The GWR in South Devon.

[kirtleypete]

I have been commissioned to build this layout by a customer, Paul, and it is the last big project for me before I retire.  We originally discussed it two years ago but certain events since then have held up the work, mainly because Paul needed to get his loft converted and that could not be done during lockdown and I couldn't build the layout until we knew exactly how much space we were going to have.. That work is now complete. 

 

The original inspiration for the layout was 'Kingstorre' but we didn't like the hidden fiddle yards and wanted to make out layout unique and not just a straight copy. We have Dawlish along one aside, Totnes on the other with Ashburton behind the fiddle yard:

 

 

Clearly the dairy and loco yard are our inventions but the station areas should be pretty accurate although this plan was very much just a first draft. The layout will be 9' 6" wide by 22' long. We are modelling Totnes with the original wooden train sheds, again setting it apart from Kingstorre; our period is the mid 1930's.

 

I have begun work on the fiddle yard and Ashburton:

 

The two 4' long Ashburton boards are separate and just sit in place, although they will be fixed and the scenery blended in when the layout is complete.  I have used Peco code 75 track in the fiddle yard with their curved points but all the scenic part will use the new finescale track which is superb. In that respect the delay in construction has been an advantage.

 

 

It was just possible to fit in eight tracks.

 

 

The controller is the new Lenz 101 wireless DCC system.

 

 

I have had to move the warehouses at Ashburton along a bit - they should be behind the goods shed but there wasn't room.  The boards are only 18" wide.

 

 

The track needs lightly weathering  to blend it all in but it already looks much better than ordinary code 75. 

 

I have already finished the main Dawlish buildings:

 

 

 

I won't complete the footbridge until they are in place on the layout.

 

 

I'll keep posting as work progresses.

 

Peter

 

Edited February 28, 2022 by kirtleypete
spelling

[BlackRat]

Excellent modelling!

[Graham T]

An ambitious project, I'll be following this one!

[kirtleypete]

I forgot to say that it's 00 gauge though I'm sure you've all worked that out!

Peter

[kirtleypete]

While I wait for the paint to dry on the next baseboard I've been working on Totnes station building. This is what the station looked like until the train sheds were demolished in the later 1930's:

 

 

There is a standard GWR footbridge but pretty much everything else dates from 1847 and the South Devon Railway, with all the buildings constructed from timber.

 

 

I've made the roof of the train shed from 2mm clear Polystyrene sheet which is very rigid, unlike normal plastic card. It needs to be strong as it will not be fixed in place, to allow for track cleaning and so on.

 

 

 

Here I have begun cladding it with slate paper.

 

 

The roof is complete on top but I still need to detail the underside as it may be visible.

 

 

This is the side facing the approach road and also the front of the layout. 

 

 

The area to the left is where the signal box will stand.

 

 

Making the model on a section of platform like this means it should just slot straight into place on the baseboard when the time comes. The whole structure is plastic apart from the slate paper. I've just realised that I've missed off a section of ventilator on the train shed roof, so that's the next job.

 

Peter

Edited March 1, 2022 by kirtleypete

[Captain Kernow]

Fantastic!

 

[kirtleypete]

I've filled in the corner behind the fiddle yard now to create a hillside, using Busch Wildgrass matting.  Hopefully I can detail it this afternoon.

 

 

Ashburton can still be lifted off, and I'll disguise the join when the layout is in place.

 

 

I've also finished Totnes signal box, though there was some guesswork involved:

 

 

It's a very unique structure.

 

 

I will cut a hole for the point rodding.

 

 

 

I need to tidy up the paint on the station building, and get rid of the finger print in the paint on the back wall!

 

 

Peter

 

 

[kirtleypete]

I forgot to say in the captions above but there is an obvious problem with the sky backscenes. I use ID Backscenes, I think they are the best on the market. The ones behind Ashburton are self adhesive vinyl because I'd already got some. The new ones are the same sheet but printed paper because I couldn't find any vinyl ones....the blue of the sky is totally different. I'm going to standardise on the paper ones now and I'll stick new sheets over the original ones behind Ashburton so it all blends in together.

 

Peter

Edited March 3, 2022 by kirtleypete

[kirtleypete]

Along with wiring baseboards and fitting point motors I have been building the second of the Totnes station buildings.

 

This side won't be seen on the layout but it seemed a shame not to model it. Remarkably these buildings are still in use today.

 

 

 

As with the other side the roof will just rest in place, and that's tomorrow's job.

 

 

Peter

[coronach]

Memories of Mike Cook (late of York Model Railway Exhibition and the Castle Railway Circle) who built the well know South Devon model railway layouts in the 1970s, including Dawlish & Newton Abbot, Totnes, Kingswear and Ashburton.  I was a member of the CRC for several years in the 70s and 80s and regularly exhibited Kingswear and Ashburton.

 

[kirtleypete]

I did York show for years when Mike was in charge, they were really enjoyable.

