Scenic Modelling E-Book

John de Frayssinet

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

This invaluable and well-illustrated book describes landscape modelling from a new perspective. It explains in detail how to design and construct a model railway in a convincing and pleasing landscape. The author has always considered that model railway dioramas are an art form and this book is brimming with advice and tips that will allow the modeller to create true-to-life landscapes. Important aspects of all stages of construction are covered, including the building of satisfactory baseboards, topography and ground cover, modelling lakes and waterfalls, and making realistic trees. The author argues that a good model railway is one that is placed in an accurate and realistic landscape which, after all, was there first, and he contends that scenic modelling is not just a means to fill up the gaps in between track work; rather it is essential in creating the perfect backdrop, enabling model locomotives and rolling stock to be displayed convincingly. A remarkable book and describes landscape modelling from a new perspective. Essential reading for all serious railway modellers. Brimming with advice and tips that allows the modeller to create true-to-life landscapes. Superbly illustrated with 230 colour photographs. John de Frayssinet is a professional railway modeller and has written extensively for model railway magazines.

Leseprobe

SCENIC MODELLING

A Guide for Railway Modellers

John de Frayssinet

Copyright

First published in 2013 by The Crowood Press Ltd Ramsbury, Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2013

© John de Frayssinet 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 84797 558 4

Dedication This book is dedicated to my dear old friend David Line, a talented journalist and broadcaster who coaxed me into writing and taught me how to by being perfectly horrid about my attempts for the past forty years.

Acknowledgements I would like to give thanks to David Burleigh, an excellent modeller, who has kindly given his time to maul my writing about where necessary, to Jennifer Ayres who also contributed ideas on how this book should be presented, and to Holly the cat who at times contributed to the contents by walking on the keyboard.

Disclaimer Power tools, glues and other tools and equipment used to create model scenery are potentially dangerous and it is vitally important that they are used in strict accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. The author and the publisher do not accept any responsibility in any manner whatsoever for any error or omission, or any loss, damage, injury, adverse outcome, or liability of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any of the information contained in this book, or reliance upon it.

Photographs by the author unless credited otherwise.

CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE:THE LANDSCAPE WAS THERE FIRST

CHAPTER TWO:A QUESTION OF SCALE

CHAPTER THREE:DESIGNING YOUR LAYOUT

CHAPTER FOUR:THE BUILD PROCESS

CHAPTER FIVE:BACKDROPS AND LIGHTING

CHAPTER SIX:BUILDING TOPOGRAPHY

CHAPTER SEVEN:MODELLING WATER

CHAPTER EIGHT:TEXTURES AND GROUND COVER

CHAPTER NINE:TREES, SHRUBS AND HEDGES

CHAPTER TEN:INCLEMENT WEATHER

CHAPTER ELEVEN:MAKING IT REAL

INDEX

A double-headed train creeps along the East Lyn Viaduct on the author’s County Gate.

INTRODUCTION

It wasn’t long after the introduction of the steam train that models of these new fire-eating behemoths began to appear. Some of the early models were made as sales tools to attract further investment in railway projects, but very quickly the toy train became the ‘must have’ accessory for very well-off children. Some were clockwork and a few were actually live steam, but most were just pulled along with a piece of string.

Two centuries later, model railways are still extremely popular despite having to compete with a plethora of other hobbies. The pastime is still quite expensive and very hungry for space, but the creation of a model railway can project the builder into a miniature world where life is a lot less complicated, and in many ways more attractive, than the real world around us. It is probably fair to say that railway modelling is largely the preserve of older men – a visit to any model railway exhibition will convince you of that. However, it also appeals to the young and to an increasing number of women. There is a growing interest in railways as they used to be, and it is quite hard to find a place that is not close to what is now described as a ‘preserved railway’. The model railway gives us the opportunity to enjoy this interest in our own homes. It is a hobby that demands a very wide variety of skills, from carpentry, electronics and historical research, to metalwork and artistic expression and photography. It is a pastime where individuality still prevails in a world in which conformity is increasingly expected.

This book describes ways to create your own perfect miniature landscape in which to operate your model railway. Everybody develops their own modelling style in the end, but this book is intended to offer thought-provoking methods that will ‘raise the bar’ for both the beginner and advanced modeller.

