Popular Post 10800 Posted September 5, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted September 5, 2020 (edited) Between May and the end of July I started on my long-held ambition to build Lewes in P4, to go between (!) Balcombe/Ouse Viaduct and Eridge. Here's a series of progress photos which should be largely self-explanatory, but feel free to ask if you need more clarification. In summary: Time period 1950s/early 60s Baseboards of pink insulation board with 6mm ply trackbed, augmented with 3mm cork, and 4mm ply sides Thin ply sleeper and rivet construction, plus plastic chairs, and steel rail, initially using components from P4Track Company turnout kits for speed. DCC and Tam Valley frog juicers for crossing polarity change. At this point I gave the track work a powered loco test: That's going to be it for now because for medical reasons it's unlikely I will get any more real modelling done this side of Christmas. Edited February 24, 2021 by 10800 22 8 2 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted September 5, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 5, 2020 A lovely prototype and the trackwork looks gorgeous. I hope the medics are able to sort things satisfactorily and comfortably. 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 Yes, I hope it goes well. This is one ambitious project and I look forward to further instalments. Is your Eridge visible anywhere on-line, because I’d really like to see it. K Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted September 5, 2020 Author Share Posted September 5, 2020 Not my Eridge, although I retain an interest. It should be 'appearing' at the virtual Scaleforum on 26 September. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 How does one "attend" this virtual Scaleforum? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted September 5, 2020 Author Share Posted September 5, 2020 4 minutes ago, Nearholmer said: How does one "attend" this virtual Scaleforum? https://www.scaleforum.org/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted September 6, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 6, 2020 (edited) Some good layouts will be 'on show'. There will be more on Rod's Lewes project Edited September 6, 2020 by Re6/6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philip-griffiths Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Well done Rod, glad to see you are able to get on with this. One question, how deep is the insulation which you are using for the baseboard? Is this following ideas put forward by Iain Rice in his Cameo layouts book? How do you in tend to drive the points through such a thickness? regards Philip Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted September 7, 2020 Author Share Posted September 7, 2020 Hi Philip, good to hear from you. The foam is 50mm thick. Points will be operated on the surface, possibly via one or more lever frames depending on the geometry, possibly by simple wire and tube. The maxim will be simplicity and convenience. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted September 22, 2020 Author Share Posted September 22, 2020 I recently acquired some extracts from a 1950 station plan, very kindly provided by Glen Woods, which includes a wealth of information on platforms, footbridges and buildings, signal and crossing positions etc. I've had the station area bit photo-enlarged (about x4.5) to get it to 4mm scale. This morning John helped me to set some of the boards up to try it out for size You can't tell from this but it is pleasingly very close to my Templot plan. Next time I can add the station junction board and finally finalise (for the final time) platforms and plain track alignments. 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neal Ball Posted February 23, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 23, 2021 This is going to be a lovely layout when built. When we lived in Sussex, Lewes was a regular Saturday afternoon destination.... always arriving by train. Good luck with the project, hope your health is ok. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted February 23, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2021 On 05/09/2020 at 20:41, 10800 said: Not my Eridge, although I retain an interest. It should be 'appearing' at the virtual Scaleforum on 26 September. Is htis the one that attended the Beckenham show some years ago? It was a lovely model and after building a model of the same station back in 1980 as my first exhibition layout although nothing to the quality of the one that I saw at Beckenham. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted February 24, 2021 Author Share Posted February 24, 2021 On 23/02/2021 at 07:30, roundhouse said: Is htis the one that attended the Beckenham show some years ago? It was a lovely model and after building a model of the same station back in 1980 as my first exhibition layout although nothing to the quality of the one that I saw at Beckenham. Hi, many thanks and yes it is, I recently put up some film of Eridge at that show. We did one more show (Carshalton & Sutton) with Eridge in that form; it was then dismantled because of baseboard warpage and rebuilt. The new version hasn't been to any shows yet but I filmed it in its clubroom in late 2016. There is an infrequent blog on it at 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold phil_sutters Posted February 24, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 24, 2021 (edited) A major undertaking. Even in its current reduced layout it would be a challenge to most. If it is of any help, I have a fair number of photos of the station buildings as they now are, usually taken while waiting for something to come through, a steam special or one of the Newhaven aggregates trains. Since 2009 we have lived down the line at Seaford, so, Covid regs permitting, I could easily take a trip there to snap any bits you need further details of. Edited February 24, 2021 by phil_sutters 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 I've not done much on this for the last year for several reasons, but I have just been sorting out the essential platform configurations using the plan I acquired from the late Glen Woods last autumn. That plan is more accurate than the OS map I originally used to do the Templot plan, so some of the Templot alignments are no longer correct and need redefining by the platforms. Fortunately I hadn't started to lay any track through them yet. I used a second copy of the station plan to cut out and use as templates to jigsaw the platforms in 9mm ply - thickness will be increased when I am finally happy with the shapes and clearances, i.e after track laying. Having got them into position overlying the overall plan, I fixed them in place with 6mm bolts. I could then remove the overall plan and replace the platforms over the original Templot base - showing up the need for realignments. There will undoubtedly be some sanding and/or spokeshaving to do when the track is laid to make sure stock doesn't foul the platforms. Next will be some mockups of the station buildings, including (gulp) the main overall roof. I went to Lewes a few weeks ago to take more photos and measurements (with the approval of the station manager) to add to the collection I already have. 