Blachford Quarry

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Having made the 'pretty' looking scene of Alpine Heights, the next oval was to be somewhat grubbier!

The idea for Blachford Quarry was to create a small quarry that was near the end of it's working life. It is located somewhere on Dartmoor, Devon with a rocky Dartmoor backscene blending into the foreground.

Around the quarry nature is starting to show it's hand with greenery poking through the old granite workings.

The oval track runs near the top of the box with the quarry beneath it. There is a small siding that curves inside the oval. It is here that the aggregate is loaded onto the train to be transported.

In one of the boxes corners is a standing stone with sheep grazing. In another corner there is a small security building with a barrier crossing to the loading depot.

Beneath the railway sits the quarry itself. A road under the railway bridge leads into the yard area. There is a deep disused quarry pit now filled with water and fenced off to one side.

The main quarry building sits against the rock side where granite is hoisted up to the main station at it's top. A conveyer takes the granite into the building whilst a small engine house powers the conveyer. There are other small work huts that the workforce may visit, no doubt for the odd cup of tea!

At the rock face man are are working, hoping to get the last from the ground.

All the buildings are scratch built using Metcalfe card. The conveyor belt is actually a plastic straw cut in half lengthways and painted. The hoist is thread and it's platform made from balsa wood.

The rocks are small stones from the garden. The grey quarry floor and sides are various grey scatters.

This is usually run with an industrial yellow livery 04 Shunter pulling cement wagons.