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rovex

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  1. rovex
    After taking a diversion into laser printing for the future city centre of my model, I've been putting my 3d skills to more currently practical use.
     
    The station retaining wall along Livery Street has been designed and indeed printed. It wasn't cheap and the brickwork is \ little hit and miss, but I did it this way for several reasons.
     
    1 Speed - a have a very low boredom threshold and lots of unfinished projects. This way I could get most of the wall done before I got diverted to something else.
     
    2 Uniformity - it was important to me that the wall was done to a certain degree of accuracy. This wall is going to support the cast iron screen wall whch will be made up of printed elements and I wanted them to line up correctly, if the eventual roof is ever going to sit correctly and not be floating away in one or other corner.
     
    Unfortunately as each wall panel is different, as the road rises along the length of the station, it meant that each panel had to be drawn out using the previous one as a starting point. This also meant it wasn't going to be possible to print one and then cast it.
     
    Hear are some photos of the painted prints not yet stuck into place and with a mock up of the screen wall placed on top.
     




     
    Finally I've mocked up some of the platform buildings using screen shots of the "kit of parts" shown on earlier blog entries.
     

     
    For the monent I'm going to concentrate on painting and fixing the retaining wall and getting all the platforms built.
  2. rovex
    Those who have been following my long winded efforts to build my model railway may remember that I lifted all the trackwork following a failed experiment in securing both the cork underlay and the track using spray adhesive. The warm weather saw expansion which resulted in track lifting and the cork bubbling. As the track had not been pinned the adhesive didn't prove up to the job.
     
    So reluctantly the whole lot was lifted and I decided that I had to start again. Well the starting was delayed until recently when I received the last of the major pointwork items required. All pointwork has been made by Hayfield and he has been good enough to share some of his work on his own blog.
     
    This time around I have adopted a much more old fashioned method. Cork underlay has been glued down to the baseboard using PVA glue (and copious amounts of it. The cork underlay is 4mm thick and came in a huge roll bought of a certain internet auction site. It worked out quite cheap compared to buying the usual stuff sold specifically model railways.
     
    The layout, which had been designed using Templot (when you still had to pay for it), was printed out onto slightly heavier duty printer paper and then glued on top of the cork using wall paper paste.
     
    The track abnd pointwork was then laid on top of this. Each peice of track has had drop wires soldered to it and these will then be soldered to the bus wires which will be under the layout. My previous layout have always suffered from terrible running quality and I think in part this has been caused by reliance on fishplates for electrical connectivity.
     
    I hope that with each separate piece of track having its own supply this will to some extent be ameliorated.
     
    Almost all the track at the North end of the station has now been relaid, with just a couple of bay tracks and platform 1 (or is it 12) to be laid.
     
    Next will the South end (under the Great Western Hotel) which thanksfully is somewhat simpler.
     
    Then starts the process of dusting off my old DCC controller and starting to attach power and point motors (i'm trying to buy 10 each month just after payday).
     
    My thoughts are also turning to the storage facility. I've swung between a traversr ( decided not to) a traditional fan of sidings and a casette system.
     
    Currently I'm thinking a mixture of traditional fan and casette may be the answer. My thought is to have the fast lines run into a fan of sidings where the crack expresses can be kept. The slow lines would then run into a casette system where the suburban trains and freight trains could be kept.
     
    Well enough words here are some pictures.


     
    Here is the station looking towards Paddington. From left to right we be through line (platform 12 and 11), two bays (platforms 10 and 9), through line (platform 8 and 7), two avoiding lines (up and down), through line (platform 6 and 5), two bays (platforms 4 and 3) and finally through line (platform 2 and 1). Although the station has been compressed it is still possible to get two trains onto the through platforms and the scissor crossings in the middle allow trains on the central platforms to cross each other.
     
