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Mikkel

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Blog Entries posted by Mikkel

  1. Mikkel
    Farthing, 1887. The Great Western is a sleeping giant. The system is plagued by gauge inconsistencies and circuitous routes, and the Churchward revolution is yet to come. In the bay platform at Farthing, a Buffalo tank sleepily knocks a few wagons about.
     
     
     

    For the past ten years the world has suffered from a global economic depression, but Workman P. Quince has never read a newspaper and is more concerned with the stinging pain when he urinates. Perhaps he should find a better way to spend his meagre wages.
     
     

    The Buffalo tank shunts the empty Open and brake van into the storage siding.The locos and rolling stock carry the features of a vanishing age. The livery follows Atkins, Beard and Tourret when they state: Before about 1898, a light red colour had been adopted for the wagon stock with white lettering, but the goods brakes were grey.
     
     
     

    A bird's eye view of the scene. The timber sheds are a bit crude and don't feature in the normal 1907 set-up of the layout, but I thought they suited the slightly Wild West atmosphere of the early days. They were loosely inspired by similar sheds at the old Newbury station.
     
     
     

    As if rebelling against the slumbering nature of his railway, Driver P. Appledore demonstrates his uncanny ability to make even the slowest shunt look like a mainline express. "It's not what we do" he would tell new firemen, "It's how we carry ourselves. Look sharp!".
     
     
     

    The shunt brings the wagons up against the buffers. This is a 3-plank Open of 1881 vintage, and a pre-diagram brake van of 1882. The former was built from the David Geen kit, and the latter was restored from an old van originally scratchbuilt by Chris Edge.
     
     

    The brake van is left in the storage siding while the Open is propelled to the loading dock. Certain aspects of the loco are not, I fear, entirely correct for the period. Eg I am unsure whether the curve of the cabside is right for 1887. The otherwise appealing number 1234 is also problematic, as I am not sure that this particular loco had yet been converted to narrow gauge by this time.
     
     
     

    The loco has left and brought the brake van with it. The bay has gone quiet, and Porter C. Walker appears to be lost in thought. Or is he secretely savouring the whisky fumes from the load he carries?
  2. Mikkel

    The station building: Walls and gables

    By Mikkel,


    Structures
    Here’s an update on Farthing’s main station building, modelled on the 1910 prototype at Newbury (see this post for details). This post summarizes work on the walls and gables. There have been other developments, will update on those later.

     


    Although the structure at Newbury is still with us there have been numerous detail changes over the years. Above is a selection of those I have spotted. Most changes appear to have been made after the station was built, so I’m going with the original GWR drawing.
     
     

     
    The GWR drawing was imported and re-drawn in Inkscape, allowing me to cut the brick sheets in my Silhouette cutting machine.
     
     


    The Silhouette can’t cut styrene deeper than 10 thou, so it essentially scribes the outline on the back of the brick sheet (not the front, too bumpy) and I then cut through with a scalpel. 
     
     
     
    The brick sheets are SEF. They aren’t ideal for the Newbury brickwork, I had planned to use Slater’s, but the first batch of Slater’s crumbled in my hands and the next batch didn’t cut well in the Silhouette.
     
     

     
    The outer “skin” for the sides were then ready.
     
     

     
    A first inner layer was added, using 1mm Foamex from Green Stuff World. The Silhouette cuts this well but again only partly through, so more scalpel work followed.
     
     
     
    The first layer of Foamex fitted behind the brick skin. I gave up replicating the prototype’s bullnose bricks and subtle profile around the window edges.  I did try, using good advice from RMwebbers, but couldn’t achieve a convincing look. 
     
     

     
    Instead, the brick edges around the windows were simply indicated by indenting the foam with a suitable tool from a scribing set. It’s the biggest compromise on the model but I can live with it.
     
     

     
    The basic sides and ends, a DIY kit of sorts.
     
     


    I then set about adding the Bath stone embellishments.  Here, different types of styrene rod have been joined to represent the profile of the lintel bands.
     
     


    The lintels were cut on my Silhouette, with decorative parts fashioned from triangular rod and small “V’s” cut from Evergreen sheet. 3D prints would have been more accurate, but I enjoy piecing things together on my own – despite the compromises.
     
     


    The prototype stone sills had an overhanging lip, replicated with laminated strips of styrene. Try not to get too excited by these riveting photos :-)
     
     


    The parts were sprayed with Plasti-kote primer, and later painted Dark Sand (Vallejo 70.847).
     
     

     
    The walls were painted using a new approach I hadn’t tried before. Will post separately on that.
     
     


    Next the roof bands were stuck on.

     


    Then the lintel- and sill bands were fitted (or is it “string courses”, my vocabulary fails me here).
     
     

     
    The plinth, with the blue bricks that were such a distinctive feature on 20th century GWR structures.
     

     
    And finally the lintels were stuck in place. I cheated as they should be flush with the brickwork, but that would have entailed some very tricky cutting of the SEF sheets which I think wouldn't have looked neat. The vertical ornaments help conceal the dodge.
     
     

     
    I then set about decorating the gables. Won’t take long, I thought.
     
     

     
    But there followed much faffing about with bits of styrene, combining various shapes to compose the ornamentation. 
     
     

     
    The faux gables including raised brick courses above the lintels, and the ornamentation coming together.
     
     


    The decorative “pinnacles” (what's the word?) were tricky, being hexagonal yet slim. I first fitted strips of brick sheet on a hexagonal Plastruct rod, but the thickness of the SEF sheets made them overscale.
     
     

     
    So instead I just scribed the hex rod directly to indicate mortar courses, as seen here. Far from perfect, but it blends in OK. Decorative balls were made from pinheads, stolen at night from my wife’s sewing table. She knows, but pretends not to.
     
     

     
    There were two gables, so it took a while. If deconstructed each gable would consist of 101 separate bits. Probably not unusual for a scratchbuild, it’s just that normally we don’t count!
     
     
     
    An overview of all the brick sides. My camera exaggerates the colours. A few final details (downpipes etc) will be added later.

     


    The Bath stone was looking a bit plain (bottom), so was lightly weathered (top), though the camera doesn't show it well. I want the structure to look new, i.e. within a few years of construction. [Note to self: Vallejo Pigments Natural Sienna 73.105 + MIG Panzer Grey Fading P035].
     
     

     
    At 83 cms this is the longest structure I have built. After years of happily snapping small layouts, I’m struggling with the photographic challenges of such a long structure.
     
     

     
    First passengers have arrived! (click image for larger size). I had planned to divide the structure into 2-3 separate sections for easy storage but am now thinking it’s easier to just build it as one whole unit.
     
     
     
    A dry run with all sides in place. The windows are almost ready to fit, and parts are being cut for the interior carcass. More on that later.
     
  3. Mikkel

    The treachery of images

    By Mikkel,

    Modellers try to recreate the real thing. But sometimes we don't know how the real thing looked. Then what? These photos show my experiments with what I think was a standard livery for larger GWR goods depots around 1907, following lots of browsing of photos in books, and a brief discussion in this thread (many thanks gentlemen!).
     
     
     

     
    The trouble is of course that photos from the period don't have, er, colour - and are full of light and shadow. So it's hard to tell grey from light stone, or light stone from dark stone, or dark stone from chocolate. Above is the same photo again, without the colour. I think it highlights how hard it can be to interpret colours in b/w photos. Also, the photos themselves are just reproductions. Alas, the treachery of images !
     
     
     

     
    You'll be forgiven for thinking that this livery doesn't look very GWR. Neither did I at first. In fact I hated it, and thought it was completely counter-intuitive. I felt that shades of dark grey would be more appropriate. Or at least dark stone which was the preferred livery for ironwork on the GWR's public station buildings. But certainly not this BR look!
     
     
     

     
    Still, the photos that I could find suggested that light stone ironwork with a darkisk chocolate base (to hide wear) was in fact common. And that it was often more clean than I would have thought. So I left it for a couple of days, and I began to get used to it. I also realized that it made a lot of sense: In a place like this you'll want things to be as light as possible.
     
     
     

     
    Looking at the results so far, I think it may need a little more weathering after all. Maybe I should also align the height of the chocolate base so that it's the same all around (at 4ft heigh?). Plus, the weathering highlights in the chocolate has made it look too grey.
     
     
     

     
    Perhaps this livery didn't just apply to goods depots. Looking at photos of other large non-public buildings on the GWR at this time seems to show the same livery (see eg the photos of the Swindon Works Road Wagon workshop in Kelley's GW Road Vehicles p27)...
     
    But then again, I fully realize that this livery may turn out to be all wrong. So, any further comments and info would be much appreciated.
  4. Mikkel

    The trials of Mr Bull

    By Mikkel,


    Stories
    Here are some progress shots from "The bay", the first of the Farthing layouts. They mainly show the platform as I still need to detail the yard behind it.
     

     
    Mr Bull waits impatiently for his train on platform 2 at Farthing station. Behind him, 517 class No. 835 rests quietly in the bay with a newly arrived stopping train. The loco is an Alan Gibson kit that I bought secondhand in a rather unusual condition, sporting NER fittings and numbering! I returned it to running order and gave it a repaint, and it now serves as a regular engine on "The bay". The first two coaches are six-wheelers built from Blacksmith kits, namely an R2 First and a T38 Center Brake Third.
     
     
     

     
    A further view of No. 835. In a somewhat hazardous gamble, the Management has decided to delay securing of the roof on the R2 until passengers are onboard. Perhaps sensing the impending disaster, the crew is nowhere to be seen.
     
     
     

     
    Throughout his life, Charles R. Dixon categorically denied being shortsighted.
     
     
     

     
    The luggage belonging to the party of Mr and Mrs Longbottom, with whom regular readers (if there are any!) will be familiar. It is a little known fact that some Edwardian women were able to hover a few inches above the ground. Must fix that!
     
     
     

     
    Sometimes I think a cameo can be more effective without people in it. This one needs a bit more work though, and I seem to have gone over the top with the highlighting on the barrow. The lamp is a standard GWR type from the old Mike's Models range. They look ok from a distance, although close-ups like this show the thickness. The working lamps from DCC concepts provide an alluring alternative for future layouts, although I have not yet checked whether they resemble true GWR types. Does anyone know?
     
     
     

     
    The branch train has taken its place in the bay, ready for its return trip to Overbourne. The 850 class No. 1961 is again from an Alan Gibson kit, and yet another restoration job. The dome and chimney are not actually sliding down the boiler side, it must be the angle of the photo! The clerestory behind it is a chopped up Triang coach now running as an all Third to Diagram C10.
     
     
     

     
    Mr Bull is still waiting. His day has been bad enough already. When he discovers what he has stepped in, it will get worse.
     
     
  6. Mikkel
    I’ve slowly started work on the next layout in the Farthing series. “The sidings” are inspired by an interesting arrangement at the back of Gloucester Old Yard, where a headshunt served a series of kickback sidings that gave access to a variety of facilities: One siding served a private “biscuit” depot, another served the local waterworks, and finally there was a backroad to the loco depot’s ash sidings and coaling stage.
     
     
     
     

     
    Above left is the overall layout at Gloucester (see this post for details). The headshunt is in red. On the right is the rudely simplified and manipulated trackplan that I have extracted from this to suit my available space and personal tastes.
     
     
     

     
    Trackplan
    Here is the plan again, as it will appear on the layout. The scenic part of the layout will focus on the “neck” of the headshunt (what I think the GWR would have called a shunting spur), as well as the biscuit- and waterworks sidings - all turned through 180 degrees compared to Gloucester. Also featured on the layout is the lowermost siding of the main yard, where Loco Coal and ash wagons are stored, as per Gloucester. The "backroad" siding leading to the loco depot is mostly off-scene, but still plays an important part in operating the layout. The rest of the station is represented by a simple fiddle yard. The headshunt and sidings can accommodate a minimum of 3 “standard” four-wheel wagons and a tank loco. The very short shunting spur emulates that at Gloucester.
     
     
     

     
    Operation
    The table above shows the main "moves" I can make on the layout. An interesting operational feature at Gloucester was the exchange of Loco Coal and ash wagons: These were stored in the main yard, and when needed they were picked up by the yard shunter, moved to the headshunt and turned over to the shed pilot, which then propelled them to the loco depot. The yard shunter also worked wagons into the “biscuit siding” and the waterworks. These features are carried over to my layout - although I'm taking some liberties: In reality the biscuit siding was partly operated by gravity shunting, but I’m not doing that! As for the waterworks, I don’t know exactly what the traffic was, but a bit of research and photos suggests coal in for the pumping engines, and waste ash out. As salt was sometimes used for water softening I also saw an opportunity to also run a salt wagon or two, until someone corrects me!
     
     

     
    Buildings
    I want to use this layout as a way to improve my skills at constructing prototype buildings. So I've been looking around for various prototypes that were either standard GWR or that I found interesting. Some will be replicated directly, others will be adapted.
     
