Typographer

Hello, I've had helpful advice on signalling my layout on RMWeb, so I wonder if anyone has advice on positioning platform canopies. I am modelling a fictional through station with bays, not a specific prototype, my layout is aimed at letting me do some shunting, run as many SR liveries and eras as I can, and even have some 1938 Tube stock make an appearance (and also amuse the grandchildren!). My station buildings are Scalescences, which I've modified to look a bit more Southern; the canopies will be from Wills kits. To allow for the bay/Underground platforms, the main station building and the booking hall (at right angles to it) are at the south end of the Up platform. I plan a single storey waiting room/toilets/etc building more centrally positioned on the Down platform. I think my visual preference is for this placement relative to the footbridge: My operating position is directly 'below' the footbridge, so this placement lets me see the buffer steps of the Down bays clearly. My invented justification is that 1st class would be marshalled towards the centre of trains. The alternative might be more logical: This lets me see more of the Up bays! But I am really asking if there were any 'rules' about where canopies, other than those attached to buildings, were positioned. I'm OO, Southern, 1938-1968. You can see the length of the platforms from the measurement on the images. Thanks in advance, Paul

Ok thank you everybody! Sounds like superglue is the way forward, but will try to slip some sandpaper between chairs and sleepers first.

They are C&L (both chairs and plywood) and I did scrape off the excess paint before positioning, but I didn’t go as far as sandpapering. At this point, I think I’d prefer to use an alternative fluid glue I can apply with a fine brush.

This is the only piece of track that isn’t bought from Peco! Or rather, it’s Peco Bullhead rail with original chairs and sleepers cut away. I thought I had explained my needs to C&L but perhaps I wasn’t clear.

I built an ash pit using the Scalescenes PDF and C&L plastic chairs placed on their plywood sleepers. I had to place the track in place from above, and the pit in place from below, so I thought the solvent I applied by brush would run between chairs and timber by capillary action. Try as I might, I can’t get the butanone to stick the chairs to the timbers. Perhaps because I painted them first? I think it’s short enough to stay in gauge, but I’d like to find out what I’m doing wrong. Any thoughts?

On a Mac, I certainly recommend RailModeller Pro. Has all the likely track components, and very easy to quickly make a design. it has quite a nice 3D walk-round feature. https://www.railmodeller.com/home-railmodeller.html (no connection or commercial interest!)

And here it is in position. Try as I might, I can’t get the butanone to stick the chairs to the timbers. Perhaps because I painted them first? But I think it’s short enough to stay in gauge.

Thank you, @Wheatley@brossard@Captain_Mumbles, I did eventually buy the C&L plastic chairs and the L1s clip on really easily to Peco OO 75 Bullhead and are a nice snug fit. Just put together before painting but I think will look the part.

And I’ve tried to curve the platforms.

Just for fun, I had a go at plotting out Greenwich Park using Peco Bullhead & Code 75 for the 3-way and curved turnout. I put in the other crossover which is just visible (I think!) on Digimap. The platforms could be curved a little like the original...

And you get to model the Sydney Opera House Oxford Road Station.

I enjoyed making a tiny inglenook during lockdown, it was my return to modelling after 40+ years! Very satisfying organising 5-wagon trains in your own dining room. Shuffle the cards to decide how to deploy the wagons, then shuffle again to decide on your consist. It was essential training for the garage layout I am (still) constructing...

Hi @SRman what tool did you use to get the ‘lit’ head codes out of their sockets? (I have to do the same to my malachite CC1). Thanks

Hi Rob - I enjoy planning (and just doodling) in RailModeller Pro - I wonder if you might share your layout file when its done (I spent hours on mine but only got really useful criticism when I showed it on this forum). I did upload a nearly final version on the app’s community page. Paul

I reckon you could just about fit @montyburns56’s version on 12 inches, if you accept the parcels platform (at the back) is only 1 inch deep (a very bas-relief canopy and painted/photographic backscene to imply the parcels depot?)

