Westerham, + Weald. Tarmac surface for the platform

[wainwright1]

6 hours ago, westerhamstation said:

Hi Fishplate, thank you for the Hawkhurst link that will be most useful,that is the sort of setting that I have been thinking about, with a element of Sandling Junction thrown into the mix. http://disused-stations.org.uk/s/sandling_junction/index.shtml

Hop fields, and chalk downlands are in my mind at the moment but we shall see what develops. All the best Adrian.

Just caught up with this. Sorry to see the devastation.

Perhaps a couple of pictures of my Hawkhurst might aid your inspiration ?

All the best

Ray

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by wainwright1

[westerhamstation]

Hi Ray, thanks for those images of your model of Hawkhurst it looks very impressive, it has lots of elements in it which have given me some idea of which direction I may take. All the best Adrian.

Edited June 9, 2022 by westerhamstation

[Tony Teague]

Morning Adrian

I feel that what you are doing is a very bold move, but one that I admire and have much sympathy with.

There have been many times when I have thought about ripping it all up and starting again - because you are always learning how you might have done things differently and / or better.

So far I have always concluded that I am too far down the line to go back - but it doesn't stop me thinking about it!

So good luck and here's to seeing your new creation!

Tony

 

[westerhamstation]

7 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

Morning Adrian

I feel that what you are doing is a very bold move, but one that I admire and have much sympathy with.

There have been many times when I have thought about ripping it all up and starting again - because you are always learning how you might have done things differently and / or better.

So far I have always concluded that I am too far down the line to go back - but it doesn't stop me thinking about it!

So good luck and here's to seeing your new creation!

Tony

 

Hi Tony, thanks for your support, it was not a easy decision but one that I had been thinking about for some time, I think that it had been contributing to my lack of interest in any modelling, and as you say it had been a good learning project which had been fun at the time, but the time to move on had come and the only way that any space could be found for something new was to demolish ewer street. 

All the best Adrian. 

[dasatcopthorne]

On 08/06/2022 at 14:10, westerhamstation said:

Going, Going ,Gone.

  Those of you that are of a nervous disposition please look away. I will tell you when it's safe to look again.

GOING

GOING

GONE

 

Okay you can look now.

I have a plan to change this site which was Ewer Street into a country terminus with a branch line that will connect Westerham to Brasted.

My reason for this some what sudden demolition of Ewer street are many, some of which are,  I was getting bored with it as it didn't connect with the other parts of the layout, all the buildings have been made, and it only had very limited train movements, another was that modelling the inner London environs whilst reminding me of times past, was not as enjoyable as modelling in the Kent countryside.

   So watch these pages for more progress as it develops. All the best Adrian. Now where did I put my chainsaw. 🤔

 

 All the best Adrian. 

 

Very sad.

 

Dave.

 

[MrWolf]

Good luck with the rebuild, I think that we all have the same problems, so many layout ideas, so little room. We have to accept progress in the real world, layouts often have to do the same.

 

It reminds me of standing with my father  atop a hill in the black country, looking down on the fields below and he said: "When I was a lad, all this was factories and railway yards...."

[Multigauge]

It's a bitter sweet thing seeing the destruction. Working in the area for a long time and reading story I have been in awe of the way you had replicated the buildings; I hope some of the structures have been saved.  However, I'm sure whatever you go to do will be just as well done, and as interesting; I was captivated by the way you described the building/story of Westerham and this was an area I knew little about.

[westerhamstation]

 

3 hours ago, Multigauge said:

It's a bitter sweet thing seeing the destruction. Working in the area for a long time and reading story I have been in awe of the way you had replicated the buildings; I hope some of the structures have been saved.  However, I'm sure whatever you go to do will be just as well done, and as interesting; I was captivated by the way you described the building/story of Westerham and this was an area I knew little about.

Hi Multigauge, the main buildings of ewer street have been saved as they were not fixed, the only one that had to be destroyed was the grand vittesse canopies and platforms. 

The Thorburn and Baines low relief building is 4ft 6" long, whilst the Metal Box building is 3ft long.sundry other bits have been saved as well.

