"Pebbles End" (Page last updated 17th May 2011)
Entry - 2007 Gnatterbox card base challenge and subsequent updating.
Outline description of the project
If you have read the the Workshop yard (layout is WIP) page you will recall that I was working on an alternative project to this one for an on-line competition but time ran out to complete that design before the deadline. However a brainwave struck,.and with regard to getting an entry into that 2007 modelling challenge, I was able to build this all card static diorama, completing it in a day to meet the competition deadline. It was placed in storage after the event and reactivated in Spring 2009 hence the additional updates below.
This page outlines the project. . To see the latest progress update click here.
Back to page top | To the start of the build log | To the latest update
Fictitious background / back story.
Location site for this imaginary railway is Ferrybridge, Weymouth & Portland. Dorset (Link from Multimap will open in new window) . Although I have not modeled the actual buildings you can see the wooden huts that inspired the model in this photograph. If you look at the aerial images on Multimap and follow the hard landscaped promenade westwards from the end of Ferryman's Way they are at the far end of the triangle formed by the foreshore and the caravan park .
The modeled scene is looking south with the Fleet and Chesil Beach on the back scene. However a minimum gauge layout in this location is only stretching reality a short way to create my fictitious railway. Whitehead's Torpedo Works on the other side of Portland Road to the east did have a short 18" gauge and later 2ft gauge system. So for my fictional back history all I have done is extend that system over the road and assumed that, as later developments took place, it changed ownership and evolved. So phase 1 - transporting test gear to/ from Whitehead's torpedo works and The Fleet in connection with underwater weaponry testing. Phase 2 (current\) during the 1970s the area was redeveloped and a new road bridge built. The Whitehead's use had dwindled to virtually nothing so the link over the main road was closed. However the line was not closed but bought by local narrow gauge railway enthusiasts who lifted the existing track and adapted it so that it reached the new fish landing facility on the south side of the Fleet adjacent to Smallmouth. It was used as a running line for the group's preserved stock and also for transporting shell fish and other landed fish stocks. Phase 3 is the current work in progress and will see the line open with tourist passenger services supplementing the shell fish operation.
Back to page top | To the start of the build log | To the latest update
Concept review since original build date -
When I built Pebbles End as a static diorama in the winter of 2007 I had no intention of making the layout operational. However since that date I have been inspired by Steve Bennett's simple concept layout "Simplicity Sidings" and his earlier "Vanguard Works". Consequently a retro engineering phase was considered with the card track to be replaced by operational 9mm gauge electrified track work and some form of scenic break at the non-shed (eastern) end. However on further evaluation I have since realised the original concept of showing what can be done with a simple low cost card diorama is a sound one and the layout will remain non-operational. I also want to have another go at the printy draft option with a revised version incorporating the lessons of hindsight learnt with this build: therefore a new micro layout will be developed.
Back to page top | To the start of the build log | To the latest update
Latest update - (6) - 17th May 2011
So at the end of play on Wedding Day the 2nd project was under way but the line was not complete. Since then a few more scenic decisions have been made and the layout has been offered to MOMING 2011 at Pewsey so it will be finished! The final scenic decison has been made, what to do with the end I left open on build 1. At that point there will be station facade so that the final scenic area will have similarities to that of the former Sutton Miniature Railway at Sutton Coldfield.
Back to page top | To the start of the build log | To the latest update
Start of the build diary and subsequent updates in chronological order.
(1) - 16 December 2007
Back to page top | To the latest update
As stated above I decided to see if I could build Pebbles End, a shoe box diorama in a day . The reality is that in 10 hours I did manage to make an acceptable attempt although as later updates show there were some design flaws. It is 100% card other than the obvious rolling stock, the gauge is 9mm and scale O9. As I had no 7mm NG rolling stock the Fairymeade Mill Cane loco kit was one of Jim Faines card kits downloaded from the internet and was re-gauged underneath to 9mm although that is not visible in the photo. The locomotive is too large for an 18" gauge footprint, looks top heavy for the system and is no longer used. All scenic aspects are my own work except for two Mayang Textures used in the ground cover elements of the base design. If you also read the outline to what was the initial 2007 Card Challenge project (See Workshop yard (layout is WIP) you will note I started work on a design for a shed printy. This was trialled in this project.
The original set of five pictures show the diorama as it was at challenge deadline date of 16 December 2007. It was completed to the stage shown there in twelve hours total time, roughly 10 hours build time, as there were a few breaks. Materials used are 240gsm card, photo-mounting board, some corrugated card from the craft shop, watercolour paint, PVA glue and art spray mount for the back scene and base sheet. The little tippers are Jouef 009 and will run on the card rails track OK if pushed but the point/turnout is static! The model was acceptably complete on deadline day but with outstanding items required to finish it including, notably, adding the last bit of back scene over the shed roof. To see the latest progress update click here.
The main lesson learnt at the end of the build phase for this competition was that the "printy" concept has problems in the larger scales if the colour print is onto white card as the edges show up when using a 3D layering as done here A mark two version will be designed to print onto coloured card so that the edges are not white. Additional photographs of the diorama can be found here or the individual images can be loaded by clicking on the thumbnails.
Back to page top | To the start of the build log | To the latest update
Progress update - (2) - 16 March 09:
I pulled the layout out of storage to do some work on it and discovered that some warping has taken place in the mounting board card base due to damp storage conditions over the recent winter. Not irrecoverable and, as my interest has been reawakened in this project, some progress is likely over the summer; warm days listening to the gulls are just made for time to be put aside for modelling a seaside layout; find a shady part of the garden add a portable chair & table to work on and .....! Apart from anything else I have now ordered a loco kit (Mite) from Steve Bennett to run on it so it does need some proper track.
