ronstrutt Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Latest snippet from the Archives. In 1956 the BTC had asked each region to recommend suitable branches on which to experiment with lightweight diesel cars (presumably what we now refer to as 'railbuses') and the Southern Region considered the branches to Westerham and Hawkhurst as suitable candidates. These branches were presumably chosen because Kent Coast electrification had just been approved and the steam-worked branches then became a problem. A railbus might have offered a way of modernising the branch at low cost.The SR's choice eventually fell on Westerham because it was already worked by a single train after the 1955 cutbacks but in the event, of course, none of the railbuses went to the Southern. However, it's another traction possibility for the branch. I think that Heljan have just produced a model of one. Their biggest problem was that they were too light to work track circuits reliably and that would have created problems in getting it back to Tonbridge for refuelling and maintenance once the main line had been resignalled. Mind you, I don't think that any of the lines on which railbuses were tried survived, unless they used one on the Braintree branch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold westerhamstation Posted February 3, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 3, 2014 I hate to be critical about such a wonderful model but there's one thing missing from Brasted. On the bank on the far side of the track, immediately opposite the station building, there used to be a cleared ash-covered patch on which the name "Brasted" was set out using white-painted flints or stones. It was a real feature of the station. I have often thought about sneaking out onto the M25 one dark night and painting it on the carriageway. You can just see it in this picture. I'm not sure it had a border by the end though. In fact, come to think of it, after Brasted became a Halt in 1955 it may have vanished into undergrowth unless the PW gang maintained it. Brasted with O1 1048 on 15th April 1933. (C.R. Gordon Stuart, courtesy Lens of Sutton).jpg Hi Ron, On the grass bank in front of the platform I have flattened an area of about 80mm x 30mm some 20ft x 7ft 6inches in 4mm scale ready for the Brasted sign in pebbles, the only problem I have got with it, is how to do it. At the present I am experimenting with sandpaper sprayed to look like ash and tracing out the brasted sign in pva and covering it in lumps of coarse stone and shaking off the surplus when dry. as you say it was one of those little things but so essential to the finished model. Please let me know when you are going to paint the sign on the road all the best Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronstrutt Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hi Ron, On the grass bank in front of the platform I have flattened an area of about 80mm x 30mm some 20ft x 7ft 6inches in 4mm scale ready for the Brasted sign in pebbles, the only problem I have got with it, is how to do it. At the present I am experimenting with sandpaper sprayed to look like ash and tracing out the brasted sign in pva and covering it in lumps of coarse stone and shaking off the surplus when dry. as you say it was one of those little things but so essential to the finished model. Please let me know when you are going to paint the sign on the road all the best Adrian Back in the days when I used to smoke, I collected jars full of the contents of ashtrays. It looked about right when sprinkled onto a glued surface to represent a engine shed yard or the like. Stank to high heaven, though! Of course, the problem is that ash is gritty looking but very fine grit. My worry is that fine enough sandpaper may look too even. I used to use wet and dry paper for gritted platform surfaces. I can't wait to see what innovative solution you will come up with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold westerhamstation Posted February 3, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 3, 2014 Back in the days when I used to smoke, I collected jars full of the contents of ashtrays. It looked about right when sprinkled onto a glued surface to represent a engine shed yard or the like. Stank to high heaven, though! Of course, the problem is that ash is gritty looking but very fine grit. My worry is that fine enough sandpaper may look too even. I used to use wet and dry paper for gritted platform surfaces. I can't wait to see what innovative solution you will come up with. It's me again, the sign deteriorated over the years the first pic is 1934, the second 1963. I think that i will try to replicate the 1934 version as it has a lot more charm. I think the typeface they have used is pebble light. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 I had done a couple of signs for our layout, it had not occurred to put the station name above the billboards....nice call. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcredfer Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hi Adrian, In days of yore, when cars cost more and beer could be had for 10d ........ I used plimsole whitener from a tube to pick out the stitching on the Gaiter Straps .,... [did I just confess to that??] .. sharpen the end of a matchstick and use the squeezed out whitener, applied with the matchstick. If you keep it thick and don't water it down, it will give you small lumps when dry - and look white too .... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold westerhamstation Posted February 3, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hi Adrian, In days of yore, when cars cost more and beer could be had for 10d ........ I used plimsole whitener from a tube to pick out the stitching on the Gaiter Straps .,... [did I just confess to that??] .. sharpen the end of a matchstick and use the squeezed out whitener, applied with the matchstick. If you keep it thick and don't water it down, it will give you small lumps when dry - and look white too .... Hi Julian, that's a good idea ,will give it try, just going to the cupboard under the stairs to look in the shoe cleaning tin (may be gone for quite a while). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold westerhamstation Posted February 3, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 3, 2014 Well dear reader sometime back I said that I was going to create my own backscene for Brasted Station, using images from Google street view, pieced together in Photoshop and printed onto self adhesive vinyl, slight change of plan I decided to have it printed out onto very good quality paper and fixed to the backscene with PVA. This was printed for me by a company in Telford called Art Printers who make ID Backscenes ( I have no connection with this company other than being a very satisfied customer ) the file was sent on friday afternoon and I received the backscene Saturday morning. It cost no more than buying a ready printed scene. link to there website. http://www.art-printers.com/. First picture is of one of the 10 images that I pieced together. Second Picture is of the printed image before trimming to size. The rest are fairly self explanatory. The scene that you see is pretty much as it would have been when the line was running, as the view is taken from where the platform used to be, but is now the slow lane of the M25 heading west. 7 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted February 3, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 3, 2014 I thought your Westerham station was superb but Brasted is just amazing. One of the best topics on here at the moment. I may be biased as it's in the area I have lived for many years and have driven over the line many times!!! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcredfer Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Hi Adrian, Very good background there. ...... How did you get it to merge with the wall above - so seamlessly? Was that part of the printing process? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I know a lot of people don't rate the back photographs, but the honest truth is they have a significant wow factor, and improve the layout photographs especially of your buildings etc. The art as you have done here is to get the picture correct. In the main you will be the only one who knows that, but as you clearly went to your location, and despite the years of growth in-between times..you now have a facsimile of what the station setting would probably have looked like if the station survived. Nice call, I hope it states up......Jcredfer has some short notes about back scenes worth looking at before purchasing a back scene. David Todd, did his back scene THREE times before he found an orientation that basically gave him a sweet spot so he could photograph his layout and basically match the background to the station - his is still there - at the moment, and he lives nearby so he is somewhat more picky. Kal and I have discussed a visit to Gaothland, although this will occur after the Goathland layout is ready so then we know exactly what we need.....and am considering finding the sweet spot on bogle maps first so we can go get the 'snaps' we need. The world of digital photography......gotta love it. Anyway back to THIS layout.......looking gooooooood... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold westerhamstation Posted February 4, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 4, 2014 Hi Adrian, Very good background there. ...... How did you get it to merge with the wall above - so seamlessly? Was that part of the printing process? Hi Julian, as you can see from the third picture the whole wall had previously been painted with a light blue sky effect, the Google images that I used had quite a grey sky, I knocked that out in photoshop, and replaced it with a light blue as close as I could get to the one that I had painted on the wall. When I came to mount the images instead of cutting it out with a knife along the tree line I ripped the paper about 10mm away from it leaving 10mm of sky. The reason for this was that buy tearing it, it leaves a feathered edge which is far less visible to the eye than a knife cut one and a lot less fidddley than cutting round all the trees and bushes. All the best Adrian. PS It's very dark in the cupboard under the stairs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcredfer Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thanks Adrian, Very interesting and effective ....... although it can't be all that dark under the stairs, given the results you have got ... Once spent quite some time under the stairs, in an RAF Quarter .......... taking a photograph [-old fashioned film] of a document, by use of Time Exposure and a cigarette lighter moved around the document ...... Supposedly a method which could have been exploited by spies, back then ..... Strangely, it worked remarkably well considering .................. and very toadstool in there with the door closed to keep out the light and the space pretty much filled by the same big bloke as was staring at bespoke Corsetry in Lincoln ......... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted February 4, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 4, 2014 (edited) Hi Adrian, I used plimsole whitener from a tube to pick out the stitching on the Gaiter Straps .,... [did I just confess to that??] .. sharpen the end of a matchstick and use the squeezed out whitener, applied with the matchstick. If you keep it thick and don't water it down, it will give you small lumps when dry - and look white too .... How about little blobs of Tipex (typewriter correction fluid) to pick out the name on the ground? Hang on, can you still get Tipex??? What's a typewriter??? Edited February 4, 2014 by DLT 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Popular Post westerhamstation Posted February 4, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Popular Post Share Posted February 4, 2014 Through the bridge to Hogtrough Hill, some pictures of the backscene where it joins the road the other side of the railway bridge. 21 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bagpipes331 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Exquisite!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 The look through, just appears to sail off into the distance, really nicely lined up....remind you of the lion the witch and the wardrobe.....you would never know Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcredfer Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Blimey Adrian .................................. How did you persuade a Google Maps car to go down there ...................... ........... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold westerhamstation Posted February 4, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 4, 2014 Blimey Adrian .................................. How did you persuade a Google Maps car to go down there ...................... ........... Hi Julian, In answer to your question the road was a lot wider till I got my hands on it. Here are 2 pictures one is of the image I used and the other is how it is today. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcredfer Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I think you have a better "Handle" on it than Google, perhaps you should send your pictures to them and complain ........ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pushpull33 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 A friend of mine use to breed finches. He use to put grit in the aviary to help their digestion. Thing is, it was white and very fine. I wondered if this would be any good for the "BRASTED" sign. Perhaps a trip to the pet shop and have a look. Colin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold westerhamstation Posted February 6, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 6, 2014 The white painted stone sign opposite the platform at Brasted Station was a nice feature of this country station and one that needed to be modelled. Just to say that I am really pleased that I am not making a model of a station with a name like Loughborough Junction, or Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch. This sign tested my eyesite, sausage fingers and patience, the vacuum cleaner now sounds like it's full of shrapnel after cleaning up all the little bits of stone chippings that kept flying off out of the tweezers. It's made from a piece of black card covered with pva and some fine grey scatter flattened into the card with a very heavy weight and left to dry.when it was dry I scribed into the scatter with a pencil the text, this had the effect of removing the scatter down to the card. I deliberatey didn't try to be to precise with the text as I didn't think that when it was put down that typography would have been the main consideration. After it had been marked out the groove that was left was filled with Pva and the some very coarse stone chippings that had been given to me ages ago were individually placed in the groove and left to dry. When it was all dry the stones were picked out in white. a hole was cut in the grass bank and the sign glued in place. Many thanks for the suggestions which helped my thinking as to how to replicate the sign. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 you have got that into the 'ground' just right, with the grass around it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted February 6, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 6, 2014 That looks absolutely spot on mate, well done! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
freebs Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Adrian, I think you should set to this with a Sledge Hammer, Chisel and Circular saw, cut it out of the house and take it on tour. This is an absolute masterpiece and just keeps improving with every bit you add to it. The back scene really sets it in place Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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