The Friargate Line

[Rockdoc2174]

It's been a few more weeks since I posted but work has continued on the route. I've pretty much finished placing assets for the Cotmanhay area of Ilkeston and now need to finish off the area between Bath Street and the Midland lines through Ilkeston Junction. It's the first time I've done a townscape and it's been quite an enterprise. I've ended up with just under 1,000 assets on one tile and 1350 on another so I'm concerned about how well it will run this section on weaker machines but I've still got a lot of detailing to do. One area that is puzzling me is a group of prefabs right by the line. As you run past on an embankment the area is completely exposed so I need to look at detailing the gardens but the attempt I've made doesn't look too good so I'd welcome any suggestions.

Most of the area is a roof-scape so detailing isn't needed for much of it. I think it's worked quite well.

As a change I've started looking at the Erewash flood plane to the north of Bennerley Viaduct. It was and is mostly farmland but it's been totally transformed by open-cast mining so what you'll see in the route isn't altogether what you would have seen back then because that amount of landscaping would be insane - even if my skills were up to it! The Nottingham Canal has almost completely disappeared and Giltbrook Viaduct and the subsequent embankment for the Pinxton branch have been demolished to make way for the Kimberley by-pass but both would have been visible. In the end I was quite surprised how much the current layout retains elements of the landscape of sixty years ago and putting the canal and embankment back, plus the pit heap at Lodge Colliery, wasn't a great problem. Now the embankment and canal are in place and I'm comfortable with their positions I can add the old field boundaries with a bit more confidence. This is the basic view from Awsworth station and it gives a good idea of just how far I'm having to add detail.

Keith

[Rockdoc2174]

I had to add the embankment that ran most of the way from Giltbrook Viaduct to Newthorpe & Greasley station the other day because, it became clear, it would have been seen from the main line. I tried to make the gradients similar to those on this section of the Pinxton branch but wanted to test it so I laid some track and ran a train along it. The gradients are about right but there would have to be a fair amount of landscaping done if we were ever mad enough to add the branch properly. Lodge Colliery's grounds were a couple of metres higher than the track but, at the moment, are a similar amount lower. It doesn't matter for the time being because the branch is only for AI traffic in this iteration of the route.

Taking a screen grab as the train approached Giltbrook Viaduct on its way to Colwick, I seem to have come across a limitation of the game. There's a large wood (Cotmanhay Wood) just in front of the smokebox on the horizon. The terrain shows up as basic green, even though I've done the fields there. I knew that the game stopped drawing assets but it now seems that it also stops drawing painted terrain, too. Oh, well. It can't be helped!

Keith

[briyeo]

We are still slogging on with this seemingly endless project of ours. I have had to have a break recently due to other distractions. I'm trying to find smaller interesting models to build.



The downpipe is supposed to be kinked like that by the way.

[Pauls]

Brilliant !

[TrabantDeLuxe]

Indeed! Very solid model .

[Rockdoc2174]

Brian uses an older version of the route so as not to lose anything he's working on so here's the Up shelter in my up-to-date version. He's working on the Down shelter at the moment and it's every bit as good as this one. It's a non-standard design for the route - not really a surprise because Awsworth station was opened several years after the rest of the line - and we had to agree how it worked first! The bit that had us fooled was the central part, which acted as the booking office. The whole station's a peculiarity, though. It was repainted in LM Region colours where several others were not but, apart from totems on the lamp-posts and the gents' urinal it did not get any BR signage, soldiering on with LNER boards to the end.

Awsworth Up platform looking towards the Giltbrook Viaduct.

The overgrown area behind the platform is the site of the branch to Bennerley Ironworks that closed in the 1930s when the Ironworks ceased work. Between the two brick buildings in the centre ground is the embankment for the former MR branch from Bennerley Junction to Nottingham that closed during WW1. In the left background is Lodge Colliery on the GNR Pinxton branch.

Awsworth Up platform looking towards Cotmanhay over the Erewash Valley

And this is looking towards Cotmanhay.

A tatty Ivatt 4MT 2-6-0 calls at a similarly run-down Awsworth in the 1960s. The flower beds are still looking good, though!

Like Breadsall, the staff at Awsworth were enthusiastic gardeners and kept up the flower beds to a high standard even as the station was being run down so they've got to go in. Here they used whitewashed bricks as edging and Brian's looking to produce a loft for those, too.

The absence of the trees on the skyline of the first image compared to the photo is because I haven't started on that section yet. The run towards Kimberley is likely to be a tricky one to get something like it should be. As for other news on my side of things, Ilkeston is largely complete, though it needs more detailing. I'm currently adding fields to an area I thought wouldn't be seen but can be...... Next I'm going to work on the other side of Bennerley Viaduct, looking towards Cossall, and try to complete Awsworth village.

Keith

[briyeo]

I'm missing a lot aren't I keith

[Rockdoc2174]

I haven't been idle!

Keith

[briyeo]

The main platform building at Awsworth was divided into three sections, the nearest section was the Ladies Waiting room, it saw very little use in practice and doubled as storage space for the staff. The middle section was Staff only and among other things was the ticket office, tickets being sold through a hatch into the General waiting room at the far end of the building.

[Pauls]

Wow - really nice - it looks so solid and real - so much character as well !

Cheers
Paul