martin580120

I have used the below to great effect, admittedly for wargaming at larger scales: https://www.geekgamingscenics.com/products/tree-canopy-tree-foliage-sheets Spray it brown, spray it with a yacht varnish or tacky glue and flock, or one of the leaf covers, then stick to base. Also another vote for steel wool - I'm working on some Normady Bocage at 28mm scale (somewhere between 1/56th and 1/48th) and this is the base material I'm using with the same process above, airbrush brown, yacht varnish, dunk in my big box of mixed flocks - I've not tried it at 2FS scale, but I suspect if you use fine flock it will look the part.

Thanks Jim, I've ordered a cheap pack of powder paint that had some white in it (the rest can go to the Scout Hall for the Beavers!), I've also ordered some white weathering powder and some chalk to have a play with. I'm sure results will be posted (or brought along to Almodell) in due course!

Thanks Jim - that certainly looks the part, I'll give it a go. I've not, to my knowledge at least, encountered Powder paint - is this like weathering poweder or another thing entirely? Thanks Nick, I have some polyurethane surface primer, I was planning on airbrushing on a coat or two to seal the surface before painting. I may take you up on your offer there, as I said, I have a few friends with lasers who ahve expressed interest in helping, it's just ironing out the details :-)

I often start these sporadic updates with "I haven't really made much progress since last time" then proceed to list the dozen things I've built or worked on. So this time, I'll buck the trend and say, I've been quite productive. Model Rail Scotland is always an encouragement push to get stuff ready for the Roadshow, and with so many bits and pieces still waiting on paint, I fired up the airbrush and got almost a year's worth of wagons ready to show over a coupel of evenings. More 16T Mineral wagons, sponge painted as per the guide I wrote here (and should really submit to the magazine...), four Grampus, a converted NGS Shark, an ex-LMS 16T brake van, four LMS unfitted 5 plank opens, two Converted NGS BR Standard Opens and eight BR vans. In the component guide on the website, one of the suggested chassis for the vans appears to be unfitted. This would imply the van should be painted grey, which I have done here, but consultation of Don Rowland's "British Railway Wagons, The First Half Million" doesn't reference any "standard" vans on an unifitted chassis, so I don't know if this is accurate or not, but hey, brakes up the brown vans in my collection - I think 14 at last count (how many is too many?). Talking of Model Rail Scotland, I enjoy going to shows. There is an awful lot on display, and there's always inspiration in the models on show. But often it's the little conversations with traders that pique the interest. At the bottom of the row which the Roadshow was situated ( us being between the NGS and the 3mm Society, the latter was next to the Scalefour Society - because someone was obviously having a laugh...) was a company called Pop Up Designs. They offerlaser plywood cut wares and recently have entered the railway modelling market with some rather interesting kits of Scottish prototypes. @Caley Jim had put me on to them a while back, their Tenement buildings appearing over in the Caledonian Railway Association forums, however, when I looked their kits were limited to 4mm. Or so I thought. I'd walked past their stand half a dozen times over the course of the weekend and hadn't stopped, so convinced was I that they had nothing to offer me, that wasn't until late Sunday when I stopped next to them to check my phone before heading back to the Roadshow and got collared. And, after a very pleasant conversation with the proprietors, it turns out their kits are available now in 2mm. They didn't have exactly what I wanted with them, but a quick trip around their website later, I had some goodies on the way. These were delivered last weekend, and so taken was I, that all were built before the weekend was out. Firstly, a Caledonian "Standard" Signal Box. This is a lovely wee kit, my photo perhaps does not to justice to the wee fancy bits around the roof and the window cleaning platform. A trip to the FCAG meeting without adequate protection led to breakage of the stairs. I may buy another of these now I've had a chance to play eitb this one, it's also slightly not square as it wasn't adequately braced during the initial construction. I've bought one of the Ratio signal box interior kits to detail the innards , which is also going to necessitate the fitting of an LED or two. And yes, the Ratio kit is based on a GWR prototype, but at this scale, and inside the building, I'm not sure anyone will really notice... Anyway, the background of that photo is the really "exciting" purchase - I sound alarmingly like my dad in saying that... Tenements! I believe these are A1 type Tenements, are basd on real life examples in Glasgow. I am more interested in the B2 Type, and I'm more interested in a 2/3rds back relief (to which Pop Up Designs said "well, you never know...." during our converstion) but I now have an idea for a little diorama in the section above the entrance/exit to the fiddle yard (or at least where the fiddle yard will be when I build it...) I'll need some more Tenements to finish that off, and some pavement, and some cobble roads, and maybe that Glasgow Corporation Tram I saw on shapeways... anything to distract me from actually laying track... These kits also showed off, to me, the versatility of laser cut ply. I've got a fair amount of laser cut MDF wargames terrain and often find it needs a lot of modification to look vaguely life like, but these kits have a lot more detail than I'm used to. I think, unless someone brings a 2/3rds relief B2 Tenement back to market in the next 6 months to a year, this might be the route I go down. I have a couple of friends with laser cutters I am intending to speak very nicely to, I just need to work out 2D CAD - something sadly not covered in your run of the mill Chemistry Degree, where the most complex thing we draw is a hexagon... I have also taken delivery of some more track building components - the centre of the common crossing in my Finetrax turnouts seems to keep popping out and breaking the 3d printed chairs (90% sure it's operator error), so I'm going to give PCB construction a bash and see if this holds up better. This has necessitated taking up most of the track laid to date (again). But hey, it's all a learning experience. Right? Now. Does anyone know how to paint a convincing red sandstone...?

