When the layout was acquired, the magnificent station building made by Ian Hopkin was included. The original builders at the Model Railway Club had plans for making platform canopies but apart from a few rudimentary sketches, nothing was ever produced. There was a rumour of some etches as well but further queries elicited that these did not exist or had been lost. The little folk were complaining about being exposed to the vagaries of the seaside weather but their protests were to no avail to the good folk of the MRC.

This was a project that I wanted to carry out as soon as I acquired the railway but I was at a loss to know what to do. I wanted to produce the hipped versions of the GER platform canopies which graced my home station of Ipswich and were also at March and other GE locations. These looked to be complex items to produce. A friend provided me with a complete set of detailed drawings of Felixstowe station which had rather more conventional station awnings but these were flat roofed and so modelling these was the fall-back position.

I mentioned my dilemma to that great supporter of matters Great Eastern, Barrie Walls who had made the sort of canopies I wanted to copy for his Wallsea Main station and, indeed, on the original Wallsea layout. He told me he had made a tool for the production of these facia boards and that I was welcome to borrow this. The tool was duly collected and proved to be a steel former with the requisite holes predrilled and the plank pattern marked thereon. It was designed to be used on plywood rather than Plastikard. I tried to make the fascia out of 40 thou Plastikard but found as I had been told, that it did not work too well. I duly used the tool on some 1mm plywood but I have to say that I found the process of drilling and cutting rather tedious especially as I wanted to produce an eight and nine bay run.

One of our group members, Anthony Garton, has a business supplying wooden laser cut parts for modellers, trading under the name of Poppy’s Woodtech. I spoke with Anthony about the possibility of having the canopy facia laser cut and showed him the tool and the first cuts that I had produced. He muttered something and took my parts and within a few weeks had replicated the fascias using laser technology.

They were far better than anything I could hope to make and are now part of his standard range of parts. At the same time, John Birch told me that he had developed an etching for the GER spandrel brackets used to support the canopies. I thus had no further excuse for delaying matters as this too was a problem solved. The final link in the chain was the support posts which Skytrex produced though I understand John Birch is to produce a more elaborate GER style post to go with the brackets. As the posts would be under the canopy, I was not too fussed about the authenticity of the supports though perhaps I should be, but in the main they would be largely hidden under the canopy when in place. Skytrex do a square and round canopy support post. I opted for the square type as I reckoned they would be easier to solder the spandrel brackets to.

I had calculated that I would need an eight bay canopy for one platform and a nine bay one for the other. This meant that I needed 34 fascias from Poppys plus 38 support posts and 76 brackets. The materials were acquired together with strip wood from Perfect Miniatures who have a wonderful selection of shapes and sizes. I envisaged the construction being similar to the old Keil Kraft model aircraft of yore being a stripwood frame to which the fascias would be attached but at this juncture, I really had no idea as to how the assembly would proceed, trusting to my ability to bodge.

I firstly assembled the brackets and spandrels from the white metal posts and the Birch etches… Each bay needs two such supports and the process of fabrication can get a trifle tedious though the results are very good especially when the paint brings out the delicate “GER” marked in each spandrel. The etches are designed to be a double thickness which were soldered back to back which are then soldered to the support posts using low melt solder. These were subsequently painted green for the posts and cream for the spandrel brackets. They could be glued if nervous about soldering white metal.

The framework for the canopies was made from 10 x 2mm stripwood, the actual sizes being set by the width of the platforms to be covered. As far as I could tell from photographs and the surviving ones at Ipswich, the canopies just covered the platforms and did not project over the train roofs. To make the cross girders, plywood from coffee shop stirrers were glued to each 10 x 2 mm stripwood cross member, though in practice, these can be omitted as they cannot be seen under the canopy. Pictures 3 and 4 show the basic construction and the framework can be extended for as many bays as the site requires. I used Wickes woodwork PVA glue for the construction which proved quick drying and very strong. However, if mistakes were made, parts can be separated with a Stanley knife

The fascias were then attached to the frames, trying to keep the whole assembly square and the fascias level. The joints were re-inforced on the inside by a piece scrap ply which both supports the joint and makes the maintenance of the level between the fascias easier. I found it better to do one bay at a time and then when that was dry, proceed to the next. This means a lot of waiting time for the glue to fully dry and allows plenty of time for tea to be taken. Until all the fascias are in place, the whole structure is rather whippy and care is needed until some rigidity is established.

