Bedvale

[SouthernBlue80s]

Unbeknown to my wife, I got around to buying the timber and built this today.

 

I have very limited space. So it lives under the bed.

 

 

Out from the bed and the case off

 

 

On to the dining room table. The four wooden slats are to make it level. As the table is warped.

 

 

The scenic from layer is lifted off the back non scenic layer and connected 

 

 

The battening on the non scenic back board is 10mm high and enables the scenic front board to be stored on top.

 

 

Back under the bed she is non the wiser.

 

 

To be fair she is very tolerant of my trains.

 

Edited October 27, 2021 by SouthernBlue80s

[SouthernBlue80s]

My cover case is 170mm high. The two boards ontop of each other are 20mm high. So allowing for 5mm clearance. All the scenery on the scenic front board can be no higher than 145mm high.

 

The back board is code 100. On the front scenic board it transitions  from code 100 to 75 finescale.

 

An oval layout isn't the most realistic, but it is all I have room for. 

 

The next challenge is to try to work out how I can make it look realistic. I think the curves will be largely covered and just the front will be viewable. As in the section between the two bridges.

 

 

It all works! 56040 and 45041 being the test locos.

 

 

Cheers

Steve

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by SouthernBlue80s

[33C]

Made me think...3 drawer chest. N gauge in the top, 00/H0 middle and 0 gauge in the bottom. 3 micro layouts in one 18" x 36" footprint. And, you can pull them out and place them anywhere. Instead of using the wood backs, replace with a slide out perspex for easy play......Work bench on the top......if your single....

[ess1uk]

Now you have got me thinking

[33C]

4 minutes ago, ess1uk said:

Now you have got me thinking

I will listen very carefully as you will say it only once........

[eastwestdivide]

Will it stay secret? I wouldn't bank on it. Just make sure you log out if you leave the computer!

On the other hand, maybe it's time to come clean. If she's tolerant of your trains, you just need to present it right - "I've come up with a  solution for the trains thing, which won't get in the way and won't take up any space. Plus I get to practice my carpentry skills for other furniture/household projects in the future." 

 

[SouthernBlue80s]

13 hours ago, eastwestdivide said:

Will it stay secret? I wouldn't bank on it. Just make sure you log out if you leave the computer!

On the other hand, maybe it's time to come clean. If she's tolerant of your trains, you just need to present it right - "I've come up with a  solution for the trains thing, which won't get in the way and won't take up any space. Plus I get to practice my carpentry skills for other furniture/household projects in the future." 

 

 

I will break the news today that she has been sleeping on top of it . I'm sure she will be fine with it all.

 

And ess1uk...when do you have your place to your own next, can you get hold of the timber in time, complete the build and get it hidden in time!

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by SouthernBlue80s

[SouthernBlue80s]

Well I have been trying to work out what to do.

 

 

At this end I will have tunnel entrances with a lane along the top. A St of steps will come from the lane down into the yard.

 

I will build a double tunnel entrance in the style of the smaller tunnel I scratch built on the right below

 

I think the smaller one on an angle looks better. Not sure if to have it as an imaginary branch line.  Blocked up with corrugated sheets. Or whether to have an 08 lurking in there.

 

Rolling meadows will come from the back to meet the road.

 

Now the otherside.

I am after some advice. Would a girder bridge like the one above have ever formed a tunnel entrance? I guess not?

 

Or should I place the red brick tunnel entrance (shown on the left) directly behind the girder bridge. Did that situation ever occur?

 

Any thoughts, pictures, ideas welcome.

 

Both were scratch built for a layout that never happened  and are too narrow for this, so both will need to be altered.

 

On this side the lane will run down into the yard.

 

Bedvale is now the name for this one

 

 

[sb67]

Interesting project Steve. Being a fan of your other work I'll be looking forward to seeing this develop. I like the idea of the 'fake' tunnel on the left hand side, you could block the entrance like you say or run the track through a bit and maybe have red flags on the track in front of the tunnel as if the tunnel was shut? I think on the right hand end you might hide the curves better with the tunnel entrance.

