Brettell Road, 1960s black country (ish)

[David Waite]

Hi Jim
When I looked at the first photo it took me a while to comprehend what was model and what was back scene.
Great modelling.
David.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

With a little over a month to go before Brettell Road is back on the road*, I've been finishing a few things off.


The last backscene is now in place so the road in the middle of the layout now gives the impression it goes somewhere. The Leyland Steer seems to have lost its licence plate somewhere.


The little back yard on board 2 is done - I wanted a used but not particularly looked after feel.


I realised I've not actually taken any images of this building in its finished state before now.


Princess Margaret heads back to the Wallows for the evening.


GWR railcar catches the last of the sun as it heads off to Dudley.

* The show is a local one on the 7th October. See Exhibition

 

[chigley]

perhaps the leyland is trying to avoid the lez in london

 

[Jim smith-wright]

perhaps the leyland is trying to avoid the lez in london

Not sure folks from the black country in the late 50s would understand the idea of low emissions

It's claimed the black country was Tolkien's inspiration for Mordor

 

[Allen M]

Hi Jim and all
When my local Richard, Thomas & Baldwin steel works closed in Kidderminster in late 1962 I was transferred to their Brockmoor, Brierley Hill site.
I later moved to Round Oak Steel works. I remember the outlook was as modeled here particularly on an early pre-dawn morning.
RTB is now a trading site and Round Oak is the Merry Hell (sorry hill) shopping area.
One road which had a most inappropriate name was Level Street. It went down a hill over 2 rail level crossings, 1 canal bridge and had 5 houses 3 of which where public houses then the scrap yard at the bottom which is still there.
I hope to be at Cradley for the show.
regards
Allen

 

[AJC]

Not sure folks from the black country in the late 50s would understand the idea of low emissions

It's claimed the black country was Tolkien's inspiration for Mordor

Since the Clean Air Act was passed in '56, I think they might.

Seriously, that perspective rendering on the backscene is excellent and nicely observed. Thank you for sharing.

Adam

 

[Dan Randall]

That perspective rendering on the backscene is excellent and nicely observed.

Agreed and I love the way the illuminated street lamps follow the line of houses, down the hill.


Regards

Dan

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Hi Jim and all
When my local Richard, Thomas & Baldwin steel works closed in Kidderminster in late 1962 I was transferred to their Brockmoor, Brierley Hill site.
I later moved to Round Oak Steel works. I remember the outlook was as modeled here particularly on an early pre-dawn morning.
RTB is now a trading site and Round Oak is the Merry Hell (sorry hill) shopping area.
One road which had a most inappropriate name was Level Street. It went down a hill over 2 rail level crossings, 1 canal bridge and had 5 houses 3 of which where public houses then the scrap yard at the bottom which is still there.
I hope to be at Cradley for the show.
regards
Allen

I love it when my efforts get someone to take a trip down memory lane. It was a thing with New Street but I wasn't expecting it with Brettell Road as it's not really a model of a real place.
I work on the site of Round Oak (for the Ambulance service) but never ventured into the black country until 2008 (when I met my wife) so never saw the real place for myself.

Hope to see you at Cradley

Jim

 

[Jordan]

Maybe a daft question...

How did the trailer get in there? Asking for an Ex-HGV Driverist friend....

This will be the star layout at the Cradley Show, I'm sure!!

It's claimed the black country was Tolkien's inspiration for Mordor

Ar, it can be mordor livin' 'ere an' all.
When I hear the word "mordor" it reminds me of the late actor who played 'Taggart'.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Maybe a daft question...
View attachment 194409
How did the trailer get in there? Asking for an Ex-HGV Driverist friend....

Through the hole in the building of course

 

[Jordan]

Ah, the well-hidden (at least in the one photo) hole.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Something a little different. Operators eye view of the new bit

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Bit of a blatant plug.

This time next week Brettell Road will make its exhibition debut* in its extended from at the Cradley Heath exhibition



If you come along please do say hi.

Jim

*is debut the right word? would relaunch be better? :?

