The Burford Branch

Tell us about your layout, where you put it, how you built it, how you operate it.
garethashenden
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby garethashenden » Wed Jan 16, 2019 2:57 pm

barhamd wrote:Hmm. I wouldn't put it past Apple to make the colour balance on the camera worse with each software release until you are forced to buy a new one. They already have been shown to make them get slower.

David


Not to derail the thread too much, but the camera algorithms are optimised for faces. On the whole iPhone photos are much closer to true colour representation than most other smartphone cameras. Most manufacturers adjust the pictures so that they look good on small screens and on instagram, which is where most of their customers view their pictures. To do this they make all the colours more vivid and bright. There are ways around it though. There are a number of third party iOS camera apps that give you full control over the camera. The one I’ve been using is Obscura (usual disclaimer) but there are lots to choose from.

As for slowing down phones, it’s all down to the health of the battery. With an older battery that can’t hold a charge they had to make a choice between slowing it down or having it die unexpectedly. Personally, I’d rather have a slow phone than no phone, your opinion may differ. They also offered very inexpensive battery replacements for all of 2018, which improved performance and was very popular.

Now back to trains...

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Wed Jan 16, 2019 9:38 pm

Philip Hall wrote:Martin,

I have just looked at my iPhone SE (effectively a 6S in a 5 case) and on the camera screen at top right there is a ‘three circles’ icon; tapping that gives you various colour and lighting options. Mine is set to standard but maybe yours has got itself on warm or something like that?

Philip


I have just looked at my iPhone, and the three-circle icon is present. (I never noticed it before!). However, the choice is between Mono, Tonal, Noir, Fade, None, Chrome, Process, Transfer, and Instant. Only "None" seems to give an acceptably accurate colour rendering. I don't know whether the setting had been inadvertently changed, but when I get a chance I will play around with the phone on the layout (but this will have to wait until next week).

I suppose we have got slightly off the main subject of this thread, but I was the one who started this digression, so I have no complaint about my thread being 'hi-jacked'. I have found this discussion interesting and useful.

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Sun Jan 27, 2019 8:56 pm

Slow progress

The last of the brewery buildings have at last had their roofs put on.

Roofs 1.JPG


Roofs 2.JPG


These roofs will be laid with Cotswold stone slates.

Quite a lot of other details remain to be added, including dormers on the Head Brewer's house, a slatted roof vent on the brewhouse, gutters and rainwater pipes, chimney tops and chimney pots and soot weathering of the stonework.
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martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Sat Feb 16, 2019 12:59 pm

A WATER TANK FOR BURFORD

On Wednesday, Dave McCabe (“junctionmad”) started a short thread in Scenery & Structures asking for the dimensions of a ‘standard’, or typical, GWR rectangular water tank. I was able to confirm these, and promised to post here the prototype photos I had taken of the restored water tank at Toddington, having posted two general shots (which are copied below).
Digital camera 2011-12391.jpg

Digital camera 2011-12386.jpg


Before posting further prototype photos, I attach as a PDF file a short draft article describing my progress to date on the model of one of these tanks that I have been scratch-building for the Burford Branch.

Water tank (S4 forum).pdf


The photos below illustrate this model.
IMG_5002.JPG

IMG_5003.JPG

IMG_5004.JPG

IMG_5005.JPG

IMG_5007.JPG

IMG_5008.JPG

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The next photo shows the foundations on which the tank will be mounted.
IMG_5011.JPG

I have temporarily set the components in place on the layout, although as yet the structure is distinctly unstable, and the tank has been rather uncertainly balanced on legs which are definitely not vertical (!) [This makes me wonder about the structural stability of the prototypes, with their distinct lack of bracing, but I am not aware of any of them having been blown down in a gale.]
IMG_5019.JPG

IMG_5021.JPG

IMG_5022.JPG

IMG_5027.JPG

IMG_5024.JPG

I am not sure how much material can be uploaded in a single post, so rather than risk overloading the system, I will publish my prototype photos in a separate post here in a few minutes.
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martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Sat Feb 16, 2019 1:10 pm

Here are the promised photos of the tank at Toddington. The first few shots were taken in 2011 before all the plumbing had been installed. The later shots show some extra pipework. The rising main has now had timber trunking erected around it, although the GWR used separate planks, rather than the sheet material shown here.
Digital camera 2011-12357.jpg

Digital camera 2011-12371.jpg

247.JPG

Digital camera 2011-12372.jpg

Digital camera 2011-12377.jpg

B864.JPG

Digital camera 2011-12392.jpg

Digital camera 2011-12376.jpg

Digital camera 2011-12359.jpg

Digital camera 2011-12375.jpg

I'm going to knock off for lunch now. More photos to follow this afternoon.
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martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Sat Feb 16, 2019 2:13 pm

