The Farthing layouts

PaternosterRow · August 26

Am I right in saying this is the first car to appear at Farthing? Time and progress - it’ll be men flying about and new fangled diesel trains next! Excellent little project and beautifully modelled as per usual.

ChrisN · August 26

All of the above Mikkel, excellent modelling. (Just been away for a few days, what a delight to come back to.) I am sure Lady Deadlock must have sent the rest of her luggage on ahead, as I am sure as she would not believe in travelling light.

Will she get away that is more to the point. Will Detective Sergeant Benton catch up with her and arrest her. Will she be sent to prison for penal servitude with hard labour, or will her chauffer be caught? If he is, will he say he was saving them from Lady Deadlock, and will Lord Deadlock press charges. or will the police think the upper classes do not commit crime and send the chauffer away for a long, long time? Buy the next edition of the 'Penny Dreadful'' to find out!

I am sure that despite the indignity Lady Deadlock was pleased that the eternal question of 'Does my bottom look big in this?' was solved so quickly, if not painlessly.

Andrew Stadden does do a chauffer and a lady with a hat that is tied on, as I am sure you know.

It is all right having these petrol vehicles on your layout, but I am sure they will not catch on. In fact I think in a hundred or so years they will get banned.

Simond · August 26

13 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Thanks Keith. Hmm, yes, there is the issue of witnesses! Humphrey doesn't seem to have considered that. Nor did I 🙂

Thank you Duncan. This little layout has given me a good deal of fun in operational terms (there's a two-level traverser on the right hand side when it's operated), but I haven't photographed it much so it's nice to do a bit of that too.

It is a very short layout of course, so the world beyond is hard to avoid in end-on photos. But then theatre stages have obvious edges too. What annoys me more is that the trees are taller than the embankment walls, I won't make that mistake again.

Thank you Anne. I think the elegant wings (which I keep calling splashers in my head!) are one of the attractions of early motor cars, so it was a must for me to make them a bit thinner. Although I do understand the challenges of making a whitemetal kit with wings like these:

Caption: A vintage illustration featuring Lady Helen Ilchester and Lady Muriel Fox-Strangeways, their chauffeur and a dog in their 12-horsepower Panhard motorcar at the entrance to Holland House, published in "The Car Illustrated, A Journal of Travel By Land, Sea and Air" in London on 18th June 1902. Source: Getty Images, embedding permitted.

There are four dogs, the smaller is in the co-pilot’s seat, and the ladies appear to have one apiece. The chauffeur has the look of a man who knows his place is to sit still and keep his opinions to himself. The ladies look rather stern, stern as in the arse end of a ship.

I presume this was from a day before photographers learned to say “say ‘cheese’!”.

Simond · August 26

13 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Thanks Keith. Hmm, yes, there is the issue of witnesses! Humphrey doesn't seem to have considered that. Nor did I 🙂

Thank you Duncan. This little layout has given me a good deal of fun in operational terms (there's a two-level traverser on the right hand side when it's operated), but I haven't photographed it much so it's nice to do a bit of that too.

It is a very short layout of course, so the world beyond is hard to avoid in end-on photos. But then theatre stages have obvious edges too. What annoys me more is that the trees are taller than the embankment walls, I won't make that mistake again.

Thank you Anne. I think the elegant wings (which I keep calling splashers in my head!) are one of the attractions of early motor cars, so it was a must for me to make them a bit thinner. Although I do understand the challenges of making a whitemetal kit with wings like these:

Caption: A vintage illustration featuring Lady Helen Ilchester and Lady Muriel Fox-Strangeways, their chauffeur and a dog in their 12-horsepower Panhard motorcar at the entrance to Holland House, published in "The Car Illustrated, A Journal of Travel By Land, Sea and Air" in London on 18th June 1902. Source: Getty Images, embedding permitted.

There are four dogs, the smaller is in the co-pilot’s seat, and the ladies appear to have one apiece. The chauffeur has the look of a man who knows his place is to sit still and keep his opinions to himself. The ladies look rather stern, stern as in the arse end of a ship.

I think the big dog in the front looks less fierce.

I presume this was from a day before photographers learned to say “say ‘cheese’!”.

Compound2632 · August 26

44 minutes ago, Simond said:

There are four dogs, the smaller is in the co-pilot’s seat, and the ladies appear to have one apiece.

