This is yet another post which first saw light of day on 'The Chronicles of Penhydd' only to be continued here where I've done a little editing and updating as I've gone along. I first became aware of St. Mary's crossing signal box when I came across a drawing that appeared in an early issue of the Railway Modeller, I can't tell you the exact one off the top of my head but I think it would have been in the early seventies. Around the same time Peco published some very interesting books by Eric Ilet which featured drawings of railway buildings and structures. Now sadly out of print the book below which was No.5 in the series was first published in 1977 and includes drawings of St. Mary's crossing box. Thirty six years later in January 2013 a start was finally made on modelling it and two years later on I actually finished it!
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The following photographs show the real St.Mary's crossing as it is today, I never intended modelling the scenes they capture as I wanted to create my own version of the crossing, complete with the signal box as it appeared in the Ericplans book and my version of the cottages. I had been looking for an excuse to model the signal box for many years and Llangunllo provided one, in fact the layout was built with the crossing in mind, everything else being planned around it. The bridge in the background crosses the Thanes and Severn canal, there is a lock tucked somewhere down there not to mention the River Frome. But in my little world its the River Lugg which meanders through the scene and under the bridges as it passes through Llangunllo and down the valley until it joins the River Wye, as for a canal, well one never reached these parts. The box itself is a GWR type two of 1875 and is still in use today, Tim Maddocks posted a lovely photo feature over on RMweb showing the crossing gates and no end of other interesting detail, there is also a rear view of the cottages. should anyone be tempted to model the real place they will find plenty of inspiration.
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| Photo by Nottsexminer http://www.flickr.com/photos/nottsexminer/7810400604/ |
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| Photo by Nottsexminer http://www.flickr.com/photos/nottsexminer/7810400604 |
I took a different approach when building Llangunllo, instead of starting with the baseboards I built all the track and then started to model the signal box and the adjacent cottages. My reasons for doing things in that manner was so I could continue to operate Penhydd whilst working on the new layout, I was also able to judge if the crossing scene would work as I had pictured in my minds eye. Originally I had intended to build the crossing scene in one section so it could simply be added to the new layout as a sort of jigsaw piece, other pieces for the station platform and dairy being built off the layout and added to it as I went along. I thought such a method of construction would help avoid any back pain as I wouldn't be leaning over the layout for hours on end adding those important little details. However like many other ideas that enter my head for various reasons things didn't go exactly to plan. I started off by making a rough sketch of how the model would be built and the way in which each part would fit together, the idea was then tested out by making a card mock up. Scratch building is simply a case of designing and building your own kit of parts and extremely satisfying.
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| The basic shell was made from 30 thou styrene sheet overlaid with Slaters embossed stone courses. Each wall was clad in turn taking care to align the courses, once set the edges were trimmed and the courses carved at the joints to blend them together. The floor is Slaters embossed sheet but in this case 2 mm planking, plinths have been modelled full depth to enable the building to sit into the ground as shown in the drawing. |
In the top photo the fireplace and hearth are beginning to take shape, they are nothing more than scraps of styrene left over from other parts of the build, detail such as this is easy to model. The rear window is being modelled in the lower photo and with no etch of the correct size being available the frame has been made from microstrip.
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I prefer using the Slaters embossed stone sheets because the relief isn't too deep so the buildings seem to blend in with the surrounding rather than jump out at you. If you look at a real building whether it is of brick, stone or timber construction there is hardly any relief, try running your fingers along a real wall, if the surfaces were scaled down then they would appear almost smooth like brick and stone papers. Its mainly the effect of light hitting a wall, picking out the different colours as it does so and casting shadows which makes them look rough and uneven. Mind you there are exceptions such as in the case of drystone walls and their like.
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| Windows can be a right pain, pun unintended, the rear one and those in the locking room and door were made from microstrip and took an age. Elsewhere I was able to use a suitable etch which made things far easier and quicker, I don't usually like mixing materials but in this case it worked out fine. |
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| The upper panels are from 30 thou styrene sheet, overlaid in 2mm planking and Evergreen strip. The cabinet by the side of the locking room door as shown in the drawing is yet to be added. |
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| The landing is ready for the stairs to be attached but I left them off until the end of the build fearing that they would only be damaged if fitted at this stage. These days a couple of fold up etches are available but to me they look a little flat, I was going make my own stairs from Evergreen strip then I discovered that the plastic parts from the Ratio GWR signal box were available as a separate item so I used those suitably modified instead. Since then York Modellingmaking have introduced a laser cut kit of parts which look very nice indeed. |
I dread making roofs and fitting gutters as it is so easy to get things wrong and spoil your model.
