Havenhouse - the reboot

[JCL]

Thanks Chris, and to you too, it's good to be back.

 

I mentioned, oh, months ago now, that the gates are a bit unusual because they have six posts between them. They also don't swing through a 90 degree arc. Because I've forshortened everything, I couldn't just go by the maps, so I printed a protractor off, the radius of which is the approximate length of the gates. Then I kept rearranging them so that they would fit and swing through the same arc (120 degrees) without touching (thanks Andy for that), and finally I drove in some nails so I wouldn't forget where each post would be. Oh, the nails representing the gate hinges locate the rod that will go through the board to a couple of solenoids, and the hinge post will be slightly to one side of this.

 

Anyhow, the result is something that looks like a pared down Avebury stone circle. Good news though, is it all seems to fit! All I have to do now is try to work out how a signal is going to embedded into the platform ramp behind the post near the signal box.

 

[uax6]

I think you'll be ok with the signal post, it stands a couple of feet clear of the gatepost, so that gives you 8mm to play with! I suppose it very much depend on how you intend to operate the signal. I would think that you could put a bit of rail hard under the board (prehaps under neath the ramp within the baseboard) and use that rail as an extension on the armature on a relay to operate the signal....

 

Nice to have you back BTW.

 

Andy G

[Alister_G]

Hi Jason, Happy Christmas mate, and all the best for the New Year,

 

Al.

[JCL]

Hi Al

 

I'm sorry, it's a bit late to wish you a merry Christmas, but I do hope you have a happy new year. Here's having the time for both of us to do some modelling!

 

I'm not keen on using corrugated cardboard to create a ploughed field. It's good for more modern times with angular furrows, but otherwise it it can look like a field set up for growing potatoes with the wide gaps between each furrow. Also, you can't feather the end of each row as would have happened with a plough. Nowadays the feathered area is also ploughed so as much as the field as possible is used, but when using traction engines I would be surprised if this was done.

 

 

The surface of the field is the foamboard with the paper removed, then I used my dog's comb - Bass A17 medium (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bass-Brushes-A17-Medium-Comb/dp/B00AO7IAYW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451285018&sr=8-1&keywords=a17+bass+comb) to impress the furrows into the foam. There is also a finer brush available, but I don't think my dog would have thanked me for it!

 

After "furrowing" I painted it with a coat of cheap acrylic craft paint, and then I scattered finely sieved soil over the top that I had from before my move from Fernie. It's about the right colour for that part of Lincolnshire . The front furrows had the soil sprinkled on and immediately removed, while I let the soil sit in the rows at the back for a little while.

 

Doing it this way lets me feather the ends of the rows and, if necessary would allow me to create furrows that are not perfectly straight (useful if there was a brush area, a marshy patch or a tree or two in the field).

 

I'm not sure, but I think it might also be useful for making corrugated sheets in a larger scale...

Edited December 28, 2015 by JCL

[uax6]

Headlands were quite large for use with steam ploughs. I would say from about 6-10ft, plus the length of the plough, which might add another 6-10ft. Now don't forget that the team would 'shunt' about and plough the headlands too, so you would get the ends ploughed at 90* to the main field. This would still leave an area of about 6ft, as the plough is pulled centrally along the ploughing engines body.

 

Whats the pitch on the comb? The modern ploughs leave a pitch of about 14-18" from what I've seen around here.

 

Looking good.

 

Andy G

[JCL]

Morning Andy, I don't have a ruler to hand, but it does fit the plough that I bought from Shapeways here (http://www.shapeways.com/product/5DCVVV4KL/1000-2-tilt-plough-1-87?li=user-wishlist&optionId=1578521&rc=WishList) which to be fair is HO scale...

 

"so you would get the ends ploughed at 90* to the main field" - hmm, not in this case I fear...

[uax6]

Ok, At whatever angle you can!

 

More importantly, what are you planting?

 

Andy G

[ChrisN]

Just have seen today that there is a new Middleton Press book, 'Branch Lines to Skegness and Mablethorpe'.

[Removed a/c]

Good idea !  Will keep it in the vault until it is time to plough my fields.  

[JCL]

Thanks for that Chris. The Middleton Press has certainly been putting out a lot of books over the last few months. It'll be interesting to see this one.