You see, this is why the upper classes' discovery of the motor car was such a disaster for the railways. The collapse in short-distance railway travel by such people not only deprived the railways of first class fares but also of dog fares, which between them were propping up rural stopping passenger services.

alastairq · August 26

I think the driver has just passed wind [SAying ''Trumped'' might be construed as political by the RM algorithms]

Or the big dog has, judging by its expression?

The lady wearing the Christmas cake hat has also noticed, and blamed the driver[ the driver being of a lower order than the dog]

I also note the shape of the front wings.

Angled and flared to deflect mud and stones away from the occupants, onto the hoipolloi..

[Note the Dellow in my avatar? That sports similarly shaped front wings, for the very purpose mentioned above.]

Mikkel · August 28

On 26/08/2024 at 17:22, Northroader said:

Lovely little model, looks great. Somewhere along the way at the station a sack and some bricks were employed? The chauffeur would hardly come back with such a posh suitcase. How grim all these wealthy people look in the photos, would the car break down or a road stone flint puncture the tyres first? Finding a petrol station then must be like finding the next charging point now.

The brilliance of Humphrey's plan is gradually unravelling 🙂

Yes, some motor car passengers do look rather grim in early photos - especially the men. Not sure if it is stiff upper lip or genuine concern about driving these contraptions! Photo below being a case in point. A photo which puzzles me a bit. It is credited to the National Motor Museum, but some of the headwear does not look particularly British?

Caption: 1902 Gladiator Tonneau. Artist Unknown. (Photo by National Motor Museum). Source: Getty Images, embedding permitted.

Edited August 28 by Mikkel

gwr517 · August 28

Delightful, In another life I was a Veteran and Vintage car and motorcycle enthusiast. It suits Farthing perfectly. Well done Mikkel.

phil_sutters · August 28

Although I have quite a few photos of my family's cars in the 1920s and 30's these are the only Edwardian ones

phil_sutters · August 28

I am not sure whether this is the exact same model as the Scale-Link 1904 De Dion Bouton, but it is close.

Edited August 30 by phil_sutters

alastairq · August 28

I suppose clapping on a gag is one way to silence back-seat drivers?

alastairq · August 28

6 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Finding a petrol station then must be like finding the next charging point now.

In those days, wouldn't the Pharmacist be a source of 'motor spirit?'

I suppose the local Boots were more frequently visited?

Northroader · August 28

When I was a kid, the village grocer had a big tank out the back, but that was for lamp oil, with a much safer flash point. I fancy a chemist wouldn’t want petrol any where near the rest of his stuff.

alastairq · August 28

2 hours ago, Northroader said:

When I was a kid, the village grocer had a big tank out the back, but that was for lamp oil, with a much safer flash point. I fancy a chemist wouldn’t want petrol any where near the rest of his stuff.

Yet that was where one purchased the motor spirit, before fuel companies got in on the act....

Given the amount of potentially flammable stuff a chemist might have kept in those days, floggin' gallon cans of motor spirit [probably alcohol based?] was considered all part of the service.

I bet they didn't sell packets of paracetamol, though?

phil_sutters · August 28

5 hours ago, alastairq said:

In those days, wouldn't the Pharmacist be a source of 'motor spirit?'

I suppose the local Boots were more frequently visited?

Purely by coincidence, I have just bought 'Early Country Motoring' by John E. Bridges. In there he states "Suppliers would often include chemists, ironmongers and public houses, as well as the more obvious bicycle and motor firms." Their supplies ironically were often delivered by horse cart in small cans, of the sort that collectors now seem to pay lots of money for.

The book was in a batch of books from World of Books - a 4 for the price of 3 offer - with a total cost of £12.79 - which also included

Route and Branch in Sussex

Farming with Steam

Trains: The Early Years

The last is a fascinating tri-lingual book of black and white photographs of railways from across the world from the mid-Victorian era to WW2. Fancy modelling a pre-revolution Manchurian Railway church carriage complete with clerestory, arched windows, ornate panelling, appropriate Orthodox crosses at either end of the roof and a mini belfry with two bells. I am sure a 3D printer could scan an Orthodox priest for you. They still wear the same vestments and headgear, I think.

Edited August 28 by phil_sutters

Simond · August 28

My Dad told tales of his Dad selling fuel around Donegal in the thirties - by horse drawn cart, and, I believe, by horse drawn tanker too.

