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Nice stuff. I like it as it is a bit different. We have also future in this country and not only the past. I suppose with the wind deflectors the bridge will be outstanding. Also work around the tunnel mouth is looking great. 

Also I am not too far from Little Brickhill, but I have read what you were writing in your first post. 

These days a high speed rail project is a nightmare with the NIMBY culture, if you are not based in a country like China it is almost impossible... 

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On 17/07/2020 at 18:14, Vecchio said:

Nice stuff. I like it as it is a bit different. We have also future in this country and not only the past. I suppose with the wind deflectors the bridge will be outstanding. Also work around the tunnel mouth is looking great. 

Also I am not too far from Little Brickhill, but I have read what you were writing in your first post. 

These days a high speed rail project is a nightmare with the NIMBY culture, if you are not based in a country like China it is almost impossible... 

Thanks for the nice words Vecchio, there’s still a chance HS2 will be cancelled or significantly reduced in scope. Anyway my own mainline modelling has too much sunk cost to cancel, so just starting some ballasting, with some tiny little drain covers from Scale Model Scenery and a lost class 56. My new airbrush has only just arrived so it maybe a while before I’ve practiced with it enough to do some light track weathering:EEED3522-AA98-4E43-AA54-F0DC437D8760.jpeg.eba2aba955943c736832edb3dba87098.jpeg

And some heavy engineering going on to start fitting the noise abatements:

11F30C52-EAAA-4272-B52C-E22CF4D39DF2.jpeg.0c03fa421cd6b9471d3791cf19b8b958.jpeg

Edited by Largechris
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Track weathering shouldn't be such a big deal. I like airbrush painting and did even do a course (teaching) how to do it in our local railway club.  

Speaking about HS2 - I think we need this project. OK, I am not sitting on the track with my property, but the UK is behind most of the European countries if it comes to high speed connections. Ok, people may say - this guy is foreign, but no fear, brexit will not sweep me out. I am interested into the development of my host country and I will enjoy my pension here (hope the other 2 European countries I have worked in are paying as well....).

Go on with your layout, I am enjoying it (and so are others, I hope)

Vecchio

 

 

 

Edited by Vecchio
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The viaduct is now coming together with a rather unimaginative white colour scheme, however I do like the “scale” of what is possible in my first foray in N gauge. The bridge is less than four feet long but I think looks of a reasonable prototypical size (ie in real life the valley couldn’t be traversed with an embankment or diversion). 
8763B4E5-DB3A-4552-9514-6F821E09DA57.jpeg.0420d883371ffca2c88059d4d21d0d45.jpegNot shown but I’ve done my own silicon moulds to make plaster castings of concrete block work, which is looking quite promising to make sensible size abutments.

Edited by Largechris
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  • 4 weeks later...

I’ve been progressing with the viaduct details and the ballasting, but I also wanted to get on with the last scenic section before the station throat, which is a 4 foot long cutting area. This turned out a bit more complicated than I first planned, as originally the short branch line return loop would have entered the single portal tunnel mouth and been entirely under the hillside - with no hidden point work I thought the risk was small.

 

However the more I played around with it, the less happy I was not having full access to the track work, particularly for cleaning, so I’ve ended up building this section with three removable hillside parts (front, middle and back)AE7677EE-5455-44BC-AD2A-98BFB1A7083E.jpeg.4b09d9cc355e3b43b052f0501ec5d790.jpeg6981BC30-3F03-44AB-83EE-3DFA0CA79948.jpeg.98a8215521ffd36f48198363e4ad7e2e.jpeg


Then I’ve carried on shaping the polystyrene with a hot wire tool as the other sections, and using plaster bandage over the top. I’m happy with the method, making small profile changes to the landscape is extremely easy and allows me to get the sight lines ideal for what will mainly be a single operator. There will be sculptamould equivalent formed over this base in the next few days.EE737E1B-872D-4DBD-B86A-8B0C8C34F885.jpeg.093a34471a2380ceb31e2f1aaa646b02.jpeg


The tunnel entrance is a shuttered concrete design, built from foam board layers and filler.

Edited by Largechris
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  • 3 weeks later...

