With the abutment built, the next challenge is getting the wing wall lengths measured. Using Google maps, the approximate length was ascertained reasonably well at the10m scale and by comparing this with the bridge dimensions I obtained earlier.
Both the Eastern wing wall lengths being shorter due to the rise in the road/terrain appear as a nearly identical mirror image on either side along with the end height. On the opposite West wing, both walls are the same in length but wall end heights
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.
Inspiration is a wonderful tonic! Progressing well now as modifying the bridge sides is a relatively easy task. The four outside plates are complete with the inner plates cut in half and glued. The end plates that are directly under the stonework abutments were cut from the original end pieces and end riveted detail cut from the same now spare panels. This is because the plates were turned through 90° to create the right number and spacing for replicating the bridge.
Going from the photos, y
Well items ordered sometime go astray! While waiting patiently for the Wills SS57 plate girder panel bridge to not arrive, I’ve had time to help improve the old layout and rolling stock down at our local clubroom and go over my original thoughts and plans for my own layout baseboard construction. With having the advantage of the newly constructed Railway Workers Stepped Cottages and diorama requirement around the Coal Rd. #115 bridge this forced me to rethink what I wanted to achieve.
Also a
The sequence of constructing a layout can be deceiving, as you may think one may have thought of everything, but not well enough in my case apparently!
Putting the platforms down before I had completed track ballasting may have made it more awkward than anything else. However I’m going to persevere and may need to use old pieces of card strip against the sides and mask up the top of the platform to prevent any ballast and paint getting on the platform sides. The platform top surfaces ended
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
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,
Experience, there’s nothing quite like it! As you maybe aware I’ve been immersed in the joys of diode matrix wiring for the above. Much to the delight of my fellow GWRM club members two of us have finally cracked getting the 3 way point to operate the way it should using three momentary button switches on the loop/yard module control panel. Thanks to the UK Heywood Model Railway Group posting on the internet, John Essex has a solenoid matrix wiring system that I can endorse after finding other
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
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
Well my experiments with servos are progressing along. The prototype was tested using a CCPM Servo Consistency Master tester on a 3.0 volt, 1.5 amp supply which enabled a Peco SE 195 code 75 turnout to be switched back and forth without the need to remove the spring latching. The 12 mm baseboard plus an extra 3.0 mm track bed underlay will be just fine for my purposes. Other than using surface mounted turnout motors , the under baseboard mounted approach does have its own alignment issues fo
I’ve been involved with our club (the Greater Waikato Railway Modellers) building a loop extention/fiddle yard to compliment our existing one at the opposite side of our exhibition layout. Briefly our DC layout consists of interchangeable and controllable modules that are set to suit the available exhibition space. Primarily it was intended to give more mainline interest and flexibility. We used to have an end to end layout that dovetailed into a much larger oval one at our clubroom which it
The need to focus on what control system to run my layout has been evolving as I have been constructing the Garsdale buildings. Rather than having a continuous dual loop I may attempt to use twin tranversers, one at each end of the layout to enable consist/engine interchange. I am also working towards a dual DC/DCC system that will initially use a DC track controller along with servo turnout and signalling MegaPoint control system. Having constructed my first module, there are some further ba
Hi all, I’ve just been able to get back into some modelling of my version of Garsdale on the S & C line after a lot of other challenges since last December 2019. Nothing to do with Covid 19 though.
With a lot to keep me busy, I am now ‘learning to fly’ and getting to grips with the layout servo wiring control system that I had put aside before I could get back into modelling.
Having opted for using a simple server / ESC tester (see my pictures below) connected to a server to
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
Called in at my Tauranga Hobby shop here in NZ for supplies and came across ‘Just Plug’ LED nano lights to my delight! I’ve been looking out for Pico LED’s sold locally until I spotted them thanks to the shop owner.
Some time back I got and made a Ratio 470 LMS home signal in the hopes of using a servo for its operation and of course it needed to be lit as well. Although the Nano is a size up from the Pico it was as close as I could obtain.
The signal lamp needed modifying which proved
Well as you can see I'm still getting my head around this Blog thing. I Just used the Edit button to continue instead of this. As you can see by the photos they show up my warts and all efforts on the Carlisle Waiting Room. The last pic shows my attempt of Yorkshire Stone colouring using acrylic paints, with the Up Line Leeds Waiting Room in the background. Presently I'm tackling the window details of both buildings. The 3.0mm foam board has been scribed using a 0.5mm HB propelling pencil after
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
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
Now this is where we all might learn something, as this is a test of my observation! I tend to start with the quoins on my replica of the Georgian era buildings, because they provide the basis of the Yorkshire stone courses and how they fit with the doors and window openings, but I’m getting ahead of myself here. My earlier buildings of the Garsdale Junction Railway Station were a lot smaller in height and width. These Railway Workers Cottages are considerably longer and will take me into the n
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.
The Hollies of course sang my title for this post. Now at last the glazing can be fitted to the windows. I had already cut these out at 25mm and 35mm square 0.4mm clear styrene sheet when I made the entrance lobby/porch windows. The immediate concern is window dressing as once the tile roof goes on the access to the inside of the building will no longer be possible.
Because there will be no internal lighting, I decided to apply the three-foot viewing rule to my building here and use 1.5mm th
Before I can fit the glazing to all the windows, I need to paint the building exterior. Being new to scratch building I have found painting with acrylics a challenge, in as much the matching of the paint colour to the images in photographs is always a compromise depending on the photographers use of filters, time of day, decade and of course the weather.
So with that in mind I started with a light grey wash, then I mixed a light grey along with yellow oxide, burnt umber, plus a touch of crim
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
Measure twice and cut once. I first learnt this when I fabricated steel that it was not appreciated if you wasted any material. Using a 1.0 x 0.76 x 3.0mm Foamboard sheet (they come in all thickness and sizes, 10,5 and 3mm and in sizes A2, A3 and A4), I lightly draw out the sides and ends using a 0.5 HB mechanical pencil. Ensure you start from a square corner, most are. Then for cutting out use a new sharp edge angle blade. This is because you need a clean cut through the paper both sides of the
