Geoff
Western Thunderer
Perhaps Modelu could scan the real thing and market them in different scales, I'll get me coat
Geoff
7mm Llanbister Rd. via Bleddfa.........
- Thread starter Geoff
- Start date
Perhaps Modelu could scan the real thing and market them in different scales, I'll get me coat
Geoff
GeoffI have a few ideas Richard, but I couldn't possibly share them with you here.......
Martin,
Thanks ever so much for your interesting post, which is very much appreciated. I certainly won't be ignoring your advice, that's for sure, in fact I'm going to leave things as they are, and forget all about wildflowers.
Geoff
Sorry! I didn’t mean to put you off.
Your vegetation looks like ‘high summer’. So there would be some flowers (including grasses in flower).
Let’s say it’s August or September.
A few hardheads flowering at the base of the hedge or alongside the fence. In the short grass immediately adjacent to the track or in the four-foot in the siding, common cat’s ear or autumnal hawk bit. There would be daisies and dandelions too, but not flowering. These species are all so common in these types of habitats you would expect to see them.
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Geoff
Western Thunderer
That’s a really good idea Phil.
Geoff
Geoff
Western Thunderer
Oh you’ve not put me off Martin, but you’ve certainly given me plenty of useful food for
thought, and I’m very grateful for that thanks.
Geoff
D
Deleted member 1839
Guest
Geoff, you are to the model railway world what John Constable was to English landscape painting! Fantastic work ;-)
I took them to be a Willowherb (rosebay willowherb probably). A very common plant to be found exactly where they have been placed on the layout. They could do with being a bit more purple (less of the green) but they look right to me.
Sorry, no, not the right shape at all. Rosebay would have flowers only at the top and a long, single, upright and un-branched stem with widely spaced leaves. Like these on our access track photographed just now:
The two reddish leafy stems in the foreground are rosebay. They will flower in a couple of months by which time they will be c. 5’ tall. The flowers are only at the top as growth ceases for the year. Two of last year’s stems can be seen lying horizontal in the grass.
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Geoff
Western Thunderer
Thanks Simon, but the superb scenic work created by Neil (podartist) is more worthy of being described as that.
Scenery & Dioramas
My plants were indeed meant to be rosebay willow herb Paxton, but I fell into the trap of modelling someone else's interpretation of what they looked like. Secondly, I didn't have the correct coloured flock to hand, so just experimented with other materials to see what I could come up with.
Thanks for the photo Martin, my wife has a copy of Collins British Wildlife, which shows the same plant in flower. Whilst it's going to be rather difficult to model them accurately in 7mm scale, I'm hopeful of coming up with something more realistic. I really appreciate the information that you have provided, thank you.
Geoff
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You’re lucky if you have to look in a book to see what rosebay looks like! I remove hundreds from our garden every year — an absolute menace.
Wasteland adjacent to a railway is certainly an appropriate location for rosebay at the time your model represents. Curiously, it was a rare thing in the 19th century, confined to high altitudes. Then it spread, notably occupying bomb sites during WW2, and it is now ubiquitous in lowland Britain.
Here’s a picture of rosebay in mid June taken a couple of years ago. Still a lot of growing to do before flowering. But note last year’s stems — very persistent (you need to model those too). You can see where the flowers were at the top of last year’s stems. Also, that it forms typically a dense mass and can be close to a monoculture. The picture also shows nettles and ground elder, common associates on fertile soils. The rosebay in the photo will be at least 7’ tall by the time it is in flower, but that is taller than usual.
Podartist79
Western Thunderer
That’s very kind Geoff.
I’ve been following your work throughout and find it extremely inspiring!
Also, you undertake everything on your layout, I undertake just ‘the green (shades of green) stuff’; and some weathering.
Neil.
Geoff
Western Thunderer
Since my last update, I've been tracing a mysterious intermittent short circuit, suffice to say it was an absolute b****r to find. A running session followed, and I'm pleased to say that normal service has resumed, and my back has recovered.
The first test train comprised, 1455 with a fitted van and single coach.
I'm always looking for fresh angles and ideas, so took these tail end shots.........
Mind the gap! It becomes less as the 57ft coach draws further up the platform.
Running round, 1455 will couple up to the coach, draw forward and then setback onto the siding loop where it will leave the van. The fun starts when the next train arrives and finds the siding loop blocked.
Next stop Presteigne................
Geoff.
The first test train comprised, 1455 with a fitted van and single coach.
I'm always looking for fresh angles and ideas, so took these tail end shots.........
Mind the gap! It becomes less as the 57ft coach draws further up the platform.
Running round, 1455 will couple up to the coach, draw forward and then setback onto the siding loop where it will leave the van. The fun starts when the next train arrives and finds the siding loop blocked.
Next stop Presteigne................
Geoff.
Geoff
Western Thunderer
That certain magazine with branch lines in it leads me astray Gary, I certainly remember those black and white days. How funny that way back then most of us longed for colour photos in our copies of Trains Illustrated, are you old enough to remember that title?
Cheers Mark.
Geoff
cmax
Western Thunderer
Hi Geoff, I am just old enough to remember Trains illustrated, and have about 30 issues purchased second hand. I was 8 when steam finished on BR, I was lucky to have spent many (unofficial) happy hours in the various signal boxes round Normanton Station, until my uncle who was a signalman, left the railways for pastures new.
Gary
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RichardG
Western Thunderer
I was watching a critique of music in film, in the context of the cemetry scene in 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'. There are three actors, and the director repeatedly rearranges them so they visually work together to create pictures. Maybe this is possible at Bleddfa Road (on a smaller scale!) using three trains. Perhaps, a light engine, a loco with a train, and a wagon.
(The use of three actors starts at about 5:40)
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Geoff
Western Thunderer
Trains Illustrated was difficult to get hold of out in the sticks, and when we did get a copy it quickly became dog eared as it was passed around between friends. I also had plenty of unofficial access to various signal boxes etc, etc, due to our next door neighbour being a BR relief area manager.
Geoff
it's an interesting thought Richard, but the branch is operated as one engine in steam. That rule is only broken when one of my grandsons comes around to play trains, and then anything goes
Geoff
