NEW LOCO SHED FOR ALPORT JUNCTION

One of the perennial problems with the Mid-Derbyshire Light Railway has been buildings. The line lives at the bottom of the garden, a good walk from where all the line's equipment is stored, and the line has been subject to vandalism in the past, so buildings have tended not to be left out, which means that setting up for a "full" running session can take half-an-hour or so, just to put everything out. Of course, at the end of the session it all has to be put away again!

I have decided that the ideal solution in my circumstances is to use concrete buildings. I've got some Jig-Stones moulds, but this method is labour-intensive – far quicker to talk to Mr Tuxcraft and get one ready-done! They're not that expensive and they're bloody heavy, which should give the local yokels a hernia or two if they decide to make away with them.

So, my first purchase was a loco shed, seen here as it came.

As you can see, it's in Mr Tuxcraft's “Antique Finish”: observe this closely, as we'll be getting back to this later.

The best paint for something concrete standing outside is (surprisingly enough) paint intended to be applied to concrete outside! We are fortunate that it's possible to go to your local DIY shed and get sample pots of Sandtex Exterior Paint which are perfectly adequate for this sort of job.

 

First of all, I painted the roof terracotta………….

……….. then the walls mid-stone……………………

………………then the window openings and roof vents in black…………………

 

……….. and finally I picked out the window frames and the end edges of the roof in MDLR Green (substitute your own colour of choice here).

I considered whether or not to add extra detail to the building, but have decided not to for the time being. I was going to build a door frame and opening doors, but the shed is a tight fit for my Roundhouse locos any way, so adding framing inside the opening wasn't on!

So far, all has been straight forward – the style of building dictates a fairly rough-and-ready style of painting, which suits me, but now we're going to get a little more subtle. Get a fairly large container, dab a small amount of black gloss paint into it with a paintbrush, and add a LOT of turps. Splosh this onto the building, which will immediately stop looking newly-painted and take on some of the look of Mr Tuxcraft's "Antique Finish". Don't worry if you haven't put enough turps in the paint: just slosh some more over the building and use the brush to spread it over. You can wipe off excess paint from the surface with a rag, just leaving the paint in the joints between stones / tiles and if you get it wrong, you can always wash it all off with turps and try again. You can play around to your heart's content until you get the look you're after……………

 

Then, once the paint's dry, all you have to do is plant it........

 

And pose a couple of locos near it!