Mol_PMB

Superb - I love the detailing especially the interior.

That's really looking the part. Nice job on the painting and weathering.

Thanks! It's a big project of mine, but a slow burner and I keep getting distracted onto different things. The model is Om scale, and there's a thread on it over on RMweb: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/184135-the-broc-branch-in-om-scale-an-ambitious-project-that-stalled-for-a-decade-but-is-now-reawakening/ The prototype is the Swiss line from Bulle to Broc-Fabrique (a chocolate factory), metre-gauge for most of its life, including the 1980s period I'm modelling, when it was operated by GFM. From the 1950s to the 1980s, transporter wagons were used for the freight. They then changed to transporter bogies, used until the 2010s. The line has now been regauged to standard and lost much of its character, and there's no longer any freight! I've got quite a few transporter wagons of different lengths, based on the mix of second-hand vehicles bought by the GFM in the 1950s and 1960s:

A little display of models at the IRRS Manchester Christmas meet: Mine in the background, Richard’s in the foreground. He’s got some lovely models!

Not much to report, a little more progress on assembling the mill building, and my tree order has arrived. this isn’t the final placing for the trees, indeed I may put one at the other end of the layout These professionally-made ones will be in the foreground, backed by a couple of homemade seamoss trees and then painted ones on the backscene. I’ll try to keep them all in a similar autumn colour palette.

Wow, super work. There’s no way I can keep up with your pace - I’ve been working on one building for a fortnight.

Funny you should find that - I also had a problem with clearances to masts with my transporters, despite my best efforts to plan it out. Bogie wagons on pairs of transporters have particularly large overthrows on curves.

Do I see some transporter wagons in that freight train? One of my favourite things to see on a model.

I wonder how many of the people promoting this 4-4-0 project will still be alive and able to contribute in 20+ years time? Will they succeed in attracting and training young blood to join the team? Will the next generation of young people see a fossil-fuel burning loco as something they want to be associated with and give up their time and money to support? I can't help feeling that the heritage railway business in general has passed its peak now. The DCDR clearly have done well here, but it's an ongoing challenge to attract volunteers and to develop and maintain competencies, even before you think about the money...

Great to see some more progress!

Sounds like you need your own sieve! Or is it more serious, and you now need your own flat?

A few more photos scoured from t'interweb. Another view of the old building, disused but before it was covered in ivy. I've only got room to model the portion to the right of the downpipe, so have used a bit of modellers licence to move the other double door along a bit. The first map I have found that shows the track layout I'm modelling, with loop. However, the arrangement of buildings is a bit off (or it doesn't match the 1960s/70s images or the present-day survivors). The mill leat (race/stream) runs along the west side of the area I'm modelling, but not really close enough for me to squeeze it onto the model. Unless I extend the board forwards, in which case it could squeeze in at the north end where the site access road bridges over it. A more recent view showing the row of buildings that are still present today. There have definitely been some changes in the building layout at the nearer (southern) end.

Another clue, a bit late for me but nevertheless a useful angle. From an article on Quartertown Mill in the Mallow Field Club Journal No 09 - 1991, which also contains some useful history. https://digital.corkpastandpresent.com/Documents/Detail/mallow-field-club-journal-no-09-991/35856?item=36556 And this image from the same source has already highlighted two errors in what I've built so far (not too serious), but also provides some very useful extra information for the next stages. Note also, just partly visible on the right above the car, a CIE bitumen tank container.

Progress on the old mill. The structural carcass is assembled and I've painted the window frames red. I've used matte medium to add some texture to the front wall, then applied an initial coat of grey on the stonework and bauxite on the brickwork. There's more stages to do on this, but I want these layers to dry properly first. I had some successful experiments with laser-cutting window frames from thick red paper. These are ready to be fitted to the structural carcass. The next stage is to think about the roof and how best to represent the slates. Perhaps more laser-cut paper. But there are some other jobs on the list for this evening (nothing to do with the trainset) and I have quite a busy week ahead at work. So there may be a pause for a few days.

Red it is then! I tend to use some artists matte medium to add texture to some of the larger stones, talc as well is a good idea for other parts of the wall. The row of square holes in the wall (and the half-blocked windows on the first floor) are associated with a canopy across the tracks. That was present in the 1960s and 1970s but now missing. I get the impression that the wall under the canopy may have been whitewashed at some stage - there are still traces of it on the ground floor walls, but not above the row of square holes.

Forbes would have approved! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Most interesting - it shows the CIE livery nicely. I assume these are from lorries that had recently been withdrawn from use, which is also a useful indicator of their lifetime.

Wonderful - thank you so much for showing these. Some views and details that don’t appear in the published shots.

Ah, that’s very useful information. In England, green was more common. This isn’t the same building but it is the same mill, and at a much earlier date. Here the entire window frames look dark and they could well be red which looked dark in early photos. I could do worse than look through Ernie’s colour photos from the 1950s/60s and see how other buildings were painted.

This evening's work is most of a kit for the oldest mill building on the layout. I still need to do the roof, some internal bracing and small parts like windowsills, doors and window frames. This shows how the two layers of the front overlay: This is all laser-cut from 1.5mm card. I'm trying to decide the order of assembly, particularly with reference to: sealing the card painting the parts assembling the shell assembling the outer skin My gut feel is that the outer skin should go on after most of the painting is complete, as this will make it much easier to have the window frames in a contrasting colour. And that then of course raises the question - what colour? All the old photos are black and white, and don't show much of this building anyway. The more recent scheme was black outer frames, and red doors, red blanking panels for the windows. I doubt it would have been like that when the mill was in use. Any suggestions for a paint scheme?

Weekends are a precious resource at this time of year as they give an opportunity to work in daylight, even if it is the grey northern skies outside. Consequently the kindergarten art class has made some more fumbling attempts. I have painted the sky in shades of pale grey (it looks darker in the photo than it really is), with a blend towards brown as it nears the ground. I've deliberately varied the shades a bit, and I may well add some more variation in the sky as a second coat, or maybe using an alternative technique like a sponge to give some cloudy effects, Not sure about that yet - if I do they would still be in shades of grey. I then took the tree trunks I prepared previously and added some foliage. Like the trunks, my first attempts were awful but by the time I got to the best trunk I was beginning to think I've got the hang of it. It's going to be autumn at Quartertown Mill. I am now working on developing the laser-cutting artwork for the buildings. I have already made one platform and am now working on the old mill building.

Indeed. Would you be able to share any of the other photos here? I'd love to see them - there aren't many photos of the Bessbrook and Newry and I keep seeing the same ones in books and online.

They seem to be offering a spiked FB track for narrow gauge applications, so presumably the same trackform could be offered for broad gauge? Not sure if they're doing pointwork for that yet. I cheated a bit with my points, because (by luck) the crossing areas are embedded in concrete on the prototype, so you can't see the rail section. So I built mine using a mix of code 75 FB and code 75 BH, making the crossings and checkrails from BH and the rest from FB.

No wonder the black friday sale is a bit stingy, if they have to save up to pay your salary!