Buildings for 'Bacup'

[Jason T]

As mentioned in the below thread, I am planning a new layout based loosely on Bacup in Lancashire, a terminus with a single (but two-sided) platform. Having set my heart on it, I am now faced with the task of creating the station buildings and canopy, to at least give an impression of the location.

 

http://www.rmweb.co....nus-a-new-start

 

So, after looking at countless photographs of the station and sizing things up, I have made a start on the platform buildings, of which there are two; a waiting room and, I believe a smaller refreshments room.

 

The below photographs (links, as they may well be copyrighted) show first, the end of the smaller building and second, the end of the longer one which includes a door. The headache has been to represent the paneling; I am still pondering the best way to add the arched window at the top (I may try to scribe the glazing sheet and infill the lines with paint, which I have done before, to limited success)

 

http://www.disused-s...p/index10.shtml

http://www.disused-s...p/index17.shtml

 

So, here's where I am so far. As can be seen, I cut the main structure from 0.40 plasticard and have then overlaid with 0.10 and microstrip. No warping issues so far and I will be adding a ceiling, floor and internal walls (to the longer structure) to increase rigidity. The section under construction is the second to last one I need to do.

 

If anyone feels that it looks under par or has any suggestions on how it could be done better, please feel free to say as although there's been quite a bit of effort put in, I want to get it as close as possible with the limited skills I have.

 

Construction method, panelling cut into 0.10 sheet and overlaid, to create the recess:

 

 

End section with door - camera has made it appear bent although having measured and re-measured, I can assure you that the camera is lying (or I hope it is, anyway)

 

 

Side panel for the longer waiting room - finished apart from glazing (and painting, of course)

 

[Blandford1969]

Have you looked at the Manchester Archives as they have a number of plans of Bacup?

 

Kind regards

 

Duncan

[Jason T]

Thanks Duncan, I'll definitely have a search through what the have on file.

[Andy C]

sandside

 

Just to second Duncans post, their website has a list of all the drawings they hold - very useful source of railway info as the L and Y soc archive is held there also.

http://www.gmcro.co.uk/

 

HTH

 

Andy

[25901]

sandside

 

Not the same type of modeling but worth a look reguard the Bacup Line

http://ftp.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=218&t=92049&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&sid=80df52fc1133b07f8a0ba623d91bbadf

 

Robin

[Jason T]

It's been a while but I have progressed quite far in the past couple of months.

 

Firstly, the platform buildings / shelters have been completed and painted, although the cream is far too rich so will be repainted. Additionally, I made a start on the canopies.

 

There were 12 pitches on the canopies, each of these being glazed. The glazing was made of two panes horizontally, by a lot of panes vertically. As such, I have used a LOT of microstrip and will use a lot more before I have finished (only half way through the glazing so far).

The canopy structures themselves are a maze of plastikard and about a gallon of Mek Pak. I have built it in two halves for practicality; first half is pretty much finished (bar final painting and weathering) and the main structure for the second half is almost completed.

 

Anyway, some photos:

 

Basic canopy structure

 

Again, with glazing in front. The section with the solid centre sits above the centre of the longer platform shelter

 

Platform building with canopy structure resting on top

 

As above, but with the almost finished half of the canopy. I had to paint / weather all the underside before fitting the glazing

 

A very cruel view from underneath, showing that there is no great accuracy to the structure but it does give them impression of being correct from normal viewing angles (e.g. above)

 

How to make the columns for the canopy? Experimentation using micro strip

 

The two halves together, to give an idea of the length of the canopy. The canopy extended about halfway down the platform

[iL Dottore]

That canopy looks pretty tasty! Nice work. Did you cut the valence (picture 4, from top) by hand or did you use a thin brass overlay? Also, the canopy glazing looks like a proprietary product, is that correct?

 

Although the station buildings' glazing looks a wee bit thick in the photos, I think that an illuminated interior would enhance this nice model even further. Is this on the cards?

 

F

[brossard]

I am very impressed with what you've done. Plastic sheet/strip is an excellent material and so versatile. I have made the station building/train shed from Frome using plastic - it's about 98% done.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

John

[Jason T]

Thanks for the comments

 

The valance is hand cut; didn't take too long really (in the great scheme of things), basically at the base of each groove (e.g. plank), I made a 1 mm cut upwards and then shaped each one in with the craft knife.

 

Canopy glazing is Slaters clear plastikard with 0.020 x 0.010 microstrip painstakingly stuck on (46 strips per glazing panel). I marked out the clear plastikard at 5mm parallel lines and used these as guides to glue on the strips. It is the most tedious thing I have done. Ever.

 

The building glazing may look thick but it's actually really thin, with each pane cut to size and glued into the frames, rather than just being stuck on the back . There was a bit of run-over from the glue but I can live with that as the real station was hardly the cleanest, and I can pass it off in my mind as condensation. I won't be lighting the interiors as that would mean that I would have to detail them - they do have floorboards but that is it at the moment.

