Rivermead Central

[40057]

Martin

One hesitates to say it, but this is almost too good for coarse scale!

A very nice piece of work.

John

Thank you, John. Very kind.

My response would be that nothing could be ‘too good’ but something might be ‘too detailed’.

By analogy, a Bing for Bassett-Lowke locomotive is beautifully made. It will be squarely and strongly built, excellently painted. Not detailed — but part of its excellence is the way it captures the character of the real thing — looks right — without the detail. The features that define it are there.

However inadequately, I’m trying to follow the same approach. Good workmanship as far as I am able, and an attempt to represent the character of the type of building portrayed. But no detail beyond that. So, for example, no rainwater goods on the yard office building.

So far, I am happy that my buildings are in keeping with my trains.

Martin

 

[40057]

I chanced upon this on the web and thought it relevant so will post it here. Paddington to Seagood is very definitely one of the inspirations for Rivermead Central. I have a copy of the book (a good read, by the way) but this excerpt sets out some of the philosophy for the layout — now being applied to Rivermead Central.

Excerpts from "Paddington to Seagood"

Note, for example, in the picture of trains at ‘Paddington’ the use of Bassett-Lowke track laid on self-colour base-boards.

Martin

 

[Roger Pound]

Thank you for that link in post #522 above, Martin. It is not a layout of which I was aware, which may be something to do with my long-standing lack of interest in anything Great Western: ( I am writing this in my underground shelter........ !). It served to remind me of those other splendid coarse scale layouts such as Crewchester and The Sherwood Section which were often featured in the early magazines of my (much) younger days. Look back at these systems and their raisons d'etre as described by their builders can still give much fruit for thought. Again, my thanks for this.

Roger.

 

[John R Smith]

Paddington to Seagood is very definitely one of the inspirations for Rivermead Central.

Me too, Martin. It is a delightful book, very well written and a glorious period piece. Gilbert's son, David, was in fact one of my earliest inspirations with his "A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain Volume I, The West Country". I had this as a school prize in 1960, and I have it still, well-worn and dog-eared from carrying it around with me on my travels on those lines, back in the day when most trains were hauled by steam. Both Gilbert and young David of course were familiar friends of W J Bassett-Lowke, who was a frequent visitor to their home in Teigmouth and who took most of the photographs in the Paddington to Seagood book.

By analogy, a Bing for Bassett-Lowke locomotive is beautifully made. It will be squarely and strongly built, excellently painted. Not detailed — but part of its excellence is the way it captures the character of the real thing — looks right — without the detail. The features that define it are there.

Something like this, perhaps -



My Bing for Bassett-Lowke Precursor, which I believe must be 100+ years old, and which is in splendid original condition. She handles all our LMS local passenger traffic out of KIngswell Street, and is still, despite her years, a fine powerful runner.

John

 

[40057]

Me too, Martin. It is a delightful book, very well written and a glorious period piece. Gilbert's son, David, was in fact one of my earliest inspirations with his "A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain Volume I, The West Country". I had this as a school prize in 1960, and I have it still, well-worn and dog-eared from carrying it around with me on my travels on those lines, back in the day when most trains were hauled by steam. Both Gilbert and young David of course were familiar friends of W J Bassett-Lowke, who was a frequent visitor to their home in Teigmouth and who took most of the photographs in the Paddington to Seagood book.



Something like this, perhaps -

View attachment 246392

My Bing for Bassett-Lowke Precursor, which I believe must be 100+ years old, and which is in splendid original condition. She handles all our LMS local passenger traffic out of KIngswell Street, and is still, despite her years, a fine powerful runner.

John

Hi John

The Precursor tank is a really nice one. Definitely Bing, too. The later Winteringham-made models are very, very similar but not quite exactly the same.