It is a frightening thought to me that when I began to build my latest exhibition model railway, County Gate, I had already been making miniature landscapes for myself and for clients for over half a century. My own interest began after inheriting a huge pre-war collection of O scale Hornby and Bassett Lowke, and my real prize, a Bowman 234 express live steam locomotive. Vast railway empires were laid on the floors throughout the house during weekends, only for them to disappear back into the train chest on Sunday night. The Bowman ‘dribbler’ began many very satisfying minor conflagrations and my powers of imagination were stretched to endless new horizons. Piles of books became the Moffat Tunnel, and a cardboard box, Liverpool Street Station. This was operating a model railway that was three quarters in my head. Upstairs, on the other hand, was my Dad’s massive Lionel train set. It filled a very large room indeed and entry was by ‘invitation only under supervision’.

Joshua Lionel Cowen began his company at the start of the twentieth century. He believed that the Lionel train set should be for both father and son, ‘bonding them together for a better America’. This was translated by my father into ‘You can come in and watch but if you touch anything I shall cut your hands off!’ Cowen also believed that train sets should have every animation possible to prevent children getting bored and setting the curtains alight. There was steam, sound, a working saw mill, animated industrial zone, an amusement park and even a Cold War missile train … the list was endless. The layout was assembled on a massive table fifty feet long. The effect was wondrous! For the first time I saw toy trains running in something a bit like a real landscape. Where it fell short in realism, it made up for it with flashing lights, sound and animations!

Early meetings to determine the EEC Common Agricultural Policy were held at our home and if some feel that the result of those meetings was a flawed concept, look no further than that Lionel train set – the international delegates spent the whole time in the train room. Some time during the 1950s the Lionel set was swept away and replaced by three-rail Hornby Dublo. The new, smaller, OO scale equated in my Dad’s mind to many more railway tracks, but Hornby trains did nothing, absolutely nothing except run around in circles. For me and many of my Dad’s friends, the Lionel was enormously missed. The big table disappeared, giving way to a shelf around the room with a lift-up bridge across the door. Four tracks were laid with the brand-new Wrenn Universal steel track. Dad and his friends took to racing ten coach trains around the room. They would probably have preferred Scalextric slot-racing cars but they had not been invented yet. I suspect that quite large sums of money changed hands at times.

RESEARCH

In those far-off days, very few people saw the model railway as anything more than a very expensive animated toy for fathers of boys. The idea that a model railway could be an accurate historical model of bygone eras was only just beginning to form in a few people’s minds. Steam was still king on the nascent British Railways and it was the general opinion that it would be around for a long while to come. For me, sojourns in the United States showed me just how exciting rail travel could really be. Riding the Denver Zephyr or taking the 3ft-gauge Denver and Rio Grande through spectacular Rocky Mountain scenery was enough to fire up even the dullest imagination. My interest was less in the trains, but in the varied and extraordinary scenery that they could pass through. When I told my father this, he simply replied ‘When we get back home, better do something about my railway then.’

For me, this was a huge moment. A ten-year-old was going to be allowed to ‘do things’ with Dad’s train set! We did not get model railway magazines at that time; I was not even aware that they existed. While Dad had the artistic flair of a damp dish cloth, my mother was quite arty and musical. She began to help me create a landscape along the railway tracks. She was a teacher and saw this as an opportunity for me to learn about plants and trees, architecture and history. I have to admit that her plan worked.

Nowadays a huge range of products is available to build model landscapes. Back then, everything was a bit of a struggle. Nevertheless, we succeeded in building a credible landscape. We made cottages using shellacked card. Wherever we travelled we took photographs with my Brownie camera of interesting buildings to model. I was able to source sawdust aplenty from a local mill and, by careful sieving, was able to obtain some useful scatters. My mother helped me dye the scatter using a mixture of clothes dyes and Indian inks. We were able to gather a considerable quantity of lichen during a visit to the Sequoia National Forest, and a huge bag of sage brush stalks from the Nevada desert; they make excellent tree trunks, and these are materials that I still use to this day. I discovered that some mosses made wonderful undercover and did not even have to be dyed; watered once a month, they remained a most realistic green (well, they would, wouldn’t they?). Dad always wondered why his steel track rusted in some spots but luckily he never figured it out. All in all, I added scenery to about twenty feet of the model railway. His trains still did nothing except run in circles, but they looked pretty good doing it through ‘real’ countryside rather than on planks of wood (not that he ever noticed).

