Burton-on-Trent South - Adding Buildings

[w124bob]

I'll give you bonus points if you can get that certain smell which wafted across the town! 

Thought you might like this image taken in 1980 looking from just outside the diesel depot toward the station as 56060 passes with empty MGR's

Meanwhile 47205 has come down from Coalville for fuel.

 

[ISW]

18 minutes ago, w124bob said:

I'll give you bonus points if you can get that certain smell which wafted across the town! 

I can vividly remember the smell of hops floating across station street when I was a child. Pity I didn't 'bottle' some for later in life ...

 

20 minutes ago, w124bob said:

Thought you might like this image taken in 1980 looking from just outside the diesel depot toward the station as 56060 passes with empty MGR's

Nice photos, although I'd already added them to my 'collection' some while back, while I was in the layout planning phase.

 

I really do like the 'blue loco' period of BR, but I expect that's because it was 'normal' to me back then.

 

Ian

[w124bob]

18 hours ago, ISW said:

I can vividly remember the smell of hops floating across station street when I was a child. Pity I didn't 'bottle' some for later in life ...

 

Nice photos, although I'd already added them to my 'collection' some while back, while I was in the layout planning phase.

 

I really do like the 'blue loco' period of BR, but I expect that's because it was 'normal' to me back then.

 

Ian

Thanks for looking at my images on Flickr, I do like a bit of green as well. I model in OO what I spotted between about 1971 and when I started my railway career I '78. I'm holding out for 56036, hopefully Cavalex will do it proud, the paint was barely dry when I climbed on the footplate of that loco at Mantle Lane in the summer of '78. 

[ISW]

2 hours ago, w124bob said:

Thanks for looking at my images on Flickr

I did a pretty wide search on t'internet to coral photos of Burton-on-Trent, so I shouldn't be surprised to have found yours.

 

2 hours ago, w124bob said:

I model in OO what I spotted between about 1971 and when I started my railway career I '78.

We clearly model the same period (early/mid 1970s), so I hope you find my layout musings enlightening and/or useful.

 

2 hours ago, w124bob said:

I'm holding out for 56036, hopefully Cavalex will do it proud, the paint was barely dry when I climbed on the footplate of that loco at Mantle Lane in the summer of '78. 

I was at the Mantle Lane open day the following year! As you are interested in 56036, he's one of my photos from that open day in 1979:

 

Ian

 

[ISW]

Overbridge Fence

 

One element of the Overbridge that I was missing is the fence that 'delineates' the station car park / forecourt from the main road. It runs along the side of the pavement.

 

I fortunately found a suitable fence on TheBay at https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303761936364 (just a satisfied customer) that was reasonably priced and also had the right 'look'. Here's what a short length of the fence looks like once it's been cut from the A4 sheet:

 

I had to modify it slightly to add a 'top rail' of quite a thickness as, in reality, the fence should look like this:

 

To achieve this, I cut some strips from the 'carrier' paper that came surrounding the fence, and glued them to the top of the fence. I also cut a narrower strip of 1mm card to beef it up. I used several lengths to get the full length I needed, glued together. It was then airbrushed in a suitable red colour.

 

To install it on the layout I just drilled some 1.6mm holes into the pavement (cardboard) and through to the supporting plywood. The fence was then gently inserted into the holes; no glue required. This means the fence can be removed if necessary.

 

Here's the fence installed on the Overbridge:

 

The 'bollards' at the ends are just some offcuts from round plastic stirrers, again installed by drilling into the surface and press-fitting them into the holes.

 

Ian

[ISW]

Platform Covering

 

A few posts back, I drilled some holes through the platform plywood (18mm thick) in which I plan to insert some styrene rods to 'represent' the columns under the overbridge. All was well, until I realised that once I'd installed those columns, retrofitting the 2mm baseboard 'topper' (to make up the full 20mm height required) and the paving 'texture' was not going to be possible. Well, not with my skillset anyway.

 

The 2mm 'topper' was always planned, and you'll see my logic later below.

 

So, it was time to get that 'topper' installed, using simple 2mm greyboard. This was glued onto the plywood using clear PVA glue and left to dry/set. It was then 'trimmed' around the edges to achieve the correct shape. The holes for the columns were easily drilled through the 'topper' from the underside of the plywood (I'd drilled right through previously).

