EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW
HOW TO BUILDING HEMYOCK
PART 4: THE DAIRY AND LINESIDE STRUCTURES
Chris Nevard completes his evocation of Hemyock, on the Culm Valley branch in deepest Devon, by constructing the dairy and goods yard structures.
Hemyock, the terminus of the Culm Valley branch – in the heart of Devon – captured in 1962. The dairy dominates the background of this rural location.
CHRIS LEIGH COLLECTION
PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRIS NEVARD
For most of its life, the railway at Hemyock was dominated by the dairy. Naturally, this meant my miniature re‐creation would also have to feature the facility in a way that grabbed the viewer’s attention.
As is frequently the case when recreating a real prototype, I soon discovered just how much space would be required to model the dairy complex to scale – basically, rather a lot! Certainly far more space than was available at the terminal end of the layout’s baseboard.
With the space limitations in mind, therefore, I would have to use a bit of modeller’s licence and create something to suit the available footprint. Yet, it was vital to recreate the character of the real structure and follow the basic arrangement of buildings and facilities as closely as possible.
As will be explained in the accompanying demonstration, the buildings were scratchbuilt, using 5mm foamboard as the foundations for the walls. This cheap, lightweight material is easy to cut and bond, and mocking up the basic framework of each building allows you to get a clear idea of how the finished structures will look, in terms of dimensions, proportions and positioning.