Cattle dock

[ge_rik]

Jigstones base + brass rail and rod for the railings + GRS picket fence turned sideways and bashed about a bit for the gates = and my latest build - one cattle dock.

It`s not quite finished as you can see, needs painting, the holes in the dock need filling and the Jigstone blocks need to be properly grouted and painted, but it`s nearly there. The rest of the dock is off-stage BTW - I know it should be wider ....

 

 



Rik

 

[viaEstrecha]

Love it! Fitted with sound as well?

 

[cbeckett]

Something missing! - cow-pats perhaps?

 

[simon@mgr]

Gotta love the smell of fresh cowpats in the morning

 

[Martino]

Looks great. I need to build one too, so that's an inspiration.

 

[gregh]

A very 'high class' cattle yard for a rural 'backwater'.
Great work on the fences, but they must only be 'lean' cattle at Beeston for those yards.

Something missing! - cow-pats perhaps?

Cow pats can be created by shaking a blob of solder from the tip of your iron onto a flat surface (and painting)
And a sound recorder board will take care of the sounds.

 

[ge_rik]

Thanks chaps - all suggestions will be carefully considered. Thanks to Greg's visit in October, I do have some sound modules which could be deployed. I'll have a think about the cow pats. What was that joke - "What do you call a man with cow manure on his head?" (or something similar).

BTW - I've blogged the build here - http://riksrailway.blogspot.com/2015/05/how-i-made-cattle-dock-with-jigstones.html

Rik

 

[3Valve]

Brilliant. Just needs a sound and smells chip

 

[pugwash]

And animals

 

[beavercreek]

Looking great Rik.

I like a stockyard/cattle dock, I do.
My one has plastic fencing around the corals at the moment, with metal rails on the chute/ramp but is soon to be totally rebuilt using wooden cedar planking.

Here it is as it appears presently.....









Here is what it will look like when rebuilt:

 

[ge_rik]

That looks great. I wish I'd left myself more space for mine. Mine is supposed to serve the livestock market at Beeston Market which is why it is long enough to service four wagons. As with Welshpool, I'm imagining that the rest of the market is off stage. If/when I build docks at the other stations on the line they will be much smaller (one wagon) affairs.

Rik

 

[beavercreek]

In the USA NG area (Colorado) and era (1910 to 1960s) that I model, there were usually only one or two chutes (loading ramps) either single or side by side or, very rarely, one car apart, with various corals feeding it/them.
The two chute ones were arranged so that one chute was higher than than the other for loading the twin deck cars with sheep

This meant that only one car at a time (or maybe two) would be loaded whilst standing beside the platform.

I designed mine with only having the single car being left to get filled with livestock, to be hauled away later.
Real prototypical operating would have had the whole train parked down a spur with the stockyard along side, but I, like you, didn`t have the space and had to fit the yard into a little area that was left over from the station etc

If I had the space....this  would be the size................... one can dream....



Real stuff....

 

[ge_rik]

Put the finishing touches to it today (minus cow pats - maybe later....  )









A touch of paint plus some dyed and sand-mixed filler. Just need to finish off the rest of the station now.......

Rik

 

[gregh]

Looks great with the cattle wagons parked alongside.

 

[viaEstrecha]

I really like this - how did you achieve that effect with the ballast, Rik? It really sets everything off so well. I've seen in the blog how you have developed your technique, but this looks slightly finer material than the grit, so that it just covers the sleepers?

 

[ge_rik]

I really like this - how did you achieve that effect with the ballast, Rik? It really sets everything off so well. I've seen in the blog how you have developed your technique, but this looks slightly finer material than the grit, so that it just covers the sleepers?

A mixture of sifted garden soil, sand and crushed coal - then given a very thin wash of cement dye (a mix of black and brown). The dye wash was Greg's suggestion as I was concerned that after I'd applied my ballast it was all looking a bit stark and artificial with patches of different colours here and there. The wash sort of unifies everything - and dulls down the lighter colours of the bird grit.

Rik