Jason T

There’s a swear filter to stop you typing that word 🤣

Well that didn’t take long, buildings are off to a good home. Thanks David, praise indeed. It was a shame to dismantle the layout but onwards and upwards; I just hope the next one meets expectations

As I said to Mike, that would be ‘cheating’; I kind of like to make tasks hard. As an example, look at the 137 windows on the mill, on The Mill. I made each window individually from Microstrip, and then painted them all, including the edges of the frames so no white showed through!

Humbrol enamels mostly Chris, can’t remember the numbers off the top of my head but I do know the grey was LMS Freight Grey. I once used GWR grey on a building. I felt dirty. 😃

You know me Mike, I don’t take the easy option 😃

The time has come… When I broke Bacup up, I saved almost all the buildings with a view to reusing them on a future layout but as some of you may have seen, my plans have now been set on modelling Sandside in South Cumbria and as such, not one of the saved buildings is suitable (plus, I love making buildings). For the last few years, all the buildings were stored in the attic of our house in Bingley but with that now being sold, I had to retrieve them and have nowhere to store them. As such, they are up for grabs. The signalbox is staying with me (unless I get a silly offer for it - it’s basically a standard L&Y box, based on the one at Hebden Bridge). The large mill that sat at the back is no more; it warped and regardless, the chimney is now in use on The Mill and I plan to keep that layout. The outhouses for the houses are gone. The station canopy has suffered, losing quite a few of its columns but to be honest, they were the weakest link in the structure anyway. So what we are talking about here is all the houses, smaller mills, goods shed (based on the one at Waterfoot), station building and canopy, and any others (couple of shops). Note: they are not plop on RTR buildings by any means and many were built to fit into the topography and baseboard angles (e.g. 3D low relief with what may seem like odd angles). What they are is basically a town of bespoke buildings based on prototypes in East Lancashire, mainly in and around Bacup. I would rather they went to someone / a club who would put them to good use rather than some dweeb who would put them on their carpet and run a Class 66 hauling teak coaches past them 😃 So, is anyone interested or know someone/a club who may be? DM me if you are. Thanks, Jason

That’s the problem; when you see the issues they grate on you and you just know you have to tackle them. I truly believe that the current model brushes up to be a stunning model with a bit of effort. As for the wall, thanks. The whole layout (Bacup) was weathered very similarly through necessity; grotty mill town.

I seem to have taken over this thread a bit (sorry) but here’s a shot of one of my Black Fives with the above done, Brassmasters detailing added, Comet bogie and front steps, Gibson Stanier pattern wheels on the bogie and tender and, since this was taken, converted to EM. it still needs painting and weathering!

1. Remove the body and then cut off/remove the parts shown next to the chassis. 2. I used a vernier gauge to determine the depth of the shelf and then scribed along the top using the gauge to denote a cutting line. 3. carefully cut along the line, taking extra care near the springs. Tidy up afterwards. 4. Plastikard needs to be glued to the chassis to hold the tender sides in the correct position and stop them bowing inwards (it actually improves the rigidity over that of the unaltered tender) 5. Put it all back together again and you have a much better looking Stanier tender.

I have also found the tender photos. But first, a before and after. You can see (and then never unsee) the shelf below the tender sides, above the springs

I found the photos on Photobucket; quite a few and I hope they are in order. First, drill a series of holes in the area under the smokebox to allow it to be removed. Next, using a scalpel, remove the area between the uprights on the frames and the footplate, including along the sides of the smokebox. Then, neaten up with files, etc. Next, trim back the front mounting bolt surround and insert Plastikard shaped to the profile of the bottom of the smokebox. Last, neaten up, paint up, done.

I looked through about 30 pages of my Bacup thread and couldn’t find what I wanted but if you look on the below, you can see that I have removed the erroneous plastic below the smokebox. I basically attacked it with a pin vice and then with a fresh-bladed Swann Morton, trimmed it back to the profile of the bottom of the smokebox. I will need to take a look when I get home to confirm but pretty sure you need to glue in a piece of Plastikard somewhere to hide a hole but this was really easy to do. In the second shot, you can see the tender with the shelf removed. The purpose of showing two Black Fives was to demonstrate the difference that making a new tender drawbar makes (a bit of brass with holes drilled in it; I managed to fashion the wipers for the tender pickups out of circuit board and brass strip too, enabling the loco and tender to be separated). The shiny Five, as well as all the above being done, has also had the Brassmasters treatment. I think the current model brushes up incredibly well.

A rather glaring error with the current Black Five that once seen you can’t unsee, is the lack of space under the smokebox; not too horrendous to resolve if you’re brave with a pin vice, craft knife and files. The erroneous ‘shelf’ on the tender is actually pretty easy to remove and once done, not only does it improve the look exponentially, but I have found the body sits much better on the chassis. It was Timara Easter who helpfully guided me through the above but since he did, I have done it to all of my Black Fives (and all Hornby Stanier tenders). I am sure that I took some photos of what to do, I will try and dig them out.