Depending on your operating position, a large goods shed in the position shown might obscure your view of the station, and be a visual block that reduces the apparent depth of the layout. (I found I had to push my over-the-rails shed right back towards the backscene to stop it dominating the yard.) I see you use RailModeller Pro. It’s great, but a pity that while it allows you a 3D view, and the ability to ‘walk around’ a layout plan, it only shows track and you have to imagine how buildings will block/enhance views.

If I may, I think referring the Steve to various sources, though very valuable, might not be what he is asking for. It sounds to me like his diagram requires an old-fashioned proofread, to catch transcription and other errors. It’s very difficult to proofread a diagram you have yourself compiled and designed (you see what you think is there, not what is actually there). But a proofreader needs to read against copy. So if Steve gave the specific sources for the various figures he gives, then perhaps someone out there might double-check them against those sources…

Dear @Gilbert: I tried this, it doesn’t look right (or perhaps I can’t cut plastic accurately enough!). Thanks, @Wheatley, I try the C&L plastic ones (if the web site responds…).

Thanks, @brossard. You’re right, I only need about 2 dozen and the DCCC pack is expensive for what I want. Oh well, the search goes on.

Hello. I’m making an ash pit. I am wondering if C&L brass chairs will work with the rail section of Peco Code 75 Bullhead to support the section of track on the sidewalls when I cut the sleepers away. (I tried emailing C&L using their online form some time ago, but they don’t seem to be replying, so I don’t know if my question reached them.) Hope someone can enlighten me, or suggest alternatives. Thanks Paul

Thank you @Grovenor and @RailWest for your advice. I’ll drop the frame, but I would like to keep the BR so I’ll follow Grovenor’s advice re positioning. Thanks to you all for helping make the layout look ‘plausible’ (if not truly authentic!) Paul

Dear Mike, thanks again!

Dear Mike @The Stationmaster, thank you. (I read your posts on the direction of levers several times over before I glued them in place!) I’ll add the hand levers, but are they in addition to the ground frame, or is that not required? On the ground discs, I was going to cheat there, because the erroneous triple one would be hard to see (obscured by platforms), so a being able to use a single yellow helps me a lot! And should I keep the banner repeaters in the positions I’ve put them? Thanks again, Paul

Hello! Things have progressed on my layout since my last questions, thanks to excellent RMWebber advice, but I would like to check out a couple of new things before I commit. 1) Banner repeaters (see plan and first photo). a) I have provisionally added two Bachmann BRs as shown in the photo. The near one repeats the down platform starter, because the curve of the platform and the footbridge would obscure it from this point. b) The far one repeats to up advance starter for the benefit of traffic coming from the up bay and goods road, because the curvature of the track obscures it from this viewpoint. Are these plausible? They add some character to the scene, so I would like to have them. The ground signal positions are indicated by the white/red blobs. 2) Ground frame for yard. I’m imagining the signal box would control all exit on to the up main line (i.e the right-hand part of the 3-way point), but would release control of the left-hand part so that shunting movements could be controlled from the ground frame. a) Is the position plausible? b) Would the two points for the back three roads have point levers as well? (I like the effect of levers in the area of the engine shed, see second photo.) Love to hear your comments.

The P22 fonts should be complete with all punctuation - and unfortunately Gill stops are round, J’s were square (they are now diamond-shaped, but that’s another story). The arrows and line diagram dingbats you show are great! Many happy hours making pretend car line diagrams with those! The pic is what the wood type looked like. There were two weights. As roythebus1 implies, weights get adjusted in signwriting/transfer making. Back on the OP’s actual topic, lettering could be consistently applied to metal plates using stencils. Half the numerals can be stencils without breaks (1 2 3 5 7) the rest would need a break in the stencil, but the resultant figure parts could easily be joined up with a brush. I’m not speaking from any knowledge of how it was actually done for these, just a thought.