Archive 9: Merseyrail Minories - a previous Mollington Road...
Whilst the more recent 'industrial' Mollington Road has been sold I found these old pencil sketches for a previous version whilst digging about for some old scale drawings I thought I had filed (as I'm sure many of us do - suffice to say I found what I was looking for - and this too)...
At the time of these illustrations I was working in OO gauge and building Paxton Road (1), a 1998-2000 era MOD depot off north of Southampton, this though was altogether more nostalgic - a slice of Merseyrail set in the slightly earlier period of mid 1990s - as the units were being painted in the pale grey and yellow with light/dark grey 'Regional Railways' stripe and 'M' logo. I had been reading old Peco plan books and discovered for the first time Cyril Freezer's classic Minories!
Although I couldn't work out how to model the electrics it struck me that the Hatton's limited edition 150/2 in Merseyrail would be a great stand in along with a re-worked Lima 73/0 in the yellow/brown Merseyrail livery (one that my own 73/0 wore, amongst a few others in the 1990s!!).
Looking back there is a simple honesty in these pencil doodles - annotated with thoughts on detail and ideas on composition. These traits hopefully flow through todays work, but I wonder whether the scheme could be revisited in the future, perhaps in N? For now though it is now captured forever on the blog - and hence will be easier for me to find next time I don't know I'm looking for it! Until then, more soon...
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Hi James. I suppose that there is a chance that these will turn up in 507/508 identity at some point in the future:
ReplyDeletehttps://revolutiontrains.com/product-category/pre-order/ngauge/class-313-314/
David
That could tip it back into the ring… I still think it would be a lovely thing, shades of Birkenhead but as a terminus.
DeleteThat area of the the Minories plan between the entrance to the layout and the overall roof is such a key feature that I'm sure it could work as even more minor version with the station effectively being a fiddle yard. Or even, in 2mm scale, a continuous run coul be used allowing through trains and possibly reducing the stock requirements and with urban scenery over the loop
ReplyDeleteIf Revolution did a Merseyrail 507/508 I’m not sure I’d be able to contain myself. I’d probably think about using Peco code 55 track though just with the amount of time and faff saved - especially if most is disguised with 3rd rail?
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