A Tree is a Tree, for all That

 When I built Rails around the Rectory, I was relatively happy with the stand of trees, which represented the odd mix of overgrown trees that characterised the real garden at Cadeby and added much to the illusion that the Cadeby Light Railway was bigger than it was.

If I had a regret, it was that I knew I was making them to about half their real height, but somehow, the illusion worked in the context. They still towered over the stock.

Early days of forestry using Woodland Scenic armatures

Building RatR, I could at least look out and see the trees around our small holding for inspiration. I never got around to counting them all, and as on our models, there were a few hero trees, like the ashes, and others, like many of the hawthorns, that were just generic trees.

                                                                "Again, you know

There are three kinds of tree, three only, the fir and the poplar,

And those which have bushy tops to; and lastly

          That things only seem to be things."

Henry Reed, "Judging Distances." New Statesman and Nation 25, no. 628 (6 March 1943): 155

I think that when we look at a model tree, there are certain criteria we notice, if perhaps unconsciously, that either convinces us it is right or not, that they seem to be the things they are not. Some of those criteria are based on our expectation of a model, not our experience of the natural world. It is the one area where many of us end up inadvertently "modelling other models" rather than looking outside the window.

You and I, of course, have read those wonderful books by Gordon Gravett. From an early age you might have been inspired by the Bowden Cable creations of Iliffe and Doris Stokes, with their vital advice to model an actual tree. But that doesn't make us immune. We accept that it is the mature oak tree we are looking at because, well, it would be silly to model one half a metre tall.

A couple of things have brought this to mind recently.

On one of the model railway Facebook groups someone posted a photo of a photographic backscene they'd been sold as "N gauge large trees."

They could see it looked wrong but had latched on to the trees being too tall. That wasn't really the issue. Yes, they probably were too tall, but more to the point, it was clearly a picture of relatively small trees blown up rather than a photo of large mature trees.

The other thing that brought it to mind was a weekend of travel during which woods and trees were never far away. This reminded me that sometimes things are bigger than you think.

This brings us back to those trees on RatR.Model trees don't travel well and they now look much the worse for wear,so I will revisit them soon for a major refresh. .

Paxton Road. Change here for trains to Gerallt Road

 After a lot of delays, sorting out family issues and the aftermath of the house move, we finally made the trip to Wales to pick up Gerald Road from James Hilton.

It is the first time I've been back to Wales since my pre-Covid canal trip on the Monty, so we also took the opportunity to revisit Llangollen and Pontcysyllte.

We proved, something  I didn't think about until rather late in the day, that the layout can fit across the back seat of the car with the dogs in the boot. Just in case it ever gets to an exhibition.

One thing that strikes you about a visit to James's workshop is just how small his N gauge cameos are. It actually takes a few moments to process this. Gerald Road seems vast in comparison.

So, apart from moving its fictional location from Bristol to the Tanat Valley, what are my plans for it?

Well, the first stage is to do nothing until I've lived with it for a few weeks. I want to retain some elements of the original sketch, especially the mix of industrial and residential structures and the level crossing. Two aspects that I really want to think through are the huge, relatively speaking amount of foreground and the scenic wings. I suppose there is a third, which is what traffic will the sidings serve.

Zooming back to the other side of the country I have Middleton Towers in mind. A "bitsa" station, a level crossing, a lime kiln, a relatively modern aggregate loader of some sort, and then the foreground siding for general goods and domestic coal

On Display

It has been a long, hard slog with everything else going on, but now most of my models are out of their boxes and either on display or ready for use.

And the wagons from the ELR have gone to a new home.




The odd thing that struck me towards the end of the unpacking is that I genuinely do have all the stock I really need for the foreseeable future.OK there is some N gauge I wouldn't mind acquiring at some point, and a little more OO9 stock with a more mainline vibe, and some O gauge in the future. But apart from that, yes I have finally hit that point. At least, I will have done if I ever finish building the one 4mm loco kit in my stash, but even then, I have everything needed to build it.

I guess that means the focus moves back to layouts. 

Once I've made a little space in the office, Flemish Quay will get a makeover. It will mostly consist of like-for-like replacement of things damaged in the move.

The Cadeby-based layout survived rather better, but it doesn't have a natural home for display here. But I think a replacement wouldn't be too hard to build and would have a natural home. I still want to build a larger OO9 layout, but that can wait. Everything I need for this is in the house, and 90% of it is already built in terms of stock and buildings.