I don't use enamels, well, much, so pinch of salt here - but I just use Vallejo or Army Painter airbrush primer - it's formulated for 28mm wargaming so is fairly good on the detail abs smooth finish. Might be worth trying a Humbrol or Phoenix Precision or RailMatch black/grey/white enamel - either a spray or airbrush. Might take a couple of thin coats.

I have been quiet on here since August, though those who read the Forth and Clyde Area Group blog will see I've been working on various odds and ends. However, a new year and a week off at the start of it has prompted me forwards a little. The layout has progressed, marginally, since May last year, with the single piece of laid track lifted, repaired and replaced, as well as two others, a total of three lengths of track now on the board. Most of the headshunt for the goods yard has been laid - it's not particularly straight, but I'm led to believe this is reasonably prototypical, and one of the main running lines. Progress will be halted here for a week or so as one of the turnouts for the far side has broken (probably a result of having a large box sitting on top of it for at least a month or two...) and a new part is to be procured. It's definitely progress. Above the railway sits the most recent prototype for the tenement buildings which will line my backscene. The Peco tunnel mouth and the ratio signal box are placeholders from an old railway but give the idea. A close up of the Tenements below... The main structure is 1.25mm mountboard, with a Cricut Kraftboard frontage and scalescenes paper at the very front. The thicker material doesn't seem to like the fine lines between windows at the edge if each block. Looking at the prototype, these were stone columns, with two separate windows, not a single large window of two sides, so being able to cut this is relatively important. I am uncertain about the 2d texture of the paper - I've seen it used really well, but I prefer the 3d texture of plastikard - I know from recent area group discussions that others disagree with me here. Issues with cutting platikard appear to have been resolved on the Cricut by changing the cutting blade - I'm borrowing a friend's Maker with a CNC type blade, and it turns out this was rather blunt. As I type this, the second prototype in plastikard is running through the tool. The first, left to run overnight, shifted on the cutting mat aisnwas bisected. Perhaps useful if I was modelling them being ripped down, but maybe not for whole units. The average cut time for the Tenement back is around 4 and a half hours with 24 passes of the blade. I need eight fronts, plus eight 20 thou strengthener, plus sides and strengtheners, roofs, and maybe even individual floors. This might take a while... An amazon purchase was made today for A4 sticky label and overhead transparancies - I've been watching a lot of YouTube, and am taken with a channel called Chandwell - his approach to buildings and windows is something I find very interesting and I'm planning to have a play with his method for windows, if only on the test structures. The wagon works has also reopened, the first item through being an ex-LMS 16T unfitted brake van to go with some mineral wagons previously built and painted. I have bought the 3D printed axle boxes, so these and the footboards are to be fitted by superglue, hence why they're not present, yet, that's tonight's job. It's been great to restart the modelling mojo - whilst I have been pottering through some bits and pieces over the last few months, it's not really been anything substantive, and seeing progress has been rewarding and inspires me to keep going, pending a few deliveries.