  What am I to do with them I have know idea, any suggestions welcome. All the best Adrian.

Ps Westerham and Brasted stations escaped unharmed and are alive and well as you will see in future posts.  

 

[Oldddudders]

Interesting that Hawkhurst should come to notice, because earlier today I read that another highly-respected modeller was being advised to look at Cranbrook - next up the line to Padlock Wood! 

 

By the way, Bishop's Finger is known to the cognoscenti as Nun's Delight!

[MrWolf]

2 hours ago, westerhamstation said:

 

Hi Multigauge, the main buildings of ewer street have been saved as they were not fixed, the only one that had to be destroyed was the grand vittesse canopies and platforms. 

The Thorburn and Baines low relief building is 4ft 6" long, whilst the Metal Box building is 3ft long.sundry other bits have been saved as well.

  What am I to do with them I have know idea, any suggestions welcome. All the best Adrian.

Ps Westerham and Brasted stations escaped unharmed and are alive and well as you will see in future posts.  

 

 

That picture takes me back to my teens, there was a Metal Box factory like that in Leicester. Long since flattened of course. I think the art deco BTH factory my grandfather had worked for went at the same time.

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by MrWolf
Stupid autocorrect

[simon b]

7 hours ago, westerhamstation said:

 

Hi Multigauge, the main buildings of ewer street have been saved as they were not fixed, the only one that had to be destroyed was the grand vittesse canopies and platforms. 

The Thorburn and Baines low relief building is 4ft 6" long, whilst the Metal Box building is 3ft long.sundry other bits have been saved as well.

  What am I to do with them I have know idea, any suggestions welcome. All the best Adrian.

 

 

Could you build a portable shunting layout, similar sort of thing just without the MPD and main running lines?

[Multigauge]

19 hours ago, westerhamstation said:

 

Hi Multigauge, the main buildings of ewer street have been saved as they were not fixed, the only one that had to be destroyed was the grand vittesse canopies and platforms. 

The Thorburn and Baines low relief building is 4ft 6" long, whilst the Metal Box building is 3ft long.sundry other bits have been saved as well.

  What am I to do with them I have know idea, any suggestions welcome. All the best Adrian.

Ps Westerham and Brasted stations escaped unharmed and are alive and well as you will see in future posts.  

 

Glad to hear the key bits have been saved. I agree with you though, it's a bit of a dilemma what to do next with them. A local museum may appreciate them; local history and all that. I think you may have emulated reality with the metal box building as I think they have just it pulled down - certainly a building on that side has gone - I must check in detail next week.

As for Westerham, phew! 😁 

[wainwright1]

On 11/06/2022 at 18:28, MrWolf said:

 

That picture takes me back to my teens, there was a Metal Box factory like that in Leicester. Long since flattened of course. I think the art deco BTH factory my grandfather had worked for went at the same time.

 

 

 

Don't forget that there was also a Metal Box Factory in Bermondsey on the approaches to London Bridge, not so far from Ewer Street. Not sure if that was all demolished, or at least some of the structure is still standing.

 

(Or was that the one that your's was based on ?)

 

All the best

Ray

 

P.S. I would like to model Goudhurst, which has a lot of potential. Don't forget Martin Brent's Hope Mill which was inspired by that.

[MrWolf]

A (very) quick read up shows factories in London, Reading, Neath, Carlisle, Leicester and Mansfield and at one point they were employing 28,000 people, producing 335,000,000 metal packaging items per year.

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by MrWolf

[westerhamstation]

5 hours ago, wainwright1 said:

Don't forget that there was also a Metal Box Factory in Bermondsey on the approaches to London Bridge, not so far from Ewer Street. Not sure if that was all demolished, or at least some of the structure is still standing.

 

(Or was that the one that your's was based on ?)

 

All the best

Ray

 

P.S. I would like to model Goudhurst, which has a lot of potential. Don't forget Martin Brent's Hope Mill which was inspired by that.

Hi Ray, it was modelled on the one just on the approach to Ewer Street. All the best Adrian.

This link may be of interest to you. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/g/goudhurst/

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by westerhamstation
added link to Goudhurst

[MrWolf]

You made a very convincing job of it too.

