Port of Piraeus Railway Station (1:160FS)

[unhooked]

Hello,

Follow step by step the progress of my layout which is still under construction. The layout is based on the Greek Prototype of Pireaus Port. It includes a Passenger Terminal almost uncompressed, and staging. The layout is an out & back but it is mainly designed for operations. Any suggestions, reviews, opinions are welcome.

 

Tech Specs:

 

Room Size: 3,00m X 1,5m

 

Prototype Railroad

Prototype modeled: Pireaus SEK Passenger station

Scale: N (1:160)

Era: 1990-2007

Minimum Visible curvature Radius: 46"

Minimum Visible Turnout size: #8

Trackage: Code 40 (Visible) / Code 80 (Hidden)

Maximum Grade: 2,1%

Edited May 13, 2016 by unhooked

[Nick Holliday]

Although you have developed the design in great detail I am not quite sure how your different levels will work out, particularly the 360 degree turn at bottom right on the blue level. I can't see how that will fit with a 1:50 gradient. I am assuming that the green level is roughly the same as the blue, and there does seem to be a lot of tracks to fit in, level wise, and a few cross sections through key points might reveal some clashes. I would also be worried about how you access the hidden sidings, especially the gren ones.

I am not familiar with current Greek railway practices, but there is nowhere where locos can run around stock, so everything relies on the station pilots, which may be frustrating at times.

[unhooked]

Although you have developed the design in great detail I am not quite sure how your different levels will work out, particularly the 360 degree turn at bottom right on the blue level. I can't see how that will fit with a 1:50 gradient. I am assuming that the green level is roughly the same as the blue, and there does seem to be a lot of tracks to fit in, level wise, and a few cross sections through key points might reveal some clashes. I would also be worried about how you access the hidden sidings, especially the gren ones.

I am not familiar with current Greek railway practices, but there is nowhere where locos can run around stock, so everything relies on the station pilots, which may be frustrating at times.

Hello Nick

 

I want to thank you for your review. As I wrote in my original post, suggestions are more than welcome especially when it comes from an Experienced modeller. Regarding different levels I will post the cross section of my blueprint and also a picture of a dummy (mock-up) of the layout in 1:12 scale of the layout which shows that the levels do not overlap but they are also at some point operative. You are right about the access issue of  the green staging tracks especially those in the outside of the staging. Thats why I made removable sections (e.g. the road above), so I can do the maintainance. The layout is an open grid layout and it stands at 1,25 height so it is easier to duck under to fix any damages.

Regarding the runaround tracks. Well this one I did it on purpose as I didn t want many switches. By now layout has too many ladders and or scissors crossovers etc etc. I know it is not so realistic operation but at the passenger terminal where in the prototype already 2 crossovers exists they are never used because this specific terminal after 2004 hosts only railcars. Its is the suburban railway terminal which at some point meets the freights train mainline. Now at the classification yard, here you are absolutely right but at this point I compromise in terms of space and prototype appearance. I made a terminal stub yard. There are few of them here in Greece where real estate is a bit expensive. Now  the unprototypical senario is when a train comes from the green staging and enters the yard. Here, I somehow changed the rules and when a train enters the Arrival - Departure track it stays there until a switcher hooks all the cars from behind and pull them at the yard lead. The result is to quick, release the Arr-Dep track and the head engine goes straight to engine depot. It is more like a switching game at the yard. I know it might be unprototypical sometimes.

I ll post the operation table soon.

 

 

P.s Best senario would be to discard either the class yard or the passenger terminal and be more minimal. But I believe having both it is more fun.

 

Best Regards

[Allegheny1600]

Hi there,

How wonderful to see another Greek layout on here, from I assume, a Greek native!?

I like the general concept that you have designed here but I think that your track plan is basically a single line folded over and over? I once built a little line like that and after a while found it rather boring to operate but that was on DC analogue with few sidings.

You have plenty of sidings and much more running line so that should not be a problem.

Do you have code 80 track to use up in the hidden sections? I found the code 55 much stronger and thought this would be better in the longer term for you.

Can you get much Greek outline stock in N scale?

I wish you much luck with your project and shall enjoy watching.

Stin Y'sass!

John E.

[unhooked]

Hi there,

How wonderful to see another Greek layout on here, from I assume, a Greek native!?

I like the general concept that you have designed here but I think that your track plan is basically a single line folded over and over? I once built a little line like that and after a while found it rather boring to operate but that was on DC analogue with few sidings.

You have plenty of sidings and much more running line so that should not be a problem.

Do you have code 80 track to use up in the hidden sections? I found the code 55 much stronger and thought this would be better in the longer term for you.

Can you get much Greek outline stock in N scale?

I wish you much luck with your project and shall enjoy watching.

