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Mikkel

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  1. Mikkel

    GWR stables (1): Towards an overview

    By Mikkel,


    Structures
    The following are my notes on GWR stable blocks – a subject that does not seem to have received much attention. I am about to build one for Farthing, and have noticed various style differences that may be of interest to others.
     

    Chipping Norton stables in 1983. Built 1904. Rebuilt with end doors to serve as a garage, but otherwise it features the main elements of the "archetype" standard design, ie "hit and miss" vents in windows and above doors, and those characteristic boxy roof vents. Image copyright and courtesy Alan Lewis.
     
    I first became interested in GWR stables some years ago, and received some very helpful advice and material from several RMwebbers on here. Many thanks gents! However, I wanted to obtain an overview of the designs of stables built by the GWR, and this proved tricky. While there are a number of drawings and photos in various books and line histories, I couldn’t find an actual overview anywhere (or have I missed it?). Janet Russell's wonderful "Great Western Horse Power" comes closest with a handful of selected GWR plans and descriptions, but no attempt to provide an overview of the different styles. Vaughan’s "Great Western Architecture" and Stephen Williams’ "GWR Branchline Modelling vol 2" have a few pictures and drawings each.
     
     

    The stable block at Uxbridge Vine Street, illustrating how stables were sometimes located well away from the center of stations, although usually they would be found near the yard entry/exit. Source: Britain from above. Embedding permitted.
     
    So I have tried to make my own overview. Please note that this isn't based on extensive archival research or a systematic review of the various line histories. I have used a few key books and what others have shared.
     
    I first divided the stable blocks into three overall types:
    * The standard design, with 3 major permutations
    * The small "ad hoc" designs, sometimes inherited
    * The very large designs for major goods depots
     
    In the following I focus especially on the standard designs.
     
    The standard designs
     
    Various books refer to the emergence of a "standard" design of stable blocks around the turn of the century. However, looking at drawings and photos I realized that there were detail differences in this design, which could be divided into 3 main “styles”. Two immediate caveats:
    Most of what I have found seems to have been built from approximately the 1890s to grouping. I have not found evidence of standard designs before this time, but that may just be my lack of information. Little seems to have been built after grouping as horses were disappearing, but many stables remained in use for other purposes long after that. Although I identify 3 main styles, there also seem to have been hybrids and possibly also “retro-fitting”. So rather than seeing the three styles as entirely different designs, it is probably better to see them as different expressions of a standard design that evolved over time.
    The standard designs were single-story and followed classic GWR style features, i.e. red brick structures with blue engineering bricks around doors and at corners. The main style differences were in the ventilation, windows and doors.
     
    Sizes differed widely across the same style, from a few stalls to 20+. The footprint was simply stretched in length to accommodate the necessary no. of stalls (thanks for pointing that out, Ian). They were mostly rectangular, although there are one or two examples with a V or U shaped footprint to fit in the surroundings. In the following I have used sketches of quite large stable blocks to illustrate the styles, as they are of particular interest to me at the moment - but the same styles could be found across different sizes.
     
    STYLE A “Simple”
    Plain stable doors and sash windows with 3x4 panes. Limited ventilation. No roof-mounted louvred vents, no vents in doors and windows. Examples: Uxbridge Vine Street, Castle Cary. I’m having trouble dating this style, but my theory is that it is the earliest expression of the standard designs, because it pays so little attention to ventilation.
     
     

    My reproduction of the GWR drawing of Uxbridge Vine Street, illustrating Style A. An attractive option for the modeller who doesn't want to model the complicated ventilation seen on other types. Based on the original GWR drawing in Russel's "GWR Horse Power", which also has a drawing of the smaller stable block at Castle Cary to the same design.
     
    STYLE B “Archetype”
    Classic boxy louvred roof vents. Stable doors have “hit and miss” vents above, while windows have the same vents below a 3x3 glazing pattern. Examples: Abingdon, Chipping Norton (see header photo), Westbury, Hayes (original), Hayle, Park Royal, Thame, Little Somerford. Again there are dating difficulties. Chipping Norton’s stable was built in 1904. Westbury was totally rebuilt in 1901, so maybe the stable is from that date? Park Royal doesn’t seem to have been developed until the late 1900s.
     
     

    Park Royal, illustrating the archetypical features of Type B.
     
    STYLE C “Later”
    Stable doors have 2 rows of small windows/lights above doors, main windows are 4x5 panes. No vents in doors and windows, but large roof vents that are flatter and longer than the classic style. Examples: Weston-Super-Mare, extension block at Hayes, and the unidentified large new stable block in Russel's Great Western Horsepower p. 209-210. I’m calling this the “later” style because (i) the roof vent design seems more modern and functional and (ii) the original block at Hayes was style B design, but when it was extended (no date) the new blocks were to style C.
     
     

    Weston-Super-Mare, illustrating what I call Type C. Twenty stalls is a lot, there weren't many stables this big.
     
     

    A much smaller version of Type C. This 5-stall block was erected to extend the existing Type B block at Hayes & Harlington. A comparison with Weston-Super-Mare shows that the style is the same, and was simply shortened or stretched according to need.
     
    HYBRIDS/REBUILDS
    One or two stables I have seen could be hybrids between the main permutations. However, this is confused by the fact that (i) stables may have been retrofitted with new ventilation by the GWR, and (ii) stables were often rebuilt when no longer used for horses, and so latter day photos may confuse. For example, the latter day photos of Witney (built 1905) show windows like a Style A, but with the boxy roof vents of a Style B. However, the stable block was rebuilt to house motor lorries, and a closer look at the photos suggests to me that the windows and doors did originally have vents, but were replaced/modified (ie it is a rebuilt style B). The stable block at Minehead is more tricky, as described in the caption below.
     

     
    The preserved stable block at Minehead. As seen here it would seem like a Style A, but an earlier hand-drawing (not GWR) shows it with hit-and-miss vents in the windows, suggesting a Style B - except that the drawing does not show vents above the door or on the roof. Were they removed before the drawing was made (when the end doors were installed, for example), or was Minehead a hybrid? Shared under Creative Commons license. Attribution: Chris Osment/West Somerset Railway.
     
    Non-standard designs
     
    This included "all the rest", worthy of a whole study in themselves, but broadly speaking:
     
    Ad Hoc small designs
    A number of usually small, non-standard ad hoc stables, typically built during the early years, and often by independent companies. In some locations, the GWR simply hired space in a building for the local shunting horse with private individuals. Examples: Henley-in Arden, Princetown (built ca 1910), or how about Camborne!
     
    Very large and unique designs
    Very large stables for the major goods depots, including (i) single-story designs such as Hockley, (ii) two-story designs, rare but see Handsworth & Smethwick (and Paddington originally) and (iii) in a league of its own, Paddington Mint.
     

    The stables at Paddington Mint. Copyright Getty Images, embedding permitted.
     
    So those are my notes for now. Many thanks to all who have provided info and allowed use of photos so far. I am hoping that this will also bring new insights to light from others, as I have probably only scratched the surface.
     
    Edit: For further notes, see this blog entry.
     
     
  2. Mikkel
    On Twitter today:
     


     
     
     


     
     
     


     
     
    Anyway, enough fooling around. The wagon sheets (aka tarpaulins) seen in these photos are the preliminary results of experiments with aluminum foil. My original plan was to go the whole hog with cords and ropes etc, but as I started fitting sheets to my wagons I got cold feet. My wagons are nothing special but I like to look at them, and here I was covering them up!
     
     
     

     
    So as a compromise I have decided - at least for the time being - to go for removable “shells” made from 0.05 mm aluminum foil and a paper skin, as seen above. The foil is self-supporting and maintains the shape, so the sheets do not need an actual load beneath them. This means I can add and remove them as I please. They can also be exchanged across different wagons of similar dimensions.
     
     
     

     
    I initially used pre-primed foil for military modellers from Dio-Dump, but then found that I could buy the "raw" foil here in Denmark and prime it myself. Incidentally I also tried ordinary kitchen foil, which is thinner and therefore easier to fold, but it is also more fragile and less self-supporting than the 0,05 mm stuff.
     
     
     

     
    I first tried using transfers directly on the foil as seen here (details in my workbench thread), but making the transfers was a bit time-consuming and they proved difficult to weather.
     
     
     

     
    So instead I printed the designs onto ordinary printer paper, gave them a coat of varnish and glued them to the foil with a thin layer of PVA. The designs are appropriate for the 1900s and were originally drawn up by Ian – thanks again Ian!
     
