kev69

I've just put the finishing touches to Dunkerton Colliery Halt. Is it as close to the prototype as possible? I reckon so although I have had to make a few educated guesses here and there. One advantage of a small model like this (36in long) is that is can be easily taken outside in the sunshine for photos.

A couple of photos taken outdoors of a nearly complete model, just some foliage to add to some rather bare looking trees. The 4F is a new weathered Farish model which looks absolutely superb.

The rear of the halt, with work in progress on the backscene. The sky is finished but more to do on the landscape. Looks like a nice summer's day in the Cam Valley.

Wicket gate at the entrance to the halt, I have used brass fencing for the curved railings. There probably was a noticeboard here (and oil lamp) so this is based on the one at Midford Halt, printed on a laserjet printer. Taken before foliage is added to the tress.

This view over the fence is taken from the back of the layout with a temporary unpainted backscene in place. A local source who used the shelter as a pigsty after the line had closed told me it was painted black in later years (probably a bitumen paint to prevent corrosion).

The scenic work is almost done so here are a few more photos although the trees need foliage and the backscene needs painting. The wooden platelayers hut is scratchbuilt mainly from card.

As you say, it's very unlikely the halt had a blue sign, but they do look nice. Given that these were enamel, I wonder if a thin coat of satin or gloss varnish might improve it?

 

On the lighting, the halt probably had the three lights shown on the plan on p66 of Maggs & Beale when built. Compare the photo on p45 of Radford and Timsbury that opened only a year earlier. Despite the clean appearance in the photo on p63, the date given was more than six months before the line re-opened to passengers so the halt was not in use. Perhaps the lights had been taken away during the war after the end of passenger services in 1915?

 

Nick

Cheers for the tip Nick, will give it a go.

Today the station name board was glued into place, and just needs bedding in with some static grass. According to The Camerton Branch book, Camerton station had the early GWR pattern blue enamel sign with white lettering although it is likely Dunkerton CH had a later black & white board. But I thought the blue looks good, so blue it is! The sign was printed on a colour laserjet printer (when the boss wasn't looking...) using 3 and 4 point lettering, then weathered.

And here's another example of the pitfalls of closely modelling an actual location - the official plan shows a gas lamp between the name board and the pagoda shelter although it isn't seen in a photo of the halt when open.

If you are on facebook, and I know many shun it, there as a group called Titfield Thunderbolt Branch-line: Then and now that may be of use to you.

Thanks JZ, I am already a member, and some interesting stuff has come to light.

The white cottage next to the bridge is something of a mystery as it was knocked down in the late 1950's. Last week I was up at the site of the halt taking a few more photos and measurements and I got chatting to an elderly lady who lives nearby, and as luck would have it she said she used to live in the very same cottage and was able to provide some details. So this now means a minor rebuild of the model. It was originally built for the Somerset Coal Canal on which the line was built at Dunkerton colliery. Her family kept pigs in the station pagoda shelter after the line had closed, they also kept the goats which are seen on the lineside in The Titfield Thunderbolt. Chuffed to bits I was!

I'm making the halt's station nameboard which I assumed would have been GWR black with white lettering, but the Camerton Branch book mentions that nearby Camerton station had a blue enamel running in board. Does anyone have any ideas what shade of blue this would have been please?

cheers

I am attempting to model a Titfield train in 2mm scale, it is tricky to tell what colour the 14xx was but I use weathered black. I have seen a photo of a 14xx at Monkton Combe with GWR still on the tanks which suggests it was green. I have scratchbuilt a well wagon for the coach body. The coach body in the film was only a studio prop. I also have a Bedford OB / Aveling & Porter roller and Bullnose Morris in suitable colours, only things missing are the tramway coach and Lion itself...!

The rushes were viewed in the Limpley Stoke mill on the River Avon using water power and lots of complicated electrical hook-up!

A start has now been made with static grass, I prefer pale muted colours hinting at a long hot summer. Further grass will be added to give more texture. The whole lot photographed outside in the sunshine.

Does anyone know where I can 2mm wicket gates?

Another burst of activity lately. The bridge is painted and stuck in place so time to start on the scenery. I decided to try hanging basket liner from the £1 shop for the undergrowth. This looks pretty awful when first stuck down, but heavy trimming after the glue has dried produced a decent looking scenic base. This was then covered with PVA and given a good dose of static grass fibre. I suspect it will need a second dose to build up the texture and cover the bare patches though.

Well that's the bridge completed, just needs painting now. Very tricky to form all those curves but it looks about right, I have used 4mm scale brick plastic sheet though as I find 2mm ones just too small to show up properly.

