Veja Megstra - RhB Nm layout

[MrTea]

Welcome back to my little slice of Switzerland in 1:150 scale. First things first, here's a quick video of the latest running session (filmed after Christmas):

 

To be honest not a great deal has changed since the last update in November. I've tweaked a few of the scenic details but one of the main jobs was soldering (or trying to) many of the rail joints in the station area. Previously (and mainly since I painted the rails) the trains have run at varying speeds in the station loop as they move further and closer to the power feeds.

 

Now following some fettling of the p'way all 3 locos run smoothly along either line in the station.

 

Before Christmas I finished fitting passengers in the Glacier Express set, which looks a lot less bare as it travels along the line. 

 

Other jobs have included testing the signals (which look excellent when lit) and positioning cars and people at various points on the layout. I discovered that the main road is the right scale but the track leading to the station yard is probably too wide and could do with narrowing - I think this comes from previously working in 4mm and not having suitable scale vehicles to hand when developing this section of the layout. I now have some nice Busch Mercedes C Class and Audi A4 cars (via an eBay seller in Spain) which help bring the right hand side of the layout to life a bit.

 

 

Line occupied

 

 

Line clear

 

I'm planning to have the two signals controlled by a 3-way switch unless I can find a way of linking them up to be lit when the points are thrown.

Edited March 21 by MrTea
Replaced images

[MrTea]

My focus for the new year is going to be the other, as yet unscenic, side of the layout.

 

Overall view looking up the gradient

 

Top section showing the viaduct and summit tunnel

 

Looking down the valley to where the line curves away

 

I suspect most of this will end up being a representation of the valley side with the mountainside sloping upwards above the tracks. I did wonder whether to introduce an unpowered section of the line at a lower level to simulate more of the spirals between Bergun and Preda.

 

The main challenge is the flat section in front of the viaduct - there aren't many bits of flat land in the real location but I can't dig into the baseboard here as I think it would cause structural issues. One possibility I've looked at is the area around Albula I viaduct where the line crosses the valley before plunging into a tunnel:

https://structurae.net/en/media/312802-albula-i-viaduct-and-on-the-left-rugnux-viaduct

Edited March 21 by MrTea
Replaced images

[Gook the Goblin]

Very nice, looking really good.

 

I suppose the nature of the observation cars makes it more obvious that they are empty, the people you added do help, I spotted the passengers before reading the bit below so that proves the point. Well done.

[PaulRhB]

The gentle slopes beneath the God Tunnel spirals just above Bergün would be ideal. 

 

The same bridge from the other side, taken from the road just above the driving trailer above. 

 

Looking to the left from the same spot as the second picture you can see Bergün in the background. 

 

 

[Mike Beard]

I think Osborns down in Bideford may well have Kato 28-186 Glacier Express Close Coupling Set which will improve the look of the train immensly.

[PaulRhB]

5 hours ago, Mike Beard said:

I think Osborns down in Bideford may well have Kato 28-186 Glacier Express Close Coupling Set which will improve the look of the train immensly.

I’d only order from them though if you can get them on the phone and check it’s in stock, they are rather inconsistent with online orders as the thread about them on here shows. I struggled to get responses about a couple of orders and can’t be bothered with the hassle. 

[MrTea]

On 25/01/2021 at 02:53, Mike Beard said:

I think Osborns down in Bideford may well have Kato 28-186 Glacier Express Close Coupling Set which will improve the look of the train immensly.

 

Looking back I have a pack of these outstanding from Gaugemaster from an order in April last year. Their site seems to be offline tonight though...

[MrTea]

This weekend saw the first Allegra service through Veja Megstra. 
 

 

 

The passengers reported that the ride was excellent and that the unit appeared to have plenty of power in reserve when climbing the gradients. 

 

Here’s the northbound service returning later in the day:

 

There has also been some additional tree planting on the western slopes below the passing loop. This does obscure the view of the station area somewhat for photographers but it is a feature of the location that is the inspiration for the model. A few more trees will be added as soon as they come into stock!

 

The panorama coach also had a visit to the station but couldn’t be hauled by the new unit as the Allegra needs to have its dummy coupling replaced with one of the mini couplings supplied. 