 

With that done, I very carefully placed the platform building back onto the platform, and verified it's location in relation to the overbridge. This is important in order to ensure the gap is 3 standard glass canopies wide. With the location marked, I could cut out the 'topper' for that area:

 

Now you can see my logic, the buildings will be 'embedded' into the platform in a (vain?) attempt to hide the joins.

 

Before placing the platform building:

 

After placement:

 

Yes, the platform building was constructed 2mm higher (err, deeper actually) to allow for the embedment.

 

The station platform is in 3 pieces, because it extends over 3 baseboards, and I also managed to add the 'topper' to the ramped end section:

 

That just left the middle section of the platform to be covered with the 'topper'. However, this can't proceed because I need to make the bay platform ~10cm shorter and convert that length to more platform. That'll be the next job on the list.

 

Ian

[ISW]

Shortening the Bay Platform

 

As mentioned above, I've found it necessary to shorten my bay platform at the station. It was originally laid long enough to 'look about right'. Turns out it's too long, and needs to be shortened to properly align with the end of the platform building (well, one canopy panel beyond the end of the building actually).

 

I marked out the section to be removed with a marker pen and cut the rails:

 

Then I used a disc cutter in my dremel 'clone' to cut through the ballast

 

Because there is 3mm of foam underlay under the tracks, the ballast 'cutting' was quite straightforward. A craft knife did the rest of the cutting down to the baseboard.

I could then insert a knife under the underlay (helped along with a thin steel ruler) to release the track from the baseboard:

 

I was surprised that the whole thing came off in one piece. Not only that, it is quite strong and resists any bending or deformation. Looks like my glued ballast is more robust than I thought!

 

Meanwhile, I cut a rectangle of 18mm plywood to create the platform 'extension'. It took some time to craft it into the required shape on my disc sander. I then glued-n-screwed it to the platform plywood.

Here it is back on the layout, with the coping stone 'extensions' already glued into place:

 

Now I can, finally, glue on the 2mm greyboard 'topper' to the plywood and cut out the rest of the footprint for the platform building.

 

Ian

[ISW]

Platform Building Finally in Place on the Platform

 

Finally, the Platform Building is correctly situated (embedded 2mm) on the platform, with the Bay Platform shortened to suit:

 

The next logical step is to complete the surface 'textures' for the Platform. That will enable me to get back to the Overbridge support columns to be installed 'in' the Platform surface, where I was over 3-weeks ago!

 

Ian

[ISW]

Overbridge Support Progress

 

This has been a little more 'messy' than I wanted, and I've still not installed the support columns on the platform.

 

All the support columns have been painted in a nice 'bare steel' colour that seems quite representative of the colour in the 1970s (they are currently green!). The platform has been 'paved' using a texture I downloaded from t'internet. It took 3 A4 sheets to cover this part of the platform, and the joints are almost invisible:

 

The 'paving' is inkjet printed on 230gsm paper (more like thin card really) and glued down with clear PVA.

It'll receive the coping stones in due course, printed on, thin, 100gsm paper that'll take up the curve of the platform edge.

 

The 2 missing columns between the tracks have now been installed (and the previously installed ones also painted) and carefully hammered in (well, it was a small hammer) until they were the correct height, 'just' missing the overbridge 'steelwork':

 

I can't install the columns on the platform until I've built and installed the building that goes on the platform under the overbridge. Getting dimensions for said building it taking some time.

 

Ian

 

[ISW]

Overbridge Supports Installed

 

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, the Overbridge support columns are installed in the Platform.

 

The hold-up has been me procrastinating over what buildings (if any) to place on the Platform under the Overbridge. I looked through a lot of old photos and the only buildings I can be certain were in place in the 1970s were a long narrow one adjacent to the Northbound (at the extreme northern end of the platform) and the lift shaft from the Overbridge building.

 

There are plenty of YouTube videos showing 2 other buildings towards the southern end of the Overbridge, but these are both plastered and very plain. I'm guessing these were installed 'after' the demise of the 1873 buildings in 1972.

 

With 'my' Platform only extending ~50% under the Overbridge, I'm left with just the lift shaft to accommodate. This I can't place absolutely accurately (well, I 'can' but it wouldn't be wholly on the Platform!) as 'my' Platform has to curve to fit around my tracks (that has to curve to fit on the baseboards, that has to ...). I've therefore had to locate the lift shaft in the best 'representative' location.

 

Here's the Platform complete with the lift shaft ('sunk' into the platform) and the support columns installed (aka, hammered into the Platform):

 

You may also notice that the coping stones have been installed along the Platform edges. This is another of my home-made textures, based on one from the SketchUp online textures library.

