Aldeburgh Harbour, A Suffolk branch, Gauge 3 indoors.

[geoff_nicholls]

Great to see your progress, Geoff and all looking really good. I sent the drawings of the four-wheeler and an e-mail of a rare photo of a 2-2-0 from the Stockton & Darlington. Did they arrive or have I your addresses ( real and e-mail) wrong? If not I will have a go at sending them again.
Best wishes
Rich

sorry, I thought I'd sent you an email, yes they arrived thanks, and have been added to the file.

So if you make both of the arch sides 6.25cm wide thereby reducing the initial viewing length to 2m does that count.....?

They decided to allow me in, as the layout is gauge 3, and it's only a few inches.

Aldeburgh Wharf will make its first appearance at the Gauge 3 Society AGM/exhibition on 10/3/18 and is provisionally booked for ALSRM in May 2018

 

[geoff_nicholls]

The layout has now been renamed Aldeburgh Harbour. the photos show the GER style station canopy, which stretches the full length of the layout. My current thinking is that the Harbour station was over optimistically built with two platforms, to accommodate the anticipated tourist traffic. What you see is the smaller bay platform at the rear, the river side. This means I don't have to spend hours and hours applying individual bricks to a station building. Perhaps, in the future, I will produce something a bit like Audley End in very low relief.


The shape on the left will be a low relief transhipment building, based on Woodbridge Tide Mill

 

[geoff_nicholls]

Some photos of progress on Aldeburgh Harbour.
The fencing, which separates the harbour and transhipment shed from the running line, is based on drawings in Peter Paye's book on the Mildenhall branch. It's made from Evergreen strip
A shot of the transhipment shed. There was no building on that spot in Slaughden actually, but in my version of the history, there was a tide mill, which ceased working as such and was used as a transhipment shed to unload cargoes. Then when the railway arrived it continued in that role. It was originally intended to block the view of the fiddle yard exits, but I need it to fit within the baseboard struts for transport to exhibitions, so that's as large as it can be.

The whole scene (minus the above building on the left). the road/rail exit on the right, beyond the wagon turntable will be obscured by a railway wagon, or a horse and cart.

 

[geoff_nicholls]

A view which includes the tranship shed. Once the shed, fencing, and one small office building are finished, I can start on the fun bit: the small details. In particular the fish market under the awning on the far right.
I've also installed some point rodding. The guides are from Cliff Barker, actually sold for gauge 1, but they seem right for G3 to me. It's non-functional, but I think the guides could be made to work like the real thing, and Cliff also sells cranks.

 

[geoff_nicholls]

A few 'likes' have appeared, which is gratifying, but I also welcome helpful suggestions, criticism, carping or pedantry. I read the wrong Rev Awdry books when young and spent 40 (really enjoyable) years modelling narrow gauge railways. Now I'm back on the straight and, er , wide, I'm finding there's a lot of basic stuff I don't know.

 

[Mike W]

helpful suggestions, criticism, carping or pedantry

If you really insist ....

Tranship shed is superb and just reeks Suffolk/Essex.
Point rodding looks just right.
Fencing is too clean.
Impressed that for such a tiny G3 layout that 3 coach train doesn't dominate, in fact it looks spot on as if it belongs there.

Can't wait to see it on the flesh.

Mike

 

[geoff_nicholls]

Liz Marsden of Cromford Designs is painting my loco (GER E22/J65). I collected the wheels and separated parts at the G1 godmanchester show, and have only just plucked up the courage to re-assemble the underframe. To my immense relief it still works and runs okay. Should get the body back later this month.
And then I will finally have all the components of a layout. They may all be unfinished, but at least they are all present.

 

[Mike W]

Have only just noticed that chap standing by the fence. Looks like he is painting it - no wonder it looks bright and new!

Very good Geoff.

 

[AndyB]

Have only just noticed that chap standing by the fence. Looks like he is painting it - no wonder it looks bright and new!

... so the bit to one side of him shouldn't be bright (unless he's just touching-up the bits he missed!)
The loco shed foreman will be having words with his cleaners too - just look at the rust on that coupling rod.