    The bays are large enough for five or six coach trains if necessary - so you can see why I am desperate for Hornby to bring out some non-corridor Western coaching stock.
     

     
    a view striaght across the station throat.
     


     
    and now looking towards Wolverhampton (which I think I shall rename Worford for the layout).
     
    Although you can't see it in the background by the large tub of PVA glue are the four running lines (slow lines on the inside of the curve - the fast lines on the outside). The pointwork is such that any train arriving on a slow line can access any of the platforms and all four bays. Any train arriving on the fast line can access the main through platforms and the bays at platform 10 and 11.
     
    In reverse trains heading out this way can all leave by the slow lines and trains from platform 10, 11 and 5 and 6 can leave by the fast line.
  3. rovex
    I've got the design of the facade finished and so thought I would share a few more pictures with you.
     




     
    Its succesfully loaded up to Shapeways - though that doesn't mean much until you try to print it. As the cost of likely to be 125 Euros I'm gonna wait until their next sale. I'll share the results with you
     
    In the meantime for those interested here is a link to one of the few images of the original
     
    regards
     
    Rovex
  4. rovex
    It being too cold to be in the shed, I have spent the day playing with Sketchup.
     
    Opposite the entrance to Snow Hill id the Great Western Arcade. It was built over the tunnel carrying the tracks from Moor Street to Snow Hill. Originally it had a very impressive facade but this fell victim to enemy action and was burnt out. Rather than restore it after the war it was demolished and for a long time the arcade was somewhat truncated.
     
    A modern building now occupies the site but the original arcade exists behind this building - albeit with a more simplified roof.
     
    I have decided that I would like to have the original building and so began my search for photographs etc. Surprisingly I've only found a very small handful of photographs.
     
    This is progress to date. Still some more to do and the original carved stonework will have to be reproduced in Milliput, my Sketchup skills aren't up to it.
     



  5. rovex
    The latest CAD ramblings.
     
    I've been playing with the canopy parts to see if construction could be made simpler by putting all the parts together and this is the result.
     


     
    I've ordered three of these to test out the modular design and see if it works. if it does I shall be selling a lot of unopened ratio canopy kits.
     
    The eagle eyed amogst you will have spotted that one of the arms on the support has lost its detail. I don't know why this keeps happening, but it does not look like this on the Shapeways site. We shall have to see what it looks like when it arrives. I am expecting it any day now.
     
    If this works then I shall need a canopy end piece and here it is
     


     
    So you can see with these two parts and a spare support canopies of any length of a tolerable GWR design can be built for reasonable outlay - lol
     
    for example
     


     
    Though seriously I am wondering if there is a market for these. We shall have to see what the actual products look like.
     
    Finally as a bit of fun (who am I trying to kid) this is the entrance from livery street.
     

     
    Still a bit of work to do on the brickwork and the crest above the door will have to be added in modelling clay. Again the rivet counters will have noticed that the inner door is not arched. I have done this because the topology of my Livery Street is a little lower than the actual one which has resulted in me stretching the door downwards to meet the proposed pavement. This made the door too tall and narrow for my liking, so I lowered the lintel by adding the inner archway.
     
    Still some brickwork to add - and my goodness that is laborious.
     
    Dean
  6. rovex
    Arrived home from work today to find that the sample side all had arrived from shapeways. This was done in FUD and I must say looks a far better product than previous samples. However this is reflected in the price.
     
    I've sprayed in brick red as a primer and also to help it show better in the photos below.
     

     
    An exterior shot.
     

     
    close up of the column detail
     

     
    Another exterior shot
     

     
    and a partial interior shot.
     
    The top and bottom screens will be glazed and you can see in the last photo how I have created a recess to take some plastic glazing. This should also help to strengthen these peices. Although there are not that flimsy.
     
    The distorted look is caused by two factors - the hole the column has been planted in is a little too large (so the column is not standing upright) and the bottom barrier is somewhat distorted, but hopefully this will be resolved by the glazing and gluing them together.
     