 

Time has been flying by, and I've been doing some more landscaping of the board between starting up a landscape design business and finishing the house (oh, and a veg garden - Spring is sprung after all). I've got to the point where I can at least show you something, so I'll put up a couple of photos later in the week of some colours and basic texture going down.

 

cheers

[JCL]

Here you go, the sun came out this afternoon, and procrastinating as I am from finishing off the rock breaking (chipping away concrete underneath the to-be-fitted door frame), here are some photos.

 

An overall look having layered polyfilla all over the road and yard. I've laid  the crossing boards on temporarily.

 

 

This shows the 1" insulation with 1/4" board over the top. This will help when I glue in the railings and such. I've still got the platform wall to add on this side. It's just a straight down affair with no stepping out towards the top (thank goodness!)

 

 

Some more work to do i the yard. After priming the road and yard I put some washes of light grey on, followed by a bit of bronze yellow. I think that there might be a bit more sanding to do.

 

 

Finally, the outcome of the dog brush scraped over the fields. It's a bit high contrast, but I hope you get an idea of what I was trying to achieve. A full on dyke is being modelled between the road and field. Luckily there really was an overgrown one there when I was in the UK in January, so I don't have to shoehorn one in. I've also taken into account Andy's thoughts on field margin and re-done it.

 

 

The difficult thing was working out how to do incredibly subtle slope changes. If they were steeper I think it would have been easier. In the end the 5mm foam from craft and radio control plane stores saved the day as I was able to add rounded pieces underneath the final layer. I'll put a photo up of what I mean by this next time..

 

Ta for looking.

[JCL]

I'm not sure if anyone is interested in this. I bought a page of the Railway Times August 30th, 1845 from that Ebay the other week.The first panel described the subsequently abandoned plans to open the Lincoln, Horncastle, Spilsby and Wainfleet Haven Rly. The idea was to create a station a the now non-existing port, a couple of miles from the town of Wainfleet. Instead of repeating it verbatim, I've attached a copy of the page. I'm afraid that the upload limit means that I've had to crop out the bit that isn't needed.

 

cheers

 

Jason

 

[jrg1]

It is a great shame that the GNR did not build Bardney-Horncastle-Halton-Spilsby-Firsby direct, opting for the easier New Line via Coningsby instead.  It would still be open today, with the dormitory villages and population centres of Bardney, Horncastle, Spilsby, Skegness and Alford all served, and the East Lincolnshire line perhaps still with us.

[gr.king]

But extensive housing developments at New Waltham and Holton le Clay, along with the presence of the Towns of Louth and Alford weren't enough to keep the main East Lincs line open North of Firsby, even though, in it's day, it was the main route from the Grimsby/Cleethorpes area to Boston, Peterborough and London.......

[joppyuk1]

I'm not sure if anyone is interested in this. I bought a page of the Railway Times August 30th, 1845 from that Ebay the other week.The first panel described the subsequently abandoned plans to open the Lincoln, Horncastle, Spilsby and Wainfleet Haven Rly. The idea was to create a station a the now non-existing port, a couple of miles from the town of Wainfleet. Instead of repeating it verbatim, I've attached a copy of the page. I'm afraid that the upload limit means that I've had to crop out the bit that isn't needed.

 

cheers

 

Jason

 

wainfleet haven rlwy1a.jpg

Lincolnshire Life magazine did a small article on the proposed Spilsby/Horncastle extension sometime in the early 70s, I still have it ,and the Lincolnshire Archive route plan, somewhere in my filing (?) system. Wasn't there a layout in Railway Modeller at some time called 'Mavis Enderby'?

[Moggs Eye]

Just have seen today that there is a new Middleton Press book, 'Branch Lines to Skegness and Mablethorpe'.

 

I picked up a copy at the Lincoln show last weekend. It's a nice book, lots of good photographs including many I've not seen before . I'm not sure about some of the captions, but a good buy in my opinion.

[jrg1]

But extensive housing developments at New Waltham and Holton le Clay, along with the presence of the Towns of Louth and Alford weren't enough to keep the main East Lincs line open North of Firsby, even though, in it's day, it was the main route from the Grimsby/Cleethorpes area to Boston, Peterborough and London.......

