George Hudson

Just posting a mini update. Things do not look wildly different partly because I have been busy with the “devilish details†and partly because the spare room has been occupied by Xmas guests. I am just about to start the first (simplest) of the two roof sections. I have some basic idea but expect that it will be developed with the inevitable compromises as we progress. In the meantime some shots using my daughter’s new birthday camera.

Regards

Andrew

PS still hoping someone will get in touch with the Liverpool Street photos from the 60s which I was offered.

I can't offer and specialist knowledge or tips about the area, only my admiration for the feel of the layout so far. The generous proportions of the platforms give it real authenticity. There are so many good layouts on the forum but this will be certainly one that will keep my interest, for the next 4 years!

Andrew

Thanks for the feedback guys.

This is rather puzzling; when I looked at the site from the office, one member had written offiering me some original photos which he had taken from the 60s/70s. Now that I am home, this message seems to have disappeared. Did I dream this or perhaps there was a glich in the server?

I can’t believe how much time I spent this weekend lining arches with brick paper. It does look better and had to be done before the sides of the station are fixed into place. In the past too hasty assembly has meant finishing off by working at odd angles and into unreachable places; rather like putting a ship in a bottle.

I started to think that a second ticket office at platform level could be good but also realise that those bubbles in the brick paper have to be sorted out and the inner arches “which probably no one will see†(quote from Mrs GH) also need to be finished first.

A shot behind the scenes for the curious to show just how Heath Robinson my “methods†are.

For those interested in my small project, I thought I would post a few shots. I feel a bit of a fraud since there doesn’t look like much progress and that’s because there isn’t but the details are building up. I have started a simple booking office following the one which was situated one of the mainline platforms at Liverpool Street but at Aldersgate I have located it on the upper walkway as a feature.

Andrew

Just a short update. As you can see I have opted for mixing architectural styles and have incorporated a facade which is a nod to the back of the Great Eastern Hotel (see earlier in thread). That expanse of brick over the doors and windows will contain a large board or stone lettering with “Greater Eastern Hotel†or something similar. I have painted the downstairs doors green in what I believe is the remnants of an LNER colour scheme and have assumed that the hotel doors are painted GER blue for nostalgic reasons!

The whole back wall is in six separate pieces and I will not finally glue it all together to keep access easy as I add further details.

That’s all for now.

Andrew

I said.....

The proportions for the offices etc are ripped from some plans on, I think, Ipswich pubished in the GER Soc Journal. When I find the originals I will give full credit to the authour of the excellent plans.

So much for my memory, the plans were of Hertford East in an article by Dave Taylor in the British Railway Journal, Special Great Eastern Edition, published by Wild Swann. Now, if I wasn't doing Aldersgate, I would like to attempt Hertford East; it's a sort of GER answer to Peter Denny's famous Buckingham Great Central.

Andrew

Hello all,

Just a very quick update to show the direction of the ideas for the back wall. The basic thinking is that this is the back of a Great Eastern Hotel with exits to the street at high level as well as entry to the hotel itself. At platform level there are sundry offices and a large pedestrian/vehicle exit. The high level is about 6-10 feet higher than the original in Liverpool Street but I have done this on purpose to give the whole structure more air.

The proportions for the offices etc are ripped from some plans on, I think, Ipswich pubished in the GER Soc Journal. When I find the originals I will give full credit to the authour of the excellent plans.

Andrew

Excellent, thanks!

I am making progress with the end wall of the station which is following the design in the second of the pictures above. I will post when I have something reasonable but I just realised that I have no idea what colours the doors and windows of the booking office, waiting rooms etc are painted!

Would anyone know what these colours would be in Liverpool Street station around 1955?

Andrew

Thanks to everyone for their input and kind comments.

Oldud’: your point about comparisons is true of course but in my defence I guess that I am often so impressed with others that I want to share them in case the link has been missed. I’ll get off that track now since otherwise it looks like one is endlessly fishing for compliments.

The general feedback has certainly motivated me to push forward and I will probably go offline and try to tackle the devil and hopefully delight in the detail. As a last shot for now the link below to the GERsociety website shows the ultimate Liverpool Street buffers shot from 1922. I just want to add 30 years or so. (I am not sure about copywrite hence the link and not picture)

http://www.gersociety.org.uk/

The next main tasks will be

A the end wall which could look like one of the two pictures below which I took recently and

B the former station managers office on stilts which is just peeking out in the 1922 picture.

