Helston Revisited

[Andy Keane]

Finished crane in position.

 

 

Edited August 5 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

I have now finished adding the fences in station road and am starting to think about growth on the embankment and how dense to make it.

In the photos below I have just placed a few bushes around but not fixed them. From above (which is the view I often fall into of course) this arrangement looks passable but when you take a pedestrian's eye view walking up the road it looks to be rather to concentrated on the lower slopes. All comments much appreciated - I am no artist and I find this free-form modelling very difficult to get right.

[Gilbert]

This is all looking good Andy........

However you asked....

I would say this wouldn't I but a bit of time scanning photos of the period may work?

The White Swan Williams trilogy certainly has some photos which may help - the covers of vols 1 and 2 have a bit of greenery..... I had a quick look and my first impression was you need to possibly roughen up the base layer bit - even GWR cuttings appear a bit less regular?

Other layouts can also provide inspiration. This is Old Parrock

and my Timsbury Bottom ( a place not a medical condition)

and a snippet of my Bakewell Street

A bit of Bambrick and Podbery..the nearest segment is relatively simple but still has depth and contrast....

I hope this helps

Chris

[Gilbert]

Possibly useful - the master....

 

https://www.missendenrailwaymodellers.org.uk/index.php/virtual-missenden-scenery/

 

C

[Andy Keane]

Good advice Chris. I will sort out some period images before I do anything more.

[Gilbert]

Just now, Andy Keane said:

Good advice Chris. I will sort out some period images before I do anything more.

and let's face it....planning is just as much fun as doing it....

[Andy Keane]

Looking at several books it seems in the 1920s and 30s the embankments were actually pretty tidy and I should probably use fewer bushes but maybe a little extra long grass. It’s after WWII that they get overgrown I think. But as @Gilbert often says one is also trying to create a scene. I will ponder.

[Gilbert]

1 minute ago, Andy Keane said:

Looking at several books it seems in the 1920s and 30s the embankments were actually pretty tidy and I should probably use fewer bushes but maybe a little extra long grass. It’s after WWII that they get overgrown I think. But as @Gilbert often says one is also trying to create a scene. I will ponder.

I personally think slightly longer grass looks better - but that is the current way of course....

Its your railway Andy and - fundamentally - you need to be content with the final product...

Chris

[Andy Keane]

I have made a second pass - some 6mm grass topped with scatter plus fewer bushes with some further up the bank. Definitely better but think I will pause now - its easy to get carried away.

 

Edited August 10 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

The final thing I want for my embankment is two or three stunted trees maybe 70-80 mm tall. Such things don’t seem readily available to buy so maybe I have to try and make some.

[MrWolf]

6 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

The final thing I want for my embankment is two or three stunted trees maybe 70-80 mm tall. Such things don’t seem readily available to buy so maybe I have to try and make some.

 

You really should have a go, it's not that complicated, just a bit time consuming.

[Andy Keane]

7 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

You really should have a go, it's not that complicated, just a bit time consuming.

I may save that up for one of my weekends at Missenden. There was a tree building session there in the spring and some of the results were really nice.

[Gilbert]

3 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

There was a tree building session there in the spring and some of the results were really nice.

Here you go....

 

[Andy Keane]

Just now, Gilbert said:

Here you go....

 

Yes, exactly that - was Paul the tutor?

[Gilbert]

7 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

Yes, exactly that - was Paul the tutor?

It was indeed Mr Bambrick - he majors on backscenes

But will cover any scenery over the weekend - one chap took a whole layout to work on.

We asked him to do a demo on tree-making as one of our open sessions over the weekend and it was very popular.

[Andy Keane]

This photo is the overhead view in 1946:

So I would want a bit less growth for 15 years earlier, but there seem definitely to be trees at the far end of the carriage shed. And because there would be no fire risk down there I guess the GWR let them grow whereas on the embankment beside the track they would have been more of an issue.

 

This link shows how much they have grown up by now so something between a bush and these quite large trees is what I will have to aim for.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.1049144,-5.2684646,3a,75y,4.62h,99.71t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLP2Ve5c4xIilfP3z8X-QzQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu

 

The opposite side of the road is more problematic. Here the ground actually falls steeply away and so was never actively farmed and thus has some very big bushes on it. But on my model I did not bother with that drop as it would have been a significant challenge on the baseboard construction. So my fields, as the previous photos show, are just gentle slopes. I don't think adding lots of growth there would look realistic and it would also obscure the view from that side of the layout.

 

Meantime I will work on the houses.
 

Edited August 11 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

1 minute ago, Gilbert said:

It was indeed Mr Bambrick - he majors on backscenes

But will cover any scenery over the weekend - one chap took a whole layout to work on.

We asked him to do a demo on tree-making as one of our open sessions over the weekend and it was very popular.

Maybe I will bring along that one end board for a weekend with him next spring - I am currently booked in with some nutter for weathering in the autumn!

[Gilbert]

Just now, Andy Keane said:

Maybe I will bring along that one end board for a weekend with him next spring - I am currently booked in with some nutter for weathering in the autumn!

We do normally run Paul's course at the Spring Weekend...we are yet to finalise but I assume we will offer that course. I'm sure Paul will be happy to help out (plus just think of all the other helpful opinions you'll get .....welcome or not..... 😉)

A Nutter.

[Andy Keane]

I always appreciate helpful opinions.

This is the first of the two station road boards back in place - it is pretty much finished for now.

[BWsTrains]

49 minutes ago, Gilbert said:

We do normally run Paul's course at the Spring Weekend...we are yet to finalise but I assume we will offer that course. I'm sure Paul will be happy to help out (plus just think of all the other helpful opinions you'll get .....welcome or not..... 😉)

A Nutter.

 

Ah! - I knew your sister Mia.

 

Caused a riot in Court when she was summonsed to give evidence by the Judge, saying "Call Mia Nutter"

 

 

[Andy Keane]

I have now added the gas lamps and stink pipe to Station Road. Also the entrance gates make a nice little cameo though I have no idea how accurate they are as I have never found a photo of this area. I have assumed that the gas lamps in Station Road were installed by the railway but as they lie outside its boundary have been adopted by the local corporation and painted in their green colour scheme!

Edited August 13 by Andy Keane

[Andy Keane]

I have been having derailment issues with my kit built 517 - it runs fine on straight and gently curving track but cannot deal with the bend under the bridge at the end of my model of Helston. Investigating I see it will not sit on second radius set-track curves at all - if I try the middle wheel is just not on the track at:

Not sure what to do next - I have very little experience with building loco kits. In this case the middle axle is fixed by being attached to the driving gearbox. Any suggestions most welcome.

Andy

[Nick C]

2nd radius is 438mm, according to Peco - I'd imagine you'd struggle to get much at all round that!

 

Is there any scope to allow sideplay in either the front or rear axles? 

 

Alternatively is there any scope to ease the curve a bit? Or maybe add a bit of superelevation to help it?

[Andy Keane]

In fact my layout has a minimum radius of around 750mm - I popped the loco on the second radius just to see what happened. Unfortunately its a bit late to fiddle with the track and anyway my other locos (RTR) are all quite happy - I am just interested to know what folks do with four-coupled chassis builds on tighter radius track.

Andy

[Nick C]

750 shouldn't be too bad - but looking back at your chassis build on page 61, there really isn't much scope for sideplay is there? Maybe @DLT or @Michael Edge could offer some suggestions?