 

I've done the scenery in the corner of the Ashburton board while the boards have been taken down for wiring and fitting point motors.

 

 

It needs some sheep in the field really.

 

 

In between wiring I've now finished the station buildings at Totnes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This side will never be seen on the layout but it seemed a shame not to complete it.

 

I can get on with the Dawlish section next,  but I need good weather as i have to put items outside to make room in the workshop. Tomorrow is going to be wet so I may make a start on Totnes goods shed.

 

Peter

[kirtleypete]

I've been working on the other half of the fiddle yard, but have run out of track which is frustrating.

 

 

More is on order, I'll finish things off on Tuesday hopefully. I've had to use one of the new Finescale points in place of a curved code 75 one, but as it's off scene soldering the rails together is acceptable. 

 

 

It won't take long to connect up the other four tracks.

 

 

I originally wanted to put the tunnel mouth on this board but I don't think it works unfortunately so it will have to go on the next one.  I'll lose another foot of scenery but it can't be helped. The next board will be lower as of course the line ran through Dawlish on top of the sea wall, and building and fitting it is the next job. The next couple of boards are just plain track so progress should be pretty quick. 

 

In the meantime I've got low relief buildings to make that go along the back of Dawlish station.

 

Peter

 

Peter

[kirtleypete]

I've added the first of the lower level Dawlish boards, and need to leave it now to let the glue harden. 

 

 

It's quite a heavy board but once it's in place it won't have to be moved again. This section is hugely compressed but there is room for the tunnel mouth, footbridge and viaduct which are the important features.

 

 

The area behind the tunnel mouth is cliff and hillside which will go right to the top of the backscene. That's tomorrow's job.

 

 

There is just room to model the viaduct without much compression.

 

 

I'll be relaying the track beyond the points to give a smooth curve, and this side of the backscene will be painted grey.

 

Peter

[kirtleypete]

I've had a productive morning. I began by relaying the track through the tunnel to give a smooth curve, spraying it and then fixing the tunnel mouth in place.

 

 

 

 

At the other end the viaduct girders have been glued in place.

 

 

I then concentrated on building up the hillside behind the tunnel mouth. 

 

 

I use corrugated card formers glued on with a hot glue gun.

 

 

At Dawlish a road runs up the hillside behind the retaining wall but I realised straight away that it wouldn't be possible to model that without the gradient looking ridiculous, so I decided to simply concentrate on the hill and cliffs and forget the road.  It then became apparent that the footbridge was going to be a problem as it connects to the road; in the end I have left it off, despite having built the damn thing! There just isn't the room for it.

 

The black card was glued in place with the glue gun to form the hillside.

 

 

Grass mat was then glued over this, really forming an undercoat for the scenery.

 

 

I used Sculptamold to model the bare rock that is so characteristic of the area.

 

 

By the time I'd had a coffee break this had dried, so it was first sprayed brown and then with Railmatch light rust to give the Devon red colour. What I have done isn't correct for Dawlish but I thought the important thing was to give the look oft he line disappearing into the hillside. If I'd modelled it to scale there wouldn't be room for the station! There should be a promenade running in front of the tracks, but again it was impossible to fit it in without looking silly so I've just moved the retaining wall back.

 

 

I've added the retaining wall from 2mm plastic card and also the undergrowth from rubberised horsehair, all stuck down with the glue gun.

 

 

The grass areas were spayed with Photomount and static grass strands were sprinkled in pace; I use my hands for this, not an expensive applicator. I put a ball of strands between my palms and rub them together, the strands fall onto the glue and look fine. I blow them to get rid of loose ones and then repeat the process with a brighter green. 

 

 

The undergrowth was sprayed with the Photomount and various shaded of green scatter were sprinkled onto it. Finally a little Woodland Scenics foliage was added in a few places. 

The ballast hasn't been glued, I thought it would look better in the pictures if I took them first.

 

 

I got some of the Sculptamold on the brickwork, but pictures of the real thing show white streaks of lime so I'm going to leave it in the hope that people will think I was clever rather than clumsy!

 

 

Now I've got to decide how to model the beach.

 

Peter

 

 

 

 

[kirtleypete]

Finding period pictures of the beach at Dawlish is proving quite challenging but I have got this beauty: 

 

 

The bridge is the original but surprisingly little else has changed.  The river runs across the beach which is going to be interesting but the various stone walls are very useful for disguising joins and such like. 

 

 

The wooden groynes further down will be ideal for disguising baseboard joints if I take them right up to the retaining wall.

 

Peter

Edited March 15, 2022 by kirtleypete

[The White Rabbit]

On 15/03/2022 at 14:07, kirtleypete said:

 

... At Dawlish a road runs up the hillside behind the retaining wall but I realised straight away that it wouldn't be possible to model that without the gradient looking ridiculous, so I decided to simply concentrate on the hill and cliffs and forget the road.  It then became apparent that the footbridge was going to be a problem as it connects to the road; in the end I have left it off, despite having built the damn thing! There just isn't the room for it.

