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Gauge 1, 2 rail electric garden railway, by Pat Honey.
CHAPTER 8:- LINESIDE ITEMS.
Unlike all the smaller scales of model railways the variety of line side items on Gauge 1 layouts are noticeable by their absence !
In this I must include buildings, other structures, fittings, people, animals, the general bits and pieces with which one can create an overall scenic diorama, these things can be hard to come by and in this chapter I will cover every aspect of the diorama effect - where the item was sourced / whether scratch built or modified from something else etc.
That is not to say that the trade has not made any progress at all in trying to remedy this situation, however it is true to say that due to the prospect of a very limited demand, most of the products I have found have come from the "Cottage Industry" trade element and in some cases their products are not widely advertised but have to be hunted down - and when one talks, for instance, of the figures etc there is also the 1:30.5 (1Omm) and 1:32 scale differences to take into account and surprisingly more 1:32 scale items seem to be around than 1:30.5 (1Omm).
By the use of all the known and well written about techniques of scenic model railways I hope that when this layout is finished it will be on a par with the best seen in 4 and 7mm.
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SCENERY.
Dealing first with the scenic aspect of the layout, I had a 37ft long backboard to cover and to do this I opted for 1 roll of "sky effect" wallpaper and this was applied by using UNIBOND white PVA glue, applied with a 4 inch brush and when the paper was up it was again "gone over" with a watered down solution of the PVA, this gives a nice damp proof surface on which to add other foreground backdrops etc by gluing or gives the alternative for hand painting if one has the artistic ability.
I have found that some scenic backdrop scenes sheets in l0mm, are available from PLM CAST-A-WAYS ~ choice of 10 different, ranging from Countryside to Industrial - I also scoured a variety of magazines and cutting out skyline scenes, buildings etc and overlaid these onto the sky backdrop. Derek Ascott can also supply some nice coloured paper individual tree backdrops, its mainly a case of using your imagination and if possible cultivate the services of a local amateur artist !.
In front of this for some of the background I have used plastic stone walling from Tenmille and scratch built a series of arches using 1 inch thick by 9 inch deep planking and covered them with photocopied brick paper - suitably coloured etc with acrylics and inks - this area being a backdrop to the station is also liberally covered with period advertising signs - by doing it this way I create a sense of depth and the one inch top ledge makes a place on which to put suitable fencing and incorporate greenery etc.
Likewise with the rest of the scenery, as in other scales simulated grass, roads, fences, walls, cuttings and bushes can be made from a variety of materials, one way is to use chicken wire and to give shape and cover this with bandage impregnated with plaster of paris.
For the larger field areas I have used a technique recommended by Andy Beckett - using block polystyrene to give structure shape and covering this with nappy liners soaked in potters plaster and well worked over with a 3 inch brush - this when set goes rock hard and can then be drilled to take trees etc, when painted and dressed the final landscape done this way is superb.
The trees are hand made by twisting tinned copper wire in to tree shapes and using industrial spray glue and materials from "Greenscene" to finish them off plus some dried cut items from the garden, suitably taped up in bunches to make trunks and then finished off with spray glue and scenic powders.
All the techniques developed and used in all the other scales can be employed in Gauge 1 - you just need more basic materials. Photographs in the Gallery show what can be achieved.
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MISCELLANEOUS.
Coming now to the solid items, as I have already pointed out these are available both in 1:32nd scale and 1;30.5 (10 mm) plus some 1:35 scale items in plastic, all these scales are suitable in the context of a diorama as they can be spaced and mixed and matched into the line side where the small difference is hardly noticeable.
I have found a nice selection of useable items for a period layout from the 1:32 nd scale first world war range, mostly brass etchings but some white metal pieces as well and they are acquired from the Scale link catalogue but being of better quality than the average and aimed at the war games market, they do cost more.
Again a source of odds and ends are the 1:35 plastic war kits from the TAMIYA (tm) and the ITALIERI (tm) range, available from the larger selective toy shops, they do a box of 12 telegraph posts with changeable bars for the tops (code No:404) and I have also acquired brick walling (code 35028*400) and a workshop set (Code No: 419).
Other suppliers of figures and other items in 1:32nd are the Pheonix range.
