Stand clear of the doors please.

[Ragtag]

Hi all,

 

my current project is a Dave Alexander metro kit which I acquired last week. The kit will eventually run on my garage layout Newcastle North Road, which is currently on the drawing board. Centred around a fictional second station on the north side of the city, the backstory is that the station was designed to handle much of the city's local traffic - transferring passengers to bus or metro to reach the city proper - leaving Newcastle Central to handle larger national services. Set in the mid to late 'noughties', I've mocked up a metro map to include the fictional station. The map imagines that metro have reinstated the red line, not just as a peak times service as it was originally, but as a wholly separate route serving four new stations before rejoining the green line to the airport.

 

 

In order to get some practice at modelling the Metro infrastructure I've decided to knock up a small diorama on which to display the kit when it's not on the layout. The kit itself is pending a source of suitable glue and tools, but should be started soon.

 

Stu

[Ragtag]

A start made on the diorama today. Track area marked out, softwood frame fixed to the mdf offcut that is serving as the base, and a start made on cutting and fitting timber supports for the raised street area that will be to the rear. Unfortunately ran out of both timber and time. Photos to follow when there's a bit more to see.

 

Have sourced the necessary glue so will be starting the kit as soon as I've worked up the nerve to start drilling.

[Steve O.]

Hi Stu,

Sounds like a great plan, will follow with interest.

Are you modelling 'North Road'? Strictly Metro or mainline also (like Pelaw)?

Good luck.

Steve.

[Ragtag]

Hi Steve,

 

the fictional 'North Road' is currently planned to be primarily a mainline layout (continuous run with 3 through roads and a few bay platforms), but will feature the Metro line in a couple of places.

 

Cheers,

 

Stu

[Ragtag]

Stopped off at the local DIY store and picked up a little softwood yesterday to finish off the structure. The top of the raised section has been fitted using a piece of thin scrap ply, although this will need filing back and finishing. Next step will be to solder a couple of droppers to the track and fix the track to the board. Hornby platform and mk1 are for illustration only.

 

 

 

 

 

Total cost so far: £1.80

[Ragtag]

A start has been made on tidying up the edges of the upper level. Next major work after tracklaying will be to sort the retaining wall and platform out.

 

A Kingsley's metrobus on the 901 Metro Replacement service:

[Ragtag]

With half term holidays allowing a Saturday with no work, today I drilled the slots to mount motor bogies and cut away the copperclad required for the pivot to turn smoothly. The pivot seems to be working well so far, but the Tenshodo motor bogies are a little snug. If loosened to move freely, they're half a turn from falling off altogether which will be a problem when the unit is assembled. Short of finding some slightly longer screws, I think the answer is going to be to countersink the copperclad slightly.

 

[Steve O.]

Thanks Stu,

Good luck with everything.

With the Metro opening in 1980, you can run anything from BR blue onwards, should be fun.

Cheers, Steve.

[Ragtag]

Thanks Steve,

 

intention is to have the main operating period as the GNER era with secondary period as East Coast Trains. I'm easily tempted by things in Intercity livery, though.