Just a small update, because I’ve now sorted out the removable sections of the cutting to allow access to the hidden branch line return loop. Just a first go at grass cover and the bridge abutments and embankment retaining wall, they’ll be quite a lot more rock section as per the main tunnel, and also a first pass at most of the ballasting. 
85EC871D-4A6F-44CF-B966-1D29989A2C99.jpeg.96d79a588a01a0b17c5d89b4299a108a.jpegB8317E92-F226-4D20-B08B-17DD9A14AD08.jpeg.b9907a4a52a93014ac0883e393577569.jpeg
 

Apart from some rock detail, next step will be a lot of painting of the civil structures and airbrushing of the track, then I will start having a look at some overhead gantries and electrification.  Although I must actually run some trains first, hopefully next week.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I had a small rethink about the viaduct noise abatements, the 1mm plasticard uprights are a bit too obvious where they stand proud of the top bar. Also, although the scale size is about right (nearly train height) it just didn’t look aesthetic enough. For those who follow HS2 closely, they will know that the new Colne Valley viaduct abatements will be so tall the passengers won’t be able to see out. 
For me, I’d rather be a bit less prototypical and make something architecturally better. Very gently I cut and filed all the uprights, the risk being that the top bar would pop out if I went too far. Seems to have worked however, bit happier with the effect now.
 


 

(Before pic)
D7717C9D-33F2-49F3-BD6A-DBEC0B9A65CC.jpeg.034f7868f7989b1834591ac49811ae0a.jpeg
 

After pic, bit of filling and painting required to finish it off:

1E3B95D8-340B-4E54-A8AB-65FED41A9085.jpeg

Edited by Largechris
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I might have spoken too soon about it all running well. I’ve been having a bit of trouble at the baseboard track joins, some of them work very well and are pretty much invisible, some seem to have moved or expanded. Doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. After a bit of faffing, I’ve decided to cut my losses and insert short 2 inch bridging pieces of track, all with standard and insulated fishplates so nothing “floats”. Once I committed to it, didn’t take long, video below:


Another mystery is why Peco sell the SL-309F concrete joiner sleepers:

1DD9C558-AE61-4621-9E64-99D5D625AE71.jpeg.48b6cf0774e65e1c4357e828c96b920f.jpeg

The gaps don’t particularly match the space required for the fishplates, and the geometry of the sleeper doesn’t match the code 55 normal sleepers - they are noticeably narrower. (It’s the continuously welded rail effect I’m after).

So instead I’ve removed the rails and modified the sleepers from spare code 55 streamline, by filing down the chairs to the level of the sleeper and also opening up / deepening the rail slot to ‘soften’ the area around the fishplates. It’s seems to match much better and doesn’t push the track joins up, so it’s looking promising:

743B6ED1-90D4-4CC6-8DE1-A4A59CD33815.jpeg.9ba36df5373da59c0136b8e19856d117.jpeg

18002BAC-D85C-4FD2-92F7-A3743CC61C8C.jpeg.b3772afe37ede016abe1e880c10124b1.jpeg

 

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The baseboard track joins are looking better now, so time to address the late modification of the added branch line. The single track now pops up at the far side of the entrance to the station throat, and... it’s a bit tight. I’ve got to shoehorn another precast tunnel portal in (same as before, foamboard layers) and also form a cutting as it enters a slightly elevated separate platform. It’s a bit like the sort of arrangement they bolted onto Stratford station when it became the end of the Jubilee line. 
Hopefully all will become clear over the next few weeks as the landscape and back scene is built up. 
5EA5C080-C07C-446C-AEB8-0E456A8557CF.jpeg.d749b763103d2c045f7c27ff4007c954.jpeg
AFFF83EB-F5D7-4C68-B2B1-792FE312A4B9.jpeg.d0cede565f994e3cd94c5940ca3cfc9f.jpeg

Edited by Largechris
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It was about time I installed some better lighting to make those dark winter nights a little easier on the eyes. I’ve seen on a lot of YouTubers layouts that they’ve been using LED tape strip lighting successfully, I actually work in the lighting industry and even though these tape strips don’t use diffusers, there are so many LEDs so widely spread that you can get a good spread of light with minimal shadows. Hopefully this will make future photography easier as well.E2286A86-3FDD-4292-9153-5CB86A5B13E3.jpeg.100f592865196506d7ede5e382156096.jpeg

