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Hi, Does anyone know where I might find a drawing of the GNR Heanor South Railway Station please ? Hopefully if a drawing and/or good quality photographs can be found one of my friends is hoping to make a CAD model of it. Most photo’s found so far haven’t show much of the detail needed. Many thanks Cheers Paul

Hi - the photo was taken around 1963/64 at Loughborough Derby Road Station which was on the Charnwood Forest Railway. My apologies for the delay in replying. Cheers Paul

That’s fantastic - I didn’t expect to get such a quick answer. Thanks very much - greatly appreciated. Cheers Paul

Hi, can anyone one help me to identify the grounded wagon body in the photo please. Also - where can I find drawings of it ? Many thanks Cheers Paul

Grace Dieu Halt - Charnwood Forest Railway - North West Leicestershire - 1932 - it had closed to passengers in 1931. Sadly only the embankment remains now

I've got my laser cut MDF version of Snells Nook Halt from Andy at http://www.railmodel.co.uk/ - A really nice company to deal with - I've attached a scan of a few of the parts below - they are very nicely cut and have really sharp definition on both the cut and laser 'etched' features - the fit and accuracy is perfect. Andy was very nice to deal with and was very helpful in guiding me up my design learning curve to produce the required drawings. So conclusions - no one technique is going to produce a suitable model - I think it needs a combination of laser cutting, 3D Printing and custom work. The laser cutting is significantly cheaper than the 3D printing and for flat 2D items such as walls roof etc produces a better product - the laser etching seems to produce signs with higher sharper definition than 3D printing. So in future when making buildings I will use 3D printing which is still very good, for components that have 3D features and add 3D printed features to laser cut 2D components - obviously for locomotives and rolling stock I think 3D printing will be the way to go because of the large number of 3D components. Being a beginner at this using smaller companies like Andy at Railmodel and Rhys at 3DPrintNscan had the benefit of using their expertise and patience to produce a model - both were very helpful. Shapeways produce the goods Ok but obviously such a large company can't respond so easily to beginners questions. Regards Paul

Hi John, I cut V shaped channels into a solid surface - I would do them slightly more exaggerated next time - in retrospect a U shaped channel would have been easier - this would have been done with 2 cut lines which would then be extruded downwards to form a channel. Cheers Paul

WSF 3D version from Shapeways in WSF (White, Strong, Flexible Plastic) .....

Glued together..... inside...

Here is an exploded view of the LNWR standard Webb Hut for the Snells Nook scene. It is in exploded flat pack format to suit the type of printing that 3DPrintNscan do - I will of course send the parts in a flat horizontal orientation for them to print. Cheers Paul

Thanks Simon - I've just purchased that edition from ebay. Cheers Paul

Hi, The next lot of 3D printing done in double quick time by 3DprintNscan is completed ....stairs, Arris fencing, and bridge girders and bridge fencing.... So just waiting for the main building which is being laser cut by another company and then work can commence. Cheers Paul

Hi Simon, Do you have any information on what was inside a LNWR coal stage ? - I've got drawings of the outside - I did the Loughborough Derby Road model from these - but I had to guess at the interior. Here are a few urls from ebay showing the fencing - I made a mistake by the way - It's Arris Rail not Harris Rail ... Not LNWR but hopefully of interest... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PHOTO-WILTS-COLLINGBOURNE-KINGSTON-HALT-RAILWAY-STATION/192428241192?hash=item2ccd9df128:g:nF8AAOSw-kdXyWET https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/G5-1-Ephemera-Railway-Halt-Isle-Of-Grain-Undated-Reprint/323007799093?hash=item4b34c3df35:g:~3UAAOSw4hdXH3qg https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PHOTO-GWR-FOUR-OAKS-HALT-RAILWAY-STATION-VIEW-AND-SHELTER-IN-1956/362212643287?hash=item54558e51d7:g:rpsAAOSwVqlZ~JV4 Here is an extract from the original LNWR Snells Nook plan drawing Probably put together a bit differently to the modern fencing - looks like some top rails were nailed on flat rather than at 45 degrees ? - according to Nelson some had wood rather than wire below the top rail. One of the Nelson drawings shows wood rather than wire but it has the 45 degree angled top rail with a steel strap to hold the rail in place. PS - I also found some old photo's that suggest some seats had wooden letters instead of cast iron - so lots of variation it seems. Cheers Paul

