ParkeNd

This section of the RMWeb has gone a bit quiet, so if everyone is not really hibernating until Spring here are some photos to look at taken on the penultimate day of the Mince Pie Specials 2014.

It was cold!!

We have no reduction in the number of birds feeding in the garden. But we do live in the country and have mature shrubs and trees to afford them protection from predators as opposed to having the new kind of concrete, brick, patio/deck, and no vegetation type garden.

I would love to see a Class 22 at DFR again. The new build is great news and I am just off to look at the website. My N gauge Dapol Class 22 on my Parkend layout is D6320 chosen because I found on the internet the super Martin Wynne photos without knowing who took them. I also used that same series of photos to scratch build the three sheds surrounding the Forestry Commision big shed and to have a go at scratch building the house (now demolished and rebut) next to the Stationmasters House. I'm glad I found this thread. Martin 's photos have been a massive help - but colour would have been really great!!

Another couple of views of the layout.

The layout has had more detail work done on it - not finished yet but here are a few pictures taken in the past week. Be gentle - this is a first time beginners layout in N gauge.

Now mostly finished except for minor details

A couple of views taken ay layout board level.

A bit of iPhone video for a change. The final module of the scenic construction can be seen on the left hand side - this is the terrain being modified from pan flat.

http://youtu.be/Q5rvm1RIvEA

One little thing that you may/may not have realised. The building known by many as the 'Fire Station', outside of which you have a rather fine Dennis engine got it's name as it was where the Forestry Commission kept their 'fire engine', a trailer to be towed behind a Land Rover. The goods shed is the only remaining original S&W building left.

 

Tony Comber,

 

Just back from a day in the restoration shed at the Norchard. The wagon we've been rebuilding (corragated end 5 plank) will be put on display in the yard at Parkend when not required for photo charters.

Thanks for the info about the fire engine. Land Rovers I have in N gauge but something like the trailer you mention, presumably with a Coventry Climax engine, would be a real find.

Yes, I concur, I 'got' the location straight away. A very nice layout, to boot, with some excellent scratchbuilt structures. Lovely.

Thank you for your kind comments. Over the past year I have learned my Parkend history and staff at the Dean Field Centre and the current owner of the Station Masters House have helped fill in undocumented gaps.

Smashing layout and instantly recognisable - was in the pub opposite railway cottages with Pierre Le Brun a couple of weekends ago, the line of the track to Marsh Sidings can still be determined.

 

And they are a friendly bunch on the DFR too.

 

Phil

Thanks Phil. I have photographed the Marsh Wharf site several times recently and it is quite easy to see where everything was as you say.

Definitely Parkend!

 

The tall building just over the level crossing from the station was (is?) a field studies centre for the former Avon CC (maybe others?) - I had a couple of jolly trips there more years ago than I care to remember!

The building you mention still is the Dean Field Studies Centre owned by Bristol City Council. Before that it was the Woodman's College, and was converted from the Engine House of the iron works. When I built it one of the staff measured all the ceiling heights for me because the floors are all different heights. Building the fire escape was an act of insanity on my behalf but it worked.

The two photos. Easy.

The first is from the station footbridge looking towards Whitecroft with the Station Masters garden to the right and the line from the Marsh Wharf coming in from the right.

The second is from the right hand side of the Marsh Wharf sidings looking back towards Railway Cottages.

Nice old pictures.

The station building is new it's true. But it seems identical to the original judging from 1922 pictures which still have the huge chimney in place. The signal box is no longer in the right place nor is it the original - but I have put it in the right place on the layout. My signal box is the only kit building on the layout so doesn't have the steps at the back of it.

Living just outside the Forest boundaries and working in the Forest for 10 years means the area is very familiar. But the interest in the trains comes from visiting Parkend regularly and reading the books I bought from the brilliant bookshop in the DFR museum at Norchard. Standing at the crossroads in Parkend I realised that the village used to be the ideal model railway layout. There was no need to invent anything fictitious since it had all existed for real and was either perfectly documented or DFR had restored parts of it. N gauge is perfect for recreating the village landscape as well as the railway. Several people who live and work in Parkend have helped me to fill in the gaps.

I have built the layout in modules - one area at a time virtually to completion before moving onto the next area.

This is my current module where I am attempting to re-create the lorry shed and the semi bungalow demolished after about 1966. Needs painting, detailing, and planting to complete this module.

Only been to Parkend once on the DFR so sadly it was not instantly recognisable. Is this the original track layout? No matter, its a very fine N gauge layout.

 

Brian.

Hi Brian. The track plan is what existed in 1920 because it makes a good train set. The lines into the iron works went first, but the track across the road up to the Marsh Wharf was in use up to 1972.