[SouthernBlue80s]

12 hours ago, sb67 said:

Interesting project Steve. Being a fan of your other work I'll be looking forward to seeing this develop. I like the idea of the 'fake' tunnel on the left hand side, you could block the entrance like you say or run the track through a bit and maybe have red flags on the track in front of the tunnel as if the tunnel was shut? I think on the right hand end you might hide the curves better with the tunnel entrance.

 

Thanks for ideas Steve. 

I think I visualise the small tunnel blocked now. The left hand side I can now visualise.

 

The right hand side with a road I think will look too similar to the left hand side. So I will drop trying to shoehorn the bridge in. And, as you suggest go with the tunnel entrance. The entrance to the small yard will come in from the back left, if I can fit it in.

 

I am hoping I can give a realistic ish feel to a small yard with a short section of double mainline  in the foreground with two bits of high ground each side.

 

We shall see

 

 

So my next tasks are to build a double tunnel portal in the style of the right hand tunnel.

 

Modify the left hand tunnel and weather both of them.

 

Build a dummy point motor.

 

Paint and weather the track

 

Paint the base board 

 

Cheers

Steve

[marc smith]

I hadn't realised you had planned this layout @SouthernBlue80s
Although an oval layout isn't particularly realistic - as you say, but there are times when I'd like nothing more than just to watch trains running around & around, sipping a nice cuppa, biscuit in my other hand..... mmm dreaming again!  lol

This looks pretty good to me matey. Mrs SouthernBlue must be really tolerant of your hobby, I have to say  
Looking forward to seeing this one progress. Nice work with the Peak weathering re your other thread too BTW

[Zunnan]

If I could interject with the road bridge end, if the tunnels on the left have fallen out of use and been blocked up, it would be quite logical for the same fate to befall the girder bridge at the other end to signify a once larger railway presence. There are plenty of examples of this on the modern day network, and in some places around my locality it went on fairly commonly from the mass closures in the '60s. Infilling under the bridges took many forms from becoming workshop of scrap vehicle storage fenced off from the railway, being simply bricked up to even being filled with waste soil right up to the girders leaving the odd sight of a girder passing along the top of an embankment as per the below example on the outskirts of Dudley on the old Bumble Hole line.

 

New Road, Dudley

 

Food for thought!

[SouthernBlue80s]

5 hours ago, marc smith said:

I hadn't realised you had planned this layout @SouthernBlue80s
Although an oval layout isn't particularly realistic - as you say, but there are times when I'd like nothing more than just to watch trains running around & around, sipping a nice cuppa, biscuit in my other hand..... mmm dreaming again!  lol

This looks pretty good to me matey. Mrs SouthernBlue must be really tolerant of your hobby, I have to say  
Looking forward to seeing this one progress. Nice work with the Peak weathering re your other thread too BTW

 

Yes. I just decided I wanted to see things moving again, now Boxchester is no longer functional.

 

Yes she is a really decent person. She only got a bit annoyed when I used to make a mess with weathering powder!

[SouthernBlue80s]

2 hours ago, Zunnan said:

If I could interject with the road bridge end, if the tunnels on the left have fallen out of use and been blocked up, it would be quite logical for the same fate to befall the girder bridge at the other end to signify a once larger railway presence. There are plenty of examples of this on the modern day network, and in some places around my locality it went on fairly commonly from the mass closures in the '60s. Infilling under the bridges took many forms from becoming workshop of scrap vehicle storage fenced off from the railway, being simply bricked up to even being filled with waste soil right up to the girders leaving the odd sight of a girder passing along the top of an embankment as per the below example on the outskirts of Dudley on the old Bumble Hole line.

 

New Road, Dudley

 

Food for thought!

 

Thank you for that, certainly something to think about.

[Andrew D]

You are doing almost exactly what I want to do - a roundy roundy OO gauge layout with a concealed rear section, and the 'public' section as realistic as possible. I really want to enjoy watching my trains going around without having to sweep, mop, then get down on the kitchen floor! 