     
     

     
    The sheets were then folded and “massaged” into shape, and given an oily but not too shiny look. This was done by applying 3-4 layers of matt varnish, brushed over with weathering powders when each coat was almost dry (hence the mess!). Perhaps this technique could also be used to give the popular ready-made sheets from Smiths a less “paper”-like look.
     
     
     

     
    Photos show that in general the sheets were more “loose” than one might think. They also show that at the ends, the top was usually (but not always) folded down first, with the side flaps folded down outside that. The foil-plus-paper combo does add thickness to the sheets, so folding them naturally is not always easy and requires patience.
     
     
     

     
    Above are the sheets fitted to two 5-plank Opens to diagram O4, the first GWR designs to feature sheet rails. The sheets look older than the wagons, I always overdo the weathering! The biggest compromise is of course that the sheets have no cords or ropes. For the time being I’m prepared to accept this in return for the ability to add and remove the sheets as I please. My excuse is that the sheets were normally tied down with short thin cords, which can be hard to see in prototype photos. Actual roping was only used on particularly tall or bulky loads.
     
    Even so, the method is obviously a compromise and I may return to these experiments later to see what can be improved. For now I’m a bit tired of wagon sheets though. And politics. Plus, we still don't know the secrets of GWR wagon red. The livery instructions can't be found. I bet the Chinese have them. James, got a minute?
     

  3. Mikkel
    Here’s an update on Farthing – and some new ideas.
     
     
     

     
    The “biscuit” and “jam” sheds have been painted and are ready to embed on the layout. The buildings are an attempt to hint at the past railway history of the area. They were originally built for the old N&SJR terminus at Farthing, which was alongside the Great Western station. When the GWR swallowed up the N&SJR, it kept the buildings and used them as loading and distribution facilities for the town’s booming industries.
     
     
     

     
    This backstory to the buildings is inspired by Witney and Stratford on Avon, where early passenger stations were also redeployed as goods facilities, for blankets and beer respectively.
     
     
     

     
    End view of the biscuit shed (not yet embedded).
     
     
     

     
    The track and chairs have finally been painted. I’ve tried to capture the effect of disappearing sleepers, but it hasn’t worked quite as I hoped. I’ve decided to live with it, but I won’t use this method again.
     
     
     

     
    Nothing like a cozy layout session to forget the cold light of day for a moment
     
    Then I started hearing voices:
     
     
    I was never a Reagan fan, but this particular advice seemed sensible enough, and so I took his cue....
     
     
     

     
    What you see above is two layouts positioned next to each other, with the backscenes removed. The current “sidings” layout is in the foreground, and the goods depot layout is behind it.
     
     
     

     
    The concept for Farthing has always been to build different parts of the same station on separate, self-contained layouts. But I must admit that this little experiment has whetted my appetite for joining the layouts together, in modular fashion.
     
     
     

     
    With such an approach, each layout would still be self-contained, but could then also be joined to form a larger layout. It wouldn't require much remedial work. The traverser could be moved to the right hand end of the sidings (nearest the camera), and the track extended accordingly, perhaps with an extra point or two for operational interest. A future module could fill the “gap” on the right. The whole thing would fit on my writing desk.
     
    Let’s see. For the time being I’ll finish one end of the sidings as planned, and then make some decisions.
  4. Mikkel
    Here's a summary of my latest build, an agricultural merchant’s warehouse, inspired by this prototype.





    As has become my habit I've modelled all doors open to allow for…





    ...see-through opportunities.





    That approach does mean that the interior walls and framing have to be indicated - don’t look too closely though!





    I used Will’s corrugated iron sheets for the main walls. They are rather thick so I fitted sliding doors on the outside to conceal the thickness. The windows seen here were my first attempt…





    …but I ended up using this technique instead, after good advice from Richard of this parish (thanks Richard!). The glazing material was scored and painted black, and when touch-dry the excess paint was wiped off.





    This gave a much finer result as appropriate for this type of building, seen here on the right with the original effort on the left.





    The timber staging was built from stripwood, while the main deck is from model shipbuilders' decking. Oddly it seems that the latter is not easily available in the UK, though we have it here in Denmark.





    For the lettering I used a plain alphabet sheet from Fox. The Cheeryble Brothers appear as merchants in Nicholas Nickleby.





    I browsed the web for agricultural adverts and worked on them in Paintshop Pro to change perspective etc. For the time being they have just been printed on paper and varnished, but our printer isn’t quite up to it so I’m having them printed on proper photo paper instead. Thanks for the help and tips with this from Southernboy, Ian, Rob and others. I’ve put the adverts in a Flickr album here in case anyone has use for them (not to scale).





    The roof is Slater's corrugated iron sheets, cut into individual sections and stuck onto a base sheet. Rather than overlaying the sheets, I pushed each sheet slightly up and above the edge of the adjoining one, thereby hoping to indicate an overlap but avoiding the thickness.





    I slimmed the edges of the sheets with a scalpel. The slight size variation of the sheets is deliberate.





    The trimmed Slater’s sheet next to the Will’s sheet. BTW I got several other good suggestions for corrugated roof options, including H0 aluminium sheets on ebay (thanks Pete) and some intereresting looking Redutex types. May try these later.





    So, a rather long story for a seemingly simple structure. I learnt a lot from this build though, and many thanks to the many RMwebbers who provided input!
  5. Mikkel

    GWR 1854 Saddle Tank (2)

    By Mikkel,

    My GWR 1854 ST is now done. To recap, this is a much modified Finecast body on a Bachmann chassis.





    My original plan was to find an acrylic spray paint that gave a suitable representation of the pre-1928 green. When that failed, I was recommended the Belton bottle green which has the RAL code used for landrover green. However, while this and some of the others looked fine outside in the sun, they all looked wrong under my layout lights.





    So in the end I reverted to good old brush painting. Not my best effort but I can live with it.





    Lining is HMRS Pressfix. I never use the preprinted shapes as they rarely fit. Instead I cut out individual bits and piece them together.





    I know some people do not like Pressfix. Personally I feel that it gives good flexibility and leaves no traces of film.





    The number plates are from Narrow Planet. You enter the number you need on their website and receive the plates pre-painted. We have it easy these days. No. 1853 is for a future model of an 1813 class.





    I was going to fit a cab sheet, but on the photos I have of 1854s none actually have a cab sheet, so unless further evidence turns up I’ll leave it off. The fire irons are the Springside set for tank locos.





    Incidentally, I saw this nice fire irons fret by DJM on Mark’s blog, and ordered some from Kernow. They turned out to be a bit too long for this particular loco, but will find use on my 3232 class.





    So here she is messing about on the new layout. In my defence, there is progress at the other end of it!
  6. Mikkel

    A shed and a lock-up

    By Mikkel,


    Structures
    I’ve scratchbuilt some more buildings for Farthing.
     
     
     

     
    First up is this small goods shed, adapted from a prototype built by Eassie & Co. at Speech House Road station on the Severn & Wye. The contractors Eassie & Co. had an interesting history, nicely described in this PDF file by the GSIA.
     
     
     

     
    The prototype had a brick base, but I decided on a timber base and a few other detail changes to suit my tastes. The roof is detachable so I can detail the interior.
     
     
     

     
    The doors are modelled open so you can see what’s going on inside. I like the effect but it does add to the time and cost as you have to model the interior walls and framing too.
     
     
     

     
    One reason I chose this prototype was the potential for a nice view through the open doors across the tracks, in line with my preference for “see through” structures at the front of layouts.
     
     
     

     
    There’s also a view through the side door. The prototype had the door right up against one corner, probably to save space inside. It looked odd in model form though, so I moved it. If only the real world was so easy to change!
     
     
     

     
    Here’s another little building I’m working on. This is a lock-up/storage room based on a prototype at Long Marston. There was a very similar structure at Lustleigh.
     
     
     

     
    My version is some 25% larger than the prototype, in order to add a bit of mass.
     
     
     

     
    I normally use the Wills sheets for slate roofs, but on this lock-up I thought I’d try out the slate sheets from York Modelmaking. I have seen them used with very convincing results, not least on Iain Robinson’s wonderful creations (no longer on the web, sadly).
     
     
     

     
    Unfortunately I had forgotten how sensitive paper can be to glue stains and bending/fraying at the edges. Experienced card modellers would no doubt have made a better job of it!
     
     
     

     
    Here’s a direct comparison between the Wills sheets (left) and the York Modelmaking strips (right) before painting.
     
     
     

     
    I’m really not very happy with the roof, and may give it another try. Incidentally the prototype photo doesn’t seem to show any gutters or drainpipes, which puzzles me a bit.
     
     
     

     
    The buildings in place on the layout.
     
