Harbledown Railroad Heritage Line (Wisconsin Central)

[Chris116]

Some photos of the two station units to compare platform height and layout. 

Edited February 7, 2021 by Chris116
Extra photo

[F-UnitMad]

On 02/01/2021 at 18:33, Chris116 said:

 

 

 

 

What I meant for the US depot is go back to using it like this photo    On it's own, without the green fibreboard alongside it raising up the platform to an unrealistic level. Then the UK station platform can just drop in place over the US ground-level surface.

Anyway, it's just a suggestion.

[Chris116]

50 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

What I meant for the US depot is go back to using it like this photo    On it's own, without the green fibreboard alongside it raising up the platform to an unrealistic level. Then the UK station platform can just drop in place over the US ground-level surface.

Anyway, it's just a suggestion.

I am going to have to think about what I have done and how I could improve on what I have. 

 

The problem I can see with not having the board is what I would attach the trees and hedges to. Maybe I should have left the depot on the one piece of board and made the rest of the platform at one thickness high rather than two thicknesses. The problem with that is the depot would have been over a scale foot higher than the rest of the platform and if the door was by the large step a passenger could easily fall and injure themselves. 

 

I think I will leave it for now and possibly in the future build another lower platform for the US station. 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

5 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

I am going to have to think about what I have done and how I could improve on what I have. 

 

The problem I can see with not having the board is what I would attach the trees and hedges to. Maybe I should have left the depot on the one piece of board and made the rest of the platform at one thickness high rather than two thicknesses. The problem with that is the depot would have been over a scale foot higher than the rest of the platform and if the door was by the large step a passenger could easily fall and injure themselves. 

 

I think I will leave it for now and possibly in the future build another lower platform for the US station. 

Hi Chris, looking at the photo of the Depot, it seems that the plastic base it comes with slopes up towards the trackside edge (I don’t think this is an optical illusion - the stonework supporting the Depot  slopes down to keep the building level).  This suggests to me it was perhaps designed for use alongside the kind of track that comes pre-formed with ballast shoulders as an integral part of it?  Raising the track would be one solution I noticed earlier you’d considered, although that would then mean the UK platforms were (relatively) lower next to the track.  However, for a UK light railway that might still work - it depends on the kind of coaches you use.  Just a thought, Keith.

[F-UnitMad]

10 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

The problem I can see with not having the board is what I would attach the trees and hedges to. Maybe I should have left the depot on the one piece of board and made the rest of the platform at one thickness high rather than two thicknesses. The problem with that is the depot would have been over a scale foot higher than the rest of the platform and if the door was by the large step a passenger could easily fall and injure themselves. 

The trees and  hedges could be on a thin removable strip to go along the back, a proper 'border'.

As for the height of the Depot, as I showed in the photo of the Stewartstown depot, the answer there is steps all round the base, not a difficult thing to add with some plastic strip.

[Chris116]

2 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

Hi Chris, looking at the photo of the Depot, it seems that the plastic base it comes with slopes up towards the trackside edge (I don’t think this is an optical illusion - the stonework supporting the Depot  slopes down to keep the building level).  This suggests to me it was perhaps designed for use alongside the kind of track that comes pre-formed with ballast shoulders as an integral part of it?  Raising the track would be one solution I noticed earlier you’d considered, although that would then mean the UK platforms were (relatively) lower next to the track.  However, for a UK light railway that might still work - it depends on the kind of coaches you use.  Just a thought, Keith.

 

 

2 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

The trees and  hedges could be on a thin removable strip to go along the back, a proper 'border'.

As for the height of the Depot, as I showed in the photo of the Stewartstown depot, the answer there is steps all round the base, not a difficult thing to add with some plastic strip.

The Depot base does indeed slope down from the front which is why I think the raised track is the easiest solution having come this far with building the two platforms. It will make the UK look like a light railway platform which is a good thing as the J70s and Hattons four wheelers will look just right. It will also make the US platform height very close to the Strasburg Railroad Depot. 