I have spent the weekend down at my in-laws. My wife and her mother headed out to Cheshire Oaks and Liverpool, spending money that could have been used to further the railway, whilst my father-in-law and I sat back at their house studiously avoiding each other. This allowed me to build 14, yes one-four, fourteen, wagons this weekend. I also managed a visit to Chester Cathederal on Friday, using the ladies trip to Cheshire Oaks as an excuse to Visit Pete Waterman's Making Tracks III. It's a big beastie and well worth the £3 entry to see if you're local. It is OO gauge and modern image so may put folk off, but the level of detail is incredible. This weekend was the "Accurascale Takeover" which seemed to involve them loaning some motive power and rolling stock to the layout. For OO models these are fairly impressive, and if the rumours are true they are due to enter the N Gauge market, I can see a couple of the early diesels entering my fleet. I also managed a visit to the Leyland Model Railway exhibition, taking my nephew to his first model railway show. It was almost all OO and N, with a smattering of narrow gauge, but again, worth the visit, if only to start the bug of model railways in the next generation. I've just got to keep up the indoctrination... on to the wagons - they are all NiAg chassis with plastic bodies, which may temper the achievement, but, I've impressed myself - and managed to invalidate most of my excuses for slow progress on the layout, or the locos, or the coaches, or the couplings... First up, four LMS 5 Plank wagons from association etches/mouldings. I liked these, but found them a wee bit tricky - it's the first time I've built a wagon where the sole-bar components don't locate over the bearing cups, which meant I had to be a bit more careful than I usually would be. I think they've turned out okay from my usual 2' viewing distance test. I had ran out of my usual Tamiya extra thin poly cement and found most of the usual haunts were out of stock, forcing me to Tey the AK Interactive equivalent. As much as all these things must me much of a muchness, I'm not a fan of this, and some Tamiya will be acquired before further plastic kits are attempted. Next was four 16T Mineral wagons. All DSI braked examples with riveted bodies, but a mix of axle boxes and buffers. One of the Area Group suggested building at least one of these for every other wagon kit built given the number in service. Given the photos of the prototype freight I've seen of my vague location I'm not sure I'll need that many, but, I do like these kits and they're quite fun to put together. Finally, six 12T "standard" vans. Three batches of two of various brake gear arrangements. These are still to have their roofs attached, but I had to pack up to head home so these will be complete in the next few days, so I'm counting them... The info tab on the Association website suggests three different chassis for these wagons, This is the first time I've used anything except 2-354 - the complexity of the 2-357 etch (Wagon Chassis: BR Standard 10': 8 Shoe Fitted) meant these two took the longest out of all the wagons, but they look fairly good and were good fun to put together. I now have about 20 wagons requiring paint, so I may fire up the airbrush once I've roofed the vans. I have two vacuum fitted mineral wagons on the 2-353c chassis to do and at least four conflats on various underframes and a few NGS wagons to convert to 2FS, but I think I'll be taking a break from freight stock for a while. I think next on the workbench will be some brake vans, but, I have eight coaches in various states of completion - underframes mostly constructed, bodies are developing, slowly, and two loco builds on the go (the J94 chassis is mostly alive, but requiring some modification to aid in running. Plus, the single bit of track on the layout has had to come back up because the turnout was defective (my stupidity, no fault of the kit...). Lots to do, lots to do...

That would be the far more sensible way of doing it, and not the way I did it...

I'm a bit late to the party Richard, but I found quartering without the jig quite a challenge and ended up purchasing it. It was a little tricky to use but worked first time and got everything as needed. I think you also need 1 off "3-102b Muff 3mm OD: Metric Gears: Acetal" for the rear axle.

Hi Don, Thanks for your kind words and the advice on broaches - I will look to acquire a set as they seem like they would be very useful! I also paint wargames figures - I must have painted nearly 10,000 in my lifetime, and, if you sit my first figures next to the ones I've done more recently you'd be excused for thinking they were done by different people. Over the 20+ years I've been painting I've developed the tools and skills and got progressively better - maybe not on a figure-to-figure basis but definaetely over time. The same will be true of this - I'd never really done much like it before, so it's all a learning experience, it's just easy to forget sometimes! My third purchase was a pair of Bannan vans which were abandoned for the same reasons as the coaches - I've been meaning to buy another couple at some point for a compare/contrast almost three years apart.