    Cost is going to be an issue - this was about £30. A cheaper material could be used but wouldn't print. I'm not sure whether it would be possible to cast this, given the complexity and I don't think resin would be a solution.
     
    Also as Livery Street rose towards Colmore Row on the real thing the heights of the columns got progressively shorter and this may mean designing each one individually.
     
    it might be possible to design this with the screens as separate parts and then perhaps these could be cast along with the standard length columns, with the ones getting progressively shorter being 3D printed.
     
    Another thought would be to hollow the columns out to reduce the amount of material used and perhaps run plastic or brass tubing up the middle for strength. As the original columns were cast iron dressing on H girders this rather has the merit of imitating the real thing.
     
    Dean
  7. rovex
    The laser prints arrived today. So I am posting a few pictures for comments.
     
    I apologise for the quality of the photos but my camera isn't up to much when it comes to close ups and the flash bleached everything, so I had to turn it off.
     

     

     
    These are probably the best of the photos. The surface is a bit rough and I managed to mismeasure the roof column so this is a bit short. I've corrected the uploaded version, so next time should get it the right size.
     
    Would appreciate knowing what people think
     

     
    This is screen shot of a possible wall piece - a work in progress. I am contemplating making up several different types and constructing the main station buildings from these. Still work to do including adding a brickwork texture - Is there an easy way of doing this.
     
    Does anyone have any thoughts on the best material to use. The above were printed using frosted acrylic - but its quite expensive when you consider the quanitiy I'm going to need. I was wondering about white plastic - which is considerably cheaper.
     
    All opinions welcome
     
    Dean
  8. rovex
    Well a pleasant afternoon which should have been spent in the garden - or at the very least doing some productive modelling has been spent beavering over my new toy - sketchup - on the computer. The results are here.
     

     
    The Central girder
     

     
    The intermediate girder
     

     
    the valance
     

     
    and all four compenents shown together - roughly
     
    Now I shall no doubt find that what I've created is unprintable.
  9. rovex
    I have got around to painting the model of Brackhampton (pronounced Birmingham) North Signal Box I made several moons ago. I have been unable to find any decent colour pictures showing how the box was painted in real life and the girder supports were causing me some heartache. "black" seemed too stark and dark stone didn't seem appropriate either.
     
    Anyway, last week I was leafing through a new book of GWR structure colours in Ian Allan's Brum bookstore when I found out that some features on GWR buildings were painted "chocolate" and this was before BR(W) region adopted it for surviving GWR buildings - and so I seed was planted.
     
    The girders would be painted "chocolate", the rest would be painted in typical light and dark stone colours. So was born what must be one of the most colourful of buildings to grace the layout - Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen would be proud. Of course the whole thing is going to be weathered considerably. I want to aim for a building that hasn't been painted since before the war and has been standing out in Brum's sooty atmosphere for ten years.
     




     
    railings and a door need to be added, and I shall have to dig out my Coopercraft Signal box name kits and add a name to front and back (it appears to have had plates on both sides - although that on the back looks more like an enamel one on one photo I've seen.
     
    With all those windows some representation of an interior will need to be added - as it was an electrical box this means I can avoid having lots of levers.
     
    EDIT
     
    Some work done on an interior - as its not pianted yet the camera tends to bleach things. But I've built the 37ft electrical lever frame with lots of little levers (thank you Station master ).
     

     
    The photos I;ve seen show a writing slope and two benches at the back. Also a number of cast iron radiators along the front - I'm going to see what I can do to represent these. The false roof I've inserted means I've lost some of the space where block instruments fitted, but again I'll have to see what I can do.
     
    Some of the interior photos (http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbsh1772.htm) show some extra instruments added in front of the lever frame. They look like black cylinders about a foot long - one of top of another - anyone know what these were for?
     
    A final shot showing a badly painted signalman enyoying some fresh air now the platform is safely railed off.
     

