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Tweedale - Slaghill Avoiding Line


awoodford

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I wasn't so happy with how the industrial scene was coming together. It just wasn't as blatantly industrial as I wanted. So I've added an extra elevated track through the middle of the scene - the Slaghill Avoiding Line. Why anyone would want to avoid Slaghill I can't imagine, but it does at least have the effect of enclosing things a bit more.

 

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This is just a dummy track, and is there purely for looks, though I suppose it could be used to store or display spare rolling stock.

 

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The new viaduct does rather cut the scene in half from top to bottom, so its not ideal, but on the whole I think I prefer it to previously. Construction consisted of a plywood track base, with cardboard plate girder sides, paper tube supporting pillars, and Plastruct truss between the pillars, all painted with Humbrol matt enamels. It has ploughed through the middle of Slagaloid's chemical works at the right, burying or scattering parts to other areas of the layout - a couple of the tanks have now ended up at a paint factory in Grimley. The station at Slaghill is now tucked away at the left and can only be glimpsed beneath the girders. Thank goodness for auto-couplers! The whole elevated line is in one piece and removable, as is the overall roof at Slaghill station, which allows access for track cleaning at the back.

 

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With the end in sight for the layout's scenic work, I've been rushing things a bit, so the latest buildings in the low-level Grimley area have been even more 'thrown together' than before. The station building in the foreground was originally intended to be from a Selsey Tramway prototype, but in the end I just couldn't be bothered, so all they have now is a bus shelter. The conveyer at the left of the platform came from a cement works in Bangladesh (courtesy Google Maps), except the sign there said Welcome to Chittagong. As the grand entrance to a city it quite appealed to me. The ramshackle workshops at the back of Grimley also came from a waterfront in Chittagong. I find Google Maps to be a great source of inspiration, especially some of the developing countries, where areas can still be found that are reminiscent of this country in the sixties.

 

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Thanks for looking, Alan.

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Guest Simon Dunkley

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"The new viaduct does rather cut the scene in half from top to bottom, so its not ideal"

 

I think it works rather well, as the transition from 3 to 2 dimensions can be tricky, and the viaduct does a very good job of disguising the change, as there are hints of the back scene below it and hints of the model above, tying things together. For an urban setting, this works rather well.

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Simon Dunkley, thanks for your comment. You're right in that it does help in the transition to the backscene. The back siding at Slaghill goes right up against the backscene and the new viaduct does help to disguise that. I think the problem is more to do with the size and shape of the viewing window at the front (10 inches high by 12 inches wide). From the normal  viewpoint, which is a tadge higher than in the third photo, the modeled part all seems to be lurking at the bottom of the scene, while the top half is relatively empty. In hindsight I think it would have worked better if the top edge of the window was a couple of inches lower, and the painting on the backscene was not so high. As it is now, lowering the window would crop the top of the steelworks, and just encourage the viewer to stoop, which would be even less satisfactory.

Alan.

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A lot of the photos from this blog were lost in the forum crash, I did save as many as I could and re-uploading them here for reference (hopefully in the same order as referenced in the text).

 

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