4mm Life in a Northern Town - Ever more York

[jonte]

Earlier this week I was spurred into getting to grips with the video function of my camera as Mrs R was submitting a piece to Grayson Perry's art club. Once I'd worked out what was what I thought I'd point it at the layout to see what I could make of it. Here's the result of a bit of faffing about earlier today.

Apologies, Neil; I’ve only just noticed this.

Runs as well as it looks. Reminds me of those atmospherical vids on YouTube of the old steamers in the last vestiges of steam.

Sincerest thanks for going to the trouble of shooting/editing and for sharing.

Jonte

 

[Neil]

.... Runs as well as it looks. ....

If only that were true. Multiple takes were needed to capture this next video of loaded coal hoppers arriving in Bishophill Yard and while all looks well on film, in reality I've had problems with two points and a hopper which lost its coupling.

I was in the garage to check the composition of the view block buildings seen right at the beginning of the video, those in the brown cereal packet card. Those who know York might recognise the unlikely combo of Fossgate's Army and Navy Stores with the gateway to Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, both at the wrong side of the river.

 

[jonte]

Now you’re spoiling me, Neil

Sorry to hear you’ve encountered one or two problems.

I wonder what the trouble was with the points? I could see that your wonderfully weathered stock traversed the point work very smoothly indeed so I doubt there was an issue with the crossings.

Unusual too to hear you’ve had a problem with a coupler. Despite what nearly everybody says about the Hornby type couplings, they can usually be relied upon to do the job. Most unlucky.

I do like your filming, Neil; it really is atmospheric. Moodily reassuring (if that makes sense?).

Many thanks once again, Neil, for your time and trouble.

Jonte

 

[Neil]

I've still not spent much time in the garage, first it was too cold, then too wet and at the moment it's just too nice and sunny not to spend time gardening. However in those odd moments I've made a start on the replacements for the cardboard view block buildings seen in the second video. Here's where I'm at with the first one, a version of the Army and Navy store at the top end of Fossgate, now the Fossgate Tap though what it'll be when the pandemic is over is perhaps uncertain.

Anyway here's my tweaked version of the building under construction.


These days i do a quick sketch to focus my mind on how the different parts will sit together and to judge the proportions. I don't fanny around with counting bricks but I do look at door and window heights and try to keep all in proportion. This time my freehand sketch worked out at the right size so I've built straight from it, I figure that if a painting can convince then a model built largely by eye will too. It's the same principle I've used for the other Northern Town buildings and for Morfa's too.

 

[Neil]

I'm a good way towards populating the area where trains enter the modelled scene with suitable buildings.



Looking towards the Micklegate, North Street junction the Army and Navy store in the distance marks the corner.


As Micklegate rises up towards the Bar Walls so the buildings step up the hill.


A view along the tracks shows that the hole to the rest of the world has yet to be disguised (I have a cunning plan for this) and that the rear of Davies Engineering also requires attention.

 

[Neil]

The Army and Navy Store has spent some time in the paint shop and now has its windows fitted.





The lettering on the main windows was very simple to do. I cropped the lettering from my photo of the real shop taken before it became a pub selling 'artisan craft beers' .



Which was then re-sized to suit, printed on paper, cut out and solvent welded to the rear of the glass by soaking the rear of the paper with Tamiya plastic weld.

 

[Dog Star]

Please educate me, what is "FOSS"?

 

[daifly]

Army & Navy Stores (Foss Workwear) (01904 622855) | United Kingdom Business Database
Dave

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Foss - also an old Nordic word for waterfall - still exists in waterfall names in t'north. It also an old middle english term for a ditch or trench - usually dug as part of a fortification.

It very quickly becomes a rabbit hole once you start delving into this.

 

[Neil]

The Foss is York's other river, the old Army and Navy Store stood at the top end of Fossgate.

 

[Neil]

As the weather has been so kind of late I've swapped from my upstairs, inside playroom to my downstairs outside one, the garage. On Friday I spent time shunting and fault finding. The bad news is that I came away with quite a list. To avoid ugly soldering to the rail sides I attach the feeds to fishplates, unfortunately the acrylic spray paint I used to tone everything down is more watery than Halfords and had crept into the fishplate - rail interface at several spots. Yesterday I was out with scrapers and soldering iron to restore conductivity to the affected joints. As photos of soldered rail joints aren't particularly interesting I've taken some video of shunting operations.

