4mm Podimore: constructing a scene

[AJC]

Oh wow, Steve! Yes, that one - a minor testament to the decline of rail freight and the gradual winding down of BR's reach in a minor detail.

Adam

 

[AJC]

So, some actual, discernible, progress. Ok, so the building in question hasn't got as far as cutting plastic, but the dairy (that's mostly off scene) needs to be hinted at. The concept is that this dairy was independent, acquired by United Dairies and expanded - not a stretch, it's a pretty common account - and that allows 'small' dairy/creamery buildings rather than the really quite large structures commonly seen and occasionally modelled. It's quite a small space so half-relief is the order of the day, and as noted, most of it is off set.

So, this is the churn intake building, in part modelled on a mirror image of this one, at Glynde, in Sussex, a small, independent, creamery. Picture borrowed from Google StreetView.



StreetView also allows you to scale, which resulted in this sketch (which sense checks well, with nice rounded Imperial dimensions), with a bit of assistance from a prop I made earlier:



The idea is that the deck of the lorry should be roughly level with the platform, and here's the vehicle in question - it'll be swapped around with a big United Dairies Scammell:



The end wall is a bit more pragmatic, it just has to fit... Whether I follow the canopy of the prototype, dagger boards and all, or do something different, I'm not sure.



More when I've found the plastic sheet!

Adam

 

[AJC]

Some basic bits. Ends, front wall, base to keep everything square, all in chunky 2mm sheet. Note that I’ve made the ends slightly different depths, just to pull the eye away from the backscene and to detract from the ‘oblongness’ model railways are prone to.



There’s going to be a small projecting extension on the left hand end, again, to partially obscure where the backscene goes and to accommodate a pipe bridge in front of the mousehole or the way into the dairy yard.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Progress. First set of overlays for structural details including the gable window, ready for cutting out. Note that the intake wall looks as though it’s rendered - easier to keep clean, seemingly near universal - while the end, and below where a steel platform will be, plain brick, Flemish bond.



Adam

 

[AJC]

Since it’s a big, plain, shed of a thing, progress is quite swift.



Inserting the window; there should have been another - but that would have looked odd - in the gable end was simple, adding the platform along the front, likewise. A little more detail to come, and the more interesting extension will follow.



Some 5 thou’ to represent the concrete lintel and some 20 thou’ for the cills completed proceedings for the day. So do I have a packet of Wills corrugated asbestos? You’ll have to wait and see.

 

[AJC]

Having been to the bakery just now, the shed was open so I thought I’d test fit the intake building and the (still) incomplete barn, to sense check the extension before I build it. The lump of polystyrene represents the other view blocking building, whatever that will be. Dairies do lend themselves to odd shaped lean-to structures of various kinds, or Hemyock had a pair of large vertical cylindrical oil tanks…





One feature of visual interest will be a mix of roof materials, double Roman tiles (a ubiquitous local feature in south Somerset), on the barn - once I’ve worked out the dimensions to model the things -to go with the asbestos of the dairy, the tin on the station, and so on.

Adam

 

[MarkR]

Hi Adam,
Your dairy reminds me of the former dairy at Somerton, not too far from Podimore!
Mark

 

[AJC]

Hi Adam,
Your dairy reminds me of the former dairy at Somerton, not too far from Podimore!
Mark

I didn’t know that one until you mentioned it, but yes (though intake buildings look much the same regardless of where they are!), but see also the creamery at the end of Westland’s airfield, the one above Street, what used to be Haynes at Sparkford, etc. Somerton or Hemyock is the sort of scale I had in mind though. Big enough to be rail-served, in a small way (I have bits for three milk tanks: trust me, that’s probably enough for my sanity), but not overbearing. The vibe is a Southern Hemyock, after all.

Adam

Adam

 

[Phil O]

Has Hayne's gone from Sparkford? I'm sure I saw signs for it, the last time I went up the A303.

 

[AJC]

Has Hayne's gone from Sparkford? I'm sure I saw signs for it, the last time I went up the A303.

I think they're still there, just not using the old dairy building (it's been up for sale for a while).

Adam

 

[AJC]

The next step is the extension, which will cut into the intake shed and hide most of the gable end, while hinting at the rest of the dairy. Something like this, sketches from an image of a Unigate dairy in, I think, Salisbury. I'm really not sure where I found the image so it's reproduced here under advisement. Most of what I'm after is hidden behind the TK:



Anyway, here's the initial outline: I'll need to do a proper dimensioned sketch later.