At the same time I will be adding more detail to the existing walls including some hopefully plausible columns for the coming roof.

Regards

Andrew

 

Oh dear. You have raised the bar more than somewhat. Why is it that experts always make it look so easy?

 

PB

Thanks but I am just an old school brickpaper and cardboard bloke with a few composition ideas!

Andrew

PS there are a lot of premier league players on this site eg http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/12234-diesels-in-the-duchy-aka-st-blazey-dcc-em/ being just one that leaves me in awe of their modelling skills!

Hi

I thought that would do a quick photo update since I have managed to snatch a few hours and make some progress. As you can see the main tracks are down on the first board and look suitably filthy to represent 80 years of steam operation! Apologies also for the quality of the photos.

I think the scale is right and the station has a suitable level of grandeur even if it is only on a 50cm wide board. Although I am a fan of brickpapers, the jury is out on the paving stones. They might have to become tarmac in the future. This would fit better with the platform profile since I have opted for no lip which would fit better with a later re modeled platform surface.

Andrew

Thanks for the comments chaps; it’s always great to have some feedback.

Ian,

I am afraid it is mostly cardboard and disposable DIY knives. The upright columns are some bits of Ikea shelf units which were surplus to requirements. I used the angle irons rather than screwing and gluing from beneath the boards (which would have been more elegant) for several reasons: nothing I build is ever perfectly square so this gives me the opportunity to re align them fractionally, and believing in Murphy’s Law, I expect that they will get knocked about when moving the boards and again, this way they can be re set without too many tears.

I am going to make it so the sides are always removable for easy access, another painful lesson learned over the years.

I was the last person in the world to discover foam board, the electricity building is made from cornflake packets. I guess I am part of the Blue Peter generation (d.o.b 1959!)

Markus,

it’s 00, not N like Stratham. When is IoS on tour again?

http://en.wikipedia....i/George_Hudson

Ian,

spot on re colour; as I have said before, it currently owes more to the station after its makeover and as you rightly say it will need to be black at the end. This will be a challenge for me but there’s some good advice on RMWeb about weathering brickpapers and I will have to practice.

Andrew

(expectations management: progress will be slow even snail like compared with many on this site!)

And just to show that I can't stop messing about, here is the front of the electricity building on Bishopsgate which will be part of board 2!!

I thought I would write a quick update particularly for those who took the trouble to give me some input previously.

I have made a strategic decision to relocate the layout from the loft which I considered just broad enough for me to operate but on reflection too narrow a space in which to build a layout without a lot of (or more than usual amount) of frustration and swear words.

The other decision has been not to wait until track laying on every board is completed before progressing onto scenic areas but to treat the project as a modular layout which means that I can enjoy doing buildings and scenery on a board by board basis: it’s supposed to be fun at the end of the day!

With this in mind, I have started on the key board which will be the base for the main station building and will develop this as a diorama to be connected to the full layout in due course.

Here are some basic shots to kick off with.

Andrew

Hi George, you can see Minories here:

http://www.carendt.u...e85b/index.html

great, thanks

I think the classic trackplan for this sort of layout in this area is Cyril Freezer's Minories, set only a short walk away, as you will know. I don't have a copy to hand, but someone may point you to a legitimate source. I think the Aldersgate name disappeared from the original Met station more than 30 years ago when the Barbican development reached serious proportions, and no doubt the City Fathers & LT wished to hype the station's proximity. John Betjeman was moved to write a poem at the time, bemoaning the loss of various old features - the City will have approved their demise, no doubt. Now Thameslink no longer serves the station, either.

 

I don't care what medium you use for your brickwork - the result is stunning, as has been said. This forum has several modellers using brickpaper to such good effect that one wonders whether embossed brick sheets will fall from favour!

 

As for scissors crossovers, I recall much breast-beating about the perpetuation of such a layout when Fenchurch St was remodelled in the early '90s. The maintenance issues and ultra-high reliability required in such locations make them a slightly iffy choice in the prototype. '50s Jazz operations would have had the same priorities, certainly.

Thanks, I have seen this referred to many times on the forum and will try to get this plan. I've got plenty of time to mull things over since I am only half way there with the boards.

That facade looks magnificent.

That's kind, it's supposed to be inspired by Liverpool street rather than a copy but perhaps it's inspired more by the modern version than the original!

The whole thing is a very long oval. I have now completed one curved end and am working my way down the other side where the fiddle yard will be situated. It now looks a little less like the "world's longest plank".