Here are the rest of my photos of the Toddington water tank.
Digital camera 2011-12358.jpg

Digital camera 2011-12369.jpg

Digital camera 2011-12368.jpg

Digital camera 2011-12361.jpg

B847.JPG

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Digital camera 2011-12363.jpg

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That's it for now. I am currently working on the roof vent for the brewhouse from Donnington Brewery. As I indicated in the article I posted this morning, it may be some time before I can get back to the water tank model and complete it.
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junctionmad

Re: The Burford Branch

Postby junctionmad » Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:06 pm

Brilliant thanks for all the pics

Dave

DougN
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby DougN » Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:34 pm

The water tower is interesting, as you say, regarding the lack of bracing to the legs. The number of hold down bolts appears to be the give away as there is a large number and a large diameter, so I guess the engineer thought there was enough bracing from the footings to be stable. I would find it interesting how big the concrete footings actually are. This gives the best indication as to how the engineer was going to brace the structure.

Another interesting point is the timber bearers to the top of the main steel bearers to give some movement capability to the tank. I wonder if the tank is fixed to the structure or just the dead weight holds it there.

I find all this interesting as at work I have the footing design for a lift shaft with a tower cranebase in it for a 9 story building some would say it isn't big enough but at about 10m x 5m and up to 3m deep it is a massive block of concrete! This is all that braces the crane which is a hammer head and can lift 7.5ton 35m from the base, and the building once it is built around it.
Doug
Still not doing enough modelling

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Sun Feb 17, 2019 2:03 pm

I have come across at least one photo that shows diagonal bracing wires fitted to one of these GWR tanks, but this is very much the exception. Perhaps, as Doug suggests, bolting them down firmly to substantial concrete pads was found to give sufficient stability in all except a very few cases. Maybe the example I noticed with the diagonal bracing wires was in an exceptionally windy location.

JFS
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby JFS » Sun Feb 17, 2019 3:13 pm

martin goodall wrote: Maybe the example I noticed with the diagonal bracing wires was in an exceptionally windy location.


I confess to having done no calculations, but I hypothesise that the buckling load of holding a dozen or so tons of water in the air is at least an order of magnitude greater than the bending load due to a Force 12 wind ;)

That said, I hope that the Boys who installed this tank DID do a calculation because had I done the design, I might not have used pad foundations (if that is what they are)

Fabulous work there Martin - looking forward to continuing installments.

Edit:- since, in this example, the tank does not appear to be fixed in any way to the supporting structure, perhaps the most interesting wind consideration arises when the tank is empty ...

Best Wishes,

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Sun Feb 17, 2019 7:54 pm

I hadn't previously considered the fixing of the prototype tank to the bearers, but this prompted me to look more carefully at the photos. Fixing bolts can in fact be seen which kept everything in place, even if gravity was the main adhesive force.

I am certainly not aware of any of these GWR tanks ever having fallen over, so whatever we may think of the methods of an earlier era, they don't seem to have given rise to any problems in practice.

JFS
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby JFS » Sun Feb 17, 2019 8:30 pm

martin goodall wrote:... whatever we may think of the methods of an earlier era, they don't seem to have given rise to any problems in practice.


I fully agree. I always smile when I see a "modern" Semaphore signal - which typically has more steel in it than would have been used to build a loco in pre-group days! This kind of thing might be effective, but never efficient - let alone elegant ...
semi_four.jpg


Best Wishes,
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junctionmad

Re: The Burford Branch

Postby junctionmad » Sun Feb 17, 2019 8:49 pm

In general modern design is far more efficient with materials then on the past , because material science and computers mean far more precise calculations and finite stress analysis can be done

What is different is that safety margins are far greater today then on the past , so while a structure may have been deemed satisfactory in 1890 , it would not so today , hence certain assemblies would be manifestly different

Dave

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Sun Feb 17, 2019 9:58 pm

'Traditional' semaphore signals with wooden posts were braced by guy lines, which countered any instability in the potentially flimsy structure itself.

The modern steel support for the bracketed semaphore display shown above has clearly been designed to be self-supporting without needing guy lines to brace it against wind pressure.

As discussed previously, the standard design of GWR water tank was clearly considered to be sufficiently stable in most locations not to need internal or external bracing.

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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby grovenor-2685 » Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:20 pm

'Traditional' semaphore signals with wooden posts were braced by guy lines, which countered any instability in the potentially flimsy structure itself.

