Category Archives: Scenery

Canute Road Quay, From the archive, Scenery, Techniques

From the archive #4 The quay to making puddles and something about gulls…

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Although it could be said that I cheated with Canute Road Quay when I modelled the quayside wall as part of the front facia of the layout; this was not to avoid having to create the water but in fact to maximise the space available with a 12 inch deep baseboard.

One of the puddles has attracted the attention of Gerald the Gull
Another quayside puddle and gull some gloss varnish add to the effect of some water running by the edge of the concrete
Step 4, The scenery or ballast is added to form the edge of the puddles
The finished effect including a larger puddle in the shed area due to the water crane
large and small gulls can be seen if you look close enough
A real life Gerard who misread the sign, he thought it said “free herring test”

There are however a number of representations of water on Canute Road Quay in the form of a few puddles, this post is a quick explanation of the method I used to create the effect of standing water.

Note: the initial steps are carried out before any nearby ballasting or scenic work is carried out, so needs a bit of forward planning / vison of where puddles might naturally occur, remembering that puddles will only form in depressions, hollows, ditches and low points and water finds a horizontal level and wont form on a slope!

Step one, is to paint one side of a thin sheet of clear plasticard with gloss black paint, I used good old Humbrol enamel. It’s a good way to use up a few offcuts.

Step two, cut the now painted plasticard into the rough shape, but wider and longer than the maximum length and width, of the area of the puddle you want to create.

Step three, glue the plasticard paint side down, i.e. the clear plasticard side up, in the location you want the puddle.

Step four, start to build up the required terrain, at this stage you create the final shape of the puddles which is why the plasticard is cut larger than the size of puddle you want and so the terrain edge is on the surface of the plasticard. I generally used Daz air drying modelling clay, see picture left, and used the terracotta colour rather then white or grey so it already has an earth like base colour. In and around the shed area I used a mix of ballast and real ash from my wood burning stove.

Step five, add the foliage as required, I used a variety of lengths of static grass, using the lighter greens and straw colours as wild grass is rarely dark green. In some areas I represented wet earth / concrete using some gloss varnish.

Step six, remember to dust the puddles every now and again, especially before taking any photographs…

Some people have occasionally mentioned the size of the some of the ‘seagulls’, of course they are not seagulls but Herring Gulls and I have used those available from Springside Models. If you want to really see just how bit a real life adult Herring Gulls stand at the sea side with an open bag of chips you will soon find they are much larger than you think!

I have used both their 4mm scale  versions and at the rear of the layout a number of their 2mm versions to assist with perspective. Those on the backscene were drawn on in flight as curly ‘W’s with a pencil.

Gerard the Gull was not so much wild when I glued him place but furious… (with apologies to Not the Nine o’clock News…)

And I didn’t even mention ‘The Gulls’… oh Doh! #COYY

 

 

 

A view from the line, Canute Road Quay, Scenery, Techniques

A view from the line #18 Inset track on Canute Road Quay

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This latest “A view from the line”  post takes for the first time a closer look at Canute Road Quay and more specifically the track work inset within concrete along the quayside.

USA Tank No. 72 shunts across the inset track. Picture copyright and courtesy Model Rail / C Nevard.

There are a number of methods of re-creating inset track and this post describes the method I have used on Canute Road Quay and hopefully its relative simplicity and the effect gained will be of use to other modellers. Although I have covered the process before in multiple posts about Canute Road Quay I thought it would be useful to details the steps I used in one post.  The trackwork on Canute Road Quay  is  a mixture of open sleepered and inset track as seen around such docks / quays to give some variety to the surfaces. For the open track I have used C & L Finescale flexitrack whilst utilising Peco small radius LH / RH  and ‘Y’ turnouts and within the inset track areas plain Peco track.

Stage one.

Stage One

To start with check rails were added inside the running rails, by gluing with lengths of code 75 rail, obtained from C & L Finescale,  to every 3rd or 4th sleeper using cyanoacrylate glue (super glue). Then the first layer of 2.5mm cork, the approximate height of the sleepers, was  glued down either side of the track, and also a strip added between the check rails.

 

Stage Two

Stage Two

Another layer of  cork, this time 1.5mm thick was then glued on top of the original base layer of cork from stage one, that also extends right up to the outside surface of the main running rails totally covering the sleepers. Any gaps were filled using air drying modelling clay. I was careful around the one inset point to ensure that the check rails and the cork were spaced to ensure that the switch blades can still operate correctly (this does leave a slightly larger gap than one might ideally want but it is a necessary compromise).

