Art of the Compromise at Tunbridge Wells

Testing the Art of Compromise
A quick test of the Art of Compromise before its showing at Tunbridge Wells. Not quite how Roy Link drew it, but not far off. This is in many ways the perfect one man exhibition layout - there was a reason why the plan was published in the first place. It has all the basic elements that you need for a model railway as well as the all important design element of having the platform road as the shunt neck for the two goods sidings; this alone is what makes it work.

If you are looking for the ideal small country station layout, then this is probably as good as it gets.

Art of Compromise temporary reprise

The Art of the Compromise was only supposed to be a one show layout. However, a last minute request to attend the Tunbridge Wells show this weekend as what I presume to be to replace a drop out, sees it reprised for one more time before it goes. The details are somewhat confused as the exhibition manager is obviously expecting the usual 7mm NG layout. Morton Stanley would have been the first choice in this situation, but has ceased to be. AotC to the rescue. Details here .

Painting coach panels

An initial bit of painting on the Tri-ang following the same method as I used on the Ratio conversion earlier. The whole body was scrubbed with a very light soapy water solution and a toothbrush to get rid of 50 years of grime. Now I'm into the black raised beading with a small brush. I find this incredibly fiddly and can only do a bit at a time. It also looks terrible at this juncture so isn't very inspiring - no instant gratification here. I'm pondering whether to just do the ends and one side, after all....

Cutting and shutting

This is proving trickier and taking longer than I thought. The roof shows the amount of cutting of all the parts.

Triang coaches

The unfinished end.
Once in a while I shuffle a few things up and down on the Art of Compromise. Here a rake of Triang coaches wait to leave. This is a strange one for me. So much has been done and yet so much remains to be done; this end still has a Metcalfe Signal box perched in the corner waiting to be replaced by a Ratio kit and the starter signal needs to be worked out. Some of this particular question lays with the 'does it exhibit or not?' point. It was only going to be a home baby, but I've pondered of late about taking it out and even offered it to a well known Southern show. It would need a fair bit of work to get it there, not least of which would be working on all the stock. There is enough of it, but much is still in a straight out of the box condition and that all takes time.

Art of Compromise and outside in the garden

 Bouncing around between different projects seems to be the order of the day and this is turning into more of a weekly report. Above and below are a couple of snaps taken in available light of the AoC. Top is an absolutely straight build of a Ratio GWR brake that was done years ago complete with squeaky plastic wheels. To its left is a Coopercraft V5 van with the firms replacement vent ends.
Below, a more overall shot of the coal dock with a mix of stuff parked up. L-R: a Cambrian Open A, a Slaters PO, both straight builds and an Arfix PO body mounted on a Parkside underframe. I like the way I've managed to get these to all have a slight prototypical dip so there visual horizontal line is imperfect. I must paint the coupling supports.

 Moving outside, the line is now just about complete. As you can see it's simply a loop - a trainset complete with short tunnel on the left. This is the only flatish part of the garden. North of the third stepping stone the ground lurches upward meaning that the lower bit of the loop is raised slightly and the upper is cut in. I was chuffed that I'd only gained an inch in height by the time the loop was complete with just a Poundland level to work with. More on this later.

Short advanced starter

Signals fascinate me.I can never work out why modellers leave them off and I do try to think about them fairly early on.
The above is a view of the AoC, but with a foreign visitor. A Saxby and Farmer 10' high advanced starter based on the one at Hayling station. An LBSCR signal from an LNWR Ratio kit destined for Mr Hill's round the room adventure.

Froxington stock

The Froxington stock has returned from Wiltshire. It hasn't improved with age, but I did dump a couple of items on the AoC to see how they looked.

On your back

The target is to get all this board done by the end of the month. This should be no problem, but there's other thing to do as well so I'm picking at it a bit.
Ballast next.

Wills goods shed upgrade

Needs filling around and bedding in. Mr Whippy in residence.

Merit OO figures

While looking for something else (how many times do we do this) I found three or four Merit figures in a tobacco tin. They're a bit of a weird shape and a mile away from some of the quality cast and 3D current products - however...

Being that this is really a 70's/early 80's plan and again with Miles Bevan whispering in my ear I thought a little cameo group at the back of the layout sans-flag and bases might be fun. After all I can't really see where else I would use them.

Art of Compromise shed

This is the last of the buildings on the bench. pretty much a straight kit build of a Wills yard store. There are a couple of obvious tweeks: The quite spindly base has been replaced by some Wills brick sheet, one of the doors cut and half opened and some extra timber work added. This replaces the suggested Prototype Models goods shed on the Art of Compromise plan.

Art of compromise update

Tweaking the Art of Compromise plan
For anybody biting their nails and losing sleep over the progress on the Art of Compromise fear not, it's still going. There have been other things to do that have pushed it back slightly on the pecking order, but I do a bit to it once in a while. The basic green stuff and made up surfaces are on. There are subtle changes to the Link plan in detail, but the basic shape and size are still obvious - the main change being the long dock in place of the coal staithes. As I've mentioned before the width at this point is way too narrow to get everything in that Roy drew on the plan so 'compromises' had to be made. Therefore an open area for coal 'loading' with not too much storage is the idea. This is based on several photos of coal wagons being unloaded onto raised docks. The three bin idea for coal did exist, but I don't think it was as common as modellers often portray.
Already I think I've proved that the plan does work with a few tweaks.

