A tiny maintenance depot

[47137]

I have put a 'maintenance depot' onto my layout: this is a siding with an inspection pit topped off with an unclad structural framework. I had intended a model of a whole building here but it looked too heavy and intrusive ... making a model of an unfinished building let me put the essence of something substantial onto the layout without it upsetting the visual balance of the whole thing.

 

The model is mostly styrene, with obechi dwarf walls, wooden cocktail sticks for the rail supports and extra long handrail knobs for the guard rail.

 

I like the way it looks, nestled in beside a retaining wall, and this made me think it could work in a box file setting where the sides of the box are representing the sides other (completed) buildings. The second photo (looking down) shows an area about a square foot, this is in 1:87 narrow gauge.

 

Any feedback would be great, especially if someone could suggest some feasible feature to go inside it (apart from a train!)

 

 

[Guest Jim Read]

Hello Richard,

 

A very nice layout I especially like the bridge and the river.

 

I'm not sure about the building but may I offer a solution to the screws and washers, if it is possible for you to do it at this stage. A tongue glued to the underside of the traverser and a groove under the baseboard itself, can be made from whatever the traverser is made from, keeps things really firm no matter how thin the traverser is.

 

Best wishes - Jim

[Stubby47]

I like the idea of the unfinished shed, depending on your era you could have scafolding or a cherry picker inside. You'll need piles of new material, bricks, cladding, etc., stacked ready for adding.

 

 

It also looks like the frame work that has been left after a fire, so blackened ground and piles of burnt cladding in and around the area.

 

But in 1:87, it's quite impressive.

[PhilJ W]

It looks a bit like an abandoned half finished building at the moment. I would suggest stocks of cladding or bricks ready to be incorporated in the structure as well as doors and windows etc. Some evidence of activity such as tools or welding equipment would also be needed.

[47137]

Lots of ideas here. The favourite one is a rail-borne cherry picker, not as far fetched as it sounds, the Ffestiniog have got one. This could sit inside the shed, to be removed during operations to deal with a 'hot axle box' or some other imaginary failure of the service trains.

 

I am happy to let the building look unfinished - I can dream up a few fictional stories of why it is in its present state, for example one could stem from its ridge line being higher than the 'scenic viewpoint' half way up the hill ...

 

The location is a bit cramped, so building materials could arrive by train ... though this is going to overload the fiddle yard, so maybe an extension is called for (and this would take the model over the usual size limit for a micro).

 

For tools lying around perhaps a portable generator and some trestles, and some workers studying a drawing. Also a gas bottle or two, these could be fenced off outside in a small enclosure. I would like to make it look like a construction project and not a demolition one ... a fire-damaged structure is do-able but a want the model to be as up-beat as I can make it, it is a tourist line. A couple of painters appearing to be finishing off could work too.

 

I have send a PM to Jim about the sector plate and the river ... in essence, the sector plate is on probation. It works, but I won't be submitting the design for the innovation competition. Looking at the layout now, I think the screws have caught the flash, they are less prominent in real life and can stay for now. I must do something about the 'river' though, it is supposed to be a driveway ... the surface is a piece of wet and dry abrasive paper, rubbed down to make it lighter but it is still much too dark.

[PhilJ W]

How about a 'works train' that can be shunted in or out as required? Three wagons would suffice, a flat to carry machinery such as a cement mixer, a sided wagon or a van for materials and something to carry water, either a tank wagon or a flat/sided wagon with a container. The 'story' being that everything has to be loaded where there is road access and delivered by train.

[47137]

Yes, a works train. The railway has a baggage van, which can double as a crew coach, and a steel-bodied open wagon which can carry ballast or 'things'. Perhaps I could 'make' a flat wagon to carry sheet materials ... might be a resonable subject for a first attempt in narrow gauge ; -). I want to restrict the stock to what I will call 'full-size airbraked' (no tiny tub wagons), so the siding could hold two of these three. I need to keep the total stock count down to six vehicles unless I extend the layout or do crane shunting. In the meantime I have bought a Siku 1326 crane lorry because of its near-HO size telescopic boom for my future cherry picker project ...

 

 

(I put some musings about the possible train workings in the layout topic at http://www.rmweb.co....post__p__619824 and perhaps it would be sensible to carry on with the 'trains' there in case this post wants ever to go back to workshop detail or layout balance.)

[47137]

I have settled on a set piece of a skip, some cones and a conversation - to imply something is going to happen. The inside of the building will remain empty - I think there is more 'play value' from shuffling different trains in and out and placing individual items e.g. cladding panels loosely for a particular operating session. The missing foot is a casualty of leg drilling and seems much more obvious in a photo than in real life.

 

 

I have attached a pic of the unpainted skip to show how easy it is to make this sort of thing without having to resort to a ready-made one - just 30 thou styrene and microstrip.