Waddlemarsh - somewhere southwest of London sometime before today

[Gwiwer]

Quite by chance this view of the footbridge at Frimley has just appeared on a Facebook group I subscribe to.  Heavily cropped from the original so as to only show the essential out of respect for copyright.  It seems I have it near enough - just with added rust staining which was definitely seen in some locations and probably arose from the reinforcing rods within the concrete panels.  

 

 

[Gwiwer]

A little more work today has seen the start of securely separating the footpath from the railway.  More concrete-effect, this time with the solid panels and posts, and some greening at ground level over the riser which has now been almost concealed.  The fence panels require slight weathering and final fixing and the groundwork requires detailing to complete this corner.  

 

Work is also under way at the other end of the bridge where more footpath will lead onto the halt.  Parts for the platform have been ordered from Dart Castings and will arrive when they get here allowing construction to begin.  

 

A class 08 shunter fusses with some ballast wagons - Heljan "Dogfish" recently arrived from our friends in Camborne.  I know they have TOPS panels which is a little too late for my 1960s theme but the heavy manufacturer's weathering almost blots them out.  

 

 

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

A little more work today has seen the start of securely separating the footpath from the railway.  More concrete-effect, this time with the solid panels and posts, and some greening at ground level over the riser which has now been almost concealed.  The fence panels require slight weathering and final fixing and the groundwork requires detailing to complete this corner.  

 

Work is also under way at the other end of the bridge where more footpath will lead onto the halt.  Parts for the platform have been ordered from Dart Castings and will arrive when they get here allowing construction to begin.  

 

A class 08 shunter fusses with some ballast wagons - Heljan "Dogfish" recently arrived from our friends in Camborne.  I know they have TOPS panels which is a little too late for my 1960s theme but the heavy manufacturer's weathering almost blots them out.  

 

 

Proper job Rick.

[Gwiwer]

Further furtling has taken place.  

 

The detailing along the line of the backscene has had its greenery built up to conceal the slight gaps and bits of white paper.  The concrete fence panels have been weathered and stuck in place and the footbridge has also been fixed down.  The points of contact are tiny and I'm not too sure I can trust the gluing at this stage but time will tell.  

 

The grass behind the houses has now been fenced off from the railway.  Keen eyes will observe that I have used GWR spear fencing rather than an SR style.  It might not be the final version but it will certainly do for now.  Very keen eyes may spot that the weathered white fencing used has been recycled from Penhayle Bay where it sat alongside the main line above the loco shed and yard; from the top image to the lower ones by the magic of modelling.  

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Gwiwer

[Gwiwer]

A little progress is being made extending the scenery out from the footbridge on both sides. 
 

Concrete panels now prevent trespass while the placing of GWR spear fencing simply didn’t look right and one run has been replaced with SR-style concrete fence. 
 

Also a section of printed backscene has been placed, but awaits final trim and fitting, behind the footbridge allowing a view “through” without staring at a blank wall. 
 

Parts have arrived to allow construction of the halt and the laying of the (dummy) conductor rails is not far away. A lot of very small holes need to be bored; the 0.5mm bit is going to get quite a workout! 
 

 

[Geep7]

This is starting to look great. The footbridge to disguise the offscene entry/exit is ingenious.

 

Btw I hope you have a few 0.5mm drill bits for when laying the conductor rails, you'll need spares. Don't ask me how I know..... 

[Gwiwer]

Not only for fitting the insulators but for boring out the fence posts. Dart Castings supply the parts but the posts have marks for the holes, not actual holes. Only 5 per post and something like 80 posts ....... 

[SRman]

For practical purposes, Rick, I countersink the pots so the third rail sits at or below running rail level. It's not prototypical, but does allow for easier track cleaning and also for out of scale clearances on some models. As such, I don't have a problem with breaking 0.5mm drill bits (at least, not for laying third rail!). The drill bits that match the pot diameter are somewhat larger and more robust.

[Siberian Snooper]

I don't bother with fence wire, when you look at a wire and post fence from a few yards away you hardly notice the wire, so I leave it off. Model fence wire is over scale, at least to my eyes.

 

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Siberian Snooper
Clumsy fingers

[Gwiwer]

What's all this then?

 

Dart Castings SR platform supports and fence posts.  Peco conductor rail insulators going onto code 60 rail.  And a closer view of the castings - sorry it lost definition - showing the reason I have been boring holes recently.  4x0.5mm and 1x1.0mm per post to drill out, 100 off.  So 500 tiny holes plus those required to locate the "pots" into the sleepers .....  

