Manchester Central, CLC & GN Warehouses & Castlefield Viaducts

[Ron Heggs]

A lot of us wondered whether Ron could actually better his best.

 

He just has. B)

 

 

... not meaning to blow you away just yet - my build continues

 

Just to show I haven't stopped the final build for this bridge, the basic cross-braces have been built for the first span beam, and now producing the cross-brace assemblies

 

Completed the first span beam side with outer lattice braces in place, ready for the cross-brace assemblies

 

 

... to be continued >>>>>

[Kelly]

Fantastic! Thats not modelling, thats engineering

 

Kelly

[Ron Heggs]

Fantastic! Thats not modelling, thats engineering

 

Kelly

 

Hi, Kelly

 

Thanks, your comments are much appreciated

 

My modelling, and Plastic or Victorian engineering

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[artizen]

I like how you use printed templates to lay out the strips for accuracy. I have a similar method in that I print out my walls for my brick buildings onto address labels and stick them down on the rigid PVC board that makes up the shell of the buildings. Then it's just a matter of following the black and white brick road to insanity as I lay several thousand handmade bricks until I have a finished building!!!!

 

Love your work Ron - always nice to get a good dose of oooh and aaah early in the morning.

[Ron Heggs]

I like how you use printed templates to lay out the strips for accuracy. I have a similar method in that I print out my walls for my brick buildings onto address labels and stick them down on the rigid PVC board that makes up the shell of the buildings. Then it's just a matter of following the black and white brick road to insanity as I lay several thousand handmade bricks until I have a finished building!!!!

 

Love your work Ron - always nice to get a good dose of oooh and aaah early in the morning.

 

HI, Ian

 

It is always good to read your comments

 

Patience has its own reward

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[ozzyo]

Hello Ron,

 

a couple of questions if I may, who's track are you going to use and how are you going to hold it down.

 

Keep the updates coming

 

OzzyO.

[Ron Heggs]

Hello Ron,

 

a couple of questions if I may, who's track are you going to use and how are you going to hold it down.

 

Keep the updates coming

 

OzzyO.

 

Hi,

 

The trackwork for the station, goods yards and approach roads will all be hand built using C+L and Exactoscale components with some of my etched bits and bobs. The trackwork outside through the garden will be Peco Code 75 Flexitrack, there is no pointwork proposed for outside

 

The track will be fixed with PVA on Cork over a Plywood base

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[ozzyo]

Hi,

 

The trackwork for the station, goods yards and approach roads will all be hand built using C+L and Exactoscale components with some of my etched bits and bobs. The trackwork outside through the garden will be Peco Code 75 Flexitrack, there is no pointwork proposed for outside

 

The track will be fixed with PVA on Cork over a Plywood base

 

Cheers

 

Ron

 

Hello Ron,

 

I was thinking on the viaducts rather than the plain track work. It's a long time since I seen the track beds on the viaducts so I wasn't sure if they had ballast or longitudinal bulks of timber for the chairs to attach to, or a bit of both.

 

OzzyO.

[Ron Heggs]

Hello Ron,

 

I was thinking on the viaducts rather than the plain track work. It's a long time since I seen the track beds on the viaducts so I wasn't sure if they had ballast or longitudinal bulks of timber for the chairs to attach to, or a bit of both.

 

OzzyO.

 

Hi,

 

From the pictures I have, it would appear that the deck plating was originally painted with bitumen and then covered with an ash bed. The sleepers were then laid on a ballast bed and presumably re-ballasted after the rails were fixed to the chairs. The height of the deck edge upstands were approx 12" (300mm) to retain the ash/ballast beds. A 25mph speed restriction was in place over these bridges

 

The latest re-incarnation with the Metro Trams - the decks have been completely cleared and the plating painted. Reinforced concrete track support beams have been laid longitudinally on the deck and rails fixed to chairs mounted on the longitudinal beams

 

The only place originally where the track was supported on longitudinal steel beams was the station platform roads where they crossed over Great Bridgewater Street . This was also the only sections of the platforms to remain timber planked

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[Ron Heggs]

Hello Ron,

 

I was thinking on the viaducts rather than the plain track work. It's a long time since I seen the track beds on the viaducts so I wasn't sure if they had ballast or longitudinal bulks of timber for the chairs to attach to, or a bit of both.

 

OzzyO.

 

Hi,

 

Sorry, I didn't answer your question fully with regard to the trackwork over the model viaduct bridges

 

I intend covering the decks with either self-adhesive plastic faced flashing (modern equivalent of lead flashing) to act as sound deadening or rubber based sound absorption sheet, then possibly a layer of cork (not yet decided if necessary - will have to carry out some tests), fixing the track and finally ballasting with you guessed it a PVA solution

 

Ron

[carl1967]

Hi Ron

 

I was going to say it was ballast on the track bed on the viaduct, i used to walk from stretford in to manchester central station as a kid on my way to the model shop on deansgate every saturday back in the mid 80s, there was no tracks by then but the station was complete with all platforms but the booking office had been very badly burnt in a fire.

 

this brings back some very good memories

 

keep up the fantastic work

 

carl

[Ron Heggs]

Hi Ron

 

I was going to say it was ballast on the track bed on the viaduct, i used to walk from stretford in to manchester central station as a kid on my way to the model shop on deansgate every saturday back in the mid 80s, there was no tracks by then but the station was complete with all platforms but the booking office had been very badly burnt in a fire.

