'Seacombe': A glimpse.

[jonte]

Layout plan as promised:

Notes:

'T.P.' stands for telegraph pole (usually wonky) and 'L' for platform lamp stand.

I've omitted a small building from amongst the group of buildings adjacent to the station building for clarity. It will be included on the model.

Also omitted is the ground signal from the engine release road as I'm not quite sure where I should put it; the prototype not having one.

A couple of places where I've deviated from the prototype:

Having drawn the plan, the rearmost siding made the scene looked unbalanced so I decided to get rid of it (I inserted a piece of paper to blank it out). Without the engine release (as per my original post), the middle road can still serve as the single siding of the original, the bay road remaining as a departure bay. I think it looks better, but I'm open to thoughts from others.

I'm mindful that the 'glut' of buildings to the right are creating a compositional imbalance. To restore the balance, I decided to introduce a little modeller's licence. First, I included a service road with gate to the yard; although not obvious, scrutiny of one particular photograph suggests a set of gate in Fell street to the northernmost station boundary so perhaps not a complete work of fiction. There is also what appears to be a path of some sort descending the slope at this location, so again, perhaps not totally untoward?
Second, I've placed a low sided coal staithe replete with telegraph pole and corrugated hut there too. These are not fictional: they were located on scrub land adjacent to the disused station building and appear in a photograph I purchased some years ago from the Transport Treasury.

Finally, without including the road over bridge which carries Borough Road over the railway, it's difficult to think of any other way to hide exit stage left. A token offering, therefore, is a small pile of sleepers placed alongside the engine release road just prior to the exit to the fiddleyard which I hope will serve to distract the eye. As cliched as the road overbridge, again, they also appear in the aforementioned photograph, but are included; if nothing else, they counter the instances if modeller's licence which are beginning to creep in!

Hope the clarity of the plan is okay.

Best wishes,

jonte

 

[jonte]

Layout plan Mk. II (Scale 2" to the foot - dotted lines denote baseboard joins)

Essentially the same as Mk. I, but:

1. Length extended;
2. Old timber platform and station building included.

Advantages:

1. Okay, due to the limits imposed by the rules of the competition, you're never going to arrive at the ideal situation of a train travelling at least three times its length in the visible area (especially in the larger gauges). However, using every given inch allows stock to become more scenically integrated, without looking like it's shoved to the ends, hopefully eliminating the cramped feeling. This is especially the case on the front platform road where stock has to be pushed further to the end of the scene so that the loco can run round without being impeded.
Incidentally, the widths of the end baseboards are 15" each.

2. Without the presence of a feature such as road bridge to disguise the fiddleyard end of the scenic area, it was always going to be a pain to try and distract the eye as trains exited stage left. The original idea of using a pile of sleepers to perform this task was a little luke warm to say the least, but including something a little more substantial such as a building of some sort was never going to be an option if I was to remain true to the prototype, especially the photo on which I'm basing it. That's because in the immediate foreground of the prototype lay the original disused station and platform, which I didn't want to include, least of all because it would hide the engine release road from view (exacerbated by the fact that the rearmost tracks would already be obstructed by the existing platform due to the height at which this will be viewed). In the event, I had to concede that there was no choice if I wanted to provide a viable alternative. A photo I purchased that shows this side of the station complex, provides a host of realistic scenic blocks that would suitably serve the purpose, including corrugated huts, bushy scrub and rising relief where the area behind the platform rose to form the embankment upon which the road bridge over the tracks was constructed. Granted, the relief at this end of the station was quite low, but the fact that the platform and land behind were elevated above track level at this point already gives the small corrugated buildings and scrub a head start over the simple sleeper arrangement of the Mk. I plan.

Why didn't I opt for the longer version in the first place?

Quite simply because I wanted to avoid the joins in the backscene which go hand in glove with baseboard joins, and which tend to stand out like the proverbial sore thumb. However, reference to Gordon Gravett's article about Arun Quay in MRJ 239 provided the solution: just construct a hinged wing structure with slotted cross beam from which a rolled up backscene can be suspended via bulldog clips. No joins. Simple. From the same article I've also unashamedly pinched his ingenious method of suspending the wings/frame from the main structure via these things, http://www.screwfix.com/p/flush-mou...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=COmznL6qpdYCFWeC7QodKZgFyQ known in the trade I believe, as 'flush mounts'.

Why two baseboard joins, in effect creating three baseboards rather than two?

The baseboards will be constructed around the central 4' x 18" board upon which the engine release is sited (please see method of proposed baseboard construction in original post).

Finally, while I prefer the deeper scene of the plan for aesthetic reasons, I feel a slightly narrower scene will help make it a little less unwieldy, therefore in time, I will prepare a basic model from card and roll of wallpaper to arrive at an optimal solution. For now, unfortunately, like the rest of my modelling, it will have to go on a back burner for the time being.

Thanks for looking,

jonte

In addendum: forgot to include (again) a ground signal on the plan. Will be opting for one of those cute LNWR dwarf signals employed on a couple of other Wirral branch lines. jonte.