Progress on the Village board

 

More features on the board have now been laid out and fixed.  Above we see most of the village buildings, a War Memorial, and Post Box scene, complete with the first vehicle, a Morris 1000 Royal Mail van.

"Satyr" is posed on the goods siding.

"Oread" at the station with an early morning train.  Some figures are now being painted to go on the platform and around the village.

A view down the station loop and street beyond now with a wall at the edge of railway property.

"Orthus" about to cross the road into the station.

The War Memorial is by Langley Models and the 3D printed Post Box and Postman is by Smart Models.

Some Omen figures just about finished.

Wagon loads and assorted goods now painted.  Most are by Skytrex.

Yorke Animal Feeds (Ltd)

 Yorke Animal Feeds 

The weather's been grotty lately so we are working along the back scene from left to right placing buildings and images.  The warehouse was designated an animal feed merchant (eventually), so a sign and arch were created using some old dry print lettering, everything else I had was too small.  Opening gates and posts were made from plasticard to complete the building.  All it needs now is an old Land Rover parked outside and a farmer loading sacks.

Adding Buildings, and new loco.

 

"Orthus" posed for a photo on the new scenic section.

Positioning of some of the buildings on the village board is in progress.  Corner Cottage was glued in place first at a slightly higher level, as "Beacon Hill" rises behind the village.  A stone wall was created in front of the cottage (actually the rear of the building) with some railings added.

Corner Cottage in position with some watercolour calendar cut-outs added to the back scene to give more depth.

More of the village scene.

"Orthus" in primer.

I bought a resin Freelance Diesel kit from Barry McDowell, the mouldings are very good and the kit went together beautifully.  I love the look of the completed model, it runs on a Kato 103 tram chassis.

Above and below: "Orthus" ex-paint shop, pictured on the drawer module.

 

The diesel posed with Corner Cottage behind.

Corner Cottage

 Corner Cottage

Just finished is this cottage rear to fit into the corner of the village scene.  Made using a foam board shell again with the last remnants of some Redutex sheet for the stone walls, Juweela Pan Tiles and York Modelmaking window frames.  This should be the last of the buildings made to go into the village scene.

A Warehouse?

 A Warehouse?

Just completed is this warehouse for the village scene, but really I am not sure what it will be yet, possibly a garage, animal feed supplier, or an small engineering firm.  I was made using 5mm foam board again, but this time using whitewashed Slaters Large Stone sheet as the stonework.  Windows are by York Modelmaking, the office door is Peco and the other warehouse doors are scratch built.

Again I have used the Juweela Pan Tiles, the photo below shows the roof panels being made.  The building sits at a slight angle to the back scene so it was difficult getting panels cut to fit.

Yesterday I applied this "mush" to the village baseboard as the ground cover.  It's the lightweight filler/fine sawdust/p.v.a/acrylic paint/water mix I always use, and because of the good weather it has almost dried already.

Cottages for Raven Hill

 

A pair of cottages have just been completed to go with the pub.  They are made in the same way using a foam board shell with Redutex Stone sheet applied and Juweela Roof Tiles glued onto a card base.  For the windows, this time I used multiples of 4mm scale Dornaplas six-pane windows, and the doors are resin models from 422 Modelmaking.  Some flashing will be added on the roof where the cottages join the pub when I get to mount them on the base board.  Looking at the photos, I think the buildings would benefit from some curtains at the windows.

I also arranged all the buildings that I have so far on the village board to see what it may all look like.  A start has now been made on a small warehouse/works.

The Beacon Inn

THE BEACON INN

Along the back scene on the Raven Hill station board will be a small row of village buildings.  Here is the first of them.  Scratch built from 5mm foam board with Redutex stonework, the windows are 

York Model Making laser cut plastic and the pan tiles are individual tiles by Juweela.  

Hopefully, next along the street will be a pair of cottages made in a similar way.

Basic Station Platform complete

I have just about finished the passenger platform for Raven Hill. 
It consists of a Highland Castings Waiting Room, Skytrex 7/201 GWR Ground Frame Hut (decreased in height), scratch built name boards using Slaters 6mm Letters, Peco LK-761 Seats (shortened) and LK-759 Station Platform Lamps and Renedra RN14 Palisade Fences.  The stonework on the face of the platform is some textured printed stone paper from Ebay, I wasn't convinced about it, but is looks quite good in the photos.

The goods storage facility is a Highland Castings Coal Yard Office, though I have added wooden double doors to make into a goods shed.  It needs a bit of internal strengthening before it is fitted to the layout though.

After a lot of head-scratching and searching on the internet, I have ordered some materials to build a group of four low relief buildings to be placed along the back scene, which will be a pub (of course), two cottages and a small warehouse.

The hot weather this week is putting-off good intentions to model anything though.   

Some buildings on the way....

A few buildings have started to emerge for the layout.  The Engine Shed is finished, it is built using Wills 4mm Asbestos sheets used as corrugated iron, some re-used windows and parts from an old continental engine shed kit, and scratch built doors of plasticard.  With the painting, I tried to give it an "aged" look, it just needs some moss added on the roof and gutters.

The Passenger Shelter is a Highland Castings HCBK023 waiting room resin kit from Invertrain, I have just added a valance to the front of the roof (made by York Modelmaking).  The resin castings in the kit were rather warped and needed a lot of sanding on the backs of the panels to level them out.  Otherwise it went together well.  The platform is a plywood base, with embossed stone paper edges bought off the internet, the surface is Slaters Plastikard pebble walling with card edging stones..

