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Manchester Central, CLC & GN Warehouses & Castlefield Viaducts


Ron Heggs
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  • 2 weeks later...

Have inspected the outdoor 'trench' in which the viaducts will pass through on leaving the basement, and after a little thought decided that the length of the viaduct will be extended to almost 3 metres (2.995m to be exact) beyond the exit point. This will make the transition from the viaduct to the concrete track base supporting structure easier to make

 

The curvature of the trackwork will need four viaduct spans all of differing lengths - 770mm, 765mm, 815mm and 645mm. Unfortunately none of these match the length of brass etched viaduct span, and the modifications needed would be fairly onerous. So, unfortunately this has been abandoned, and a start made on the first viaduct span of 770mm using STYRENE (Now who would have guessed?) 

 

The required 27 deck beams have just been cut, and now in the process of being partly wrapped with the flange strips to allow them to be fixed to the deck plating. At present there are 9 beams still to be wrapped and fixed

 

Pictures later this evening

 

Ron

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1 hour ago, Ron Heggs said:

So, unfortunately this has been abandoned, and a start made on the first viaduct span of 770mm using STYRENE (Now who would have guessed?) 

 

The required 27 deck beams have just been cut, and now in the process of being partly wrapped with the flange strips to allow them to be fixed to the deck plating. At present there are 9 beams still to be wrapped and fixed

 

Ron

Luckily your break to do work has allowed the world to stock up again on Styrene, just in time before you begin work on this next set of arches.

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Good to see you back up and running on this magnificent project Ron.

Presumably the viaduct section will be used to deliver wine from the wine cellar, which will be adjacent to the railway room, to the outside summer room?!!

 

Mike.

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  • 4 weeks later...

This is more like it! I've missed my regular drool over your beautiful plastic engineering.

 

Hope you're keeping well Ron; it's really good to see you once again making progress on your own project.

 

Cheers

 

Phil

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I'm a bit further away perhaps - I regularly cycle over the prototype of your Hagg Bank, Wylam bridge, upon which I always think of you Ron.

I'd like to ask you whether the Manchester Central styrene engineering structures are still in good shape? You must have had them in store since the Sri Lankan project took over your time.

And are you confident the structures will withstand the Spanish diurnal temperature range when sited outside ?

 

With Best wishes

dh

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On 30/05/2019 at 13:58, Phil Howe said:

This is more like it! I've missed my regular drool over your beautiful plastic engineering.

 

Hope you're keeping well Ron; it's really good to see you once again making progress on your own project.

 

Cheers

 

Phil

 

Thanks Phil. I'm as healthy as can be expected, although I do suffer a little from Osteoarthritis in both hands (nobbly and painful finger joints). This is not causing me any problems modelling, other than slightly shorter working hours

 

Ron

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2 hours ago, runs as required said:

I'm a bit further away perhaps - I regularly cycle over the prototype of your Hagg Bank, Wylam bridge, upon which I always think of you Ron.

I'd like to ask you whether the Manchester Central styrene engineering structures are still in good shape? You must have had them in store since the Sri Lankan project took over your time.

And are you confident the structures will withstand the Spanish diurnal temperature range when sited outside ?

 

With Best wishes

dh

 

The bridge model is still on display in the railway room and regularly receives a few 'oow aahs' from visitors

 

The route of the railway tracks out of the railway room over the length of the viaduct spans and bridges is always in shade. Under non-operationing conditions and during those times the trackwork, viaducts and bridges will be completely covered by a removable weatherproof & insulated structure. With summer coming up rapidly (24-26 deg C today) now will be the time to carry out temperature checks prior to placing the viaducts and bridges in position. The real death dealer is UV radiation which can destroy styrene within a couple of weeks

 

I do have sample structures both painted & unpainted which could also be used as 'guinea pigs' during the testing period

 

Ron

 

PS. All the structures within the railway remain stable and show no signs of degradation, weakening or warping. Some of the structures are now approaching 15 years old

 

Edited by Ron Heggs
PS. added
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Pictures held over from last night -

IMG_0191.JPG.5c184196f1f267c2f6c1bffef2e4ab42.JPG

 

Bit of a dash in construction to complete before the truss machine cutting was finished 

 

IMG_0192.JPG.5fa580b7a69261a7fe875e7640043470.JPG

 

The angled end for the attachment to the third span deck 

 

IMG_0193.JPG.1fc656830861c72400a1ba0c66708ce9.JPG

 

A closer look at the deck structure

 

IMG_0194.JPG.45a7cc2200fb24b337282640239c1d59.JPG

 

The first 28 of 80 truss cut pieces. 72 required for the second span beam

 

Looking for more progress this weekend

 

 

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3 hours ago, Ron Heggs said:

The bridge model is still on display in the railway room and regularly receives a few 'oow aahs' from visitors

The route of the railway tracks out of the railway room over the length of the viaduct spans and bridges is always in shade. Under non-operationing conditions and during those times the trackwork, viaducts and bridges will be completely covered by a removable weatherproof & insulated structure. With summer coming up rapidly (24-26 deg C today) now will be the time to carry out temperature checks prior to placing the viaducts and bridges in position. The real death dealer is UV radiation which can destroy styrene within a couple of weeks

I do have sample structures both painted & unpainted which could also be used as 'guinea pigs' during the testing period

Ron

PS. All the structures within the railway remain stable and show no signs of degradation, weakening or warping. Some of the structures are now approaching 15 years old

 

Thank you for that reply Ron, most interesting - and reassuring

We can all look forward to the summer !

dh

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On 07/06/2019 at 21:18, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Have you considered Rowmark for the outside structures Ron?, whilst not indeterminately colour fast it has a higher UV resistance than Plasticard and might be more suitable for use in our climate.

 

Mike.

Hi, Mike

 

Certainly has a higher UV resistance, but the cost is rather prohibitive, and would require a complete change in construction methods

 

Ron

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

A friend has managed to get some close-up pictures of the bracing and cross-bracing details, which have been elusive for quite a few years as access to the viaducts is not normally possible. However, with some telephoto equipment and a lot of patience, success has been achieved

 

What all this means that the previous guessing game can be replaced by a more accurate representation of the real structural build, and should ease the overall model design and build process

 

The second span which is under construction has been modified with three new types of bracing, replacing the single type used previously. When I have removed the old type bracings from the build, the latest designs of bracing will be added

 

Pictures of the revised part build will be posted tonight, after the heatwave cools slightly 

Edited by Ron Heggs
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