     
     

     
    The shed painted and showing the see-through effect.
     
     
     

     
    The lock-up on the workbench, ready to embed.
     
     
  7. Mikkel

    The Biscuit Shed

    By Mikkel,

    I've been working on the “Biscuit Shed”, the first of the buildings for my new Farthing layout. It is inspired by the “beer shed” in the GWR Goods yard at Stratford on Avon, which was used as a loading facility for beer traffic from the Flower & Sons brewery.
     
     
     

     
    The biscuit theme draws on the so-called “biscuit siding” in Gloucester Old Yard, which served a small loading shed that was used by various industries over the years, including Peak Freen’s biscuit company.
     
     
     

     
    Every building has a history, and so it transpires that the Biscuit Shed was the original train shed of the erstwhile North & South Junction Railway's terminus at Farthing. When the GWR took over that line it was decided to keep the shed as a transshipment facility for the area’s blossoming industries, and in 1899 the GWR entered into contract with Badger's Biscuit Company for just such a purpose.
     
     
     

     
    This non-standard history allowed me to use some roof trusses with a "Queen Post" pattern from an old Airfix station canopy kit.
     
     
     

     
    The side was built using laminated styrene and braced as per the beer shed at Stratford on Avon. I've only just discovered microbrushes (the green thing), they are proving quite useful.
     
     
     

     
    I used a small jig to make the supporting timber posts. The jig was developed with input from NASA engineers and proved an excellent way of gluing the posts firmly to, er, the jig! :-)
     
     
     

     
    I liked the “waisted” appearance of the timber support columns in the beer shed at Stratford at Avon, so I tried to copy this by fitting a hollow section of square rod around the bottom of each post, filed lightly at the top to add an angle. This was also a convenient way of hiding any inconsistencies in the height of the support posts (purely theoretical, of course!).
     
     
     

     
    Still working on the loading dock, it will have a polyfilla surface and sleeper-faced sides.
     
     
     

     
    The footprint of the dock is a bit odd as the building will be located in the front left corner. The white pipes on the roof marks the join of the Wills slate sheets. Once painted grey I hope they will blend in - sometimes I think it is best to hide a join in plain sight, so to speak.
     
     
     

     
    So just a little more work and then it's time to paint it before embedding it on the layout.
  8. Mikkel

    Rising from slumber

    By Mikkel,


    Track & Traversers
    After a quiet spring things are moving again on Farthing. The Slipper Boy story is featured in the June 2016 BRM, which seems a good way to mark the end of work on that layout. Many thanks to BRM for featuring the story. It’s all just a bit of fun of course, but while studying the court case that inspired the story, it did occur to me just how much scope there is for modelling particular historical incidents on the railways.
     
     
     

     
    Meanwhile there has been progress on “The sidings”, my third layout in the Farthing series. Track and groundcover is now in place and trains are running. It hasn’t been without birth pains though. The layout was on the backburner for quite a while and I was losing interest, so I decided to do three things:
     
     
     

     
    First, I adjusted the design to balance the layout better and “open up” the views. This involved widening the baseboard and moving the fiddle yard off the main baseboard. The trackplan remains mostly the same though, following the original inspiration from the backwaters of Gloucester Old Yard. This includes the very short headshunt and the two sidings with loading facilities that were hired out to private companies. I’ve played around with the latter and added a bit of, ahem, local lore - more on that in another post.
     
     
     

     
    Secondly, I scrapped the idea of using gravity shunting. Despite some success with initial experiments, it was becoming a major project in itself and was bogging down progress. I appreciate all the ideas offered though, maybe another time. There is still shunting to be had, thanks to the short headshunt and the exchange of wagons between two locos, as was also done at Gloucester.
     
     
     

     
    Thirdly, I cut a corner and decided to have the two points built professionally. This hurt my pride a bit, but I wanted to move on and so John Jones (aka “Hayfield") of this parish built me a couple of nice 00-SF (aka 4-SF) points at a very reasonable price.
     
     
     

     
    With momentum duly restored I set about building the plain track. Sleepers were cut using my old paper cutter…
     
     
     

     
    …and stuck onto templates of GWR 44 ft track lengths. I tried to copy the GWR’s sleeper spacing at the rail joins.
     
     
     

     
    According to Stephen Williams, the GWR employed two different ways of laying sleepers at the end of points, the “interlaced” pattern being more common. So I did that.
     
     
     

     
    For the groundcover, I used the latest supersmooth, superlight, supertasty Polyfilla formula. This was built up in layers and sanded down in-between. The groundcover was taken up to the sleeper tops, as per many photos of GWR yards in the 1900s. I’m considering raising it even further in some places, eg just over the sleeper tops like here: http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrhd692b.htm, or even higher like here: http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbsh1195.htm
     
     
     

     
    For point operation I’ve used Cobalt IP Analogs. Definitely over the top for a glorified shunting plank, but I wanted to see what slow action motors are like. They work well enough, although I find them a bit noisy – no doubt amplified by the foamboard.
     
     
     

     
    The next step is to add a few final details to the track, clean up the sleepers and paint the rails, and then I'll finally be able to start work on the buildings and structures, something I look forward to.
     
     
     
     
    Finally here's a short video clip proving that the beast is alive – warts and all. I still need to tweak things a bit, but I’m quite happy with the way my wagons (built to very simple standards) and the RTR chassis move through John's 00-SF points.
  9. Mikkel
    This is the third and final part of a story based on a real incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. It draws on the transcripts of a court case at Old Bailey. The story is narrated by Dennis Watts, a slipper boy in the employment of the GWR. The story began here.
     


     
    Having produced their damning evidence, Detective Benton and constable Walmsley rounded up the four thieves and took them to court. I was the star witness at the trial, and made sure to tell the story well. Based on my testimony, Woods and Lawson were convicted and put away.
     


     
    Unfortunately Fraser and Marsh - the two other slipper boys - got off free. I hadn’t counted on that. After the trial they returned to work and cornered me.
     
     
     

     
    I ran off, but they chased me…
     
     
     

     
    …all over…
     
     
     

     
    …the goods depot.
     


     
    In the end I had to call for help…
     
     
     

     
    …and soon we were four against two.
     
     
     

     
    We quickly overcame the two villains, tied them up, and…
     
     
     

     
    …packed them in a couple of tea crates. They were forwarded that night on the 2AM goods, labelled for Thurso.
     


     
    Because you see, dear reader, I haven’t been quite honest with you…
     
     
     

     
    I’ve got a gang of my own, and we didn’t want those amateurs intruding on our turf. Not that they were any competition, really. We’re a pretty organised bunch. My uncle the goods checker is on board, and Watts the GWR copper. Handy people, if you’re into goods scams. You see, we don’t deal in petty theft. We aim much higher than that: We have ways…
     
     
     

     
    …of making whole trucks…
     
     
     

    ….disappear.
     
     
     
    *****************************************
     

    Editor’s notes:
     
    You may be wondering how much of this actually happened. The story roughly follows the real events recorded in the proceedings from Old Bailey up to the point of the trial (albeit in a simplified form, and with the names altered). The original theft of the satins and silks, and the clever detective work of matching the pieces of wrapping did thus in fact happen. The appearance of our “hero” the slipper boy as the star witness at the trial is also true, as is the fact that two of the thieves were released after the trial.
     
    From there on, the story is fiction. Or is it? A closer reading of the court proceedings leave certain questions unanswered, and it is these “loose ends” that inspired the rest of the story. As for making whole wagons disappear, I refer to “GWR Goods Wagons” by Atkins, Beard and Tourret (1998 edition) which in the preface states that 3 wagons were added to the condemned list in 1908 because “they had not been heard of for 10 years” (sic).
     
    PS: I’m using the term “truck” rather than “van” or "wagon", as that is the word used by all the staff in the testimonies of the court case at Old Bailey. I’ve always thought the words van and wagon were used at the time – perhaps that was the official terminology, and "trucks" was everyday slang?
  10. Mikkel

    The honourable slipper boy - Part 2

    By Mikkel,


    Stories
    This is the second part of a story based on a real incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. It draws on the transcripts of a court case at Old Bailey. The story is narrated by Dennis Watts, a slipper boy in the employment of the GWR. Part one is here.
     
     

     
    As I stood there, surrounded by thieves in a dark corner of the goods yard, I thought my last hour had come. Luckily the moon came out, which seemed to unsettle them, and so they let me go.
     
     
     

     
    The next morning I went to find Walmsley. He is with the GWR police. His job is to prevent theft in the goods depot.
     
     

     
    I told him what had happened. Walmsley has more muscle than brains, so he sent for help.
     