Although my canopies are relatively straight, the facias would follow a gentle curve if the platforms to be covered required this.

The flat areas between each ridge were filled in with 2 x 1 mm ply strips as sold for 4mm track sleepers. I found a whole lot of these at a clear out at a local model shop but there are readily available from 4mm scale trackwork suppliers. Photographs show that not all canopies had these flat sections. The ones at Ipswich certainly do not.

It is possible to cut the flat parts off the Poppy’s fascias if it is intended to model the type of canopy without the flat sections. I guess there should be provision for drainage in these gullies but I took the view that the gullies would discharge any rainfall over the edge of the canopy and onto the track.

I tried two ways of doing the roof areas. I think these are wood planking with felt coverings. I thought that I could simulate this using the 4mm sleeper ply strips which would show through the roof covering to give an impression of the planking used on the canopies. In the event, this was very time consuming to do and used an inordinate amount of sleeper stripwood. I then had another cup of tea to mull over the issue and opted for 1mm ply cut to fit each side of the ridges. This turned out to be far quicker, and in the event, the planking did not show through. These panels were then covered in thin black craft paper stuck with diluted PVA glue.

Picture shows this stage of construction. The roof ridge was simulated by gluing a thin piece of ply strip along the apex which was then covered in the craft paper which when dry gives the impression of a ridge. It looks the part and my scale seagulls think it provides adequate support for perching. I also glued thin strips along each bay between the roof and the fascia which helped to mask any joints which were not up to full standard. I have to admit there are a number of those. Strips were also glues over the roof sections to give the appearance of battens between the sheets of felt.

The ends were straight dagger boards which were Poppy‘s standard product for non-ridged canopies. There are several types available but I chose the design closest to the fascias which is a standard GER pattern. These then need to be trimmed so that the bottom edge is level with the side fascias. The roof sections were then treated with several washes of grey, black and brown which were left to soak into the paper. I notice that black roofing felt soon goes grey in tone once it has been exposed to the sun for a while. (I cite my shed as evidence of this) The fascias were painted with thin washes of cream so that the laser marked planking showed through and the whole was then covered with further washes of black/brown to simulate the effects of weather and smoke.

I used acrylic paints from the Games Workshop range which have some rather frightening names but are really very good water soluble paints. The gully sections were made blacker than the adjacent roofs as I reckoned that water and stuff would collect there giving a more “used” appearance. On the ridges, the final touch is to add some white streaks along the ridges where the friendly neighbourhood seagulls are wont to perch and worse.

The canopies were laid on the platforms and the platform surfaces were marked where the posts will go. These had been painted green and cream but less weathered in tone as they are not directly exposed to the elements. I decided that the canopies would simply rest on the upright supports as this would facilitate track maintenance or attention to any derailments which might happen in the station area. At this time, Dave Eccles of the Norfolk Mardlers, heard about my efforts and mentioned that he had the remains of the canopies that once graced Deryck Featherstone’s Wingham Station. I was welcome to these if they were of any use. I was delighted to have them as Deryck was the catalyst for my interest in O scale and I had often visited his railway over the years. These were duly collected and I found that they exactly fitted the space between the station concourse and the platforms.

The station is based on Hertford East and though the walls are constructed to the shape of the canopies, they were never built. So the Wingham ones live on in an area not far from where they were originally made. Deryck lived in Happisburgh Road. The first picture shows the two canopy sections together.

It has taken nearly 30 years for the denizens of Happisburgh to get adequate covering from the worst of the weather. I hope that they appreciate the effort. It makes the station more impressive as it now is obviously a GER outpost. The pictures on this page show the canopies finally doing their job.

However, it has created complications for the operating department as it is now extremely difficult to couple and uncouple trains under the canopies. The MRC used Kaydee couplings for just this reason and they did not have canopies. The magnets for these units are in place but I am reluctant to fit the stock with these as they look wrong especially on locos (A4s excepted). So the question of couplings is thrown into focus by the new canopies and on that matter I am still evaluating the options.