Balmoral Road - Some Industrial Background Buildings

[brossard]

An important aspect of this layout is a creamery.  I have been making a milk train and need somewhere to send the tanks.

 

Fortuitously, good ol' Scalescenes published a creamery kit in the March 2019 issue of Hornby magazine.  I got an electronic back issue from Pocketmags last week and was able to construct this:

 

 

It is low relief but nevertheless pretty impressive.  It took me a whole day to make the parts and then several days to slowly put everything together.

 

There isn't a lot of support for the windows in the kit.  The expectation is that the builder will either buy these from Scalescenes or Brassmasters.  Being 7mm, my only option was to make them from scratch.  I did this by making a jig and then layering plastic strip.  I taped transparent material to the back of the front and carefully glued the windows on top of that.  I used canopy glue which tends to wick into crevices and, of course, dries clear.

 

The two doors are supposed to be concertina but, after installing them, they looked pretty naff.  I got some roller doors from a warehouse kit as replacements.

 

The nice things about these kits is that:

 

a) John W is a brilliant designer so he has done the research to a degree that would be beyond me.

b) They are pre-decorated so all I have to worry about is getting things erected more or less square.

 

If, at some point, someone comes up with a better product I will get that.  I'm not holding my breath.

 

John

Edited March 3, 2020 by brossard

[ossygobbin]

is the kit 7mm or did you enlarge it ?

[brossard]

The kit is 00, I enlarged the PDF by 175%.

 

John

[jamest]

Hi,

 

I use a lot of scalescenes stuff in OO and I agree that they are fantastic.

 

I am dipping my foot in O gauge with a Dapol 08 and I would love to scale up some of my OO scalescenes stuff. I notice on the website john reccomends the 175% you mention and also says A2 paper/printer is also better.

 

I was hoping that A3 could be used as I have access to an A3 printer at work.

 

Do you play with the pdf files (with a pdf writer) to get better coverage on your scaled up pages? Or do you just take the OO sheet as is, scale up, and print straight onto A2?

 

Regards,

James

[brossard]

Glad to hear you are dipping toes in 7mm James.  My first loco was the 08 and it is superb.

 

I use 8.5 x 11 paper and print sections of the PDF at a time using "Take a Snapshot" feature.  On large buildings like the creamery I have had to splice some components.

 

If you have access to a large printer, so much the better, especially if you are using works' ink.

 

I would suggest you start with a small building like the free shed. 

 

Another company not to be ignored is FineScale Buildings:  http://shop.finescalebuildings.com/product-category/railway-buildings.

 

The lineside hut is free and I was very impressed with how it came out.

 

 

In 7mm you will want to add further details like gutters, downspouts and door knobs.

 

The main drawback with Scalescenes in 7mm is windows.  There is no support for these so they must be scratchbuilt.  I did ask Brassmasters about doing their etched windows for 7mm, I didn't get told no, but it would need pressure from the customer base to get it done.

 

I get the feeling I am very much in the minority for building Scalescenes in 7mm.

 

John

[brossard]

So, pottering away over the last week doing a blitz in card kits.  These are Lcut and very good.

 

 

Weighbridge.  The shed is done using my usual methods of wrapping Scalescenes brick paper and slate strips glued to the roof.  Downspouts are brass tube with brackets from wire and plastic strip. 

 

I found a very good picture and was able to produce something that I think looks really good.  The Lcut parts for the bridge itself did not suit me.  I replaced the base supplied with plastic card.  Pavement was made by scribing plastic .  The bridge itself is from the Scalescenes kit and, despite being printed looks more convincing to my eye.  The rail is square section brass.  I finished it off with some fine ballast and weeds at the base of the shed.

 

 

Coal merchant office and staithes.   Office construction as above.  Again, I didn't use the staithe parts supplied, mostly because there was no texture to them.  I substituted wooden timbers that were stained.

 

I wonder if, in the era of NCB, there were small local coal merchants around.

 

 

Coal stage.  Stained timbers used here and brick paper wrapped base.  I have a crane on order from Skytrex that will set this off very nicely.