Stage Three

Stage Three

The surface was then painted with Green Scenes textures concrete paint ,I also smoothed the texture slightly once dry as to my eye it was slightly too textured for the effect I was trying to achieve, but was a good starting point. It was then slightly weathered.  A representation of the expansion joints between the concrete panels was drawn on, pushing down into the painted cork surface, using a sharp HB pencil , spaced every 60mm to represent 15 foot concrete panels. Then weeds,  creeping grass and the such like added using a mixture of grass tufts and static grass. Etched brass Drain and manhole covers, from Langley Models (F73), have been also been inset into the surface at relevant locations.

USA tank No. 68 passes the quayside office. Picture copyright and courtesy Model Rail / C Nevard.

I hope this post helps explain the process I used in simple stages and will be of use for any others looking to replicate inset concrete trackwork.

Check my exhibition diary here to see where Canute Road Quay will be exhibited next. At the time of writing it will be Railex organised by the Princes Risborough and District MRC, on the 26th / 27th May at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, Stadium Approach, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP21 9PP

 

Canute Road Quay, Scenery, Techniques

Letting the grass grow and concrete expansion on Canute Road Quay

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Following on from completing the basic ground and the inset concrete trackwork areas on Canute Road Quay as detailed on my post here, I have now in addition to adding some ballast in around the point work and also the headshunt,  started to add the next stage of the ground cover and colouration of the concrete inset track.

Earth and Static Grass areas

Green Scenes texture paint has been used to give the base colour to the earth and concrete areas

Once I was happy with the air drying clay used to form the basic formation of the ground cover, I used earth coloured textured paint from Green Scenes to act as the base and have now applied a couple of initial layers of static grass.

Static grass uses fibres to represent individual blades and strands of grasses etc. that is applied via an applicator. The applicators are usually battery powered,  that charge the fibres with an electrical charge. The applicator is also connected to the layout, near to the area being applied via a lead either using a crocodile clip attached to one of the rails (as in this case on Canute Road Quay), or to a small nail temporary inserted locally into the scenery to provide the opposite charge. This results in the fibres when shaken out of the applicator standing up, just like grass, with they land on the thin layer of rapid drying conducting PVA style glue on the scenic area. I prefer to use the excellent static grass applicator and fibres from W W Secnics. Their ‘Pro Grass applicator is made in the UK is lightweight, powered by a 9V battery, an illuminated on-off switch and has interchangeable sieve heads to handle a range of fibre lengths from 2 to 12mm.

The initial couple of layers of static grass have been applied

Static grass comes in multiple lengths, and colours ranging from springs to summer  / autumn more yellowish colours, the reason for this is that you build the grass up to achieve a realistic looking grass and varity of tines to suit the location and time of year you wish to represent. I find that a lot of the available fibres are often a far to bright green, which is one of the reasons why I like the fibres from W W Secnics and even then I then to use their more muted summer and autumn colours.

Looking the other way to show the grassed area between the loop tracks

Now that I have stated with the initial build up of the grass I will add further layers, where appropriate and also additional textures using some Woodland Scenics materials in due course for further complete the scene and the effect that I am looking for. I will also add some discolouration / dirt / oil stains etc. on some the grass where it has grown up between the sleepers on the track itself.

Concrete Inset Track

The expansion joints have been added to the concrete inset track area

The Inset track area, having been initially built up with layers of cork has now also been a coating of textured paint from Green Scenes this time their concrete colour.
For such a large area of concrete, in real life it would soon crack due to expansion and so in practice it would be laid as slabs with a bitumen based expansion joint between to allow for any movement of each slab.  I have therefore added such expansion joints to the concrete area in the foreground of the layout leading up to the dock edge. IN practice the distance between expansion joints is dictated bu the thickness of the concrete slab and in this instance I have gone with joints set at 15ft intervals which would be appropriate for slabs up to and around 8″ thick.

Another view of the concrete inset track area and the expansion joints

To create the impression of the joints I initially scribed the joint lines into the surface of the concrete with the edge of a small screwdriver blade before running a soft pencil down the scribed line to give the weathered grayish look to the jointing bitumen. Some of the joints towards the edges of the slabs, i.e. those areas not seeing much vehicular traffic, will also get some fine turf Woodland Scenic material added in due course as I further detail the scene.

