Lockdown model railway projects with Market Deeping Deeping Model Railway Club
'Do as I say and not as I do' is not a comment piece on the current political and health situation, writes chairman of Market Deeping Model Railway Club Peter Davies.
No, this is entirely about railway modelling.
With ancestors from Bridgnorth in Shropshire as well as South Wales, I’ve always had a love of the Severn Valley, and particularly the Severn Valley Railway.
As a child, I’d visit my great grandmother, spending time in her front garden looking up at the station, the trains, wagons and railcars that came and went.
My home layout is (very loosely) based on the Severn Valley Railway in its currently preserved state.
My modelled version of Bridgnorth, slightly truncated, more curved and with a few less sidings because of space, sits on a sturdy lifting ‘bridge’ which gives me access to the layout proper, control panel and work bench. I’m very lucky in having a railway room, dedicated to the layout.
I’d already built platforms (Kelloggs and other cereal pack card with PVA glue works wonders) to fit the curvature of the track laid some 10 years ago but I needed the engine shed/loco works.
Space allowed for it to be about 85ft (sorry, old money, 27m) long (38cms in 00 scale at 1:76) and two tracks wide (the real thing is four tracks wide). Oh, yes, it’s curved too!
I couldn’t find any commercially provided equivalent so the only thing to do was to set to and build it myself.
Platforms apart, (a lattice work of card underneath makes them incredibly strong), I’d never scratch built anything before.
Old dog, new tricks... Mmmm!
I’d had lessons though from one of our members who is a master at producing superb buildings from card, plastic and glue. How difficult could it be?
After all, the building itself is made of galvanised steel sheet, with a corrugated roof, guttering, four down pipes and windows that are not see though but let light in through the walls and roof. How could that possibly be difficult?
Under lockdown conditions, I was glad that, over several years I’d acquired sheets of mounting card and balsa wood from hobby shops, glues of various sorts and (ultra sharp) scalpels.
I prefer scalpels to craft knives. Each to his or her own, I guess.
Had I wanted to clothe the building in appropriate scale design plastic sheeting, it would have cost a fortune, even had I been able to get it.
No, it was going to have be what I had available, just card, some clear plastic (with “see through” windows and internal lighting, you can see some internal detail and the engines stored in there) and bits of balsa wood.
Having had the concept, I sorted the design, made a mock up to see if it would actually do what I wanted and then set to with scalpel, steel rule and very carefully placed fingers! Even a craft knife can take a chunk out of a wrongly placed finger. A scalpel can do far worse! You only do it once though (hopefully)!
The pictures show some of the stages of construction and the finished, weathered (complete with lichen on the roof) build. Do as I say not as I do? Yes, friends in the club asked me why, for my first ever scratch build, I chose something so complex for my first attempt.
Do as I say? Pick something simple to start with!
This engine shed took about 100 hours to produce and that, of course, is why we prize our models so much. There’s so much time and detail that goes into them. Keep safe and happy modelling!