TRAPPED IN A DOWNPOUR

I was eventually deemed old enough to ride my bicycle into town by myself. These trips always held a special excitement for me. On one occasion, the heavens opened and rain poured down accompanied by thunder and lightning. I had always been told to take a taxi if there was a problem and I decided that moment had arrived. I dived into the taxi place and pulled my bike in behind me, only to find that this was not where taxis came from at all. Arranged around the dark workshop was a collection of large display cases lit by spotlights. In each case was a perfect little world populated by animals. So that was what ‘dermist’ meant after ‘Taxi’.

I became utterly lost in these miniature worlds and was startled by the appearance of a man who asked me what was interesting me. I explained how much I liked the landscapes. He explained to me that mostly, he made displays for museums and that it was very important to display the animals in their natural surroundings. I told him that I believed this was exactly what was needed for a good model railway. He overcame his initial surprise and then declared that he was really an artist and that was why his landscapes looked so real.

From then on, I made many visits to that workshop and learned about composition, perspective and the compression of a scene, colour pallets and the effects of distance. I was allowed to help and spent hours making landscapes of the Serengeti, the Painted Desert and the Scottish Highlands. Sometimes we made dioramas for model animals, which were carved by him in plaster. Somehow he always managed to portray a sense of life and movement into his work. Suddenly, my parents banned me from going there. Whether it was because he wore a cravat and corduroy jacket or because there was some malicious rumour I have no idea, but I am eternally grateful for the lessons this gracious man gave me over fifty years ago, which are as valid today as they were then. I can still hear his contemptuous description of his competitors who had ‘corners in their skies’. ‘Of course, they just make shop displays. They are not artists.’

KEEPING IN TOUCH

It is so difficult for those brought up during the age of the internet to imagine how hard it used to be to source materials and keep in touch with new developments. In my view, it accounts for the very slow start experienced in approaching the goal of realistic model railways.

In addition to communication difficulties, many of the model railway clubs were dominated by pompous, autocratic oligarchs who refused to consider the opinions of any ‘newcomer’ and most likely would not proffer membership to anyone with a regional accent! Thanks to these people Britain is left with the non-standard scale of OO and track that is very visibly under-gauge despite the fact that the more realistic HO scale was also developed in the UK.

The model railway magazines of the time valiantly tried to show us new trends in modelling, although editorial direction often reflected the dogmas of the time. For the most part, model railways were just a track layout with a little bit of scenery thrown in around the edges ‘to fill up the empty bits’. The effect was neither realistic nor pleasing.

A small number of modellers wanted more from their hobby.

THE PIONEERS

Head and shoulders above the usual ‘model railway’ as proposed by the august pontificators of that time was the work of John Ahern. Also a gifted photographer, Ahern was one of the first people to create a ‘model railway in a landscape’. His ‘Madder Valley Railway’ was a freelance wayward branchline set in a convincing English landscape. He shared his advanced modelling techniques with us in a series of books that can offer much, even to this day. Luckily, the Madder Valley lives on, lovingly preserved at Pendon Museum. This superb layout was built at a time of severe shortages and uses minimal materials.

Another early pioneer was P.D. Hancock whose Craig & Mertonford model railway was built in a small bedroom in an Edinburgh flat and was one of the first narrow-gauge models built. His creation was so convincing that at times it was hard to believe that the setting, Craigshire, did not exist at all. Sadly, the Craig & Mertonford did not survive as it was built into the bedroom and was demolished when the room was needed for its original purpose once again.

Most railway modellers in the UK are constantly faced with space and budgetary restrictions. Many Americans, on the other hand, seem to have empty basements that exceed the area of an entire average British domestic curtilage! The first notable pioneer in the United States was John Allen. He was a sickly, orphaned child who was moved to California to live with an aunt and uncle. Here, his health improved and he attended art school. He was left a small legacy that he managed to convert into a substantial fortune, and thanks to this he was able to pursue his hobby uninterrupted for the rest of his life. After the Second World War, he began to build the Gorre & Daphetid Railroad. Using his artist’s eye, Allen developed the techniques of weathering and the use of forced perspective. His work became the precursor to some extraordinary American layouts. The Gorre & Daphetid Railroad was unfortunately destroyed in a freak fire just after his death in 1973.

Now preserved at the Pendon museum, the Madder Valley Railway of John Ahern.PENDON MUSEUM

The best model railway of all time has to be Roye England’s ‘Pendon’. Roye was an Australian import to Britain who during the 1930s became concerned that the old buildings in Oxfordshire’s Vale of the White Horse were fast being swept away forever. He began to make sketches and started modelling them in OO scale. After the Second World War he teamed up with other model makers and Pendon was born. Almost every detail is painstakingly modelled and a single cottage can take over 2,000 hours to complete. Roye is no longer with us but the work at Pendon continues thanks to the efforts of dedicated volunteers. Pendon is now a charitable trust and is fortunately open to the public. It is hard to say when the layout will be finished and perhaps it never quite will be.