Jim Martin · August 28

I've been wondering if the grimness of visage in many of these old photos is because it's a lot easier to maintain a neutral expression for the exposure times required for early photography than it is to hold a smile.

Mikkel · August 28

On 26/08/2024 at 19:28, PaternosterRow said:

Am I right in saying this is the first car to appear at Farthing? Time and progress - it’ll be men flying about and new fangled diesel trains next! Excellent little project and beautifully modelled as per usual.

Well, there has been one other car at Farthing, but not exactly Edwardian 🙂. It was built for the late Mick Bonwick as part of a joint project on here.

Edited August 29 by Mikkel

Mikkel · August 28

On 26/08/2024 at 17:40, ChrisN said:

All of the above Mikkel, excellent modelling. (Just been away for a few days, what a delight to come back to.) I am sure Lady Deadlock must have sent the rest of her luggage on ahead, as I am sure as she would not believe in travelling light.

Will she get away that is more to the point. Will Detective Sergeant Benton catch up with her and arrest her. Will she be sent to prison for penal servitude with hard labour, or will her chauffer be caught? If he is, will he say he was saving them from Lady Deadlock, and will Lord Deadlock press charges. or will the police think the upper classes do not commit crime and send the chauffer away for a long, long time? Buy the next edition of the 'Penny Dreadful'' to find out!

I am sure that despite the indignity Lady Deadlock was pleased that the eternal question of 'Does my bottom look big in this?' was solved so quickly, if not painlessly.

Andrew Stadden does do a chauffer and a lady with a hat that is tied on, as I am sure you know.

It is all right having these petrol vehicles on your layout, but I am sure they will not catch on. In fact I think in a hundred or so years they will get banned.

Thank you Chris, that made me laugh. Perhaps we need a Penny Dreadful for RMwebbers, will you be the editor please!

Detective Sergeant Benton is in fact one of the pedestrians in the photos, though mostly because of his suitable pose. But maybe his instinct tells him something unlawful is going on. I do have a soft spot for heist movies!

Yes, I've got the Andew Stadden lady with tied hat all painted up and ready to ride the next vehicle, though I haven't noticed a chaffeur in his range. Must have a look!

Edited August 28 by Mikkel

ChrisN · August 29

9 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Thank you Chris, that made me laugh. Perhaps we need a Penny Dreadful for RMwebbers, will you be the editor please!

Detective Sergeant Benton is in fact one of the pedestrians in the photos, though mostly because of his suitable pose. But maybe his instinct tells him something unlawful is going on. I do have a soft spot for heist movies!

Yes, I've got the Andew Stadden lady with tied hat all painted up and ready to ride the next vehicle, though I haven't noticed a chaffeur in his range. Must have a look!

Mikkel,

I think the chauffer was a special early on in the range, as I cannot see it on his web site. I will see if I can find him. (There is a rule in my modelling, if I want something, I cannot find it, if I do not it keeps on cropping up. I shall go and look for something else. 🙂)

Mikkel · August 30

On 28/08/2024 at 05:05, gwr517 said:

Delightful, In another life I was a Veteran and Vintage car and motorcycle enthusiast. It suits Farthing perfectly. Well done Mikkel.

Thank you Douglas, I can imagine that proper vintage car enthusiasts will spot many issues and missing details, but hopefully they are not too glaring. And congratulations again on the prize for Motley End, I only just saw your message on Google photos the other day.

On 28/08/2024 at 09:52, phil_sutters said:

Although I have quite a few photos of my family's cars in the 1920s and 30's these are the only Edwardian ones

Wonderful photos, thanks Phil! Your family albums seem to be quite a treasure trove, and high quality pictures too. Were some of them professional photographers maybe?

On the issue of early fuel suppliers, the photo below seems to suggest that the first roadside filling station was in 1920 (see caption), which seems very late given the large number of vehicles about at this time. If that is correct, the alternative suppliers discussed above must have been organised in some other way to provide a reliable source of fuel. Or perhaps the wording of the caption is misleading.

Caption: Cars queuing at Britain's first roadside petrol filling station, at Aldermaston, Berkshire, 2nd March 1920. The facility is run by the Automobile Association (AA). Source: Getty Images, embedding permitted.

