Rosses Point - 1950s Sligo in 7mm

[jhb171achill]

22 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Thanks Angus. Wow - what a relic you have in your hands! Boyd was a really interesting character -with a wide portfolio of other achievements outside railways - who did much for Irish and UK NG railway scholarship. Perhaps having W H Auden as an English teacher at school set him on a literary path! 

That’s a great thing to have. I travelled round India with James Boyd and his wife, Kenneth Westcott-Jones and the American railway historian, author and preservationist Edgar T Mead III in 1978 or 9. 

Boyd was notoriously hard to get to know, But I hit it off with him straight away and corresponded with him for a good while later. We had a shared interest in the Tralee & Dingle and he told me many anecdotes about it, plus one about the Schull & Skib which I won’t repeat here!

A great intellect and depth, and an encyclopaedic knowledge (as you’d expect) on another massive interest of mine, the Isle of Man railway.

[David Holman]

Name dropping of a grand order. Not that I'm in any way jealous, you understand...

 Exhibiting does enable you to meet some talented and lovely people though, including some very familiar names. We didn't always talk model making either, they are all very interesting as people too.

[jhb171achill]

Very much so, David! 

[Galteemore]

The ‘human’ side is so important. Boyd, for one , was a man of strong convictions; a conscientious objector in WW2 (or ‘The Emergency’ depending which side of the Border one lived) who taught map reading to the Forces to do his bit. He was also an accomplished musician. 

Edited November 24, 2019 by Galteemore

[Galteemore]

The SLNC had various schools of thought on ballasting. Dromahair and Belcoo favoured traditional stone ballast. At Manorhamilton and Glenfarne, cinders ruled the day. The attached pics by J G Dewing  from ‘Irish Railways in Colour’ gives the idea - the sleepers essentially look as if they are dissolving in black/brown mud. To replicate this look, for the past few weeks I have been individually packing every sleeper gap with DAS clay. This is finally finished now, and all is painted with household emulsion. Next step is to paint every sleeper - again individually - and add the weeds. This is a sample of work thus far..more weeds and detritus to add yet..I’m glad it’s a small layout!!!

Edited December 25, 2019 by Galteemore

[David Holman]

Excellent! One aspect of small layouts is being able to go to town on the details. In a  big scene track is something n lost, but here it really matters. Hard to think those sleepers are copper clad and not wood.

[Galteemore]

Thanks David. I should admit that one of your comments in another thread about modelling what you actually see and not what you imagine was most influential! Much to do yet - but am glad to seal up the DAS for a while !

[Edo]

Love the attention to detail.

[jhb171achill]

That is stunningly realistic and prototypically spot on. Absolutely superb work, and I agree with Mr Holman’s comments on small layout track detail - “Arigna Road” set a very high standard for this sort of thing a few years ago.

On first seeing the pics above I was tempted to ask “where’s the photo of the model?”!

[Galteemore]

Cheers gents.  Was a bit of trial and error, as I found my first efforts unconvincingly smooth. Basic technique of DAS and emulsion is from Chris Nevard, but adapted to include some wonderful stuff called lava paint which is artists’ gel infused with gritty beads. This was sparingly applied on top of the bare DAS, and then shades of dark brown emulsion tester pots was applied. Whilst the emulsion was drying, ground white pepper was tamped in - a Gordon Gravett trick. The gel and pepper help give a subtle texture to the the ballast. Sleepers are simply painted with two different grey/brown shades from Games Workshop, who do some wonderful dry brush paints. Sorry the pics are a bit random in order !

[Galteemore]

Scenic work more or less finished bar the backscene. Track has taken a month to dress with clay and grass! No buildings  fixed down as yet until I do backscene. But we are getting there I think! Lots of ‘set dressing’ with accessories to do but the heavy, messy work is done! 

Edited January 4, 2020 by Galteemore

[PorkyP]

Now that is truly outstanding!  The overgrown platform with the red van looks just like the bit of concrete behind me house! 

[Galteemore]

Thanks PP! Spent more time than is healthy in recent weeks poring over pics of weeds and ballast ....

[David Holman]

That looks rather good! Great photography too, as we have to remember this is a small area, especially for 7mm scale.

 Most of all, it hangs together so well. Just goes to show the importance of researching and recreating mundane things like weeds and ground cover. More than a bit of artistry too. Top job.

[Galteemore]

Thanks David - the small scenic area (4x2) has really made me think things through and a few simple changes like putting a siding behind the platform (originally all 4 tracks were to be out front) and changing the straight front siding into an arcing branch stub have helped. Your own layout postings have proved very helpful in the research process!  

[Galteemore]

Bit more scenic work done now. Bit of set dressing and backscenes starting to go in. I’m not really a painter so less is definitely more! 

[PorkyP]

Lovely!...the weighing machine reminds me of an o gauge hornby/meccano accessory they did in tinplate that actually worked, ie the dial went round when you pressed the footplate!

The layout's looking fantastic now..

