Cement Quay gets packed up for Xmas

nevard_121221_CQ_IMG_2143, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

The photographer's 1956 MG Magnette ZB in 'duo-tone' takes pride of place in front of Hymek No. D7013 on Cement Quay.

Due to the Christmas festivities, my 'playroom' is sadly needed to sleep guests so this will be the last shot on Cement Quay for a bit. I set it up in September for a 'day or two', but somehow or other 3 months on and it's still sat there! Still, it's given me a chance to mess about with it and see what it looks like with steam loco and early diesels in preparation for its next outing which is likely to be Model Rail Live as and when that happens.

On the note of early diesels, the Hymek is a 40 year old Triang Hornby one, which around a decade of so I rewheeled with Ultrascales and reworked and repainted the body. I also took the opportunity to lower it by a couple of millimeters too, which I think improves it's look.

Insert a shim to lower the motor bogie. The one on the other end, just file the base away a similar amount.

The newer Heljan offering of this loco is of course better in many ways, but if this re-worked Triang loco from the early 1970's if on its own it still looks the part I think. And curiously the 40 year old 3 pole motor still runs a dream, it working very well indeed with a Gaugemaster Feedback controller, allowing slow crawling speeds you'd tend to expect with modern ready to run with all their flywheels and other clever bits.

The MG Magnette ZB (Oxford Diecast) in 'duotone' was one of those rash purchases down the local Model Zone -  a snip at a mere £2.99 - less than a pint around these parts! It's has a little dusting of Tamiya Matt to kill the shine.

O1 for London

nevard_121218_thompsonO1_DSC_2375, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Stratford (East London) shed's Thompson O1 No. 63650 has been spotted on Cement Quay between duties a somewhat long way from 'The Smoke', but as somebody recently commented on one of the toy chuffer forums 'these locos had rubbish brakes' so that could be the reason why it was spotted here right down in Gloucestershire - it over ran a bit!

The joy of an industrial layout like this is that it could be almost anywhere, which is a great excuse to run whatever pleases, which is great because my current interest loco-wise is in big 8 coupled goods locos!

Catalogue dribblers will know that 63650 with 'early crest' is not one of the options for this new release, that's because yesterday afternoon I decided to repaint, renumber and weather up a LNER liveried one I had in my possession. Looking for colour prototype photos, the excellent 'Steam in England' featuring photographs by the great R.C. Riley came up trumps with a nice photo of this hardy Eastender captured on Stratford shed sometime in the elate 1950's.

Converted from an O4 in 1945, this sturdy engine lasted right through to the classes final year in 1965, and I've tried to depict the engine much as it would have been between exams, not a complete wreck, but as a machine that's seen a bit of use.

The favoured way these days to weather up engines and rolling stock is to use an airbrush, but despite owning a couple of these useful tools (in the right hands), these days I like to weather just using brush techniques. One reason is because being lazy by nature I hate cleaning airbrushes, and the other because I'm more confident with a brush in my hand along with a good period colour photo to copy for inspiration.

The brush technique will form a Workbench feature in a future Model Rail, I've taken the step by step photos but now need to put a few words together which will hopefully make some kind of sense. In the meantime, if you want a closer look at the above photo, click on it for other viewing size options. And before some sniffy type comments, yes I know it needs a crew, coal and lamps. 

Bulleid's Austerity

nevard121212_Q1_IMG_1957, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

This Hornby Bulleid Q1 has been renumbered as Guildford Shed's least glamourous No. 33019 and is midway through my non-airbrush weathering.

I used to airbrush weather all the time, but now favour pigment washes and drybrushing, these giving me giving far more control and a slightly more random effect like the real thing.

In time the upper surfaces will receive a little matt varnish misted on from above to suggest fallen ash (Testors Dullcote from an aerosol), otherwise I favour the slight sheen of a working engine, remembering clambering around mucky working engines in Poland in the very early 1990's. Working steam has more of a warm smeared sticky Christmas Pudding look than pure Barry Island rust often portrayed.