  10. rovex
    track laying has recommenced. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but following an expansion problem and an experimental track fixing method I lifted all the track on my layout and decided to start again.
     
    This time 4mm cork underlay has been glued down with copious amounts of undiluted PVA glue. On top of this the track plan has been pasted. It was printed out on heavy duty printer paper and then pasted down with wallpaper paste. This should ensure that the track is in the right place. I'm starting in the middle but before the scissor crossings which were such a feature of the original Snow Hill go down, I've decidd to try and make a representation of Great George St Bridge. The photos show the attemprts so far. The cork underlay is cut out and a 20 thou plasticard peice fitted to shape. track chairs are fitted to two pieces of 4mm square plastic strip from evergreen, using a lenght of track to ensure there are in a striaght line. With sleepers attached to each end these are glued down to the 20 thou sheet. Cross timbers are then added and the whole sprayed grey, the timbers picked out and then the sides of the rails painted brick red to represent the rust. All will be suitably weathered once in situ.
     
    I am also taking the opportunity to paint the sides of all the rails to represent rust. I only hope my patience lasts.
     



     
    Now for a question. This time around I intend to wire up as I go along, including the numerous point motors that will be needed, but where to put them. The point motors that is. Obviously they will have to be beneath the track, but do I cut out a small hole and feed a rod up, or cut out a larger whole and fit the point motor directly below the track.
     
    If the motors go immediately belowthe point I was thinking as all points are handmade I would fit a plasticard rectangle beneath the tiebar and then fit the point motor to that - I intend to use peco point motors operated using old Hornby passing contact switches (assuming that will work).
     
    Do any one have any thoughts, opinions etc?
  11. rovex
    Having had to lift all the track at Brackhampton due to my revolutionary track fixing technique proving about as effective as Network Rails maintenance of the Dawlish sea wall. I've been concentrating on scenic modelling whilst I save up to buy more finescale flexible track.
     
    Latest thing I've been doing is building the platforms. The arrivals side has been started, using large amounts of wills platform kits and additional paving sheets. This has also meant I have had to have a go at the subway which went down to the Great George Street ticket office under the station. Here is my attempt.
     


     
    and with the side wall moved away
     


     
    I know very little about this subway, other than it was probably faced in white glazed brick, that it opened into the lower ticket office and that it descended straight down in two flights. So this is my interpretation of the subway that originally graced Snow Hill.
     
    The subway on the other platform, which will be next, truned though 90 degrees and wrapped round two sides of a lift.
     
    Hopefully both sets of stairs will lead to a representation of the Ticket office - but I don't intend going to great efforts in that regard as it will be barely noticeable under the layout.
     
    The subway is constructed from the stairs from an old Hornby footbridge and 80 thou plasticard covered in slaters embossed plasticard. The arches are by Wills. Once inset into the platform, railings will go round three sides and there should be some kind of ornate gateway at the top of the stairs.
     
    As for the track. I had originally glued the cork underlay and track down with spray adhesive. With the warm weather far too much of it had lifted. So the remainder was lifted and the pointwork painstakingly saved. 4mm thick cork sheet was bought of ebay - very reasonably priced if you avoid the stuff specially sold for model railways - this has been glued down with copious amounts of PVA glue, and then once dried the Templot track plan has been printed off on 160gsm paper and pasted with wallpaper paste to the cork.The track will be laid directly on top of this secured with yet more PVA.
  12. rovex
    I couldn't help myself - I had to upload a few photos of my latest ebay purchase. This is a model of GWr railcars 35 and 36 made from three Hornby railcars. Not my work I have to admit. Very well made and needs only a little bit of fillering and sanding to complete the bodies.
     
    I intend to replace the plastic handrails and install flushglazing and other details.
     
    I can now sell the Westward kit I bought of this train many years ago.
     
    So now my Brackhampton has a suitable train for its express service to Cardiff.
     




