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Chandwell - N Gauge 1990s city viaduct


Chandwell
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Hi Michael,

Beautiful and well made tunnels, lovely raised station, nice to see you have got away from flat baseboards. Can I say that the track looks nicely laid, you appear to have all the right foundations for a successful model. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

Cheers

Duncan

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33 minutes ago, sammyboy said:

A great layout! I first heard about your project from watching videos on YouTube and it's great that you have put it up on here.

 

Keep up the good work mate!

 

Sam

 

 I wondered why the layout looked familiar, but that's it, I too have seen it on youtube.

 

Looking good.

 

Just for interest, do you know what the radius of the curve is from the tunnel to the station throat?

 

Best

 

Scott.

Edited by scottystitch
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23 hours ago, scottystitch said:

 

 Just for interest, do you know what the radius of the curve is from the tunnel to the station throat?


Thank you for the comments and I am really pleased you’ve seen the layout on YouTube!

 

The track radius varies through the curve slightly, but at its tightest, it is the same as two Peco Code 55 curved points back to back. It looks really tight when you see it like this:

 

8B48CB50-A14A-4B0F-89CD-B2D577FDFFC0.jpeg.c80c6a456819b15426acad31a959ddb5.jpeg
 

On average through the curve, the radius of the inner track is 618mm, or just over 24 inches.

 

AAFBB9AC-C4C3-4D2E-AF83-9D8C87FF572F.jpeg.84f503670c470403ab9a6a816745a984.jpeg

 

 

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23 hours ago, Chandwell said:


Thank you for the comments and I am really pleased you’ve seen the layout on YouTube!

 

The track radius varies through the curve slightly, but at its tightest, it is the same as two Peco Code 55 curved points back to back. It looks really tight when you see it like this:

 

8B48CB50-A14A-4B0F-89CD-B2D577FDFFC0.jpeg.c80c6a456819b15426acad31a959ddb5.jpeg
 

On average through the curve, the radius of the inner track is 618mm, or just over 24 inches.

 

AAFBB9AC-C4C3-4D2E-AF83-9D8C87FF572F.jpeg.84f503670c470403ab9a6a816745a984.jpeg

 

 

 

That's very helpful, thanks.

 

It's actually encouraging as I have a similar curve on my plan which, at it's most severe is 32" radius (6 chains if my sums are correct).  I am in two minds as to whether I hide it or leave it exposed (as I'm very averse to clearly non prototypical curves in the scenic portion), but based on your layout, and with a speed restriction, it might look okay.  Yours looks fine in the videos. I particularly like the shot of the simultaneous departure.

 

Please do keep us posted on progress.

 

Best


Scott.

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10 hours ago, sammyboy said:

Could we see the full track plan of the entire layout above please?

 

Sam

I hope Chandwell doesn't mind me being a bit forward, pending his response, and providing the following link which provides an overview of the layout and a track plan.

 

 

Best

 

Scott.

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I think the curve is probably as tight as I could get away with, but in the flesh, it works nicely and doesn’t look too bad. It seems like a decent compromise between realism and available space. 
 

@scottystitch beat me to posting the video, but there is an overview of the plan and my reasoning behind it in that video (thanks Scott)

 

I’m drawing the track plan over time in an iPad app called Vectornator. The original track outline was imported into it from AnyRail, and since that was used to actually lay the track, I think it is dead accurate as a representation of the real layout. 
 

It is here if it is of interest...

 

C49C3782-F18D-4983-BFF6-355D13E57C8F.png.96455af0d3007a29d28919261ead02a7.png

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Michael - i love your track plan and viaduct / arches junction.  I guess this kind of track plan demonstrates the joy of building n-gauge in a comparatively tight space.

 

Very much looking forward to seeing how this layout progresses. :)

 

Cheers,

Nick

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3 hours ago, Ben A said:

 

Hello Michael,

 

Lovely layout, thanks for posting.  There is something very appealing about an L-shape.

 

What arrangements are you planning for the off-scene traversed/fiddle yard?

 

cheers

 

Ben A.


Hi Ben,

 

I was inspired by Horseley Fields many years ago and had your layout topic in my bookmark for years. So thank you very much indeed for that!

 

Chandwell’s fiddle yard is a metre long - just enough space to squeeze a loco with five coaches. 

