The Welshpool Narrows re-born on the WGLR.

[yb281]

One of my favourite ever places for railway photographs has always been the sadly (mostly) obliterated Welshpool Town section of the W&LLR, especially the narrows where trains passed within feet of a row of black and white cottages (known as Armada Cottages according to the new book on the W&L). So when I rebuilt the Wetton Gooey Light Railway last year, a model inspired by the narrows was always in the plan. I say inspired because it is intended to be a representation rather than an absolute scale model.

This section of the railway is built on a thick marine ply covered with roofing felt baseboard. The buildings already in place are;
2 rows of shops modified from Stocker's Pendlebury kits.
A British Outline buildings garage converted to become an agricultural engineers.
A Modeltown Corris Cottage.
A Lineside Delights garage converted into a fire station
and various lengths of GRS fencing and Pola railings to form various footpaths, back alleys etc. and to protect the railway.

These structures completed one side (and the end) of the narrows, but the iconic Armada Cottages would need to be scratch built to fill in the other side.

 

[yb281]

When I've tried scratch building structures in the past, I've often ended up with something that didn't quite look right. So this time I decided to build a mock-up before I started the real thing. I built this from sheets of artist's thin card which is cheap, dead easy to cut and just about strong enough to hold itself up. I was also able to simply draw the doors, windows and framework (for the black and white bits) in felt tip pen. The main thing was that I was able to make sure I got the right "feel" of the building right before spending a lot of time and money.

Of course, the mock-up isn't weather proof (a half decent gust of wind will blow it away), but I was able to get it in place and take a few photos to make sure that it worked.

Many of you will have seen the black and white cottages, but there is also a stone built house on the Llanfair end. I reduced this from three storeys down to two as it would have been too over-powering.

I've never seen a photo of the front (street side) of the cottages, so this is all speculation.

 

[Trainman]

Stunning- this is an area lost to time and well represented. Just brilliant. What a neat theme. You have captures it beautifully.

 

[yb281]

Stunning- this is an area lost to time and well represented. Just brilliant. What a neat theme. You have captures it beautifully.

Thanks Trainman, that's quite a compliment.

 

[yb281]

So the next job was to decide what to build the "proper" cottages from?

At last years Stoneleigh show my good friend Graham (Johnsaintjim) introduced me to a smashing chap by the name of David Turner. He will be very familiar to readers of Garden Rail as he's done loads of articles on his excellent buildings over the past year or so.

David has tried using polystyrene (the ordinary white stuff that is used for packaging) to make buildings, the advantages being that it's easy to cut and is often available for free from skips and electrical shops etc. However, anyone who has ever cut any of this stuff will know what a flaming mess it makes. So he then came up with the denser form of Polystyrene sold for building flying model aircraft under the name of Styrofoam. Like the white stuff, this is noturiously NOT biodegradable so will be weather-proof, but it's much nicer to cut with a scalpel and doesn't make a mess. It's also pretty cheap, well under 2 quid for a pretty big sheet, it also glues together really well with PVA (DON'T try using solvent based glue, it'll melt) and joints can be held in place with cocktail sticks while the glue sets.

So Styrofoam would be used for the main structure, but what about the doors and windows? David came up with the answer here too - Jigstones moulds (borrowed from my mate Tony) using car filler (P38). It took a few days to cast everything I'd need.

 

[beavercreek]

Car filler...what a great idea! Weather resistent, hard but sandable... brilliant. Where did the moulds come from?

 

[yb281]

Building the stone cottage. The Styrofoam is held in place with tooth picks while the PVA sets.

The structure will be covered with a coat of PVA followed by waterproof tile grout (another of David's ideas) which will be scribed to represent stonework. This will add some needed strength to the walls.

 

[yb281]

Car filler...what a great idea! Weather resistent, hard but sandable... brilliant. Where did the moulds come from?

Steve at Back2Bay6 Mike, although he sold out as a result of David's articles in GR. Might be worth giving him a bell.

 

[beavercreek]

Car filler...what a great idea! Weather resistent, hard but sandable... brilliant. Where did the moulds come from?

Steve at Back2Bay6 Mike, although he sold out as a result of David's articles in GR. Might be worth giving him a bell.

Thanks Mel
Will give him a call tomorrow...I have been putting off calling Steve as I know that I will probably just have to buy one of the 1:20.3 drop bottom gondolas..oh the pain.....

 

[yb281]

Armada Cottages take shape. The wooden frame is made from black plastic, cutting it all out is a reet pain. This will be filled in with more tile grout to represent the rendering (and the odd bit of brickwork patching).

The gaps are where the wooden outhouses will be fixed.

 

[yb281]

Car filler...what a great idea! Weather resistent, hard but sandable... brilliant. Where did the moulds come from?

Steve at Back2Bay6 Mike, although he sold out as a result of David's articles in GR. Might be worth giving him a bell.

Thanks Mel
Will give him a call tomorrow...I have been putting off calling Steve as I know that I will probably just have to buy one of the 1:20.3 drop bottom gondolas..oh the pain.....

Multi buy deal??????

 

[beavercreek]

Steve at Back2Bay6 Mike, although he sold out as a result of David's articles in GR. Might be worth giving him a bell.

Thanks Mel
Will give him a call tomorrow...I have been putting off calling Steve as I know that I will probably just have to buy one of the 1:20.3 drop bottom gondolas..oh the pain.....
[/quote]


Multi buy deal??????
[/quote]

I wish!!! Even in the sale they are over the £100... Three behind me K27 would look very nice thank you but that will have to wait a bit.....maybe quite a bit

 

[jameshilton]

This is looking superb! A fantastic section to model as well, very atmospheric, I've not got the Wild Swan book (yet) but do have a copy of the excellent Middleton Press book - well worth a browse for anyone interested in the W&L but who can't stomach £40ish for the WS tome. The Middleton one also includes the preservation era!

 

[PaulRhB]

Lovely Mel, can't wait to see an Accucraft Earl trundle through Is the foam available from rc plane shops then?

 

[Nemo]

Looking good Mel, as with most of your builds, top class.......

 

[yb281]

Lovely Mel, can't wait to see an Accucraft Earl trundle through Is the foam available from rc plane shops then?

Yes mate and on the net. To be honest my local shop doesn't sell it, but David kindly got me 4 sheets from a shop in Leicester. The Earl will be trundling through soon - my Heidi has moved on to (partly) fund it .


James, I know what you mean about the price of the Wild Swan book, but I got it for Christmas and it really is a cracker. Much as I love the modern W&L (it's only an hours drive from me), I still think that the most interesting part has gone and is disappearing completely, especially now the old cattle market has been covered in houses.

 

[C&S]

Mel, If it's any use I think I've a drawing of Ballard's Garage that might be useful.

 

[Richie]

Very nice work Mel some great ideas on building structures really like the way you've made your windows and the timber framed cottages will look fantastic

 

[yb281]

Mel, If it's any use I think I've a drawing of Ballard's Garage that might be useful.

Thanks for the kind offer, but I've already got a set from Railway Modeller many years ago. Unfortunately I can't fit it at the stone cottage end where it should be as that's where my viaduct starts. Shame, but you can't have everything can you? The garage behind Wetton station has got a nameboard based on Ballards though .

Other news is that, when the cottages are finished, the next planned project is a cattle market.

 

[Granitechops]

So where's the sheets & pillow cases then???

only joking, used to love your shots of the narrows before you took your old set up out

This is looking good