I have been quiet of late, which would normally suggest I've not done much, but rather the contrary. Lots of things part done or half finished. And not mineral wagons or 12T standard vans (for a change!) First up, and closest to completion are two BR Diagram 1/044 13ton high goods wagons. These are Association 10' undrframes and bodged NGS bodies The sides and base are from the NGS Kit 47, trimmed to length and width - the ends are from cut down 2FS BR Standard Van ends which gives the width required. I intend on adding some form of irregular shaped load and fitting tarpaulins over these because the cutting down of the ends was not entirely straight and one of the wagons is seemingly twisted - although sits flat on the track. The other half of the NGS kit builds two 1/037 or 1/039 steel bodied open wagons - I have underframes for these but haven't started building them yet. Next up, and in the background of the last shot, two BR 1/069 Conflat wagons from the WSL Association etch. Posed with an Type A container from the NGS Kit and the Osborne Model's Pickfords Type BD, These still need brake levers and axle boxes. In my usual style, they're far from perfect, but I have another 4 etches in the project box on the basis that the first of anything I build tends to not be particularly good. I did, around about halfway through the build question why I didn't just buy the peco ones and put new wheels in them. Still not really answered that one... Finally, and the main thrust of the last week or so has been bogies. Five sets, three LMS 9' and two BR Mk1. These are for a series of Worsley Works etches I have stashed in another project box. This is an attempt to spur me into actually building these, so we'll see. The BR Mk1 bogies, are of particular note for me. The bogies, not the coach underframes/bodies I now have for them, were bought nearly three years ago - my first purchase from the Association shops. I'd bought three Masterclass BR Mk1 coaches, two TSOs and a BSO which were probably not what I should have bought as my first attempt at a soldered Kit, as they have languished, part built for nearly three years. Due to not reading the instructions, I hadn't realised that the kits came with bogies, or underframes, and ended up ordering more sets, which were then surplus. Which was probably a good thing as at least four sets were butchered and mangled to the extent that they were scrapped. Photographs may have once existed but I'll not share them for my own embarassment That I've managed these two last sets, and managed all six layers of etch out to the axleboxes, shows quite how far I've come in the last (almost) three years. Completing these has buoyed me somewhat, as it does seem like, with enough practice anything is possible... maybe...

