turtlebah

@37114 - I've long been an admirer of this layout. Such a good idea for a theme and really well executed

Thanks @saxokid. I wish i could take the credit for them, but as mentioned above, Mark Seward is your man for these. Signals were quickly identified as the weakest chink in my modelling armoury and quite a key feature of such a small layout so it seemed appropriate to get some help. Money very well spent.

I finally finished the majority of the scenic mock ups this evening ready to create the drawings required for laser cutting the basic scenic shells. The overall idea is to make the scene feel constricted, as any urban terminus would be, but with enough viewing points to see what’s going on. I do like layouts where the viewer has to work a little harder to get a view of the trains (whilst still being interesting). Farkham is one of my favourite layouts with regards to creating this effect (shock horror - a modern image layout ). The warehouse that the main running lines out of the station pass under will in reality be a little wider (6 windows). Unfortunately I ran out of foam board at this point. A couple of photos of the over bridge and proposed embankments. I also was not able to fully kit out the warehouse in windows until a further order with York Model Making has been placed. To the right of the warehouse will be a second goods warehouse, which the siding on the left runs into. Whilst I have got a good idea of how I would like that scene to look, it’s a project to tackle further down the line once the station area has come to life. I need to study some ‘how to make realistic concrete’ videos before that area takes shape. Marcus Lambert from Gowerton Parkway provided some inspiration, although i don’t think i have the stomach to use real concrete, however realistic the finish. Maybe das clay? Much inspiration for the second warehouse architecture will be taken from the goods warehouse at Moor Street. If anyone has any good book recommendations (or photos other than google) covering the warehouse I would be very grateful. The signal box is temporary. I am hopefully going to get round to scratch building one at some point that resembles a slightly smaller version of Exeter St David. The narrow base is appealing in an urban setting where space would have been at a premium.

The view from Waterloo Road bridge looking towards the station exit. The Platform 1 and centre road starter signals are now also in place (massive thanks again to Mark Seward).

I’ve previously been set on using Kadee couplings on West Park. The overall canopy means that when exhibiting I would require some form of magnetic uncoupling and Kadee seemed the most straight forward way to go. However, a recent trawl of YouTube made me think about Sprat & Winkle as an alternative. The positives are that obviously the Sprat & Winkle look much more realistic than Kadee, particularly on locos. West Park also uses pilot engines to shunt stock into platforms ready for departing trains, so I would also require some electromagnetic uncouplers placed towards the station throat (running out of the station at slow speed over permanent magnetic uncouplers led to a few passengers being left in the platform!!!). Those supplied by Kadee seemed fairly cumbersome and the Sprat & Winkle alternative (purchased via Wizard Models) looks like it’s easy enough to retro fit under the board with a bit of careful drilling. The long and the short means that this arrived in the post yesterday - a Sprat & Winkle starter kit. What have I let myself in for!!!!???? I’m sure over the coming months there is going to be much trawling of RMWeb in search of advice on how best to fit to a variety of stock.

It’s been a while since I last checked in on progress. Loving the canopies! How are you going to finish the roofs? That footbridge too - excellent work.

John, the craftsmanship here is outstanding. A real inspiration in the art of scratch building. Now an avid follower and really looking forward to seeing how this one progresses. Cheers, Nicos

A new addition to the fleet this Easter weekend. As West Park runs into further disrepair and the Western Region services were moved away as Low Level closed, these class 101s became more popular on local services as the station came under the control of BR Midland Region. Please ignore the SPAD, i haven’t got round to wiring up the signals yet, but rest assured, there will be a full investigation

I was going to use canopies conventionally on the platforms as well as build my own canopy shed, but by pure chance i placed a couple of completed Airfix structures across the platforms and noticed they were a perfect fit. It meant i could build a much bigger (and more structurally sound) overall canopy.

Thanks Lez, the old Airfix canopies work super well as a base structure if, like me, you lack the patience to scratch build canopy supports. With a bit of work you can do some really interesting stuff with them

The view from the top of Waterloo Road bridge. The station area mock up is coming along and the next step will be to finalise the measurements before getting some proper drawings completed. An idea of what under the canopy might look like - i still need to finish the platforms...

