Mosslanda: Denton Road - Lights, background and hard landscaping…

Denton Road is my latest essay in N gauge, another Mosslanda sculpture, a slice of reality in the most perfect of small forms and ideal for many of our small homes…

Just 55x10cm this latest Hifi Micro has a taller viewing window than Wrecsam Canolog or Traeth Hafren, perhaps around the same as Fancy Another Beer, but I haven’t measured it. Within its small form lies a slice of a a familiar yet ambiguous ‘Northern Town’, welcome to Denton Road!

I have used the holiday to make progress on this compact scheme, a complete opposite to the HO scale Coal ridge Street with its wintry New England vibe. As I started the week there were basic lights in place but that was it - this morning things have come along way (see top and bottom images). 

The ‘stalling point’ has been wiring. Not track wiring but the 12v bus for the layouts own lighting, something I had been putting off for its fiddleness! In the end a few hours and some BBC Sounds Radio 4 documentaries and I had a working signal, lighting under the station canopy/building (not yet installed as I’ve not gone beyond the Paddington cardboard cut out) and a street light under the road bridge. To counter the yellow tinge of the station and road light, I’ve added Tamiya clear blue to some of the lens on the layout lid as previously described on Traeth’ and ‘Beer. 

The signal does work! Activated by a push button and then green for around 20 seconds before returning to red. A cheesy touch, but quite nice… the button sits on the single track end of the layout where the longer fiddlestick at home allows more operation - next to this is a two way toggle that switches power from the ‘main’ to the second platform in the station allowing you to shuttle a train in and out of that track into the two track fiddle stick which will be right of the scene.

A back ground has been found on the internet and worked up to have the gritty overcast feel I wanted (this is just two sheets if A4 glued together - which has worked well but I must remake it to improve the fit under the road). With that and the lighting in place I could start adding the detail around the plywood trackbed. Judicious use of styrene sheet, extrusions and textures has been made - and whilst the road underpass section has some colour the rest is still nude - I am pleased with the composition but do hope the colour brings the disparate materials together. 

The next few stages are the canal basin and under the bridges on the left, the mill and office building (left and centre), the platforms and rear of the station and the station office block over the tracks… once all of this is made, painted and weathered I can glue and fit much if it in place allowing me to then paint, ballast and finish the track and viaduct. It’s all being thought through to make sure the order works in the most sensible manner. The restricted space and access within the box demands a more considered approach.

Beyond the scene I’ve still got the fiddle sticks to make, but these are a known quantity now and just need some fine warmer weather - they will transform this diorama into a model railway so are perhaps the most important addition.

Sitting back and taking the overall composition in, enjoying seeing it above my desk, I’m heartened how close we have for to the original sketch. This itself the result of refreshed memories of train travel in my late teens and twenties after revisiting Durham in the summer. The model is a chance to build more structures, to practice compositional and artistic compromise, to play with ideas on viewing angles and lighting… but most importantly… a chance to refine my story telling.

Until next time, more soon…

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