Garden Railway Forum

Getting closer!

The main structure is now finished and painted. It needs to be properly bedded-in and I need to finish off some of the detailing - eg guttering, plaque, door handle, fancy finial, etc. I could also do with the plants in the background growing quickly to hide the workshop! . . .
The beam engine is installed in the engine house, but I need to install lighting so it can be seen!

Rik

Absolutely brilliant!!!!!!..... the brickwork looks perfect and the roof shows up the loose slates so well. The engine house is a real cracker. Too much additional detailing might detract from the structure, which is wonderful in its own right.

Cracking job, Rik.
Yep, it is a shame not to be able to see the engine.

This is in no way a criticism, but should there be a chimney somewhere?

philipy wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 3:41 pm Cracking job, Rik.
Yep, it is a shame not to be able to see the engine.

This is in no way a criticism, but should there be a chimney somewhere?

In the building on which this is based, the boiler house and hence the chimney is behind the engine house.
I've not enough space to model it unless I do it as a backdrop.

Rik

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 2:58 pm Absolutely brilliant!!!!!!..... the brickwork looks perfect and the roof shows up the loose slates so well. The engine house is a real cracker. Too much additional detailing might detract from the structure, which is wonderful in its own right.

Thanks Peter
I take that as praise indeed from someone I regard as the master of building construction.

Rik

Very handsome building Rik, going to stick my neck out! the brick colour, is that some sort of flint brick, or is the local clay that colour. Just interested!
I share your wish for plants to grow quickly to hide the shed, I'm presently trying to "stretch" two plants higher now the ground is starting to warm up a little. Plenty of fertilizer so they'll hide the background.
Grant.

Hi Grant
I'm not sure of their origin, but quite a few industrial and railway related buildings and structures in the UK are constructed from blue engineering bricks. They are still available - https://www.buildbase.co.uk/baggeridge- ... 97-2800950 . They have a glossy outer appearance, almost as if they are glazed, and are more durable, less porous and hence less susceptible to damage in damp or frosty conditions.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_brick

When they built my garage, the bricks below the damp course are red engineering bricks possibly because we are on clay??

Rik
PS It looks as if your supposition that the brick might be local to the area is correct. The building is in Staffordshire where the blue brick originated - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staffor ... blue_brick

Furthermore, it's known as the Etruria Bone and Flint Mill, so maybe the original source for the clay is extremely local. Stoke on Trent is, of course, also famous for its pottery.

That is very impressive and I recognised it as Etruria. I'm originally from Stoke and have visited several times. A bottle oven would be a serious challenge in foam board!

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 7:27 am blue engineering bricks.

Well I learn something new everyday, thanks Rik for the explanation and the links. I didn't want you to think I was criticizing your brick colour. We have clinker bricks down here but they aren't completely blue like those engineering bricks.
Grant.

So I'm telling Pam what I have just learned about the bricks, as soon as I mention Etruria, she pointed out our dining setting by Wedgewood of Etruria and Barlaston. Now I know.
Thanks again Rik, fount of information this forum.
Grant.

Although they are known as "Staffordshire Blues" and "Blue engineering bricks", they often had a sort of reddish/purplish tinge.

The Great Western also used large bullnosed bricks embossed with a diamond pattern for platform edges.

LNR wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 11:23 am Thanks again Rik, fount of information this forum.

For Rik, read Wikipedia ...... My knowledge is all secondhand....

Just done a bit more digging as to why that area of Stoke on Trent is called Etruria and discovered that the beam engine in the former bone mill (now a museum), is steamed on the first weekend of each month. I think a trip to Stoke is on the cards next month ......
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruria,_Staffordshire

Rik

Now more or less finished. I've 'concreted' the ridge tiles into place (with Milliput) and drawn, 3D printed and fixed in place the guttering and downspouts. All that's needed now is to bed it more firmly into the base and add some clutter and workmen. Not quite sure what sort of clutter will be needed - piles of steaming animal carcases, bags of fertliser, cartons and crates of gelatine??? . ' . .
It's taken a bit longer to finish off than expected - partly due to problems with my computer and then the 3D printer, and a short break walking up mountains in N. Wales with a couple of mates. But I got there in the end!

Rik

No need to hurry Rik, I'm sure we enjoyed the process as much as you.
It does look the part, and with the extra 'clutter' make a meaningful addition to the railway.

ge_rik wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 11:27 am Not quite sure what sort of clutter will be needed - piles of steaming animal carcases, bags of fertliser, cartons and crates of gelatine???

From what I've read, a bone mill wasn't a rendering works and the cattle bones would have had some processing at the knackery and be fairly clean by the time the bone mill got them. The description mentions boiling the bones to clean them up before calcining, but mentions glue as the by-product, not gelatin.

No real mention of how bones were transported, but by the '30s the bones were just as likely to be resourced from overseas rather than locally, so they'd have been semi-processed and packed in bags at a guess. So bags of bone in, bags of bone ash out. If they still produced glue in the ‘30s, that would have gone out in bags as well.

The mill also processed 'cornish stone' (weathered granite) and flint for the potteries, which presumably arrived in bulk in an open wagon. So there's another bulk inward traffic, as well as the coal and firewood for the boiler and furnace. Coal might have come in by cart from local pits, but firewood would have to come from further afield.

The mill still needs a chimney and a furnace though....... Low relief perhaps, but they don't have to be behind the building and they would look OK at each end.

The mill building is looking very impressive, but I'm still having trouble relating to the colour, being a Victorian it looks like bluestone to me. I'm used to brickwork being red, sometimes with decorative yellow and black brickwork on a polychrome style building.

Regards,
Graeme

Very nice Rik.
The mortar in the ridge tiles really adds 'life' somehow. I'm with Graeme about the need for a chimney at least, low relief or otherwise, though.
If I'm being picky, some flashing would finish off the joint between the brickwork at the LHS of the engine house and the adjacent roof.

As for clutter, a couple of wheelbarrows and/or 4-wheel trolleys on the platform? Perhaps a ladder? I wonder if things might have come in or out in barrels rather than sacks? Just thoughts to play with.

Looks absolutely terrific. Interested to see how you go about bedding it in..

Thanks chaps
Now blogged the build for anyone who might be interested
https://riksrailway.blogspot.com/2020/0 ... lding.html

Rik

philipy wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 4:44 pm As for clutter, a couple of wheelbarrows and/or 4-wheel trolleys on the platform? Perhaps a ladder? I wonder if things might have come in or out in barrels rather than sacks? Just thoughts to play with.

I did wonder about a few barrows or trolleys loaded with bones. I did a quick search on Thingiverse for 'bones' and found the vast majority available for 3D printing are of human origin, with skulls being particularly plentiful, though there is also the occasional dinosaur skeleton......
.
Maybe I should rename it "The Burke and Hare Boneworks"

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:32 am though there is also the occasional dinosaur........

Not quite as far-fetched as it sounds....... Look up 'coprolite digging' which was a uniquely UK industry in the 19th century. It was used for fertiliser though, not bone china, so wouldn't have been seen at Etruria I should imagine.

Regards,
Graeme