I tend to weather in stages, splitting into different sessions over a few days rather than all in one go, I can them appraise the result in different light including that of the layouts it will be running on. It also allows the paints to set well between sessions.  

Airfix 15-ton Diesel Hydraulic Crane

Click to enlarge

I was having a tidy up earlier putting wagons and locos away that were littering the spare room and can across this old  Airfix 15-ton Diesel Hydraulic Crane.

Click to enlarge

It formed part of a huge second hand job lot I bought when getting back into the hobby a decade or so ago, and was built by its previous owner from a kit originally dating from 1962.

In more recent times this useful and fully working model (part from moving under its own power) was produced by Dapol, so those who fancy one will stand a good chance of finding one for the price of a couple of pints on Ebay or one of the tat stores that spring up at smaller railway shows.

I must say that I think it looks spot on here, the posed scene here depicting a steel girder load that needs unloading onto the quayside for some heavy construction work no doubt.

Photo for Monday

nevard_121203_CQ_IMG_1787, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
BIGGER version here

Monday is often a miserable day for those in the 9-5 rat race, so hopefully this photo of my 30 year old LMS 4F will add a little cheer to the gloom. But listening to the news as I type type would suggest that today will be the busiest day for internet shopping - so hopefully you've put that order in for the rolling stock or book you need for that latest project.

The above photo was taken at around 05.40 (don't ask) this morning, I have the photographic lights set up around Cement Quay currently so it was just a matter of turning them on and popping the Box Brownie onto a small bean bag to grab this view as if one was afloat on the water without a paddle.

Cement Quay - Steam Style!

nevard_120927_CQ_IMG_0257, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Cement Quay dates back to 2006, and after several months not doing a great deal, the September of that year saw nearly everything take place. Scenics can in fact be very quick to do, the basics here only taking a couple of days. Further detailing like weeds and extra static grass being added well after the layout's first outing.

Those who have seen Cement Quay will know that it's usually operated as a present day layout with Class 66, 59 and 37 locos in current liveries, but I've been toying with the idea of portraying it in the last decade of steam with a smattering of diesel power too. Apart from swapping out the LaFarge branding on some of the buildings and the addition of a few period lights like he standard to the right of the loco it's quite easy to backdate industrial locations like this, if only temporarily.

Cement Quay hasn't been on the road since 2009, for no reason other than I have several layouts to rotate through, and that there's always something new on the layout front. I don't do too many shows a year, 3 or 4 maximum being more than enough, but I am thinking about taking Cement Quay as a steam layout to Model Rail Live this time next year and possibly Railex 2014, again as a steam layout to make it different from previous incarnations.

Industrial Chic?

nevard_120603_CQx_DSC_5315_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

6 weeks of so ago I mentioned the need to get on with unfinished projects, with a new siding and aggregate loading facilities being my prime focus of my current personal projects.

I like to adapt existing kits when possible, especially for fiddly industrial stuff. For the loading thingy here, a Ratio coaling tower (547) has been made up over a couple of afternoons, and obviously it needs a nice paint-job and dose of patina to make it come to life. This is an older style of kit, older in that it uses a huge number of parts, which could have been moulded in single tougher parts. For this reason I don't think it's a kit for the total beginner, some of the parts being more akin to a scratchbuilder's aid due to lack of locating lugs and markings esecially when it come to the laddering and handrails. Still, I hope you agree even in its unfinished state it mas built up into an interesting and maybe even exciting structure.

Whilst the kit is structurely complete when it come to how the manufacturer intended, I'll be adding extra bits to make it suit the location better as a means of loading aggregate and minerals into open wagons. One of the additional features will be an aerial conveyor much like the one just seen in the distance, and if I'm clever I might even try to devise of a way of making it possible to actually load wagons with a loose load hidden which runs through from behind the backscene. But there again I might not because I'm not one for mechanical ingenuity!

