MichaelW

Empty bottle of course - wouldn't want to waste it

Wow! Looks as good as your buildings always do Jason. Have you thought about going for some peeling paint on the shop front?

So I'm finding out - spent some of this evening when I should have been sleeping trying to find information about Glaswegian depots. Corkerhill sounds interesting...

Jeff, I'm not convinced you should cut that track...

I think it looks too steep to be hillside, but about right for a spoil heap Looking good Jeff!

Certainly is an impressive looking structure. The guy at the back seems to be thinking "You know, I don't think they've got the line of the embankment right, it needs to be a bit lower and a bit further back..."

And I'll just bask in the reflected glory of my insistence that Jeff takes pictures along the valley - which makes it so much easier to see how the valleyside blends into the hillock... Looking good Jeff. All that work stripping things out was definitely worth it - just had a look back at the old pictures, and the difference is amazing!

The dedication you are showing to getting things correct really is impressive. This really did show in the quality of operating on Bradfield, so I'm looking forward to seeing this layout come to fruition. Can I ask a question though, where do you get the information for the make-up of the various trains? Are you closely examining photos, or is there another source for the information?

Hi Stephen, That looks much better now you've moved the signals - and the orange thread is much more convincing than the red wire. Looking forward to seeing it done with the track relayed and ballasted. Generally the trunking will be the edge of the ballast (it forms a nice barrier to it spreading), but in some places the ballast will have spilled over the top - especially if the permanent way teams have been along toping up the ballast shoulders. On the line near me you can barely see the trunking under the ballast...

Sounds a good plan there Jeff. I like the peephole idea for that picture opportunity.

If I may suggest, I think the signals are a little too close to the junction - there should be a clear length of track between the signal and the junction it protects (allows for a train driver accidentally over-running the signal without serious consequences). The signal bottom right looks to have this, but the top left could do with being moved back a bit (possibly to halfway down the loco in the picture) and the top right one should be before the loop point. The rest of the trunking looks good - I particularly like the way you have the trunking running to everything that needs electrical connections.

I doubt the spoil heaps will just be for effect - You'll surely have enough plaster from the changes to make them real!

Hi again Jeff, Thanks for getting the down the valley shot - not sure why, but I'd put my last post in when only Jason's first post was on this page, yet mine now appears halfway down, maybe it's a factor of doing it on my phone. Anyway, I think the photo shows the concerns Jason (and I) had - if you compare the two sides, the hill is a lot closer to the viaduct on the right. Yes, in the photo of Arten Gill the spoil does come close, but not quite as close as you had got it. Glad to hear you are planning to cut it back a little. And I agree with the not annoying the neighbours with late night power tools - it stops you being able to complain at their late night carousing! The spoil heaps to the side of Arten Gill are interesting - they appear to be completely flat on top, steep sided, and at two levels, the lower one is at track height, the other near the height of the top of the cutting, and they are quite big (bing maps' aerial view suggests over 200 feet long) - I'm looking forward to seeing your representation of them! I'm not convinced you have to loose the ability to remove the corner - it just needs a bit of careful thought and planning. Andy's bowler hat idea has some merit - if the lift out part runs up the wall somehow (drawer runners?), and a way of minimising the resulting joints can be found, you could keep it as an emergency access... How much would it need to lift by to give you the access you need?

Jeff, Any chance of a 'down the valley' photo? I wonder if that would help us see the shape better?

Your umbrella will turn inside out? (at least, that was always the consequence when we played consequences as children...) Seriously - have you now plastered the lift-out section in place? Or is there scenery joints to be considered around it? Ah, you can't get to the level that lets you take the wonderfully atmospheric train on a viaduct pictures!

I'm sure it'll warm up nicely once you get going with the power tools Jeff - or did you do all that yesterday? I shall look forward to the "here's one I made earlier" post tonight...

Hi Jeff, Good progress there, it makes the corner look a lot better for having a limit on what you can see.

Hi Jeff, Glad to hear you've settled on a plan, despite all our attempts to put you off I shall look forward to being wowed by your efforts on Monday... Michael

Oooo... I like that idea Andy, it gives a reason for the railway crossing to that valley (more so if KL is a market town, and therefore a good source of traffic), provides a direction for the road to disappear, and removes the 'why is the station in a valley on its own?' appearance. I don't think the slope needs to be very steep, just a continuation of the slope across the field...

Hi Jeff, I quite like the idea you have for the area the other side of the viaduct, I can see how that would work, and why the railway was built there in that way. I also like the idea of the gently sloping field leading down to the station, I think too many layouts are presented with low ground to the front, high ground to the rear. But I'm not convinced by your description of the rest of the scenic plans, possibly as I'm not quite understanding them. Essentially, I'm wondering why the station was built where it was (other than because that's where the railway is...). Essentially, where is the town it is supposed to be serving? Most junction stations had a town or village that they served, especially if they had a reasonable sized goods yard. (Those that just said Riccarton Junction - it didn't have the goods facilities ) Answering that solves the where should the road be question. And you also have to ask why is that town there - most conurbations have a reason for being where they are. And the answer to that will probably drive the shape of the land... This sort of thinking led to the attempt at a map earlier. Putting in a road bridge at the viaduct end of the station makes little sense to me - why is the road there? Crossing there suggests that the road was heading across the hill into the next valley - an unusual route for a road to take, most old roads followed valleys, and would wind round hills to save having to go over the top...

How much access do you need in that corner? The removable man hole is a good compromise to give you more room in that corner to add scenery - and make the railway blend in. I think I agree with Scott's suggestion, that slight rise towards the operating well (which could still be a field) should help with the impression of looking down on the railway from a hillside - which is effectively what you are doing from standing height. The only problem then is how does the scene fit together, I've had a quick go at sketching the area around Kirkby Luneside: This has the ground sloping away across the station area, but it's a start...

The plan looks good Jeff - I wonder if the small hillock should extend down the side of the station - as if you come out the tunnel, over the viaduct then cut through the hillside into the next valley to reach the station... Not sure how much space you have on the yard side, but if the ground falls away from the station, that might look quite good. Would depend on where you'd want to stand to operate / watch the trains go by...

I second Peter - even without the plaster coating in the valley, the scenery is looking really good. I like the long run of hillside without even a single sleeper in view! The view across the station does beg a question though - are you going to try and make sure that where ever you stand to watch the trains go by, you will see only scenery, and not the hole in the middle of the layout? I don't think you'll need that much static grass, it's the static heather and scrub that will break the bank... Finally got on my lazy ass this evening and actually did some modelling - watch out for an update shortly...