In 1Omm, products from John Barrett, one well known trader who produces some line side 10 mm brass etched items such as a 2 and 4 track footbridge, GWR water tower and yard lamps, still in 10 mm, Derek Ascott has an Aladdin's cave of white metal bits and pieces of all sorts, coal sacks, dustbins etc other than figures - but figures both standing and seated can be sourced from The Wagon and Carriage Works, P S People supply engine crews and Neil Butcher produces workmen etc plus also a range of barrows, cycles etc. Thanks to Derek Ascott I now know that Langley Models produce a superb cycle and period motor bike in 10mm.
I have sourced seats - public park type 1:32 scale - from Pheonix and PLM Castaways have just produced a 10mm item more suited to a platform - all in white metal and these I solder together and the station name is a computer printout on cream paper.
For the inside seated passengers in coaches the Scalextric motor game accessory pack of seated groups in plastic are good value for money, look for these and bits and pieces from the Britain's plastic farm range, which are all to our scale, available in major toy outlets. I even know of a modeller who has found some useful figures and fittings in shops among the cake decoration displays.
I am convinced that to have to hunt around, use ones imagination and from the bits and pieces of the dross of everyday life, create what is not commercially available is much more challenging and enjoyable and in the end more fulfilling than to merely run a finger down a list and buy everything.
My workshop shelves and bins are the home for hundreds of small bits and pieces, I never throw anything away and from which I occasionally select a piece and put it to a use one could never have foreseen - very satisfying.
Apart from the P S People engine crews, which are supplied fully painted, all other available items are usually in bare white metal unless ordered as painted.
Some items are on cast bases and when they are, I carefully remove these, but most of the other figures and platform items etc are not and as all these individual items need to be eventually placed firmly in position on the layout and also in the interim need to be hand held for painting, I drill a hole up into the bottom of the leg or base of other items etc and insert a piece of brass rod, leave about an inch showing and secure it with a drop of super glue.
This then allows me to have the figure or other line side piece on the end of a hand vice which is very handy when cleaning the item up and painting it.
The spike is then useful for standing the item up on a block of polystyrene for storage and will eventually be the means of securing same to the platform or baseboard on the finished layout without the need to glue.
As most of these white metal pieces are greasy and thus present a problem in painting, they are all totally immersed in the caustic soda bath and without touching them with the bare fingers, they are rinsed in cold water, dried, stood up on an upturned cardboard box - using the pin in the bottom - and sprayed with car primer, prior to then being sprayed in matt black, which is the best base to have for the colour painting finish. (do not use polystyrene as a base to stand things on for spraying, as the motor car sprays tend to melt it - use cardboard).
From Derek Ascott I acquired some nice white metal old style "gas" lamps, which come in 2 parts and if glued together with paper up the middle, can be fitted with 12v grain of wheat bulbs and wired up in pairs into a 12v AC circuit which reduces the light emitted to a nice gentle 6v glow more like a gas lamp would be, he will also supply buckets, dustbins, interior signal box fittings, shunting bell stand and period road bollards .
1Omm lamps of the traditional railway style can be had from Scale link and John Barrett and these "electric" ones can be wired singly as 12v and thus be brighter than the "gas lamp" types. Clear bulbs for these, plus interior building illumination and coloured ones for signals or LEDs if preferred, can be acquired from any good model outlet.
From the dolls house displays I have found a nice green shaded 12v unit which will be ideal inside my signal box, station building etc and they also do a nice exterior period coach shaped lamp which can be mounted on the corner of a building - both supplied with bulbs and ready to plug in.
The telegraph poles are cast white metal from 543219 (regrettably no longer available but I can supply one as a pattern for re casting if needed. PGH.) and also from the 35:1 ITALERI military range of plastic kits (kit No: 404), where I also found the complete field workshop (kit No: 419) most of which I can put to good use.
The rail built buffer stops are available in kit form from Tenmille and I have added a red stop lamp to one of them.
Level crossing gates, private siding gate and other bits, like cranes etc, in the yard are scratch built, using brass material where possible, the yard crane is a 7mm model put onto a plinth.
The fencing :- Line side - is either shaped wood posts or sections of bullhead rail, all drilled in jig with 5 holes and the wire is 0.6mm MIG welding wire, well soaked in caustic soda bath to discolour before use.
Platform - spear point is from Scale Link, this is rather fragile on its own so I placed some old 4mm brass rail along the bottom and soldered it on as a base, I then soldered brass rod every scale 6ft from top of fencing and left a sprig on bottom with which to mount on platforms. After placing in the caustic soda bath and rinsed and dried the passenger area fencing was sprayed white and that against goods lines are brown. Period adverts were then added as appropriate.
