Most of the written material publicly available that we have found focuses on the history and development of Thornycroft vehicles. There is some commentary and images of the factory departments and processes involved in manufacture but nothing written about the changes to the factory site over time, unless you know otherwise.This Blog maybe the first attempt at investigating that history.
Wood Store
In the photo below of the real factory the Wood Store is the building top left.
Function
The Wood Store held timber and other natural material in a dry, airy environment. Wood, particularly oak and deal (Scots pine), featured strongly in early vehicle bodywork construction.
Timeline
The six bay Wood Store was built well after the inaugral buildings of 1898. It is recorded as being in use by 1917, which suggests it was needed in line with the massive expansion of production for military orders during the first world war. An extension, added before 1928, increased the length to 10 bays. The building survived to the end but fell out of use in latter years.
Construction
Concrete floor and 'I' girder frame infilled on three sides with a warm, orange/brown old English brick bond. The extension used a lighter coloured brick. The goods loading side comprised full height louver wooden panels for free air flow. Doors were of the roller type. An 'I' girder gantry ran the whole length of the building except the extension gantry was made of wood. A hoist was fitted to the gantry to assist loading and unloading of railway wagons to/from a wooden floor positioned at mid height.
This wonderful picture from the late 1920's/early 1930's of an A3 six wheeled lorry unloading straw (probably used for vehicle seat padding) provided much close up architectural detail of the building to aid design of the model.
Sometime between 1939 and the 1950s the loading side was remodelled in corrugated iron with sliding doors and the long gantry taken down.
In the original building the interior was open plan with metal trusses to support the roof. Wooden trusses were used in the extension and two rows of concrete pillars with floor beam brackets moulded in. No pillars evident in the original building. From the roof trusses two rows of industrial pendant lamps ran the length of the building about a quarter in from front and back.
The east facing roof was covered with diamond shaped shingles throughout its life. A 1960 photo shows the west facing roof to be corrugated iron! The model assumes it was shingles in our period of interest. Five louver venting structures sat atop each side.
On the south end was an entrance door and a sign above declared it as 'Stores Office'.
The North end wall was painted white and the company slogan painted on. From a distant 1939 aerial photograph only the Thornycroft word is legible. There has been debate on what the other words were. After much scrutiny of the photo the first word seemed to have a U and T bearing some resemblance to Trust and the last word looks like Transport. A search in Google for 'trust thornycroft transport' gave the Hantsweb web site, which stated the company slogan as being 'Trust A Thornycroft With Your Transport' - a perfect match!
The decor is created in a graphic editing program and printed on an Epson inkjet printer with Durabrite Ultra ink. The ink has good colour retention properties and is waterproof. Some parts are printed directly on 0.35mm card and cut out. Others are printed on A4 sticky label sheets, which is then stuck to the card. Gutters are formed from 80gms printing paper using the card as a former to make the channel.The construction is modular with 10 stacked together. This gives rigidity and strength to a model that is 445mm long! (massive for N gauge). A plinth is built in that will disappear into the groundwork.
I have an idea to use corrugated cardboard to raise the ground to the level of the railway track surface and around the building. The next photo shows how this might be achieved by cutting back part of the cardboard so it sits on the sleepers butting to the rail. The inset is an upside down view showing the cut back. Another idea being considered is to flood the ground with plaster or clay, a more messy and permanent solution.
The 10 roller doors are all operational. Each is scored horizontally 0.5mm apart and the door bent around a rod to encourage curvature. They are held in guides either side of the opening. Handles are formed from wire. Armed with a scalpel point on a door handle it can be raised and lowered. When the door is raised it bends to run along the inside face of the roof.
The hoist gantry is Plastruct 1.6mm 'I' beam. The assembly is delicate and will break with rough handling. The hoist itself is a naive construction of washers, wire and thread but it can be pushed along the gantry with care.
The only internal decor is the concrete and elevated floors since they are visible when doors are open.
David
Sometime between 1939 and the 1950s the loading side was remodelled in corrugated iron with sliding doors and the long gantry taken down.
In the original building the interior was open plan with metal trusses to support the roof. Wooden trusses were used in the extension and two rows of concrete pillars with floor beam brackets moulded in. No pillars evident in the original building. From the roof trusses two rows of industrial pendant lamps ran the length of the building about a quarter in from front and back.
The east facing roof was covered with diamond shaped shingles throughout its life. A 1960 photo shows the west facing roof to be corrugated iron! The model assumes it was shingles in our period of interest. Five louver venting structures sat atop each side.
On the south end was an entrance door and a sign above declared it as 'Stores Office'.
The North end wall was painted white and the company slogan painted on. From a distant 1939 aerial photograph only the Thornycroft word is legible. There has been debate on what the other words were. After much scrutiny of the photo the first word seemed to have a U and T bearing some resemblance to Trust and the last word looks like Transport. A search in Google for 'trust thornycroft transport' gave the Hantsweb web site, which stated the company slogan as being 'Trust A Thornycroft With Your Transport' - a perfect match!
The Model
An overview of model construction is presented here with key points elaborated. The next photo shows the model in situ on our full sized layout plan in a similar orientation to the real building shown above.
I have an idea to use corrugated cardboard to raise the ground to the level of the railway track surface and around the building. The next photo shows how this might be achieved by cutting back part of the cardboard so it sits on the sleepers butting to the rail. The inset is an upside down view showing the cut back. Another idea being considered is to flood the ground with plaster or clay, a more messy and permanent solution.
The 10 roller doors are all operational. Each is scored horizontally 0.5mm apart and the door bent around a rod to encourage curvature. They are held in guides either side of the opening. Handles are formed from wire. Armed with a scalpel point on a door handle it can be raised and lowered. When the door is raised it bends to run along the inside face of the roof.
The hoist gantry is Plastruct 1.6mm 'I' beam. The assembly is delicate and will break with rough handling. The hoist itself is a naive construction of washers, wire and thread but it can be pushed along the gantry with care.
The only internal decor is the concrete and elevated floors since they are visible when doors are open.
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