     

     
    So then Detective Benton arrived. He is with the GWR Detective Department at Paddington. That’s him on the left. Walmsley showed him the scene of the crime, and they found the remains of the stolen box. The silks it had contained were gone.
     
     

     
    The Detective was very meticulous. He kept searching, until he found what he was looking for: It was a torn piece of paper wrapping from the box.
     
     

     
    Then the detective demanded to see the suspects. I watched as they confronted Woods and Lawson, two of the thieves I had seen the night before.
     
     
     

     
    As the law enforcers came upon the villains, they found them carrying a sack. The detective demanded to see what was in it.
     
     
     

     
    The sack contained thirty-five yards of silk, sixty-six yards of grenadine and a piece of paper wrapping.
     
     
     

     
    The thieves were stubborn. They claimed innocence. They had not stolen the goods, they said. They found it lying on the ground. Someone must have dropped it, they said.
     
     

     
    But Detective Benton was shrewd. He produced the fragment of paper he had found by the stolen box, and placed it next to the wrapping from the sack. We all gathered around to see...
     
     
     

     
    The two pieces of wrapping were a perfect fit. It was damning evidence.
     
     
    Well dear reader, you may think that was that. But there is more to the world than meets the eye! Watch this space for the third and final episode, where all will be revealed.
     
    Part 3 is here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/17254-the-honourable-slipper-boy-part-3/
     
     
  11. Mikkel
    This blog sometimes tells some pretty tall tales, but this one is based on a true story. I recently came across a fascinating account of a court procedure at Old Bailey, involving an incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. I decided to re-enact the incident, with Farthing as the setting and a little, ahem, modeller’s license. Dennis, will you take it from here?
     
     

     
    My name is Dennis Watts, that’s me on the right. I’m a slipper boy with The Great Western Railway Company. I scotch trucks. They pay me 10s. a week. Here is my story.
     
     
     

     
    This is my uncle Henry Watts, he's a checker in the goods depot. It’s the afternoon of May 28, 1902. Pay attention to that box on the porter’s trolley. My uncle is consigning it to the daily Penzance truck.
     
     

     
    After loading, the Penzance truck is shunted to no. 1 line with other trucks for dispersal. Most of the trucks will go out in the next few hours, but the Penzance one is left overnight for attachment to the 4:55 goods.
     
     
     

     
    That night, I walked home from a late shift after the lamps were out. I passed the Penzance truck sitting alone in the dark, and saw some people there.
     
     

     
    I recognized two horse drivers, Woods and Lawson. There were also two other slipper boys, Fraser and Marsh. I could tell they were up to no good.
     
     
     

     
    I walked up to them and saw that they had opened a box of silks from the Penzance truck. They were tucking the goods down their trousers. They asked if I wanted to buy some cheaply for selling on, but I refused.
     
     

     
    Being an honest sort of person I was very uncomfortable with the situation. They were all a bit threatening and I was afraid. What would they do to me?
     
     
     
    To be continued....
     
    Part 2 is here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/75/entry-17072-the-honourable-slipper-boy-part-2/
     
     
  12. Mikkel
    Line dance, 4mm style. I’ve been painting some figures from Andrew Stadden’s excellent new 4mm range of Edwardian figures.
     
     

     
    A group in primer, showing the detail of the figures.
     
     

     
    Being pewter, the Stadden figures are a little harder to modify than whitemetal ones. It’s not impossible though. This gent had his bag removed…
     
     

     
    … making him look more like a railway employee. I sometimes file the caps to represent the GWR kepi, although photos from the 1900s suggest that in practice, several different types of cap could be seen at the same time during this period.
     
     

     
    I still struggle with figure painting. In particular I can't seem to master that illusive shadow-work - but it helps a lot that the figures are so well modelled.
     
     

     
    On most of the figures, the close-fitting headwear conveniently hides the upper face, which I find particularly hard to get right. This is driver J. Chuzzlewit, a seasoned man of the footplate and known for his rough driving, poor jokes, and fanatical interest in leeks.
     
     

     
    Here we have GWR Policeman W. Walmsley of the GWR Goods Department at Farthing. This figure was modified from a guard/inspector. It required a bit of research since little has been written about GWR police uniforms. My theory is that in the 1900s the GWR police force had lost much of its former status, and the main distinguishing marks on their uniforms were a gold patch on one sleeve, and brass numerals on the collar. Later (possibly in 1918), they started wearing helmets. See this thread for details.
     
     

     
    Detective F. Benton of the GWR Detective Department at Paddington. The GWR seem to have had a separate Detective department from quite early on. Considering the total value of goods being handled by the railway, that’s not really surprising. I’m sure there was a scam or two going on!
     
     

     
    Stages of undress. What’s the weather like today? And what task is at hand? Miraculously, the temperature at Farthing always seems to be moderate, which is why some staff wear a coat, others wear vests, and the hard-working men only a shirt.
     
     

     
    I’ve decided that this trio will serve as "slipper boys" in the GWR goods department at Farthing. Slipper boys, as I understand it, would assist horse shunters with tasks such as “scotching” wheels and handling the horse’s chains. Clothes mattered a lot in Edwardian days, and photos suggest that even non-uniformed, lower staff grades could be smartly dressed. Even so, a couple of these lads look very smart indeed. Is there something fishy going on? Watch this space...
  13. Mikkel
    Oooh… shiny! This is the dome belonging to SECR No. 592 on the Bluebell Railway….
     
     
     

     
    …and this was the dome on my ageing GWR Buffalo class loco, painted brass on a whitemetal casting. Not a very favourable comparison, and my loco crews were in uproar.
     
     
     

     
    It was time for drastic measures. The whitemetal dome was removed by drilling from underneath. The safety valve cover caused more trouble, and had to be sawn off and filed down.
     
     
     

     
    I bought some brass castings from Alan Gibson…
     
     
     

     
    …and polished them by hand, using progressively finer grades of wet and dry to get that shiny look (other methods are available). The mould lines can be tricky to get rid of, but as Gareth kindly pointed out, if you just keep at it they will eventually disappear.
     
     
     

     
    So here is my “Buffalo” after a good clean and sporting her new fittings. She could do with a new chimney and various other mods, but for the time being I’m happy with this.
     
     
     

     
    My 517 class loco got a similar treatment, although in this case the existing fittings were unpolished brass beneath the paint, and were fixed very firmly to the loco. So I had to rub down and polish the dome and safety valve “in situ”. A bit fiddly and not quite perfect, but at least I managed to avoid major damage to the paintwork.
     
     
     

     
    So that’s it, the new fittings are in place and the footplate men are content again…
     
     
     

     
    … and feeling slightly superior about the SECR’s approach to safety valve covers.
  14. Mikkel
    I’m building a GWR 1854 class saddle tank in 1900s condition, using a modified and detailed South Eastern Finecast body kit on a Bachmann 8750 chassis. The build is also in my workbench thread, but that tends to be a rather meandering discussion, so this is a summary of the main steps without the diversions.
     


     
    I bought the kit part-assembled, but a bath in hot water dissolved the glue and allowed me to break it down into its main components.
     
     
     

     
    The Bachmann chassis I'm using is the version for the 8750 model, seen here on the right (my loco ref was 32-200, I think the recent 57xx model also uses this chassis). Note that older versions of this chassis (seen on the left, my loco ref was 31-900) are higher and the chassis block is longer, so is less ideal for conversions.
     
     
     

     
    I wanted to avoid modifying the chassis more than strictly necessary, so that it could be replaced easily in case of a failure. The only chassis modification was therefore to remove a section off the front to allow the kit to fit over it.
     
     
     

     
    The body castings require more work. The locating lugs on the side frames and buffer beams were removed, and about 1 mm was filed off the central section of the footplate and splashers each side to clear the motor. Plastikard was used front and rear to get the correct ride height.
     
     
     

     
    The body and chassis assembled. The two front splashers are 0.5 mm too far out. However with careful positioning of the body it is barely discernable, so after mulling it over I decided to accept it.
     
     
     

     
    The tank sides fit neatly over the motor.
     
     
     

     
    The two tank halves were the most work intensive parts of the kit. The “skirts” need to be cut away…
     
     
     

     
    ...allowing daylight under the boiler…
     
     
     

     
    …followed by much filing and filling to get the two halves to fit together.
     
     
     

     
    The motor intrudes slightly into the cab, so the backhead was moved 1 mm forward and a center section of the floor raised slightly.
     
     
     

     
    I replaced the main SEF white metal boiler fittings with parts from Alan Gibson.
     
