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scenery
the entrance to Glenthorne Hotel
County Gate is set on a windy ridge between
the East Lyn valley and the Bristol Channel between Devon and Somerset.
The railway runs on the slopes of the sylvan East Lyn Valley.
A pair of standing stones, each about a metre
tall, stood about 30 metres from each other, to the east of County Gate.
These stones stand near to the remains of two round barrows, which may or
may not be contemporary with them. County Gate has grown since the railway
arrived. The Glenthorne Luxury hotel, (that is,
toilets within 50 yards of your room) has been built close to the station
and is even equipped with a flat bowling green. This is popular with the better
off tourists and has developed a number of regulars including Major
Colvin, who is seen standing on the platform with his guns and fishing
rods. He missed the First World War, and has compensated for this
slight omission by killing as much wildlife as possible ever since!
East Lyn Valley near County Gate
our model of the valley with the viaduct
Model railway scenery has developed so much
during the years and nowadays, there is an amazing selection of specialist
products to help us along. The work of Roy England has been an inspiration
to us all. Sadly, very few of us can afford the time to spend 2000 hours
building a single cottage and garden, so we make compromises. One has to
say that when a model railway is viewed by the naked eye, many small
details cannot be clearly seen. The dreaded 'macro lens' can be a real
enemy here, and we are forced to improve our work or the 'lens' will catch
us out!
We tend to reduce detail as we go towards the
back of the baseboard.
ultimate detail in 4mm/ft - a cottage from Pendon
In designing County Gate, we first of all
designed the topography...without railway....then designed the
engineering to lay the line. We feel it is also important to decide in which
month we are modelling as plants are so specific to time of the
year. We believe that this way round produces a more
real landscape. We have tried to get a feeling of space and by some
standards, the station on a 7 '6" board might appear excessive. Our
five foot long baseboard with just 9 inches of visible railway is
considered by many to be quite potty.
A very big issue has been where to break the
model into different baseboards to minimise the impact of joint lines.
Another has been to try to obtain a seamless transition between model and
backdrop. On a long model such as ours, it can be seen from many angles by
the public. This means that great care has to be taken to ensure that the
effect is credible from all these angles.
We have at times had to make mini models of
the model to check that our ideas work out!
I am semi retired now, so the model was
started in my surgery. It invoked much interest from my patients as the
work progressed. Despite considerable care, the carpet has developed a
slight green tinge and quite a few holes where I dropped the soldering
iron! The
model now lives in our barn, which is lined and
insulated.
The sequence of building is most important.
Generally speaking, we start at the centre of the baseboard and work
outwards in all directions.
Things that don't
work
Woodland Scenics broccoli trees!
Woodland Scenics heat and pour water. The surface stays sticky and
attracts flies and every particle of dust.
Hair spray to fix foliage....like hell it does.
Flowers supplied by one company which are as realistic as early three rail
Hornby Dublo track.
Langley OO seagulls. The rest of Langley stuff is fine. In the end I got N
scale seagulls from them and they are just perfect for 00!
Adrian of the 009 Society during an encounter with a Langley 00 seagull
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