Edited March 21 by MrTea
Replaced images

[Frutigen]

Great work. Layouts don’t always stand up to close photography as well as this one. I like the real world photo compositions, a great reminder of standing in similar places watching the trains go by. 

[MrTea]

Managed to get some more time to work on the layout after work yesterday. I've planted a few more trees on the valley side of the layout so that's now more representative of the valley side at Muot, the location that inspired the station area. I also spent some time improving the ground cover on the baseboard join between the Chanaletta Gallerie board and the station.

 

 

The additional trees are by the Czech firm Model Scene. They sit pretty well alongside the existing firs from Noch and Busch. It's been harder to find trees where the trunks are visible, Busch make some nice 'realistic' trees but they're around a fiver each.

 

 

View down the station board looking south. The trees on the right frame the tracks nicely (although it does make photographing the trains little bit more difficult!). If you look carefully you can see the 'slick' of watered down PVA   to the left of the turnout.

 

Driver's eye view at the top of the passing loop looking north. At some point I need to lower the insulators on the cross spans.

 

Allegra waiting in the loop.

 

I've also started adding some small details such as drainage covers to the trackside. These are laser cut MDF and card by scalemodelscenery.com. I guess I could have made these from scrap card but there's a level of detail on the laser cut items that's hard to match, particularly with things like grilles. 

Edited March 21 by MrTea
Replaced images

[NittenDormer]

Really nice, and good progress too. I do love a nice red Swiss train. 

[Frutigen]

Elegant design + skilful build + well chosen details make this a very pleasing scene. I like how it’s framed by the canyon of trees and the way the light falls on it. 

[Nutbrook]

Superb detailing, great photos, really like how this is coming along

[MrTea]

Couple of shots from the running session over the weekend:

 

Looking down over the loop from the mountainside above Veja Megstra. 
 

Ge 4/4 iii passing an Allegra service. 
 

Evening light over the layout. 

[MrTea]

Here are the next two areas I’m planning to focus on:

 

#1 I’ve narrowed the roadway to a more scale 1:150 width but the slopes either side of the bridge need some more texture. I’m also planning to add a few trees in the triangle between the bridge, roadway and main road to help break up this section and mask the splicing together of Veja Megstra (based on Muot) and the Toua tunnel section, which in reality is a few km further up the line towards Preda. 
 

#2 I’ve never been 100% happy with this join between the boards. The photo backscene was only ever really a temporary print before I realised I could do a reasonable job with watercolours. The trees also stop rather abruptly and I’m pretty sure I can do a better job at masking the line on the hillside. 
 

After these are done I really do have no excuse for not getting on with the other side of the layout! Debating whether to try a wintery scene there as I’ve never attempted to model snow. 

[PaulRhB]

5 minutes ago, MrTea said:

Debating whether to try a wintery scene there as I’ve never attempted to model snow. 

Go for it and Busch do some very nice snowy trees, code 6466. 

[Mike Beard]

Nice, and thanks for sharing your pictures with us.

[Gook the Goblin]

Great photos Mr Tea, keep them coming. I really like the evening light shot.

 

As for a wintery scene, well you can guess what I would vote for! No messing with grass or vegetation when it is all covered in a blanket of plaster! I am hoping to have a play with the Deluxe Materials Scenic Snow kit soon, if it ever arrives so I will let you know how that goes.

 

Nigel

[PaulRhB]

I know what you mean, it’s daunting but actually quite good fun. The secret I found was to make the plaster snow quite gloopy with a big dollop of pva mixed in so it naturally bulged when pushed towards overhangs but not runny enough to dribble over. I then got a very wet one inch brush and sort of patted the top with it, keeping it very wet, so any peaks rounded off. 
Some said my snow should be smoother still but I was trying to suggest bushes and other features underneath. I wanted folds, lumps and bumps I’d seen in pictures. 
I just painted it with a mix of white emulsion mixed with another generous dollop of pva and sprinkled the deluxe snowflakes on top. Do a small test piece to get the idea of consistency but don’t worry if it varies as the wetted brush smooths it down. 

[MrTea]

On 24/01/2021 at 17:25, PaulRhB said:

The gentle slopes beneath the God Tunnel spirals just above Bergün would be ideal. 