The shape of this particular roof needed careful plotting to capture the correct angles and pitch, as usual scrap card was used to work everything out and to act as templates before cutting any styrene.
To help add strength to the model I made a false roof comprising of an inner and outer section, the inner section fits between the four walls of the box thus forming the ceiling and also keeps the walls square. The main roof overlaps the walls and forms a convenient location for the gutters and a firm foundation for the slated part of the roof. Gutters were formed by cementing strips of 30 thou styrene sheet around the edges of the main roof and then shaping them into a half round section.
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| The gutter section on the left has already been shaped by gentle scraping it along its length with the back of a craft knife blade and nail boards. The strips on the right hand side are still to be shaped, final finishing being carried out by using wet and dry paper to create a smooth uniform appearance. |
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| Here you can see the open section of the gutter which was made by first scribing a guide line all around the roof. Next a triangular file was used to create a vee section with the final profile being formed with a round file. A gentle scraping action taking a little material away at a time is all that is needed, once again the job was finished off by using wet and dry paper. It sounds more difficult and time consuming than it actually is but its both easy and quick to do. The first supports for the roof surface have been fitted with another four yet to be added between the centre to each corner. |
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| Once all the gutters had been shaped, brackets made from Microstrip were attached. The advantages of making gutters in this manner are many. Not only are they very strong but for this design of building where they continue all round the roof it makes for very neat corner joints |
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| I decided to use Wills slates for the roof but thinned them down and chamfered the edges to give a much finer appearance. The upper panel is not yet secured in place and was left loose until the box had been fitted out and the windows installed, the tops of the plinths also await fitting.. |
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| The nearest window frames I could find to suit the box were these from Brassmasters. I'm a huge fan of this range because they are very cleanly etched and ridiculously cheap, the mail order service isn't bad either. |
Though the window frames are the correct style they are 0.5 mm wider than they need to be. It might not sound much but it all adds up resulting in the end window openings only being wide enough for three x two panes rather than the four x two of the prototype. I could have commissioned an etch or made the window opening a little wider but my model wasn't meant to be an exact replica of the real box so I was happy to use what the trade could supply off the shelf. Personally I am happy with the way the build has worked out and don't feel the reduction in the number of window panes affects the appearance of the building.
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| The etches had to be trimmed down to fit the window openings, the smaller window represents the inner sliding frame. They were easy enough to trim to size, a few passes with a new blade fitted into my Stanley Knife soon removed the waste material, mind you I did use several blades! The final finish and fit was achieved with a selection of needle files and wet and dry papers. |
The front windows presented no problems as it was easy to adjust the width of the central and outer front panel pillars. The cubicle on the side of the box was made up from 30 thou styrene with a roof of 15 thou. Hinges are from microrod and strip, it sits high because the box will be sunk into the ground and then it's base will be flush with the ground surface. A study of the drawings posted earlier clearly show how the land falls away to the rear of the building.
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The interior walls now have stone and planked overlays, skirting boards and window sills. The exterior stonework was painted by applying Railmatch acrylic concrete paint over its entire surface. Most of it was then removed with cotton buds leaving the colour in the mortar courses and on a few randomly selected stones. Precision Weathered Wood enamel was then dry brushed at an angle across the stones in both upward and downward strokes. Humbrol Light and Dark Earth was then dry brushed across the surfaces in the same manner, once again the cotton buds came into play and paint was removed at random, finally out came the old talc and the model was given a dusting all over whilst the paint was still tacky. Our local chemist no longer gives me strange looks now she knows what I use nail boards, cotton buds and baby powder for !