  13. rovex
    Work has commenced on laying the pointwork at the North end of Brackhampton. I've been waiting until Hayfield of this parish (who has been very patient with me and long suiffering) had built enough of the various pointwork to allow me to lay the mainline almost all at once. I didn't want to lay each piece as it was built only to find I had miscalculated and it didn't fit. These first two photos shopw the point work for the mainlines with the trackwork leading to the eastern bay platforms.
     
    This next photo shows the crossover between the main and relief lines. These haven't yet been laid but will be the next to go down.

    the pointwork for the rest of the eastern bays and the relief lines as they feed into the western bays has yet to be built.
     
    For the technically minded the track is laid on 1/8 inch cork sheet and is stuck down with Evostic spray glue, care being taken to protect the moving parts of any pointwork.
     
    Soon I will start building the platforms starting at the South end and working North. As the platforms will be scribed to show the paving, I've been puting this job off.
  14. rovex

    Letting things slip

    By rovex,

    I recently purchased an old MTK kit of Ebay of a Sunshine stock slip coach to diagram F24. I'm not a great fan of MTK kits, for those who don't know they come with the sides and roof and solebars all folded up from one sheet of aluminium and they usually have badly fitting ends.
     
    It was described as an unknown kit but resarch before I bid allowed me to discover the coach type and for £12 I didn't think I could go far wrong. The Ebay photo suggested brass sides and so I thought perhaps the previous owner had bought replacement sides from Comet. They hadn't .
     
    But the usual aluminium had been given a brass or copper plating and the dorrs had been etched/gouged out which is unusal - well unusual to my limited knowledge of these kits.
     
    Anyway after a bit of fettling which has included a lot of filling to hide the joins between the ends and the sides, cutting away the moulded on lamp irons, fitting seperate handrails new shell vents from Comet and door hinges from plastic card, it has now received a coat of undercoat.
     
    This should help highlight those areas that still need a bit of work such as where the ends meet the roof.
     
    Not looking so bad for £12 especially when you consider the same kit from Comet is over £40.
     
    I'll let you judge for yourselves.
     



  15. rovex

    Slow Progress

    By rovex,

    Not a great deal of progress since my last entry, mainly due to the fact that until I can get a trench dug gown to the garden shed to lay the electric cable, my modelling is limited to the weekends and eventhe only whilst the sun is up.
     
    However "Hayfield" of this Parish has continued to do me proud with his trackbuilding and I thought you might like to see his latest builds. The first two shots show the South end of the station and once the pointwork to the left has been laid and connected in, this end of the station is complete.

    I can then mark out for the platrforms and get these built, allowing me to build the steps to the main station concourse, thus setting the height at which the main station building will be fixed.
     
    This next photo gives a wider shot of progress so far
     
    and this one a close up on the two scissor crossovers which were in the middle of the station. Unprototypically these will sit on the bridge over Great Charles Street, rather than to one side and yes I know points shouldn't be on bridges but I can't help it given the space constraints.
     
    As you can see Platform 9/10 can easily accomodate an eight coach train, indeed there should be room for a nine coach train with engine, ten with the engine just sitting beyond the platform - memo to self make sure that the fiddle yard is big enough.
     
     
    Progress can now start on the North end
  16. rovex

    Progress

    By rovex,

    Baseboard building continues a pace and these are few shots of progress. Holes have been cut for the streets and canal to pass under the station, although having checked google I'm going to have a cut a few more.

    Track laying on the Southern end of the station has also started. Cork underlay is used and this is glued down with contact adhesive, Which has also been used to secure the trackwork. I lay no claim to having built any of this. It was all made for me by "Hayfield" of this site, and a good job he's doing too.

    This is the first time I've used handbuilt trackwork and Code 75. My last layout was all Peco Code 100, but the complexity of the trackwork for this layout left me with no alternative. I've been very lucky to find someone who will build it for me. I can recommend his work very highly.
  17. rovex

    Getting back to Work

    By rovex,

    Well we've been moved almost three months now and tonight was the first night I've done any modelling - althoug whether you can call daubing a bit of paint about modelling is questionable.
     