Art of Compromise messy bit.

It's that time again.I haven't forgotten the Art of Compromise - it just got sidelined for a bit. Mr. Hill nudged me into doing something last week and the coal dock and the final road section were installed. The bit I love is the messy bit with the paper-mache. Usual technique of bog paper and knocked down PVA over card formers packed with what's in the waste bin. It's all delightfully lo-tech which is just how I like things. This project above all is very much rooted in the 70's, so I don't feel too guilty using techniques that would have been familiar to the modellers of the day. Though of course having said that I realise how many modern materials are included: the Peco track and bog paper are old, but MDF, Wills sheet? Surely post 70's. Talking of Wills. The phone call was made and I was assured that replacement parts would be posted. We'll see. I'm still cutting walls out so it doesn't matter that much for a day or two.

Art of Compromise station building

I was going to scratch-build one of the Forest of Dean station buildings from the Wild Swan drawings for the Art of Compromise. However... in keeping with the slightly RTR attitude that the layout demands, something more ordinary.

The Hornby station shelter has been around for quite a while and is freely available in rummage boxes for next to nothing. The roof  though is a very heavy moulding and I needed something lighter and more in keeping with the SE Wales feel. So some Slaters sheet and a bit of plasticard. I just need a lamp from an Airfix engine shed to finish it.

Platforms

A question.
I'm at the point of surfacing the platform (and road) on the Art of Compromise layout. It's card construction and I have in the past used all sorts of things to surface, but never get the finish that I see on other's layouts. This is a bit of a blind spot for me and after 40 years of doing this it still eludes me; any ideas for a rough tarmac finish?

New Radnor station

A few moths ago Railway Modeller published an article on New Radnor station - the buildings of which still stand in a caravan park. The thrust of the piece was that the plan and possibly the buildings only would be a good influence for a small branch terminus. The problem was that the article was a bit short on period photos. Here though is a find from t'internet which I think is New Radnor in the '20s. A platform no more than 200' and a very dinky station building. Real RM grist and perfect for the Art of Compromise plan.

Art of Compromise - planning

Now I've managed to get most of the ground covered on Rhiw it's time to think of the next project - like you do. I think after much consideration it will be to have another crack at the Art of Compromise plan that has been much discussed on this page in recent months. This is in essence a case of what to alter. Most projects start with a photo or other idea and a blank sheet of paper; this is a set piece with defined dimensions and themes.

Because it's different in this respect it can be approached almost upside down. What I would normally do is start with a full size paper plan, build the boards and adjust as I go. This will be more of a shopping trip. That is, decide what the individual elements are to be, and construct these prior to the boards getting built. What I don't want to do is stray too far from the original; that would be pointless. If I do that then I may as well strat from scratch. Therefore there are two alterations: The re-siting of the coalbins to north of the siding now to face the road and the omission of the platelayer's trolley hut and the watertower by the bridge. The hut will go and the tower shifted to the front thus giving a few more inches of platform face. Other than that I'd like to stay as per the plan.

The Prototype Models structures are no longer with us so the station building and goods shed will be scratch-built. I've sort of decided on the station from Wrington on the Blagdon branch as drawn in the June 1965 RM and the shed from Lambourne. Both GWR branches, but neither GWR built. Both fairly small and timber so as not to dominate the scene. There is possibly an idea to use the card-stonework that I used on Wood End/Garn. This will stop it being a 'quick' project and give a little individuality as no one else is stupid enough to do it this way.

That then is the plan. None of the above will now happen and all will be altered.

Art of Compromise 3

This little exercise seems to have started a little discussion, so in the interests of balance and as I mentioned it in the initial post here's Iain Rices take on the same thing from Morrill.

The area is slightly bigger and the Link article is not mentioned, though the first para is sub-headed 'The art of the ordinary', and the family resemblance is clear. There were three plans presented; the last a round-the-room variation.

This does add a certain weight to Roy Link's original idea, but are any of them build-able? Fairford is not a typical station and the plans cram an eighth of a mile of goods yard into 3 feet in 4mm scale. And more importantly if you were to build a GWR branch terminus, are any of them a good place to start?

Art of Compromise 2

Shortly after the posting of the Art of the Compromise post (below) there followed an email and then a hour long phone call from Christopher Payne on the merits or not of the plan and how it would be altered. This would be in any other situation be called time wasting (and indeed I was accused of that later on) but it did throw up a couple of possible changes.


The main problem is the lack of width in the goods yard - we questioned the ability of carts to be turned - and the fact that passenger trains, especially if they are autos only just enter the scene rather than travelling through it. Below is CP's sketch of these alterations keeping the same feel and overall dimensions: Flipped, entry from opposite end and yard now at front so to make it 'infinite'. We also questioned the relative size of the goods shed (This was to allow for the use of the Prototype Models kit) This has been reduced to something more in keeping. My suggestion would by something in the order of the New Radnor shed featured in the September RM.
And to compare with the original...