New Module - Bankes Bakelit (1/35)

I have had a wish to model a segment of Nystrup Gravel's railway running through the town's little industrial district. During the mid 1920's small factories shot up along part of the line on Nystrup's southern outskirts and almost 'fenced' the railway in. I like the look of a narrow gauge railway running past fences and buildings. As I have found room for a new module the industrial part of the line was an obvious choice to be modelled. I'm now in the process of making plans.

The module will feature the bakelite factory Bankes Bakelit (see one of the company's lorries here) as a relief building in the background, possibly behind a fence or brick wall. At the module's front will be a factory yard. Between yard and bakelite factory the gravel line will be making its way toward the lorry loading ramp on the other side of the town. The track will primarily be steel sleepered track panels from James Coldicott. Oh, and by the way: this will be yet another simple module crossed by 80 cm. of narrow gauge track - almost straight and completely pointless. For some probably utterly boring and without any operational interest whatsoever - for me another nice scene from Nystrup Gravel to run my trains of skips through.

I plan to build the bakelite factory from the inspiration provided by a nice little two storey factory. It will no doubt be quite unrecognisable when I'm finished shrinking it to fit the limited space available. 

The inspiration for the Bankes Bakelit-factory: Larsen's Toy Factory at Langeskov west of Odense, Denmark. Here photographed by flying photographer Viggo Sylvest Jensen in 1958. Crop of image B04316_006 in the collection of the Royal Danish Library.

When I attended the Gauge 1 exhibition last autumn I visited the toy factory. I stayed at the nearby inn, and thought the factory nice and modelable. Besides that I like to explore abandoned factories and facilities. In comparison to the aerial photo above several small buildings have been added to the factory. More images here.

The factory yard at the module front will have a low wooden fence and a grounded standard gauge goods wagon as a shed. The yard will not occupy the complete foreground - only enough to give an impression of the gravel line squeezing its way between the small industries. On the images below you can see my first test of how the module may be arranged. Changes may occur as I think the location of the parts through over Easter.

View of my module 4. Card board mock up of bakelite factory behind loco 78. Still no mock ups for the fences and walls that will be in generous supply on this module.

In this snap shot the fences and walls are symbolised with tape. The left right hand corner of the module will be grass and shrubbery. The lower end of the module attaches to the bridge module, the other end to a future module that will take the line over a street in a sharp curve.