different to that given in OPC book and by SRS.   While the book is a very interesting exercise, anyone hoping to make an accurate re-creation of Whitchurch should approach it with caution.] 

[colin penfold]

Thanks Cheshire,

 

You may want to look at the layout planning thread I am running at present to see some more about how I plan to go forward with my model of Burghclere

 

(the link's in my signature)

[colin penfold]

A while ago I realised I had omitted the very obvious safety bars on the outside of the windows. Today as part of my return to modelling after a broken arm I thought this would be a good job to tackle.