I've spent a few hours this weekend working on 16T Mineral Wagons of various diagrams, amongst other things. These are all Association plastic bodies/etched underframes, mostly ones I'd built back at Christmas and never got round to painting, with one being my Model Rail Scotland project. I have painted a number of 16T Mineral wagons from the Airfix/Dapol kit to Parkside kits in OO, to the Peco "kit" in N back in my course-scale misadventures. I have a stash of maybe about a dozen 2FS wagons that were my first forray into the world of finescale modelling, and thought sticking some paint on would hide the (many) sins of assembly. Why am I talking about this? Well, I used to paint them the base colour (i.e. grey or bauxite) and try and add rust etc. over the top, but I never found it particularly convincing. Looking at photos the rust is underneath the paint, which appear to flake off as the rust forms. I've bought various magic potions and lotions to try and help, from the Town and Country Scenics Rusts, to AK Interactive Chipping Fluid, none of which seemed to help very much. So I wanted to try something new. I suspect what I've done next isn't ground breaking, and I may be a new visitor to a very old party, but I wanted to record my new method somewhere useful, if only as an aide memoire for when I come to do the next batch of these. These started with a Vallejo Game Effects "Dry Rust" (note, this has particles in it so don't try and airbursh - ask how I know that...?). I then added patches of Vallejo Game Effects "New Rust" added (no particles, fine through the airbrush). This could probably be drybrushed on rather than airbrushed, will experiment next time. I varied the coverage of the new rust, some wagons getting lots, some very little to try and keep things varied - as much as most of these wagons are of the same diagram, they would each have had a different life and I wanted to try and show age/wear etc. So that they were all slightly, visually, different. Whether this has worked, or was worth the effort in the end is up for debate. Using a small bit of sponge gripped in some tweezers, I wetted the sponge with water, dipped it in some grey paint (I used Vallejo Model Colour Basalt Grey first and Medium Sea Grey as a highlight/to break up the single colour), dabbed off some of the paint onto a piece of kitchen roll, then dabbed the semi-dry sponge onto the bodies. This could possibly have also been done by drybrushing, or overbrushing, using the texture from the dry rust, but the method with the sponge also helps build texture. I don't know how well the two tones of Grey have worked/shown up and I think the later weathering steps have negated the need for it, but it took an extra 10 minutes over four wagons. The bauxite wagon wasn't given the new rust, but was given the same treatment but with Vallejo Game Colour Dark Fleshtone and then as the highlight. Vallejo Model Colour Red Leather - after the later weathering steps I could probably have just used the Red Leather, and a Red Leather/White mix to highlight, but, hey, this is an experiment and the next two mineral wagons in the build queue are airbraked so I will get an opportunity to play again soon. I tried to focus the highlights on the raised areas - the stanchions etc. And in the center of the panels. Whether this was successful or needed, I'm unconvinced. The next stage was the white stripe for the end door. This was masked off with 10mm tape - as this is what I had on the desk. Then the same sponge, using the same method, Vallejo Model Colur White was applied. I could possibly have varied this with either a very light grey (Vallejo Model Colour Light Sky Grey perhaps), then white, or used an offwhite, but I think after the weathering it's academic. I left the paint to dry with the tape on for a few hours, then pulled the tape off. I tidied up the insides of the wagons, painting them all with Vallejo old rust, again with a brush, lesson learnt. I then used a Vallejo Satin varnish by airbrush over the body. I left it at this point and gave everything some time overnight to dry. This morning I masked off the bodies of the wagons and gave the wheels and underframes an airbrush with Railmatch (acryllic) sleeper grime. I don't like painting Railmatch acrylics with anything other than the airbrush, it just seems to go on as a gloopy mess, even when I try thinning it. I'venever tried the enamels, so can't give any opinion here - most, if not all, of my painting for the last 23 years has been acryllics, so it's what I'm used to, enamels would need some learning and/or new kit. I suspect I could use a burnt umber/black grey mix here if I wanted to go Vallejo or brush paint in the future. I obviously hadn't woken up yet as I didn't take any more photos of this or the next couple of steps... Once this was dry I took all the masking tape off and it was time for transfers. I have some old sheets from Fox, all that I needed was the wagon number and tare weight. I gave these a few hours to dry then made up a wash with Windsor and Newton Lamp Black oil paint and odourless thinners. This was applied liberally by brush. This step looks horrible. I then used some, well, a lot, of cotton buds soaked in the odourless thinners to remove the bulk of the oil paint. This was done in by wetting the paint with one end, then drawing the opposite end of the bud in a downward motion to try and replicate coal dust and other grime being washed down the body by the rain. I do have a photo of this stage! I left this to dry for a good three or four hours. It should probably get a full 24, but it's one of the limited days of summer here near Glasgow with the temperature allegedly about 20C, so the paint seemed fairly dry after this. I loaded the airbrush with Railmatch Frame Dirt (see above comments RE Railmatch Acryllics) and sprayed this at a 45° angle to the bottom of the wagons - trying to emulate dust and dirt thrown up from the rails, and adding a subtle highlight to the earlier applied sleeper grime. I have drybrushed this on before to mixed success, so airbrush is my preferred method. Not sure how well this shows up on the photo, but there we are. What might be visible on this photo was painting Citadel Leadbelcher onto the buffer shafts. What won't be obvious is the buffer heads were painted Vallejo Model Colour black grey, with a small spot in the center of each buffer highlighted with Vallejo Model Colour Gloss black. A coat of Vallejo Matt varnish through the airbrush and that was the painting done. I loaded each of them with "2mm coal" from a bag I'd picked up at Model Rail Scotland 2022, and lost the rest of the packaging for. It seems quite coarse to be 2mm Scale, but, it's what I've got. Some watered down PVA glue has been pasteur pipetted in and there we go, back to the first photo. I'm quite happy with how these have turned out - the rust that was very bright in the earlier stages has been toned down to look like the photos I was using for reference. The particles in the Vallejo Game Colour old rust, plus the texture from the sponging has also helped make the panels look more beaten and dented, again like the photos I've seen from Google. It took about four times as long as my older method, but I think I'm a convert. Now I really need to start building some couplers, or laying track on the layout, or finish one of the ongoing locos...