Key to the effect I’m after is the Braithwaite water tank and wooden screen atop (not sure what it was screening, but they seem quite common).

Anyway, I’ve made a start on the tank: etched panels from Gibson, plastic sheet core. I’ve found some nice etched Crittal windows (AMBIS) in a box, so I may well use them here to balance the wooden frames elsewhere.



Adam

 

[Phil O]

Adam,

I think covering the water tank stops algae forming and causing contamination.

 

[AJC]

Adam,

I think covering the water tank stops algae forming and causing contamination.

I’m sure that’s right, especially in a food context, but that’s not what I meant. The louvred wooden structure on the top has no roof and is common to lots of dairy sites.

Anyway, with an empty house and pouring rain, I’ve moved forward with the building below the water tank.



Here’s the normal viewing angle, the ‘letterbox’ is to accommodate windows in a set of top hung sliding doors, the lower opening for windows. You’ll be able to see that I have found my supply of corrugated asbestos sheet and mocked up some to illustrate the roofline.



So the extension is big and dull and plain. It’ll be leavened with brick in time, but I hope the shapes and masses are evident?

Adam

 

[Dog Star]

I’m sure that’s right, especially in a food context, but that’s not what I meant. The louvred wooden structure on the top has no roof and is common to lots of dairy sites.

If you are referring to a "brown" cubic shape...with slats... this may be for cooling a liquid. Running water through the slats over pipes containing the liquid to be cooled by evaporation of the water and air currents.

 

[Phil O]

I’m sure that’s right, especially in a food context, but that’s not what I meant. The louvred wooden structure on the top has no roof and is common to lots of dairy sites.

Anyway, with an empty house and pouring rain, I’ve moved forward with the building below the water

Adam

Sorry, I thought you were talking about the tank and not the louvred structure.

If you are referring to a "brown" cubic shape...with slats... this may be for cooling a liquid. Running water through the slats over pipes containing the liquid to be cooled by evaporation of the water and air currents.

Yes I would agree, some sort of condenser, especially as there's two chimneys in the view, a small version of power station cooling towers.

 

[AJC]

The current state of play. The roof is on, brick cladding on the condenser building, and an appropriate prop to offer a sense of scale and the appearance of the structure on the layout.



Adam

 

[AJC]

A little further on, with all lintels in place and a canopy for the intake. The latter is all asbestos sheet, of course, no fancy dagger boards here… Still to be done, some finessing of joints, a start on guttering, and the rear slope, not that you can see it, if the roof. Oh, and a set of doors allowing access to plant in the brick extension.



Adam

 

[AJC]

Oh yes, the doors. These are quite a common pattern, typical of industrial installations from the first half of the 20th century high, small, multi pane lights and matchboarded infills. These, to be fair, are large examples of the breed, and are top hung sliding affairs. Easy to make: a fret of 10 thou’ over 30 thou’, making a complete assembly about 3” thick. Stages one and two below.





Adam

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

I thought you would have had the subheading as 'dairy diary'

Out of curiosity were these smaller independent dairies generally pre WWII structures?

 

[AJC]

Out of curiosity were these smaller independent dairies generally pre WWII structures?

Probably most of them, I'd guess. I think Martin Finney has modelled the dairy at Semley as part of his model set in 1912 (and that one survived into the '60s: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/mil...now-dairy-house-antiques--401946335464256870/. Glynde, which we've seen above certainly was: Glynde Creameries.

The example at Somerton @Rob R @MarkR mentioned was bombed (probably by accident) during the Second World War. The Applin and Barrett dairy in Yeovil (origin of St Ivel, incidentally) was, and was rebuilt after a fire in 1912: Yeovil's Virtual Museum, the A-to-Z of Yeovil's History - by Bob Osborn, they took over a flax mill at the far end of Westland aerodrome in the '30s - Yeovil's Virtual Museum, the A-to-Z of Yeovil's History - by Bob Osborn - and so on.

There's a few useful and very interesting images from the Milk Marketing Board (Wales) archive here (again, mostly pre-war buildings): Photograph: MMB exterior, Llangefni, Anglesey | Peoples Collection Wales

Adam