Build a quayside warehouse

Kirsten Shell creates a fish warehouse for her narrow gauge Cornish harbour layout.

After spending much of the last year at home, I soon realised that I was not going to get my planned week-long holiday in Cornwall. Instead, I decided I would bring Cornwall into my home in model format – minus the seagulls trying to steal my fish and chips.

Cornwall is a holiday favourite for many and a preferred family destination going back to the time of my grandparents. They regularly took my dad and his siblings on summer holidays. The county has a varied and interesting past with multiple industries shaping its history, from fishing and mining to modern-day tourism. This makes it an interesting area to model, and engages my creative skills while evoking memories of Cornish seaside holidays. It all ties in with my love of historic England and railways.

For a number of years, I have been modelling alongside my brother and dad on our shared ‘OO’ layout in my parents’ garage, but I decided during the early part of last year that I would finally go it alone and produce a layout for myself that I could enjoy in my own home, especially with the ‘stay at home’ message we’ve all faced.

I was originally planning a ‘OO’ gauge end-to-end layout but, with limited space in my house and no room for a shed in my tiny garden, an alternative was required. Upon researching ‘009’, I decided that this would allow me to have a fair amount of railway activity in a small space, while also enabling me to carry on my main interest, which is 4mm scale buildings and scenery.

After measuring up the corner of my dining room, I established that I had enough room to build a 4ft by 2ft layout, and this has become my Cornish coastal harbour town, which goes by the name of ‘Porthtren’. The name is a play on the revived Celtic language, with ‘Porth’ meaning port or harbour and ‘tren’ meaning (unsurprisingly) train.

So, as the dining table became the school room for two children of primary school age and the work office for my partner’s job, it also became a modelling hub. The dining room became the most used place in the house during all three lockdowns, with little space for our evening meals as an actual dining room…

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

As ‘Porthtren’ is my first dip into the world of ‘009’ it has meant, in a sense, that I am starting from scratch. You could call me a ‘novice’ modeller and that has meant that I’ve had to do a lot of research, not only into ‘009’ gauge, but also British narrow gauge railways in general, especially Cornish railways, the first of which opened in 1812.

Of course, what I am modelling is completely fictitious. However, I am hoping to bring lots of the Cornish historical past to life within my layout, starting with a typical harbour scene.

Early on in my planning I knew that I wanted some form of dominant feature at the forefront of the layout. The idea behind

having a harbour railway line and warehouse came about when I discovered the excellent Peco AGR Models exclusive ‘009’ Fish Van. This, in turn, led to numerous late nights on the internet researching harbourside lines, and that’s when the idea of a fish warehouse was born.

Fishing in Cornwall is a centuries-old tradition, with pilchards being the most prominent in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Even today, fishing remains a vital industry, albeit with crab and lobster now being a significant catch. Traditionally, fishing has been one of the major sources of income for the county, with every coastal town and village having a link to the industry. As my layout of ‘Porthtren’ is, in essence, a re-creation of a large coastal village with tightly packed fishermen’s cottages and a harbour, a fish warehouse seemed fitting for the scene.

In the past I have always stuck to kits, sometimes kit-bashing a few different ones together. After searching the market

I realised that although there are some excellent model warehouses available, both in half and full relief, there was nothing that quite fitted a Cornish harbour. Most of the kits I came across were either far larger, with more of an industrial air, or orientated towards a ‘OO’ scene, especially when I required one that had to include a door the right size to fit a ‘009’ box van.

I did purchase a laser-cut kit that seemed to meet my requirements. However, upon arrival it became apparent it was far too large for my layout and would dominate the scene. It was at this point I realised that I would only get what I genuinely wanted by scratchbuilding. So, with inspiration from structures such as the sardine factory in Looe, and the warehouses that front Newlyn harbour, I set about designing my own building.

TAKING THE PLUNGE

Scratchbuilding has always felt rather daunting, mainly because I often doubt my own workmanship. However, now that the help and support of fellow modellers can be found via social media, I’ve discovered a whole new area of creativity. Furthermore, with many excellent products on the market, it has been far easier than I ever imagined to scratchbuild this warehouse. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I’m already planning to scratchbuild further important structures for my layout. After all, every Cornish harbour needs a pub!

I’ve come to realise that one of the beauties of designing your own buildings is you get to be in charge and get to meet your own bespoke needs. I am in no way a professional modeller, with no experience of modern-day CAD techniques and suchlike. Therefore,

I have simply put pencil to paper and designed according to what both looked and felt right.

As with any model, there is plenty that can be added to increase realism, and this will be done once the warehouse has been planted onto my layout. There is an ever-increasing supply of detailing accessories being offered by companies, such as fishing net crates and lobster creels. I can honestly say this has been my favourite build to date; as the saying goes, ‘once you scratch – you won’t go back’!