    I've not been idle the last three months, but unfortunately other things have been keeping me busy. Including trying to sort out the garden (it now looks like the Somme - whatever happened to GroundForce - I must have a birthday surprise coming up), extending the old pond, starting a new one. Once we can afford some bricks I'm going to have a go at building some brick walls. I've already built some breeze block walls for the new pond. It must be the builder gene I've inherited from my father. I only hope it looks alright when they done.
     
    I've also investigated the cost of a new shed the size I can fit in is about 16ft by 24ft, and a local firm can supply one for £2,000 (that was before the VAT increase). So I've got a lot of saving up to do. Although I'm currently thinking about having a go at building it myself - subject to planning and building control
     
    But the reason for tonight's modelling is to keep me off ebay. I'm spending far too much on things I WANT (in fact I don't know how I've managed to live without them all this time). So far I've bought a K's 42xx kit, lots of ratio canopy kits a lot of engines (well Brackhampton will be a busy station) and lots of scalelink cars and vans and coach kits.
     
    I've also bought a couple of the old Graham Farish composite suburban coaches. I think with a repaint, new underframe, detailed ends and roof , I might make a passable representation of a GWR 55ft suburban all third. I'll let you know how I get on.
     
    Anyway I've been daubing the brick colour on the station building, some touching up to do and then it needs a lot of weathering to capture all that city centre grime so redolent of the 50's. Hopefully I can get some actual modelling done soon and start on the attic storeys. I'm experimenting with a hand drill and some double sided sticky tape to try and get all the arches equal, but more of that later.
     
    So to the photos.
     
    A couple of the front

     
    and two close ups of the Snow Hill end pavilion. The columns are made from ink cartridges and the capitals are made from milliput (still got four more to make)

     
    now the Snow Hill side
     

     
    The concourse side, I made a start on the ticket office side before moving, and the arches have all been cut out but a long way to go yet.
     

     
    and that just leaves the Livery Street side.
     

     
    Finally I've been trying to decipher the platform signs which hung at end side of the concourse on the original Snow Hill, I've got two decent photos of the one for London bound trains but only one photo of the one for North bound trains. I've guessed most of the destinations but two remain a puzzle, I think they are "Manchester" and "Crewe", but I wasn't aware that those towns were served by the GWR, of course it could have been through trains. A colleague whose father travelled from the station has said her father thinks I'm right but if anyone can give confirmation I'd be grateful.
     
    Regards Rovex
     
    Edit - having just checked my reference material, it lloks like the hotel was faced in white brick (###### ), so I might spray it all white again and then give it plenty of dirty black washes for the soot, more so perhaps on the brickwork. If I do I'll leave the back brick colour as the Victorians tended to user cheaper materials round the back where it didn't show. ###### again.
  18. rovex

    Dreaming of the Day

    By rovex,

    With the shed half lined out, and me awaiting more plywood to finish the job (hopefully this August bank holiday weekend), I 've printed off the track plan and laid it out in the shed to make sure it fits.
     
    Bit put out when it didn't look like it did, until I realised that I had made too little allowance for the overlap between sheets. With the sheets stuck together all was well.
     
    I've been inspired by the skill shown not only in track building but in baseboard ideas and construction on the Eastwood blog on this site and will try and follow his style of construction.
     
    This will mean an open frame sub base on which the track baseboards will rest, with at least at the city end a top baseboard to carry the town centre and a possible tram circuit. This will also allow for the undulating nature of the site with the ground falling away from the station buildings abnd then rising again at the other end of the station. Should also allow me to build a very slight gradient in as the train arrive and leave the station.
     
    The plans have been laid out on a couple of sheets of ply and a couple of buildings placed on to allow me to gauge how much space is needed at the back of the layout.