Has anyone had any success with hanging basket liner as a scenic base? I am trying it for the first time but first impressions are it should look ok when treated with suitable flock fibres or Woodland Scenics etc.

cheers

More progress - the platform is now complete as is the cottage, a fair bit of guesswork seeing as it's been demolished but it's a close match to what photos I have seen. Work has started on the overbridge but there is more to do. I have used 4mm scale brick plasticard as I find the 2mm one easily gets clogged with paint and the detail becomes lost. Very tricky to build due to all the curves but it looks about right.

Sections of the Limpley Stoke & Hallatrow line particularly around Dunkerton were reinforced with dry stone walling which I have replicated here.

Well, 'Kate Plus Ten', filmed in 1937, was the second film made on the branch. The first was 'The Ghost Train', filmed in 1931, featuring a 43XX hauling a mock Cornish Riviera at camerton (renamed Fal Vale for the film), and a Dean Goods hauling the ghost train itself at Camerton and Dunkerton Colliery sidings.

 

Nick

 

ps latest photo captures the original well!

I can remember Kate Plus Ten being shown on tv years many years ago but it doesn't seem available any longer, and I've read that one of the reels of the 1931 Ghost Train has been lost.

The other side of that cottage appears in the Titfield Thunderbolt, unable to post a screenshot from my Blu-ray copy!

Do you mean this one, just in front of the funnel? I never made the connection until now!

A quick update on Dunkerton Colliery Halt. Progress has been a bit slow lately but I'm pleased with the way it mirrors the prototype from this angle. The bridge is only a mock up and a proper scratchbuilt model is the next thing on the to do list. The cottage is a SD Mouldings one which I have spare and will be modified to resemble the actual one in the photo, since demolished so some guess work needed here!

I had already sent these pictures to Kev, but I think they have a place here. All date from the early 70s, before the cutting was filled in. Edited to add - There was a standard GWR wicket gate by the Bridge, it was there, it may still be there, though I note your current picture shows a metal gate.

Dunkerton Colliery Halt 48-1.jpg

dunkerton Colliery Halt pre 10-75.jpg

Dunkerton Colliery Halt.jpg

Tim - the posts made of old rail supporting the wicket gate are still there, now leading to a footpath, but as you say there is now a modern metal gate. On the opposite side of the lane the remains of the wicket gate leading to the colliery footpath are still there.

There was a second movie shot on the branch in the 1930's called Kate plus 10. There are scenes with a GWR mogul and stock on the branch at Dunkerton and at Limpley Stoke.

 

Mike Wiltshire

Yes, but it doesn't seem available on DVD etc although I can remember it being shown on tv many years ago.

Looks good Kev, the topography around the halt and bridge looks particularly convincing. Is there any way you could rearrange the backscene at the colliery end which hides the fiddle yard. Right angles in backscenes never look good, particularly convex ones -  throwing all sorts of strange shadows. Could it not have a gentle curve with some of the colliery buildings being used as view blockers to help disguise the fiddle yard. I think that it would pay huge dividends visually.

 

Jerry 

Thanks Jerry. I know what you mean about right angle backscenes and have given this careful thought.... Given the small size of the layout I don't have much choice with the front corner of the fiddle yard but this will be disguised with possibly a colliery chimney or other structure. Other corners though will be rounded a little if possible.

Kev

From my own map collection and those on www.old-maps.co.uk, I reckon that building on the corner of the bridge must have been demolished by 1958. i.e. very soon after the second photo in the Middleton Press book (if their date is correct).

 

Nick

cheers Nick for the info, very useful.

Kev

Progress so far. The halt and bridge will be modelled closely on the prototype, the area to the right of the bridge will be freelance but based on buildings at Dunkerton Colliery. Scenery construction is my usual method of polystyrene shaped with sandpaper (a messy business, keep a vacuum cleaner handy....) covered with papier mache. The topography of the site is rather tricky to model, being built into the side of a steep hill, and there is still much to do to get it looking right. The flat area on the left is for the platelayer's hut, the Somerset Coal Canal had earlier crossed the site at this point.

Old photos show a house or some such building adjacent to the bridge but there is no trace of it today, this SD Mouldings cottage will become The Boatman pub which once stood at the other end of the colliery site. Track is Peco code 55 already primed ready for weathering. The backscene around the fiddle yard is fixed in place but the remaining backscenes will be removeable for photographic purposes.

hi Jerry,

Cheers for the reply and info, anything you can glean on the station will be much appreciated.

Highbury Colliery is certainly an inspirational model, you might have seen my own Mallingford in Model Rail - based loosely on the Camerton branch? But now I want to model an actual location and do a bit better. Sorry though, it is N gauge....

I am interested in ruined industrial archaeology and will depict the halt intact although rather run-down, with a representation of derelict colliery buildings, and maybe a hint of the Titfield Thunderbolt which was partly filmed in the colliery sidings. All this in 42 x 8in....

thanks again,

Kev