Will post some pictures but recognise that other people's woodwork is far from riveting unless it's the often superiour kind seen on this forum: mine is more servicable than elegant!

Andrew

Aldersgate

The following is an updated version of a post which I made some time ago on the old RMWeb . Since that post I have done most of the woodwork for the main boards and am working my way around the loft to finish. There is a bit of cutting and pasting in the description below so apologies if it doesn??™t read perfectly. I am particularly looking for help with the track plan at this stage but all comments welcome. (please note I am an infrequent visitor so if I don't reply quickly it is not because I don't value to advice)

The layout is inspired by Liverpool St Station in London, the main terminus of the GER. As you might guess, I grew up in East London and hence Liverpool Street was my principal influence as a mainline terminus.

The idea is to model a corner of a larger terminus giving the possibility for mainline services without the need to show a full main line station itself plus the necessary extensive carriage sidings and locomotive facilities etc. Anything inconvenient or just too large takes place ???offstage???. Being GER in London, suburban services are a must.

Like Liverpool St the track is below street level and the main view of the railway is as if the observer is at track level. Hence there are retaining walls at the back but none at the front to hide the action. It will be as if one is looking from the current Bishopsgate side into what is left of the station after development and ignoring the fact that the lines which were once in the Eastern train shed now run under part of the Bishopsgate office development.

Apologies for the diagram quality,

I don??™t really know much about track plans: just what I have absorbed over the years without particularly studying the topic. Adrian/???Buckjumper??? sketched me a small plan and I have tried to keep true to this as I have developed the above. I wanted to have platforms either side of the suburban tracks but instead opted for generous platform widths to give the final version a spacious feel. I guess my main concern is that all platforms are accessible for incoming and outgoing trains so the obvious answer is two scissors crossing at the end of each platform per the original. These are not available in Peco 75 and I don??™t want to mix track systems.

The train movements are quite simple: lots of suburban trains and one or two expresses/ fast on platform 1+2. Goods are really confined to the import of coal into the spurs with typical primitive GER coaling stages. I might have the odd parcels on no. 4 platform since this is open to a service road but of course it??™s not a proper parcels depot.

There will be a large station canopy not unlike the Western train shed (the only one remaining now) at Liverpool Street. I am going to make this out of 5mil plexiglass as a basis to its very strong for lifting on an off.

Trackwork will be Peco fine scale and using whenever possible long radius points. The ideal thing about using a terminus (which is not a terminus) is that one can be fairly relaxed about facing points and other no-nos on a mainline. Electrics will be digital, which will be an entirely new area.

Although shown straight, the scene will really be a gentle ???S??? curving first to the right in the second half of the platforms taking the tracks to the front of the board and then curving to the left away before entering the back scene under another bridge.

There will lots of compromises ad cheats because life is too short and my modeling skills too limited. For example; ideally I would set it pre WWI but availability of readily made items means my second period of choice mid 1950s make more sense. In another life I would also model the original Bishopsgate terminus of the Eastern Counties Railway!

A major cheat will be that the terminus is not a terminus at all but will continue on below some sturdy footbridge and go on to turn the layout into a continuous oval so that I can give trains a run and sometimes simply sit back and relax. My file of ???inspirational photos??? which I have used to help develop a mental plan of the layout contains a shot of platform 1/2 under whose footbridge the line appears to continue. At one time it was intended that there could be a link with the Metropolitan Railway but this was never carried out.

The layout is a long and thin (baseboards 50cm wide with a total length on the scenic part of about 7.5metres) because that is the shape of the loft which I have available with a steep sloping roof which necessitates that the baseboards be about 60cm off the ground to ensure that I have at least 1meter radius curves at each end. There is not one square surface in my house and so the whole thing is on a crude but effective floating support system.

Buildings around the layout will be scratch built to represent those in the Bishopsgate area or I will use chopped-about kits. The construction will be traditional card and brickpaper which whilst it has its disadvantages is the method with which I am comfortable and I don??™t want to struggle with new techniques in such a large project. I will attempt a few crude sketches to illustrate certain view which I am looking for but I anticipate that these will not be finalised until I have the boards up and I can play with some mock ups of buildings and photocopied points to sort out the final position of the track work.

All comments and references to source material would be most welcome. I particular, I would welcome hints on track plans or even full planning suggestion if anyone is that enthusiastic.

George Hudson