Gates - the small passenger access ones on the path from town to station platform were from John Barrett and were cut from wagon kit frets, where they come as an extra on the fret so as not to waste space.
The superb footbridge and the GWR platform mounted water tower were supplied by John Barrett in kit form and were a pleasure to build and paint.
I have added two of the Derek Ascott gas lamps to the bridge structure and also reversed the steps up it from John`s original design so as to have staggered access across platforms and on the top on the water tower I have added the cone shaped top, door etc, the fire devil is scratch built.
The yard crane is a 7mm model on a raised brick and slab dais.
The traction engine is a �2 plastic toy, suitably treated to represent one in storage, the tarpaulin is made from masking tape, sprayed and lettered with stencils made from 8mm Slaters letraset.
The rest of the yard is cluttered with odds and ends from many sources.
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BUILDINGS.
The buildings are a mixture of Commercial and hand built, I have found that some 20 station structures, based on GWR styles, are available in resin panel stone and brick form as kits and are now marketed by Wagon a Carriage Works and from this range I have the signal box, the coal bunker, line side hut and sleeper built buffer stop.
The signal box was from Wagon and carriage works and is made of resin with white metal window fittings and stairs, I have completed the interior and fitted out the lighting using 12 volt dolls house fittings giving a very impressive model, the name board was from GUILPLATES.
All the point rodding is made up from 1.5mm gas welding rod, held in place with Tenmille brass pins and the angle cranks are from Harry Germaine.
The platform bases are constructed on a base of 1 3/4 inch planed square timber, this is cut back and slotted where it needs to bend and the outer edges of this are covered by plasticard brickwork.
The platform decking is of 3mm ply and some parts are removable to give access to point motors hidden by the structure, finished off with simulated flagstones and edgings.
The station building is scratch built with plasticard as is the waiting room on platform 3 and the coal order office in the yard.
As my layout is representing period GWR I have sought inspiration from the Branch Line book and have built a model of the carriage cleaning shed from Watlington the Loco shed, cattle dock etc are scratch built of the style for the period and specifically built to fit into this layout along with a grounded clerestory coach for workmen both in the yard and by the loco shed.
The larger water tower is rescued from an old 16mm layout and modified etc plus added to it is the water discharge pipe etc supplied by John Barrett and a scratch built fire devil which makes a pleasing addition to this working area.
With my working background as a Countryside Ranger, I have modelled a complete rail fed working sawmill in the industrial area of the layout with two tracks, one for reception of rough timber and one for despatch of finished product.
The buildings and the crane are all scratch built, note the narrow gauge wagon track inside the standard gauge, for use by manpower pushing of finished timber from bench to stack area and as was general practice, the use of a small turntable to facilitate change of tracks.
In the goods yard the coal office is scratch built, the grounded coach is one half of a Pete Waterman GWR 40ft bogie, suitably adorned ! The other half is in place next to the engine shed but grounded on an elevated coaling platform and used as a work mans hut.
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SIGNALS.
The layout is fully signalled with working GWR lower quadrant signals, the working ones were built for me by Derek Mundy incorporating modern relays and old Hornby solenoids which I picked up at a railway swop meet.
At the station I have 2 x single starters covering the departure from the bay and platform 1 and a platform mounted bracket with priority routing over crossover for passenger departures from platform 3 and another starter for locomotives to use the goods reception/departure road.
The access to platform 3 from the goods reception/departure line is by a semaphore loco "calling on" only signal, allowing locomotives to "run round" as required.
The signalling at the tunnel end of the yard incorporates a starter and permission to shunt on a single pole covering the goods reception/departure road.
The yard has a shunt permit single arm only.
The tunnel mouth is covered by a fixed distant for all traffic - which I built using an SME kit.
All signals are lit as in prototype.
The ground signal kits are available from Derek Ascott, the ground signals are lit and fully working off the point tie bar. Pat Honey.
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Gallery:
These photographs - taken at different times - are to give you some idea of what was involved in bringing DENBURY to life. I can supply hundreds more on disc to any interested party subject to the condition that they are not used for any commercial purpose whatsoever. Most basic information is on each photograph but for any queries or further information then contact me. Pat Honey.
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