[jhb171achill]

That looks truly superb. Love the mural of Ben Bulben behind it. It really captures the essence of remote termini like that.

The weed-strewn track just brings me back to the remoter branch-line visits in the earlier 1960s, which I just about recall, and the weighbridge and bicycle are just the bees knees. Note taken to shtick a bicycle on my own thing when it's ready. Railway staff didn't generally own cars back then, so they came to work o a bike or on foot. The porter delivered parcels off trains by bike.

jhb171Senior recalled arriving in some place in the Backwaters & Boondocks of the Shticks in the 1930s, and watching the driver unload his OWN bike from the guard's van so that he could cycle home!

[Galteemore]

Thanks gents. Glad Ben Bulben was still recognisable! I personally don’t like the arrangement of the scales - would prefer to space them out against a blank wall-  but it’s just how they were at Dromahair. We have a letter from an SLNC guard describing how he used to weigh my grandfather’s freshly caught salmon from the River Bonet there (the fish were loaded on the railcar at Lisgorman) for onward transmission to Hanlons the Dublin fish merchant. So out of family loyalty  I had to keep it authentic even though I’m not modelling Dromahair itself! 
And you are right JHB - the bicycle was ubiquitous in a way that we tend to forget now. Mine is modelled on what I remember bachelor farmers riding around North Leitrim in the 70s - bikes that in all probability had been shipped in on the SLNC decades before! Image from Dromahair heritage website.

Edited January 30, 2020 by Galteemore

[David Holman]

Must challenge you on not being a painter! The scenes created in those cameos show more than a bit of artistic ability. Didn't know it was called Ben Bulben, but certainly recognised the dramatic landscape from my one and only trip to Sligo.

 Lovely stuff.

[Galteemore]

Slow progress here. Touched in the outline of a simple harbour so that quay line had somewhere to go!! You can just glimpse the suggestion of a crane as at Fahan Pier on the Lough Swilly.
Then, decided that factory on loading bank looked wrong. Have gone instead for a backdrop of patchwork fields as seen in a colour pic of Glenfarne. Have reused the name of the factory  but this time for a shop in ultra low relief. Only lettering, drainpipe, bargeboards and sills are in 3D - all else is flat. Have also given a rendering of the local town itself - all thanks to John Ahern via Mr Holman. Garda barracks, pub and a clothes shop hopefully giving impression of street curving away....Much to do yet but I really need to get back to stock building soon.....

Edited February 9, 2020 by Galteemore

[2996 Victor]

Just caught up with your layout build thread, and can I say that you're creating a fabulous cameo/micro layout!

It's all outstanding - there are so many aspects of it that I love that there are too many to mention, but I'd like to say that I particularly like the goods bay line, and the quay line ending at the closed gate with the suggestion of the quay in the distance is inspired!

Please keep the photos coming!

All the best,

Mark

[2996 Victor]

I did mean to ask about your treatment at t'other end, where the scenic section goes "off-stage". Any photos in that direction?

Kindest regards,

Mark

[Galteemore]

Thanks for the kind comments thus far. It’s been a steep learning curve! It has taken me many years to realise two things. First of all, I prefer building trains to running them. Secondly, although imperfect, I can actually produce some work which I can live with! 

Nothing much to show off stage and it’s rather untidy right now for pics! Here’s a few old ones.  All four tracks run out into a blank area where a crude cartridge system will operate. I toyed with building a bridge to disguise the exit but it just wouldn’t have fitted with the geography and would have looked silly. So a fisherman’s hut is a simple view block. Richard Chown (the man who brought 36.75 to public notice in the 70s) argued that gaps in a backscene were less noticeable if under the visual horizon. Hence my crude tribute to Knocknarea.....

[Midland Man]

Lovely building. The model of wollen mills locks class.

[2996 Victor]

44 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Thanks for the kind comments thus far. It’s been a steep learning curve! It has taken me many years to realise two things. First of all, I prefer building trains to running them. Secondly, although imperfect, I can actually produce some work which I can live with! 

Nothing much to show off stage and it’s rather untidy right now for pics! Here’s a few old ones.  All four tracks run out into a blank area where a crude cartridge system will operate. I toyed with building a bridge to disguise the exit but it just wouldn’t have fitted with the geography and would have looked silly. So a fisherman’s hut is a simple view block. Richard Chown (the man who brought 36.75 to public notice in the 70s) argued that gaps in a backscene were less noticeable if under the visual horizon. Hence my crude tribute to Knocknarea.....

Thanks for the extra photos, it really is a splendid layout and an inspiration! I have to agree about the "hole in the backscene" - using a bridge or tunnel can work in certain circumstances, but it has been used so often in places where it looks out of context. A view block consisting of a building or buildings, trees and hedges or suitable landscaping can be so much more convincing.

There was a short article in Model Railway Journal No.267 about effectively making the fiddle yard part of the scenic section, so that although there is a view block at the transition point, the fully ballasted track continues into the "off-stage" area and suggests quite effectively that the line really does go somewhere. It's certainly something I want to try out!