 

The Stewartstown depot is set back from the platform edge with the steps going up to it. I did try early on to build my US depot in a similar fashion but I would need an extra inch of width for the platform and given that currently the platform modules are 6 inches wide and the baseboard is only 12 inches wide I did not want to take anymore space away from the trackbed.

 

Rebuilding will incur the wrath of my wife who wants to see the project finished and trains running. So the best thing to do is raise the track through the platform and get everything running. Then I can quietly build a third platform module with a lower platform and laid out with a  different building that is maybe a bit smaller front to back but longer from end to end which will make it easier to set back from the rails.

 

Thank you to both of you for your constructive comments which are very useful.

[F-UnitMad]

1 hour ago, Chris116 said:

Rebuilding will incur the wrath of my wife

Ah, best not go there....        good luck!!

[Chris116]

Work on the UK based Elmstone Station has seen some more brick walls built and the first building is now fixed to the platform. The photos show far too clearly that where the sheets of tarmac are butted together some weathering work is required. This can wait until the other two buildings are fixed in position and some hedges and trees have been added to the scene. 

[Chris116]

I have had a break from working on the layout due to being unhappy with the way the two baseboards joined. There was a 1mm step on one side which I could see affecting running. No point in doing anything until that was sorted and I could not work out how to make it all level without a complete rebuild. 

 

Yesterday I decided that feeling sorry for myself was not going to solve the problem and I got to work. Unscrewed one of the cross members, removed the dowels that aligned the boards wrongly. Drilled new holes for the dowels, put the cross member back and a much happier me had a cup of coffee to celebrate. 

 

Then I decided that being on a roll I would start track laying. I got my Dremel lookalike out only to find the power supply no longer worked! A look around the net found that my 15 year old drill was no longer made and getting a new power supply was not going to be possible. New drill with all the kit ordered and due for delivery on Wednesday so track laying will have to wait as I use the drill with a disc to cut the track. 

 

I got the Peco Code 83 switches out and put them roughly where they should be. Are the extended ties for point motor fitting? If they are then they will be cut back before laying as I will be using my Kadee shunters pole to change the switches. 

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Chris116
Forgot to add photo

[long island jack]

the extended ties are for switch stands, a must for American layouts!

[Chris116]

1 hour ago, long island jack said:

the extended ties are for switch stands, a must for American layouts!

So now I need to find the right model switch stands that are removable with the change from USA to UK and back again! I have found some that look correct on eBay and Amazon but they look as if they would have to be permanently fixed which is not ideal for my purposes. If anyone has any suggestions for which products might solve this problem I would be very grateful to hear about them. 

[F-UnitMad]

1 hour ago, Chris116 said:

So now I need to find the right model switch stands that are removable with the change from USA to UK and back again! I have found some that look correct on eBay and Amazon but they look as if they would have to be permanently fixed which is not ideal for my purposes. If anyone has any suggestions for which products might solve this problem I would be very grateful to hear about them. 

It's just one more of those 'things' that are so different between US & UK practice, and why not many people at all make layouts that are interchangeable between the two.  

You could always put the switch stands in place with blu-tac, as 'dummy' units - which I think most of them might be anyway in HO? - and remove them for UK Operations.

[Chris116]

2 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

It's just one more of those 'things' that are so different between US & UK practice, and why not many people at all make layouts that are interchangeable between the two.  

You could always put the switch stands in place with blu-tac, as 'dummy' units - which I think most of them might be anyway in HO? - and remove them for UK Operations.

So the hunt for some dummy switch stands begins!

[long island jack]

1 hour ago, Chris116 said:

So the hunt for some dummy switch stands begins!

Good look with your search, I had to get mine from US, the smaller items are hard to come by this side of the pond!

[Chris116]

43 minutes ago, long island jack said:

Good look with your search, I had to get mine from US, the smaller items are hard to come by this side of the pond!