 

The same bridge from the other side, taken from the road just above the driving trailer above. 

 

Looking to the left from the same spot as the second picture you can see Bergün in the background. 

 

 

So, inspired by Paul’s suggestion of the area above Bergun, I’ve taken the plunge and started the scenic work on the other side of the layout. 
 

First there was a now obligatory trip on the section of line on Streetview to gather reference photos and get an idea of the lie of the land. Because I’ve already got the track layout fixed this will be a representation of the area rather than an attempt to replicate the scenery in 1:150 scale. However I think the overall impression should be recognisable. Certainly I’ve found it’s easier to be inspired by a real location than making it up completely from scratch. 
 

Luckily for this project, before Christmas we had an IKEA delivery and so I’ve got a stock of cardboard packing  pieces available that can form the foundations for the scenery. 
 

 

The first area I tacked was the roadway leading down the mountain towards Bergun. I figured that with this in place I can work the rest of the embankment and hillside around it. The contours here are pretty complex so I’ve used a top layer of strips of thin corrugated card which bends to the required shape. 
 

 

On this photo we’re looking up the gradient in the Preda direction (although at this point the line is heading north west - completely the wrong direction!). I was fortunate to have different thickness of packing pieces that could be hacked around and glued together to form the required shapes. I used a mixture of PVA, Roket card glue and track pins to fix the different elements in place. 
 

 

Here’s an overall view of the work to date. Not bad for an afternoon’s modelling. It feels good to be making some progress again. 
 

One of the lessons I learned from the Veja Megstra side of the layout is that I shouldn’t work on the boards in isolation - it makes blending the scenery at the edges much harder. So on this one I’m working from the middle out and for the next modelling session I’ll need to attach one of the end boards before adding more of the subterrain layer. 
 

Hopefully there will be more progress to report during the week. 

[MrTea]

Managed to squeeze in some more work on the layout last night:

 

 

This is the embankment leading to the mini viaduct over the road. What started out as a four-arched bridge looks like it’s going to become a three-arched one to better replicate the real location and also fit the lie of the land here. 
 

In other news I’ve decided that this section of the layout will definitely be modelled in winter time. Fabio (Calandmountain) the RhB driver recently posted a video of a cab ride between Bergun and Preda which gives some great reference material:

 

I’m going to replicate this level of snowfall wherever I can, which is perfect because the tracks are free of snow and it doesn’t appear to be in many of the trees. Perhaps it hasn’t snowed for a week or so?

 

I know @PaulRhB and @ the Goblin have or are modelling the RhB in the wintertime. I’d be interested to know from others on the forum who have modelled snow how they went about it, what products they’d recommend and what lessons they’ve learned. 
 

Until next time. Stay safe and thanks for all your updates and input on here!

 

Ian

[MrTea]

The cardboard Alps continue to grow:

 

 

 

This packing material is turning out to be a quick and lightweight way of building up the terrain. 
 

Last night I brought the end board out so I could get a feel for how the contours should flow from the tunnel at the far left towards the bridge in the middle. It’s coming together. 

 

 

[Gook the Goblin]

Looking great Mr Tea. Good to see some recycling!

[MrTea]

Bit more progress on the layout this afternoon:

 

This is the other corner board which is going to become a representation of the entrance to God Tunnel. The test print (courtesy of Streetview) really helped get the slope leading up to the tunnel portal looking believable. There's been some condensing of the distance between the tunnel and the overbridge but I think the overall impression will be ok.

 

The satellite view doesn't really show how much the land slopes down to the North West and how hard the line has to work to climb the valley side. The yellow line represents the approximate area represented by the new segment of scenery. At the top corner I've relocated Plaz Tunnel closer so that the line has another suitable scenic break.

 

Mock up of the overbridge. This was printed approximately to scale size to help with forming the land around. All being well the bridge abutments will help mask the baseboard joint here. I think the bridge will be a fun structure to model as it's higher on one side than the other and all three arches are different sizes.

 

At this rate it won't be long until the plaster bandage goes on! 

[PaulRhB]

Could you put one face of the bridge on one board and the road and other face on the other?