Portland Stone Loads

[CarriageShed]

Having almost finished putting together, painting, and lettering three 1-plank stone-carrying wagons, I'm wondering how to represent dressed (or undressed, I'm not fussy) blocks of Portland stone or granite in N Gauge. I don't have access to the real stuff... at least, not unless I pop into town and start chiselling away at the poshest-looking building (which will probably be a bank). Any ideas?

[keithfre]

How about DAS modelling clay?

[msr]

Portland Stone, a kind of limestone, can be easily prepared for N Gauge by crushing real limestone. Your local tiling shop or gravestone mason will probably let you have a piece and then you place it in a bag or within several sheets of newspaper and wallop it with a hammer to crush it, and pick out the sized pieces you want. You should wear safety goggles in case splinters of rock try to fly out - eyes are precious!

Granite is much more tricky. Real granite has crystals that are 150 times too big so will look silly if crushed and then picked out for N Gauge usage. However, there are other kinds of rock which have much smaller crystals (e.g. diorite from Leicestershire, dolerite from several places around the UK such as the Mendips and Co Durham, and gneiss from the Scottish Highlands) which would crush to give you pieces of the correct size and mixture of minerals. Again your local tile shop or stone mason might let you have a piece, or else have a look round a builders salvage yard - old kerb stones are a good source.

[Newportnobby]

I don't have access to the real stuff... at least, not unless I pop into town and start chiselling away at the poshest-looking building (which will probably be a bank). Any ideas?

Honestly, Officer.
I was just breaking, not entering

[keerout]

  
Like! 
Gerard 

[CarriageShed]

Portland Stone, a kind of limestone, can be easily prepared for N Gauge by crushing real limestone. Your local tiling shop or gravestone mason will probably let you have a piece and then you place it in a bag or within several sheets of newspaper and wallop it with a hammer to crush it, and pick out the sized pieces you want. You should wear safety goggles in case splinters of rock try to fly out - eyes are precious!

Granite is much more tricky. Real granite has crystals that are 150 times too big so will look silly if crushed and then picked out for N Gauge usage. However, there are other kinds of rock which have much smaller crystals (e.g. diorite from Leicestershire, dolerite from several places around the UK such as the Mendips and Co Durham, and gneiss from the Scottish Highlands) which would crush to give you pieces of the correct size and mixture of minerals. Again your local tile shop or stone mason might let you have a piece, or else have a look round a builders salvage yard - old kerb stones are a good source.

Hmm... out of all the options, a chunk of limestone sounds the best bet. I wanted a load of Portland stone anyway. Thanks 

[Bangor Lad]

Milliput. Make up a roughly shaped block and let it set. You can then cut it with a razor saw into blocks and/or scribe it into slabs. When done paint it a......... shade of sandstone?

Cheers

[msr]

Looking through books (the recently published 'Stone to Build London' by Gill Hackman is especially good and devoted to Portland Stone) it would seem as though the stone was roughly shaped before dispatch by rail. Roughly hewn blocks can be seen being transported within the Isle of Portland by narrow gauge railway and then transferred as such to the mainline railway onto open 3-plank wagons. The photo on page 171 of Hackman shows a mainline train load with the first two wagons containing rubble and the following dozen containing large blocks, at one block per wagon.

This page has many excellent photos:
http://www.geoffkirby.co.uk/PortlandArchivePictures/html/stone.html

Your might also be inspired by the model built by the Yeovil Group, who have a description of their former dimension stone quarry railway, Albion:
http://www.ymrg.co.uk/albion-quarry/

[CarriageShed]

The photo on page 171 of Hackman shows a mainline train load with the first two wagons containing rubble and the following dozen containing large blocks, at one block per wagon.

This page has many excellent photos:
http://www.geoffkirby.co.uk/PortlandArchivePictures/html/stone.html

Now that's just the kind of image I had in my head. The blocks in this photos would be about right for 1-plank wagons on the main line:

http://www.geoffkirby.co.uk/PortlandArchivePictures/assets/images/GP0273.jpg

Milliput. Make up a roughly shaped block and let it set. You can then cut it with a razor saw into blocks and/or scribe it into slabs. When done paint it a......... shade of sandstone?

Haven't worked with Milliput for years and years... Perhaps this is a more workable method than crushed limestone, although that can be sawn too, can't it?

[Bangor Lad]

Milliput is great stuff t work with. Once it has set you can saw it, carve it and abuse it all sorts of ways. I might have a go to see what I can do if you like? The photos in the earlier links are very helpful.

Cheers

[CarriageShed]

By all means have a go. It'll certainly be interesting to see what you come up with. I'll carry on lettering the wagons this evening, and then they have to be suitably weathered for carrying dusty stone loads.

[Bangor Lad]

By all means have a go. It'll certainly be interesting to see what you come up with. I'll carry on lettering the wagons this evening, and then they have to be suitably weathered for carrying dusty stone loads.

I'll have a crack this evening and let you know how it goes

[Bangor Lad]

By all means have a go. It'll certainly be interesting to see what you come up with. I'll carry on lettering the wagons this evening, and then they have to be suitably weathered for carrying dusty stone loads.

I'll have a crack this evening and let you know how it goes

OK. I've made a start by making up two elongated  'blocks' of Milliput. These are roughly square in section. When these have hardened (probably by tomorrow evening) I'll see about cutting them into blocks and trying to get the riven edges.

Cheers

[cjdodd]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/mosaic-tiles-52-30mm-X-30mm-square-Limestone-Marble-Mix-/121701525765

pick up a sheet of those from somewhere and take a dremel to them.

[CarriageShed]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/mosaic-tiles-52-30mm-X-30mm-square-Limestone-Marble-Mix-/121701525765

pick up a sheet of those from somewhere and take a dremel to them.

Now that's another very good idea. Potentially cheap, too.