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Yesterday Brettell Road made its return to the exhibition scene in its extended form. The show went very well I thought and we all enjoyed ourselves. Theres a snagging list for me to work through, of course, but nothing major. The layout seemed very well received and we were honoured to be awarded the Frank Collins Award for best layout in show as voted for by the Cradley Heath MRC committee. Somewhat poignant for me as Frank had assisted me with info for the model of the Round Oak admin building before he passed away. I like to think he would have approved of my efforts. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves looking for the cats on the layout and and the strategically hidden lego Batman that the club provided.

Quick thanks to my operating team and the members of the CHMRC for their efforts.

(Pic ©Tim Horn)

 

[Jim smith-wright]

My friend Tim has put together a short video of the layout from Saturday. It was late ish in the day and being in front of a window the layout was back lit so didn't really get the full effect I was after. (Note to exhibitions managers - I actually want the dark bit of the hall no one else does!!) However it does show up the wet effects quite nicely. I need to be a little more fastidious with the dusting in the future.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

So back to business as usual then.


This is an ex LMS 12 ton traction truck which has recently been released by 247 Developments. The kit is a 3d print which is supplied as a body with solebars, W irons, brake gear and white metal buffers. The body was a little bit distorted (kinda like a spoon shape) but popping it in very hot water and weighting it while it cooled seemed to take most of the distortion out. The back of the frames needed thinning for p4 wheels to fit (I believe the kit has been changed to rectify this now). I replaced the sides with microstrip as they were a little uneven and added the safety loops and tie down shackles that were missing from the print. The supplied buffers were a little odd so these are Accurascale ones. Just need to do a load for it now.


On Brettell Road I have mostly used cast white metal vacuum pipes. Generally these have been fine but I have had some of the bufferbeam mounted ones break as they are slightly vulnerable. David Roome has now produced some 3d printed ones that are rubbery and a lot less susceptible to knocks. Im not replacing them on all of my wagons just as and when a white metal one gets broken.

Links

247 Developments home page.

Underhill Road and Yard

Underhill road and yard

 

[simond]

I could swear I saw the rain falling at 2:43

 

[Jordan]

I could swear I saw the rain falling at 2:43

During Friday evening set up you could hear the rain on Brettell Road a very subtle sound effect, possibly a bit lost during the noise of the show itself.
Mindyou, stand too long listening to it & you'd need to go to the loo......

 

[Jim smith-wright]

While the somewhat uninteresting work behind the scenes for taking Brettell Road out was going on I did distract myself from it with a few road vehicles to maintain a semblance of sanity.


The Leyland Beaver milk tank I've featured before in an unfinished state. It had kind of stalled for a while but now I have finished it off. This is a Langley Models kit.




On the subject of Langley models I picked up this 4 wheel dolly from ebay for next to nothing. Thinking it looked like the sort of thing that could be found lying around at a steelworks, I though it would make a nice bit of background clutter.


On to New Street - These 2 are 3d printed kits from CMAC Models. On the left a VW Jetta and on the right a Lada Riva Estate. Nice kits, I recommend them.



Ive recently managed to get myself involved in one of Iain Rice's old layouts, Cades Green. The layout has been rescued by the Norfolk area group of the Scalefour society and turned from a home layout into an exhibit-able one. Its first show in its revised form was at Scaleforum back in September. One thing that stood out to me were the road vehicles, not only was there a bus on a bridge but they were tipped straight from a box! I guess Iain never managed to get round to them?


Given that they were straight from a box, and Iain hadn't done anything to them, there weren't any real qualms in me taking them away to have a fiddle. Its not like I would be messing with Iains work after all. The above is an Oxford Diecast Commer van given the basic treatment of darkening the window frames and a bit of weathering. I changed the tyres as the originals went all sticky. Ive had this happen before and it seems completely random as to why it does. Any ideas?


Next up the offending bus on a bridge - Original Omnibus Bristol L5. There was a bit more to do to this one. The glazing was just too far recessed for the black edge trick to work on its own, so that would all need to be redone. The wheels where a nice rendition of the type found on a Routemaster but not right for an L5 . There were no indicators or tail lights and the destination box was nothing more that printed on. Results are below.




Links

Langley Models

m0rris122 on eBay CMAC Models (Ive linked to their Ebay page as they seem to have more stuff on there than their website)

 

[Osgood]

That dolly looks kinda related to the one I used to go out with