Thornycroft Building #2 Timber Drying Shed

Timber Drying Shed

In the photo below the Timber Drying Shed is the Dutch Barn like structure with the white end about midway up and far left of the works.

The Thornycroft Motor Works, Basingstoke, 1928 - Britain from Above

Function

The shed, and the adjacent canopied area, were used for natural seasoning of timber. Planks were laid out inside the shed on a raised floor and beams below.

There is a superb photo from 1902 of the interior here. At the end of the store are piles of ash felloes (outer circle of wheel that attaches to the spokes), along the sides are oak staves (vertical posts), and in the centre rough sawn oak planks.

Timeline

The shed was one of the original buildings from 1898, or thereabouts. It had an enclosed, narrow lean-to extension on stilts along the west side. By 1914 the extension had been replaced by the large open sided, canopied space. Between 1928 and 1939 part of this was enclosed and it is reported as being a 'washing space' At this time the ends of the shed were repainted a dark colour, most likely blue. It is believed from close scrutiny of photographs that a railway loading platform was not provided, or if it did then it was much lower than a normal platform. In the 1940's or possibly early 1950's the shed and the canopied area were demolished and replaced by a brick built warehouse together with a full size railway loading platform. It was known as 'The Wharf'. This later building lasted until the end.

Construction

Timber with corrugated iron roof. Timber pillars support the shed. Vertical wooden laths from ground to roof on the ends and east side. Louver panels on the west side. This construction gave a free flow of air through the building for timber seasoning. By 1914 the laths had been removed below floor level so that the lower part of the building was open between the pillars.

How entry was made into the shed is not known. From the 1902 interior photo there appears to be a door on the East side but this seems impractical as it opened onto a narrow alley way in our period of interest. We believe entry was not via the ends of the building. This leaves the sides (or the floor), which are mostly hidden within the surrounds so, how entry was made is less important from a modelling aspect.

In 1928 The canopied store had a corrugated iron roof with 11 skylights near to where it joined the shed. A 1939 photo shows only one clear skylight. Perhaps the others were blacked out with dirt or replaced with corrugated iron due to rot(?).

The Model

The next photo shows the model in situ on our full sized layout plan in a similar orientation to the real building shown above.

The design and general construction is the same as the Wood Store. The model is built onto a base of corrugated cardboard that raises the ground level to the top of the railway track. The base is painted with a mixture of grey emulsion paint and PVA glue and is then sprinkled with granite dust that is rolled into the mixture and the excess shaken off. The finish gives a fine texture and looks like concrete.

Pillars are cut from wooden barbecue skewers and chiseled square, as are the stacks of 'oak beams' positioned on the concrete floor. Each row of beams is spaced off from each other with 'planks'. What a mind numbing task that was and reminds us that a lot of materials were spread about the yard like barrels, oil drums, castings and debris. All this will need to be modelled to some degree.

Whilst gutters have been modelled (because we generally view models from above) I have not added drain pipes because they are a bit lost on buildings in this scale (N gauge). We can add them later if required. I made a mistake with the east side by giving it louver panels instead of the vertical laths of the prototype but, as it will be mostly hidden on the layout I'll leave as is. To correct it I can design a new decorative layer and stick it over the east side.

The skylights are transparent but do not show up well in the photo on the right. When light is shone from above it beams into the interior, much like a 1919 picture of the shed we found in an archived 'The Commercial Motor' magazine.

David