Yorkie's competition entry Drewry shunter

Ok so this is what the whole scene looks like on it 8" x 8" footprint, the wires for the LED flickering fire will need taping secure and I shall have to check for light bleed out. To create the illusion of outside space I am experimenting using a picture card bent in an arc, this allows light to reflect onto the glossy print and also "anchors" an outside scene so the back scene can be viewed internally from different angles in the same way you might look out of a window in real life.

 

And this is what I mean... just the impression of external space through the window. I'm not sure if this will be the actual scene I shall use yet... we will see. Anyway just the chair to finish yet, add in a wall clock and change that faded No Smoking sign for something brighter then then I shall play the magic card which is the bit that brings it all to life with meaning but tis a secret right now... so tune in again nextweek for the final installment and the grand completion.

 

Nah ... Mark 1 stock was too modern for the Churnet line in the late 1950's and early 1960's, a few appeared towards the end on Blackpool excursion stock which had worked in ecs from Crewe Carriage Sidings hired in as Foxlowe Workingman Club Specials but that was all.

 

So this morning I did battle again with the chair, I say battle as this little piece is about 10mm square and 18mm high and the tiny cuts of plasticard had to be teased into position as best I could, the back curve was particularly nasty to form to shape and the blade insections have been picked up by the camera. I'll try and filler the nicks out once the solvent has had proper time to harden off, I think I can get the finish a bit better yet... this project apart from being a competition is for me as much about testing skills and learning from being experimental in taking chances to see what works and what doesn't.
Anyway I present you good folks of Platform 1 the parcel clerk's chair.

The wood effect was attained by a base coat of Light Rust colour followed by a thin coat of Concrete colour and then almost dry brushing a liberal coat of Cream. The chair seat was painted in French Grey and then a patch of grey green thin card cut to shape and placed over the French Grey which was still wet to form the material seat pad. As I pressed the card into place the French Grey oozed out around the edges forming what I though was a nice effect of depth. I put some more paperwork "clutter" on the desk ... looks like the clerk has the month end totals to balance up in the consignment book. I think these desks were of NSR origin as there were dozens of then in the offices of Stoke station and the wood patina was considerably darker than the chairs almost like a RoseWood varnish, I seem to recall that many had had their draw locks changed for either LMS or BR marked cabinet locks as you could often see where the draw front had been chopped out for a different type of lock. I was told once that railway office clerks in the olden days had tall stools to sit on a bit like those you'd find in the chemistry lab at school, only the managers had chairs to sit on apparently.

The ash effect on the fire surround was attained by dry brushing French Grey over the tops of the threshold and fire grate front.

 

This afternoon I decided to play around with LED effects so I lit a fire and this was the result.

 

Still experimenting with the external backdrop scene... and I'm not convinced this one works so well but the intent is to have something which reflects mist, cold and woodland... all typical Churnet Valley features if you have experienced North Staffordshire on a drizzly day or evening. Anyway the LEDs are flickering red, constant red and constant yellow with some real coal placed over for luck. I suddenly realised we need a coal box to keep a pile of coal in, a small shovel and a poker so it looks like a trip over to the workshop to strike up the soldering iron.

 

Cheers Mark... blame a chap called Dave Fleet for leaving parcels all over the floor and a very religious porter called Terry Murphy for not picking them up because he was always up at St Mary's RC. I knew and worked with Dave at Stoke many years ago and strangely enough Dave was the best man to a chap called Neil Bentley who just happens to be one of the research team working on Andy Sollis's Leek signal box 3D project. I know Neil too because he used to drive the mustard van for Stone P.Way gang in the 1970's. Now even stranger Neil's uncle was a Stoke driver called Arther Pepper and as a junior railman in training as it were I had a cab ride down the Churnet on the sand once with him driving 24054, Huge Brown was the guard who filmed a lot of colour footage of the NS lines in the 60's because he was an avid photographer enthusiast... much of which he filmed off the back of a brakevan has now been re edited and found its way onto You tube. Funny old world isn't it the internet?

 

A few good railwaymen there, on the extreme right is Stoke Driver John Poole (RIP) and to the left of John is ex Bescot driver Terry "Old Sausage" Essery... brother of wagon book author Bob Essery. Starting again on the left is Richard "Closet" Waterhouse then Signalman Instructor Chris "FatB" Proctor, Derby driver Richard King, then Pete Waterman's buddy Steven "Cake" Latham, yours truly and to my right Martin Badderley who wasn't a railwayman.

 

Well this is it for the competition scene ... its all finished and populated with the stars of the show a few little secrets in the detailing. So the stars are the Exasperated Lady, the Parcels Porter on the phone, the Girl Parcels Clerk sitting on the desk and the Platform Porter with sweeping brush. In essence the exasperated lady with hands on hips has lost a parcel and cannot understand where it is... more on that later but first lets check out some detail.

Inset picture shows the old North Stafford duck egg blue paint on the back of the tallboy cupboard where the consignment notes are kept, the peeling poster and some notes on the staff notice board.

 

So this is how I did the back scene, a glossy colour postcard of the countryside curved to show a 3D effect through the glazed window, the fire is three flickering 3V LED's covered in transparent pink film covered with small pieces of real crushed coal.

 

Now lets look at the characters more closely, last week the exasperated lady sent a parcel to her married daughter who is expecting and so far she claims it hasn't arrived. The foreman porter on the counter is a man of great experience in these matters and is phoning the receiving station inquiring as to where the package might be.

 

The Parcels Clerk is a young girl recently employed on the railway she hasn't quite learnt the refineries of business etiquette and is perched on the end of her desk looking back checking the previous weeks dispatch records. The fire is well stoked and is giving off some good heat as today it is cold outside. The Platform Porter leaning on his sweeping brush is trying to remember which train he put the missing package on, he is confused, he doesn't have a good memory.

 

Ah the young Parcel clerk has found the dispatch entry for the missing package and the porter still looks confused.

 

So now the scene is set ... you get the idea.