 

216EC22C-3AF0-4A31-93D0-4240CBFDA114.jpeg.6a85987b774601c8b1a0a54a7389454a.jpeg


I have made cassettes from cable trunking and incorporated a power cut off on the section leading to them. Power simply travels from an exposed wire and round some copper tape. It is quite a basic and rudimentary setup. 
 

2621203E-9808-498F-9E1D-F7F4E7EAF741.jpeg.1a50e03a3d75cf4f39661db9bbf933f9.jpeg

 

The cassettes were featured in my very first, very unconfident, YouTube video, so you can see them under construction. 
 

 

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3 hours ago, turtlebah said:

Michael - i love your track plan and viaduct / arches junction.  I guess this kind of track plan demonstrates the joy of building n-gauge in a comparatively tight space.

 

Definitely - you can get a lot into a small place!

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I’ve not had much time on the layout this week, but I have made some progress on the last three arches. For the first time, the viaduct now spans all the way from the station to the hillside. 

B746B3A4-536E-4DD1-9529-0884AA13638C.jpeg.da16c6fa7de160cfdf239aa6ff6a7ead.jpeg

 

The cores are in and the face is on. Just the inner walls, buttresses, sills, ledge, and walls to go. I always think it looks scruffy at this stage, but it usually works out in the end. I’m not happy with the way the tops of the arches look, but I am hoping that once the finishing bits are on it won’t look too bad. 
 

C2CD408D-48AF-4BF5-BEBC-9E003CC5BFC3.jpeg.55d2683d5a6d29c93f98b819fc28eb2e.jpeg

 

I have also downloaded a new app for editing videos. Called LumaFusion, it is quite a complicated piece of work. To try to learn my way around it, I made a short ‘trailer’ for my YouTube channel. I may have overdone it a little, but it was great fun to make. My ten-year-old son did the filming. 
 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Another week has gone past and I have finally finished the building of the viaduct... It has taken me seven months, but I am really pleased with how it turned out. Here is a couple of pictures of the completed last three arches:


ECE32E6E-C810-4064-9710-FA47017BCA75.jpeg.71d67e62ff1b5bfe1024b89432160da8.jpeg

 

E333A90C-EDA1-4906-8C54-BB4088CB3A42.jpeg.724709a0f10c2982ae71f53abb486780.jpeg

 

I had a bit of a disaster with the varnish this week. I use enamel brush-on varnish. I always give it a coat of gloss followed by matt, as I find that adding matt first leaves the matting agent as a dusty covering. Anyway, this time I must have had some smudged PVA on the surface of something as it left a light blob clearly visible on the surface of one of the piers...

 

33B4EFF5-3048-4805-B1D4-5906563A6F32.jpeg.f8428292e9d831df78807d83d160bc50.jpeg
 

This has never happened before, so I don’t really know what was up. Anyway, I dabbed on some various shades of brown paint and to the naked eye, especially at normal viewing distances, it is no longer noticeable. 
 

I also had to replace a point this week as one of the blades came disconnected from the tie bar and I could not work out how to reconnect it, eventually destroying it further with my ham-fisted attempts to get it clipped back in. Thankfully it was a point where I have not yet ballasted, and it was connected with the plastic insulating rail joiners. So I could cut it out with a craft knife and carefully glue another one in place after re-soldering the wires to it. Not sure how it came unclipped. Perhaps some over-zealous track cleaning or something. I need to be more careful. 
 

I am really pleased with how the viaduct has turned out but there are still a lot of things I wish I had done better. I am going to make a video of these things to help others avoid my mistakes. 
 

It does look quite nice though, if you don’t look too closely!

 

BDED613F-584E-4839-8BDE-FD69A550AF7B.jpeg.40ac5f4acad3183dd756ef5815ad1522.jpeg
 

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As usual, I have made a video that details how I made the last three arches. It’s below if you’re interested.  Are you interested? I am never sure if it’s good practice to link to videos from here... don’t want to annoy folks.

 

 

 

 

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Hi Michael,

Your model certainly floats my boat. I am always disappointed when I see the track laid upon a flat baseboard that does not allow scenic development below rail level. Your model is an excellent advertisement for using a raised trackbed, immediately the model has an extra dimension.

Cheers

Duncan

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I stumbled across your videos at the weekend Michael, I didn't realise you had a thread here.

 

Really enjoyed watching the construction of the bridge bracing, looks great - the layers really work to add realism and interest. :drink_mini:

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