Virney Junction - Scenery ongoing

[Andrew P]

I'm currently recovering from a groin hernia repair operation and have stored up a few reasonably simple tasks around the layout to while away my time until I feel able to do more. One of those tasks is to make a start on the signals. I pre-ordered all the kits required and having cleared a few other tasks off the bench tried to decide which signals to tackle first - we'll overlook the fact that the very signal that I planned to build first (for the junction station) is the only kit I forgot to order!  

 

Anyway this got me thinking that I could possibly enhance the layout without making any track alterations by the simple expedient of adding a second platform to the junction station. I thought that I might need to lift the short (exchange) siding in order to accommodate the platform but having measured up I find that I can keep the siding and have the platform. It will even be long enough to take a three coach train - the longest that I run.

 

290417_2.jpg

 

My current thinking is that the line to "Aylesbury" will revert to being a normal single line instead of a freight only long siding and it will be served by DMUs. This makes more sense than the current arrangement because although they're perceived to come from (and go to) different places off the scenic area, both DMUs and hauled stock which invariably chase each other around in the timetable run over the same tracks on the scenic section.

 

I would plan to use the "new" platform as bi-directional for the DMUs but uni-directional for the hauled services with the original platform also becoming uni-directional.

 

Fortunately I'd planned to have working shunt signals with the original layout design so all I think I need to do is to convert some of those signals to conventional running signals and I can even get away without needing to re-arrange the lever frame! It will also avoid me having to make too many 4mm (working) shunt signals!

 

I'll have a fence at the back of the new platform (and a small waiting shelter) and passengers will be expected to cross the line using the barrow crossing as they did on several of the stations in the area for many years. They can also leave the station along the "road" that provides vehicular access to the goods yard.

Hi Ray, I like that mate, very good idea.

[danstercivicman]

Amongst the things that we found whilst tidying up before some recent decorating was an odd sheet of backscene left over from a previous layout. I pinned it to the current plain blue (painted) backscene to see what it looked like.

 

290417_1.jpg

 

I didn't trim the margins in case it didn't make an impression. However, I've come to the conclusion that perhaps I need to re-stock and use these all around the layout as it seems to give the whole area a different atmosphere.

The back scene there looks very impressive

[Ray H]

The back scene there looks very impressive

 

Thanks. I only put it there initially because I found it and thought I'd put it on display until my scenic talents crept round to that bit of the layout. However, the difference it has made (in my view) is significant and to my mind makes that part of the layout look a lot more complete.

[Ray H]

You can't turn your back for a few seconds before Bob the builder moves in.

 

 

I used the paper template shown in a previous post as the basis of the shape to cut around.

 

The previous yard covering - a bit of ash ballast on two thicknesses of 3mm foam - came up reasonably cleanly. I did take the detail sander to the exposed baseboard top to remove the remnants of the foam although I doubt it was really necessary as there wasn't much left behind.

 

The frame for the platform structure - the walls - was then made up of 3mm thick foam board cut into 23mm wide strips. I added cross bracing to support the platform surface. Whilst all this was glued together with a hot glue gun, it wasn't glued to the baseboard at this stage as I knew the platform surface would need some work doing to it and that was best achieved on the work bench. The paper template was then used yet again to cut said platform surface.

 

 

I then used the ultra thin track pins - Peco? - to temporarily tack the platform surface to the frame so that it could be removed as a single item to tidy up the edges. The side against the siding track simply need the edge of the surface to be flush with the wall.

 

I put the platform back on the layout and used a coach and a pencil to rough out the platform track edge to the surface. As can be seen from the picture below - taken at that stage - there is a bit of trimming to do so the coach can get past.

 

 

I need to get this platform installed and (largely) finished as I have started building the signals for the station and some of those will be mounted in the vicinity of the platform.

[Andrew P]

Excellent work Ray, that will improve it immensely. 

[danstercivicman]

Looks good!

[Ray H]

Well Bob the builder has had a productive day in the knowledge that the S&T department want to get on with the signals.
 
The "new" platform has been painted and the fence added.
 