I received my Shapeways seat today. The material used was FXD - so some lessons and comparisons with the 3dScanNprint model... The Shapeways FXD plastic seems a bit like a hard polythene and seems to be prone to slight warping at the sizes shown in the image below - the material is slightly matt but is perfectly ok. The 3dPrintNscan polyjet version shown above is a much more solid plastic and seems to have a better resolution on the Snells Nook panel detail - there is no obvious warping with the 3dPrintNscan polyjet plastic which is a much smoother harder plastic than the Shapeways FXD. If you look at Simons drawing above you might think that it looks way too 'chunky' and that my image looks much more to scale and nicer because of this - For Shapeways FXD the truth is at this scale the chunkiness will not show on Simons model due to its small actual size and it will make a much more viable model - Simons experience is showing compared to my beginner status.(hopefully Simon has now forgiven my 'chunky' comment ) When viewed in the CAD program the models are very large on screen and increases in material thickness look poor - on the real model you will not see this even in O gauge. I've shown the actual thickness I used - for FXD I think the minimum thickness for everything in this image should be 1mm - particularly the seat legs and 'wooden' parts - the 0.4mm seat arms were ok - but given they should match the rest of the metalwork there would be no point doing this. - So Shapeways did a good job but my design needs to be re-done - 3dPrintNscan was better quality but of course needs building up - the 3dPrintNscan tolerated the finer components in my design better than Shapeways FXD - the 3DprintNscan is a tougher harder plastic - Shapeways would be fine with a revised design - Shapeways service is fairly fast, 3dPrintNscan was much faster - Shapeways is a bit 'remote' probably because of the size of the company - 3dPrintNscan give a very individual service and are very helpful - its nice to talk with them and discuss problems and solutions - 3dPrintNscan are about 20% more expensive - so pluses and minuses with each supplier - just make your choice what you're after - I'm very pleased with both suppliers - however I'm going for 3dPrintNscan for their quality and individual service.

This fencing was specified on my 1904 LNWR drawing - check out the Jack Nelson book for other examples - I’ll look for a decent photo Cheers Paul

Hi, Couldn't find a really good photo , but here is one from the LNWR Society, http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/Mystery/index.php?display_base_mystery_desktop=83 This is better.... I'vegot early photos on the Charnwood Forest Railway showing this fencing - later photo's show either remains of this fencing or post and wire replacements. This type of lineside fencing is available from a couple of suppliers for model railways. Jack Nelson's LNWR Portrayed Page 183 gives drawings and details of this and other LNWR fencing. Cheers Paul

Hi, The fencing shown is standard LNWR fencing - I think it was known as 'cattle proof fencing' - the LNWR were pretty thorough. In later years much of it was replaced or modified to post and wire , on the other side of the track at Snells Nook they had dry stone walling which faced the Garendon Park estate to keep their lordships happy , the bridge is stone rather than the more usual red brick with blue engineering brick detailing for the same reason. The line was built between 1881 and 1883 - I've seen photo's from this period with the LNWR fencing. The fencing on the platform and pathway I think was Harris fencing and was specified on an LNWR drawing I have from around 1904 - photos from other locations seem to confirm this was common at LNWR halts. Cheers Paul

The station name on the seat was a cast iron plate so letters and plate background would have all been one cast unit - this was then recessed into the wood of the seat back rail. Larger signs such as the running in board would have been wooden letters screwed onto a wooden background. Cheers Paul

On the shapeways ‘heat map’ it indicated a problem so I reluctantly deleted the strut braces. The seats wouldn’t have had a pre-cut space for the station name because of the different length station names - they would have been custom cut for each cast station name plate - I’m in the LNWRS so I can ask for advice if you have any specialist questions about the LNWR. I’m looking forward to your LNWR steam rail car to put in the Snells Nook scene - I wish someone would do one for Train Simulator as well - perhaps not something you do ? Cheers Paul

Is TS18 a free upgrade of TS17 ? Or do I have to buy it separately ? Cheers Paul

Nice looking design - I've also done a complete Snells Nook LNWR seat with Shapeways in FXD - I'm still waiting for it to be delivered - I'll post up some photo's when I get it. My seat is 1/43 Some of the seats would be plain and some would have names - so in your case I think it is best to have no name so that it can be used generally anywhere - I suspect smaller stations like Snells Nook would have been plain and most likely wouldn't even have had a seat ! :-) however since no images of Snells Nook exist I like the artistic licence of having a seat and no-one can really say that I am wrong. It seems to add to the rustic charm of this small rural halt. Cheers Paul

They're very helpful and give a quick service - they have a minimum charge of £25 so make sure you give them enough parts to print to make it worthwhile - they will advise you the best way to deal with this though. Cheers Paul

I just received the latest batch of parts from 3dPrintNscan - really impressed - they've got a very clean finish and are also very strong - no signs of warping or any problems. Cheers Paul

Hi, If you go to the UKTS forum and do a search on Charnwood you should find something there on my progress - it will show up on the recent and older TS forums - so it will be a TS route and I would hope at some point it will become part of the latest Train Sim World if they manage to make an editor for it. You're quite right it is rendered in UE4 - I've also done other renders with Maxwell in Sketchup.... (ALL work in progress) onwards to Loughborough, Derby Road.... It might be interesting to get some of these LNWR structures laser cut /3d printed and made available for the LNWR model railway enthusiasts ? My big problem is lack of time so I've no idea how long it will take to complete the route. Hope this helps ? Cheers Paul