    The boxes laid out behind the station are intended to represent the footbridges and access to the tracks
     
    Now I mustn't spend to much time day dreaming.
     
    Rovex
  19. rovex
    Whilst I await the delivery of some more GWR dark stone paint to paint the girderwork on the Signal Box, I've been cracking on with the water tower for the station. The original one at Snow Hill stood on the Southern approach to the station, on the opposite side of the tracks to the South signal box and next to a typical GWR overgirder turntable (very good article in the RM last month on how to make one of these).
     
    I have only a few photos of the tank and its supporting brickwork and so once again I've kit bashed rather than try to make an accurate model.
     
    the base is from some cut down parts from a Kibri factory kit. The tank is 80" styrene, with 20 tho glued on top once the rivets have been embossed on it.
     
    The curved top is made up from three layers, one layer is 80 thou ribs and strips, overlaid with 30 thou styrene to give the curve and finally overlaid with slaters corrugated plastic card.
     
    The last shot (sorry its a bit blurry) shows the model with only the bottom row of bricks waiting to be applied before it is painted and then detailed with the usual clutter lamps signs etc. The windows have been placed in temporarily to give an idea of the what the finished article will look like.
     
    Rovex
     




  20. rovex
    Work has progressed apace, the supporting girder work has been finished including the curved bracing to support the box floor. In order to try to get these as identical as possible, 14 pieces of 20 thou plasticard (20mm by 15 mm) were glued along the edges. the shape marked out on the top sheet and then the curved bottom part cut and sanded on all 14 sheets at once. the sheets were drilled to provide the inner curve then seperated and cut and trimmed to fit and glued in place.
     
    The relay and storage boxes between the legs have been fitted and wire draped beneath the box to represent some of the underslung cabling.
     
    The roof was leaded and so this avoided the need for laying loads of slates.

    The stairs currently stop well short of the ground, as I'm awaiting receipt of the other set, but the eagle eyed amongst you will recognise the steps from the Hornby Signal Box.
     
    Some filling to do and a little bit more work before I consider the paint job.

    I'm giving myself a bit of a headache about the actual paint scheme, all the photos I've got are black and white and all relatively late in the box's life. They seem to show it in an all over light colour including the supporting girder work.

    As my model is meant to be about 1950, this would suggest GWR light and dark stone, but what colour would the girders be? Any thoughts anyone?
     
    Rovex
  21. rovex
    Whilst I await some decent weather so that I can order the materials to line out the new shed without them getting soaked I've been dabbling with building the North Box for the station. This is based on the old one at Birmingham Snow Hill, which was some 50ft by 10 ft and stood on girder stilts because of the restricted site.
     
    The basis of the cabin are some butchered sides from a number of the Hornby GWR Dunster Signal boxes, the windows whilst typucally GWR do not match those of the prototype but life's too short to get overly concerned with such matters. The photos give an indication of the work so far.
     
    The box was electrically operated so no locking bars to model just lots and lots of cabling. The photos I've managed to dig up show lots of cables slung beneath the box and carried down the side of the stairs.
     

    This shows the parts from the Hornby kit which are going to be used. I used four kits to get the necessary parts, I could have used fewer but that would have meant more joints. The windows from the remaining parts will be used on the South Box, whilst the level crossings I'll stick back on ebay.
     

     
    These are the parts, with all but one trimmed and butchered. The windows turned out to be finer than I thought, obviously thicker than etched ones, but with a little work thinning the back of the frames down quite acceptable.
     

     
    With the sides fitted to a new base, and some stregthening of the back wall. The only photo I have of the rear of the box, which because of the way it will be placed on the layout will be the public face of the box was unusual (well to me at least) in that several of the panels of windows were painted out. Perhaps even stranger whilst there is an obvious soil pipe for the toilet facilities, these appear to have been behind one of these painted out window panels (in this case the first one after the access door).
     