Building over the formation in Grimsby was an act of short-sighted ineptitude-on a par with obliterating the Lincoln Avoiding Line just as coal imports through Immingam took off.  As house prices rose in London during the 1980s, East Lincolnshire was discovered by Londoners commuting to work.  No doubt they wondered why the nearest main railhead was Boston.  Recognising that East Lincolnshire was becoming a commuter belt would have been economically a plus, as the area was generally relying on agriculture and seasonal holidaymakers.  Imagine the economic benefits if the line had been just mothballed.  And just why did BR only originally close it as a through route between Louth and Firsby-commercial suicide!

And let's not forget that the local paper, the Lincolnshire Echo, was basically pro-road and anti rail, so any daft scheme that was pro-road would be publicised, such as the Humber Bridge-Cambridge motorway (Why?), or the various inept brain fades to close the rail crossings in Lincoln.  The area has been badly served ever since Beeching. 

[JCL]

I seem to remember reading that the line to Skeg was also due to be closed at one point.

 

Good to know there will be new photos. I've heard that some of the other books in the series have problems with caption accuracy.

 

Some photos later, but I really must get on with some work (and find my glasses).

[JCL]

Good afternoon. Having taken advice from the stationmaster at Westerham and the video by Richard at Everard Junction I've come up with the views in the photos at the bottom. I've got the other side of the tracks to sort out - the colour doesn't look as much like the Australian outback as you'd imagine from the photo. It's not long before I have to get the silhouette out and the working crossing gates started...

 

 

Anyway, I'm really enjoying getting back into this having been away for so long.

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Jason

[westerhamstation]

Hi Jason, that's looking like Lincolnshire already. I think the crossing is going to make a lovely focal point, and will draw the eye into the station nicely.

(one small thing those furrows in the field seem a bit wide ) off now to look for missing mojo all the best Adrian.

[JCL]

I've been re-profiling the road either side of the crossing now that I've got the wood in, and while the Polyfilla is drying, started on the fence. I'm using Northwest Lumber 4x4 and 2x6 erm, sticks (planks and posts seem such grand words for what they are, but I think I'll have to use them) that I've had for quite a while. The posts just press into the foam landscaping and are PVA'd until they are dry. I just put in the post at either end of a slope or level area. Then the horizontal planks are PVA'd to them. After this, the middle posts are added so that they are definitely in line.

 

In the photo below you can see the two middle posts haven't been added yet.

 

 

Ignore the gate post! It's not glued in yet - either that or it's been hit by something heavy and may be a bit too big...

 

[JCL]

Lincolnshire Life magazine did a small article on the proposed Spilsby/Horncastle extension sometime in the early 70s, I still have it ,and the Lincolnshire Archive route plan, somewhere in my filing (?) system. Wasn't there a layout in Railway Modeller at some time called 'Mavis Enderby'?

 

Hi jpoppyuk1 by all accounts RM December 1994

[joppyuk1]

Hi jpoppyuk1 by all accounts RM December 1994

Thanks, I'll dig it out of the pile and read it again. In passing, can you tell me the source of the station building? I may have missed it being mentioned. Is it a kit or scratch build? I'm enjoying the thread and storing ideas away for my own use later.

[JCL]

 

I'm not sure if I did mention it. After visiting Havenhouse and taking measurements of the bits that I could get to, I drew up the sides in some free software called Inkscape and printed it onto Scalescenes garden wall brown brick paper. Unfortunately either the red or magenta cartridge (I forget which) was working to rule at the time, hence the London brick yellowness to it. The buildings are there as placeholders at the moment so that I can play around with positioning of landscape grades/features. At some point in the not too distant future I'll build them properly.

 

The only problem is that I could only get the station side and road side walls, all I have of the sheds and toilets around the back are photos that I took leaning over the platform railings - the owner wasn't in and I thought it would be rude to wander around someone else's garden without them knowing (though I was sorely tempted).

 

 

I've attached the drawings I did in a pdf file at the bottom of this post. The station side of the house was a copy of the roadside without the windows, and the chimney was just cut to size. Th extra bit of wall with the door was the platform facing wall for the gents, there was another stretch of wall after that which was the same length. I've re-jigged it to A4, so If anyone wants to print it, just choose full size or 100%.

 

 

station building for upload.pdf

[joppyuk1]

I have to do things the old fashioned way, counting bricks and using paper and pencil. Currently drawing up a level crossing keeper's house for use as a station building before I start building. Thank you for the pdf, it could come in useful.