 

3mm foam board covered in fine sand to create the concrete-slab platform of the halt.  

 

I am awaiting a delivery of piano wire for the fence wires and will attempt to get the castings looking like concrete after that is threaded through.  

[Gwiwer]

The castings could be soldered end-to-end but I have used superglue and have one piece resting on the other which isn't the correct configuration.  However it won't be seen and any discrepancy in "leg" length will be trimmed at fitting.  

[Gwiwer]

Through the eye of a needle .....

 

0.4mm piano wire is threaded through 0.5mm holes in the fence posts and will ultimately be weathered down.  50 posts per platform (maybe give or take a few) and four strands of wire per post.  That's a lot of threading.  Lots and lots ......... 

 

The top-most hole is 1.0mm and will have - hopefully - brass rod through it both for stiffness and because the top run on the prototype is steel tube not wire.  

 

 

[saxokid]

On ‎27‎/‎04‎/‎2020 at 21:48, Gwiwer said:

A little progress is being made extending the scenery out from the footbridge on both sides. 
 

Concrete panels now prevent trespass while the placing of GWR spear fencing simply didn’t look right and one run has been replaced with SR-style concrete fence. 
 

Also a section of printed backscene has been placed, but awaits final trim and fitting, behind the footbridge allowing a view “through” without staring at a blank wall. 
 

Parts have arrived to allow construction of the halt and the laying of the (dummy) conductor rails is not far away. A lot of very small holes need to be bored; the 0.5mm bit is going to get quite a workout! 
 

 

Realy nice job on this concrete looking footbridge..

[Rivercider]

I am not a regular follower of this thread, and have not dipped in for some time. I was impressed by the footbridge.

I was immediately reminded of the former footbridge at Highbridge, which crossed both the GWR and S&D tracks at different angles.

Here are a few photos taken in 2013 a little while before demolition, it was a dull day following rain, so the colours do not come out well.

 

Burnham & Highbridge 30/9/2013

 

cheers

Edited May 11, 2020 by Rivercider
spelling

[Gwiwer]

8 minutes ago, Rivercider said:

I was impressed by the footbridge.

I was immediately reminded of the former footbridge at Highbridge, which crossed both the GWR and S&D tracks at different angles.

Thank you.  Not only for the kind comments but also the image of the footbridge which uses angles other than 90 / 180 degrees.  A rare example but I knew there would be one somewhere.  

[Gwiwer]

As layouts grow so sweet spots for photography evolve. I may have found one here. 
 

Just a random view but the driver has spotted the photographer judging by that cheery wave. 
 

More Dart Castings have arrived. Fine brass rod has been sourced for the fence top-rail and is awaited. Progress remains glacial but things do move on a little several times a week. 
 

 

 

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

As layouts grow so sweet spots for photography evolve. I may have found one here.

Just right, Rick.

[Gwiwer]

Today’s mail brought the fine brass rod I had been seeking for the halt fence toprail. I no longer have to use piano wire for that and the brass will add useful stiffness. 
 

This afternoon’s task has been to string the fence-posts with no.6 piano wire (0.4mm) and 0.7mm brass rod. 
 

Patience definitely required. Steady hands and a good eye help. 
 

The posts are Dart Castings with the wire holes bored out.

 

One video and two stills to show the in-build fence and a placed - unfinished - platform surface.  
 

 

[Gwiwer]

An update.

 

Both platform fences have been fully strung.  It wasn't as easy as I hoped and one required a partial second attempt.  But they are done.  

 

I threaded the brass rod through the top first as that gives some rigidity.  It does bend quite easily as I discovered and the first run had to be replaced when it took on more bends than could be readily straightened out.  I then threaded the piano wire through the lower three holes.  The first series of posts had four holes drilled for this wire as there are that number of blind dimples on the castings.  Examination of prototype photographs from along the Sussex coast shows that only three strands of wire were used plus a steel tube along the top.  So three strands of piano wire and one brass rod it is.

 

Again the first set was a bit of a learning experience and I tried to thread one wire through the top holes then turn it back on itself to feed through the middle.  To no avail as it wouldn't pull through and a couple of the castings broke as I applied a little too much pull.  Luckily there are some spares.  So each wire was cut to just over the required length and fed through individually.  

 

The legs are not yet spaced correctly; the photos show the castings as wired up but they will be spaced at 27mm intervals matching the "concrete" platform slabs.  