A scan through the various books on the Oxford/Cambridge line show a number of stations with a fairly simple waiting shelter of no glaringly obvious standard pattern.
 
Hopefully I can get "Bob" to turn his had to a bit of carpentry tomorrow and build the platform's said shelter using the approximate measurements of the Metcalfe one that was seen on the paper template in post 425 above.
 

I must admit that the additional platform does bring a completely different air to the station.

Eagle eyed readers may notice the disappearance of the signal at the far end of the original platform. This was a non-working Ratio signal put there a few months back for effect.

 

I've removed it in an attempt to ensure that when the working one is installed we will remember to actually clear the signal rather than sail straight past it forgetting that it will, by then, be working and controlled from the lever frame.

[Ray H]

Well I hustled Bob off to his workshop today and he managed to get the shelter built and painted (badly) just before he packed up for the day.

 

 

I also managed to do some painting on the signals that I've built so far - my mate Jim had kindly done the better part of that job beforehand - and I hope I can got one of them installed either tomorrow or on Thursday.

 

The new platform's shelter seems to dwarf the station building on the opposite platform even though the shelter's size seems reasonable - I used similar measurements to the Metcalfe shelter. It is barely a scale 6ft high under the roof, not much deeper from front to rear and the post and wire fence has been designed around the shelter's size.

 

Interestingly, I've just remembered the bus shelter on the roadway behind the signalbox on the other platform. That's a lot smaller and might be more in proportion to the rest of the station buildings (even if it is dwarfed by the signal box).

 

[Ray H]

I'm still concerned that the platform shelter that I built yesterday looks way out of proportion with the rest of the station structures.

 

Consequently I temporarily "borrowed" the bus shelter that was on the road behind the signalbox from United Counties and put that on the platform instead to see what it looked like.

 

.

 

I felt that went a bit too far the other way as it seems to look a bit on the small side.

 

However, I used that as the basis for a mock-up of a slightly larger alternative (that will be built from "brick" rather than "wood").

 

 

The two white squares on the platforms are rough indicators of where the relevant signals will go, save that both will be a little further from the platform edge than shown.

[lmsforever]

Will there be a footbridge or foot crossing for passengers?

[Andrew P]

I do like the last one best Ray, (or will do once it's finished) but the first one looked quite O.K. to me as well.

[Ray H]

Will there be a footbridge or foot crossing for passengers?

 

Many of the station on the line from Oxford to Bletchley - Verney Junction itself was one of the exceptions - had nothing more than a barrow crossing for passengers to use to cross the line so I propose to emulate that.

[Ray H]

I do like the last one best Ray, (or will do once it's finished) but the first one looked quite O.K. to me as well.

 

Cheers Andy.

 

I still think the original was too big or, more precisely, its size relative to the main station building seemed all out of proportion. My hand is being forced slightly because there is a signal to go on the end of the platform as well - although not the one seen in the picture - and the larger shelter's porch overhang will make the signal's siting more difficult. The larger bus shelter style overcomes both problems.

 

I also think that the meagre facilities of the bus shelter style is more in keeping with skinny platform that it is positioned on. Other than re-modelling the whole of the station, which I'd prefer not to do, there isn't much I can do about that given the space available.

[Andrew P]

Cheers Andy.

 

I still think the original was too big or, more precisely, its size relative to the main station building seemed all out of proportion. My hand is being forced slightly because there is a signal to go on the end of the platform as well - although not the one seen in the picture - and the larger shelter's porch overhang will make the signal's siting more difficult. The larger bus shelter style overcomes both problems.

 

I also think that the meagre facilities of the bus shelter style is more in keeping with skinny platform that it is positioned on. Other than re-modelling the whole of the station, which I'd prefer not to do, there isn't much I can do about that given the space available.

I see where your coming from with your thinking Ray, and I now tend to agree with you.

[Ray H]

A view from the other end of the station with the new shelter in place. I've temporarily added a couple of seats (that still need painting). There's also an unpainted running in board just out of shot on the left. Apart from that, possibly one passenger and all the signals, I think the new platform is finished.