     
    And now it sprouts legs. I was concerned that the girders looked strong enough to support the structure, and having glued them in place (evergreen plastic mouldings), was becoming a bit worried that I'd gone over the top.
     

     
    cross girders start to go in.
     

     
    Final shot for this post. Most of the girders are in place. There are two cross girders to go in at the ends to give "X" bracing. Between the other legs were a series of cabinets with sliding doors for stores so far as I can work out, and a panel carrying cables. Braces also need to be added from the top of the legs to the edge of the Box. These will be fun to try and cut.
     
    The roof is loose for now to allow access to glaze the box after painting and because of the large number of windos to allow me to fit some kind of interior.
     
    Rovex
  22. rovex
    These are the coaches after the first visit to the paint shop, lining and numbering to be done. Have you noticed they don't give you enough "W"s on the transfer sheets. I'm gonna be left with tons of left over lettering and numbering from these transfer sheets. I wonder if I can sell partly used sheets on ebay .
     
    Rovex
     

  23. rovex
    With the aid of the annual bonus from work I've purchased teh home for Brackhampton. Its at the end of the Garden and thus allows the long suffering other half to be free of all things model railway. It was put up surprisingly quickly on Saturday and once boarded out will give approximately 21ft by 14.5 ft to fit the railway in.
     


     
    Right, where did I leave that number of the builders yard
     
    Rovex
  24. rovex
    Thanks to Mikkel's help and a bit of lateral thinking, in that I could only save the screen print's in a format which I couldn't upload, so I ended up printing them off and scanning them in, here are two track plans for the environs of Brackhampton station.
     

     
    This first one shows the overground approach with four tracks from left to righ the main up and down lines and then the relief up an down lines. These run into from extreme top to bottom, platform 12/11, bay platforms 10 and 9, platform 8/7, two through lines, platform 6/5, two more bay platforms 4/3 and at the bottom platform 2/1. Whilst looking very complicated the plan isn't finished and so far I've omitted the turntable, carriage sidings and cross over lines to gain access to them. Some of these are going to have to go. Building the access lines on a curve makes for very difficult geometry.
     

     
    This one shows the opposite end of the station and again some rationalisation here as well as most of the point work will be under neath the city centre, consequently the fish sidings have been omitted as it would be impossible to work these. The top track splitting offo from the curve is intenede as an engine spur and again as it is underground there seemed little reason to keep it running along with the main line.
     
    This is very much a first work in progress and bits will need printing off to get a feel for the size. But I've measured the area where the layout is going to go (when I've built the shed) and it should fit.
     
    I was thinking for the opposite sie of having a split level fiddle yard with down and up lines on different levels.
     
    Rovex
  25. rovex
    Modelling progress has been non-existent for the last couple of months as I broke my thumb during some very heavy gardening. I managed to drop several stone paving slabs on it, and when the swelling hadn't gone down after a week I went along to A and E. There were very impressed with the break and I've had to have a pin put in. All in all very painful and not to be recommended.
     
    Anyway I hope to get back to work on things soon, but with two new puppies demanding most of my spare time, things may be slow (very slow).
     
    In the meantime I have consoled myself by attempting a track plan. I decided early on that the track was going to have be hand made for the layout. I tried marking it out using peco track but it just wasn't going to work. Whilst I don't trust myself to make the track myself, I'm hoping I can find a willing volunteer (well - a paid volunteer anyway). I've purchased templot track design program which I must say has been a struggle to use ( steep learning curve doesn't come into it) and if anyone can tell me how I attach a trackplan from templot I'll let you have a look at my efforts so far.
     
    As the railway room is going to have to be built, any kind of construction is a long long way off, but the plan currently allows for the main platforms to be 3.7 metres long which should allow for a decent length express train. And whilst I'm building up stcok and scenery, I can get some of the pointwork made.
     
    Belated Happy New year to you all.
     
    Rovex
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