Having completed the platform I wanted to see how it looked on the baseboard so withdrew this from under Blagdon (a task that requires our back door to be open). I've taken a photo as below but please ignore the backdrop of cleaning materials and paint brushes.
Photos of course show up any flaws and I have corrected the leaning milk churn. The slightly wonky fishplate needs a little more work. Although out of focus you might notice the wooden lean to attached to the side of the station building. The fencing was Microstrip and is a good match for the original. The other point worth noting is the nameboard. I used the posts from a commercial item but the nameboard itself was constructed from Plasicard. The broad surround might look odd but follows the prototype. The Slaters letters (not quite in line!) do not match GWR running in board lettering. I recollect etched brass letters closer to the font used were available at one time but not it seems now.
I'm quite pleased with the trackwork which illustrates a feature rarely modelled, flat bottom track in sidings. On many branch lines chaired bullhead rail replaced the original flat bottom rail secured to the sleepers with spikes but this was usually done on the running lines only. Sidings, which had far less use, were more often than not left as they were. Oddly Blagdon retained flat bottom track to the end but with stone ballast. The Golden Valley line was upgraded to chaired bullhead but with inferior ash ballast.
The gardens were a feature of Westbrook, as indeed they were at Blagdon, and both seemed to have been made in the same way. The beds were edged with large stones, the ones on Westbrook came from sieved sharp sand (also called Thames grit) which has small stones within the sand. Whislt doing this I came across a tiny shell fossil which of course found a place in the flower bed. The layout of seats and lamp posts is taken from photographs although it seems that sometimes the seat migrated to the front of the building.
The platform was edged with the familiar blue bricks with a diamond pattern set upright. I used a diamond pattern Plasticard for the top and ridged for the edge. The latter does not look completely correct but captures the look that would be hard to reproduce otherwise (the only way would be to cut each brick individually and I'm not doing that!).
The scenery will be poystyrene blocks glued to the wooden frame of the baseboard. I was partcularly keen to keep weight to a minimum so only the trackwork is on a MDF base. As Westbrook was sited on fairly open land the backscene is going to be particularly difficult. At Blagdon a long line of "GWR firs" provided a very effective visual stop.
Once I've got a little more done I'll keep readers updated but in the meantime having acquired a second-hand copy of the comprehensive HMRS publication "All about Iron Minks" it will give me the opportunity to take a closer loook at my minks and see if any further detailing is required.
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