 

 

It looks as though the white line painting could do with tidying up on the original platform. The structure is made of white plastic card and I attempted to simply leave the edge unpainted, a job the camera shows I could have made a better job of!

[Andrew P]

Superb mate, excellent choice of Building, well done yet again.

[Zomboid]

I think your imperfect painting looks better than it would if it were a crisp line. The rough edges suggest a bit of weathering and that a small branch station like this one wouldn't have had the crème de la crème of paint crews working on it.

I mean that in a positive way...

[Ray H]

I think your imperfect painting looks better than it would if it were a crisp line. The rough edges suggest a bit of weathering and that a small branch station like this one wouldn't have had the crème de la crème of paint crews working on it.

I mean that in a positive way...

 

Thanks for that.

 

I have a vague recollection that the "painted" white line was administered by a specially shaped brush - with one set of bristles at 90º to the other. Again, if memory serves me correctly, it was the job of the station staff to paint the line on a regular (weekly?) basis.

 

There's only a couple of places that I think need some attention.

 

The straightness was effectively guaranteed by the brush so the border would probably have been reasonably straight even if the top surface wasn't always pristine.

[Ray H]

We're back from holiday, the cases are unpacked, the weekly shopping has been done and time is now my own so I've temporarily turned my attention to the Buckinhum end of the layout.

 

The line carries on beyond Buckinhum, passing under a bridge whilst climbing slightly and (theoretically) ending up at Banbry - any resemblance to other stations of similar names is purely coincidental 

 

In truth the track turns sharp left beyond the bridge to terminate in a small fiddle yard at right angles to the main baseboard. This saves knocking a hole in the back garage wall!

 

I've used some (currently mock-up) buildings to disguise the curve but I want to try to give the impression that the track runs along the rear of the buildings (instead of passing through them!).

 

 

I've widened the building nearest to the track by 20mm as a start. This leaves the area on the other side of the track between the "assumed" track edge and the backscene. One idea is to have a cutting side possibly populated with a number of trees - like a small wood. The next idea was to have a couple of shops against the backscene fronting onto the road over the bridge but I wasn't sure how I could then fill the area behind the shop and how the ground under the shop would be protected from falling onto the railway (taking the shop with it) given that the shop would be at an angle to the perceived track direction.

 

The picture shows another (incomplete) idea. The road is modified to turn right once clear of the track as this then allows the shop side to be parallel to the railway. Presumably some kind of retaining wall - a downward extension to the shop end wall - would suffice for the depth of the shop (which doesn't have a back yard) but what can I have between the back of the shop and the backscene? 

[Ray H]

I have to be honest and say that the idea of having a cutting side beyond the building was something that only occurred to me as I was penning yesterday's missive so I returned to the garage and began experimenting. I removed the (mock-up) raised area beyond the bridge - see previous post - and dug out an odd length of track. I then mocked up a platform to bring the ground level up to that of the track and laid the piece of track onto the piece of foam that I had glued onto part of the platform.

 

 

The track needed a bit of trimming to (i) end at the backscene and (ii) avoid it fouling the actual running line.

 

 

Finally I trimmed a piece of extruded polystyrene to an approximate size and painted it green (I've never seen pink grass!). I then added a solitary tree that I temporarily nicked from another part of the layout.

 

 

The polystyrene will probably be covered in plaster impregnated cloth in due course before having flock & static grass  added (not necessarily in that order). Any trees need to be a bit fuller and taller so that they disguise the fact that the track goes nowhere.

 

The only time it will be obvious that the track does nothing is if anyone looks too closely at in just as a train departs the station.

[Brian D]

As you can see by the various "Likes" etc, I've just had a quick catch up Ray.  This all looks very neat and tidy, excellent stuff.

Regards,

Brian.

[Ray H]

I've removed the (temporary) roof from the mock-up factory to show the track arrangement as it now stands (having ballasted the dummy piece of P Way) - the original piece of track had escaped that treatment as I didn't originally intend it to be seen.

