Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Brendam Docks Layout Plans

These are some drawings of a layout for Brendam Docks! If I was to make a huge layout, for this section of Sodor, these are a few sections of how I would like to see Brendam Modeled.

Carefully observing how the scenes were filmed on the dioramas of Brendam for Thomas' TV Series in seasons 2 - 10, I tried combining them together into one whole section of the main port, where you can see Cranky, the Sidings, the Unloading Bays in front of the Sodor Shiping Co. Building, and even the Passenger Unloading Dock where Evening Star is a welcome visitor. There is also the Ballast Unloading Dock, with its nearby open air shed, factory buildings, The Supply Shed, and a few other sheds, one by the sidings, by Cranky, and at the end of the quay.

The whole site is dotted with cranes, cargo, and sidings. I have modeled a couple of versions of this location a few times, yet as I come back to the TV series, even the Railway Series, I find intriguing details and beautiful shots I can draw to remember for the next time I model a layout. That is the beauty of making temporary dioramas! You can change or redo any location.


I found some beautiful photographs of the Ramsgate Harbor Railway Station, and a few models of the terminus on flickr, I thought it would be nice to draw Brendam's Passenger Station, seen in a few shots from seasons 2 - 4, just made up of Knapford's building props. This drawing has platforms for buses to pick up and drop off passengers, many benches on the quay for the people to enjoy the ocean view while they wait, and of course a large glass roof. A beautiful scene showing one of the harbor's ferries could be seen in "Gordon and the Gremlin" in season 5, one of Fulton's Car Ferries.


Finally this drawing shows what I perceive to be East Brendam, where Bill and Ben's branchline from the China Clay works connect to the Docks. This layout plan displays many of the scenes shown in season 3, with its tall warehouses and quay, cranes, and canal boats, from "All At Sea" and other episodes with Bill and Ben.

These were fun to draw! I hope you like these. Even if I break them up into smaller, temporary dioramas for photographs and video, these scenes seem to me that they would be beautiful models.


 Click here to see how I made the scenes of Brendam

8 comments:

  1. Wow! You've really outdone yourself this time! I do find it fun to sometimes draw up make-believe layouts of Sodor's sites too, including the Vicarage, Maron, Dryaw etc. I do particularly love the docks from seasons 3, 4, and 5.

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  2. Oh yes, you are on a roll with the locations! I loved making these, and I do hope they inspire you to make more of your own realistic models. The docks and the harbour, they have always been my favorite locations, by the sea.

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  3. This is Awesome!!! I was wondering if you are going to do the same with Knapford station?

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    1. Thank you! That is what I am hoping to do next. It has a lot of potential in combining variations of its appearance both from the TV Series and the Railway Series, let alone the track work and buildings! These sketches of Brendam were fun to draw, and I am planning to do some for Tidmoth, some of the narrow gauge scenes of the Skarloey railway, and other locations.

      We will see!

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  4. Love your blueprint of brendam docks man! I'm really particular about detail and positioning (with the layout of the lines etc.) when trying to find replicate locations of sites from the series and so I can appreciate the amount of work you put into that - It looks superb, really great work!

    I too would love to see a model of Knapford, and had been doing some searching and found that this site (http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Knapford) had some good images of the Knapford area at different angles. (scroll down the page to find them - and yes I know it's wiki, but it's still pretty interesting!)

    Keep chugging away... Really love looking at your work, and hope to see more soon! Hopefully even a model of Knapford!

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    1. Why thank you! That means a lot.

      I visit the Thomas wiki whenever I need reference material for the models I make from the show, so when I make the structures and dioramas for Brendam or Knapford, I have these pictures opened in front of me so my scratch-built structures look accurate to the original.

      Of course for Knapford: the Big Station, the Yards, and the Harbor, these are all planned to model in due time to photograph and film, as each time I sit down to model something from scratch, they keep getting better and more detailed.

      Thank you for the kind words, all the best to you.

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  5. Since you're very good at laying out Brendam Docks, can you help me with a question please?

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