The prototype for Mike Lynch’s layout didn’t win any beauty contests. Nevertheless, the scene is evocative of a particular era and, for him, is filled with childhood memories.
PERRY BARR
Mike Lynch
FACT FILE
Layout Name: Perry Barr
Scale/Gauge: OO
Size: 8' x 2'
Era/Region: 1970s/80s West Midlands
Layout Type: Through scene
Perry Barr isn’t the prettiest station on the network and, indeed, has been described as one of the worst examples of 1960’s Railway Architecture. It does, however, have historical significance. It opened for operation on the 4th of July, 1837, and initially served the Grand Junction Railway that linked Birmingham with Manchester and Liverpool. The line, completed over a year before the London to Birmingham route, was arguably the world’s first long-distance railway. This makes Perry Barr one of the oldest operational stations on record. In spite of this grand beginning, it was eventually reduced to nothing more than a suburban halt servicing local passengers between Birmingham and Rugeley (The Chase Line). However, a section of the route was electrified in 1966 as part of the West Coast Main Line scheme. This became a crucial link in the system and provided a diversion for main line traffic whilst maintenance work was carried out between Wolverhampton and Birmingham. Given its history, and is in the area where I grew up, the station seemed a rather fitting choice for my first serious attempt at a prototype layout.
BASEBOARD
The Baseboard is 8ft x 2ft and is a straightforward beam and board construction with lengths of 50mm x 25mm supporting pieces of 12mm MDF. Twin tracks of Code 75 were laid on a light curve leading up to the platforms; the track being a mixture of Concrete and Wooden Sleeper sections. As the layout is set in the 1970’s, I figured that this would relay a theme of transition as was the norm for the period. Concrete Truncking from Model Railway Scenery was laid between the tracks and a signal from Express Models was placed at the end of the Down platform. Scenic breaks are the bane of all layouts and whilst the concrete over bridge provided a convenient cut-off at the station end, I had to invent some sort of break on the left. I finally decided to use a typical blue brick, WCML construction. This did exist, but it was much further up the line at the real location. Whilst compromises like this were made, most of the layout is fairly accurate. I didn’t just rely on memory alone and was able to source some brilliant photographs of the station taken by Steve Jones in the late seventies. These were of the right era and just how I remembered the station as a lad.
SCENICS
The platforms are from Scalescenes; a brilliant product that’s cheap and quick to construct. Whilst they are shorter than those on the prototype, they are actually not too far off true length. Once they were complete, ballast was applied using the time-honoured technique. The rest of the structural elements were cobbled together using a combination of Scalescenes textures, mounting card, pieces of 3mm ply, plus anything else that came to hand. A simple ply box structure of the station bridge was constructed first and covered in sandpaper in order to convey a concrete finish. The wall and steps were knocked up from mounting card and then attached to structure.
To create the surface crenulations, as seen on the prototype, I carefully glued on sandpaper strips at 2mm intervals. The retaining walls were made from 6mm ply and, again, covered in sandpaper. This was all given a coat of grey emulsion followed by several coats of black wash to create a realistic finish. On the prototype, the current bridge replaced a typical Victorian arch in the early sixties in order to widen the main A34 (Birmingham to Walsall road). The architects would have also been aware of the future electrification of the line and therefore designed the bridge with utilitarian, rather than aesthetic, considerations. However, this sheer mass of concrete has inspired much criticism since.
The 1960’s Blue Brick station building is another simple box made from mounting card and then rendered with the appropriate Scalescenes texture. The windows were made from thin card and painted white before being mounted behind the openings. I used an old plastic file cover to create the frosted glass look and installed LED’s for night time operation. The exaggerated, rather odd-looking, exit sign was also made from thin card with the letters printed onto a slither of acetate. There was a good reason for it on the prototype as the steps for the Down platform also led to a subway ramp that went up to road level; this seemed to be permanently gated so passengers had to be left in no doubt where to exit via the ticket office. I’ve installed a LED in my version so it illuminates just like the real thing. It’s worthwhile noting that the station entrance shared the building with four other shops that faced out onto the road. The platform shelters were faithfully copied using a combination of card and Scalescene’s textures. The flaked painted effect was achieved by rubbing a glass fibre pen over the surface once it had dried. In real life, these buildings were very run down and I distinctly remember how damp and cold they were. In fact, there was an electric fire in the Up Platform shelter that never worked!
