The EWR.

[Admin4]

There is a crushing and processing plant made from toilet rolls, oven extractor fan filter material, glasses cleaner spray bottles and a Bisto container.

Brilliant

[captrees]

Well you just have to make do sometimes, don't you?

I don't know what I'm saving those hearing aid batteries for, but I'm sure they'll be used somewhere.

Then there's this lot.



A walk down the beach and I saved this stuff. Lots of varieties of seaweed, sponge etc. I'm not sure what the brown oval things are. Maybe some kind of furball that a seagull coughed up? It makes good dead grass when its chopped up. The wirey sponge is good too. But most of the weed dries very soft and crumbly. Not much good for trees, as I hoped. I got some green latex spray and tried that on it, after dipping in paint was a failure. Its less crumbly with the latex, but still fragile, and I'm reserving the results for those out of reach corners. (Spot dark green lumps of bushes in photo.

[GeraldH]

I do like the large hill on the corner. It's not often that you see a bit of dramatic landscape on a layout. It really adds character.

[Bufferstop]

My car must be a heck of a lot more powerful than I thought. I've gone up Shap on the M6 and A6 and I never even noticed that hill

[captrees]

My car must be a heck of a lot more powerful than I thought. I've gone up Shap on the M6 and A6 and I never even noticed that hill

There's a bit of modelling licence there with the steep gradient, but prior to the M6 being built in the late 60's, the steepest bit of Shap was the final leg to the summit, coming from the south. Heavy lorries sometimes overheated and boiled, causing jams, and cars were always getting stuck behind trucks, unable to pass.



And when the trucks got to the top, there was a lay-by and an old bus, the Eagle Cafe, where the drivers could get a cuppa and a bacon butty.



Memo to self.. it looks very unfinished in these photos. Do something about it. And where's the Leyland Clock? Anyone going over Shap in the 50's or 60's would pass the big green Leyland Clock near Selside. "Leyland Motors. For all time." It said.

[Admin4]

there was a lay-by and an old bus, the Eagle Cafe, where the drivers could get a cuppa and a bacon butty

Not quite old enough to be driving in the 60’s, but drove some 60’s trucks in the mid 70’s and remember those scenes well.

[Ex-Pat]

I do like the large hill on the corner. It's not often that you see a bit of dramatic landscape on a layout. It really adds character.

Yes - that's a remarkable transformation from the bare baseboard, the quarry nestles in there quite nicely.

I was also very interested in the photo of 52592 and see it was a Goole loco and taken at Thornhill near Dewsbury.

https://servimg.com/view/19473452/114

Finally, I got fed up of writing memos to self many years ago!

[glencairn]

Being a lad as a passenger in a lorry going up Shap. An experience to savour.

Another 'Memory Jogger'. Lovely picture of Thornhill, Ex-Pat. Thanks.

Glencairn

[Byegad]

A bit over tidy! Looks good.

[captrees]

I’ve been concentrating on what’s in the shadows of Shap Fell, recently, and Tebay Junction is evolving, We are not deterred by geography, or even history.




The view here is the Oxenholme Carlisle line as it starts to climb up Shap, to the left, and where it veers to the right is the way to Oxenholme. In the distance, under the Scout Green signal box, a single line goes through a tunnel on its way to Kirkby Stephen and Stainmore. Up to the left, trucks are slowly climbing the steep incline to Shap Summit. On the left is the Shap Lime Works and quarry, now looking more like a working limeworks by the liberal sprinkling of Johnson’s Baby Powder.

We have discussed the making of the limeworks earlier, and the toilet rolls are clearly visible. The highest piece of kit being a Moto Guzzi fuel filter gauze. But the two engine sheds and the rooves thereof deserve a mention. I found a long strip of black plastic in my garage, which I had long forgotten the purpose of, and cut it into lengths for my engine shed. My brother in law instantly recognised it as the blade cover for his Ryobi electric hedge trimmer. The brown base of the yard is cork gasket material, and the coaling stand used to be a cotton bud box. There’s lots more there, but we did throw in some Metcalfe cottages to clean it up a bit.