 

 

Water tower.  I made faux corner pillars to hide the corner joins.  The parts for the tank itself didn't fit perfectly so fettling was done extensively.  The tank also didn't fit to the base properly so I added a top deck.

 

Lots of fun.

 

John

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by brossard

[brossard]

I completed my cattle dock today:

 

 

I found this picture using Google.  You will see I copied it.

 

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrkd2801c.htm

 

There’s a very useful article by Bob Essery containing dimensioned drawings in Midland Record 22.

 

Skytrex supplied the resin floor, whitemetal posts and gates, and rodding.  The rest was up to me.  The base is card with Scalescenes brick paper covering.  Steps are from card.  Platform edge is stained turnout timbering.

 

I made the approach fencing from plastic strip and brass rod.

 

I have a notion to do an earthen ramp from the yard to the platform.

 

I need to find some beasts with prototypical livery.

 

John

 

Edited March 31, 2020 by brossard

[Adrian Stevenson]

Nice work!

[brossard]

Today I added a Post Crane to the coal stage:

 

 

It is a Skytrex whitemetal kit and comes with buckets.  It does not include chain so be warned.  Next I need to add a coal pile.  A job for another day.

 

John

[brossard]

I just got my signal box mostly finished.  There are a few details to add (and find):

 

 

 

Basic kit is Lcut:  http://lcut.co.uk/index.php?product=B 70-13L&title=B 70-13L  To my horror my friend, after getting the thing half finished, pointed out that the box in the link has distinctive GWR windows, this would not do.  I swapped the windows for LNER.  I found a couple of pics on Google of LNER brick based boxes and nicked elements of those like the veranda and downspouts.  I haven’t got finials so will have to have a look around for those.  I will need a largish tank for the downspouts to pour into.  I suspect that rain runoff was used for domestic water.  I wouldn’t drink it right from the tank, but it could be used for tea I suppose.

 

I need to have a think about the rodding exit.  I’ll probably make a separate subassembly with the cover.  Also I need dustbins and I will need to build a coal store near the stairs.

 

There is an interior and you can just make out the levers.  There is a shelf containing block instruments too.  I used the etch from Severn Models.

 

John

[F-UnitMad]

5 hours ago, brossard said:

I will need a largish tank for the downspouts to pour into.  I suspect that rain runoff was used for domestic water.  I wouldn’t drink it right from the tank, but it could be used for tea I suppose.

Or possibly to water the station gardens?  

[daifly]

As I recall, potable water was delivered by passing trains in a suitable can. Rainwater was most likely to be used for W.C. flushing etc.

Dave

[brossard]

Makes sense, thanks.  I built a GWR potable tank wagon some time ago:

 

 

I would like to know a bit more about the tank that catches the runoff and whether anyone does one.  Has anyone made the tank? 

 

http://signalboxes.com/clipstone-sidings.php

 

John

Edited April 5, 2020 by brossard

[brossard]

Today, I tried to place the track and buildings to get a sense of how things go together:

 

 

 

Overall view just to the right of the shed.

 

 

Goods yard and cattle dock.  Track to the right of the wagon will be cut off to provide access for vehicles.

There's a 5T crane from Skytrex to build.  That will go near the goods shed, probably on a plinth.

 

 

At the back is a bay platform for parcels.

 

The main track will hold a 2 coach train.

 

 

Looking towards the scenic break.  Note the road and embankments are roughed in.

 

I'm being super cautious before laying track.

 

John

Edited April 9, 2020 by brossard

[brossard]

Having got a couple of pieces of track laid down, I took a pause to think about catch points.  A quick conflab with my chum who knows about these things, decided me on two:

 

 

I had built a couple of these some while ago but my now more experienced eyes thought they were naff.  I used the Peco template to lay out the timbers but based the rail layout on a pic I found on Google.  Note the two lead in supports are sleepers.  Fortuitously I bought a bunch of Gibson sleepers a few years ago.

 

John

Edited April 13, 2020 by brossard

[brossard]

A small update on the state of tracklaying:

 

 

Creamery spur.  Also Y turnout station throat.