[Blandford1969]

It looks excellent, it must have taken ages. I'll look forward to seeing the full layout when its finished

 

kind regards

 

Duncan

[Jason T]

I've made quite a lot more progress. Not got much time now but have just taken some (awful) photos with my iPhone of progress to date. Basically, I have completed the station buildings and canopies although both need properly weathering. In progress are the platforms and the columns for the canopy.

 

The platforms are made from foamboard, with the sides and tops covered with Plasikard. The platforms at Bacup were surfaced with three deep paving slabs at the edges, with brick in between. I did try and use the Wills paving slabs but they are ridiculously thick (in my opinion) and difficult to join together so I scribed these from Plastikard. The platform buildings are set into the brick to make the join seamless (I didn't want them to appear plonked on top) which also has the advantage of ensuring they are correctly aligned for when the canopy is finally attached when I have finished the columns (basically need to paint them).

 

Looking along the canopy

 

 

Side view

 

Station building

 

Platform and station buildings

 

 

The above show about half the length of the station and they are just plonked on what baseboards remain of my old Moor Road layout (these were the fiddle yard boards). Basically, the whole structure is too long to place anywhere else at the moment and the baseboards shown above will once again be home to the fiddle yard when, in the distant future, I get the rest of the boards completed and actually start to lay track.

 

Now some may think that building the station prior to anything else is a bit of a daft thing to do and maybe it is but I reasoned that the track in the station is dictated by the width of the platforms, which are dictated by the width of the canopy.

[Kenton]

You probably know of this resource already but others might not. The guy who runs it was helpful on my researching Bacup shed.

[Blandford1969]

Superb!

[Jason T]

Ok, so this is not where the station will be sited at all but as it is quite large and needs to sit somewhere whilst being worked on, it's on an old baseboard. I am awaiting more embossed brick plastikard before I can continue but have progressed with the columns for the canopy. I also couldn't resist loosely laying a length or two of track and running a DMU in.

 

Once again, not the best but here are some photos. The platform height looks a little high at the moment but that will be resolved when the real track is laid on cork, etc.

 

 

 

 

[Blandford1969]

It looks really great and totally captures what the buildings were like

[Andy C]

Some very nice work there on a prototype that often been on my radar for building ,the whole place oozed atmosphere, Im sure you will absolutely capture the glooom that is Bacup - a remote place in the furthest reaches of East Lancashire where men are men, and sheep are worried.

 

Have you room to include the Facit / Rochdale line junction in the finished model? Always struck me as increasing the operation potential exponentially. Keep on posting the updates please!

[Removed a/c]

Beautiful work and thanks for sharing it with us.

[Jon Fitness]

Looking good! Always a fave station of mine. I remember back in the 1970's a chap from Bolton Model railway club built a model called Belmont which was a mirror image of Bacup. Weird idea but it worked.

Keep up the great work.

JF

[Jason T]

Thanks for the comments folks, greatly appreciated.

 

As for the plans for the layout, it will be based on Bacup but not religiously follow it, more a case of use it as inspiration and as such, hopefully keep it as prototypical as possible. Same with the station itself really; if you were to compare it to photos of Bacup, there are a few glaring errors (e.g. the valance around the canopy is too deep) but what using Bacup as inspiration has provided is the ability to create a model based on reality, rather than creating something completely freelance. With the station I built for my previous layout, whilst I was very happy with it (my third ever scratchbuilt building), I was always aware that it came from my imagination rather than actually being based on anywhere, any railway company practice, etc., and that always stuck in my mind (photo at the bottom is of 'Moor Road' station building).

 

The thing is, the area I have for the layout (and the baseboards) are in an L shape, longest leg being 13' x 3' and shorter being 11' x 2'. If I was to model Bacup as it was in reality, the high wall, terraced houses and India Cotton Mill would be on the viewing side and completely block out the view of the station (that I have spent an awfully long time producing). From an operational perspective, however, it will be assumed that the Facit branch is off-stage (and remaining open much longer than in reality) to increase the potential number of train movements. After all, a half-hourly DMU service and a daily freight would be a bit boring.

 

[Jason T]

Now the station is all but complete, I'm going to expand this topic out to include all the structures I'm building for my layout, based on Bacup ('Macup' is a possible name; cheesy but close enough and just as believable a place name as Bacup is itself).

