Basingstoke the next show, 10/11th March 2018, Dock Green

[Dog Star]

Please form an orderly queue there, tickets available at reasonable prices, a good show is available to all.

A summary of the show - layouts / traders / societies - including directions, disability access, opening times and admission prices can be found here .

This topic has a different take on content this year... until now I have chosen the photos and I have written the captions, where possible for 2018 I shall be encouraging layout owners to choose their favourite images and write about why their selection is important to them. This might not be possible for every layout which is attending our show, not least because not every layout owner provides photos.

regards, Graham Beare

 

[Dog Star]

The first layout for this topic is one that I have admired from afar (courtesy of RMWeb) and close up... it would be rude not to as Dock Green has attended a previous Basingstoke Show. When starting out with this topic I was very aware of how well each new posting from Chas is received and just posting pictures seemed to be repeating what he has done before. So I asked Chas if he could select the photos and write the captions with the criteria that the photos are his "favourites" and the captions explain why each photo is a personal favourite.

Over to Chas:-


Dock Green depicts an industrial corner of 1950’s London and this corner epitomises the atmosphere I wanted. The factory wall on the left was conceived as a screen to hide an off-stage area. The fire-escape (made from etched brass parts prepared by Peter Harvey) has lifted this to one of my favourite areas.





The busy centre section of the layout is where all the pointwork is located. I designed the layout so that it should be divided into sections by a number of bridges. It has resulted in a number of linked scenes with the movements of the trains appearing and disappearing between them. The canal provides the rationale for the only underbridge and was always a must-have for the layout.





A number of favourite elements are combined in this picture. An N7 class locomotive (built from the excellent Connoisseur etched-brass kit) waits for the road at a GNR somersault signal (made from brass parts by Wizard Models). The bridge was scratchbuilt from plastic sheet and moulded sections and the brooding retaining walls are foamboard structures faced with embossed plastic brick sheets.





Dock Green has many interesting details that all contribute to the overall scene without appearing cluttered. The bridge (scratchbuilt by Peter Culverwell, a good friend), the goods platform with it’s canopy and access steps, the anonymous hut and the area of stone setts in the foreground all work together to create a convincing backdrop for the trains.





The area at the far end of the layout, under the goods platform canopy, needed something to lift it. I put an office in place but this didn’t really work, it was too easily overlooked. Putting lights in drew the eye but only served to reveal that it was empty. I had a lot of fun making a detailed interior with a coat rack, notice board, filing cabinet, a desk littered with books and papers. A figure (the foreman or a clerk?) sits on a swivel chair at the desk and keeps an eye on the work on the platform. The platform barrows (from brass etches by Peter Harvey) although really quite small have over fifty parts soldered together.



So, what do you think about this alternative way of presenting Show layouts?

Graham