Railway Research Trip; Rothley Station, Great Central Railway

After doing the visit to Mountsorrel (see the last issue of Railway Research Trip), we popped down the road to Rothley Station on the Great Central Railway.

It was a hot, quiet Saturday. A few trains were running on the GCR, but we hadn't really planned this. We read online there were refreshments, so we popped-by on spec. There was also the draw of a garden model railway at the station, though it wasn't working (and looked not to have for some time).

I'd actually been here before, about 15 or so years ago during one of the winter steam galas, but had only hazy memories of the station. We basically had a cold drink then wandered around with the cameras to see if there was anything to record for possible future projects.

Shame it was running tender-first; 2MT on a passenger service.

The memories came flooding back, as to the problems with this station. Very hard to find decent photographic angles.

Back onto the platform. Really like the island seating unit here.

The waiting room, and ladies loo.

Inside the waiting room- some very nice features here.

The possibility of doing a model of an indoor space for a mag was hanging around at the back of my mind, hence all the pics.

The Gents loo block was also of interest; we were thinking of modelling one for our little station on our garden railway, so given the semi-deserted nature of the station on this hot afternoon, it seemed perfect to get some pics of it.

Handily, the second train to pass by was a 101 DMU; given I'm presently modelling these for the Hornby Collectors Club, it was good to get one in a different colour scheme and headcode style to the others I've photographed.

So a handy bonus, if unplanned, visit and some useful pics gathered. We'll see if it translates to a project or not.

 

Railway Research Trip; Mountsorrel

Here's an unusual spot; we did a visit the other week. Partly because of a model railway show, partly because I needed somewhere to go for a Hornby article, and partly because we were fairly desperate for a day out away from things, and this was a good excuse.

So, this was Mountsorrel, village and heritage centre, pretty near Loughborough (or Loogieberoogie, if you will). It's a relatively-recent setup, on a branch line off the Great Central Railway.

Sadly, the railway wasn't operating. This was a minor annoyance, as we'd had to park at the far station as the car parking at the centre was full. Well, not really full, there'd just been some appallingly poor parking by other patrons.

Still, nice walk along a properly established (if not particularly well-signposted) path.

The other station.

The centre itself- eminently model-able.

The whole place was set into an old quarry, which had its good and bad points. The good (especially from a modelling point of view) was it kept it all contained. The bad; the crap coal being burned by the locomotives filled the whole place with a brown, throat-clagging haze.

Amongst the varios exhibits was this wonderful lift-bridge from the earliest days of the railways.

There was also a working 2ft gauge railway, on ridiculously tight curves.

See what I mean? Ridiculous.

Some nice details which would be fun to model.

Reckon a bit of Kato of Tomix track would do.

Vintage Dublo layout in a goods wagon outside. Speaking of model railways;

There was a small but rather good exhibition in the main hall.

Loved the tents.

Interesting tanker wagon; my Dad used to work at Midland Tar Distillers.

After a few hours and a picnic lunch, it was back to the car. Lots of photographs taken as reference for a build for the Hornby Collectors Club, and a nice morning out. Mindyou, we managed to fit-in another reference trip on the way home.

This Month in British Railway Modelling; On The Beach

I suppose it was inevitable that the Summer of Colourful Stuff for BRM should result in modelling a beach! 

Asked to model a gravel/shingle beach, using some supplied sand and gravel packs, I turned for inspiration to a favourite spot in West Wales, Criccieth...

This place is about perfect for a railway modeller needing a seaside location; trains actually running pretty much along the shoreline. The railway passes the shingle to the south, then a bit of headland with rockpools, then behind the more formal promenade and sand.

There's always a lot of interesting stuff washed up on the shingle, it being a wrecking-coast with the direction the tides roll in. OK it's bad that it's rubbish, but still interesting (in a morbid kind of way) to see what's out there in the sea.

I don't just model kitsch, I photograph the real thing :) Family holiday a few years ago. TBH about the point The Childs were aging-out of being happy chucking a ball around on the beach (as opposed to moping and watching things on their phones). 

If there's a downside to the real place, it's the lack of variety with the trains. Not so long ago there were excursions and regular summer steam, then someone chose the Cambrian route to test the new digital ERTMS signalling system, so it went down to just class 158's and a few upgraded 37's. The 158's are now doomed, in favour of fewer, smaller, class 197's (produced with all the comfort, rideability, and design aesthetic associated with the phrase 'Department of Transport Specification). Still, at least the occasional railtour makes its way up here, when there's a gap in the timetable on this rationalised line.

The project was doing double-duty with an article in the Hornby Collectors Club, so needed to be large enough to serve as a photo plank. That in turn meant it needed to be able to fold-over for storage in a large plastic box, against the day I ever find time to clear-out and organise the workshop.

Groynes from scrap ply and some I-section plasticard.

Papier-Mache, filler, and paint.

A mix of sand and shingle, using things like reptile sand and aquarium gravel alongside the supplied modelling materials.

The set; the promenade space on the end would be getting developed later...

Yellow Train (Wins The Game)

Trying to make it look bigger than it really is.

View from the train.

Very overscale Hornby/Triang track, but then like I said, it was doing double-duty with the Collectors Club.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand in print.