Now for the bit that always makes me nervous, the painting. You can put so much effort into building something and then it is ruined by not painting and weathering it well. Using the methods and colours that Karl Crowther has for his alternative history version of Sandside (Kentside: see MRJ and Kier Hardy’s wonderful site, EM Gauge 70’s) I made a start. With the plain wall still not permanently affixed (it won’t be until the walls are pretty far on with painting, so I can add the windows at a stage where I am least likely to get paint all over them), I first primed the building (Halfords grey) and after a couple of days, applied the base stone colour (a mix of greys and browns). Two days later, I then painted the window surrounds and sills on the main building in a mid stone colour (not the ones on the small office; that apparently didn’t warrant fancy dressed stone). Next comes a wipe on / wipe off of a mucky black/brown and then lots of dry brushing. Last will be tidying up the corners when the plain wall is affixed. And then I have to add the roof…

He’s happy because it’s not the size of BCB

Thanks David. Bacup is unfortunately no more although I did keep most of the buildings (and they will shortly be up for grabs, minus the signalbox). I do still own The Mill, a 5’ x 18” EM Gauge - that’s going nowhere as I love industrial locos and the layout. Sandside used to be a popular location for day trippers; my Mum remembers going there (by car or bus) from Kendal as a child. During the lockdowns and post lockdown periods, it was quite similar, especially Arnside where you couldn’t move for people and cars at times!

So, as mentioned, this is a long term project but some progress has been made, namely on the structures. I did make a start on the station building (very quirky) using drawings from the Kendal Tommy book but they weren't the most accurate or my measuring was off and when I looked at photos and the mounting board mock-up, it just didn't look right so I have put it off. With this and all the other buildings, one of the challenges is the stonework; I want it to look as close as possible and have the quoins, etc., integrated rather than mess around with embossed sheets and strips of plain plastikard. As such, the only option I have given myself is to scribe the stonework into plain 40 thou Plastikard. You would not believe how sore my hands are after three months of scribing! I decided instead to model the signalbox as it looked easy. I do have a thread in Scenery, Structures and Transport with more details on this but suffice it to say that it wasn't as easy as it looked or the drawings suggested. Two attempts got me to the below, still awaiting painting in a better match for the local stone (it was built using red sandstone quoins and limestone for everything else). It's not finished but quite a way on - latest head scratcher is the steps and landing. With the box almost done, I moved on to the goods shed. At first, I was a but stumped on how to approach this but then discovered that the Furness Railway used a standard basic design, meaning that a number of very similar (but not identical) sheds still exist (Grange-Over Sands, Cark & Cartmel and various stations on the Cumbrian Coast Line). Using Google Earth, I was able to get the basic dimensions of the shed at Grange-Over-Sands, which set me off on the right path. With this and a number of photos, I was able to draw up the shed and make a start. Again, what looks to be a simple building isn't, with arched windows, abutments, a covered loading 'porch', etc. In my usual style, I have scratchbuilt it as a kit, e.g. working on separate areas planned to fit together at a later time, in a specific order, hence why the rear wall is leaned up against the rest of the building in the below (I need to prime and get some basic paint on before I can add the windows... before I can add the internal stone dressing... etc.)

And so onto the plan. I need to start by saying that this will be a long project but as I have wanted to model the location for so long, the fact that I have made a start is a major milestone. As mentioned above, the line was truncated to Sandside in 1963, the beautiful Bela viaduct (not to be confused with the Belah viaduct on the Stainmore route - although the coke trains would have crossed both) being demolished in 1965. Passenger services were temporarily stopped during WW2 and never started again. Also, prior to 1963, even though through trains still used the line, the block was from Arnside to almost Hincaster so the signals were removed and the box became a ground frame. Would I re-add the signals? It's tempting, especially as the one at the Arnside end was a double sided lower quadrant one which is just too quirky to ignore!! (I may have already bought the components I need for it from Wizard....) Now the easy thing to do would be to model it post '63 with the only traffic being stone and coal traffic (and I guess it could easily be operated as such) but this is where I plan to bend history slightly and not only keep the line open beyond '63, but also keep the station open for local services only. If I was to pick a period, it would be around 1960 with the occasional stretch past there to allow usage of locos and stock that I like (I have an SLW Type 2 on order in pre-TOPS BR blue, for instance). Probably goes without saying but it will be modelled in EM Gauge although I am getting nudged towards P4 from certain quarters... I reckon I could fit the station and yard, truncated but not hugely noticeable or compromised, into 16' scenic. Below is the signalling diagram from 1912; not much changed between then and 1963. Note that the quarry sidings are not shown; there was only one used for loading stone (via portable conveyor belt) and some others with what would be first radius curves that can only have been hand/horse worked - the only traffic I have seen photos of in these is tar wagons.

