MORE SECRETS OF GREENOCK PRINCES PIER LOCOMOTIVE SHED

I really enjoyed Chris Nevard’s article about his model of Greenock Princes Pier locomotive shed in last month’s

Model Rail. I’d be interested to know how he created the water columns. I’m guessing they were built from scratch? And who made the lovely yard lamps?

C. Ramsden, by email Chris Nevard says: The various lamps around the yard were created using some test 3D prints from Modelu (www.modelu3d.co.uk), based on a Sugg’s design which seemed to be employed at many railway locations around the UK. Just the heads of the lamps were 3D-printed, leaving me to fashion the supports and posts myself from various bits of brass wire. I mounted some of them to Ratio plastic telegraph poles, while I also made use of an old wooden paintbrush handle to create a timber post. The lamps were a little fiddly to make, but well worth the effort. Indeed, making small details like this can be great fun, especially if you’re not in a hurry.

As for the water columns, these were also great fun to build. Looking at prototype images of Princes Pier shed, the columns were quite unusual. I certainly couldn’t find anything remotely similar in kit form, so I had to make them from scratch.

The columns started life as disposable ballpoint pens and the square tops were formed from sections of plastic card glued into a box shape. The filling ‘bags’ are strips of masking tape rolled into a cylinder and flattened randomly. Both the texture of the cloth-backed tape and the creased

Following what could be seen in old photographs, the brass wire was shaped into brackets to allow the lamps to be hung from telegraph poles – Ratio’s trusty poles can be easily modified and can look very convincing with the addition of lanterns, which were a common feature of railway yards.

surfaces capture the look of the real thing, especially once paint and weathering have been applied.

Another detail from the layout is also worth mentioning: the cosmetic yard point levers were fabricated from brass wire and plastic card. Unlike delicate proprietary levers, these can survive the inevitable meeting with a track rubber!

Chris Nevard’s re-creation of Greenock Princes Pier shed featured in last month’s Workbench pages.

Chris used a mix of scratchbuilding and kit-bashing in order to recreate this distinctive steam shed scene – read the full story in MR288

The attractive Victorian-style yard lamps were created with 3D-printed components from Modelu, mounted onto wire supports.

Cosmetic point levers are available as scenic accessories, but many of them can be fragile. You can make your own from brass wire, shaped with a pair of round-nose pliers.

Peter Marriott Rumour has it that MR’S resident scenery buff even uses a Gras-master on his own front lawn...

Chris Nevard MR’S ace photographer has a sharp eye for detail, both in front of and behind the lens.

George Dent MR’S editor and chief model maker can offer advice on almost any subject.

Dave Lowery Professional model maker who’s been there, done that and got the T-shirt!

For this imposing lamp, Chris created a timber post from the wooden handle of an old paintbrush, filed to a square profile. Again, a few lengths of brass wire created the supports and pipework.

With the addition of plastic card weights and planked decking, the levers look the part. Being fixed into holes drilled into the baseboard means that they’re resilient too.

With nothing remotely similar available in kit form, the unusual water columns were scratchbuilt. Plastic ballpoint pens provided the posts and the box-shaped tanks were fabricated from plastic card. The limp ‘bags’ were formed with flattened cylindrical rolls of cloth-backed masking tape. A very cheap, but convincing solution!