Stin Y'sass!

John E.

Thank you very much John

Well yes I am na native Greek who lives in Greece and that explains my bad english . The reason I chose a UK forum to post my layout  is that I mostly appreciate the englsh approach to model railroad. it is more "slice of life" or theatre scene oriented and much much more realistic than any other. For my layout I use Code 80 (peco) trackage for the hidden tracks because it allows me to use smaller switches and save space at staging. Because I model 2001 - present era there re  lot of locos and cars available in the market at N scale. I just change colors and print logos. ( I am a graphic designer and I designed all the Hellenic railroad decals needed for my locos in N scale) Greek Prototype mostly uses German ABB Daimler Benz Locos (AdTranz) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adtranz#mediaviewer/File:20080513-IC50-Thessaloniki-220019.jpg) (Source Wikipedia), Montreal Locomotive Works, Alcos, Siemens Desiro Railcars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_Desiro#mediaviewer/File:OSE_Baureihe_460.jpg) (Source wikipedia) etc.

 

Best regards.

[unhooked]

changing this topic soon...

 

Edited May 13, 2016 by unhooked

[Will J]

Just a quick note to say that I really like the way you present your ideas, will be watching with interest, welcome to RMWeb!

[unhooked]

And now let me share with you some serious bench work stuff.

Here are the progress photos of building the foundations. A work that started about a year before.

The most difficult part of the project was to decide which room of the house should host the railroad. After a lot of argument with my family they convinced me to use the smallest room.

Anyway, I decided to model my railroad as a shelf layout and eleveted at height of 125 - 130 cm.

 

First I installed the vertical shelf braces.

 

 

 

Then came the wood work, Base...

 

And ceiling

 

And so on...

 

A detail of the recess that holds the backdrop at the edge of work bench

 

And the work goes on... (Securing the backdrop)

 

 

A happy break with some details (weathered tank car  & a piece of laser cutted plywood with a couple of set tracks and an unweatherd US fruit boxcar sitting at bench work)

 

A more finished touch

 

Superelevation track testing

 

The bench goes towards completion

 

 

A bit more...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[unhooked]

Just a quick note to say that I really like the way you present your ideas, will be watching with interest, welcome to RMWeb!

Thank you very much Will J. Happy to post at RMWeb.

[unhooked]

The dummy (mock-up) as I promised previously, in 1:12 scale of the layout. The purpose was to prevent any level overlap that could have not been considered in the track plan design. Since I did the mock up scenery has changed, but level coordinates did not.

 

[Revolution Ben]

Hello unhooked,

 

Your work so far is very impressive.  Thanks for posting this thread - a fascinating read.

 

What did you use for the "sky" scenic backdrop?

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[unhooked]

Hello unhooked,

 

Your work so far is very impressive.  Thanks for posting this thread - a fascinating read.

 

What did you use for the "sky" scenic backdrop?

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

Hello Ben

Thank you very much. 

For backdrop material I was thinking of using masonite but I finally chose Forex. Forex is a plastic material in sheets commonly used for high quality digital printing and signage. It is blemish-free, UV resistant, difficult to ignite, self-extinguishing, flexible material. It is not styrene, It is even better. Because of my job (Graphic designer) I often use this material for printing purposes. Sometimes I cut it in various formats using my suppliers laser cutter.

 

Check here product details:          

http://www.display.3acomposites.com/en/products/forex/forex-classic.html

 

It comes in various Thickness (for my backdrop I used 1 sheet 3050L X 1560W X 3mm thick which cost me approx 40 Euros). It s easy to slice it with a plain paper cutter. I sliced it in the middle and joined 2 pieces X (780WX3050L) together to make the backdrop.Then I filled the gap with modelling putty. The blue color that you see on the backdrop is the protective film that comes with every forex sheet. I didnt remove it on purpose as I want to finish with scenery, initialy. In the future I plan to glue on the forex surface a high quality printed photo that I am preparing in photoshop.

 

The ceiling is of course plywood that I paint it with duco color.

I hope this was helpful.

[unhooked]

It is time for some Stage Lighting.

The goal is to create a more theatrical approach by limiting and enhance the light in a specific area (the layout area) thus focusing on the action. Furthermore the extra brightness will help on accurate measurement and construction.

Among all the lighting methods available on the market I chose to go with LED lighting and especially with LED shelf adhesive Stripes.

 

The reason was:

- It was reasonably cheap.