 

Before I can position the legs I had to cover the bare boards with a little ground material.  Much easier to do that first than to try brushing it in afterwards!  So both sides now have ground cover along the platform areas.  The backscene took up a little PVA and shows crinkles in the pictures but should dry flat overnight.  Also present are a couple of lengths of conductor rail with "pots" slid on but again not yet correctly spaced.  These should be fitted to every fourth sleeper but as Peco has too many sleepers for correct scale I shall fit them to every fifth.  That should look OK, if not spot-on for accuracy, and avoid an "overpotted" look.  

 

I still have to prove the electrical issues across the crossover are resolved - probably a job for this weekend - and have also had to remove the signal from its position at the Up end of the platform site as it needs to be farther along to squeeze in a four-coach length platform.  Space was always going to be very tight but this can just be achieved.  Only just.  As with most things on Waddlemarsh it will be with a couple of millimetres to spare!  

 

 

[DougN]

The platform supports look great Rick. Hope the knuckle didn't get skewered too many times threading the wire. You have certainly been able to use te space to its best advantage. 

 

 

[PeterBB]

Looking good

[Gwiwer]

On 05/06/2020 at 23:55, DougN said:

The platform supports look great Rick. Hope the knuckle didn't get skewered too many times threading the wire. You have certainly been able to use te space to its best advantage. 

 

 

Thank you Doug.  it's good to hear from you again.  I hope all is well with you and yours.  

The knuckle wasn't skewered at all.  Most times the wire was offered to the hole and went straight through, sometimes with a little persuasion, but when that didn't work it was teased through using fine pliers first to push then to pull.  Once or twice the wire popped through and just nicked the finger-pad on the outbound side as it did so.  I have been surprised at how relatively easy it has been boring out such tiny holes and working with fine, but robust, wire.  My first time with piano wire.  

 

1 hour ago, PeterBB said:

Looking good

Peter thank you.  Always good to receive feedback.

 

My previous layout was seen "in the flesh" only by around 100 people despite its size and global popularity largely because of its location on the far side of the planet and the distances that even the most interested would have had to travel to visit.  It has occurred to me that this one will be seen by far fewer.  Whilst located just south-west of London in what many people still call Middlesex it it built into the fabric and furniture of the bedroom and cannot come out for shows.  The viewing area will accommodate - at best - three people at a time so me plus two and that's if I (and they) feel comfortable in the space. It's a multi-purpose room furnished to allow it to function as bedroom, office, workspace and railway room.  Not bad in a fairly modest 1930s flat although I do get comments at times about having "so much stuff" in the room.  Yes there is a lot tucked in here - which now includes my late father's collection of over 700 classical CDs and the family photographs from various sources over 100 years - but there is room enough for everything I have to do.  And I can find everything when it's needed.   

[DougN]

We're all well Rick, family growing like weeds. Been doing a fair bit of loco building in the last few months. A pair of Martin Finney V2's which are complex but enjoyable to build. 

[Gwiwer]

Moving slowly along .....

 

The recalcitrant crossover still isn’t working as it should.  Hands-on assistance would be helpful but means, currently, that anyone willing to help would need to collect the unit from me, examine and hopefully rectify it elsewhere then return it. We are not in a position to offer hospitality indoors. 
 

The next phase of station-building requires accurate positioning and levelling of the assembled legs. 

 

For this purpose a block of scrap was formed into a fitting jig. Two grooves were cut for the rails, the block was then cut to height to ensure correct platform spacing from and above the running rails and drill marks were measured out for the next step. Which is boring more holes. Approximately 200x1.5mm. Quicker with the power drill but less destructive and more accurate with the pin vice. 
 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2020 by Gwiwer

[Gwiwer]

A boring day.  Literally.  A start has been made on the 200-odd holes required for the platform legs.  It's slow progress but it is slowly advancing.  There are a couple of spare legs in use as testers to prove the spacing is correct.  On the Up side where the footbridge feeds the halt from the housing estate there is very little space and the pin-vice is almost up against the back-scene.  That makes it hard to turn never mind the thought of using a power drill!  I couldn't get a drill in there if I tried.  Each platform end will have three legs of reducing height to support the ramps; that at the base of the footbridge will also be a reduced width in order to accommodate the footpath access behind it.  Compromises happened in real life.  East Worthing, which was built in this concrete halt style, has a short steep wooden ramp, just a plank really, beneath Ham Road bridge where there is insufficient space for a standard one.