Not just wooden ones, tubular and lattice post steel signals commonly were guyed also.
Getting back to the water tank, I assume the cage on the ladder and extra fencing on the walkway are new in preservation to meet H&SaW requirements.
Regards
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allanferguson
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby allanferguson » Mon Feb 18, 2019 10:33 am

Possibly a slightly niaive question. The big pipe is to let water out to the various columns; but where is the (presumably smaller) pipe to let water in? There might have been a pump, possibly steam driven.

Allan F

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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Mon Feb 18, 2019 1:53 pm

In answer, first, to Keith - Yes, the 'cage' around the ladder is purely required by modern rules on "Elfen Safety". In the good old days, there was no such protection, just a plain ladder, although a handrail was provided near the top for climbing onto and off the roof, and this handrail extended a short way along the top of the tank as far as the access hatch into the tank.

Next, in answer to Allan - The rising main is hidden inside the wooden trunking. As to how the water reached the tank, there were certainly some locations where it had to be pumped from a well. If the tank was in the vicinity of an engine shed, it would often be a steam pump, driven from a locomotive while it was on shed. Later, electrically driven pumps were used.

However, if there was a good head of water available not far away, it would be piped to the site (sometimes over quite a distance), and so the tank would be fed by gravity. There were some places where water was taken from the public mains, for which water rates had to be paid.

The location of the water tank at Burford, at the bottom of the Windrush Valley, would almost certainly have allowed a gravity feed from the hill ridge on the south side of the valley. It may well have been the same source from which the town as a whole derived its water supply.

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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Sat Feb 23, 2019 5:18 pm

Any of you who are “Friends of Pendon” will have received an emailed Newsletter in the past day or so, which contains a very well produced newsreel, covering last year’s ‘Diesels in the Vale’ event, the guest appearance at the museum of ‘Much Murkle’, and a well-illustrated explanation by Tim Peacock of the way he went about modelling one of the GWR water tanks of the type I have also modelled.

It was interesting to compare the materials and methods used by Tim with the approach I took to my model. Tim’s tank, which will take its place on Pendon’s ‘Vale of White Horse’ scene, was built from etches prepared by Robin Harding. I was unaware of these etches having been produced, but my model was started several years ago, long before these etches were available. I actually started my model in 2012, with the leg assemblies. Construction of the tank itself followed over a year later, towards the end of 2013. I am afraid this is all too typical of my model-making, and the model has languished in its box for much of the intervening period. It was Dave McCabe’s request for a note of the dimensions of these tanks that finally prompted me to write up details of the construction of my still uncompleted model here last week.

Tim Peacock used Evergreen section for the leg assemblies, as I did, but now that he has published details of his Pendon model, I shall gratefully adopt some of his other ideas when I eventually get around to finishing my model. (It’s that elusive ‘round tuit’ again; mine frequently goes missing!)

I was wondering how to go about painting the tank. In order to avoid hiding the rivet detail, I was going to airbrush my model, but I had not worked out how to add the Dark Stone surround, complete with its rounded corners. Tim Peacock hit on the excellent idea of spraying the Dark Stone first, then masking it off (including the rounded corners) before spraying the Light Stone as a second coat. This produced perfect Dark Stone edging and corners, and so I shall gratefully adopt Tim’s way of tackling this.

Tim used an etched ladder, as I proposed to do, but he has added the characteristic edging to reproduce the L-shape of the sides. I had proposed to omit this detail, but now that Tim has shown that it can be done, I shall have to do likewise – as it is a characteristic feature.

I am very grateful to Tim Peacock for his contribution to the Pendon friends’ video; it will certainly help me in finishing my model, and has also incentivised me to try just a little bit harder to ‘get it all right’ with this model, which I might not have done without this encouragement.

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:45 am

I have at last completed the final group of buildings behind the goods yard, except for some minor detailing. It seems to have taken a long time, although this is due at least in part to various pauses and interruptions. My model-making is never intensive or continuous, and so progress is inevitably slow as a result if this.

The first shot is an aerial view to show the buildings in context in the overall scene.

PHOTO A.JPG


The Goods Shed was removed in order to get these views.

PHOTO B.JPG


The Head Brewer’s House, which is faced with ashlar masonry, has been heavily weathered, using MiG powders.

PHOTO C.JPG


I used a photo I had taken of an ashlar-faced house in Abingdon to give me some guidance as to the effect that I should aim to reproduce.

PHOTO X (Abingdon).jpg


Photos of the corresponding house at Donnington Brewery did not show me what the door and the canopy over it looked like, so I based this detail on a photo I had taken a few years ago in Chipping Sodbury.

PHOTO Y (Ch S'bury).jpg


The Donnington brewhouse is a reasonably accurate mirror image of the original building.