The overall view of Canute Rod Quay as it current stands is below, more updates to follow soon…

Canute Road Quay, Scenery, Techniques

Making a scene on the back of Canute Road Quay or simply how I have done the backscene

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I have spoken before in a view from the line post about my views on the need for a backscene on a layout. Even simple a plain blue or grey painted back board is better that nothing. A good backscene helps create impression of depth and finishes the overall illusion that we are trying to create with a layout. The style of presentation, on Canute Road Quay as I have utilised an excellent laser cut Tim Horn baseboard, the back and sides are an integral part of the overall baseboard module.

On Fisherton Sarum, as can be seen on many of the images on this blog, I am indebted to fellow High Wycombe and District MRS member Ron North who superbly hand painted my Salisbury based backscene. On Canute Road Quay, being a bit of an industrial dockside scene, I thought an grayish overcast sky would give a simple effect and not draw the eye too much from the layout itself. I therefore opted to use a photographic overcast grey sky from Photo ID backscene from Art Printers.

A view of the backscene looking towards to the RH corner. The engine shed in the rear corner is only half complete at the moment with no roof or inside wall in place.

I opted for their Premium range of Photo ID backscenes that are printed on tough Polypropylene that are stated as being waterproof,  scratch and tear resistant. They are self-adhesive, which is how I have affixed them to the primed plywood rear and sides of the layout;  but can be used without removing the backing film and applied using a non-aqueous glue if required. This has on the whole been a success, although the self adhesive backing was not quite a strong as perhaps I would have liked, but time will tell.

A view of the backscene looking to the LH corner. the still to be completed ground cover is evident

On the rear right hand corner of the layout I have allowed for the backscene to curve slight rather than be an 90 degree corner to help trick the eye to not seeing a sharp corner but on the rear left hand corner due to the proximity of the high low relief warehouse building, and due to the length of the supplied Photo ID backscene I have simply left a 90 degree corner as it is less noticeable.

Although the Photo ID Sky backscene itself is just I was looking for above the mix of low relief buildings (mainly Bachman Scenecraft) , that are also positioned to form part of the backscene, it would not look right on its own in the gap between the buildings where the roadway supposedly heads off the scene.
This is due to the fact that in reality at such a location you would not simply see the sky finishing at the near horizon. I therefore initially wanted to fill the gap with a scene of a suitable warehouse style building in the near distance.
However, I was not able to find a suitable photograph of any warehouses that were taken in the right period, most images I was able find were of old warehouse as they appear now, either  to dilapidated, renovated, changed use such as apartments and or with modern items in the scene such as street furniture etc.

The original terraced houses Black and White image before manipulation in Photoshop

I did manage instead to locate an old black and white image of a row of terrace houses that I could manipulate within Adobe Photoshop to fill the gap and meet my needs, in fact since the addition of the low relief public house a row of terraced houses fit into the overall scene quite nicely.

The final image shaped and coloured before printing

The first step was to reshape slightly to both fill the gap and give the perspective I wanted; and secondly to re-colour the image including the brickwork, slates, chimney pots and windows but leaving the colours slightly muted as if being viewed from a distance.

The final image cutout in place on the layout next to the low relief public house

The path and roadway have been matched as close as possible to be the same colours as applied to pathway and road on the layout itself. This was then printed onto art quality paper and carefully cut out before it will be finally affixed (as I have not yet permanently affixed it yet whilst I finish some of the scenic groundwork) to in the gap directly onto the sky backscene.

An overview of the Backscene on Canute Road Quay as it stands at the time of this post. It still requires the ground cover to be completed

Details of the LED lighting I have used on Canute Road Quay will be the subject of a future post, as I am still experimenting with defusing the lighting slightly to enhance the overall slightly drab, overcast visual effect I ultimately want. The level of brightness at the moment is good for working under, in the photographs it should be noted the backscene appears slightly more bluish than in reality it is to eye, so watch this space for more progress.

A view from the line, General, Scenery, Techniques

A view from the line #17 the wild flora or green fingered modelling

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I am about as far from a horticulturalist as one can get, my own green space outside my home is more of a nature reserve and home to local wildlife than a garden! The nearest I get to green fingers is when the Woodland Scenics scatter material has stuck to my fingers. This post is an attempt to describe how I undertook some of the flora on Fisherton Sarum, although perhaps the photographs speak more than the actual words. Specific flora, especially when flowering, of course will vary depending on the time of year and as with many layouts I have set Fisherton Sarum somewhere between the spring and the end of summer so it is possible that certain plants should not be in flower together, but hey if I can model a time period of 1946 to 1949, a few months here and there flora wise are not really going to matter. As with most areas of modelling whether it is rolling stock, buildings or scenery referring to the real thing is always the best starting point.

