Kent Cement Lament

[eastwestdivide]

Inspiration:

growing up in North Kent;

the recent sight of the big chalk pit at Northfleet from the train (aka Ebbsfleet International);

the various boxfile layouts on here;

and a book, The Cement Railways of Kent, with brilliant photos of whitewashed lunar landscapes and decrepit equipment.

 

Fiction:

chalk quarries continued to be served by internal rail lines to the works long into the BR blue period.

 

Ingredients:

one box file, some broken down old open wagons, a dusty shunter, a blue class 73 and some PCA cement tanks, a derelict dragline excavator, white dust, scrubby plants.

 

It'll be in 'N', with just two lines going through the boxfile, one the link from the mainline to the works, and the other a quarry line, both converging into a tunnel into the chalk cliffs, à la Northfleet APCM. Church Path Pit http://www.kentrail.co.uk/northfleet_cement_works_new_connection.htm

The other end from the tunnel might also need a break of some kind. Maybe some pipes (chalk slurry?), maybe a bridge - It's tempting to break the scenery at one end with the main line, but it's only going to be a box file, so no chance of running anything across.

 

Problems:

how to get loaded wagons in and empties out? Manually switching the rakes from one end to the other? Removable loads?

 

I'm hoping it'll be a small enough project to get me back into proper modelling after a long enough break.

 

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome. Sketch to follow I hope.

[eastwestdivide]

A bit like this:

[Guest oldlugger]

Hello!

 

Any further developments with this project? I'm particularly interested because as you probably know I'm building a small industrial line based in north east Kent. Good luck with it anyway...

 

All the best

Simon

[eastwestdivide]

Hi there, and thanks for the bump.

 

well I'm at the important stage of "thinking about it". I've got the ingredients: a box file, an 04 and a few scrappy-looking open wagons, a 73 and some PCA cement wagons, artex for the chalk quarry sides, a kit of an excavator, various bits of scenic stuff...

Ought to mock something up and post a few pics, then see if the recipe is right for the ingredients.

 

I've seen your thread and I reckon we could share the same scenery!

[sapper_k]

i will watch this with great interest. being born in gravesend and also,

my father in-law used to work at the chalk pit near Ebbsfleet, i feel he may even be interested in this model.

 

have you made any progress yet?

good luck

 

 

kye

[smudgeloco]

Gravesend and chalk! My backyard had two inches of soil on top of solid chalk! I remember well the chalk pits in the area, so find this little layout very interesting. Keep us posted.

[Oldddudders]

Well within the strictures of 2010 sq ins, you should be able to make a grand loop between your quarry and the mainline, such that in one direction the empties going to the quarry re-appear from the main line, and the loads from the quarry that depart via the mainline reappear from the quarry. I'm not sure the boxfile is helping you much, but accept it limits the scope and stops the whole thing becoming too scopy and scary!

[eastwestdivide]

Cheers folks,

 

I might just stick to the simple to start with. It's been 20+ years since I did anything on a layout, and there's no room in the house for anything permanent, which is why the box file format appeals so much. That and the inspirational harbour work from Stubby47.

 

Watch this space (but not too hard, I might get embarrassed).

[Stubby47]

I'm flattered you find inspiration in Porth Byhan!! I too will be watching how you progress.

 

Stu

[eastwestdivide]

Right then, I've got some ingredients, and placed them in the mixing bowl to get things moving. Nothing's permanent. Experimental bits of artex chalk face.

 

Quite surprised that it looks so crowded. The face shovel is intended to be abandoned and rusty.

 

The two lines converge, one dilapidated industrial from the chalk quarry, and one from the main line, going into a tunnel like the one at Northfleet. Solidified polyfilla is in the open wagons, amazingly hard to smash up to the right size chunks.

 

 

At the other end, the chalk line emerges from the undergrowth. Maybe some pipework under construction too, as if the industrial line is life-expired and about to be replaced by a slurry pipeline.

 

[eastwestdivide]

And a bit of graphics cheating for a backdrop idea. Chimneys and grey skies.

 

 

Would probably need to tone down the backdrop when I do it for real.

 

 

All comments, criticism and suggestion welcomed. Particularly motive power for the industrials. I've got the Farish 04 shunter in mind, but can't bear the thought of making it all mucky and caked in dust.

[eastwestdivide]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Yes, two exits is what I had planned. I think you're right that there shouldn't be too much "stuff" in such a small space. Might lose the portakabin. Bringing the tunnel mouth forward into the box might also help the impression of depth from internal walls. I like the telegraph pole, but not sure it's justified, as it's not a signalled main line.

Muted and dried out is exactly how Northfleet looked in summer - everything was covered in white dust.

 

Cheers,

ewd

[eastwestdivide]

Ah, good photo. Same location here: http://erniessoutherncountiesrailways.fotopic.net/p58783297.html

Tempted to have reasonably ballasted track on the link to the main line and horrible muddy track on the quarry line.

[eastwestdivide]

Well the weekend's here, and finally the opportunity to do some violence to a boxfile.

Good thing about N is that you retain the strength of the boxfile sides, as you don't need to cut all the way to the top.

This one is made of chipboard stuff, horrible to cut, but pretty strong.

 

Then a bit more posing, showing the converging tracks into the chalk cutting and the gloom of the tunnel.

Yes, the tunnel entrance is too grand, and needs to be more of a hole in the ground and less of a Roman temple.

The cutting sides are just experimental bits of Artex on card, and not quite right for the chalk yet - maybe tone it down a bit and also get the surface a bit chunkier. Also needs some greenery growing in cracks and ledges. Time for a field trip to my nearest chalk quarry, or "excavate" some photos.

 

and the other end of the box, trundling and clanking off into the undergrowth. Planning some pipes on a gantry over the train here.

 

I like this cameo.

Also quite pleased with the point-and-shoot close-up on my 7 year old digital Kodak.

 

Sun's out, so time to get outside I think. More whenever I make some progress.

[thirty2a]

You seem to be making some progress, I think you should keep the tunnel mouth myself. I was reading a book about industrial stuff recently and it had a colliery line (ok in wales) that had a tunnel mouth and it looked great so don't see why with a bit of modellers licence you can't keep it! Great work in that boxfile they are an interesting model medium.

Tony

[eastwestdivide]

Well enough dithering about, time for some sticky fingers:

 

Experiments with old bits of track, trying for a "stuck in the mud" look where the chalk has worked its way around the sleepers:

1) with tinted artex squidged down, and a bit at the end completely covered and then run through with some old pizza cutter wheels.

 

2) other bits with brown acrylic, and rust-painted rails - all I had available, but this was just for testing texture and workability. Pizza cutter visible here.

 

Will probably go the artex route, but not right up to the rails, for the chalk quarry industrial line, and proper ballasted track for the connection to the main line.

 

3) and finally attached the tunnel mouth with some bits of cliff face inside the box file. Hand preventing too much light at the end of the tunnel, and some pipelines just roughly positioned. I think simplicity is going to be the key to this.

[sapper_k]

i thought of this layout the other day when the blew up the chimneys you have in your background

 

hmmm no longer there

 

 

 

weird

 

 

 

kye

[eastwestdivide]

hmmm no longer there

 

weird

That's called getting old. You get used to it eventually. It struck me when I saw Rochester good yard site totally obliterated, and realised I had "historic" photos.

[sapper_k]

getting old lol im 22 oh well how times change

 

there's still some kind of sidings between strood and higham though isnt there?

i have just been offered a job at the ramsgate maintenance depot so i will hopefully get to see a bit more of the southeastern line