Re: A Light Railway for the Western Dales
Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 11:09 pm
I can't believe it's been 4 years since I contributed to this thread about my line, but I'm going to try to make amends, and by necessity that means much of this is catch up. The initial spur for the railway was the alleged Housedown Pottery, outside Black Burton. Keen enthusiasts set to building a railway to serve the Western Dales initially utilising much of the engineering done for the light railway that served the pottery.
Of course, for the story to hold up, I needed the remains of a pottery. As the photo in the first post in this thread shows, that initially consisted of a basic 'shell', half collapsed/demolished, constructed from 5mm foamboard scored and cut to resemble the remains of a pottery building, with small vestiges of the roof and supporting timbers remaining.
However a pottery requires a kiln, so I decided to attempt a bottle kiln. The ideal former for such a kiln would of course be a large bottle - say, a champagne Jeroboam? Unfortunately I didn't have one, and couldn't find anyone who did so I opted instead for a standard sparkling wine bottle. I cut many blocks from 5mm foamboard, and used superglue to adhere them to the outside of the bottle
This gave me the basic shape. The corners were sanded off the 'blocks' and then the whole was covered in exterior grout to fill the gaps and tie the blocks together, and a chimney was formed at the top, completely enclosing the bottle.
As the pottery was now derelict, a rough redbrick wall was constructed to block the kiln firing entrance, and a suitable sign was handpainted to deter adventurous souls form risking life and limb. The finished result was quite effective, and so took its place on the railway, adjacent to the derelict pottery building.
Since that time (2014) both the building and kiln have been permanent fixtures on the railway (see photo below) - the kiln is now starting to show signs of deterioration which will require cosmetic work if it is to survive much longer.
Indeed so great is the concern regarding the state of the building and kiln, that we were graced with a visit by archaeologists from the well known TV programme, Time Team, who have expressed an interest in many features in the vicinity of the railway. Who knows, maybe one day Housedown Pottery will be on TV .
Of course, for the story to hold up, I needed the remains of a pottery. As the photo in the first post in this thread shows, that initially consisted of a basic 'shell', half collapsed/demolished, constructed from 5mm foamboard scored and cut to resemble the remains of a pottery building, with small vestiges of the roof and supporting timbers remaining.
However a pottery requires a kiln, so I decided to attempt a bottle kiln. The ideal former for such a kiln would of course be a large bottle - say, a champagne Jeroboam? Unfortunately I didn't have one, and couldn't find anyone who did so I opted instead for a standard sparkling wine bottle. I cut many blocks from 5mm foamboard, and used superglue to adhere them to the outside of the bottle
This gave me the basic shape. The corners were sanded off the 'blocks' and then the whole was covered in exterior grout to fill the gaps and tie the blocks together, and a chimney was formed at the top, completely enclosing the bottle.
As the pottery was now derelict, a rough redbrick wall was constructed to block the kiln firing entrance, and a suitable sign was handpainted to deter adventurous souls form risking life and limb. The finished result was quite effective, and so took its place on the railway, adjacent to the derelict pottery building.
Since that time (2014) both the building and kiln have been permanent fixtures on the railway (see photo below) - the kiln is now starting to show signs of deterioration which will require cosmetic work if it is to survive much longer.
Indeed so great is the concern regarding the state of the building and kiln, that we were graced with a visit by archaeologists from the well known TV programme, Time Team, who have expressed an interest in many features in the vicinity of the railway. Who knows, maybe one day Housedown Pottery will be on TV .