Sproston - finishing off the canopies, and a revamp of the goods yard area.

Entry posted by sigtech January 19, 2015

1,124 views

Apologies for the lack of new 'blogstuff' - but Christmas intervened, along with it getting rather cold in the loft, despite my recent insulation improvements.

The main canopy over platforms 1&2 is now in light and dark stone, as is the smaller one covering the parcels lock-up, a few hanging signs in WR colours have been added where seems appropriate.The platform inhabitants are presumably grateful for their new shelter from the elements...

For some time I have been unhappy with the finish of the goods yard surface- I couldn't put my finger on what exactly was wrong, but decided that the surface resembled a ploughed field, in colour if not texture!!

So,- out with the das clay,and the yard surface was slowly brought up to sleeper top level, followed by a repaint in a dark grey using one of those matt emulsion match-pots from B&Q.

Some of the yard infrastructure was also trial repositioned whilst things were in a "state of flux"(mess).

This resulted in the loading bank next to the shed going - I was never very happy with it or it's position...The yard crane has gained a small circular concrete base with steps ( match pot lid) and was repositioned in the large vacant area between the shed and cattle dock sidings.

The coal cells have been trimmed in size and moved so they are now against the boundary fence and away from the track,This seems to be more faithful to GWR practice, and 'opens up' the yard more, also allowing the sidings to be used for access for loading/unloading by road vehicles.

The loading gauge was repositioned,- now the crane had been moved,it seemed wrong to have it just outside the goods shed, it now covers the exits from the cattle and coal sidings - which is where most loads would be dispatched from using open wagons after loading with a crane (Sproston has three, a 10 cwt wooden hoist inside the goods shed, a 1 ton hand-crane in the yard ,and a mobile 6 ton "Coles" crane).

Thats it in the yard for now, though I feel it's not completed yet- more clutter needed.

The "Station Garage" has also had a makeover, with a raised repainted surface (more das clay), pumps repositioned and some greenery and 'hedgery'..!!. along with a small island pavement area - lots more clutter still required around here.

The creamery has gained a proper surface ( same again...) around the tank washing area, along with an extra office building for the foreman.

Finally, the control panel has been (badly) disguised by a small section of backscene along with another small tree.(this was a test idea using "Jarvis" tree stuff and a stem from a bunch of grapes - it doesn't look to bad, just don't look too closely...