The embankments were the last of the structures. I’ve seen a lot of different methods for constructing these, but they always seem to require a lot of time and expense. Being someone that builds layouts on a tight budget, and also known for losing interest if things don’t move apace, I have my own cheap and quick method. Cardboard boxes were first cut down to make angled wedges, which were then attached to the baseboard, at two-inch intervals, with a glue gun. Strips of cardboard were then glued over the top of these and all joints sealed with masking tape. A generous coat of watery PVA was then used to glue down basket liner on top of the cardboard shell. More glue was brushed over the top in order to bed it down. Before this dried, static grass was swiftly applied and various flocks, Heki trees and bushes placed accordingly. It’s a simple method that makes for a surprisingly strong structure once everything has cured. In fact, both embankments took a little under eight hours to complete.
The final touches included the laser cut fence, from Model Railway Scenery, which was placed along the top of the rear embankment after painting. Whilst the overall effect of the scenic area looked pleasing, my wife noted that it looked a little too rural for a suburban setting. The station does actually look like this as it borders a Park, but the layout did need some sort of a reminder of its location. I therefore placed a factory structure behind the fence and also included a blown up picture of the old Polytechnic behind the station building.
OHLE
Like all stations on the WCML, portal gantries are used to support the overhead wires over the platforms. Whilst there are some notable 4mm British Outline products, there seems to be very little of the gantry type stuff available. I, therefore, decided to have a go at making my own. I’d made several of these from galvanised wire for my first layout, Paternoster Row, way back in 2009 so knew it was achievable. However, these depicted the heavier type and I needed at least four of the MK1 light-weight portals. I would also need two of the ‘H’ girder types for the open section. In order to achieve this, careful measurements of the layout were taken. Several jigs were then made up and tried out until an acceptable method of construction was found.
Step 1
To make the jig for the lattice elements, a piece of plasterboard was cut down and lines scored in the paper covering to reveal the Gypsum underneath. These grooves were essential in keeping the longitudinal wires firmly in position during the making up process. Plasterboard is easy to work and also takes a lot of punishment from the flux; handy if you are using the same jig time and again. The wire was first stretched in a vice to straighten it and also introduces a little tension to prevent it from being too malleable. It was then given a thorough sanding to remove the galvanised coating. I used two diameters of wire; 1mm for the outer beams and 0.5mm wire for the angled connectors. The positions for the angles were then marked out on the jig in order to achieve the correct spacing required. The wire was then simply cut to the lengths needed and tinned. I used tweezers to hold the small wires whilst working because I really didn’t want to accidentally touch hot metal, or the tip of the soldering iron, whilst concentrating on the task! Two sides were created for each portal.
Step 2
This simple jig was devised in order to join each of the portal sides together. Two pieces of 3mm MDF were glued together to make an inner spacer; this is soft material, which made drawing it out of the finished portal an easy task. Two pieces of 15mmx5mm soft wood were also used to hold the portals in alignment against the spacer. The lower bar was simply swivelled back to release the portal after completion. These were simply tacked down to a piece of tongue and groove. Note the marks scored on the upper holding bar, these provided a visual guide for spacing. Once both sides were placed it was simply a matter of soldering pre-cut pieces of the 0.5mm wire along the top. This process should have been repeated along the bottom, but I decided to solder only four straight connecters in order to give the structure some rigidity. In hindsight, however, I wish I’d made the additional effort. Once washed down, each completed piece was given a good sanding down to take the rounded look off the longitudinal wires. In reality, these portals were constructed from horizontal lengths of ‘L’ angle, but trying to achieve this effect would have taken a substantial amount of expensive brass section.
Step 3
The upright stanchions were the next item to construct. Two square ‘U’ channels were made for each of the uprights required. I used 0.75mm wire in order to achieve the correct scale width. Four wires for the flat part and two wires for each side to form the desired ‘U’ shape. Once two channels had been completed, they were placed opposite each other in a jig similar to that used for the portals. Small pieces of tin, cut from an old biscuit lid, were then soldered at appropriate intervals to join them together. These give a good impression of the joining plates that are seen on the prototype. To get that crisp angular look to the channel edge, each stanchion was given a thorough filing and sanding once cleaned.