Back to page top |To the start of the build log | To the latest update
Progress update - (3) - 14th May 2009
Work resumed on this diorama build this week bringing it to the level I had intended to reach back in 2007 plus rectification of the problems arising since then. The items dealt with to date include, finishing the backscene, adding an internal support to the back left hand corner of the shed roof, straightening the backscene back board and stiffening up the base. Additional photographs of the diorama can be found here or the individual images can be loaded by clicking on the thumbnails.
The backscene is wider than A3 and so the montage of two genuine photos of the site of the layout was printed off in two sections. The join actually comes behind the shed and although not obvious it might have been better located in front of the shed and then disguised by a telephone pole or as water tower. A point noted/learnt for future projects. The backscene had originally been a single ply sheet braced with some card buttresses. This had rippled. As a fix I have added another vertical sheet of corrugated card, glued to the base and the buttresses plus a longitudinal length of the cardboard along the top to make a box girder section. The base has been glued to two full area sheets of the corrugated cardboard with the corrugations set at 90 deg to each other. After drying under a brick for about 18 hours it all appears to have set solid as expected. However the pegs used to hold the paper backscene to the card have made a mark, annoying. The experience point noted/learnt for further builds is not to use single ply photo mounting board as it will flex over time.
A sheet of the cardboard was also glued behind the backscene to the rear of the shed. Hopefully the shed bracing will also brace that and minimise the ripple problem. There is not space in the storage box to add length so the next point to note/learn with a shoe box diorama is to allow enough slop to get the layout into the box - this one is a bit too tight.
The glues used were a mix of No More Nails and my hot glue gun. The No More Nails was to hand and needed using up; having used it here, and also on the Christmas 2008 project, the instant grab factor didn't occur and I wasn't that impressed.
Also this week I put up some additional photographs of the miniature railway at Lakeside, Eastleigh as part of the prototype research for this project. These are on my fotopic gallery site where there are also photos of the Evesham Vale Railway, for the same background research reason.
Still to do - paint the new works with two coats of matt back paint, add a water tower and possibly a diesel pump and oil spill bund. I also want to spray all the backscene with matt varnish to avoid any running if water gets spilled. I have some stock to build for this from Alphagraphix in card plus some other ideas of my own for stock based on Lakeside, RHDR and R&ER carriages. I won't be rushing the project but it will evolve over time. I have also ideas in mind for revision of the scenery at the front of the layout to experiment with some new to me techniques.
Back to page top | To the start of the build log | To the latest update
Progress update - (4) - 21st May 2009- Some locomotive stock changes and update of the fictitious background / back story.
As every “real” railway has a back history Pebbles End is no exception and has a fictitious back history too. As you can see from the photo’s back in 2007 the line was fictitiously being operated by an import from Australia, a diesel locomotive built originally for the Fairymeade Cane Mill by ComEng, and named whilst in Dorset as “Octavius”. The name chosen as it would have been the next name in sequence on the Pike Brothers Tramway in Purbeck. Also on site but out of use pending a possible regauging was the red 2-6-0 “James”. Nothing has changed with regard to James although on the latest photo safari visit he was inside the shed. However the ComEng has been sold on as it proved too big and top heavy for the line. Current motive power for the PELR is the former locomotive from the Bere Regis SylvaSprings / Vitacress system and renamed in her new home as" Bere Regis 1".
The reality is that the ex-Vitacress loco is a based on a prototype engine that ran at Bere Regis in Dorset and a simple card printy kit based on it is available courtesy of Michael Mott and the GN Tome. (See http://tome.gn15.info and then page 8 of the January 2007 edition.) A little bit of work in Photoshop making slight modifications to the kit saw the the livery changed from SylvaSprings/Vitacress to PELR and a scaling down to 1:43. The result is the PELR gets some appropriate motive power. Why did I do this today? A spot of quick relaxation modelling and creation of this dummy run /mock up for a later proper build. The ERTL "James" seen in the earlier pictures actually has a 14mm gauge wheelbase so is, as per the fiction above, in store pending my thoughts on what if anything to use it for. Also in the line's workshop at present are a Black Dog "Mite", a pair of Avalon coaches and some bits to make a pair of workshop support wagons. The latter are actually to be coupling converter trucks with opposing coupling types at each end.
Back to page top | To the start of the build log | To the latest update
Progress update - (5) - 30th April 2011
How time flies! Roughly two years since the last update and nothing to show for it except lots of bits bought and ideas for a larger version of the project. However then the coverage of the royal wedding of Willam and Kate reached saturation point and to give myself an alternative to watching it live on TV I set out to have a go at recreating the original "layout in a day" but with working tracks this time and opening doors to the shed. The activity on the day can be read here - RM Web thread. Suffice it to say the target this time was not met but not for want of trying and I do have the basis of a layout. base this time is three layers of Corex plastic sheet recycled from event posters skimmed with photo-mouting board. Glue used was Bostik Solvent Free (Turquoise tube colour).
Below - The old and new layouts compared part way through the build phase.
So at the end of play on Wedding Day the 2nd project was under way and had reached the point shown below plus a little bit of additional painting in the built up area around the shed. The locos are unpowered; 4472 is a static front end but the tender is mobile and can be shunted as can the diesel. I need to make some mods to them for drivers seats etc.
Back to page top | To the start of the build log | To the latest update