I thought that would be the case. I have found some working kit ones on ebay for £3.84 each from a UK seller and fear non-working ones will only be available from the US which means postage will be twice the cost of the five switch stands that I need! 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Chris116
Corrected cost

[Chris116]

Just found some more switch stands on ebay. £3.05 per pair, I need five and they only have two pairs! Postage £9.44 from Scott's Dale, AZ 

[Chris116]

Switch stands are now on a back burner until I can find or make some for a reasonable price. Track laying is the job of the moment and so far is going well with the track on the station baseboard now complete except for two of the three cross baseboard joints. Those baseboard joints are going to have to wait until I get some new solder as the current stuff which has been in the cupboard for the last ten years doesn't want to adhere to anything! It seems to be allergic to freshly cleaned rail sides and just rolls up into a ball as soon as I apply the soldering iron. New solder and flux will arrive tomorrow so work will not be held up for long. 

[F-UnitMad]

This thread has been posted on RMweb today which I thought relates directly to this layout...

 

Of particular note at the start of the video is the high level platform. Looks to me like they might have extended the old freight platform for use with the passenger coaches. They also look to have modified the coach doorways so that the original steps can't be used.

Maybe it's for modern health & safety, and disabled access regulations, but interesting nonetheless; for one thing it blows away all the comments (mine especially) about low platforms in the USA, and goes to prove the truth of the old adage about railways that somewhere, at some time, there really IS a Prototype For Everything.!!!

[Chris116]

 

32 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

This thread has been posted on RMweb today which I thought relates directly to this layout...

 

Of particular note at the start of the video is the high level platform. Looks to me like they might have extended the old freight platform for use with the passenger coaches. They also look to have modified the coach doorways so that the original steps can't be used.

Maybe it's for modern health & safety, and disabled access regulations, but interesting nonetheless; for one thing it blows away all the comments (mine especially) about low platforms in the USA, and goes to prove the truth of the old adage about railways that somewhere, at some time, there really IS a Prototype For Everything.!!!

Thank you for bringing that thread to my attention. Having laid my track through the platform road I have the bottom step on the passenger cars about a scale foot above my platform so I am about half way between normal US platform height and the height shown on the New Hope have in the video. 

[Chris116]

My biggest concern with this layout has always been the baseboard joints and making sure the rails stay where they are intended to be. I had bought from ModelTech a pack of four pairs of interlocking sleeper units and I am pleased to say that they have worked very well being easy to lay and solder the rails to. My soldering is not as good as it used to be but I suspect that is due to an underpowered iron (only 12watt). Ballast and some track dirt will, I hope, hide the bits I don't like. 

EDIT:- Having finished I then found my 18watt soldering iron!

Edited March 7, 2021 by Chris116
I got the company name wrong!!!

[Chris116]

I have had a productive day today. Painted the backscene a plain sky blue and added ends to the backscene which I think makes a layout look better. Then I completed the track laying and started planting the trees that will obscure the fiddle yard although trains in the fiddle yard will still be visible. 

 

I have been thinking about an extension from the fiddle yard onto a third baseboard which would then be a proper non-scenic three road fiddle yard. That will not be started until the two current baseboards have had the track electrified and the scenery is at an advanced stage. 

 

The two 4-4-0 old time steamers are supposed to be part of the museum at the station. They are both cheap non motorised models but fit the part at no cost as I was given them many years ago. 

[Chris116]

Having had a critical look at how the line of trees was going to hide the fiddle yard roads I have added a board painted in the sky colour that is on the backscene with just a few trees to mask the entrance to the fiddle yard. 

 

I don’t think I have got it totally right but it is an improvement and in time I may be able to further improve it but for now it will do. 

[Chris116]

The trees are taking over and I have put a photo backscene on what was the sky in front of the fiddle yard. I hope no one looks too carefully at the buildings as they fit for the UK layout but maybe not so good for an American scene. 

[Chris116]

A couple of extra photos 

[long island jack]

i'm sorry to say, you've got to change that "in your face" blue paint you've used for your sky, pick one of the lighter colours of the photo and re-paint, your making a feature of it, where it should just blend into the background.