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| This is how the scene might have looked had it been possible to model the low stone wall which skirts the road as seen in the prototype photographs. No matter what I tried the scene was either overcrowded or I encountered difficulties in merging the road over the bridge and into the backscene. I also needed extra space for the river bank so after a little trial and error I eventually came up with the arrangement that you see today. |
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The cottages like the signal box are not meant to be exact replicas, the real thing being used as a source of inspiration. They are made from a 60 thou styrene shell which was overlaid with Slaters embossed stone topped off with a roof of Wills slate. Chimney pots, rainwater goods, the ornate window frames and the wall ties are also made by Wills. Whilst I searched for some suitable etched windows I fitted some Downesglaze examples which had been lying around for more years than I care to remember, they helped to give me a feel for the building as construction continued. The lime wash render finish was achieved by painting neat white artist acrylic over the embossed stone, stippling it with a stiff brush to create different textures. In places the blade of a craft knife was used to peel areas of the paint away revealing the stonework beneath it. Paint was also lifted away by using cotton buds and wet and dry papers. Finally everything was toned down with washes of dirty grey to give a weather beaten effect, then a mix of sap green and burnt sienna was dry brushed around the downpipes, dry course and under the gutters and window sills, a dusting of talc and that was that. I hadn't a clue how things would work out or what I was doing at the time because my ideas were experimental, sometimes you win and at others you don't but I like to think I got away with it on this occasion.
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| Now with some slightly modified Ratio signal box steps temporarily fitted the buildings stayed like this whilst I continued to work on other parts of the layout. |
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The camera can be ever so cruel and the interior looks far neater than it appears in the photo, well I would say that wouldn't I ? The first job involved glazing the windows and once again I used some Laserglaze offcuts which are held in place with superglue, now I happen to believe that the person who wrote the instructions for this stuff got it wrong because in my experience it sticks better to greasy finger tips and surfaces than it does clean, prepared ones, I also managed to glue my 6" scale rule to my shirt sleeve and then my sleeve to my cutting board, is it just me or what ? The various interior fittings have been salvaged from the old Penhydd box but the lever frame needed shortening, if the levers are in the wrong order I apologise but the truth is only their tops can be seen once the roof is in place which begs the question why bother fitting out the interior in the first place as I have no intention of installing any means of lighting? On the high desk in the bottom left hand corner the train register awaits its next entry and a comfy looking armchair can be seen positioned against the fireplace, the floor is a piece of Slaters planking painted chocolate over sand, a stiff brush drawn lengthways helped produce a grain effect. Before you ask, yes the chimney stack has been trued up, damn the camera! |
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| The block instruments are suspended on a shelf hanging from the ceiling and once the roof is properly secured it will hopefully be level. The lever frame has been sunk into the floor and also needs levelling before the front panel is glued in place. |
I was much happier once the glazing and interior had been completed as I hate such jobs, in fact I would go as far as to say that I hate building signal boxes and perhaps that is the reason why this one has taken so long. But with all the fiddly bits out of the way I could at last fit the front panel and roof and I began to enjoy myself as the building came to life. The top half of the box was now ready to be painted in the faded WR colours of chocolate and cream. I stopped purchasing the so called railway colours years ago as I much prefer to mix my own shades up from a small basic selection of enamels. Once dry everything was given a wash of dirty black mixed with a little grey, a few areas being dry brushed with the same mix before a dusting of talc was applied to flatten the finish and blend everything together, I then set the box aside whilst I prepared the ground to receive it.![]() |
| The first stage of the weathering process, having tried to apply the paint as neatly as possible the next job was to tidy things up and cut some of the muck back with sharpened cocktail sticks, cotton buds and a touch of thinners. I certainly didn't want a pristine finish because the box is in an exposed location and well off the beaten track, the layout is also set in the pre Beeching era when repaints weren't carried out unless closure was on the horizon :-) Downpipes are from Micro- rod bent to shape under the hot water tap with wall clamps made from soft iron wire twisted around them to produce a typical twin ring design. As mentioned in previous posts the steps are Ratio, however the railings around the landing are made from Evergreen strip. Ridge tiles are from Micro-strip and 5 thou styrene. |
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The cottage boundary fence now extends around the signal box, a gate protects the drive entrance.
Weeds and tufts of grass made from static grass have taken root in the ash surface which surrounds the box and a hedgerow has sprung up beside the road bridge over the River Lugg. |
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| Looking in the same direction as the previous photo but from ground level. |
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| A view looking in the opposite direction, a 'Beware of the Trains' notice has been prepared ready to take its place at the edge of the fencing. |
Two years and three days later the level crossing scene is almost complete and so is Llangunllo.