     
     

     
    Other details were scratchbuilt from bits and bobs. The tank steps were later redone enitrely in brass with tabs to secure them. The footplate steps need filing to the correct straight shape as seen here.
     
     
     

     
    Liftings rings, made from soft wire wrapped around a brush handle and squeezed to shape with pliers.
     
     
     

     
    Coal rails made from wire, and fire iron hooks bent to shape from flat brass strip. The early lamp brackets are from the Broad Gauge Society, and the buffers are Alan Gibson.
     
     
     

     
    While the main build was fairly quick, the detailing has been time consuming.
     
     
     

     
    So here she is, almost ready for a good scrub and then some primer.
  15. Mikkel

    LSWR stone wagon

    By Mikkel,

    I’ve always been fascinated by this old photo, which is reproduced in Matthew Bagnet’s “The Railways of Farthing” (not sure about copyright, hope it’s OK).
     
     
     

     
    This enlargement (apologies for the poor quality) shows the presence of some interesting "foreign” wagons at Farthing, including an MSWJR 3-plank open and an LSWR one-plank stone wagon. I’ve already modelled the former, so I thought I’d do the LSWR wagon as well.
     
     
     

     
    So here it is in 4mm scale. I built it using the resin kit from Graham Baker of Gramodels. Below is a description of how it was done.
     
     
     

     
    The kit consists of the body only. The photo above shows a 3-planker that I had also ordered, and the one-planker (with flash cleaned off) below it. As you can see, both wagons sport a graceful curve.
     
     
     

     
    Fortunately the instructions deal with this: Take one bowl of hot water and add the body...
     
     
     

     
    …bend body back to shape on a straight surface, and apply weight until cool.
     
     
     

     
    ...serve with a pragmatic state of mind and a healthy dose of modeller’s joy.
     
     
     

     
    The kit gives you the body, and you have to source the other parts yourself. I first had a go at building my own Panther’s axleboxes (above right), using a modified GWR grease box (above left) as a basis. They were a little coarse though, and I’m not sure the LSWR would have approved of their GWR origin!
     
     
     

     
    Instead, I cannibalized the W-irons, axle boxes, brakegear and buffers from a spare ABS kit for an LSWR 5-plank open. The ends will be used for another project, so not too much was wasted.
     
     
     

     
    I used an old MJT unit to align the ABS W-irons. I really do need to get myself a decent jig for this sort of thing.
     
     
     

     
    I’m not 100% sure about the brake arrangements for the wagon. My best guess so far is double block single side brakes, right rod over left.
     
     
     

     
    This is a very light weight body so lots of liquid lead added.
     
     
     

     
    I’ve seen debates about what glue to use for liquid lead, as some glues seem to bring about an expanding reaction. Deluxe materials recommend their own card glue and I have to say it works a treat.
     
     
     

     
    Standard open spoked wheels and a few rivet transfers from Archer’s to complete the build.
     
     
     

     
    I used to spend a lot of time trying to get the interior of wagons right with multiple shades of paint. To save time I now use a less subtle but quicker method. First step is to paint the interior 1-2 coats of Vallejo pale sand. This looks wrong but provides the necessary light base.
     
     
     

     
    When fully dry, I add a liberal dose of Carr’s dark black weathering powder. Lighter shades won’t work so well at this point, it has to be that rich dark powder that really gives off colour.
     
     
     

     
    After brushing all around the interior with a soft brush, I remove the surplus weathering powder, giving this result.
     
     
     

     
    Ligther shades of grey weathering powder can be used to add shades as appropriate for the type of load. I plan to add a stone load in due course. Jonathan has kindly shared some photos of Ron Rising's LSWR wagons with stone loads. Looks great I think, see: http://s1307.photobu...s?sort=3&page=1
     
     
     

     
    There goes the neighbourhood! Wagons from the SDJR, LSWR and MSWJR being shunted outside the goods depot at Farthing.
  16. Mikkel
    I’ve been making my own crates and tea chests from printable veneer. Today I installed them in the goods depot at Farthing.
     
     
     

     
    The mezzanine floor at Farthing was used as a storage facility. Traders could have their wares stored while awaiting dispatch and distribution.
     
     
     

     
    Space was literally at a premium, and this floor was always tidier and more well organised than the busy decks below.
     
     
     

     
    Farthing wasn’t far from Britain’s first Nestlé factory, built at Chippenham in 1873 for the manufacture of condensed milk.
     
     
     

     
    This part of the goods depot was inspired by the balcony floor at Hockley Goods, which seems to have been used for similar purposes.
     
     
    The following is a description of how the crates were made, summarized from the workbench thread:
     

    I like the smallish wooden crates that could be seen in goods depots before cardbox boxes became common. So I began by designing a few of these. The top one above is photoshopped from a pic of an original Nestlé crate. The rest are tongue in cheek
     
     

     
    I wanted to capture that light wooden look of a new crate, and wasn’t quite happy with the texture of ordinary paper. After searching the web I came across these veneer sheets intended for creative photo printing. I bought mine from Crafty Computer Paper (no connection).
     
     
     

     
    It’s important to note that these sheets only work with top loaded ink-jet printers. They will jam if you use a printer where the paper bends over on itself. I have a cheap top loaded Canon IP2850 printer, which cost about 30£ a year ago (colour cartridge included). It does take the sheets, although each sheet needs to be pressed down gently when the rollers try to “grab” it. I would be weary to do this on a high-end printer!
     
     
     

     
    Test prints suggest that the wood effect is pretty much as I had hoped. The lettering comes out OK I think, although I’m sure a more expensive printer could give an even better result.
     
     
     

     
    The veneer sheets can be cut fairly easily with a normal scalpel.
     
     
     

     
    I've experimented with two different ways of building the crates. The first and most laborious method is to cut out each side separately, and glue them on a block of laminated plastic rod as seen above.
     
     
     

     
    This method gives a fairly neat final appearance, as seen above. This pic also shows the texture of the veneer, and how the different shades of the sheets can be used to add subtle variety: The ones on the left are from one sheet, the ones on the right from another.
     
     
     

     
    A quicker method is to cut each crate out in one piece, and lightly scribe the rear of the veneer at the corners with the back of a thick scalpel blade (a sharp scalpel or deep cut will break the veneer). The crate can then be folded and glued with a good quality card glue or similar. You inevitably get a light tear at the corners though - so this method is best for crates that aren't seen close up.
     
     
     

     
    I've made rows of stacked crates by glueing individual sides to the front of a long block of laminated styrene strips, as seen above. Saves time, and can't be seen once completed.
     
     
     

     
    The fake rows can then be stacked and glued or just blu-tacked together.
     
     
     

    The tea chests are based on real ones but photoshopped to fit my setting and period.
     
     
     

     
    The metal edges on the "East India" one didn't really come across as I hoped in the printing...
     
     
     

     
    ... so thanks to Dave and other RMwebbers I tried using the dull side of foil for the metal edges. I cut the foil in strips and then fixed it with card glue to one side first. It can then be bent around the edge and stuck to the other side.
     
     
     

     
    It’s worth the effort to spend some time cleaning up the edges afterwards. With a ruler and sharp scalpel, edges can be trimmed straighter and narrower as required. The superfluous foil can be scraped off leaving no visible mark. Small problem areas can be fixed with a quick lick of metallic paint. The veneer is very forgiving, so paint can also be scraped off if necessary.
     
     
     

     
    The crates are strenghtened inside like this.
     
     
     

     
    The tea chests represent different types and sizes, some with metal sides and some without. Judging by photos I have seen, the metal edges don't seem to have been common until the 1920s or so.
     
     
     

     
    As mentioned earlier, the sheet itself is quite forgiving and glue and paint can be scraped off without leaving much trace. The lettering is another matter. The print on the right has been treated to a light coat of Vallejo matt varnish!
     
     
     

     
    Finally a comparison between a veneer crate, an earlier paper-printed effort (right) and a parcel made from Manilla envelope paper. The crate has that nice and square look.
     
    Thanks to all who have helped and contributed to this little project, see the discussion in the workbench thread for more ideas and suggestions.
  17. Mikkel
    The management is pleased to report some progress on the sidings. The baseboard was built some time ago. It is 10 mm foamboard topped with cork, giving a nice light baseboard which weighs in at 900 grams. So far no warping issues.
     
     

     
    The height adjusters are DIY – a simple bolt and screw, fitted with rubber pads for silencing cupboard doors. The latter are very handy, as they hold the legs firmly in place on all surfaces, and absorb vibration. There will be 8 of these in total when I’m done.
     