 

Hi Peter, sorry to butt in but knowing the area, I've been following the thread. To set the scene a bit, I've posted some photos taken when on the Teignmouth - Dawlish walk. 

 

A [pre-works] view from 2018 looking north from the hillside above the first tunnel. 

 

 

 

Then showing the footbridge, tunnel and footpath up the hill. 

 

 

 

A reverse angle view. 

 

 

 

And then the area in 2019 when building work was starting. 

 

 

 

 

On 15/03/2022 at 14:07, kirtleypete said:

 

 

 

I got some of the Sculptamold on the brickwork, but pictures of the real thing show white streaks of lime so I'm going to leave it in the hope that people will think I was clever rather than clumsy!

 

If anything, I think you've underdone it!

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by The White Rabbit
Re upload pics.

[kirtleypete]

Butt in as much as you like - they are great photo's and thanks for posting them.

 

Having slept on it I think I need to include the promenade, it's such a feature that even a short length will help set the scene and it doesn't look right without it. That will be the next job, so watch this space.

 

Peter

[The White Rabbit]

While watching, I got nostalgic and starting looking through my photos... 

 

One from Dawlish station's footbridge showing the promenade towards Shell Cove.  

 

Then two from the top of the hill between Dawlish and the north end of the Teignmouth promenade section. The main road was noisy and I found a fieldpath which also had better views, though at a cost of some sweat... 

 

And panning eastwards a tad to follow the DMU in the previous picture (it's v well hidden in Dawlish station). A few minutes later it was half-way to the Warren. Probably bound for Exmouth (centre to far right white buildings) via Exeter. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by The White Rabbit
Re upload pics.

[kirtleypete]

Excellent pictures - thanks.  I'm going to try to emulate the ones with the flat blue sea! 

 

I've been working on the first section of beach this morning.

 

 

The beach area is a piece of 2mm plastic card, sloping towards the sea. At this stage I was still unsure about how to model the beach itself.

 

 

The rocks are Sculptamold again.

 

 

I've also added the piers to the bridge. They look very slender but bear in mind that the ground level will be higher on both sides, with the river in the middle. I haven't forgotten the middle set of girders!

 

 

The rocks have had a spray to match the existing ones.  It does look a bit as though one of the local cats has paid a visit!

 

 

I painted the beach with Tamiya buff and finally made my mind up - nothing looks more like sand than sand so that's what I've used.  It is very fine indeed but obviously the grains are 76 times too big.  However I couldn't think of a better way of getting the undulations and so on that a real beach has. I added some gravel as well and the beach is not all sand. This is the area with the sand and gravel just put on loose.

 

Then I put on the diluted PVA..............

 

 

I hope it doesn't look like this when it dries! The bits of foliage mark the high tide line.

 

Now comes the next decision - do I try to model the sea? It would look better if I do, but real sea moves and model sea doesn't which is OK for photographs but less convincing on the model. My feeling is that a narrow strip right at the front will look OK, and I want to use some Preiser bathers. There isn't room for much anyway.

 

I'm off to Ally Pally with a layout now so won't pick things up again until Monday. At least the PVA should have dried by then!

 

Peter

 

 

[Noggin the Nog]

Looks good Peter, worth adding the promenade. Enjoy Ally Pally! Paul

[kirtleypete]

Here are some new pictures showing progress over the last couple of weeks:

 

 

The pictures of the town are the real Dawlish - the church is very distinctive. The real Royal Hotel was curved but sadly there wasn't room for that.

 

 

 

The cream buildings are the Grand Hotel. The Fairly Average hotel was round the corner! 

 

 

I'm still finishing off the footbridge. The goods shed will cross a baseboard joint so will have to be put in place once the layout has been installed.

 

 

The next job is to put up the next two boards and then Dawlish can be completed. With all the different levels it has been very complicated but thankfully Totnes was pretty much flat so it will be much quicker to complete that section.

 

Peter

[AlfaZagato]

If the hotel was curved, and is the low-relief with the green doors, could you section the rear to curve the facade gently?  Looks like you have some 1" of depth you could curve into.

[kirtleypete]

I could, but looking from the front it looks OK as it is. 

 

I haven't got as much done as I wanted due to the awful weather; I've brought this board into the house.  

 

 

I've built up the rest of the platforms, now I'm waiting for more stone and fencing to arrive.

 

 

This shows how the goods shed spans the baseboard joint.

 

 

This was the reason for bringing it indoors, to give the PVA chance to dry out. 

 

 

I've also finished off the footbridge.

 

Obviously I can't move this board until the sand has hardened off, so the next job is more baseboard building. 

 

Peter

[Miss Prism]

Are those canopy roof panels translucent?

[kirtleypete]

Yes, made from 2mm clear Polystyrene sheet and given a wash of dilute black, mainly to tone down the white glazing bars. They would have been well washed at Dawlish but photo's seem to suggest that they weren't perfectly clean.

 

Peter