- Generates more power per meter, even more than Fluorescent tubes (which incidentally have a large amount of UV Radiation)

- They have zero UV Radiation

- They are ultra Bright. They generate approx. 1200 - 1320 lumens per meter. Planning to use 2 X 4 meters stripes = 8 meters, the result will be a total luminosity of 9600 Lumens at my 4 square meter layout. That's equals to a real bright summer day. (Regarding to Layout Lighting thesis of Max Maginness, September 2012, Scene lighting is not an exact science therefore the "coefficient of utilization" is 50%. No valances, high or black ceilings, lights outside layout footprint etc, can reduce this to as low as 25%. The calculation for my layout is about 5000 lumens, something like 1200 lumens per square meter. I doubled the luminosity to balance this 50% coefficient of utilization).

- They are dimmable. Which means, you can adjust luminosity and with the use of a time-switch you can even simulate day to night and opposite effects

- LED's Life-time spans over 20.000 hours

- They are not generate heat and they are not alter colours of exhibits over time.

- They come in various temperatures. I chose daylight 4500Kelvin

- Extra Wide Beam angle: 120 degrees

- Easy to install (you can set up at no time) Stripes comes to 5meters tapes. You can cut them and re-connect them at every meter.

- etc etc

 

Here is a visual I made of how to install the LED stripes at the rooftop of my Layout.

Let there be light...

Edited November 1, 2014 by unhooked

[Allegheny1600]

Y' sas again,

Your English is just fine, I wish my Greek were half as good!

Many thanks for posting about your lighting system, if you don't mind, I would like to share that with my club.

Best regards,

John.

[unhooked]

Y' sas again,

Your English is just fine, I wish my Greek were half as good!

Many thanks for posting about your lighting system, if you don't mind, I would like to share that with my club.

Best regards,

John.

Y' sas (Γεια σας) John

 

Thank you so much. I was afraid about my english. Glad that is ok. Please feel free to share any of my posts.

 

Regards and greetings from Athens

[Guest bri.s]

Great looking plan ,love the way your designing it

 

Looking forward to your progress

 

Brian

[unhooked]

Y' sas (Γεια σας) John

 

Thank you so much. I was afraid about my english. Glad that is ok. Please feel free to share any of my posts.

 

Regards and greetings from Athens

P.S. I tried to answer in greek the greeting Yia sas but it appeared with a bunch of question Marks (???????) due to lack of the greek font    

Great looking plan ,love the way your designing it

 

Looking forward to your progress

 

Brian

Thank you very much Brian.

Best Regards

[Allegheny1600]

P.S. I tried to answer in greek the greeting Yia sas but it appeared with a bunch of question Marks (???????) due to lack of the greek font    

Thank you very much Brian.

Best Regards

No problem!

I didn't realise my spelling was so awful, Yia sas it is from now on!

Hopefully, you can tell from my alternative location, I do rather like Greece! My previous avatar was from about 2007 with me and A9107 at Corinth station.

Yia sas!

John.

[unhooked]

LED Stripes installation & testing

 

[unhooked]

Long time, no see.

 

And when it comes to vector designed curves in various curvatures... There is only one tool... Imagination.

A neat plan, a laser cutting machine and a 3mm plexiglass is what you need to make your guides precisely.

 

This is -1 level plan

 

 

[unhooked]

Just a sneak Preview.

Santa got me a present

[westerner]

It's good to see a layout so well planned, from the track plan, through a a mock up to the incorporation, from a very early stage, of the backscene and lighting. I will follow with great interest.

[unhooked]

Merry Christmas!!

 

 

Finally I got myself some free time to continue with my layout....   ....

Just make some final measurements and adjustments before laying track and wiring the -1 level.

 

 

The blueprints represents trackage 1:1

Magenta lines distance is 9mm and represents the rail gauge.

 

 

 

 

 

[unhooked]

And the beat goes on.

A few more foundation works before track laying and wiring. Hopefully during next week.

Note in the last photo that sub-roadbed is in a serious workout training (Bench pressing 6 kilos, 16 later but not in that photo).   

 

 

[unhooked]

Happy new year!

 

Lets talk about backdrop.

 

In my attempt to depict the prototype image of the port of Piraeus I moved one step further by photo-shooting the exact location at a height that matches the average height of the angle view of my layout.

So I found a octocopter equipped with a Canon 5D camera, elevated 30 meters high, shot a lot of pictures with a 40mm lens and combined them in photoshop. The operator is a friend of mine whose job is to shoot videos from above.

 

Then I retouched the final image and added a bit of foggy atmosphere mostly for 2 reasons.

 

First to desaturate the brightness of the image as to not distract the sight from the foreground which is the layout

Secondly to be more of an industrial - dirty (weathered) area, so that will match the weathered dirty layout's atmosphere and finally be adaptive for all seasons (From Summer till winter).

 

The material is a new revolutionary wallpaper with adhesive, that it comes in one piece, is super easy to install and is very flexible and weather & humidity resistant.

 

The critique is yours..