     

     
    The original track plan was done in Anyrail for Peco code 75, in order to get a feel for things while I pondered how far I wanted to go in terms of track accuracy. I've decided to continue with C&L track components as used on my goods depot, and will give their turnout kits a try.
     
     

     
    I’ve done mock-ups of the main buildings on the layout. This has been a very useful exercise and has led to various changes.
     
     

     
    The large building at the back will be a stable block, based on the one at Uxbridge. This had 9 stalls and a storage room. The smaller building on the right is based on Captain Kernow’s photos of the checker’s cabin at Truro. I’ve worked out the approximate dimensions of the latter, based on a count of bricks and studying Google Earth. Many thanks to Boris, Ian, Job, Chubber and Captain Kernow for help with drawings and photos of these and similar buildings.
     
     

     
    The shed in the “biscuit siding”, which will be based on the old beer shed at Stratford on Avon.
     
     
     

     
    The waterworks siding. The intention was to have a low-relief backdrop but I don’t really like the whole set-up. It looks too cramped and makes it difficult to reach the fiddle yard. I may leave this siding without scenery and consider it “off-scene”.
     
     
    As previously discussed, the idea is to use gravity shunting for the biscuit siding. The video above shows the basic concept with a 1:60 gradient and a single length of Peco track. I had hoped to achieve a slower roll (as this is not hump shunting), but it’s tricky to find the balance between the right speed and the desired length of the roll. The length of the gradient and the curve/turnout are critical factors, as is the wagon weight, wheel gauge, wheel type, bearings, rail type and the way each wagon interacts with another!
     
    I have given up trying to work out some grand formula for the gravity shunting. Instead I'll follow a simple trial-and error approach. First step is to get the actual track and C+L turnout in place. Following this, I’ll use a small selection of wagons with similar qualities to set the final gradient. I may install retarders (eg toothbrush bristles) in selected hidden places such as inside the biscuit shed.
     
    I’m thinking that, in practice, wagons would probably have been braked before they entered the biscuit shed, and then worked by other means into the shed. But on that one I’ll claim modeller’s license.
  18. Mikkel
    Farthing, 1904. With a rising sense of panic, Goods Porter E. Sparkler stared at the pigeon baskets he had just knocked over.
     
     
     

     
    A lid had opened, and the pigeons were escaping.
     
     
     

     
    The pigeons soon scattered around the goods yard.
     
     
     

     
    They were white show pigeons, en route to a prestigious event at the London Philoperisteron Society.
     
     
     

     
    One of the pigeons flew into the goods depot.
     
     
     

     
    At first it flew aimlessly about...
     
     

     
    ...then the clouds parted, the depot filled with light and the pigeon seemed suddenly to know where it was going.
     
     
     

     
    It settled on a roof truss, and immediately relieved itself of a huge dropping…
     
     
     

     
    …which fell right into the paperwork…..
     
     
     

     
    …of Goods Checker J. Vemmick.
     
     
     

     
    As he hurried to restore his notes, Vemmick unknowingly made a mistake: He recorded a crate as loaded, although in fact it was not.
     
     
     

     
    As a result the crate was left behind, and despite the best intentions of the GWR goods handling system….
     
     
     

     
    …the crate ended up in a forgotten corner of the depot, where it remained lost…
     
     
     

     
    …for 58 years. The crate was finally found in 1962, when BR pulled down the old goods depot. A scrupulous clerk decided to forward the crate to its original destination. With passing interest, he noted that it was addressed to the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg.
     
     

     
    After a circuitous route and numerous security checks, the crate eventually landed on the desk of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who at that time was in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
     
     

     
    Upon opening the crate, Khrushchev found 15 bottles of Welsh wine labelled “Castell Coch, 1904”. The bottles were accompanied by a card, hardly decipherable after all those years. It said: "From the Marquess of Bute to Tsar Nicholas II, with compliments".
     
     
     

     
    "Well!" thought Kruschchev, "the Tsar is long gone, but that wine looks tempting!" And so he shared a glass with his staff. They stood there tasting it, then burst out laughing: The wine was terrible! Quite simply horrific! Khruschev immediately relaxed: If this lousy wine was all the West had to show, what was there to fear? The West would destroy itself, this awful British wine proved it! He might as well end this whole Cuba crisis thing. He sat down and drafted a letter to Kennedy.
     
     

     
    The rest is history. The Cuban missile crisis was over, and the two Presidents congratulated each other on their cool heads and statesmanship: They had spared the world an all-out war.
     
     
     

     
    But on that morning in 1904, Goods Porter E. Sparkler knew nothing of all this. He just stood there among the escaping pigeons, cursing his clumsiness. "Why", he thought, "can I never do anything right?"
     
     

     
    He was wrong of course, he had saved the world, but no one knew. No one except maybe a certain white pigeon. For many years afterwards it could be seen in the goods depot, flying at night, happy to have escaped.
  19. Mikkel

    SDJR Road Van

    By Mikkel,

    Last year we had a discussion about SDJR Road Vans here on RMweb, which revealed that – contrary to what one might think – these vehicles travelled well beyond the SDJR on a regular basis, including foreign destinations right up to London. For details, please see Buckjumper’s notes in the thread.
     
    I thought I might justify one of these vans making an occasional appearance at Farthing, perhaps carrying small consignments of cheddar, cider and other Somerset delicacies to satisfy the palets of Wiltshire’s gentry.
     
     

     
    The SDJR had at least two designs of road van, one of which was based on the Midland Railway diagram D363 vans. Slater’s do a kit for the latter MR van, so I thought this would be a good basis for a kit bash. As it transpired, the project came to involve a lot more scratch building than kit building!
     
     
     

     
    I began with the chassis. As can be seen here, the kit comes with oil axleboxes but my photos of the SDJR vans show Ellis grease axle boxes. So I removed the axleboxes and W irons, and also filed off some of the solebar fittings, to be replaced later.
     
     
     

     
    I bought in some MJT compensation units and and Ellis grease axleboxes from Dart castings.
     
     
     

     
    To make space for the MJT units, parts of the underframe from the kit was cut away, using what I call the “salami method”.
     
     
     

     
    Plastikard packing under the MJT units to get the right ride height.
     
     
     

     
    Then came the time-consuming part. As can be seen above, the Slaters kit has a sliding door type which is wrong for the SDJR vans. To make matters worse, the door is off-set to one side, meaning the Vs of the framing aren’t actually symmetrical. So I decided to scratch build new sides.
     
     
     

     
    For the new sides I used plain Evergreen 0.5 styrene, and did the planking with my new scribing tool. This makes a neat V-groove, whereas other methods – eg the back of a scalpel blade – tends to make an unsightly ridge along the groove.
     
     
     

     
    The framing was a bit tricky. The joins with the van ends are mitred, and the bottom framing is sloping in order to let rainwater run off. It helped to fit the ends to the chassis, so that I could offer up the sides to the van and check that everything fitted as I went along. I trust my fettling more than my measuring!
     
     
     

     
    The framing all done.
     
     
     

     
    For the strapping I used a general etch from Mainly Trains. Having done a full side, I realized that the strapping should have rounded ends. I decided to leave it, but next time I’ll use plastic strip instead as this can be fashioned as required. Door hinges and locking mechanism were made from plastic rod, wire and chain.
     
     

     
    Bolt heads were added using rivet transfers. The lower framing “dips” where each bolt is mounted. This was replicated with plastic putty filed to shape.
     
     
     

     
    Sides checked against drawing. The perspective makes the side look a little too long here, but it fits in reality (honest, guv!).
     
     
     

     
    My glorious reward for scratchbuilding the sides was that the ends now looked a bit coarse by comparison! I decided to leave them as they were, except for a bit of modification to the strapping (lower left is as it comes, lower right is modified as per the prototype photo).
     
     
     

     
    Ready for primer with brakes and various other fittings now added. The headstocks were extended a little to be flush with the lower framing, as per the photo in Southern Goods Wagons. The roof seemed a little short to me – even for the original kit – so I extended it by 0.5 mm at each end.
     
     
     

     
    The paint job did not go well. Unfamiliar with the livery, I first sprayed on a light grey, then tried a darker one, then the light one again, etc. As a result, the grooves in the sides started filling in and revealed that I hadn’t cut them all to equal depth. Lesson learnt, the hard way! I couldn’t find any available SDJR lettering, so used individual letters from various HMRS sheets (the SR pre-grouping sheet is particularly useful). Number plates are a print from the original photo, with the perspective changed in Paintshop. The split spoke wagon wheels are temporary till I get some new plain ones.
     
     
     

     
    Thankfully, the slightly heavy paintjob is not really noticeable in a layout context. One thing puzzles me though: Most SDJR wagons seem to have had distinctive black ironwork, but the 1896 photo I was working from shows no. 1038 in all-over grey, with only the number/works plates picked out in black. It’s an official photo taken at Derby works, so perhaps not to be trusted? For the time being I’ve left the strapping in plain grey but if anyone has further info I’d be interested.
     
    Thanks to all involved for helping out with the info used in this build, very much appreciated!
  20. Mikkel

    Barrels, baskets, bales

    By Mikkel,


    Goods
    I’m still working on the goods items for my goods depot. Here’s a selection of various items I've been working on recently. Apologies for getting a bit long-winded with this, but I enjoy learning a bit about goods items as I go along – it’s all part of the scene, after all.
     
     

     
    H0 and 0 casks from Frenchman River Works. Great texture and six hoops, which is rare on model casks despite being very common in reality.
     
     
     

     
    The FRW barrels again, now painted. At first I thought they were too rickety for an Edwardian goods depot, but then realized that they represent “dry slack” casks with wooden hoops as used for fruit, tobacco, nails etc - as opposed to “dry tight” casks for eg flour and salted products, and “wet tight” casks for beer, wine etc. Slack casks were typically of inferior materials and workmanship, and were often only used once. An interesting topic in itself, see eg this website.
     
     
     

     
    White metal beer casks from Dart castings. They are reasonable mouldings, but do require some work on the mould lines and flash. This particular type represents Firkins. The whole topic of unit sizes is fascinating but bewildering. For example, a wine and beer Hogshead were not quite the same, and a particular cask unit could be either fat or tall.
     
     
     

     
    The Dart casks after painting. Pins on the extreme left, the rest are Firkins. The light ones are work in progress. There’s a slight “Warhammer” look to these casks, but then these close-ups are very cruel.
     
     

     
    Prost! Large beer casks from German Kotol. I’m a bit ambivalent about turned wood barrels: The wood grain is often too large for 4mm. Translated to 4mm I would say these are roughly equal to a Butt (a word of advice: don’t try to Google butt and beer in the same sentence!).
     
     

     
    These lightly modified casks from Bachmann have a nice feel to them, and unlike many other model casks they actually have a bung hole (don’t Google that either). (update Feb 2021: Latest versions don't have the bung hole). I’m thinking they are Hogsheads. Hoops can be hard to paint neatly, so I painted some masking tape in a rust colour, and wrapped it around the existing moulded hoops. Oxidization of the hoops seemed to happen very quickly on new barrels.
     
     
     

     
    The Bachmann casks in place. Most 4mm casks only have four hoops, and at first I thought this was wrong for the larger types of casks. But photos from GWR goods sheds reveal several examples of casks with just four hoops, apparently irrespective of size and date. See GWR Goods Services Part 2A pages 6, 55, 59, 63, 92, 102, 163. On the other hand, there were clearly also many six-hooped barrels in Edwardian days, see eg the wonderful photo on p. 68 of the same volume. So both types would be appropriate, it seems.
     
     
     

     
    On to baskets. These wicker baskets are also from Hornby, now sadly discontinued. There are long debates about Hornby on here, but some of their goods items are fairly good - design clever, in fact!
     
     
     

     
    Gem whitemetal pigeon baskets (ebay seller’s image). At first I thought they were missing the external louvres for light and air that are evident on latter-day types. However, a bit of research suggested that some early types were in fact quite similar to the Gem offerings. See for example this drawing.
     
     

     
    It seems this type of pigeon basket was closed with straps, so out came the masking tape again, painted and folded to look like straps. Incidentally, for 7mm modellers Skytrex have some pigeon baskets in their large range of goods items.
     
     

     
    Hen’s teeth. After much searching I managed to track down this discontinued Preiser H0 “kit” for produce baskets.
     
     
     

     
    Painted hen's teeth. Photos from the 1900s show baskets of various sizes in goods sheds – both full and empty, and not just in large quantities but also individually or two or three together. The cabbages are a loose fit so far, would they have been covered with something during transport?
     
     

     
    Unsung hero. The humble goods sack, illustrated by a rather good whitemetal example from Dart Castings.
     
     
     

     
    More white-metal sacks from Dart Castings, now painted. I might make some more of the flat, stacked ones to my own design. When I was boy playing with toy soldiers, I made sandbags from clay and loo paper.
     
     

     
    I wanted some wool bales and decided to make them myself. I began with this type. Finding the right fabric is tricky. Hessian and similar materials looks overscale in 4mm. I ended up with a thin, soft and fairly tightly woven material for making sheets. It was wrapped around a length of plastic rod (several rods laminated to get the right shape), and fixed in place using Loctite Powerflex. The ends are individual cut-outs of fabric, soaked in glue and smoothed tightly to the rest of the bale, giving the impression of a seam.
     
     

     
    The rope was simulated by sewing thread. The thread was sewn to the bottom of the bale, wrapped around, sewn again to the bottom, etc. My wife watched with a strained smile, I suppose she would have preferred me to take up sky-diving.
     
     

     
    Despite pulling the thread tight, I wasn’t too successful in achieving the bulge between the “roping”. Experiments with a soft “core” of cotton wool didn’t seem to help. This is the best I could do for now.
     
     
     

     
    Next up was a different type of bale, the pressed ones illustrated here.I used the same fabric, but dyed it using an age-old technique: Dunk it in Carr’s sleeper stain and weather with baby powder. Apparently, manual bale presses were in use well before the turn of the century.
     
     
     

     
    To get that bulging look, I wrapped the fabric around H section plastic rod and stuffed it with cotton wool. More manly pursuits!
     
     
     

     
    The bales in place on the mezzanine floor. I'm not entirely satisfied. Even this fabric looks overscale in the texture. But I'm tired of fiddling with them, so apart from a bit of weathering this will have to do.
     
     
     

     
    Inspired by Nick’s cider boxes and Job’s whisky crates (many thanks gents!), I’ve experimented with making small crates from folded paper. I found some photos of this attractive Coleman’s crate on the web, allegedly correct for the period. The photos were scaled down, edited, and printed. As this is supposed to be a wooden crate, I glued the prints to sections of plastic rod in order to avoid the folds and sagging that would haved suggested a cardboard box. As far as I understand, cardboard boxes where only just coming into use as transport containers around this time, and I can’t recall seeing any in photos of 1900s goods sheds (but please do correct me if I’m mistaken).
     
     
     

     
    The Coleman’s crates came out OK, but most small crates of the period had an unpainted natural wood look which I find difficult to create in paper. So I’ve now ordered some paper-thin wood veneer that can be used in inkjet printers. Should make for an interesting little experiment.
     
    Edited Feb 2021: The barrels that I originally referred to as Hornby seem to have actually been from Bachmann. Note that I have since purchased some more of these, and the bung hole is no longer modelled. Oh, the woes of this world.
  21. Mikkel

    Fun with crates

    By Mikkel,

    I’m detailing my goods depot, something I’ve been looking forward to. As the layout is designed for close-up viewing I’ve been searching for goods items that could pass muster at a reasonably close range.
     
    To begin with, here is a selection of crates. I'm afraid it's my usual unholy mix of kitbuilt, scratchbuilt, modified and ready to plunk! Hopefully it will all blend in with a bit of weathering and careful positioning on the layout.
     
     

     
    First up are these rather nice crate kits from US-based Rusty Stumps (above). The kits are laser cut plywood and come in various types – these are for horizontal crates. They are HO but quite large. The instructions are very good and the kits are easy to build (I used wood glue).
     
     

     
    If you prefer a plywood side rather than planks, the kit can be modelled inside out.
     
     

     
    Parts fit together well and with care the lid can be made as a press-fit, meaning you can take it off if you wish to leave it open.
     
     

     
    Above are the built up kits next to another offering from Rusty Stumps: Ready-made resin versions of the same crates. The latter clean up reasonably well, but I think you’ll agree that the kits are worth the extra effort.
     
     

     
    As an aside, Rusty Stumps also do a range of resin workshops scenes. I have no particular use for these right now but couldn't resist having a closer look.
     
     

     
    Back to the crates. This laser-cut high quality card kit is from the German company Kotol, which Job brought to my attention some time ago (thanks again Job!). The products from this company are not cheap, and some of their items are distinctly continental. But it’s attractive stuff for those who like small details, especially as they use wood, cotton and card for their goods items – so you get lots of texture.
     
