Coventry Station steps and arches

These last couple of months have seen me head bowed at the untidy end of the dining room table, measuring, cutting, sticking, cursing, unsticking, recutting, and generally trying again until it’s right. The Gordian Knot of Aitchison senior’s unnecessarily complicated grand arrival and departure staircase has been keeping my grey matter churning like an overloaded washing machine. In terms of source material there is a drawing, or rather a rough sketch by Samuel Brees from which the great Sherlock Holmes would deduce he must have smoked as it is clearly from, and deserves to remain on, the back of a fag packet. The only other clue is the illustration in Osbourne’s guide to the London & Birmingham Railway, my inspiration for the Coventry 1839 project. Tom and I have concluded that this is good and therefore the best reference however, in modelling terms it is woefully inadequate. Despite all this I think I have finally arrived at the most accurate guesstimate I can manage. Scratchbuilt using Slaters Plastikard plain and embossed, a lamp fabricated from brass scraps and a lovely etched railing from Mainly Trains (remember them?). Tasks such as the balustrades on the stairs and a few oil lamps remain to be completed but by the time you read this I will hopefully have made a start. Constructing the forecourt between the stairs and the station building is next and should be relatively straightforward, ha, ha, ha…