Edited August 30 by Mikkel

phil_sutters · August 30

5 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Thank you Douglas, I can imagine that proper vintage car enthusiasts will spot many issues and missing details, but hopefully they are not too glaring. And congratulations again on the prize for Motley End, I only just saw your message on Google photos the other day.

Wonderful photos, thanks Phil! Your family albums seem to be quite a treasure trove, and high quality pictures too. Were some of them professional photographers maybe?

On the issue of early fuel suppliers, the photo below seems to suggest that the first roadside filling station was in 1920 (see caption), which seems very late given the large number of vehicles about at this time. If that is correct, the alternative suppliers discussed above must have been organised in some other way to provide a reliable source of fuel. Or perhaps the wording of the caption is misleading.

Caption: Cars queuing at Britain's first roadside petrol filling station, at Aldermaston, Berkshire, 2nd March 1920. The facility is run by the Automobile Association (AA). Source: Getty Images, embedding permitted.

That is a very interesting photograph. Maybe it was just the first AA roadside filling station, rather than the absolute first, or maybe it was the first stand-alone filling station, rather than the petrol facilities being part of a garage.

I am currently building a model of The Somerset Motor & Cycle Depot, which was a few buildings away from the level crossing, at the entrance to Highbridge Wharf. One of the two photographs that I have come across, shows the rear of a motor-cycle with side-car, loaded with tyres, in a similar way to, what I suspect is, the AA patrolman's machine in this photo. I have nearly completed a model of that machine, based on the idea that the depot offered a roadside service. I used a pair of Scale Model Scenery bicycles, glued side by side to bulk out the frame and then added a middle section with an impression of the engine. The early motor bikes were very clearly the descendants of the pushbike.

How and when all my disparate collection of buildings and road transport will get integrated with the railway and shipping parts of the Wharf I am not entirely sure! Perhaps I shall just leave them all to the Burnham MRC in my will, and let them sort it all out. Actually the railway part, apart from rolling stock and the signal box, is virtually non-existent at present.

The Pritchard's were prolific amateur photographers and what we might now call 'petrol heads'. While the two Oldsmobile photos are the only Edwardian ones, there are numerous inter-war period photos of cars and high-powered motor bikes - Harley Davidson and Douglas figure among that latter. One of my great aunts had her photo taken with racing aces at Brooklands.

Edited August 30 by phil_sutters

railroadbill · August 30

Brilliant modelling and nice story to go with it as well. Like your use of Dickens characters names. There was an excellent BBC version of Bleak House a few years ago where Lady Dedlock was played by Gillian Anderson. There is also the fate of Krook who spontaneously combusts, but that would be a bit difficult for a layout... anyway that's in an earlier era.

😊

One thing with Farthing is that it has that new, open look that roads and infrastructure had shown by those old black and white photos. Everything is more spacious without lots of street furniture, lampposts, signs and so on.

Looking forward to the next car.

alastairq · August 30

According to Wikipedia, the USA had the first dedicated 'filling stations', in the 9 years before WW1 breaking out.

The AA filling station [at Aldermaston I believe] was opened in 1919, with the first retailers getting their licences in around 1922.

Prior to WW1 for the UK it was generally the pharmacist, flogging gallon tins of fuel over the counter.

I am not sure whether hotels in certain towns also sold petrol to guests, etc.

A bit of research found this below

https://www.exxonmobil.co.uk/company/overview/about-us/history-of-esso-in-the-uk

I quote a relevant passage below from the above

Quote

n 1905, King Edward VII granted a Royal Warrant to the company for the supply of 'Pratt's Perfection Motor Spirit', and there were some 3,500 sales agents around the country offering the company's wares.

By the start of the First World War in 1914 the company was importing 14 million gallons of fuel per year to the UK, though sales of lamp oil would continue to exceed those of motor fuel until two years later.

Following the war, Anglo-American became the first in the UK to install a kerbside petrol pump - at Hale in Cheshire.

Pratts, AKA Standard OIl [my Grandad was a 'sales manager' with Esso and Standard OIl before & after WW2..he helped organise the fuel for The first Rover gas turbine car] had 'agents' all over the country flogging oil & paraffin before WW1 ....possibly direct to motorist customers too?

Audens Pledge · September 3

Forgive me if this has already been asked, but why are the tracks in the yard sitting on what seems to be a flat concrete surface? Have you not done ballasting at this point, or is that prototypical?

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