 

this brings back some very good memories

 

keep up the fantastic work

 

carl

 

Hi, Carl

 

Thanks for confirming the detail about the viaduct trackbed

 

By the mid 1980's I had moved down South with my job, but I still have a few archive photos of the station, etc. as it was in the 1980's, so your memories confirm everything I was aware of

 

Still building the shorter bridge spans, it will be at least another week before they are completed (Easter will slow down my modelling a bit)

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[Ron Heggs]

Thought you might be interested in seeing the progress on the first span lattice work at the stage of the

interlaced cross-braced trusses in the central portion of the span -

 

 

9 pieces - 5 in one line and 4 in the other - to the left of centre - to be fixed

 

 

11 pieces - 5 in one line, 4 in next and 2 in remaining line - to be fixed

 

 

Close-up showing fixed pieces and spaces awaiting pieces to be fixed

 

... to be continued >>>>>

[ColinW]

Hi Ron,

 

Fascinating to watch how you have built the trusses. Also have you not been tempted to put some track in the viaduct and photograph some trains on it, I can just imagine a Jubilee or even a Duchess thundering over it with fully laden trains.

 

Colin

[Ron Heggs]

Hi Ron,

 

Fascinating to watch how you have built the trusses. Also have you not been tempted to put some track in the viaduct and photograph some trains on it, I can just imagine a Jubilee or even a Duchess thundering over it with fully laden trains.

 

Colin

 

Hi, Colin

 

It took a few trials to determine the best way to construct these trusses and enable the most effecient way to produce the interlacing trusses

 

Unfortunately I don't have any single straight track to place on the bridges at present. I also would like to see one or more of my Jubilees and Black 5's on them. I am afraid Duchesses never ran into Central, although there was a guest exhibit in the early 1960's in the Goods yard

 

The only Pacifics that ran into Central were Britannias and Scots, although there again A4 Sir Nigel Gresley put in an appearance in 1938 on Platform 9, and A3 Flying Scotsman in 1964

 

... and there would be no thundering over the bridges as the speed restriction in place was 25 mph

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[ColinW]

Thanks for that Ron, coming from the south, wasn't too sure as to what might or might not of run over the viaduct.

 

Colin

[Stubby47]

As stunning and jaw-dropping as these models are, one can't help having some admiration for the builders of the original bridges - the amount of work to make the full-size trusses must have been immense.

 

Stu

[Ron Heggs]

As stunning and jaw-dropping as these models are, one can't help having some admiration for the builders of the original bridges - the amount of work to make the full-size trusses must have been immense.

 

Stu

 

Hi, Stu

 

Yes, you quite right about the shear amount of work involved, especially as all the iron work was rivetted - no welding

 

Ron

[SeanNeedham]

I'm watching this thread develop, Ron, and every time you post some more pictures, I'm more in awe of the whole project. Just looking at them cross-braced trusses above, and how much work that goes in to one of them, I don't know if I'd have the patience, let alone the dexterity to be able to complete something like that!

 

Keep up the good work on this, as to be honest, I'm kind of addicted to this thread and have to keep having a check on it to see what will pop up next!

[Ron Heggs]

I'm watching this thread develop, Ron, and every time you post some more pictures, I'm more in awe of the whole project. Just looking at them cross-braced trusses above, and how much work that goes in to one of them, I don't know if I'd have the patience, let alone the dexterity to be able to complete something like that!

 

Keep up the good work on this, as to be honest, I'm kind of addicted to this thread and have to keep having a check on it to see what will pop up next!

 

Hi, Sean

 

Thanks for your much appreciated comments

 

Patience is required, although not too much dexterity - I'll post a quick summary of the span/truss build process to confirm that it is mainly patience

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[Ron Heggs]

A summary of the span/truss construction process

 

Just two templates -

 

To construct the actual cross-braced trusses this one -

 

 

The diagonal strips are placed on the top template, and the horizontal strips fixed

 

The assembly is then removed from the top template turned over and placed on the bottom template, and the vertical strips fixed

 

Producing something like this -

 

 

.. which is split into individual trusses (although I don't fit the end ties anymore) -

 

 

Then using one of these templates -

 

 

Place the top & bottom span beam side pieces, and fix the plain diagonal bracing strips in place

 

then the cross-brace trusses -

 

 

... finishing by turning the assembly over, and fixing the remaining lattice/bracing strips in place, with the opposing span beam sides

 

The span is completed by fixing top & bottom strips to the span beams, and constructing the end beams to tie the top & bottom beams together

 

Voila ! - One Span completed

[Stubby47]

Hi, Stu

 

Yes, you quite right about the shear amount of work involved, especially as all the iron work was rivetted - no welding

 

Ron

 

Ron, I'm sorry, I HAVE to ask this.....

 

Will you be adding all the rivets ??? (and if so , would someone dare to count them all...?)

 

Stu

[Ron Heggs]

Ron, I'm sorry, I HAVE to ask this.....

 

Will you be adding all the rivets ??? (and if so , would someone dare to count them all...?)

 

Stu

 

Hi, Stu

 

I won't be adding any rivets, as at normal viewing distance they wouldn't be seen. ... and once you start you have to finish and be reasonably accurate in size and spacing

 

Anyway not all the ironwork has been modelled, again as it would not be seen or practicable to model it in 4mm scale

 

*** So rivet counters turn away, and go count somewhere else

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[iankemp]

I am currently a member on a yahoo group called bygone line. someone has posted a picture of Manchester Central up.

 

 

 

Just thought these may prove useful for the outer parts of the platform awning.

[johnd]

As stunning and jaw-dropping as these models are, one can't help having some admiration for the builders of the original bridges - the amount of work to make the full-size trusses must have been immense.

 

Stu

 

The bridge is still there if you care to visit the Castlefield area of Manchester complete with the canals below.

 

Are the canals below going to me modelled as well?

 

Manchester has improved over the years and with the full sized preserved not far away a visit is recommended ( East Lancashire Railway (Bury)), and if you time it right why not visit the annual model show.