 

Once installed on the layout, under the Overbridge, we get this:

 

Yes, I put all that effort into a lift shaft you can't even see!

 

But, with the application of a little light through the openings in the side walls:

 

Realistically, the lift shaft will only get seen in any on-track videos I make using my CubeCam installed on a wagon.

 

Next, I'd better finish off the rest of the Platform by installing the paving texture and the coping stones.

 

Ian

 

[ISW]

Platform Completed (ish)

 

As intimated in my previous posting, it was time to 'pave' the rest of the platform and install the coping stones. These were, again, simply inkjet prints of downloaded textures suitably re-scaled and 'weathered' with my Xara Designer Pro software. The sides of the platforms were also treated to a brickwork texture.

 

Looking back at my 'library' of photos of the actual station, it was evident that I'd have to detail the end (bufferstop) of the Bay Platform. It looks like this:

 

The 'wall' and steps were quickly fashioned out of 2mm greyboard (with some additional 1mm card). This time I decided that painting would be better than a texture, particularly for the steps.

 

And here's the result:

 

This is another photo taken further down the platform:

 

Yes, I know the Platform building is not 'properly' sunk into the surface. It's currently quite a tight fit (which is good) but cutting a sliver off the edges of the recess is very difficult (which is bad). I'm 'hopeful' that using a new blade in my scalpel will be sufficient to do the trick. 

 

The absence of the staircase it now getting to me, so that's looking like the next project.

 

Ian

[ISW]

Starting the Staircase

 

The Staircase is the main point of entry for the passengers onto the Platform. It connects the Gallery of the Overbridge Building down to the Platform itself.

 

It's quite a basic element but, because of the number of small (and thin) pieces, it's going to be difficult to build. As usual, I'm relying on cereal packet cardboard for most of the structure, with a couple of styrene tubes and a few bits of greyboard.

 

The 'design' looks like this:

Those handrails are 1mm thick (or thin). Yes, these 'should' be nearer ½mm and twice the number of vertical elements, but I have to be realistic, and design something that I have a 'chance' of building!

 

The various elements were exported from the design (in Xara Designer Pro X10) as an SVG file for importing into the Cricut software that controls my Cricut cutter. 

 

Here are those various elements cut out of Morrisons Mighty Malties cereal packet:

 

There are a lot of 'side' elements as I plan to 'double' them up to get an appropriate thickness.  I was very surprised that the handrails came off the cutter in one-piece, first time.

 

Now, where did I put that PVA glue ...

 

Ian

[AdeMoore]

On 17/03/2021 at 19:32, ISW said:

Mimic Panel Mount

 

After a bit of dilly-dabbling I finally pulled my finger out and set to building the mounts for the 2 Upper Level mimic panels. It was a bit warmer in the garage so I was able to knock out the various bits of timber required for the mounts. The design is very simple, a piece of plywood with an 'edge' at the bottom, and 2 angled pieces of timber on the back to give the desired viewing angle.

 

Here is the back with the ScrewFix metal flush-mount brackets attached:

 

Here are the corresponding flush-mount brackets on the edge of the Upper Level baseboard:

 

Once assembled it looks like this:

 

And when you add the mimic panel:

 

I'm quite pleased with the result, and I'm thankful to all who provided suggestions / photos from which I drew the necessary inspiration.

 

Ian

 

 

Ian been slowly reading through your excellent topic.

Now started page 15 so the above post marks the half way stage!

Most enjoyable read, yout planning attention to detail is mighty fine.

Onwards a few more pages before daylight on Christmas Day!

[ISW]

On 25/12/2023 at 06:56, AdeMoore said:

Ian been slowly reading through your excellent topic.

Now started page 15 so the above post marks the half way stage!

Most enjoyable read, yout planning attention to detail is mighty fine.

Onwards a few more pages before daylight on Christmas Day!

Am pleased to hear that you are enjoying reading my musings. I've found that it helps a lot to write these postings to both record my progress and motivate me to keep going. I've an awful long way to go with the scenery, but I think it's important that I get the buildings done first.

 

I spent my career on large railway projects, so 'planning' has always been at the heart of everything. I also detest having to do anything 'twice', so a good plan is essential to avoid such eventualities.

 

The 'staircase' I started earlier this month hasn't progressed much (aka, not at all!), but I should be able to get back to it in the New Year.