Try to focus on the embankment, its textures and flora  rather than the T14 passing by

Firstly; Embankments, railway embankments are rarely just green grass and certainly never all of the same colour and height. If you look at many roadside verges and embankments the longer grass can be in excess of 3 to 4 foot tall. I have attempted to include a variety of colours and textures accordingly. Once the general form of the embankment was made using Modroc plaster bandage over a lattice card former that painted brown I glued, using PVA, teddy bear fur (no actual teddy bear was harmed during the making of Fisherton Sarum) fur side down with the backing uppermost. Once the glued dried I cut / tore / trimmed the backing off leaving random lengths of the fur sticking up to represent the yellowed / dried longer grass. I then added different textures and colours of other grasses / ground cover plants using a mix of grades and colour tones of Woodlands Scenics ‘Grass’ and ‘turf’ scatter materials.

The embanks and ground cover can bee seen between Maunsell’s finest

An alternative to the teddy bear fur these days would be to build up layers of ‘static grass’ (but please go for the more yellow colours rather than the bright greens) to give variations in height before adding the other textures which are still required as I feel that static grass alone is too uniform in texture. There are various applicators and static grasses on the market such as the applicator and grasses that I now use from War World Scenics.

A further view of the embankment and its flora along with some of the tress on Fisherton Sarum

Once I was happy with the overall effect of the embankment flora I turned my attention to adding a few more specific plants specific plants.
I made Foxgloves simply from individual strands of sisal string dipped in PVA glue then fine green scatter material, followed by some fine purple scatter material to represent the flowers.
Lady’s bedstraw is the commonly seen yellow plant on verges and embankments was planted in clumps, I cheated here and used readymade and coloured plants from the MiniNatur range that is available from a number of UK retailers.
For brambles I used rubberised horsehair teased out dipped in PVA glue followed by once again fine green scatter material. As a material it has been around longer than I can remember and was often used as the basis for hedges etc., but I still think it makes the best brambles.

The tress (including the dead one) at the rear of Fisheron Sarum positioned to appear to tower over the terraced houses

Finally; Trees, I made these using wire armatures that I then covered in Woodlands Scenics foliage teases out over the branches, although I have left one tree devoid of foliage to represent an unfortunately dead tree. I used this method for all the trees on Fisherton Sarum as they were all generally individual trees, for denser wooded areas then less complicated armatures can be used or alternatives such as sea moss, or actual twigs etc.as the basis for the application of the foliage materials.

The house nestles amongst carefully positioned tress of various shapes and sizes. Brambles can bee seen to the right hand side

Pretty basic stuff really but there are few things to note with trees (take a look at the real things when you are next away from your computer screen reading this): a) the bark is rarely brown and is usually more of a grey colour, especially so when viewed from a distance, b) the shape of the tree and density of the foliage does of vary between species and c) a lot of trees are quite tall and mature trees are more often than not taller than houses.
I have tried even with a relatively small number of trees to include a variety of shapes and sizes and careful positioning so give the trees the prominence they deserve.

As flora and fauna is usually associated together I have not forgotten the various fauna that is also on Fisherton Sarum and will be the subject of a future post.

A view from the line, Buildings, Fisherton Sarum, General, Painting & Decorating, Scenery, Techniques

A view from the line #15 another brick in the wall…

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This I suppose only just counts as ‘A view from the line’ type post as in reality it is a guide to my method of painting brickwork that I have used on all the brick buildings seen on Fisherton Sarum. I tend to construct most of my buildings using embossed plastic, mainly Wills material packs, which have more pronounced embossing when compared to for example than the A4 embossed plasticard sheets from the likes of Slaters.  The method I am outlining below is also therefore possibly more suited to such heavier bossed materials. Although this post is primarily about brick painting the principles can also be applied to stone work (with obviously a change in the colours used).