Martin

 

[40057]

Very much on the home straight with the Cairnie Junction yard office. The internal blanking plate (to prevent seeing right through the building) is fixed in place. The office building is now joined to the length of wall made previously (see my post #397):



A small gap to fill in the corner where the two structures are joined. A step to make to go in front of the door.

You can see the recess for one of four countersunk screws that will fix the whole assembly to the baseboard.

 

[40057]

A bit of time spent this afternoon getting rid of the gap where the wall and yard office building have been joined. The two parts are now held together by a couple of good size wood screws and epoxy. The join has nicely disappeared:





Compare with yesterday’s photo to see the difference.

Just the doorstep to add now.

 

[40057]

Doorstep in place: yard office building + wall = finished.



Still the tricky job of installing on the layout. As with previous buildings, the structure will have to be slid into place behind the Benham’s siding then screwed down working at arm’s length leaning over the tracks already laid in front. Fingers crossed all goes well and no damage caused during installation.

Note to self: however tempting it may be, do not lay track that will later make it much more difficult to install buildings, walls etc. at the back of the layout!

 

[John R Smith]

Very nice, Martin. But do you really need to screw these buildings which form the backdrop into place? If they just rested snugly into position it would make life easier, perhaps . . . super job, any way.
John

 

[40057]

Very nice, Martin. But do you really need to screw these buildings which form the backdrop into place? If they just rested snugly into position it would make life easier, perhaps . . . super job, any way.
John

Hi John

Thanks. I didn’t fasten down the Benham’s factory or warehouse since I saw no need. I put one screw in the Benham’s office structure since, being much smaller, it has no weight to it. And it needs to not move at all (clearance of passing trains, rests against the Benham’s warehouse). The current wall isn't going to move — that’s not the issue. I suspect it will want to warp (the structure is almost exactly 3’ long) — so either the ends or the middle will rise off the baseboards or bow away from the wall, or both. Fastening it down at intervals along its length is intended to keep it straight.

Martin

 

[simond]

Try putting something a little bit thick, impervious and shiny over the track before working over the top of it. I’m thinking something like a table protector, it will not snag the track itself, and it will ensure that sleeves, tools and anything else that needs to pass over it doesn’t either.

I bought a couple of metres of table protector from The Range for a few quid, it has prevented all sorts of problems (and bent ears) from using the 3D printer in the utility room.

 

[40057]

I haven’t yet installed the Cairnie Junction yard office + wall on the layout. The problem being drilling the pilot holes for the fixing screws that close to the west wall of the room. The base-board wood is far too hard to put in wood screws without pilot holes. There isn’t enough headroom under the sloping ceiling for the drill. I have had this problem before, notably fastening down the Benham’s private siding. But for that, I just used the track battens furthest from the wall for the fixing screws. On the basis this will be a recurring problem, I have ordered a new drill with an angled head. Quite an expense, but I am sure the tool will have other uses. Installation of the office building will have to wait.

What I am doing instead is making a short length of three-rail Lowko Track. This is needed to complete the centre road at Cairnie Junction station. The parts required are three straight lengths of rail, brass as this is electric track, 168 mm long, three sleepers, six brass chairs for the running rails, two brass ‘tall’ chairs for the centre rail, 16 brass spikes and two lengths of batten c. 150 mm long. So I have been looking in my stash of track parts and beyond-repair factory-made track panels. The three lengths of rail needed have been cut from the good parts of damaged rails:



When I am making up lengths of electric track, I do solder the joining pins in place. This is on the grounds of ensuring electrical continuity. I still have to find a pin for the top piece (with the conductor rail chair) in the above photo.

Nothing complicated involved here, but a necessary step to further progress.

Once the centre road is complete, I can install the turnout joining it and the track through platform 2. This turnout is ready for use and it will be the eighth Lowko Track turnout put in place on the layout. It will sit partly on the recently installed section of high-level base-board behind the buttressed retaining wall.