 

Ian

[AdeMoore]

 

On 31/03/2022 at 18:28, ISW said:

RMWeb Reboot

 

Hmmm, the message at the top of RMWeb says "Images from the last year will be missing." Well, that currently isn't true. I've gone back as far as Page-11 and re-uploaded all the missing photos, which goes back to December 2020. However, there are images missing on Page-1 from 2018! Indeed, there are  still random missing images all the way through Page-1 to Page-10 inclusive.

 

Now, maybe (?) the 'system' will correctly re-allocate these missing images over the coming days. I sure hope so because it's taken ages to 'fix' the images on Page-11 to Page-19 inclusive.

 

Addendum: have now completed Page-7 to Page-10 (inclusive) as well.

 

Ian

Ian thanks for taking what must of been a considerable time to reload the images, they are the currency’ of the forum. There are large number of topics now devoid of images since the crash. Such a shame.

I did put off doing mine for a long time as I had duplicated my threads/topics over on WT. Couldn’t be bothered but I did eventually and mine took some while! So I can appreciate how long it took. I did it as @physicsman discussed doing so on his thread Gillhead. He’s disappeared off the web now shame another great topic.

So thanks for taking the time to make your topic enjoyable and whole again. Page 19 now I believe. 9 more to go.

Edited December 28, 2023 by AdeMoore
Double quote

[ISW]

2 hours ago, AdeMoore said:

Ian thanks for taking what must of been a considerable time to reload the images, they are the currency’ of the forum.

I have to agree that the photos are an essential part of the postings on RMWeb. Railway modelling is essentially an 'art' and therefore it's next to impossible to describe things without the odd photo are two. They also help to breakup the continuous text, and provide useful 'bookmarks' when navigating by scrolling through the pages.

 

Thankfully, I was taking quite a few photos during the construction of the layout (and continue to do so) for my own records, and I simply select from those to post on RMWeb. It therefore wasn't too difficult to locate the photos missing from postings. I just had to resize them again (I downsize them to ~1080 pixels wide/high) and re-upload them. The ones that were hard to relocate were those that weren't a 'photo', but were 'screengrabs' from the modelling software I used. Some of those I had to re-create.

 

At least the result is that the 'story' is complete again for others, like yourself, to read through.

 

Ian

[AdeMoore]

On 21/10/2022 at 15:42, ISW said:

Platform Buildings Test

 

I believe that in an earlier posting I said that I was planning to make the Platform Buildings 10-bays long (based on each one being 16ft). Well, after I fiddled with the positioning of the Booking Hall Buildings that are on the overbridge (which, incidentally, are huge), and taking into account space needed for the staircase down to Platform level, it seems that I'll have to cut it back to 9-bays. And even that necessitates some 'infilling' of my existing Bay Platform (and track removal) to move the Platform Buildings along (southwards) the platform. The Bay Platform will still be long enough to fit a 2-car DMU though.

 

My thoughts therefore turned to finding out how exactly I was going to build these Platform Buildings using nothing more that cereal packets and inkjet printed textures.

 

Step one was to try and establish the overall dimensions for a couple of 'typical' 16ft long building bays. To that end I started scaling off a photo:

 

This was not easy because the photo is oblique to the photographer and so I had to be particularly careful to try and keep to 'planes' in the photo. After a while, quite ……..

Ian I’m probably talking out of turn! and royally teaching many how to suck eggs!

I know your well on with the buildings now, but the may be of use to others!

But changing the perspective as in the above to square on I use Lunapic  a great free photo manipulation website.

e.g.

 

 

 

Maybe of interest.

[ISW]

58 minutes ago, AdeMoore said:

Ian I’m probably talking out of turn! and royally teaching many how to suck eggs!

Nothing to worry about on that front. We've all done both of those things ....

 

58 minutes ago, AdeMoore said:

I know your well on with the buildings now, but the may be of use to others!

But changing the perspective as in the above to square on I use Lunapic  a great free photo manipulation website.

Neat website, and a useful tool for those who don't have the necessary 'photo manipulation' software on their computer. Myself, I have 2 programs that do 'perspective correction' The first is my usual drawing software 'Xara Designer Pro X10', but I also have 'ACDSee Photo Studio' that can do the same thing. The former has an 'automatic' setting that does it all for you, while the latter is 'manual', just like the Lunapic online one (well, my 2023 version is manual. Maybe the 2024 is cleverererer).