    Biscuit shed. The actual shed at Gloucester wasn’t very inspiring, so I will base mine on a downsized version of the rather nice "beer shed" at Stratford on Avon. This is open at the front and thereby gives a view across the loading dock into the shed, as indicated above. It is closed at the back and thereby hides the small radius point and entry to the fiddle yard behind it.
     
    Stable block. Can’t have a Farthing layout without horses! And I’ve always wanted a stable block. It will be fairly large with 8-9 stalls, reflecting that Farthing is a medium-sized mainline junction. Similar to the one at Witney.
     
    Mess room. This was inspired by the lovely GWR building in Truro yard that CK has kindly shared some photos of here.
     
    Water works. Not sure how I will do this yet, and I may chose only to have the works lightly indicated. In any case I'm thinking something low, like these at Low Bradfield - althought it would be nice if I could find a prototype in GWR territory.
     
    Replaceable cameo. I’m pondering whether I can try out the idea of replaceable cameos in the waterworks siding, similar to the idea sketched out previously in this post.
     
     

     
    Above is an updated attempt at showing the overall scheme of things at Farthing so far. I don’t intend to actually join up the layouts in practice, but it’s nice to have a general storyline behind it all. Sadly I haven’t given much serious thought to this as I went along, which means it’s now a bit of a challenge to make it all fit into an overall plan that makes reasonable sense. Anyway, essentially we’re talking about a medium-sized junction station in a cutting, with some creative earthworks to accommodate the growing town around it. Shades of Newbury, a touch of Kings Meadow, and delusions of Gloucester!
     
    That's about it for now. My original idea was to set the layout in the 1940s, but after mulling it over I’ve decided to stick with my normal Edwardian timeframe. That won’t stop me from doing the odd “out of period” running session though!
  7. 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
  8. Mikkel

    Trees for Farthing - Mark One

    By Mikkel,


    Scenery
    Projects over the summer have included trees. The original inspiration came from the tree-lined perimeters of Reading’s Vastern Road and King’s Meadow goods yards.
     
     
    Vastern Road yard, Reading, 1948. Source: Britain from above.
     
     
    The trees here were quite close to the track along some sections. Earlier photos from the 1900s show larger trees, so they must have been a feature from at least the 1880s.
     

    Vastern Road yard, Reading, 1948. Source: Britain from above.
     
     
    Apart from a bit of dabbling ages ago, this was my first real attempt at trees. It does show! But for what it's worth, here's a summary of how I did them. The basic armature was made from Treemendus 0.5 mm wire, cut to 150 mm lengths of which I used 45 per tree for my purposes. Similar wire can be obtained from florists.
     

     
     
    To form the trees, I used the method suggested by Treemendus, whereby one wire is twisted around others (rather than twisting all wires). This is certainly a quick method, but the outer wire does show.
     

     
     
    Treemendus recommend using masking tape in order to smooth out the trunk and main branches. This helps, but also adds to the thickness. Accordingly, I may use fewer wires per tree for the next batch.
     

     
     
    Once done, the armatures were coated in Treemendus bark powder. This can be sanded for a smoother look.
     

     
     
    For the crown and foliage I diverted from the Treemendus approach and instead used Heki sea foam, each piece glued to the armature with superglue. The pods can be removed, but I didn’t bother as the foliage I used conceals it.
     

     
     
    The crown was sprayed with a few quick coats of light brown/grey. I used Liquitex, these are low-toxic water based spraypaint for artists.
     

     
     
    Foliage was added using “coarse turf” from Woodlands scenic. This is the “burnt grass” shade.
     

     
     
    The foliage was attached using Hob-e-Tac- glue, non-toxic and very sticky.
     

     
     
    The foliage sticks to the outer reaches of the seafoam, leaving a nice natural branch structure behind it. 
     

     
     
    A coat of Woodlands “scenic cement” was sprayed on to further stick things down. This darkens the foliage somewhat, so I only did one coat. 
     

     
     
    As these are planted urban trees, they needed to be fairly uniform yet individually different. It helped to build them alongside each other. 
     

     
     
    I found that it was possible to make up individual bits of sea-foam twigs and retro-fit them to the trees. That way, any areas that I was unhappy with could be improved.
     

     
     
    The species is nominally London Plane-ish, although I admittedly concentrated more on just learning the techniques. I did try to indicate the mottled/patchy look of the bark with a paintbrush, but it doesn't show up well and needs more work.
     