I’d love to say i have confidence, but the scratch building route was simply the result of not being able to find anything that closely resembles my imagined scene out of the box. I left myself little choice. That said, I am getting someone else to laser cut the basic building shells in mdf. I find the hardest thing was stopping previous attempts from warping either during construction or after painting. I’m hoping a sturdy well cut shell will help alleviate some of these issues. I’d love to run 8 coaches in to a terminus, but that would require a house move. I do have a Bulleid to run a football special from Southampton though

Thanks for the kind words, Adam. For someone who doesn’t have the space for prototypical mainline running i thought the invention of a secondary terminus could work. Layouts like Earls Court show that with platforms running straight into a fiddle yard can create the illusion of a complete scene. I can’t remember where i stole the idea from, but somewhere on this site someone suggested having platforms much longer than the trains you intend to run, which gives the impression of a station that was much busier in its heyday, but also everything appears a bit more important. The lines around Birmingham and Wolverhampton also had a good array of shorter formations pulled by larger locos being repurposed as the diesels and hydraulics took over the express work. I’ve never scratch build any buildings before so god knows how it’s all going to turn out / come together. I imagine the workshop will be full of false starts (as per usual ). Been having a cheeky look at St Mabyn...another lovely thread for me to follow now. A very atmospheric scene - great work!

My partner’s taken my daughter out for the early morning stroll today so jumped at the chance to whip out of bed, cut some more foam board and produce this little video complete with half the station building mocked up in the background.

Looks really good so far - great work. I will be following with interest.

I’ve started to make good progress on mocking up the structures in foam. The overall aim is firstly to check the measurements before getting the basic shells laser cut in MDF and then finally adding details and plasticard for texture. A mock up of the imposing Waterloo Road bridge set into the retaining wall (that will be complete with arches). A very basic structure just to get the measurements sorted. The Great Western Hotel on Platform 1. Still a bit of work to do to get the measurements correct. The detail will be loosely based on Wolverhampton Low Level i.e. blue brick with cornerstone and stone lintels.

Finally got the Platform 2 & 3 starter signal in place. Massive thanks to Mark Seward for the amazing signal work and well worth every penny - the calling-on arms look great. Still got to get them wired up, but the signal wiring is a job for another day. With lockdown allowing for more model railway evenings I’m hoping to get all the scenery and buildings mocked up in styrofoam over the Easter Weekend. No.6965, Thirlestaine Hall, waits for the road in Platform 2.

After Monday’s running in session, the Hall was ready for a return to service. Still a little jerky, but hopefully some fiddling with the decoder settings will help.

A very odd site for passengers waiting at West Park this evening.

A lovely set of station signs for West Park curtesy of Sankey Scenics

Lovely!!! Excellent video and great progress. Looking forward to future updates.

Tom - looks great. An ambitious project and I’m looking forward to seeing how this evolves. Top work thus far.

Two nights in a row of playing trains! Unprecedented scenes. An hour in the train room seemed like a good time to celebrate the midland services that had running rights into West Park. I swear i will do some actual modelling at some point over the next week or two. But hey, some projects are a life’s work...

Firstly, i hope everyone who might stumble across this thread is fit and healthy and managing to cope ok with social distancing during these crazy times. I think at moments like this our hobby (and RM Web) can be a very welcome distraction for many, providing some much needed relief from the news and outside world. We all need an escape and that is never more applicable than now. Unfortunately for me, the combination of working from home and having a 5 month old daughter means that it’s difficult to sneak in a couple of hours of modelling (i must try harder here). With a couple of ‘days off’ next week i hope to address that. Whilst progress on Wolverhampton West Park has been slow, it hasn’t stopped me playing trains from time to time so please see the latest video below. Enjoy.

I to binned my first couple of efforts. I think the issue is the point has risen up and is slightly higher than the track afterwards, which causes a bit of a wobble. Also the crossover nose gauging is a little tight. The particular point in question was the first half decent one I managed to get down, subsequent points are of much better quality. I knew at the time I should redo it, but wanted to crack on with other aspects of the layout. Thanks for the tender wheel tip though - It may well be adding to the problem. I’ve added a bit of extra weight to some tenders of other locomotives, which seems to help with negotiating the fine scale track and turnouts, especially the Hornby locos.