Blacketty Water is a small diorama, measuring just 19cm by 10cm, built as an entry to the 2015 Dave Brewer Memorial Challenge. The challenge was to build a bridge for a narrow gauge railway with a restriction on the size of the model based upon the gauge of track used. As I had to transport the diorama by train I opted for the smallest category, 20 cm by 10 cm by 15 cm high for all gauges below 9 mm, allowing me to accurately model 2ft gauge track in 4mm to the foot scale.
The model is based on a real bridge that forms part of the abandoned Duchal Moor railway. The railway, known locally as the Grouse Moor Line, was built by the shipbuilder James Lithgow to help transport people and equipment out to the shooting butts on the moor. When completed in 1922 there was approximately 7 miles of 2ft gauge track. The railway closed in the late 1970s and most of the line has disappeared back into the peat bogs it was built over, the main exception being the bridge over Blacketty Water.
One of my main aims when building the model was to try and learn lots of new techniques and as such the entire model is scratch built. Details of the build are spread over the blog between the beginning of July to the end of October 2015 (click here for the full set, although they are in reverse order). As building the model involved learning a whole range of new techniques I did end up documenting a lot of ideas that led nowhere. The main, useful ideas, though involved the hand built track, the main bridge structure, peaty water, white water, heather, rocks, concrete, and modelling a Black Grouse.
