LAYOUT: George Street
Huge industrial revolution period buildings clad in thick layers of grime make for an imposing centrepiece on SHAUN HARVEY’S freelance BR blue-era masterpiece.
Shaun Harvey’s freelance BR blue-era masterpiece.
At first glance, ‘George Street’ has very little in common with Dave Shakespeare’s ‘Tetleys Mills’. After all, it’s ‘N’ gauge, with BR blue diesels, and it doesn’t feature a canal. But single out any one of the gigantic Industrial Revolution era buildings that loom high above this modern image railway and Dave’s influence suddenly becomes apparent. ‘George Street’ builder Shaun Harvey describes the structures on ‘Tetleys Mills’ as “imposing”. And the height and grime of Dave Shakespeare’s buildings has driven Shaun to achieve a similar effect. The layout was originally conceived because of Shaun’s determination to build a BR blue era layout with a difference. He explains his thinking: “With an exhibition layout, you sometimes feel pressured to fit as much in as possible to keep people interested. But with a home layout you’ve got more freedom to do what you want. “I wanted to take advantage of the available space and focus on creating a freelance layout that looked as if it were a real place.” Alongside ‘Tetleys Mills’, Shaun turned to the real world for inspiration. He says, “I was influenced by the big mill buildings that could still be found in the Midlands during the 1970s and ’80s, which towered over everything. “The retaining wall and cutting was inspired by trains I saw heading into London Liverpool Street from where I live in Norwich.” PRINTED AND PLANTED The majority of buildings are built from downloadable Scalescenes kits. He says, “I wanted to keep the buildings as aesthetically consistent as possible, so most of them are from Scalescenes, although there are some ‘ready-to-plant’ resin structures, too.” The huge industrial buildings are arguably ‘George
Street’s’ centrepiece. But it’s not just the size that make the background buildings so effective, it’s the thick, grimy weathering too. Shaun explains his technique: “A lot of railway infrastructure is Victorian, so I really wanted to convey the grime of the industrial revolution and the unloved state many of these buildings fell into in later years. “I brushed black weathering powders into all of the nooks and crannies and, with downward strokes, slowly built them up until they were suitably heavy. “The final touch was to add small clumps of green scatter, to represent weeds growing through crevices.” To ensure that the layout always looks its best, Shaun takes the time to retouch any tired areas of weathering. He says: “The colours tend to fade a little over time and so I’ve refreshed it on several occasions. I actually did this just prior to the Model Rail photoshoot.” One of the most prominent features on the main industrial building is the Harvey & Sons Shipping Company sign - a reference to Shaun’s family. The lettering originated from another layout, but the ampersand fell off. However, Shaun opted not to replace the
I REALLY WANTED TO CONVEY THE GRIME OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND THE UNLOVED STATE MANY OF THESE BUILDINGS FELL INTO
missing character, to further convey the run-down state of the building. COMPOSITION While a freelance layout allows much more creative freedom than a prototype, the modeller still has to fit everything into the available space. ‘George Street’ is 16ft by 2ft so Shaun had to get the track to turn through 180 degrees in just 2ft. Says Shaun, “I’d heard that you should avoid first and second radius curves where possible, but they were necessary in such a tight space.” Although the entrance and exit to the fiddleyard is Peco Code 80 Setrack, the rest of the track is Peco flexible track because he “wanted the track to run from the tunnels into the middle as gentle flowing curves”. “It is paramount to me that the railway looks as though it is secondary to everything else - as if it has been built into the landscape,” he says. “I was determined not to have any track running parallel with the front edge of the baseboard - something I associate more with a train set. I also wanted slightly curved platforms.” You might think from the photographs that Shaun has built a gradient into ‘George Street’ but the trackbed is actually entirely flat. Cleverly, it’s the undulating surroundings that creates the illusion of gradients.
“Track isn’t always flat in real life, but I chose not to implement any gradients,” Shaun explains. “I focused on the topography of the surrounding land instead. That said, I’d like to try gradients in the future, so I’ll probably do that on my next layout.” JUST THE THICKET Despite the industrial theme, ‘George Street’ contains its fair share of greenery, and it’s dominated by lots of trees. ‘N’ gauge trees can sometimes be a little underscale, so to maintain a realistic height, Shaun opted to use ‘OO’ models from Bachmann and Hornby. “I wanted the trees to look consistent and the Bachmann and Hornby trees looked adequately similar,” he explains. “I tried to clump the trees together in realistic groups, deliberately placing larger trees at the front, which appeared to push the railway back slightly, creating more depth.” Shaun’s passion for ‘George Street’ is infectious; he talks enthusiastically about the effect that Dave Shakespeare has had on this layout and though ‘Tetleys Mills’ has inspired it, ‘George Street’ is very much Shaun’s own. And despite the size of the industrial buildings, there’s a lot of small detail to grab the attention. From the almost unheard of ‘N’ gauge point rodding to the tiniest of cameos, ‘George Street’ is proof that 1:148 scale should never be an excuse to skimp on the detail.