As with any modelling technique be it loco building, tree making, weathering etc. it is always best to start by looking at the real thing and brickwork is no exception. Brick and mortar colours vary by location, age and the prevailing environment. Bricks can be a variety of yellows, oranges, reds through to blue, greys and even black. Mortar can vary from almost white, cream, grey through to almost black the latter especially in old industrial areas that have been subject to heavy atmospheric weathering, mortar and brickwork tends to stay lighter in the countryside than in an industrial / urban environment.

The end wall shows the effect of this painting method, click to enlarge and see individual brick colours stand out but from a smaller view to represent a distance view see the colours more uniform. Photography also changes the way the colours are viewed

The colours that we see in brick walls also vary depending on the distance that we view the wall from as colour unlike a physical item does not scale in the same way. When we look at a real wall close up we see all the variations of individual brick colours, however when viewed from a distance the colours tend merge into a smaller more uniform palette. In model form we actually need to view from a far greater representative distance to achieve the same effect therefore if each individual brick on a model is separately painted whilst this would correct in close you would have to stand back a proportionally greater distance than in real life for those colours to start merge together.

The step by step guide I outline below helps to deceive the eye to overcome the effect of colour not scaling.

Note: the illustrations below were produced quickly on some spare building sheets rather than representative of greater time taken on a building itself. Click to enlarge
Stage 1: Light mortar colour is applied and wiped off brick faces

Firstly, for light coloured mortar, I cover the wall in my chosen mortar colour, in this case usually Humbrol 121, and whilst still, wet wipe the paint off the brick faces.

If I was wanting a dark mortar course colour I would do this step last after the dry brushing step has fully dried, again rubbing off the excess mortar colour off the brick faces.

This also has the effect of darkening / weathering the overall brick colour.

Stage 2: A variety of bricks are picked out in different colours

Secondly, I pick out individual bricks in a variety of colours using Precision Paints light brick red, dark brick red, blue, orange and even black and mixes of them too.

These colours should reflect the colours that are found on the prototype wall that you are wishing to emulate.

Different areas / ages of wall will have a different variety and range of individual brick colours.

Stage 3: Overall brick colour is dry brushed at 45 deg across the brick faces. Note: the photography this close up is quite cruel.

Lastly I dry brush a mix of the Precision Paints Light and dark brick red and Humbrol brick red at 45 degrees to the mortar course over the entire wall over the top of the previously individually painted bricks. The 45 degree angle is key as this ensures the paint is applied to the brick top surfaces and does not fill the mortar courses. You can slightly vary the mix of this to colour as you go.

After this stage is dry then weathering cane be applied such as water staining, smoke staining, algae etc.

The water tower on Fisherton Sarum viewed from a greater distance showing the more uniform colour effect.

The effect of the dry brushing over the top of the entire wall is that when you view from a distance the wall colour appears almost uniform as discussed above, however as you get closer the colour of the picked out bricks shows up and provides the variety you get close up to a real wall.  If you just pick out individual bricks with differing colours over the whole wall without the top dry brush in my opinion the individual colours still stand out too much especially when viewed from a distance.

This method is a variation on that used by excellent modeller Iain Rice in his book “Modelling with Plastic Structure Kits” published by Wild Swan. Like many things with modelling, this is just one way of doing and the way I prefer to use, there are other ways and other approaches successfully used by many other modellers.

 

 

A view from the line, Fisherton Sarum, HW&DMRS, Scenery, Techniques

A view from the line #13 creating the impression of depth – effective backscenes

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A particular pet hate of mine is viewing layouts that have no backscene, even simple a plain blue or grey painted back board is better that nothing. The last thing I want to see is the clutter behind the layout and the midriffs (being kind) of the operators. A good backscene helps create impression of depth and finishes the overall illusion that we are trying to create with a layout.

Salisbury Cathedral has been slightly moved north on Fisherton Sarum

There are a number of methods that can be used to create the backscene from the simple single colour plain painted board to full wrap around photographic images that are now being very successfully used on  layouts such as: Chris Nevard’s Catcott Burtle, Paul Marshall-Potter’s Albion Yard and the RMweb team behind Black Country Blues.

Scenic materials help hide the join with the backscene

In between these two extremes variations include: fully hand painted, commercially available printed or photographic images such as available from PECO or International Models.

On Fisherton Sarum I am indebted to fellow High Wycombe and District MRS member Ron North who, from a couple of grainy black and white images of the rooftops of Salisbury and its cathedral, kindly and superbly hand painted my backscene. This not only uniquely helps create the illusion I was after but also places the layout as being based on Salisbury so well, even if we have moved the cathedral to the north of the line!