 

Firstly, four stone built terraced houses, the first of many. The easy route would have been to buy a load of Metcalfe kits but I have chosen to scratch build for a number of reasons, the main ones being that for some mad reason I love scratchbuilding buildings, and moreso, individuality. Yes, these four may look the same but street upon street of Metcalfe (or Skaledale, of which I have four) terraced houses would look far too uniform and although terraced houses may all look the same, from what I see most streets are made up of similar houses but with many detail differences (bay windows, no bays, different number of bedroom windows on the front, arched windows, square, brick built bays, stone bays, etc; etc). I was pointing this out to the girlfriend as we walked into town earlier (and yes, she was as bored as you are imagining her to be) but once you spot the differences between them, making a model street of terraced houses that all look the same would always stand out like a sore thumb. The next houses I start will be of a different style of terraced house; if I can get my head round it, in the same block.

 

Research and measurements were obtained from a few main sources; looking at my own house (a brick built 2 bedroom terraced house), other houses in the street, measuring up a Skaledale terrace to make sure I wasn't way off track and Googling for terraced houses in Bacup, Todmordon, etc. The final one had the girlfriend asking if we were going to be moving soon!

 

So, onto construction. Nothing new or fancy involved, just plastikard. I drew the design out on paper first, added all the doors and windows and when it looked right, noted down the dimensions and then committed to the 40 thou. The only thing I have done any different this time is to add slots into the rear wall and the dividing walls / outhouses, so that they slot together (obviously) to hopefully make a stronger structure and add strength. One boo boo that I did make (and never noticed until I put the pieces together in a 'dry run' was that I added the chimney stacks to the wrong dividing walls - it never registered until all of a sudden I found myself wondering why there would be a fireplace in the hall and not the lounge! Easily rectified though.

 

The bay windows need a lot of detail adding, but the basic structures (rightly or wrongly are stuck to an upper and lower plastikard former with 45 degree angles, which were determined rather shoddily by measuring 1cm horizontal, 1cm vertical, chopping the corner off and then cutting the width to that required.

 

So here all the all important pictures. A long way to go yet (doors, windows, roofs, false floors for strength, etc) but hopefully this will give you an idea of what I am hoping to achieve.

 

The structure so far, all leaned together with the outhouses and other components in front

 

Dividing walls and back wall slotted together

 

Construction method for the back, dividing / outhouse walls

 

Embryonic bay windows

[Andy C]

How about using one of the local districts around Bacup as a name? Weir, Newchurch, Cowpe, Boothfold all within scope of the line!

[Jason T]

Now Newchurch I like. I was looking forward to sending trains to 'Fucit' though

[Jason T]

Work on the terraced houses has progressed somewhat, although there is still some way to go. All the stonework is completed, windows in (Microstrip construction), doors (apart from one, which needs a bit of fettling) and the bay windows have progressed. Still to do is to add curtains (more below), floors and partition walls (for strength and rigidity as much as anything) and the roof.

 

So, here are some photos showing all the component parts (minus the roof) with some sketchily leaned together and others lying in front, waiting for all detail work to be completed before all being joined together.

 

So, curtains. It strikes me that a lot of terraced houses (mainly due to their proximity to the pavement and hence nosey passers-by) have net curtains and probably even more so 50 years ago. But how to add them convincingly? I've used tissue paper which I hope give the impression to a satisfactory level, being slightly opaque but still blocking the view inside.

Not all the houses will be given nets (and one may have them to only half way up the window), but it does lead me to ask a curtain-related question (not something you hear often on a railway modelling forum):

 

Walking down our street before and looking at our own curtains, most of them have a liner (or backing) to them which invariably is cream coloured so from outside, it looks like everyone has cream curtains. Back in the early 60's, apart from nets, would people have used curtain linings as commonly as they are used nowadays or, in a street in a Northern mill town on it's uppers, next to a railway station, would people have had less money and hence just used the curtains themselves with no lining?

 

I ask because if I was to base the model on 2011, then it would be cream curtains showing from outside in almost the whole street; it always looks a bit daft to me when I see a model street with every window showing bright coloured curtains - almost as if the occupants have put them up the wrong way round.

 

Anyway, photographs.

 

The 'kit' of all the parts:

 

A closer view. Not sure about the colours for the doors really (the green one definitely needs toning down and the black one is maybe too black, if that makes sense):

 

"Eeh Ethel, have you seen the state of her ruddy nets in number three. I swear she hasn't washed them since her Albert was killed in the last war":

[Removed a/c]

I think it would be hard to get scale net curtains to be honest. I think the tissue looks fine. I may be wrong but I would think back then curtains would be lined as they would help to keep out the drafts.

[CWJ]

Fantastic station buildings there - a glass canopy creates a wonderful gloomy atmosphere underneath.

 

The houses are coming along nicely too. For net curtains you could try some real 'mesh-like' fabric, but obviously something finer than real, full-size net curtains. I needed something similar for the fine chicken wire attached to some level crossing gates, and eventually stumbled upon some sort of cheap girlie accessory (hair bobble or something, don't ask me) made of just the right material. I guess a pair of white ladies tights could yeald something similar - just cut out a square piece and attach it behind your glazing.

 

Cheers,

 

Will