With kind regards,

Mark

[Midland Man]

Saw that as well there is a video on BRM (YouTube channel) showing it. It is a good idea.

[David Holman]

Giles Flavell, the man who builds all those fabulous radio controlled 7mm scale road vehicles, works in London theatre as a set/lighting expert. His layouts use the same techniques, so the fiddle yards are totally unseparated from the scenic area by any sort of barrier, fascia etc. Instead, these areas are painted black and are unlit in that all the spotlights are focussed on the scenic area.

 And it works! You only notice the lack of demarcation when it is pointed out to you. After that, things appear a bit weird for a while, but the fact is that human vision, though able to see up to 180 degrees  (further in my wife's case), when focussing on a particular scene, the brain tends to block out the rest. In effect, we see what we want to see, which is why imagination is an important part of railway modelling, at all levels.

[Galteemore]

It’s a great plan which I had intended to try. My floppy backboard needed a brace though, so I had to insert that panel. I’ve found the novels of John Buchan quite helpful too, in a surprising way! One of his characters is an old South African hunter who points out that we often see what we expect to see. Hence how we get away with some simple visual tricks  - the suggestion of a tree or a building at the edge of a layout is often enough. I suspect some of our scenic problems arise when we ‘gild the lily’ too much and draw unnecessary attention to things that the mind would happily ignore...

[jhb171achill]

A road bridge over a cutting was my (unoriginal) way of dealing it with it in the past, and also in the forthcoming "Dugort Harbour" a similar theme, a tunnel mouth in a cutting....

I had been thinking about a small diorama-type thing in the future, too, based on a small wayside station alongside a road, a la Courtmacsherry, Castlegregory or Arigna branch. At one end the road would rise up and turn over the railway on a bridge, but I thought at the other end if the line disappeared among trees - any thoughts on that, anyone? At each end, of course, a small fiddle yard.

I'll be discussing this with Baseboard Dave at some stage soon.....

[David Holman]

Courtmacsherry itself is for me the perfect branch terminus, with the sea at the front, the village street as the backdrop and [depending how far along you go, the loco shed or school to hide the hole in the sky. However, both of these are quite large for a small diorama, so trees may work and there are plenty of good quality ready made versions about if you don't want to make your own. Equally, if the line exits towards the front edge of the baseboard, this can be hidden by a fascia. Also, as a roadside tramway, maybe it could dive behind a nice big advertising hoarding, an idea I stole from Wantage Town, via Iain Rice for Fintonagh.

[2996 Victor]

6 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

A road bridge over a cutting was my (unoriginal) way of dealing it with it in the past, and also in the forthcoming "Dugort Harbour" a similar theme, a tunnel mouth in a cutting....

I had been thinking about a small diorama-type thing in the future, too, based on a small wayside station alongside a road, a la Courtmacsherry, Castlegregory or Arigna branch. At one end the road would rise up and turn over the railway on a bridge, but I thought at the other end if the line disappeared among trees - any thoughts on that, anyone? At each end, of course, a small fiddle yard.

I'll be discussing this with Baseboard Dave at some stage soon.....

How about a level crossing with a keeper's cottage on the fiddle yard side of the road in front of the track(s) to block the view of the exit. Add few trees as well and it could make an effective transition.

Kind regards,

Mark

[NIR]

Maybe a scenic break on a diagonal to obscure the view from the front into the fiddle yard

\     |

    ^

It doesn't really need explaining as anything 'on layout'. Think of it as something in the viewer's immediate foreground, the corner of a building, a treetrunk, fencepost, or even the edge of his own pupil.

Edited April 24, 2020 by NIR

[jhb171achill]

I’m thinking that’s a good idea, yes.

Dugort Harbour is a terminus, so I would want the next thing to be a through station probably - small one with a short siding or two and a cattle bank.... something vaguely along those lines. 

Tonragee, for example, was a remote location on the Achill branch where there was a short-lived fish siding. There was once a plan to build a halt including red-brick station building there, but it wasn’t built - and the fish siding was reported as derelict within ten years of the branch opening...  something like that might suit.

[Galteemore]

Keen to crack on with a new stock project, I knew I had to finish off some scenery first. So I stripped the buildings off and took the chance to photograph 42 in a position that isn’t normally possible with the platform in the way. And you can see one of the things that needed sorted - the levitating building!  A problem that can bedevil layouts is not having the buildings embedded into the ground. So everything at Rosses Point has had a bead of DAS clay rubbed into the base to blend it in. I’ve also installed telegraph wires (which have been tightened since the pic!) and a primitive ESB supply pole....and some chickens ...which had a nice informative result. I sent my mother a pic of the chickens as one of my earliest memories is being scared stiff of such things on visits to grandparents in Leitrim. This prompted a reply from her describing how she used to go to Lisgorman Halt with her mother and collect boxes of chicks off the railcar...a story I hadn’t heard before.

Edited May 4, 2020 by Galteemore