 

 

My original intention was to try and hide all the train movements on the far side of the bridge, hence the closeness of the (roofless) factory to the bridge. This was in part to disguise the continuing gradient of the curved track as it climbs to clear the top of the radiator under the fiddle yard that represents Banbry. 

 

However, I'm not sure that I need to try to be so secretive now that I've added the dummy piece of track which starts about 30mm beyond the side of the bridge. I had always intended that there would be a gap between the corner of the building and the bridge as I think that would be more prototypical. I think I'll open up the gap and see what it looks like (even if it means that I need to do a little more ballasting).

 

 

The grass bank (currently painted green and still devoid of any plaster impregnated cloth) was cut from a piece of extruded polystyrene that I had in stock from the days when I experimented using it as a baseboard. So whilst I was making a mess cutting said polystyrene I thought I'd continue to so do and build up the ground level at the far end of Buckinhum station. Maybe that will encourage me to get the plaster cloth out and cover all the polystyrene.

 

 

One change that I will make is to reduce the length of the bridge so that the end furthest from the wall will now stop in line with the back edge of the polystyrene as this will avoid faffing around with the bridge if I want to access the servos on the front edge of the baseboard - which the bridge currently covers.

 

I obviously need to retain the wall on the bridge where it crosses the railway. I'm half minded to do the same on the middle section. The right hand end section - from (approximately) the front of the lorry to the backscene will lose its wall. That will be replaced by a fence - probably wire and post - on the far side. The side nearest the camera is to become a road junction (with Station Road - seen on the right) and stays unfenced! The left hand end will probably have fences on both sides as there will be quite a drop to the grassed area below.

[Ray H]

I've removed the upper sections of the walls from the bridge and cut the length back so that the end furthest from the wall is now flush with the backside of the polystyrene - this can just be seen on the extreme left.

 

 

I've also cut the size of the building nearest to the far side of the bridge down as indicated yesterday.

 

Before

 

 

After

 

 

I hadn't realised until I looked a little more closely at the (running) track beyond the bridge that the track has been ballasted further than I thought so that's one job I don't have to do.

 

Edited to correct a typo despite proof reading the post before it was uploaded - doh.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Ray H

[Ray H]

The extruded polystyrene at the Buckinhum end of the layout has now been covered with a couple of coats of plaster impregnated cloth. That was then painted with brown emulsion from a tester pot and subsequently received a few different varieties of flock and static grass.
 

 
The raised area beyond the bridge has had a few bits of clump foliage added - unfortunately that's not noticeable in either of these photos. It will also gain some trees in due course.

 

I'm wondering whether I should reduce the length of the track side building even further so that I have room to have a reasonably tall tree between the building and the track to disguise the fact that the "dummy" track stops at the backscene. The downside is that that might then hide the dummy track!
 

 
The pea soup green paint on the bridge was my vague attempt to bid farewell to the white plastic from which the bridge has been constructed. It will in due course be covered in brick paper.
 
Eagle eyed viewers will also note the appearance of a R-t-P Bachmann Goods Shed (first seen by me on the Chumley End thread). Winslow station (on the through line between Bletchley and Oxford) had a wooden Goods Shed (without the brick base and the lean-to office) and my eyes lit up when I saw this model on Martin's thread. The model isn't currently in the Bachmann catalogue but I managed to get one that was sold as refurbished. One part of the outside wall is slightly distorted but only I know which (unless someone looks closely at it). Luckily I'm not trying to recreate actual buildings so this model will more than do.

[Ray H]

 

Work on the bridge has been delayed for a little while so I tackled one of the two buildings beyond the bridge having finally gotten around to converting the sea moss I had in stock into trees, some of which are now "planted" adjacent to the factory building (along some oddments of foliage).

 

The building uses various Scalescenes printed sheets and a few pieces of plastic rod for guttering and downpipes on a carcass of 2mm foamboard. It still has to be weathered.

 

I shall probably make the adjacent building before I start on the bridge as that will be that corner of the layout finished (as much as anything on a layout is ever finished).