     

     
    Above are the Kotol crates built up (I made the front one different just for variety). The kits are a bit fiddly and the card is quite sensitive to glue and scratches. So care is needed. The smaller HO scale was an advantage here, as I couldn’t find any decent small crates or boxes from UK manufacturers
     
     
     

     
    The Kotol range is quite varied and has some unusual items (anyone fancy working bicycle lights in H0?). This wood kit for a set of makeshift steps was a quick and pleasant build, and comes with a convenient jig.
     
     

     
    Scratchbuilding is another option of course. Having built the above kits, I used some of the scrap ply and card to fashion a few extra crates such as the one above. This added to the output from these otherwise somewhat costly kits. The scribing etc does take time, but other than that I would certainly consider scratchbuilding as an alternative in the future.
     
     

     
    Good old Hornby do these nice ready-made crates (there are others in the package, this is a selection). Some of them are very large and would probably have been dealt with outside the goods depot, not inside. But I find the medium and small ones useful. The one at the rear is as they come, the others have been heavily dry-brushed to add texture and do away with the slightly translucent look.
     
     

     
    I found this and a couple of other bottle crates in my spares box, and thought it loooked a bit dull. So I decided to have some fun.
     
     

     
    The result was these three machinery crates from Carr & Sons, a well-known Farthing company. A tad fanciful, but I had a fun evening making them. The sharp-eyed may have noticed that “Carr & Sons" looks suspiciously like “To Carry 10 Tons” on a transfer sheet.
     
     

     
    As many will know, Carr & Sons were leading manufacturers of round tuits. The one at the bottom is the basic model. The middle one is the advanced version. At the top is another of the company’s products, the square bloke (a development of the regular bloke).
     
     
    PS: I have no connection with any of the above companies - except for Carr & Sons, where I own 51% of the shares ;-)
  22. Mikkel

    Four o'clock blues, ca. 1902

    By Mikkel,

    Goods checker J. Peerybingle was tired. It had been a long day in the goods depot, and his feet hurt.
     


     
    Life is so dull, he thought. I should have gone to sea. I should have married Emily.
     


     
    He looked up at the skylights. There was a bird up there. Was it a crow?
     


     
    He thought: How lucky birds are, how free.
     


     
    Up on the roof, the crow looked down at Peerybingle.
     


     
    It thought: How fortunate that man is, working with the trains. He must be very happy.
     


     
    I wish it was me, thought the crow. How lucky humans are, how free.
  23. Mikkel

    Wagon propulsion

    By Mikkel,

    I've been testing the trackplan for “The sidings”, and got a bit carried away...
     
     
    Jokes aside, there is a more serious side to this: As previously explained, the layout is inspired by the trackplan at the back of Gloucester Old Yard. This included the very short so-called “biscuit siding” which served a private warehouse through a kick-back arrangement.
     

     
    In GWRJ No. 45 (p262), shunter Hayden Jones explains how the biscuit siding was operated:
     
     
    Photos of the siding do not show any major gradient, and I'm a bit confused as to how gravitation could be done both "in an out". I wonder if the quote refers to the use of pinch bars? Alternatively, there may have been a light gradient one way, and use of horses and (later) perhaps a powered capstan the other way.
     
    In any case, my initial reaction was to disregard these practices on my layout (which is not a direct copy of Gloucester anyway) and simply shunt the siding with a loco. I have made provision for this in the track plan and may still end up with that solution. Still, I couldn’t help toying with the idea of some form of non-loco wagon propulsion in that particular siding.
     
     

     
    The video above demonstrates my most succesful experiment so far. There’s a magnet stuck to the underside of the wagon and another in my hand underneath the baseboard. I thought I’d test it just to give it a try. The magnets are MSE and work quite well through my foamboard baseboard, and yet I have my doubts: The video shows manual operation where starts and stops can be done fairly gently. However, to make it practically feasible some sort of permanent, mechanically sliding magnet would be needed, and in such an arrangement it would be tricky to avoid sudden starts and stops, I think.
     
    So what are the alternatives? High Level do a mechanism for powering individual wagons, which looks interesting. It is illustrated in operation on the rather superb Leicester South seen below (from ca 6.17). Does anyone else have any experiences with this or other means of non-loco wagon propulsion?
     
     
  24. Mikkel

    Traverser testing

    By Mikkel,

    I’ve been testing my somewhat "under-engineered" traverser, and made a little video to show it in operation.
     
    It continues to work well, and I now have some faith in the basic concept. I’m in the process of re-enforcing how the tubes are fixed in the foamboard, but that is more of a pre-emptive move than a result of any actual problems so far. The running is smoother than rendered by the video.
     
    PS: I’m aware of the period inconsistency between loco and wagons, it's all still a work in progress
  25. Mikkel
    The LSWR was the biggest of the GWR's neighbours at Farthing, so I thought I'd better make myself some stock from that company for my 1900s goods depot. Last night I finished my LSWR sliding door van, to SR diagram 1410, built from the David Geen whitemetal kit.
     
     
     

     
    Above is the kit assembled as it comes. Having done that, I realized that a couple of details didn’t match the photos and drawings in my newly acquired “Illustrated History of Southern Wagons, Vol 1”. The kit has the door rail below the roof, while all photos I have seen show it in front of the roof. Likewise, the kit has the vent covers below the roof, while most (though not all) photos show them flush with the roof top.
     
     
     

     
    It's possible that the kit is correct for some vans at some point in time. Nevertheless, I decided to lightly modify it to match the photos I had available. I filed back the roof and original door rail, and added a new rail from scrap brass. The vent covers were extended to the roof top with a sliver of plasticard.
     
     
     

     
    After a first light coat of primer, Archer’s rivets were added to the door rail – 12 little devils each side. For all its bad reputation, rivet counting can actually be quite fun! Can you tell I was in a hurry when I did the priming?
     
     
     

     
    I was confused about the brake gear. A sketch in the instructions show that for a single lever arrangement, the arms should be fitted left over right. So that’s how I initially fitted them, but it seemed wrong: The only photo I can find of a 1410 van with single-lever, one-side brakes has them right over left, and so do other single-lever LSWR (and GWR) vans and wagons. So eventually I re-fitted them right over left. Did I get it right though?
     
     
     

     
    Except for the primer, I prefer to brush paint my models. I like the flexibility of it. For this van I decided to experiment a bit. I first added a basecoat that was deliberately a little darker than the ideal colour.
     
     
     

     
    On top of this, I semi-dry brushed a lighter shade. By “semi” I mean that the brush was more loaded than you would normally do in dry-brushing. I like the resulting “depth” of the colour.
     
     
     

     
    Due to a mix-up with my mail orders, I found myself with not one but two LSWR lettering sheets: One from HMRS (left) and one from Fox (right). This allowed for a bit of comparison. The two sheets are almost identical when it comes to the actual wording/styles provided. The HMRS sheet has lettering for all the main SR constituents, and a little more variety in the LSWR lettering styles. I personally like the HMRS Pressfix method which I have gotten used to over the years. The Fox transfers only have LSWR lettering, and water-slide transfers are not my favourite - but significantly, the smaller letters and numbers are a good deal finer than the HMRS ones.
     
     
     

     
    I ended up using a bit of both. By using the HMRS tare numbers for the tare, I could use the finer Fox tare numbers for the paint date on the solebar. The latter is a little overscale I think, but I thought it would be fun to include. Incidentally, January 22 1901 was the day Queen Victoria died, and thus the beginning of the Edwardian era. It does date the van, so I'll be in trouble if I decide to model a later period! For the number/builders plate I initially fashioned one in photoshop (bottom of picture), and printed it to the correct scale. But when fitted to the wagon it looked like… a paper printout! So I used a non-descript builders plate from a Mainly Trains etch instead.
     
     

     
    I went for a lightly weathered look, but not too much. I find it hard to get that faded look to the lettering that I have seen on some models. Any advice would be much appreciated.
     
     
     
     

     
    Today was a nice day here in Denmark, so I took the goods depot outside to get a few photos of the new van and assess general progress. I recently managed to crush the mezzanine floor, and am slowly rebuilding it. That's the second disaster I've had with this little layout, the other was when the roof structure got smashed. No wonder my son calls me Homer Simpson!
     
     
     

     
    Views like this make me happy though. Comparison between the LSWR van and the contemporary GWR iron mink shows two different approaches to the standard goods van of the late 19th century. The LSWR van was introduced in 1885, and seems fairly large for the time with its 18ft over headstocks. The GWR Iron minks were introduced the year after in 1886. With a 16 ft (later 16’6) length it stuck to a more modest size but experimented instead with iron for body construction. I wonder which of the two designs was more economical in the long run?
     
     
     

     
    One day I'd like to try building a lightbox, but for the time being I'm content with that big old lightbox in the sky.
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