The short length of track now under construction goes in the position circled in red, the approximate alignment of the turnout is shown in blue:



When eight Lowko Track turnouts are in place, that is more than half the total number of turnouts required for the planned Cairnie Junction track layout.

 

[40057]

I’ve finished the length of 3-rail Lowko Track for the centre road:



The sleeper raft was recovered from a standard 15” (7 sleepers) factory-made track panel. This had badly rusted and bent/dented tinplate rails, a warped batten at one end and a split in the other batten at the other end. Not a lot of use — but I could get a sound 3-sleeper panel out of the middle section. The wood work was very dirty and bleached so I have treated the sleepers and battens with wood stain before adding the new rails. I’ll let the solvent smell pass before bringing the finished piece indoors.

Since this is a matter of discussion on WT, the gauge is 31.75mm or 1.25” — notionally, anyway. There is quite a lot of tolerance with vintage wheels.

Now, something very different. An interesting artefact from the earliest days of model railways. Specifically, a post card from 1906 advising a Bassett-Lowke customer that his order had been dispatched.

The front of the card:



Clearly, specially printed for Bassett-Lowke. The reference to ‘what the butler saw’ is surprising slightly risqué humour. Mr Bassett-Lowke was, apparently, personally prudish. The Bassett-Lowke company was marketing its model railways as a new hobby for the well-to-do, successful, well-educated man. The apparent indirect reference to a particularly notorious separation/divorce legal case is thus odd. Similarly, if the reference was to the mutoscope film — perhaps more likely as these machines were just becoming popular. Either way, one would think, hardly the right image for Bassett-Lowke or its potential customers.

The back of the card:



Posted on 4 December 1906. The card suggests goods were being despatched well into the evening. Possibly because it was three weeks before Christmas, but it would seem business was brisk. Astonishing now that there was a postal collection at 9.15 pm and a card posted at that time would be expected to arrive before a parcel sent the same evening by passenger train.

Martin

 

[John R Smith]

I take it that you are not a member of the Bassett-Lowke Society then, Martin?

 

[40057]

I take it that you are not a member of the Bassett-Lowke Society then, Martin?

Hi John

No, but why do you infer that?

Martin

 

[John R Smith]

Hi John

No, but why do you infer that?

Just because, if you had been, you would have seen in the most recent issue of "Lowko News", my article on an exactly similar B-L postcard from the year before, 1905. Which is just rather amusing, that's all! Your comments about the late collection are well made - no chance of that nowadays.

John

 

[40057]

I never think of a building as truly finished until it is installed on the layout.

The Cairnie Junction yard office + adjoining boundary wall are now properly, completely finished:



Secured with four countersunk screws.

To put the office and wall in context:





I mixed a different (more orange) brick colour for the wall and office building. I wasn’t sure this would show under the weathering, but the difference in brick colour from the Benham’s buildings can be easily seen:



I have to say I’m very pleased with the overall look of the whole range of buildings. The muted palette and level of detail is exactly what I wanted to achieve. The wall plus office does look like what I had in mind when I did my first sketch for these (see post #294). It’s also heartening to think that a year ago there were no buildings on the layout. The Benham’s factory and warehouse were at quite an advanced stage of construction, but there was nothing behind the Benham’s siding. So considerable progress.

What’s next? I plan a length of boundary fence made of old sleepers to the south of the yard office. I will put a fence between the Benham’s siding and the railway company sidings. Probably should tackle those projects before getting back to repairing points.

Martin

 

[John R Smith]

I will put a fence between the Benham’s siding and the railway company sidings.

It looks great, Martin. Be careful that your fence does not obstruct access to couplings and winding engines.

 

[Roger Pound]

It looks absolutely splendid, Martin. I can visualize some of those splendid goods vehicles that you have acquired and restored in situ on Benhams siding together with some additional activity on the running lines before too long.

Roger

 

[James Spooner]

I think you have done an excellent job there Martin; it really looks in keeping with what you are trying to achieve.

Nigel