WHY THIS BOOK?

In recent years, modelling standards have improved beyond recognition and the quantity of material available to modellers is quite bewildering. I guess that very few people indeed will ever again embark upon a project such as Pendon – most of us want to see a finished layout within a reasonable time and certainly within our allotted lifetime. We can, however, approach Pendon standards using some simple construction techniques and materials that were not available to Roye England in his day.

Now, every man and his dog have good digital cameras with macro capability. Images from these devices can be very unkind indeed if we are not careful with our handiwork; conversely, we no longer have any excuses whatsoever for not having a profusion of reference photos from which to work.

I want to demonstrate that building scenery is more than just filling up the gaps where no track exists. Designing a landscape for a model railway is an exciting, creative experience, which is effectively a branch of installation art. It encompasses a wide variety of skills and if the execution is good will transport viewers to a magical miniature world.

Model makers develop their own particular styles and my work is no exception. There are many ways of achieving a good result and I do not claim for one second that my methods are the best or the only way. My personal perspective of a good model railway is, in fact, that of a credible miniature landscape that happens to have a train running through it. After all, the landscape did come first.

CHAPTER ONE

THE LANDSCAPE WAS THERE FIRST

It is a pity indeed to travel and not get this essential sense of landscape values. You do not need a sixth sense for it. It is there if you just close your eyes and breathe softly through your nose; you will hear the whispered message, for all landscapes ask the same question in the same whisper. ‘I am watching you – are you watching yourself in me?’

Lawrence Durrell, Spirit of Place: Letters and Essays on Travel

Just about every model railway is based on a specific place. Even freelance layouts are generally based on a region, be it Wales, the Scottish Highlands or East Anglia. The act of planting a station running-in board proclaiming ‘Maldon West’ is going to fool no one unless the layout actually looks like Maldon West. A viewer should be able to say ‘That is typical Devon, Yorkshire, Anglesey’ or whatever the case may be, even if the layout portrays a freelance line. We have to understand what the ‘essence’ of our chosen locale is in order to properly model it.

To create a credible model of our subject, it is essential to get some understanding of the landscape in which it sits.

The East Lyn River.

GEOLOGY

The little country of Great Britain has seen some remarkably violent changes in its geologic past. Bits at some time or another were scattered around the globe before being violently smashed together. Super volcanoes turned it into Armageddon and there were once mountains that were taller than Everest. This green and pleasant land is now one of the most varied and interesting geologic concoctions anywhere, with some of the oldest rocks on Earth. Rocks from different geological periods can be found within short distances of each other. Sadly, only too often I see exposed rock modelled using plaster applied with a palette knife in the same manner as royal icing thrown onto a Christmas cake, with no attempt to portray the real geology of the area. Worse are layouts purporting to be models of Welsh slate mines that have cuttings and slate workings modelled by sticking bits of slate waste onto wet plaster. Others resort to lumps of bark that are expected to look like typical rock formations. Some modellers do try harder and purchase expensive moulds and cast rock sections from them. Sadly, only too often, the rock is quite the wrong type for the area portrayed and the castings from the moulds are rarely fitted together in a convincing manner.

There are only three basic groups of rock. Can it be that hard? Apparently so! They are:

Igneous Rocks that have solidified from their molten state, such as granite or basalt.

Sedimentary The remains of eroded rock, which have been laid down, usually in marine conditions, such as shale and limestone.

Metamorphic Rocks that have been deeply buried and changed by great temperatures and pressures – limestone may become marble and shale may become slate.

Now I will admit that within each rock group there is a bewildering range of different types, often with very strange and exotic names. A friend of mine decided to make a full study of the rock types within an American canyon he wished to model for his new layout – he became so engaged with the subject that he metamorphosed into a ‘Rock Hound’ and never got to build his layout. I can, however, attest to the fact that he was equally as boring talking about rocks as most of us are when we talk about model railways.

For modellers, exposed rock manifests itself in many different forms. Huge tectonic shifts can push strata into extreme and bizarre angles and folds, as are found on the cliffs of north Devon. Every type of rock poses engaging challenges for modellers, as different rocks will also have very varied characteristics when cut or blasted to build a railway. The colour of rock will change the colour of the soils above, such as the red soils found in parts of Shropshire, Herefordshire and Devon, which are due to a high level of iron oxide in the rocks below.