We are looking at the A6 and the top of Shap Summit here. The grey bus is of course the Eagle Café, and the road, as with a lot of fell tops in c1960, remains unfenced. You takes your chances with the sheep, (Swaledales.) Motorcycle enthusiasts will recognise Edgar Jessop test riding a Spagforth 650. He’ll probably pull in as he has his eyes on the lass on the café steps.

More grass is required to cover the NHS plaster bandage. My attempts to recreate bracken is visible, and will be improved on, but I’m happy with the stone walls. Strips of wall were printed, folded in half, and glued to the rodent mesh fencing.



Another view, looking across the Tebay engine shed towards the quarry. A Fowler banking engine waits its turn to push a goods train up the hill. The passing Black Five is taking the Lancaster-all-stops-to-Carlisle up the early stage of the gradient. The mesh fencing is shown again here, slightly overgrown with weeds. My attempts at ballasting started here. I used that underlay with the sloping shoulder, and learnt early on that PVA glue rolls off this, and 00 guage prefers fine ballast, not the coarse stuff. It’s a bit rough and UHU got used for repairs and touch ups. But I like to think it has rustic charm.

[captrees]

Tebay is looking busy from this angle. In the distance an Ivatt 2-6-2 is taking limestone and granite to Darlington, and the local to Carlisle is approaching. I haven’t got round to putting the signals in. I bought some Ratio kits a year ago, and they are so naff that I haven’t got round to making them. I think I’ll take what I need from the kits and scratch build. The old metal signals were far better than the plastic rubbish, methinks. Sorry about the newish Defender, but I bought that in Margate at the Hornby museum, my very first acquisition. It’s the same as the Defender I had at that time. I shall have to paint those mag wheels black so that it looks more 1960ish. There’s a newish front end loader nearby too, that I borrowed from a grandson, who hasn’t missed it.



Another view of Tebay Junction East. The start of the steep Shap A6 incline is visible, with my father’s old black Austin being passed by a newer Austin Cambridge heading south. I hope he stops in time, because at the bottom of the hill there is a radical right hand turn into the level crossing. I wouldn’t sit in the level crossing keepers hut on a winter day if you paid me.

There’s a little platform there, with a few passengers waiting. I hope they weren’t waiting long, as I believe there was only one train every 2 weeks on that line in the 60’s. I read too, that there is no sign at all now of Tebay station. All demolished.



Now we are looking at a Jubilee with a local bound for Carnforth climbing Grayrigg Bank. OK, so if it was going to Carnforth it would be going down Grayrigg Bank, but having a continuous track means that we are not constrained by geography. Significant here are the advertising hoardings reminding me of things that interested me in that period. By the end of the 60’s I had acquired a taste for Scottish and Newcastle brews, most commonly William Younger’s bitter. I don’t suppose it exists any more.

[glencairn]

A lovely, interesting thread, captrees. Keep us informed on progress.

Scottish & Newcastle is now owned by Heineken/Carlsberg. Wm Younger's bitter etc. is still available (just). It is like looking for a needle in a haystack for places that sell the stuff.

Glencairn

[ChrisGreaves]

...Strips of wall were printed, folded in half, and glued to the rodent mesh fencing. ...

Brilliant!
Thank you!
Cheers
Chris

[Admin4]

Very entertaining

[captrees]

Thanks for the comments. I am currently 3D-ifying the backdrop. The garish and slapdash painting of Ingleborough will get an improved more muted version eventually, but currently I'm working on the viaduct, which was basically just chipboard painted drab grey. I found a picture of an old stone bridge and printed several copies. I cut them up, and stuck the pieces on to the viaduct, montage style.



That loco was once an N sized green plastic Flying Scotsman that my wife had used to decorate my last birthday cake. It was painted black to disguise it as something more West Coast Line-ish, and ground down on one side making it more low-relief to fit the width of the chipboard. The carriages are balsa wood, with more printing of blood and custard carriages, and a lick of silver and black paint. I'll have to paint some steam over the train eventually.



All the printing gets a coat of satin varnish to stop it fading. If you look at the roof of the terraced houses in the top pic you'll see why satin varnish is better than gloss! I'm using timber varnish, left over from some project. Has anyone found some other fixative/varnish for this? Maybe hairspray works? Artist's fixative?