Cheslyn on the Eve of the Great War.
Lord and Lady Harlesham can be seen on the platform just beyond the footplate of the Dean Single. Harlesham is about to board the early train en route to London and Parliament to sign the ratification of the Royal Prerogative to declare War on Germany. His father, Lord Harlesham Senior, a director of GWR, had had the station built in 1889 at his own expense. The original intention was to build a simple spur from the preceding station, Tarnworth, to service his Fertilising plant situated near Cheslyn; however, The Board of Trade would only grant the scheme under the stipulation that a passenger station be also built to service the village of Cheslyn. An odd decision given that Tarnworth was a much more suitable terminus, possessing a much larger goods yard with stabling sheds and a turntable. Cheslyn never did receive much passenger traffic as a consequence, but despite this it survived the Beeching closures operating long after Tarnworth ceased to exist. This was no doubt due to the powerful lobby of the Harlesham family who enjoyed the use of the extension to service their business interests for almost ninety years.
The figures on the footplate are from the Dapol range and the platform figures are Preiser.
Billy and Mildred Cosgrove are waiting for the train to pull out. Corporal Cosgrove is on his way to the front to join his unit and can’t wait to get off. His wife, Mildred, was a dear, but for someone of twenty she had a very old head. Consequently, she had a tendency to nag a little too much, especially in public. A GWR man seconded to the Royal Engineers, he would be staffing the light railway network responsible for supplying the front line. This meant he would not see any real action and would be largely safe. This was much to his chagrin, of course, as most enlisted men wanted to be very much in the thick of things at the beginning. He and his ilk had to put up with much ribbing from ordinary riflemen and had to grin and bear being called a ‘rear unit Walla’ on more than one occasion.
On the other hand Mildred knew her beloved husband could be given to pride and foolishness. She was constantly assuring him that his role was just a vital to the war effort as any other service. She is making him promise that he’ll keep his head down and do nothing rash and also that he’ll write at least once a week despite his protestations. He was trying to assure her that there was no need for all the fussing because the war would be over by Christmas. Billy was duly relieved when he heard the boarding whistle.
Billy is from the Airfix WWI set and has had to be remodelled using an arm from a Dapol figure which doesn’t quite fit (more about this in another photo). Mildred is from the Preiser Edwardian set. Usually, putting a HO and OO figure together doesn’t look quite right, but in this case, they match quite well I think.
Millie Fenner, the flower seller, can be seen touting her wares to passengers; a common sight on Edwardian platforms. Another nicely rendered Preiser figure – they are so well made and painted you can see the features of her face and she looks quite convincing.
I like this picture but it is let down by the Billy figure. His new right arm is slightly out of scale but there’s a good reason for this. I had to cut the original arm off as it was waving a signal flag and replace it with a suitable one from another figure from the same kit. The super glue would not work on the springy plastic so I had to use a bit of wire to join the new arm up with body. Unfortunately, the arm sprang off into the air whilst fixing and after about half an hour of searching on my hands and knees I gave up. Another arm was hastily cut from a Dapol station figure and fixed into place. I just finished painting the figure when I felt a stabbing pain in my big toe. I’m given to wearing sandals around the house so thought I’d stubbed it up against the chair leg. However, under closer inspection, I found the original arm sticking out of my sock including the piece of wire which had buried itself into my skin! Patience really is a virtue and looking at the picture now I wished I had carefully extracted the old arm and used it instead of throwing it out of the window in a fit of temper.
George Harne (driver) and Fred Legg (fireman) are taking on much needed fuel and water. The coaling stage was cobbled together from matchsticks and coffee stirrers. There’s no substitute for using real materials in a scene like this as they show up well in model form. Real coal was also used and fixed in place with matt varnish which I prefer to use rather than watered down PVA.
Say what you like about RTR, but I love the rivet detail on the Hornby Pannier and look at the crisp lining on the Hornby Clerestories behind. This is another favourite pic as it gives a sense of real depth.
I’m always open to criticism and advice as I’m keen to learn exactly how railways actually functioned. The next instalment will be set around the time of WWII some thirty years on so any tips, comments would be really welcome in the meantime.
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