The ‘Remarkable Rocks’, Kangaroo Island S. Australia. This is the result of the erosion of a huge granite dome.

Igneous rock. The centre volcanic cone of Mount Teide, Tenerife.

A quick search on the internet will explain what types of rock exist in different locations; there will even be some nice colour photographs to work from. Exposed rocks are a unique signature of the region we are modelling. Of course, the best solution, if at all possible, is to visit the subject area and take lots and lots of photographs.

Metamorphic rock. The long tunnel at Aberglaslyn Pass prior to the railway reconstruction.

GLACIATION

Our landscapes have also been moulded by the Ice Ages, which carved and polished rocks under glaciers, deposited huge areas of gravel during melt (moraines), and led sea levels to rise and fall, leaving their mark. The famous Nant Ffrancon Pass in North Wales is an example of how a valley has been shaped by the passage of huge glaciers. Rocks can be seen that are ground smooth and massive boulders are still lying where the glacier finally melted and gave them up. A huge moraine serves as a dam, which holds a large lake to this day.

WEATHERING AND EROSION

Tall, majestic mountains are reduced to plains. Extraordinary landscapes are formed due to differential weathering. Here the harder rock remains leaving fantastic landscapes such as Monument Valley and Bryce Canyon in the USA. Moving water will eventually cut through the hardest rock, the Grand Canyon being the ultimate example of them all.

Sandstone erosion forming ‘Hoodoos’ in Cotton Canyon, Utah

ECOLOGY

The ecology of a given landscape develops due to a number of factors: the geology, altitude, mean temperatures and precipitation, the latitude and whether it has a maritime or continental climate. Britain, for instance, is classified as ‘temperate, maritime’ but still possesses a vast array of differing ecologies, from the barren heathlands of Wales and Scotland to the fertile fens of Lincolnshire. The British landscape as we know it is the result of farming practices over many centuries: huge areas of woodland were gradually cut down to make way for agriculture. Native broad-leaf trees were harvested over hundreds of years to support the Royal Navy and various military campaigns. In the past, much more timber was also cut for heating, cooking, mining and the making of charcoal. We may care to think of some areas as being heavily wooded, but if we are modelling that location during the early 20th century it may come as some surprise to see period photographs showing almost no trees at all.

At a casual glance, the British countryside appears ‘natural’. It most assuredly is not. Agriculture is an industry and, as with all industries, agricultural land has been changed to suit new needs and technologies. Agricultural practices at the start of the Railway Age had little changed for several centuries. In many ways, the system was essentially feudal: in the 19th century, much of Britain’s farmland was owned by a small number of landowners and rented out to tenants. Even areas such as the Scottish Highlands changed their nature when landowners began to develop grouse shooting as a business rather than renting to crofters. (Legislation eventually introduced a small measure of justice for tenants, but it was only after the First World War that land became more easily available for farming in the ‘Homes fit for heroes’ initiatives.)

The first important new agricultural development was the digging plough, invented in 1885. Up to this time, ploughs were really large hoes and did not turn over the soil. A small groove was made and seed was then planted in it by hand. The digging plough has a wide share that inverts the soil and pulverizes it so that a mechanical seed drill can be used. Digging ploughs required more power and teams of three or four horses were used on heavy soil until traction engines and early tractors came into use. Until the 1960s, ploughing required headlands to allow the tractor to turn around. With the advent of the reversible plough, headlands were no longer needed.

I have seen several good models of early railways that have been spoilt by the fields obviously having been cultivated by modern equipment. Clearly, it is important to research the cultivating practices of the era you are modelling. Modern agriculture, with the exception of the organic movement, uses selective herbicides. Until these products became available after the Second World War, fields were much more contaminated with weeds and rogue crops.

Very convincing saltings on the layout Grange over Sands of the Blackburn & East Lancs.MODEL RAILWAY SOCIETY

Landscape is also changed by requirements of drainage. The drainage of the fens was largely completed by the early years of the 19th century. Wind-powered pumps were initially used, being replaced later by first steam engines, then diesels and now electric pumps. The fens during the early Railway Age still had many wind pumps remaining, many of which were falling into disrepair. Other areas of East Anglia are protected by sea walls and have deep drainage ditches. Often, roads are forced to have an endless series of right-angle bends in order to skirt around drained fields. The roads to Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex are typical of this practice.