New siding for Cement Quay

nevard_120411_cementQ_DSC_3458, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

A week or so ago I mentioned adding an extra point and siding to Cement Quay - Old Quarry Wharf, and here is a photo as proof to actual progress in the form of a copper clad point. Why copper clad when the other points are Peco with C&L plain track? The reason is mostly due to geometry of trying to squeeze in track to a spot that was never originally going to have a point. The new point will look different, but the joy of such a location is that much of the track will be under a layer of spoil and weeds and once blended in with existing scenics should match well. Industrial oocations often use second hand track too, so any slight differences will be quite acceptable.

Next it needs to be wired, with polarity switching for the frog/crossing vee and feeds to the toe of the point. The operation will be manual as with the other 2 points which use rods under the baseboard operated from the rear.

Ode to Gifford!

nevard_120403_cementQ_IMG_2928_BW, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Tuesday morning's photo I dedicate to Colin Gifford who changed the way railways were photographed in the 1960's. Until then photographers had recorded trains mostly as a strict 3/4 view, Mr Gifford changed that forever with the publication of Decline of Steam and Each a Glimpse. The latter book is rumoured to be re-released shortly with some new photography, and it will be interesting to see whether he influences modern railway photographers who in recent years have fequently been happy to settle for that 3/4 view again.

The photo above was taken on Cement Quay, the Ruston Bacyrus in the background standing on a temporary pile of sand for this shot.

• Some of Colin Gifford's photography

Fresh in from Kernow

nevard_120125_class22_IMG_2312, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Yesterday morning I opened the door to the porch to find this rather well packed parcel from Kernow Model Rail Centre sitting there in the form of the much awaited Dapol Class 22 - a very useful small loco, especially for those that model railways half a century ago anywhere west of Heathrow.

I have yet to look at it properly, but was able to find a few moments to grab this snap of the compact little beast. Obviously the detail pack needs to be added along with separate panels that clip in below the body.

I may well renumber this loco, though I know that there were many variations so I could be heading straight for a huge web of nit-pickers  - even more than usual if I get that wrong with the number-obsessives. I did try collecting trains numbers once, it lasted for 1 about hour at Eastleigh station in the spring of 1981 before I got totally bored of what to me is a pointless activity - still, each to their own I guess! I have some good friends that collect loco numbers, so at least I now know that not everyone who does this is a nutter, but 30 mins at Tamworth Upper Level Station is enough to realise these good gentlemen are a rarity, but on the other hand, odd is interesting and cool - so, so what!

The Class 22, or North British Type 2 Bo-Bo were mixed traffic locos, but lack of reliability meant that they tended to find work on less important services and were frequently seen on demolition trains on closed railways, where if they failed apart from the crew becoming marooned, were unlikely to mess up any schedule resulting in irate passengers! These locos in real life were pretty unreliable and generally unloved, so they mostly appear in photos looking more than a little worse for wear frequently with tatty worn paint - a weatherer's dream to recreate! For me it's a great choice, being ideal for the sort of backwaters I enjoy making, its compact size not over-powering the the small layouts.

Whilst they only ever appeared on the SDJR after closure on demolition trains, one did briefly make an appearance at Glastonbury in 1964 on an inspection train - see this link. Something like that would make an interesting short train in miniature. Personally I can also see this loco being used on Cement Quay on the odd occasion I decide to back date the operation and of course it will fit in perfectly on Polbrock. All in all, a good buy! Well done Kernow and Dapol!

Land Reclaim

nevard_110812_cementQ_IMG_0716_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

For the photo here of a Ruston Bucyrus I'm working on for Model Rail mag I poured a pile of sand onto the watery bit that ran until very recently along the front of Cement Quay Old Gravel Wharf. I was so taken with the look that I now want to build a small gravel pit layout.

I already have enough model railways so getting planning permission would be almost impossible, so instead I have decided to reclaim some the wharf area as seen above. Here we see the intital work using some 5mm foamboard to form the sub-structure of the gravel pit which will feature a spoil heaps and a large pile of gravel piled up to dry before transfering to rail. I might even include a little section of narrow gauge railway and another aerial conveyor.

Gravel pits and no reciprocity failure

nevard_110804_bucyrus_IMG_0705, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

The model: Sentinel 'Mendip' poses with a single wagon next to a Ruston Bucyrus 19 'front shovel' on Cement Quay Old Gravel Wharf (try saying that quickly after 5 pints). The foreground is in fact a wharf, but for bit of fun you can instead see temporary big pile of beach sand.