A mix of low relief and hand painted cottages add to depth

In addition to the hand painted scene, at the western end of the layout I have a row of low relief terraced cottages backing on to the line that have been constructed from Langley Models vacuum formed mouldings suitably painted and detailed fixed to the backscene. Their back gardens and yards are on the layout itself.

Again the scenic materials soften the join

The illusion of depth is further maintained by avoiding where possible sharp angles between the back of the layout and the backscene itself. This can be achieved by a number of tricks such as; curving the ground level up on the backscene, carefully placed fences or hedges, or the use of perspective with slightly smaller scale models just in front. It is also good practice to avoid things roads meeting the backscene at or near 90 degrees as this is very difficult to blend with a backscene (it is better to curve the road into a backscene to allow the actual join to be concealed behind a hedge or similar).

Hinton Parva uses adapted PECO backscenes for its townscape

Away from Fisherton Sarum on Hinton Parva a 32’ long exhibition layout of the High Wycombe and District MRS a number of different techniques are used including hand painted sections, low relief retaining walls, fencing to hide the joins and also to help with the creation of depth the PECO printed sheets were fixed to 2mm mounting board to lift them slightly from the surface of the painted sky.

Hinton Parva also has hand painted sky and country area

To avoid too much repetition with the townscape over the length involved the PECO sheets were modified to remove some of the obviously repeating items such and chimneys, gas holders and church spires etc., even some of the buildings were reduced in height by a story or two!

I hope the pointers and tricks above have been of interest and perhaps will avoid some future occurrences of one of my pet hates…

A view from the line, Fisherton Sarum, Scenery, South Western Circle, Techniques

A view from the line #12 the pressure of signalling the line

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The London South Western Railway (LSWR) first started using pneumatic control, rather than traditional wire and point rodding, at Grateley in 1901, utilising the system from the British Pneumatic Railway Signal Company that used low pressure air at 15psi to operate the signals and points. Following this successful trial Salisbury station, that was in the process of being rebuilt at the time, was also so equipped with the two new boxes, Salisbury East and West both containing a 64 slides frame (slides replaced levers on such system).  Air compressors and reservoirs were located next to each box. The system was brought into use in November 1902.  Unlike the systems installed at Grateley (1915), Baskingstoke to Woking (1966) , Staines (1930) and Clapham (1936) the Salisbury system remained in service until 1986.

The East bound (Up) home bracket signal controlled access to either Up platforms 1 or 3

The two signals on Fisherton Sarum are based on the down advanced starter and the up inner home bracket signal for the approach to either platform 1 or 3.   Andrew Hartshorne proprietor or Model Signal Engineering, from photographs of the actual two signals, kindly provided me with the correct combinations of his kits and parts to most economically make up the signals. I have also included a representation of the air cylinder mounted just below the balance arm.

The Viessmann Motor connected directly under the signal baseplate

Each signal is operated via a Viessmann stall type motor mounted directly beneath the baseplate that the signals are constructed on and this allows the signal to removed from the layout for maintenance if required.  Unfortunately it appears that these motors no longer are available and I would therefore think about using a slow motion stall motor type turnout motor in the future.  As the mentioned above the signals at Salisbury were pneumatically operated and therefore did not exhibit any ‘bounce’ so this was not incorporated into the control system.
I think it always good to see working signals on any layout, although a little fiddly to build the effect is well worth the time taken.

The Down (westbound) Advanced Starter
Another view of the Up Home bracket signal

Each signal is also interlocked with a track section next to it to prevent any passing of the signal at danger. On Fisherton Sarum it is usually the fiddle yard operator that drives trains towards them so there is a switch on each of the fiddle yard  local panels to operate the signal. This switch is duplicated on the main control panel with a ‘local /remote’ switch to dictate which of the switches operates the signal.

For those interested in finding out more about the low pressure signalling system I suggest readers join the South Western Circle as following an excellent talk at one of the Society meetings earlier this year, Stuart Isbister has agreed to write a Circle Monograph on the subject. As the Monographs are issued free of charge to members, in addition to the quarterly Circular publication, they are usually worth the membership fee alone!