I have been quiet for the last two months, because, well, nothing much has happened. I attempted to make progress on two fronts - firstly, building the raised, scenic, sections of the layout where the Tenements/backscene will sit, and tracklaying. I decided to practice tracklaying on my intended test board. I found this quite challenging - I struggled to keep the track straight and level, but two or three attempts in and it was much better, even if I did mangle a bag worth of easitrac sleepers and some rail in lifting and relaying. I struggled through with some Easitrac turnouts too - I have four crossovers on the layout plan and thought it was worth practicing laying these before moving onto the real thing. I am certainly glad I practiced - I managed to mangle both turnouts several times, and thoroughly demotivated myself. They are now on the board and a wagon will run through them, but it took some effort. This is where progress had stalled. I tend to flit between the railway and painting my wargames figures. I had a game for which I had some new units to paint in mid March, so I focused there, and before I knew it, the railway was a shelf for storing junk, with no progress made. And for reference, lost the game, the new units attacting a lot of fire and doing nothing particularly useful (grumble, grumble...) However, it sent me down a path of painting - it's a lot like muscle memory for me, I've painted thousands of figures and I don't have to put any thought into it - I know how the colours will layer up, which brush to use, or technique to try just doesn't really take conscious effort anymore, which let's me just shut off with a podcast or the TV going and feel like I've accomplished something. Even if I do routinely loose all track of time and forget to eat and/or sleep... This, on the other hand, is much newer and takes a lot more thought. Work had become quite stressful and I found no appeal on having to think once I got home, so I've churned out about 200 painted figures (not my record) and had a bit of a reset. This weekend I went back to the railway - nothing at all to do with FCAG meeting next weekend, or the Scottish Minimeet the weekend after, honest... It took several hours of sorting and digging out yesterday, but today I was able to make some progress. The raised section is now, mostly, installed - a couple of bits of 5mm ply required to finish this off, plus I need to work out how I'm going to face it - I mean, probablt textured plastikard, but I might mount it to wood or plain plastikard first - plus I'm torn between brick or dressed stone... The tunnel mouth is the classic N Gauge Peco double track offering, salvaged from my first foray into railway modelling, before I'd seen the light of 2FS. It is very likely not a temporary structure, I have other ideas about what's going to end up there, but it has served the purpose of gauging the height vs. Rolling stock which is lot better than the previous image of my first attempt. Construction is from 25mm packing polystyrene purchased from ebay - I could probably have done with 50mm, but I had several sheets of 25mm in the loft as I use it as a base for wargames terrain as it's light and easily scultable. Multiple layers are held together with cocktail sticks. The polystyrene is glued ideally with copydex, but I ran out midway through and the price seems to have trippled since I last bought some, so I used a fast drying basing glue from my wargames collection - it's more suited for gluing down ground covers, static grasses etc., but it should do the job. I hadn't really intended on leaving the gaps in the middle of each section, but the sheets I had weren't quite 2' long, and my plan is to have some LED lighting in the Tenements which will sit above the railway, so this gives me a convenient channel through which to run the wiring to that. I'm fast running out of excuses not to go back to tracklaying. So that will be what I focus on over the next little while. However, one of the games I play is due to launch a new edition next month, and I'm gearing up for that too. The layout, in this embryonic state, plus whatever progress I make in the next 12 days, will be at the Scottish Minimeet advertised in the last two magazines. I hope to see some of you there. This has meant I had to choose a name - after some indecision I present Cathkin Central - I'll have to get a totem made up(!) Now I'm away to find the hoover before my wife gets in and sees the mess...

Thanks Jim - I hadn't realised that diagram was in the handbook too. Given that the bridge height there is roughly 37mm above rail height, and there's only about 2.5mm clearance off the BRCW Type 2, I think an extra 5mm might be a good idea. As much as I don't have much RTR to convert, I don't know what the future holds and it makes sense to future proof. Quite how I'm going to do that is, however, another matter.

Not quite midweek progress, but the last chance I'll get this week I think due to other commitments. Trackplan glued down, it is a bit rough and wrinkly, but it should do the job (I will cut out any sections interfering with track laying.) Supports for the street level have been cut and places, not glued in yet. I mocked up the bridge which will hide the exit to the fiddle yard to gauge height. My trusty BRCW Type 2 showing that there isn't much clearance under the bridge. - I measured it at about 2.5mm. The track is a practice piece I was playing with, based on some 40 thou Plastikard. The uprights are 40mm (ish) which was a measurement taken from the tables on the Elginmodelrailwayclub.co.uk website in the 2FS column, though, on closer inspection, this was 40mm above rail height (which is ~3.6mm I don't think that clearance is enough - if anyone has any thoughts here I'd love to hear them. A scale 15" or so of headroom above the roof of a loco seems very low, but I'm more used to the modern era and electrified lines where several feet of headroom is required. My options, as I see them, are to chop up some more lengths of 9mm ply into 45 or 50mm widths and replace all the supports or add something underneath - I have some 5mm ply and 9mm ply handy, so I could use either of these, which would give me 45 or 49mm high Street level and the bottom of bridges would be approx 41 or 45mm above the rail height. The other option would be to cut up polystyrene sheet - I have about a dozen small 1" sheets up the loft from a previous project)- two layers of this would give me -51mm, and so 47mm above rail height to the bottom of the bridge. Decisions, decisions. I'm glad I mocked this up before starting to stick things. That could have been awkward...