Rivermead Central

First, thank you, John, for the above comment.

Only a little bit of modelling time today, but I have nailed the horizontal rail (there will only be one) to the sleeper-built fence and painted it:



I will give the fence a light spray of matt black once suitable weather returns. Then glue it to the wall.

I still have some preparation work before attaching the adverts to the wall. A couple of the adverts I expect to use are currently attached to parts of dismantled derelict vintage buildings. It can be time-consuming removing the adverts without damaging them, especially if I also want to re-use the vintage wooden building material, so need to avoid damaging that too if possible.

I certainly now have more adverts than I need for the current build section of wall, having bought three more suitable examples offered for sale on the Internet. So I will try out various arrangements until I get one I like, ideally including adverts in a range of colours for various products that were well-known 70–110 years ago. I will need to be very precise pinning the adverts in place. They will have to go on straight first time, as I really mustn’t damage the painting of the brick-work at this stage.

This is really the first wall/building I have made where the location on the layout makes it appropriate for there to be enamel adverts. These adverts were such a prominent feature at the time and equally so on contemporary scenic model railways. So being able to display a representative selection is excellent. Very much the case that my new build wall is providing a suitable context to appreciate vintage models.

Martin

Signs of the time:



As can be seen, I have started fixing the enamel adverts to my wall. Possibly visible too, I have added extra weathering to the ‘stone’ string course. I realised the coping was much dirtier than the string course — which seemed unlikely IRL. So the string course and the coping are now similar in colour.

I’m using Bassett-Lowke track pins (for fastening down chairs) to fix the adverts. And taking great care to keep the adverts level; putting a nail in the wrong place and having to repair the brick-work at this stage would be a serious nuisance.

The arrangement I have come up with uses eight adverts of various shapes, sizes and colours. The spare adverts will go elsewhere in due course. I decided more adverts just looked too crowded and covered too much of the brick-work I had spent so long painting.

Martin

40057 said:

As can be seen, I have started fixing the enamel adverts to my wall.

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The adverts look great, Martin. And very much in keeping with the vintage "look". We know from pre-1923 photographs that stations of the Victorian and Edwardian eras were in fact liberally festooned with enamel advertising, usually all the way along the platform fencing. But were signal boxes, goods sheds and engine sheds similarly adorned?

Bassett-Lowke and Milbro would certainly have you believe so - as you can see from my B-L engine shed, which has a total of ten enamel signs (four on each side, and two on the back) -



As you can see, this picture was taken during the Hornby signal era (all has now changed in the S&T department at Kingswell Street).

John

John R Smith said:

The adverts look great, Martin. And very much in keeping with the vintage "look". We know from pre-1923 photographs that stations of the Victorian and Edwardian eras were in fact liberally festooned with enamel advertising, usually all the way along the platform fencing. But were signal boxes, goods sheds and engine sheds similarly adorned?

Bassett-Lowke and Milbro would certainly have you believe so - as you can see from my B-L engine shed, which has a total of ten enamel signs (four on each side, and two on the back) -

View attachment 261641

As you can see, this picture was taken during the Hornby signal era (all has now changed in the S&T department at Kingswell Street).

John

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Hi John

I had a look around at historic photographs and my conclusion was that adverts did appear all over the place where they would be seen. So I did find evidence of adverts on retaining walls and buildings visible from trains entering/leaving stations. There must have been some agreement and payment for allowing adverts to be displayed. Which no-one is going to want to do if the adverts would not be seen by the public.

I did test the appropriateness of putting adverts on my wall. Passing trains would be (mostly, anyway) travelling slowly leaving/entering Cairnie Junction station (we’ll ignore the rapid acceleration that can come with clockwork). The wall is 30–35 scale feet from the running line. So plenty close enough for passengers to read the wording on the adverts but far enough away to have time to read them.

Martin

A brief update on my wall. All the adverts are now nailed in place — without mishap. I must say, I am relieved to have them all fixed as I was very nervous — at this late stage — of a misplaced nail or hammer blow.

The last two to go on:



I’ll get a picture of the whole wall outside in daylight, weather permitting.

Martin