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I mentioned previously that I had deliberately joined the point motors straight to the points, and not made them through hole due to previous reliability issues. Therefore I’ve had some cut outs to cover up, I’ve used 0.5mm plasticard, pictured before gluing down the edges. Should be able to landscape and ballast this area fairly soon now. A0165FE0-6173-472B-950E-036D1EE80C3D.jpeg.ce93314bcf50264f5ef3dd3601ee1e2e.jpeg87A60C10-E317-4CDA-8E53-A5AF116BA568.jpeg.3eece02c0f9982bc590c606096420928.jpeg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Still spending quite a bit of time fiddling and fettling with a bit of the track work, but finally made some new progress on the junction board (located in front of the control panel). Little bit of shape added to both the upgrade and downgrade parts of the branch line, the aim being to “frame” the junction point work in the middle. A back scene will fit behind all of this, there’s just a small bit of plasterwork and clay filling in the topography, then most of the ballasting. 634CEA95-0E30-48AF-BA0D-9E2AB682C53D.jpeg.4bbf409b54721ea3a45ad8d9a89564ae.jpeg8763424E-533B-4E23-85E6-AE04938CAB0D.jpeg.52431f79deaf06edc9dac0170cdfddb9.jpegEverything was still wet when I took the pic but you can see the general idea.

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Although it’s reasonable for a large junction to have a wide flat grade extending quite a bit outwards to the surroundings, it still didn’t look quite right coming straight from the hillier cutting part on the next board. So I’ve added some more small plywood shape to all the edges and infilled with some sculptamould equivalent. Incidentally I found putting tissue paper through an office shredder works brilliantly to put into the plaster mix. 
AD6FFFAD-1985-42EA-8311-15FFE63DDCB9.jpeg.a7cfd9503104e34f9e06fe441af1f073.jpegF4F461C3-30FB-48D3-B4E9-E35E9C67A746.jpeg.b7c75fa8ff0314ad1782ea833d3ef252.jpeg

 

I’d been looking for the most crucial building for Little Brickhill for quite a while, and finally found it. A UK style Maccy Dees, my first attempt at painting something so small. Makes me hungry. 263E0DBA-894A-4B4A-9918-DC230EC93236.jpeg.b4a0612e996450442ebcab72e09881eb.jpeg

Edited by Largechris
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  • 3 weeks later...

As mentioned at the start of this topic, I’ve been mainly using the superb Kato stock with a view to eventually utilising the chassis for some UK outline EMUs. When I started using my brand new Graham Farish DMU, I was getting occasional derailments on plain track which I never had with Kato. 
Took a bit of investigation, it can be awfully fiddly working out what’s going wrong in N gauge. Turns out the Graham Farish chassis, although it’s better than my older UK stock, is not as compliant as the Kato chassis, and on the transition curves (leading into reverse curves) the super elevation which I had stretched out over 24 inches (from inner rail high to outer rail high) was too sudden to get all the wheels seated, and the front set was literally running over the top of the rail. Grrrrrrr. 
 

The transition effect I was going for was based on this classic bit of film of the APT, starting at 8’48. The APT prototype takes about 7 seconds to go from fully one way to fully the other, which is a fair bit quicker than a TGV would normally do. 7 seconds at 120mph in N gauge would take 8 or 9 feet on the layout, which isn’t practical, hence the compression:
 


I’ve bitten the bullet and relaid the transition areas, extending the whole S shape to about 36 inches (bear in mind as the curves are 12 foot radius it’s not very obvious in this picture). Around the curve inflexion point I’ve made a longer flat area to give the loco more chance to “settle” and then the actual super elevation is graduated using increasing thicknesses of plasticard up to a prototypical scale 6 inches (1mm) under the outside rail.

F3EB03EC-90EB-48DC-AA6D-9163F1EC19C3.jpeg.411be396f17fd1beb0c91445363e2c37.jpeg
 

Fingers crossed this is sufficient to get all the stock working in the same way, if not then I shall draw a line and stick with the stock that I know works on the mainlines, and everything else will be relegated to the branch.

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A concept that my brother put together for Bedford West station starts to take shape, this is just a rough basic design to test out sight lines and scale. 
There’s a small pedestrian plaza behind leading to what will be a small road with some industrial units.

32C2D4C1-1481-43A8-BC56-02D838C077F6.jpeg.263820f1269f72c203e8134dff51086d.jpeg

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  • 2 weeks later...

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