The Ruston Bucyrus is a fettled with Corgi Trackside model and will be the subject of a 'Workbench' in the popular press shortly. I'm only showing its ugly side because most of the interesting stuff is on the pretty side and I don't want to give too much away at this stage.

Since more or less completing the Bucyrus seen here, I'd quite like to build a gravel pit layout, but with current space restrictions there is no way I'll be granted planning permission by the domestic authorities. So instead there will be a bit of land-reclaiming by turning some of the water along in front of the current wharf into a gravel pit - see here. I have a spare Walthers Cornerstone aerial conveyor too, so it will consist of gravel dumps to allow for drying prior to loading into wagons. I'm tempted to add a little narrow gauge tramway coming through from the rear too - who knows what will happen, so much more fun!

Photography: Rather than use studio lighting, for convenience this shot was taken under a single domestic light bulb hanging from the ceiling with a 4 second exposure. Digital photography especially when shooting RAW allows succesful results in the sort of lighting that would never have worked well with colour film without a great deal of trial and error correcting and filtering to compensate for the warm colour temperature which is probably only around 1800 kelvin; and that's before we even get to reciprocity failure!

This Planet is a little star!

nevard_110516_planet_IMG_9904_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Currently on the work bench, a Planet 0-4-0 Diesel from Roxey Mouldings. And here is the white metal kit after basic assembly. A little filling and cleaning up will be required before painting as well as some extra details. The body is just sitting on the chassis, and will be screwed properly into place once painted. It sits on a Tenshodo WB 24.5 'Spud' which makes it ideal entry to white metal loco construction because of the ready to whizz chassis.


This is a small loco, length over buffers is just under 3 inches, and because of this ideal for Brewhouse Quay with its short sidings and tight curves. It will however be as just at home on some of my other industrial layouts. The plan is to paint in the same livery at my recent Austerity tank. I'll be naming this little loco 'Fleur' using plates from Narrow Planet.

Fake Himalayas, Photoshop and Marmite

60026 arrives at Cement Quay Old Wharf with a and empty short rake of MFA high sided box wagons. The loco will uncouple and run around the train before propelling it under the screen for loading. Click to enlarge.

 When photographing a model railway for publication it is generally desirable to replace the garage or office wall with some kind of wishy-washy pale blue, grey or white background in the event of the layout having no or a very low backscene. This I’m sure most will agree quite acceptable practice, for even 100 years ago such photographs would be tidied in such a manner by painting out part of the negative. The only way to avoid this would be to make sure that the camera always points downwards, which to be honest is likely to be a very dull experience for the reader.

In the olden pre-digital days, for those layouts without backdrops, large rolls of pale blue coloured paper or cloth would be suspended behind the layout during the shoot; this could prove quite a slow process due to space and the ability to light the cloth or paper evenly. These days we can use photo editing software to achieve the same if not better result allowing the photographer more time to concentrate on new, creative angles and good lighting.

This is all good news all round, but I’ve noticed increasingly on the printed page a tendency for all sorts of non-layout things starting to appear behind or even in front of layouts, frequently this is in the form of actual landscapes pasted in, making it possibly quite tricky for the reader to work out what’s really there - or more likely not. Personally I won’t take this route because is not about me and how clever I may of may not be at photo editing, but about showcasing the layout and all the hard work that’s gone into creating it. And then, what is the exhibition goer going the think when they finally see that their favourite layout in print doesn’t have Chatsworth House or the Yorkshire Dales really lurking in the background in full focus?

However, recently and possibly controversially I add a little ‘clag’ to steam shots, though I hasten to add that I always make available a set of photos ‘without’ and leave the editorial team and layout owners to decide which set of shots they want to use (which surprisingly has been a ‘yes’ to clag most of the time). It’s a bit like Marmite I guess, you either love it or hate it? And I’m sure most readers will know that the miniature locomotives don’t really spout out smoke, not unless 240 volts has accidently been zapped through them. Maybe I’m just adding what the brain imagines when looking at our miniature world, bar and the hiss, chuff and clanking noises? Comment!