     
     
    The original plan was to have 3-4 trees at the front of the layout.
     

     
     
    I liked the views beneath the canopy.
     

     
     
    And the shadow effect when the sun came in through our windows.
     

      
     
    But from a distance the layout seemed too “front loaded” and forbidding. Trying out various configurations I was struck by how the different positioning of trees can give very different impressions. E.g., compare these two photos:
     

     

     
     
    In the end I opted for the arrangement seen below. This gives me street trees but also an open view. It requires an extension of the layout at the back, featuring another road and - you'll be relieved to hear - a backscene. This is currently being built.
     

     
     
    It's all been an interesting exercise. I will probably keep this first batch of trees for the time being, but have started experimenting with alternative methods, including natural plants. More on that later.
     
     
  9. Mikkel

    Undecided sky (1867)

    By Mikkel,

    More "out of period" operation here. This time going back in time quite a bit. In fact, it seems they didn't even have flush-glazing back then .
     
     

    The year is 1867, and it is early days at Farthing station. Mr Crummles gently guides his wife towards the first class carriage, while Mr Doyce looks on in anticipation of the journey ahead.
     
     
     

    Mrs Crummles is somewhat apprehensive. It is only a few months since that dreadful accident at Warrington, and who knows what could happen?
     
     
     

    Meanwhile Mr Doyce, ever the optimist, studies the magnificent engine that will be whisking them to Salisbury. For him there was never any doubt: These fine machines have forever changed the world!
     
     
     

    Plucking up her courage, Mrs Crummles asks her husband one last time if he is quite sure that it is safe to get on?
     
     
     

    While the last passengers finally board the afternoon departure, an undecided sky develops over Farthing. For worriers and optimists alike, the future seems uncertain but exciting.
  10. 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?
     
     
  11. 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.
  12. Mikkel
    When in danger or in doubt, get the model railway out. The fourth layout in the Farthing series is taking shape, a welcome relief from the lockdown blues.
     
     

     
    Above is a reminder of the trackplan. So complicated that it broke Templot. Only very advanced modellers can do that.
     
     
     


    A test piece to see what the new Peco Bullhead track is all about. I decided to give Peco a go as a change from handbuilt track. The chairs are wrong for GWR, will be interesting to see how much I notice it. 
     
     
     
     
    One advantage of the new Peco track is that it’s voice controlled.  You simply tell it where to go and it will lay itself.
     
     
     

     
    The layout will be operated as a micro on a daily basis, but I may add a further module for extended operation, or even a direct link to my "Old Yard" layout.
     
     
     

     
    The rear siding therefore extends to the baseboard edge, and is protected by a removeable buffer stop, knocked together from balsa in the stopgap style of the old N&SJR.
     
     
     


    The other stops are standard GWR, built from the Lanarkshire Models kit. In order to fit them on the Peco track, I had to carve off most of the chairs. Have others found a better solution?
     
     
     
     
     
    For replacement, I dug into my stash of C+L GWR chairs. Ironic, as I now have proper GWR chairs next to the Peco ones. Maybe I should slice up some Peco chairs and fit them instead. What a cruel close-up by the way, I need to get out the filler.
     
     

     
    I wanted some sort of 'inset' track for the front siding. Photos suggest that while proper inset track was certainly used in some GWR yards, more pragmatic solutions were preferred when feasible. This includes leaving the four foot unpaved, as seen in the bottom three photos here (all heavily cropped).  That seems to have been a favoured solution where cartage vehicles needed firm ground to off-load or pass alongside the rails, but didn’t have to cross them. I haven’t seen this modelled much, so gave it a go.
     
     
     


    The outer sections of the sleepers were cut off to avoid the chairs fouling the paving. At this point I was seriously wondering why I hadn’t just made my own track! Here, DAS is being applied to the four foot.
     
     
     

     
    The rail was raised slightly above the edging stones to allow for track cleaning. Partly modeller's license, but also in compliance with one or two prototype photos.
     
     
     

     
    While not as elegant as proper inset track, I like how it creates a visual break in the setts.
     
     
     


    The setts were made using old paintbrush heads, fashioned to shape. 
     
     
     


    The material is Forex, a.k.a. ’foamed PVC’ but apparently now without the PVC. The technique also works in DAS clay. The photo is a bit misleading as I used a ruler while pressing the setts, in order to ensure straight lines.
     