[Oldddudders]

Both Metal Box and Broadwall Envelope took me back to my 21 years of commuting to Charing Cross! 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Oldddudders

[wainwright1]

On 13/06/2022 at 16:48, westerhamstation said:

Hi Ray, it was modelled on the one just on the approach to Ewer Street. All the best Adrian.

This link may be of interest to you. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/g/goudhurst/

 

That's interesting. I was not aware of that one.

 

All the best

Ray

[Fishplate]

On 13/06/2022 at 19:00, Oldddudders said:

21 years of commuting to Charing Cross! 

 

I bailed out after seven years going to Victoria. Swapped it for a job where we could live in the Yorkshire Dales. Wouldn't want to go back working darn sarf again. Go down occasionally to visit relatives and instantly recognise how lucky we were to be able to escape north in the late 80's. Worth the 25% pay cut we accepted for the change in life style.

[jcredfer]

3 hours ago, Fishplate said:

 

I bailed out after seven years going to Victoria. Swapped it for a job where we could live in the Yorkshire Dales. Wouldn't want to go back working darn sarf again. Go down occasionally to visit relatives and instantly recognise how lucky we were to be able to escape north in the late 80's. Worth the 25% pay cut we accepted for the change in life style.

 

I did very similar a good while back, with a good job, as Head of PE in a  very good school.  I'm slower off the mark than you, as it was a lovely job...  but, came down for breakfast after just over ten years of East of London and looked out onto the garden, nice and tidy, then noticed the chimneys beyond.  One thought passed through my mind, "Chimneys,!  Grief, you only have one life, you have to go!"

 

At breaktime, I went to see the Boss and explained what had occurred and the decision, adding that I would like to be going at the end of that term.  I rather expected some form of conversation about continuity of Courses etc, even though there was plenty of time for selection of a suitable replacement.  Instead, he simply replied, "Me too."

 

We met again, out of [into?] the Blue, queuing for a flight from Gibraltar to the UK and had a lovely time reminiscing about the lovely school and people we had left behind...   and the wonders of life without those Chimneys!!   😊

 

 

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Do I regret moving to Australia 30 years ago.................Not on your Nellie. Now parked up in the Bush of central Queensland. What a Life. Still planning the next layout though, maybe next year !!!

 

manna

[MrWolf]

I have to admit that I sometimes regret not going to WA when I was in my mid twenties, I then think how differently life might have turned out. 

IIRC there were some strange little railways out in the Bush?

[lezz01]

When I first left the army in the mid 80s I did give very serious thought to emigrating to Australia. I had the thought that I would like to be a road train driver. I even went as far as to visit Australia house for interviews and had a couple of job prospects lined up. I was ultimately put off by the amount of lethal fauna that resides on that continent, even the platypus is poisonous and don't get me started about the spiders and snakes. Do I regret it? No not really although I should have looked into going to NZ instead of Aus. and I do regret not doing that.

Regards Lez.   

[westerhamstation]

All this talk about life down under prompts me to show you what has happened down under on the old ewer street baseboard, it has been removed from its frame and turned over,, and what was down under has now become the top surface.

 Some pictures to show progress so far of what will become a country junction terminus with engine shed, coaling and water  facilities. also a goods shed and cattle dock. All the best Adrian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChrisN]

6 minutes ago, westerhamstation said:

All this talk about life down under prompts me to show you what has happened down under on the old ewer street baseboard, it has been removed from its frame and turned over,, and what was down under has now become the top surface.

 Some pictures to show progress so far of what will become a country junction terminus with engine shed, coaling and water  facilities. also a goods shed and cattle dock. All the best Adrian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adrian,

Looking good so far.  A nice space and trackplan. 

 

I have not commented on Ewer Street as I am not sure how to respond.  I am not sure I could tear up something I have made, partly as what I do has taken so long.  (Come to think of it all those Airfix aircraft that were flying across my room, flew away long ago.)  

 

"country junction terminus with engine shed, coaling and water  facilities. also a goods shed and cattle dock"  As someone said to me once about a list like this, 'all the comforts of home.'  🙂