 

[Neil]

I think I've already mentioned that the group of buildings I've recently constructed are there to hide the hole in the backscene where trains leave the layout for the hidden sidings. The buildings are only a partial solution, if viewed through the camera placed on the tracks the hole is still visible. A tall person leaning over the layout can glimpse this deficiency too. I've attended to this issue with a pair of cut down Triang Hornby bridges glued back to back and a scratchbuilt rear of a poster hoarding on top.






While I was in the garage I've had a go at shuffling some of the structures around to try and get a better composition. I moved Benedetto's ice cream factory closer to Davies Engineering and moved the advert for the rather dubious whisky away from the caravan sales lot. Only small stuff but an improvement I think.



The flat roofed office has also moved from the goods yard to the exchange sidings. I'm not sure if I like it here but I'll leave it a couple of weeks and see if it grows on me.


Finally you'll have noticed the 9F, it's the first on so far only one of my locos to be crewed. Despite painting many railwaymen I've been a bit lax about their insertion into loco cabs. I must do better.

 

[Heather Kay]

Nice developments. I like the idea of plonking a building somewhere for a while to see if works.

 

[Neil]

Thanks Heather, I've arguably taken this trying buildings in different positions to an extreme with one of the background structures. It's just a windowless block but I deliberately built it with different sides so I could see which I preferred.




I think that the sign written face is the one I'll go with. I've also opened up a gap between this building and the one part built to its left. I like the gap between which will allow a glimpse of passing trains. Earlier today I cut out a gap and inserted double doors in the end of this structure to make sense of it being a lock up/workshop. Tempted to install skylights when I get on to cladding the roof.

 

[simond]

I’m intrigued by the way this is sort-of developing a life of its own.

 

[Neil]

I’m intrigued by the way this is sort-of developing a life of its own.

Thank you Simon; I've noticed it too. I usually try to weave in some story to the layouts I build, some are utter fantasies, some are parodies inspired by things in the news that I find outrageous and others have some elements nicked from the lives of my friends.

Reynolds Scientific is a business shrouded in mystery. Some believe that hush hush government work goes on in there, something to do with the cold war. One rumour gaining ground is that it's something to do with a response to Sputnik though cynics say that's fanciful stuff from the realms of Flash Gordon or Dan Dare.



Whatever happens behind those blind brick walls remains unknown to most citizens. Local railwaymen know that there is a European dimension to the story as from time to time they're called by control to position a van rendered redundant from Night Ferry services ready for loading in Bishophill Yard.



There appears to be a particular reason why this particular van is allocated to the circuit. Whatever cargo is loaded from Reynolds Scientific is always accompanied on it's journey to Harwich and onward. This time it's a chap who to judge by his accent may be French, though the yard clerk who went to grammar school said 'it didn't sound owt like anything we were taught'.



With the crates safely stowed and the chap tasked with minding them giving the nod, "they is all tied durn, they weel not murve", the van is attached to a couple of ferry vans also heading abroad, chocolates to Belgium, a sales master-stroke.



All coupled up the consist heads for the station and attachment to a southbound freight. The yard foreman, watching it trundle away past Reynolds factory, wonders why the need for all this secrecy and security, is Europe really going to send rockets up into space when half the time the new diesel engines ordered by the railway can't get as far as the Cross without failing. Whatever next, tickets to the moon?

 

[steve1]

That's a very nice (blue) Ferry Van. Your own conversation I assume?

steve

PS Apologies if you have already described it and I missed it...

 

[Neil]

Thanks Steve; you're quite right it is a conversion from the Parkside kit, well one and a bit kits actually. I've described the build starting here, but it's been one of those slow burn projects so it spreads over several of the following pages.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

I've also opened up a gap between this building and the one part built to its left. I like the gap between which will allow a glimpse of passing trains.

The gap makes the scene as it leads the viewer to wonder what lies behind. A scale 6' or 8' wall between the buildings would look good so you would only glimpse the top half of a train passing by.

 

[Neil]

You're quite right Dave, the gap needs a brick wall between the buildings to properly fence off the railway. I'll do a bit of experimenting with card mock ups to set the best looking height.