Where sea walls protect low-lying drained land, on the seaward side of the walls are saltings, which have a delicate and fascinating ecology of their own.

As agriculture has become more and more mechanized, so fewer and fewer people work on the land. Peasant cottages have become expensive second homes or country retreats. The traditional way of life in country villages has now all but disappeared. How is one to model accurately a Devon village in the 1920s if one has little or no idea about the lifestyles of those that lived in it? Would they have had flowers? What would their back yards look like? What were their toilet arrangements? Fields have through necessity become larger and larger in order to accommodate the increasing size of farm machinery. It is hard to imagine now, how small some British fields actually used to be. The smallest fields I have ever seen are near to the city of Galway on the Irish west coast.

ARCHITECTURE

Architectural styles used to be very localized, and depended upon the materials at hand and the building skills available in the local community. There used to be distinct differences in the way cottages were built in villages only a few miles apart. These days, this is more evident in those parts of France that escaped damage in the Second World War than it is in the UK, where much post-war architecture is rather homogenized with modern ‘utilitarian’-styled housing.

Luckily, many photographs exist of how places looked during the various eras of the Railway Age. Sadly, these photographs are mostly in black and white and do not show us what paints might have been available, but such details can be gleaned from period paintings, museums and the National Trust. Sometimes, local history is essential. Tollesbury, for instance, the terminus of the Crab and Winkle line, was once where two of the famous ‘J’ class racing yachts were mud-berthed during winters. Before the Second World War the woodwork of most houses in the village was painted using stolen ‘Shamrock’ green or ‘Endeavour’ blue – I am prepared to hazard a guess as to the most popular colour at Portsmouth and Chatham.

A Breton village modelled to perfection. Pempoul by Gordon and Maggie Gravett.

1940s English village beautifully modelled by Peter and Julie Goss on their Rowlands Castle layout.

Industry was also much more localized and small workshops would have been found near any conurbation. The tools and equipment used by communities should also be studied. When I built the harbour module of my County Gate layout, which depicts the year 1935, I forgot that steel oil drums had not yet come into use. Luckily, despite it being viewed by thousands of people at exhibitions, no-one has ever noticed. I see similar steel oil drums on many other model railways of pre-war inspiration. This is a classic example how a glaring error can pass from one layout to another, like a virus. All these issues are fascinating areas of research and will significantly increase your chances of getting your landscape just right. Apart from the instant gratification of the internet, local libraries, museums and historical societies are usually only too pleased to supply you with all the information you need and usually a whole lot more. Period maps are often available and there are usually collections of photographs taken during the era you wish to model.

THEN CAME THE RAILWAY

It is hard now to imagine how difficult it must have been for the early railway builders. The very act of surveying a line through the countryside was a remarkable feat in itself. The route of the railway would have been determined by the need to avoid influential objectors whilst maintaining reasonable grades and curvatures and, where possible, avoiding the need for expensive civil engineering structures. Not only did these railway surveyors have to strike a route through the countryside but also they had to design it to minimize the cartage of rock and dirt fill – this is the ‘cut and fill’ method of construction, which remains an important consideration in modern construction. By cutting the right amount into a hill, the spoil could build up an embankment elsewhere to the right height.

In practice it is even more complicated than that, as rock spoil has a steeper angle of repose than dirt fill; it was necessary to reinforce embankments and cuttings to prevent slippage. Drainage had to be built and tunnels might have to be lined and portals built in brick, stone, timber or concrete. Such civil engineering works were usually in a recognizable ‘house style’ of the railway or construction company concerned; bridges and viaducts also usually followed corporate house style.

It is a sad reflection of the inequalities of British society that many train stations were built where they were of the least use to anybody. Influential landowners – who would refuse to allow the building of railways across their land and even managed to stop stations being built in some towns – were too stupid to realize how the coming of the train could enhance the coffers of their own estates as well as raising the economic wealth of the entire area. Britain is still suffering from the effects of the prevarications of those early chinless fools, and many railway lines have closed as uneconomic due to their selfish exigencies.

Railways that were intended to become main arteries between cities were surveyed from the start to allow for relatively high speeds, intensive usage and easy working. The radii of curves were kept to the maximum possible and changes and severities of grades minimized. This often resulted in the need for expensive civil engineering works such as long viaducts and tunnels. The increased capital investment is still paying dividends to this day: the Great Western main line from London to Bristol is a perfect example of such a railway.