 

My only issue with both (and also the online one you found) is that you can't be certain that you have the 'aspect ratio' exactly correct. It's too easy to 'stretch' the photo in one direction or the other. Therefore, I don't use it for scaling off dimensions, just for getting something to 'look' right.

 

As an example, here is one of my photos of Ripon cathedral:

 

After Xara Designer Pro X10 has 'corrected' the perspective it looks like this:

 

Yes, it 'looks' much better, but I wouldn't be scaling off it. Just maybe @Harlequin can enlighten us on how accurate the 'correction' actually is (without disclosing any trade secrets ...)

 

Ian

 

 

[AdeMoore]

Learning all the time!

Thanks for insight above.

[Harlequin]

Sorry, I can't help with the perspective correction in Designer because it's a bought-in module. It was supplied through Magix but we have now split away from them, thank goodness!

 

[bootneckbob]

I've only just found your layout after reading a favourable comment from yourself on mine. I was a little pressed for time so I've really only read the first few pages then skimmed through the rest looking at the pictures but I will come back to read in detail. All I can say is WOW. You are clearly a very clever and technically able guy. The layout is amazing and I love the running length/time it takes your locos to complete a circuit. Mine by comparison is very quick and boring but it is what it is.

 

Edited January 7 by bootneckbob

[ISW]

7 hours ago, bootneckbob said:

All I can say is WOW. You are clearly a very clever and technically able guy.

Many thanks for the compliments but, in my mind, there are loads of others on this forum who are better or just as good. Each one has his her them it their own strengths and weaknesses. Yes, I try to plan, plan, & more plan, but's that's simply because I hate redoing anything. So, I plan to ensure I get it right first time (err, most of the time). All that is a result of me spending my career on large (multi-year) railway projects, where such things are 'normal'.

 

However, I do have (many) weaknesses. My painting skills are very poor, and I'm just not that 'arty', meaning that I really haven't got around to any proper scenics as yet.  I note from your layout that you are way better in that regard.

 

7 hours ago, bootneckbob said:

The layout is amazing and I love the running length/time it takes you locos to complete a circuit.

 

When I started the layout design, in my minds eye I had tail-chaser trains running most of the time. Meanwhile I'd be able to 'play trains' in the MPD and Brewery areas, plus adding in a few freights. That was the main reason for the long train circuit (on 2-levels). Those would come by sufficiently infrequently for me to be able to do my own little shunting on/off the mainlines. I've found the tail-chasers to be quite reliable, but not infallible. There's still some 'work' required to keep them from the occasional derailment and (more importantly, with 2.5% gradients) uncoupling.

 

Ian

[ISW]

Platform Staircase - 2 steps forward, 1 back

 

Way back at the beginning of December last year, my Cricut cutter had cut out all the elements for the Platform Staircase. Well, I 'finally' got around to assembling the bits together. Yes, there's been a lot of intervening interruptions, and that's without counting Christmas and New Year.

 

This didn't go too well, unfortunately. Whilst the parts 'are' the correct size, getting them to assemble millimetre perfect just wasn't achieved. Add to that the horrible tendency for cardboard (cereal packet) to 'curl up' when left for long periods and you get a bit of a disaster.

 

This is what it looks like currently. I didn't bother installing the handrails ...

 

 

 

What may not be obvious from the photos, is that the middle 'spine' of the staircase is like a banana, and is ~5mm off-line at the top! Oops. The marked centreline isn't in the middle either!

 

There is a lot of temporary 'scaffolding' under the staircase that I had to add to give me something to build from, and to ensure it was the correct height when completed. The plan is to remove it all just before final installation, but that's a way off now.

 

I am tempted to do some 'testing' of how to install the handrails, so at least I can get that bit right next time. Then, this example will be scrapped, and it will be onto Mark 2 ...

 

Ian

[lezz01]

Well you can demure all you like Ian however you do have a flair for modelling buildings.

Regards Lez.

[ISW]

An update

 

As I continue to 'struggle' with my platform staircase it struck me that I haven't posted any layout drawings since this topic was started many years ago. Whilst those original track layouts remain essentially correct, there have been a number of 'tweaks' in the intervening years. So here is the layout that was actually built:

 

Note that the 'grey rectangle' to the left is the alcove to the door opening, and that to the bottom is the alcove to the only window.

 

Upper Level:

 

Connecting Ramp 1:

 

Connecting Ramp 2:

 

Lower Level: