Well hello to my first attempt to post my scratch built Version of Garsdale Junction Station and its associated buildings. I have been inspired by the many RM Web contributors and offer an insight into my 3.0mm foam board efforts. From this To this
It has taken me a while to regain some of the skills in modelling that I had when I was 16 or so, but now old age only affects one's physical abilities to accomplish what seems a challenge to model in OO Scale. I had started planning for this pro
With the Workers Railway Cottages virtually completed some of you may have noticed that the porch bargeboards are arranged differently from the previous trackside terrace cottages in as much as they are recessed under the roof tiles. I may return to make the remaining four cottages. This will depend on a possible diorama width decision and how well the landscape back scene can be devised to blend with the physical buildings. A 3D composite may have to be devised somehow, but that would be someti
With the windows completed and the roof in place a ‘topping off’ ceremony has been held by yours truly by way of a brown ale or two before tackling the chimney stacks and painting them. I have previously used balsa wood for each of the station waiting room chimneys with moderate success, but I found detailing the stonework awkward, as the wood was too soft to maintain any close definition.
Now however using a foamboard core and then overlaying it with clear styrene detailed pieces with the s
It's a busy time of year. Someone mad in a red suit is rushing around, or rather in this hot weather going red in 30°C rushing around! Just time for some progress pics.
After the initial assembly of the box, it was obvious to me that from the operator/visitor view point that the interior would need to be furnished. The current lever and frame at the box is 33 levers in a forty frame, and I believe the Northallerton line through Hawes in Wensleydale will be achievable one day. Therefore on my layout of Garsdale Junction this is reflected and gives me more operational value.
I came across Steve Hewitt’s fine Semaphore signal work here on RM Web (before I join
Tennessee Ernie Ford might have been a handy help for roofing the original prototype building, but 16 tons is just my guess anyway. Now for a different approach than the way I used to fabricate the roofs on the smaller station buildings I made earlier. Because of the slight bow that occurred with them, (the roofs had to be massaged gently back straight), so this time I kept both roof halves separate whilst I glued the cut cardboard slate tile strips to the vanilla (paper still on) foam board.
A lot of tasks to complete with the above under way. The idea if successful will provide a texture once sanded with a suitable 120 grit or other, to the roads on this 1st module. I will also try a timber matt grey acrylic paint to cover over the shaped graphite polystyrene after a trial test. This may help to avoid disaster and make the rest of the diorama construction less involved as opposed to using other methods. Its worth a try in my view. Speaking of which there’s a few photos for you foll
At the start of this blog I posted some of the pictures of my version of the Midland type 4c signal box that took some time to construct. The first problem for me was to check and recheck the window height (as it didn’t look right) against the prototype pictures and a pic of ‘Signalman Owen’ standing in the signal box entrance. The building dimensions also gave me a length to width problem. I scaled my width at 55mm then after a few days of deliberation arrived at a length of 125mm less the acce
OK not quite but getting on with it. Been involved with looking after my wife after her hospital operation that was supposed to be a fortnight ordeal unfortunately turned into a years recovery saga for her and is still ongoing.
Have had some spare time to myself lately and have got my enthusiasm for modelling back.
Garsdale station workers Cottages have had their back yards mostly completed as much as one can go. Matching the walls to the adjacent cottages was a mission (about 3
As you might appreciate, there are other things going on with this project around the same time such as track work painting, platform mods and wiring etc., etc. Too many to write about just yet, so I’ll do my best to keep information coming.
While the two station modules are joined I have commenced building the stone walls with a little help from my GWRM club member. Harry was one of our clubs’ founding members and by sheer coincidence built similar dry stone walls numerous years ear
So far so good! As you see the formed terrain plus the use of Contract Filler (spack) in filling up most of the holes in the poly due some of my over exuberance with the rasp and hacksaw blade.
Finally the diorama has been given two coats of ordinary acrylic house paint to seal the polystyrene and provide for a stronger top surface and edging.
I may have some more fettling to do at the module joint to ensure the diorama is a good match.
Firstly I needed to assemble the 1 &a
Three Dog Night sang the title and also Cliff Richard sang a a similar song ‘In the country’, so here I am up to my ears as it were in country diorama modelling. Having laid off cut polystyrene as a foundation base, I’m now going to enjoy myself sculpturing in the foreground for the next few blogs. Incidentally the photos in my last blog were a disaster as I tried to reduce their size to comply with the 10 MB limit, and as a consequence the text shrunk as well. Fewer photos needed or more progra
Well spring has sprung here down under and with the weather and winter colds fading away hopefully, I now get to catch up on gardening chores after a 4 month break. So while trimming down the hedges I found that an asparagus fern had grown through and being an observant ######, I remembered having seen an article by Bill McClanahan in a Kalmbach book I bought back in the early 70’s called ‘scenery for model railroads’ in which fir trees were made using wooden dowels that had finely drilled holes
Well not exactly but very close! A while back, (well ages ago) I started to test out Luke Towan’s method of making wire trees. That was until I was 3 way point obsessed, but now having reviewed where I was up to I needed finish the trees so that they are ready to complete the Garsdale diorama. I started with a rough sketch to map the aerial view of their positions and sizes and found I really needed quite a few! Before I decided to use the wire method, I had thought that the use of natural eve
As before these are pre cut using Evergreen#103/122 styrene strips for the window sides and rails. Working through all 47 windows takes time and certainly patience, so to break the repetition another one was started! Same thing but different. The window assemblies did take time but I thought it was worth it as these workers cottages at Garsdale Head are, apart from scenery are some of the outstanding features as you approach the station from the South. My quandary is … should I extend the dioram
Alright, here goes the marking out the front details of the railway side terrace houses. The entrance lobbies have a higher roof apex than those on the 3° slope stepped houses; otherwise all other details are similar. The gable roofs of the lobbies took a bit of fiddling around as I found out due to extra allowances needed for the 3.0mm foam board to line up correctly to the terrace house wall/lobby detail and their roof tiles.
All to do now is a spray coat of acrylic primer on each exterior
Progress has slowed down mainly due illness and to my other commitments, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been slacking on the Garsdale project. It has always been my intention to have stackable modules for storage and transport and so to this end I have been working through different ideas to achieve this. Having gained experience working on the GWRM exchange yard and return loop for our exhibition layout and the need for it to be transportable in a limited allocated space, we developed a removable
I’m slowly working through the process it seems to complete this part of my diorama. Lately other issues have been slowing me down somewhat. With constructing the many sized trees from small bushes 25 mm = 2 m to the the tallest 180 mm = 13.716 in OO Scale the wire lengths needed ranged from 45 mm to 1280 mm. The Gedeo latex I found needed to be watered down by 10% of its consistency for ease of application. I used a teaspoon full in a small plastic shot glass with a small amount of water and
Got to pay your dues if you want to play with choos (really?) I wonder if Ringo has ever sung those words around his own layout? Having great fun laying down gravel access roading around the Railway Cottages. I started out putting a thin film of filler where the roads were, but then noticed the stepped cottages would need to move slightly for clearance of the backscene board and a 3.0 mm height adjustment to realign the cottage entrances with the road level. As I said earlier, the first four
The single most enjoyment I get is discovering that patience overcomes most obstacles. That’s what drives me to invest my time in making a model railway. I can not stress the importance of taking on a challenge and completing it whether it be with others or solving it yourself. So with that in mind I’ve built myself a Static Grass Applicator as the need to build up the grass texture at Garsdale Station is paramount. My SGA is a hybrid between using the well known fly swat and Luke Towan’s des
Mark Knoflers song The Bug played in my mind as I finally got to grips with the back scene come storage support arrangement that will keep all the modules together for transport purposes.
Basically they just slide top of each other, then become four 1.2m high x 1.0m wide x 1.8m long stacks.
The side panels are ply on one side with clear panels on the other. I eventually decided that this arrangement would be more practicable for both viewing and transporting the layout. As a result how
My last post on the new format web page posting pictures caught me out slightly. The acrylic mounting and index plate has ensured good servo to point alignment Further progress has been made with 3.0 mm cork to raise the track for drainage detailing later on between the platforms. DCC track dropper wiring and point bonding to stock rails is being done to provide for future development because at this stage a DC operated layout will be my starting point. The track is now pinned ready for ballast,
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue like Eddie Grant and get serious about track control and
electrics! At this point in time I am preparing a track mimic panel with point control based on the actual Garsdale signal box lever frame control. The AnyRail reduced track plan will be printed onto a plastic sheet, then fitted out and wired into the control box.
I’ve tested my servo point motor system which is essentially like a solenoid one but without a CDU. The servos
Well then, another portable baseboard module (no. 2) is under way at last. This allows completion of the platforms and accommodate the station proper. The module is interlocked with the 1st module to ensure that the railway tracks are kept aligned in both the horizontal and vertical planes. With the construction completed I wanted to concentrate on the SAC Bridge 116 which is an occupational access for the farmers sheep or stock.
The steep rise from the Eastern portal was difficult t
I’ve been slowly working through my first third of a forest of wire wound trees and like making slate roofing for my Garsdale buildings I found myself, forgive the pun, wound up! You do get much better at it when making several trees at a time and it’s amazing how every tree turns out to be an individual. The spruce tree on platform one, opposite the railway workers cottages I found slightly more challenging due to its shape and small size and now version three appears to be on the right track.