Step 4
The stanchions were then connected to the portal in another simple, but effective, jig. This was a piece of 3mm ply cut to the correct dimension and nailed down to a piece of 12mm ply. Tacks were used to hold all of the elements in place during the joining process. The top of the portal was simply soldered to the top of the stanchion. For the bottom angle connector, I used small pieces of brass 1x1mm brass ‘L’ angle. It’s a signature feature of the British MK1 portals and using the brass certainly compensated for some of the inaccuracies found elsewhere. It must also be noted that my creations are slightly over scale, particularly the lattice sections; a necessary compromise in order to achieve a more proportional look given the materials used.
Step 5
The two ‘H’ girder-type portals were then made up in a similar jig. These were made from 3mm x 3mm brass section supplied by Eileen’s Emporium; a necessary extravagance as nothing else would do. I tried making some out of wire, but they looked clumsy and were quickly discarded. Small pieces of 1mm wide flat brass were used for the angle supports. It was a good decision to use quality products, even though this goes against my ethos of building to a tight budget. It certainly helped create a much more believable interpretation of the prototype. The brass was simply soldered at the joints making both portals relatively quick to make.
Step 6
The registration and suspension arms were the last items to make and install. These were fairly simple to create by bending dressmaking pins to the desired shape. The pins were deftly scavenged from my wife’s sowing box. However, this only led to a long lecture on the merits of asking for permission first! To lend these a little bit of authenticity, some of Colin Graig’s superb 4mm scale insulators were used along with hand wheels from a Brassmasters fret (P004). Two brass wheels were soldered together for the support pulleys; the arrangement providing a handy groove for the top wire to sit in. A small loop of fine electrical wire was also soldered to the end of each registration arm to hold the lower wire in place. The arms were then finally soldered onto the portal using the measurements that had been drawn up on the jig beforehand. The final thing to do before finishing and painting was to add a small peg to the feet. This was made from coat hanger wire and soldered in place. Everything was then given a final wash before painting. Once dry, they were test mounted on the layout in holes that had been already drilled in predetermined positions. Once satisfied with the arrangement, the portals were glued into place and it was on to the installation of the wires. Fine electrical wire was used in the first attempt, but it proved too tricky to work. Cotton, therefore, became an obvious choice, but instead of using the ordinary sewing type, I decided to invest in a roll of Embroidery Cotton. It’s very sturdy and does not tend to fur. However, and try as I might, I couldn’t get the top support wire to sag in that characteristic way as on the prototype. Being so thin this is hardly noticeable. Small slithers of electrical wire were used as the hangers. For ease, these were simply glued on in oversized lengths, left to set, and then trimmed with nail scissors.
Stock
I’ve had a lot of fun running my Blue and Yellow stock on this layout, particularly my collection of Hornby Class 86 variants. Most of my RTR is second-hand, but after a bit of detailing and modification, I think they stand up rather well alongside their modern counterparts. However, the layout would have been meaningless without a WCML EMU. With no RTR examples available, I had little choice but to order a Southern Pride AM4 (Class 304) kit. Whilst beautifully made, these kits are not for the faint-hearted and, being a complete novice, I made rather a hash of it at the start. However, I learnt a lot from my mistakes and managed to pull it all back from total disaster. One slight modification was made and that was to add a full length running board to each of the 4 cars. These are a remnant of an earlier age and I distinctly remember this feature as a child.
Conclusion
Despite the usual frustrations, I’ve had a tremendous amount of pleasure building Perry Barr. It has certainly helped me recount the days spent standing on those platforms as a lad. Some of my fondest recollections, though, are of the many shopping trips to town on the train with Mom. On return, she would always take my sister and me for a slap-up meal in the ‘Shell Bar’; a chip shop at the far end of the over bridge building. It had a small seating area that was festooned with fishing nets, baskets and life-size models of sea creatures. Remember, this was the 70’s and décor like that would have seemed to represent the height of sophistication back then! A few years ago, we found one of the plastic creatures, a lobster, still wrapped up in newspaper at the back of one of her kitchen cupboards. A memento she’d obviously gleaned from the owners before the place closed down. It struck me that the memories of those days must have been as important to her as they were to us. Perhaps, that’s one of the main reasons why we build layouts; an attempt to recapture the memory of those happy, carefree days of youth.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES
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