     

     
    A scriber was used to individualise a few setts and sort out mistakes.
     
     
     


    The material can be curved slightly if necessary.
     
     

     
    The method has pros and cons. You tend to get a fairly uniform look and it’s hard to avoid the occasional gap between the grooves when pressing down the brush heads. But with practice I found it speedy and tidy, and I like that it can be done away from the layout – especially as I have to work in our living room.
     
     

     
    Drainage channels were made by drawing a screwdriver tip along a ruler…
     
     

     
    …then pressing in setts as appropriate.
     
     


    This drainage channel was done differently, by simply pressing the setts deeper than the surrounding ones.
     
     


    The ground in front of standard GWR stable blocks was often paved with either cement or bricks. I went for red bricks, forgetting that one drawing I have says blue engineering bricks (better quality). I may repaint them, but then again I may not.
     
     


    For the entry to the goods depot, I used a Green Scene roller on blue foam as described in my workbench thread.
     
     

     
    The arched setts are a nod to the yard at Birmingham Moor Street. The Pooley & Sons weighbridge is a Scalelink etch. The weighbridge office is a temporary mock-up. 
     
     

     
     The flagstone pavement was done using the same Forex material as the setts, with the kerbs and flagstones lined out in pencil and then scribed.
     
     

     
    My original plan was that the road the front would be laid with setts, but after encountering this thread I began to examine photos and realized that 1900s urban roads were very often laid with various forms of non-tarred macadam or similar.
     
     
     

     
    Here is Worthing South Street, captioned ca. 1900-1920. Even some parts of central London had streets like this. Sometimes such roads had gutters paved with stone, at other times setts were used or there was no gutter at all. Copyright Getty Images, embedding permitted.
     
     


    Call me a romantic but I like the dry, light and almost ethereal appearance that such roads exhibit in certain summertime photos of the period. I used sanding paper, painted with Vallejo light sand and ivory. It still needs some weathering and a good smattering of horse dung!
     
     
     

     
    For the GWR spearhead fencing, the initial plan was to use an old Scalelink etch - but it's rather fragile for a position at the front of the layout. So I used the Ratio GWR fencing. Photos suggest that the verticals should extend to the ground, beneath the lower horizontal bar. Never mind. The fencing sometimes had supports, may add those in due course.
     
     

     
    I wanted the fencing to be detachable, to allow for close-up photos and easy replacement if I break something. So far it rests in a groove lined with blue tack. If that proves a botch too far, I could try micro magnets. 
     
     

     
    Some stations - e.g. Minehead – had a lovely display of enamel signs mounted on the spearhead fencing.  I used those from Tiny Signs, cut with a scalpel, varnished twice and edged with a brown marker (in that order, otherwise the marker may discolour the sign).
     
     
     


    The signs act as view blocks, and also help draw in the eye to what will become a staff entrance. 
     
     
     


    Here’s Charlie the horse admiring the adverts. He looks a bit out of focus. It must be the provender. In his opinion, the GWR always did mix in too much bran.
     
     
     

     
    Work to be done includes a scratchbuild of a GWR weighbridge office (the mock-up seen here is the old Smiths kit), and one or two other structures. The elevated rear section of the layout is a whole little project in itself,  I'm hoping it will add further depth to the scene.
     
     


    Lastly, an overview shot. It’s all wired up, but I can’t operate it without a traverser. So that’s next.
     
     
  13. Mikkel
    What goes through a modeller’s mind? 'Very little', my wife would say, and she’s not far off! Am I the only one who enters a Zen-like state of mind when operating the layouts?
     
     


    It begins like this. You decide to run some trains, forget all the worries. Get the gear out, set up on the dining table.

     
     


    The engine purrs into life, pulls a train off the traverser. You get down to eye level, begin to dream. What if there was something else behind those windows?
     
     
     


    Distant spires maybe?
     
     
     


    Lots of spires!
     
     
     

     
    Then even that melts away, and you enter a world of dreamy blue skies.

     
     


    Floating freely…
     
     
     


    …in an uncomplicated world…
     
     
     

     
    …where time…
     
     
     


    …stops…

     
     


    …and the light…
     
     
     


    …is mellow.

     
     


    Peace, man. 
     
     
     


    Then reality kicks in.
     
     
     


    It seems I’m expected to lay the table. 
     
    Ah well! 
     
     
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