What’s the shot at the top of the page got to do with it all? OK I admit it’s taken on my layout – but shot-wise it’s what I like to aim for with other people’s layouts if at all possible, especially if there’s a nice high backscene to allow a low angle like here. I can safely say that if you ever see the layout for real, pop your eyeball out and rest it on the edge of the layout (I’ll even give you a blob of Blu Tac if that helps) this is exactly what the naked eye will see. But, if your layout doesn’t have a nice high backdrop, I promise never to add the Himalayas or the Massif Central if ever I’m lucky enough to photograph your pride and joy!

Sunday's Snap: Under a High Pressure Sky

nevard_101205_cementQ_DSC_0736_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

As a brief reminder of warmer times, under a high pressure summer sky, Ivatt 4MT 2-6-0 No. 43017 pulls away from the stone screens at Cement Quay.

Tech: this shot was simply taken with a long exposure under a single ceiling light in the spare room where Cement Quay was set up for a few days.

• Bigger version here!

Friday's Photo

nevard_101129_cementQ_IMG_8485_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Carrying on the theme of steam along the lines of those seen in the excellent Railway Bylines, but on Cement Quay and to remind us of dusty summery days, here's a grab of a Southern Railway built 'Black 8' No. 48660 nearing the end of its days shunting some Dogfish ballast hoppers under the number 2 loading screen.

Lack of hostile responses from the diesel only brigade has confirmed that next time I chase up a show for Cement Quay it will be temporarily exhibited as a steam era layout. The La Farge signs will be removed and the red and white striped works chimney replaced with something a little more old fashioned by borrowing one from Mendip Colliery.

• A bigger version of the above photo can be seen HERE!

Steam Power on Cement Quay?

nevard_101128_cementQ_IMG_8463_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

2-8-0 superpower as 48660 pulls a rakes of steel 16 ton mineral wagons away from the loading screen on the wharf at Cement Quay.

Some industrial locations can suit multiple eras with just a few changes. In this shot the scene is wound back to the mid 1960's and the last days of steam on the Western Region. The 8F and the 16 ton mineral wagons look completely at home, to the extent that next time I take Cement Quay out I'm tempted to run it as a steam layout with maybe a few green diesels rather than the more usual present days scenario for a change. Just for this shot I did change the high vis jackets of Bill and Ben on the right from orange to some kind of murky blue, this could be easily addressed for real though.  I'm sure the odd person will get hot under the collar about all of this, but hey, it's my trainset so there! :-)

W-i-d-e-s-c-r-e-e-n wallpaper here!

Nothing like a bit of balony

nevard_091219_cementquay_ext_IMG_6164_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Highbridge's final Midland 1P 58086 managed to avoid scrapping in 1959 and in fact ended up in private ownership pottering about with wagons in Old Quarry Wharf on the banks of the river Severn. Here is the old girl captured on Ivan Locksmith's Leica in September 1963.

Bach' Beauty

nevard_091225_bach3mt_DSC_6447_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

The new Bachmann Class 3MT in Swindon lined green.

Xmas Antidote....

nevard_091220_cqx_IMG_6161c_clag_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

No snow, sparkles or bright coloured baubles here, but a picture of an early sunny morning in late summer:

Now in private ownership, Radstock's former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway 'Pug' 0-4-0 51202 is captured pottering about with high exposives on a little used section of Cement Quay. Apart from the fake clag, there is no computer jiggerypokery with this snap.

A short while ago I detailed up and repainted the Hornby 'Pug' bought on Ebay. The wagons are from various kits, some of which are getting on for 30 years old, they were recently refurbished to bring the weathering up to current expectations (I hope!).

The cement loading thingamywhotsit is a modified and repainted Skaledale ready to plant structure, the aerial conveyor is Cornerstone (Walthers). Grass is Mini-Natur applied with a Grasmaster, other rocky detritus is the real thing from from Midford in Somerset which was scaled down using a hammer.