A view from the line, Fisherton Sarum, Scenery, Techniques

A view from the line #11 getting close to the wire..the telegraph wire

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One of the characteristic views from the coach window when travelling on our railways , until the late 1970’s was the continual dipping and rising of the telegraph wires. Telegraph, telephone and signalling block instrument communications were all carried alongside the line suspended from the iconic multi-arm telegraph poles. Whilst the poles themselves are often modelled, there being a number of manufacturers of such in the popular scales, creating the actual wires, especially to scale is somewhat more of a challenge. I have seen fine thread and fine wire used by others but these have always proved to be very delicate and easily damaged.

The wires are there really…click images to enlarge to get a better view

Traditionally the telegraph poles would be spaced approximately 60 yards apart, which in 4mm scale is some 720mm apart and therefore this distance understandably tends to be shortened in model form. The wires themselves would have been strung with 200lb copper wire (more for mechanical strength than conductivity) which would have course expanded and contracted depending on ambient temperature creating that recognisable ‘sag’ that would be more pronounced on a hot day.

Trying to achieve the classic effect of the lineside telegraph wires

On Fisherton Sarum I have modelled a short stretch of the telegraph poles and wires. I have used suitably painted Ratio telegraph poles, using more greys than browns. The distance between the poles has also been somewhat compressed, although a change in direction of the route has given a reason for the close proximity of a couple of the poles.

For the wires I have used a product called ‘Silk worm – magicians invisible thread’ this is in fact very fine elastic and at the time was available either in clear or black. The clear is exactly what it says on the reel and is pretty much impossible to see so defeated the object for using as telegraph wires somewhat, so I used the black. Even so, using the black, the wires often tend to go unnoticed by many viewers of the layout and also depends on the angle that they are viewing from and the point at which they are trying to focus on.

The closer spacing of these two poles is due to the change in direction occurring

Using this elastic does have its pros and cons: being elastic, with some ‘give’ it does mean that it withstands being knocked at times, which is easily done, such as when track cleaning; however the elastic property does also of course mean that the wires stay tight and you not get the ‘sag’. Even with fine cotton thread the ‘sag’ does not look right due the thread having no weight, even with fine wire the effect is not that convincing. I have tried to trick the eye slightly by fixing the upper ‘wire on one pole to a lower point on the next pole and visa versa which means that the wires cross in the middle between the two poles but trick the eye into giving an effect of the sag, this tends to trick the eye in actual life better than these photographs show.

Although quite a time consuming and tricky exercise the effect of the adding the wires I feel has been worth it even without the proper sag.

A view from the line, Fisherton Sarum, General, Scenery, Techniques

A view from the line #9 The ash pit gang and engine disposal

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Although mentioned briefly in my first A view from the line post the ash pit gang are still working hard at the never ending task of removing the ash that accumulates around the sheds external pits.  When a locomotive comes on shed at the end of its duty it is ‘disposed of’ either by the loco crew as part of their shift or by dedicated shed staff from the ‘preparation and disposal’  gang. This gang sometimes comprised of loco crew on ‘light’ duties or near retirement who have come off main line working. Disposal of the locomotive involves dropping the fire and clearing the grate from any clinker, removing  ash from the smokebox, refilling the tender or bunker with coal from the coal stage, topping up the tender or tanks with water from the shed’s water cranes and turning on the turntable if required depending on the engines next allocated duty. The engine is then left in the required stabling position on the shed as advised by the shedmaster, although the fire has been dropped there is usually enough steam left to enable to final moves around the shed to take place.

Getting back to the ash pit gang, their role was to clear from around the shed the pile of ash and clinker that result from the disposal of the engines. This would be shoveled into wheel barrows before loading into open wagons that would occasionally be drawn into the shed area when the road was clear of engines. This was a particularly unpleasant job especially during dry and windy weather when the ash, quite often still warm / hot at times,  would easily get blown around including into eyes and making breathing difficult to say the least, so spare a thought for the conditions that these men worked in.

On Fisherton Sarum my ash gang are cast white metal figures from the Geoff Stevens’ range that comprises of  2 wheelbarrows (1 full, 1 empty), 2 men shovelling, 1 man pushing barrow, 1 man digging, I have used a number of the Geoff Stevens’ range of figures including cleaners etc. at various positions around the shed. The ash is in fact real ash from my wood burning stove, fixed in place with the time honoured method of diluted PVA glue. An open wagon is regularly shunted into the ash pit road next to the shovelling gang for loading. As in 4mm scale it is tricky for a wagon to fill itself, in reality the wagon arrives and departs half full!