A bit of personal history first. I grew up in a village in South Cumbria, one which was once rail served and survived as a truncated branch to serve a quarry until mid 1971, a year after I was born. Inspiration for my previous layouts were kind of linked; Bacup came from a photo in a book and The Mill came from the EM Gauge Society's 60th Anniversary competition, a love of industrial locos and 'experience' in building grotty mill buildings that obviously came from building Bacup. Obviously the inspiration for this one comes from it being my local station where I grew up. I really wanted to when I built Bacup but knowing the location so well, I really didn't want to compromise it into the space I had available (13' * 10') As mentioned, the railway was gone before I can remember but I did live long enough to see the footbridge, signalbox and the odd bit of rail still down in the quarry sidings. For the longest time, all I had was a few photos in various books to show me what once was but as time has gone on, a Facebook group for the village has unveiled many photos and then a couple of years ago, the Cumbrian Railway Association released a book on the line, Kendal Tommy. There's also around 30 photos on the Cumbrian Railway Association website. So, a brief history of the line, which I will try and expand on as and when relevant. The real driver for the line being built was as a shorter route for the coke that the foundries in the Furness Area needed, travelling over the Stainmore Route and down the WCML from Tebay. Initially, these trains went via Carnforth and in fact, until WW1, continued to do so because of mileage arguments between the FR and LNWR (the short cut reduced their mileage and therefore the amount they could charge). A passenger service was provided between Grange-Over-Sands and Kendal and after the line was opened, the limestone quarry at Sandside took advantage of the proximity to the railway - it was to provide the final traffic on the truncated line. So, there's the background into why. Below are some photos; I have many more but most I don't know of the copyright. Sorry about the quality of a couple but obviously I never took them (especially the ancient aerial one)

I’ve used a few tools, starting with ruler and a fine pencil to mark up the quoins, then a rather blunt craft knife for the stone courses. Once they are in, the scriber and more often the cheap orange handled scraper have been used to open the courses up and add texture. The Swann Morton with a new blade was used to neaten up and get the corners right (pet peeve is where courses don’t continue around corners; they aren’t all perfect but close enough hopefully). Next step is to use plastic filler to hide gaps (e.g. between the loading area and the main building) and then get a coat of primer on so I can better see any areas that need attention, as well as allowing me to add the windows and the internal back wall that will be slightly visible if the doors are modelled as open, which they may not be as the shed was out of use in later life. Apparently Beetham Paper Mill used the shed but I don’t know when this finished (most likely earlier than the period I am depicting). I know that Broomby’s had deliveries of bagged cement but the sidings extended down to their site so I guess they just unloaded directly into their warehouse rather than bother to use the goods shed. I do intend to bend reality by keeping the station open and possibly not truncating the line in ‘63 (by the end, the section from Sandside to Hincaster was only used once a week for the Windermere portion of the Leeds-Barrow (SO) and occasional seasonal excursion empty coaching stock (Lakeside to Windermere). This saw 10+ coaches hauled tender first by Jubilees & Black Fives using the line!! Anyway, if I bend history then I guess I could bend traffic flows to include using the shed. In reality, the goods traffic was coke trains passing through, coal, stone (ballast and other) with the occasional tar wagon and aforementioned bagged cement.

I thought that the goods shed would be easier than the signalbox; I was wrong. The stonework is again hand scribed (well, external anyway as I have used Wills and Slaters for bits on the interior which will hardly be visible), this time including abutments, the road access vestibule and office. The amount of scribing (all on 40 thou Plastikard) made for some wobbly walls so there is a lot of bracing on the out of sight internal bits, and the decision has been taken to model the rear door closed; only seen one photo of it open and that was prior to the period depicted. The windows have been made and will be added once the bulk of the exterior has been painted (less hassle that way) but as can be seen, that adds its own challenges with the non-platform wall and adding the interior. The roofs will be built as separate units which will be added later. So yes, a labour of love but so satisfying and even if it isn’t 100% correct to the long gone prototype, it is close enough for my skill level for me to be quite chuffed!

It’s the former, once described to me as Bay-Cup

Little and Large(r); Sandside box next to the last one I built, Bacup (actually Hebden but they were the same basically)

No; we used to clamber over the sewage pipes that bridged the ditch on the Marsh Lane near Sandside; we used to climb up communication towers and hang upside down off the top too (we were in our 20’s by then) !

I tried to get better but as it was, I was holding my phone through some railings whilst also keeping my eye on two seven year olds who were being pains