Looks great, Geoff.

 

[geoff_nicholls]

the coupling rods need etched overlays. They are going to be in their current state for a while, until I have enough parts from various projects to justify etching a sheet of nickel silver. But I will get rid of that rust.
The fence is still in raw styrene, it will be painted (dirty) white. It makes a nice contrast with all the dull brown/grey of the rest of the layout.

And a modelling tip: I used black electric cable for the sand pipes. It stays in the shape you bend it, can be pushed out of the way when removing the wheels, and won't get knocked off during accidents.

 

[geoff_nicholls]

The final building on the layout takes shape:



A model of the LNWR office which was next to the Great Yarmouth Fishwharf Post Office. Based on a photo on p64 of "The Great Yarmouth Herring Fishing Industry" by Colin Tooke. This must have been the LNWR's most easterly mainland office, unless they had one on a pier in Lowestoft.
The Fishwharf Post Office dealt with tens of thousands of telegrams during the fishing season, so it is logical the LNWR should have an office nearby. Even in the wildest dreams of my alternative history of Aldeburgh, there would have been no justification for such an office here, but I knew as soon as I saw the photo that I had to have it on the layout, if only to please my mentor and moderator Mike Williams. Especially after Mike sent me a URL for a photo of the sign.
And that's a Williams Model LNWR D9 open wagon in the background.

 

[geoff_nicholls]

The fiddle yard is pretty much finished. Basically a flat surface, with edges to stop stock rolling off. The cassettes have skids made of scraps of plastic guttering. This make them easy to slide around the surface of the fiddle yard, even with a 7Kg 4F on board. There is a 4 foot long casstte for the passenger train, which, I expect will spend most of its time out of the way, at the back. This is layout mostly a shunting puzzle.

More progress on the LNWR office. I'll put some containers for plants in front, the clerk is not going to be very busy with shipping matters.


I wasn't happy with the ballast. If you look at earlier postings, you can see it looks good, but more like 2005 than 1905. So I've sprinkled some 00 gauge ballast on top. I need to do a lot more to finish the rust on the rails and weather the ballast in.

 

[geoff_nicholls]

Moe progress. Some static grass has been added, and the windows in the transhipment shed:

 

[BrushType4]

Geoff, your modelling is stunning.

 

[geoff_nicholls]

thank you Phil. It's seeing the efforts of the rest of you on WT that has encouraged me to not settle for second best. if I look at something I've built, and think I could do better, then I do it again. And making some stuff, like scenic bits and bobs, or even wagons, is actually easier in gauge 3

The next task will be the roof tiles for the transhipment shed. when the layout is exhibited, the public can get within 12 inches of the roof, so it needs to look right. This photo shows the real thing. I don't know what these sort of tiles are called, or what size they are, but I'm sure I've seen an article on modelling them somewhere...

 

[Arty]

Look like pantiles, suprisingly Diorama Debris do a mould for pantiles, although it's 1/35. so a bit bigger at 10mm x 7mm.

1 35 Scale Pantiles Mould 1350057

 

[Arty]

Sorry Geoff, should have said “smaller”

 

[geoff_nicholls]

First attempts at producing pantiles:
I drew a line of 10 tiles on cartridge paper. Then soaked the paper in water and clamped it over a former to dry. They may be slightly overscale, but I think the method is successful. At ten tiles per strip, I will need 30 strips, and each strip takes several hours to dry properly, so it will take a couple of weeks to produce the required number of individual tiles.
I'm trying to do as much as possible using card and paper, otherwise Arty's suggestion, earlier, would have been very tempting, despite the slight difference in scale.

 

[Peter Insole]

Those tiles look just the ticket Geoff! - I really like your idea!

Some nice thick coats of enamel paint should hopefully help to set and seal them when installed?

Pete.

 

[Eastsidepilot]

Just wondering if meths based shellac knotting would be good for soaking the paper fitting to the mould and then leaving to dry, it would give some strength maybe to the tiles.
Got to try this in 7mm now

Col.