 

 

Catch point and single slip.  I’ve been using a razor saw to cut rail at baseboard joins.  I think it does a much neater job. 

 

Note the foam track bed.  Foam and track are respectively fixed using Tacky Glue.

 

 

Bay platform.  Length sized to take 3 parcels style vehicles.  It will also take a B set.

 

Wire droppers are all in place.  You can’t see the wires because they are soldered under the rails.

 

More to come soon.

 

John

 

[Adrian Stevenson]

Nice work John. I like the Art Deco  looking Creamery building.

[brossard]

Thanks Ade.  I ran out of excuses to not lay track.  Scalescenes are to thank for the creamery.

 

John

[brossard]

Some track laying progress:

 

 

Main route is done.  All that is left is the Engine Shed road and some plain track for goods and coal yards.

 

 

View down the layout showing the crossover.  Also the last turnout to be installed today.

 

 

This meduim curved turnout is not Peco standard geometry but somewhat shorter.  Only six coupled locos on this layout.

 

John

[brossard]

Good progress.  The goods line is down and the glue setting.

 

Today I'm giving some thought to the layout of the shed line.

 

 

The track is up against the embankment.  The white rectangle is a buffer mockup.  I want there to be room for a loco outside.  Inside, there is an inspection pit.  Just outside I want an ash pit.  The pits were made from the Scalescenes Engine Shed kit parts.

 

 

Shed foreman's office, coal stage and you can just see the base of a water crane.  All fits pretty comfortably.

 

 

The turnout to the shed.  Yesterday I thought to use a curved turnout but I found defects with it.  My attempts to repair these just made things worse.  This is a straight turnout based on the Peco 00 small radius turnout template. (In fact most of my straight turnouts are).  To compensate for the gauge, I blew the template up by 199%.  This gives me a larger turnout but shorter than the standard Peco 0 gauge T/O and a smaller radius diverging route.

 

John

[brossard]

A bit more to show:

 

 

I placed things tentatively and it mostly looks good.  I have been advised that the coal merchant would work better on the near side of the track, so I'll work on that tomorrow.

 

 

At the end, I plan to have a village scene.  I made footprints from foam core.  The large square is a garage and the smaller ones are terraced houses and a shop respectively.  The road is to the front of that.  I have a Skytrex crossing kit.

 

These buildings will be made from Scalescenes kits.

 

 

Impressive long view of the layout.

 

John

Edited April 22, 2020 by brossard

[Fastdax]

Looking good, John!

 

[brossard]

Track laying is now done:

 

 

I did some work on the shed hard standing.  There is an inspection pit inside and the ash pit can be seen outside.

 

 

Station view.  Obviously I need to do a platform.

 

 

Goods yard and coal merchant in the foreground.

 

 

Tower Models J39 at the coaling stage.

 

 

Overall view.

 

John

[brossard]

I think I mentioned that I was going to build a station masters house.  Here's the kit:

 

http://shop.finescalebuildings.com/product/station-masters-house

 

These are very similar to Scalescenes.

 

The first thing I took a look at was windows.  To me, these are an extremely important feature of any building so they need to look "right".  I had a go at making these from the instructions and prints.  However, they are very one dimensional and I can't cut the window lights out to save my life.

 

So, plan B, make them.  First I made a jig for the windows from the templates in the kit.

 

 

Two layers of card.  The windows themselves were constructed from Evergreen strip of various width and thickness.  I had bought a pack of Lcut windows some while ago and these were very useful in allowing me to see how the windows made up.

 

I think these are pleasingly 3 dimensional.  They are glazed with transparent film for a photocopier and canopy glue.

 

Doors are in process.

 

John

Edited April 28, 2020 by brossard

[brossard]

Doors are done:

 

 

Similar method to the windows.  The two doors with windows were mounted on transparent film.

 

Oh no, not the cliche brass pin door handles!

 

I did order some door furniture from this range:

 

https://www.scalelinkfretcetera.co.uk/product-category/frets/143-o-gauge/

 

I'll see if there are embellishments I can do.

 

John