I'm hoping Gerald Road will do for my N gauge interest for now. That is going to be my focus for scratch building.

In OO I've got two ideas to consider. The East Coast light railway and the ex-GWR branchline. Again, almost everything is already on hand for both.

In the garden, the first 7/8ths track has been laid but needs to be lived with. I think I have a site for the 16mm line, which will primarily be for the grandchildren.

That might sound like a lot, but with everything on hand , which it hasn't been in the past when some materials were stored several hundred yards from the studio, I'm hoping to work in parallel on them.


So what is left?

Well, three or four other projects. 

There is a 4mm tramway idea, still floating around with Kinver in mind.

OOn3 for a fictional line somewhere along the border between Wales and Shropshire

And finally, 7mm, both standard and narrow gauge. All of which will probably begin as micros.

The sun Has got His Hat on

 And slowly things begin to happen in the garden...

Further Thinking

It is sunny today, so I might even be tempted to experiment with locations for the 7/8th line. Then again, it is also freezing, so I might not.

I think Gerald Road is coalescing into an unholy mashup of  James's original plan, Porth-y-waen/Nantmawr and that odd little freight terminal at Middleton Towers.  So we end up with a Tanat Valley inspired layout, with a disused halt leading to sidings serving a lime kiln, surviving goods shed and a yet to be decided third user. There is not much of the original concept left, I hear you say, but there will be hints of it, especially in the buildings. Now I really must make the effort to go and collect it, and to start assembling the DGs.

The post removals rebuilds of Rails Round the Rectory and Flemish Quay are next on my list. I'm going to take the opportunity to make major changes to both of them. Key is expanding their footprint whilst reducing their baseboard depth. 

Flemish Quay Mk2 will also benefit from at least one new vessel moored alongside. These come as a set of three from ModelArtMinatures who also do models of the local bottle kilns.

TBH I was expecting kits, so I was was pleasantly surprised they turned up assembled and painted.

Where, I hear you ask, is the third? 

Hmm, well that is the "post war" version which is a little bit disappointing compared to the other two. However, my plan all along was to convert that into a ferry/excursion boat for another possible project.

Things are beginning to fall into place. Most of my 7/8ths stock is out of storage, which has reminded me that I can be quite a good modeller, at times.

I'm beginning to assemble some stock ready for the arrival of Gerald Road, helped by a visit to Trident Trains who were very good to deal with. Next up is fitting DG couplings to the stock.

The garden has been tidied up a bit. I'm disappointed with the state Teddy is in, so soon after a rebuild. It is something I'm going to have to address.

A bit of good news is that our carpenter thinks a space saver staircase is an option for access to the loft.

My thinking around layouts is still settling down I forsee a short period of building more micro-layouts , if only to display some stock. 

TAoC baseboards are now in the loft, and I still hanker after building it to show it could be done as Roy Link envisaged it. 

Meanwhile I've been out and about in London, which means I travelled from Stoke station for the first time in many years. The last time was after a visit to a client some 28 years ago, when our company booked me into the worst hotel I've ever stayed in.

You could argue that it is a boring station these days, but I still rather like it.

Now Breath

 

Or that was the week that was.

And what a week it has been. with the mortgage offer deadline dangerously close we exchanged and completed in two days, during which I had to demolish the entire ELR.

So here we are with a much bigger house, on the fringe of Stoke on Trent, and a much smaller garden.

Then, there is the model railway room in the attic. On the plus side, it is 22ft x 8ft. On the downside, it doesn't have standing headroom, and this is the access.

So, what are my plans?

I've sold two of the wagons from the ELR, and I'm desperate to get rid of the lifted 16mm rail to replace it with a portable line.

There are a lot of options for 7/8ths and 16mm lines in the garden, more than I realised when we viewed. I might even build some small dioramas in the less accessible places.

Indoors I'm torn. I've committed myself to n gauge by buying Gerald Road to reconfigure it as a new Tanat Valley-based line. 

Being so close to the Caldon Canal I'm keen to build an OO industrial line, with a Cromford and High Peak vibe. Also in OO I want to get the East Coast light railway out of my system. 

I still want to build a simple OO9 layout to use my Festiniog/Penhryn locos on, and simple is the keyword.

As predicted Flemish Quay suffered badly during the move, but nothing terminal.

Then there is the big project. What that will be will depend on how I come to terms with access to the loft.