The platform taking shape.  The name boards have just been freshly painted in this photo, I have used Slaters 1106 6mm high Letters & Numerals.  Some Renedra RN14 grey Palisade Fences (given to me by a friend) have been added along the rear.  A tiny station master's hut has been ordered which will be placed to the left of the passenger shelter.

Also being painted at present are a goods shed, coal bunkers and a water tower.  The goods shed is a Highland Castings HCBK015A Coal Yard Office, but I have added double doors in the rear so it can be used as a goods shed.  The castings were better on this building, but the rear wall was a good 2mm larger all round than the front wall!

....and on we go.

Work in progress May

Just a quick posed photo of Browside Ledge and train with some of the scenic work done.  We are waiting for some more scenic products to arrive so that we can continue with the greenery.  The waterfall was made using eight coats of gloss varnish with painted gravel rocks added .  We then used some off-white coloured wool pulled into smaller threads and soaked in p.v.a. to straighten them a bit.  Using more gloss varnish, we stuck them to the water runs.  At the base splash areas we used small bits of cut up wool to create foamy water.  When dry, we carefully dry-brushed all the threads with matt white enamel. 

The first building under construction for the layout is this small engine shed.  It is made mainly using Wills Corrugated Asbestos sheets.  I used some parts off a second-hand 00 scale engine shed for the windows, vents and flue.  The rest is made using various plasticard.

Raven Hill - A prologue

A back story.....for "Raven Hill"

View from Peak towards Baytown.

All great railways have their own history, so does mine........
Inspired by the history of "Fairbourne" in Wales, and "Ravenscar", North Yorkshire.

Penny Howe Light Railway

At the turn of the 20^th century, a development was begun that was perched on 600 foot high cliffs of the North Yorkshire coast, and it was hoped, would rival the resorts of Scarborough and Whitby, it was to be known as “Peak”. 

An 15” gauge tramway was built to nearby Stoupe Brow quarry to supply building stone and aggregates, and a year later the tramway was extended across moorland to Penny Howe plantation for the supply of timber.  Roads and sewers were laid at the cliff top site, some houses and a hotel were built, but the new resort town of Peak never achieved any popularity because of the long trek down to its rocky beach and the development company went bankrupt.

The area was already known as the site of one of the earliest chemical works in the country producing Alum, used in the textile and tanning industry, and much earlier there was a Roman Signal Station constructed around 400AD, to warn of Saxon raids.

In the late 1950’s the tramway track bed still existed across the moor and past the quarry that it used to serve.  A local landowner revived much of the line for locals and tourists alike, even using some of the original rail found at the now dis-used quarry, and it was renamed the “Penny Howe Light Railway”.  It was extended to a total length of 4 miles to reach the small village of Howdale near the Scarborough Road so that goods could be transported via local farms to the coast, and passenger platforms were also built.  

The journey:  Howdale Station sits between Howdale village and the woods to the east.  The railway runs through woods for a few hundred yards, then out across open moorland.  There is a halt at Pye Rigg Farm, the line then runs along Browside ledge across a small bridge spanning a waterfall and into Raven Hill village station where there is a passing loop, small engine shed and goods shed.  About half a mile further on the line passes a junction to the old quarry.  After passing a small reservoir, the railway arrives at a small station terminus behind Peak village.

At Peak, the hotel is a fine establishment and there are also tea rooms serving refreshments.  The remains of the old alum works can be seen nearby and there are fine coastal paths northwards to Baytown and Whitby, one of them along the now closed standard gauge track bed, and also south to Hayburn Wyke hidden valley and waterfall. 

The remnants of the village high above the sea.

......Rocks

 ROCKS

Creating rock faces

The Penny Howe Light Railway traverses a rocky ridge at Raven Hill near to the quarry that the railway originally served.  So in the last few days we have created the rock formations along the ridge.  Made of a mix of (greatest first) lightweight filler, sawdust, p.v.a, arcylic paint and water, the base colour, seen at bottom of the picture above, appeared totally wrong due to some unusually weak black paint, so we blackened all the crevices before adding various greys and browns.

This is an earlier photo at the end of the board showing polystyrene blocks, and my wife's trees on the end board. 

The completed area with the stream/waterfall being attended-to.

We are now adding coats of varnish to the stream, before adding all the greenery.

The layout will be called "Raven Hill" reflecting the prologue and history of the line, which I shall write about later.

Work in progress April

The station and village board being tested with "Oread" leaving the goods siding.  The site of the platform and a simple station building will be on the left.  The bottom right siding will lead to an engine shed.

Track laying and wiring has now been completed on the new boards.  I have wired the frogs on this layout - the first time I have ever bothered.  Trouble is, that's what it caused me: loads of bother.  Three attempts were made to wire up the station board. I think I have got it all sorted now.  It worked fine this morning, whether it will work tomorrow is another matter!

Two of these photos were taken in warm bright sunlight, so lots of shadows.  It is the first time the two boards have been joined electrically.

The bare boards showing the track layout.  The rear passing loops will be hidden behind a back scene.

"Wyvern" hauling two passenger coaches along what will be, a ledge in a hillside.  The rear coach has not gained glazing, door handles, or a roof yet.