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 Taking the benefits of 3D a bit further, I've been doing some quick and dirty mockups of some of the station structures in true Blue Peter style with Daler board, PVA, magic tape and ply offcuts. So what you see here are the main platform buildings, the overall footbridge and staircases (floor only), the luggage ramp and the lift tower on the Brighton platform. The tinplate-like effect on the platform buildings is from cutouts of rescaled drawings of at least one pair of these obtained from the Network Rail archive print library https://nr.printstoreonline.com/ . What you don't see yet is the overall roof in the V of the station. I do have a plan of this from Network Rail, and an architectural elevation found on the internet, together with the station plan used to do the platforms, all of which are a huge advantage. However, there are minor discrepancies between them, possibly due to a difference in scaling in the horizontal and vertical directions on the NR roof plan (or in the printer I used to scale it up). It's not a lot (<5%), but to match with the station plan I may have to improvise a little. 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted August 26, 2021 Author Share Posted August 26, 2021 (edited) So, what is a mockup for? In some cases it can be as detailed as, say, a test build of a new etched kit; or it can be, as in this case, a quick and simple exercise just to get a feel for what the final build might look like, and to verify that it looks sufficiently like the prototype. Therefore, with Evergreen tube, stripwood and magic tape, the next phase in the main station area mockup has been the principal support columns and beams. As mentioned previously, I have had to make some minor changes to the column positions, with the guiding criteria being 1) the rows of girders have to be the same distance apart, and 2) the edge of the overall structure is a scale 8 feet from the platform edge as stipulated in the Network Rail plan. Some of the columns are not quite vertical due to drilling error on my part - the 'proper' columns will have brass cores (don't ask about the basal detail yet!) and I will find a way of ensuring their verticality. The process, whilst a bit rough, has given me ideas about what to do and what not to do when I start the 'proper' one. For one thing, this won't be like Liverpool Lime Street or Manchester Central in level of detail: frankly the upper bits won't be seen under 'normal' conditions so things like girders and trusses will be more 'impressionistic' making use of bulk laser cutting etc (I really ought to fire up the Silhouette cutter again) even though there is considerable detail variation. I'm not getting any younger and this is a solo project - I'd sooner spend the time on the trains and track etc. Anyway, here are some views and a couple of real photos for comparison. The double deck station building facade at the back is for now just the platform buildings stacked like containers in these photos. I might end the model at that point and kick the 'roadside' part of the station building into the long grass for now - I can print out some more of the modular elevations for mockup purposes. For the roof itself I did start on doing some profile sections first, but I'll probably just channel my inner Pythagoras and let the roof sections create the 'relief' on their own. Edited August 26, 2021 by 10800 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted August 27, 2021 Author Share Posted August 27, 2021 And a rough roof 9 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted August 27, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 27, 2021 Looks very good for a mock up and I think it will capture the feel of the place. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold phil_sutters Posted September 4, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 4, 2021 I have now rounded up most if not all of my Lewes station snaps and put them in an album. I also put them in a community album by mistake, so if you do a search you might get either or both. To get them in a single album go to 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted September 26, 2021 Author Share Posted September 26, 2021 Some snaps yesterday at the Scaleforum Multi-venue event in Devon. 11 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 10800 Posted September 28, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 28, 2021 And some reminders on what the trackwork looks like. For health reasons I haven't done anything more on the track since July 2020, but I hope to recommence soon. In a way it's probably just as well because information acquired since then has meant a change in some alignments in the station, hence the mismatches between the platforms and Templot that might be apparent in the photos above. The original plan was done in Templot from a 1:1250 or 1:2500 OS map, and if that was all I was ever going to have all would have been right with the world. Then along came the acquisition of a station roof plan from Network Rail, which shifted some platform alignments, albeit by a pleasingly small and manageable amount. Similarly, the (then) new ability for Templot to do tandem turnouts changed some approach angles slightly and required some on-the-spot changes to some crossing positions. (This actually made more sense of the updated platform alignments!) Then about a year ago I acquired some extracts of a 1:480 station plan from the late Glen Woods and had them blown up to 4mm scale in a print shop. This forced a more significant change in alignments, especially on the Brighton side, so if I had laid more plain track much of it would have had to come up. Silver linings and all that. So now I will use the platforms to gauge the track through the station, moving outwards from the V. 16 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted September 20, 2022 Author Share Posted September 20, 2022 I've been doing a bit more on the track before taking it to Scaleforum this weekend as a track/baseboard/research demo. I'm not happy with the partially built diamond above - it should be on a continuous smooth curve running into the double-faced platform, but I've got the alignments wrong so the diamond and adjacent turnout will be removed after Scaleforum and rebuilt on a better Templot overlay (should have done that before of course ...) 12 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Blandford1969 Posted September 20, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 20, 2022 Wow is all you can say, what a labour of love 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted September 20, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 20, 2022 (edited) Lovely complex trackwork Rod, right up my street! Some of my own. Built maybe 20 years ago but never completed.........maybe....! Edited September 20, 2022 by Re6/6 12 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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