DonB Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 I am not sure of whether to continue my thoughts and deliberations on my attempt to model this railway as a blog (see http://www.rmweb.co....085-donbs-blog/ ) or to transfer my timeless prose to this section as a Topic and posts. Current situation is that I have decided on a scale of 3.5mm/ft,and have sketched the (model's) incline and its support structure and have made the track base using Sundeala on ply, I will be using spiked track, I know which associated buildings I am going to include, and their disposition relative to the tracks, The final footprint of the model is a little fluid at present, but will be Dog-legged, and tall and fairly narrow, estimated to be about 1.2metres long x 350mm wide and 550mm high at the top. Drawings of the passenger cars and the distance between the two tracks are great unknowns at the moment, preventing more progress. Also having some difficulty reconciling building sizes based on Google / OS maps and Photographs. A site visit is planned shortly after Easter, I have had contact with the owners and have permission to visit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 I was in Bridgenorth for a week last Autumn, had elevenses one morning in the lower dining room next to the winding gear watching the cars go by. Great idea, and something quite different Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWJ Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Looking forward to seeing this model - it's always nice to see something original and a bit 'different'. Cheers, Will Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disiel47 Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 I hope you have good luck doing this project Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted May 26, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 26, 2012 I am not sure of whether to continue my thoughts and deliberations on my attempt to model this railway as a blog (see http://www.rmweb.co....085-donbs-blog/ ) or to transfer my timeless prose to this section as a Topic and posts. Definitely a topics and posts thread please, I personally find them much simpler and quicker to follow than a blog. Cheers, Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold westerhamstation Posted December 11, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 11, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/uk-england-20592917 This link might put a new spin on your project Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted December 19, 2012 Author Share Posted December 19, 2012 A new addition to the blog sequence at last! With first attempt at baseboard footprint and details of trials and tribulations along the way. (see http://www.rmweb.co....085-donbs-blog/ ) A taster, the footprint so far, details of why it is not quite right in the Blog:- As pointed out at the club last week, the original plan was to complete model in about 18 months and a year later I haven't "put a nail into a bit of wood yet!" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted July 17, 2013 Author Share Posted July 17, 2013 Coincidental with a new Blog entry,I thought that I would Bump this thread with an entry to show one of the buildings which I need to model. First, a general view from the river bridge, sorry about the lighting post - to have avoided it I would have had to stand in the middle of a busy road, and I wanted a view of the flat-topped gable-end wall as it butts up to the higher, older tower. (see also the other end of this wall in picture 3 below). The picture shows the 2003/4 red(ish) brick extension to the original Victorian Station at the head of the incline. Note the flat roofs on both old and new parts of the station building. There is no access to see the roof and parapet construction details since all the windows overlooking them are in private, rented accommodation. This also gave me problems working out which bits of the structure butted up to each other. The roof in the foreground is of an ex-chapel, now a small theatre. I don't intend to include this in my model,since by careful siting of my "cut-off" boundaries I can miss its footprint. Second, A view from the pedestrian walkway at the top station without one of the carriages at the platform. It is difficult to get a decent shot of the top platform without either a carriage or vegetation in the way! I forgot to ask the purpose of the access and maintenance platform and ladders, which may cause a few modelling problems, as will the wrought iron "fence" on top of the flat roof parapet, which will need an etch I think! The picture above shows both the newer tower and the older, Victorian, one with its timber framework and plaster inlay, looks like a job for laser cutting. Beyond this is a bay (below) with similar wood and plaster decoration above the red brickwork. The window adverts are for the tea rooms at a lower floor level. Within the tea rooms is an internal window through which one can see the winding equipment for the Funicular cables. There is no public access to the entry at the side of this bay, so some guesswork may be required. The end of the flat-topped gable wall can be seen above and behind the bay structure Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted November 26, 2013 Author Share Posted November 26, 2013 A mock-up of the Upper Station (prototype pictured in my previous post) has been constructed, and as few lessons learned about how to approach a building with dual levels plus multiple corners and recesses. I was invited to show "work in progress" at the recent show at Weston on Trent, where there was a fair bit of interest in the model. It was surprising how many people didn't know of the Cliff Railway, including "Regular" visitors to the SVR. Also a number of ex-National Service men who did their "square bashing" at RAF Bridgnorth didn't know of it since the town was out of bounds. It was displayed with the two station mock-ups placed and removable, and because they are due to go into the scrap bin soon, visitors could handle them and see the construction methods - Warts and All! A couple of shots showing the mock-up sat at the top of the incline:- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted November 26, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 26, 2013 I'm sure you have plenty of photographs but just in case here a few of the upper station taken on a rainy day in August: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted November 26, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 26, 2013 As pointed out at the club last week, the original plan was to complete model in about 18 months and a year later I haven't "put a nail into a bit of wood yet!" Surely the time starts when that first nail goes in... Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted November 26, 2013 Author Share Posted November 26, 2013 I'm sure you have plenty of photographs but just in case here a few of the upper station taken on a rainy day in August: bridgenorth1.jpg bridgenorth2.jpg bridgenorth3.jpg What nice clear pictures! Showing the new livery, Actually just a change of the roof colour, from white to blue, earlier this year. As you may have realised it isn't easy to get a full side-on view of these carriages, and you second one is as good as it gets, in my experience. The lack of a shadow obscuring the underframe is particularly useful. I have several pictures some personal, some downloaded, but few are a useful as that one, so I have taken the liberty of downloading them. Thanks. I've just re-read my earlier posts and realised that I have not confessed (in this thread) to changing my mind about the scale of the model. I was not comfortable with 3.5mm/ft and changed to 4mm/ft after I realised that I could get a commercial 14.2mm track (and correct diameter wheel-sets) from the 3mm Gauge Society to represent the 3ft 6" gauge of the prototype. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted November 26, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 26, 2013 This should be a fascinating and attractive model, Don - good luck with it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 Further developments in my scatter-gun approach to building this model of Bridgnorth Cliff Railway. Much thought has gone into the shape of the footprint of the lower station building and its alignment with the track incline, due to the lack of access to both gable ends (there's a cliff in the way!). I think I have drawn it correctly now and will start a second mock-up of the lower section of the building soon. The operation of the model's passenger cars has been considered, and a suitable 12volt motor and gearbox, together with mounting bracket, obtained from Technobots ( http://www.technobotsonline.com ). The prototype travel time from top to bottom is 1 minute ( +/- a couple seconds depending on the controller's braking of the operation.) The sheave at the top station, just visible in Barry ten's 2nd photo above, scales at 34 mm and needs to rotate 17 times to move the carriages over the length of the track. So I need to control the sheave to about 17rpm. The motor / gearbox chosen has a 6volt no-load speed of 23rpm so will do the job admirably. The sheave mentioned is based on colliery practice. A couple of attempts to find a suppler via the help section eventually after a few weeks resulted in two offers of help within 24 hours of each other.! Shapeways have produced spoked colliery sheaves and "Etched Pixels" of this parish had a 3D drawing / file in which all he had to do (he said) was to put in the appropriate numbers to get a 12-spoked sheave with grooved rim for the ropes. He has been a great help. Three sheaves have been ordered in Nylon so that I have spares, and these are due here in the next few days. I have been given a couple of Triang TT-gauge die-cast wagon chassis (thank you, Malcolm Hughes of Mickleover club) which I intend to use in trials of the motor and to prove the incline plus sheave/rope combination works, before starting on construction of scale carriages. Edit to correct motor details Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted June 23, 2014 Author Share Posted June 23, 2014 This model is now abandoned see blog entry at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1085/entry-14258-like-fagin-%E2%80%9Ci%E2%80%99m-reviewing-the-situation%E2%80%9D/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 This model is now abandoned see blog entry at ***** Blogs still do not work for me, so whatever happened I missed it and have relied on this topic for progress (intermittent). It is sad to hear of the abandonment, for whatever reason. Seemed like an interesting project. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cncmodeller Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 I Thought this picture would be of interest, I built a working model of one of the Folkestone Cliff Lift Railways years ago as a college project. The scale is 1:33 [ an architectural scale ] I chose the Metropole or 'West Lift' as it was known as I felt the installation was neater in appearance compared to the Leas lift which is just about still with us. It used real water as in the real thing and had pumps in the basement to supply water to each car at the top. There were a few teething troubles to get it reliable which involved having a magnet at the top to keep the cars stationary until there was a good head of water otherwise they would stop halfway! I built a paddle encased in a drum of oil to provide a sort of brake if the cars went too fast and finally used a timer to meter out the amount of water to keep the weights even. The model was dismantled but I have kept the cars and the top brakesman's hut and intend to resurrect the model one day. The lower station will be even more detailed as I have produced a CAD drawing from better photographs and am now able to CNC machine parts out. I may cheat the working this time by having the cars move by electric motor but with water working for 'show'. Metropole Lift Folkestone by uniquenarrowgauge, on Flickr John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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