 

What are the dimensions of the full layout please, length and width? Needless to say I am following your progress with bated breath. Cheers! 

[SouthernBlue80s]

Hi Andrew.

Mine is dictated by the size of the dining room table and the space under the bed.

 

Each board is 50cm wide by 180cm long.

So a total area of 100x180cm.

 

It remains to be seen as to if I can make a short section between the two tunnel entrances and high ground each end of a short layout anyway believable. We shall see.

 

That size board accommodates set track First and second radius curves. Which are bit too far apart for my liking, in order to accommodate Mk1 coaches passing each other. But space beggars can't be choosers.

 

Cheers

Steve

[Andrew D]

Cheers Steve! Yes, my layout ideas are also being scaled back as it’s taking me forever just to build a box file layout! At least you are actually building something. Really looking forward to seeing how you get on. 

[rob D2]

Excellent start.

To be fair I can probably think of much worse secrets involving beds !

[tractionman]

On 10/10/2021 at 16:53, SouthernBlue80s said:

I am after some advice. Would a girder bridge like the one above have ever formed a tunnel entrance? I guess not?

 

 

 

I always think this set-up would work well for a model railway scenic break,

 

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrbns_br2884.htm

 

... the rear of a large building standing on a girder bridge at the exit to Birmingham New Street station.

 

all the best,

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

[Ben B]

On 10/10/2021 at 16:53, SouthernBlue80s said:

 

I am after some advice. Would a girder bridge like the one above have ever formed a tunnel entrance? I guess not?

 

Or should I place the red brick tunnel entrance (shown on the left) directly behind the girder bridge. Did that situation ever occur?

 

Any thoughts, pictures, ideas welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

Hello

 

   Regarding the Girder Bridge/Tunnel combo, here's a sort-of prototype; Ingrow West on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.  The girder half-covers the more traditional tunnel arch.

 

 

Back before the road was rebuilt in connection with the new houses, I think it was more of a traditional girder structure, and may have covered more of the arch at a different angle; it's a very shallow tunnel under a couple of roads.

 

 

 

 

Pictures taken from the lineside etc with permission; I was asked to record part of the Bridge 11 rebuild with the Civils team.

 

[cheesysmith]

Have a look at grindleford as it is on a curve with a bridge just before a tunnel.

[SouthernBlue80s]

Thanks for all your input. I will get cracking on Bedvale again next week.

 

 

 

[SouthernBlue80s]

18 hours ago, cheesysmith said:

Have a look at grindleford as it is on a curve with a bridge just before a tunnel.

 

Just had a look. Yes really useful. I might try and replicate something similar at one end of the layout.

[KeithMacdonald]

On 07/10/2021 at 18:32, SouthernBlue80s said:

Back under the bed she is non the wiser.

 

I'm going through a spell of reading things the author never intended. At first, I thought you meant your wife is under the bed. Oops, sorry!

 

But, I like the storage idea! :-)

 

With tunnel entrances at both ends, would it look any better if the station was in a cutting? With a scenic break (like a hillside) in the middle to hide the return loop? I'm sure others can suggest some good prototype locations. The first potential one that springs to my mind is Bradford-on-Avon, but somewhat shorter than the original.

 

[SouthernBlue80s]

7 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

I'm going through a spell of reading things the author never intended. At first, I thought you meant your wife is under the bed. Oops, sorry!

 

But, I like the storage idea! :-)

 

With tunnel entrances at both ends, would it look any better if the station was in a cutting? With a scenic break (like a hillside) in the middle to hide the return loop? I'm sure others can suggest some good prototype locations. The first potential one that springs to my mind is Bradford-on-Avon, but somewhat shorter than the original.

 

 

I can assure you she is sat next to me. ....but she will be back under the bed soon.

 

Yes I think the cutting idea works and will probably utilise that idea. I am quite looking forward to starting on it again.