PHOTO E.JPG


I was tempted at first to omit from the model the combined rooflight and vent, on this building, but I am glad I included it. I rather like the way you can see daylight through the window on the other side.

PHOTO F.JPG


My model of the two cottages (which will be occupied as offices by local coal merchants) differs significantly from the corresponding building at Donnington Brewery, although the general proportions of the original have been retained, and the window layout has been vaguely reproduced.

PHOTO G.JPG


The casement windows in this case are etchings from Modelex (originally Churchward Models, produced by Malcolm Mitchell). I have varied the colour of the stonework to suggest that the left-hand cottage was built as a later extension. I have also tried to reproduce the effect of tired and faded paintwork on doors and windows, etc.

PHOTO H.JPG


I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread the method I have adopted for reproducing Cotswold limestone roofs. The final photo below shows work in progress on one of the cottage roofs. A piece of hand-made rag paper has been given an overall watercolour wash, and the reducing lines of the slates have been ruled in on the paper. A sharp 4H pencil is then used freehand to indent the individual slates on the roof, using the ruled lines as a guide. It is quicker and easier than this sounds, and infinitely preferable to laying individual stone slates.

PHOTO I.JPG

Paving of the goods yard in front of these buildings will have to await completion of the over-line bridge and the Goods Shed.
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jim s-w
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby jim s-w » Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:01 pm

Good stuff

What I like about this is the impression of a restricted palette with regards to the colours. I assume this was a conscious descision?

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martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:52 am

Thanks, Jim.

Yes, I made a deliberate decision right from the start to restrict the palette to a very limited range of colours. I adopted this approach when painting the backscene and I have tried to ensure that this is carried through to the buildings as well (which is why some of the roofs are lighter in colour than they might have been in real life).

I have always thought of this layout in terms of a three-dimensional painting. So what I am producing may not be realistic in a photographic sense, but I am aiming for what could be described as "artistic realism" (which is something rather different). It is no coincidence that I have always been a keen enthusiast for the paintings of the French Impressionists, not to mention various other landscape artists such as Claude, Turner and Constable (among many others).

So far as model-making is concerned, I am an artist rather than an engineer. In the past day or two I was thinking that I really ought to get on with some rolling stock, but then decided that I would prefer to work on another building instead. (In the meantime, thank goodness for RTR!)

martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Thu Apr 11, 2019 4:41 pm

When posting the photos of the last few brewery buildings, I had intended to post copies of my photos of the prototype. So (slightly belatedly) they are now reproduced below.

The models are a mirror image of the originals (as they fitted into the scene better that way round), and so I have also reversed these prototype photos to match.

As I explained, I only intended the models to be "an artist's impression" of the originals, so they don't exactly reproduce the dimensions of the prototype, and some details have been deliberately omitted.

Donnington A.jpg


Donnington B.jpg


Donnington C.jpg
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martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:27 pm

The planned move of the layout that I mentioned in previous posts is likely to take place in the next couple of months. So dismantling will start shortly. But don’t panic; this layout was designed on the assumption that it would undergo several house moves over the years, and ease of dismantling and reassembly was built in, right from the outset.

I’ll post some ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots as the layout is dismantled. Re-assembly in its new home will be postponed for a time to enable some work to be carried out on the underside of the baseboards. I’ll explain the work involved once it gets under way.

Meanwhile, here are a few general shots showing the current stage reached in the construction of the layout.

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IMG_5330.JPG

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[I subsequently deleted from this post three shots showing the branch autotrailer waiting in the platform, which for some reason has been uncoupled from the branch loco. These were displayed upside down, and I was grateful to Alan Turner for correcting these and re-posting them in the next post below. However, this still did not seem to resolve the problem for some people, and so I then republished them in a later post.]

Finally, here is a part-built model that has so far managed to elude the camera. This is the loco crew mess hut – a dismounted broad gauge coach body. Like too many of my models it has languished half-finished for some time. I found a drawing for a broad gauge coach dating from the 1850s, and simply built the body from styrene sheet, and mounted it on timber baulks. The simple bolection mouldings were bent up from Evergreen strip. One of these days I really must get around to finishing this model.

IMG_5328.JPG
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Alan Turner
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby Alan Turner » Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:58 pm

Burford 1.png


Burford 2.png


Burford 3.png
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martin goodall
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Re: The Burford Branch

Postby martin goodall » Thu Jun 27, 2019 4:21 pm

Thanks, Alan, for sorting out the three shots above which I could not get to display 'right way up'.

They were fine on my PC, but the iPhone had been turned upside down to take these shots from a low angle, and the computer code embedded in the images seems to instruct other programs that, as they were taken 'the wrong way up', they should be inverted! ('Intuitive' software can sometimes be too clever by half.)


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