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rovex

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  1. rovex
    After taking a diversion into laser printing for the future city centre of my model, I've been putting my 3d skills to more currently practical use.
     
    The station retaining wall along Livery Street has been designed and indeed printed. It wasn't cheap and the brickwork is \ little hit and miss, but I did it this way for several reasons.
     
    1 Speed - a have a very low boredom threshold and lots of unfinished projects. This way I could get most of the wall done before I got diverted to something else.
     
    2 Uniformity - it was important to me that the wall was done to a certain degree of accuracy. This wall is going to support the cast iron screen wall whch will be made up of printed elements and I wanted them to line up correctly, if the eventual roof is ever going to sit correctly and not be floating away in one or other corner.
     
    Unfortunately as each wall panel is different, as the road rises along the length of the station, it meant that each panel had to be drawn out using the previous one as a starting point. This also meant it wasn't going to be possible to print one and then cast it.
     
    Hear are some photos of the painted prints not yet stuck into place and with a mock up of the screen wall placed on top.
     




     
    Finally I've mocked up some of the platform buildings using screen shots of the "kit of parts" shown on earlier blog entries.
     

     
    For the monent I'm going to concentrate on painting and fixing the retaining wall and getting all the platforms built.
  2. rovex
    I've got the design of the facade finished and so thought I would share a few more pictures with you.
     




     
    Its succesfully loaded up to Shapeways - though that doesn't mean much until you try to print it. As the cost of likely to be 125 Euros I'm gonna wait until their next sale. I'll share the results with you
     
    In the meantime for those interested here is a link to one of the few images of the original
     
    regards
     
    Rovex
  3. rovex
    It being too cold to be in the shed, I have spent the day playing with Sketchup.
     
    Opposite the entrance to Snow Hill id the Great Western Arcade. It was built over the tunnel carrying the tracks from Moor Street to Snow Hill. Originally it had a very impressive facade but this fell victim to enemy action and was burnt out. Rather than restore it after the war it was demolished and for a long time the arcade was somewhat truncated.
     
    A modern building now occupies the site but the original arcade exists behind this building - albeit with a more simplified roof.
     
    I have decided that I would like to have the original building and so began my search for photographs etc. Surprisingly I've only found a very small handful of photographs.
     
    This is progress to date. Still some more to do and the original carved stonework will have to be reproduced in Milliput, my Sketchup skills aren't up to it.
     



  4. rovex
    Those who have been following my long winded efforts to build my model railway may remember that I lifted all the trackwork following a failed experiment in securing both the cork underlay and the track using spray adhesive. The warm weather saw expansion which resulted in track lifting and the cork bubbling. As the track had not been pinned the adhesive didn't prove up to the job.
     
    So reluctantly the whole lot was lifted and I decided that I had to start again. Well the starting was delayed until recently when I received the last of the major pointwork items required. All pointwork has been made by Hayfield and he has been good enough to share some of his work on his own blog.
     
    This time around I have adopted a much more old fashioned method. Cork underlay has been glued down to the baseboard using PVA glue (and copious amounts of it. The cork underlay is 4mm thick and came in a huge roll bought of a certain internet auction site. It worked out quite cheap compared to buying the usual stuff sold specifically model railways.
     
    The layout, which had been designed using Templot (when you still had to pay for it), was printed out onto slightly heavier duty printer paper and then glued on top of the cork using wall paper paste.
     
    The track abnd pointwork was then laid on top of this. Each peice of track has had drop wires soldered to it and these will then be soldered to the bus wires which will be under the layout. My previous layout have always suffered from terrible running quality and I think in part this has been caused by reliance on fishplates for electrical connectivity.
     
    I hope that with each separate piece of track having its own supply this will to some extent be ameliorated.
     
    Almost all the track at the North end of the station has now been relaid, with just a couple of bay tracks and platform 1 (or is it 12) to be laid.
     
    Next will the South end (under the Great Western Hotel) which thanksfully is somewhat simpler.
     
    Then starts the process of dusting off my old DCC controller and starting to attach power and point motors (i'm trying to buy 10 each month just after payday).
     
    My thoughts are also turning to the storage facility. I've swung between a traversr ( decided not to) a traditional fan of sidings and a casette system.
     
    Currently I'm thinking a mixture of traditional fan and casette may be the answer. My thought is to have the fast lines run into a fan of sidings where the crack expresses can be kept. The slow lines would then run into a casette system where the suburban trains and freight trains could be kept.
     
    Well enough words here are some pictures.


     
    Here is the station looking towards Paddington. From left to right we be through line (platform 12 and 11), two bays (platforms 10 and 9), through line (platform 8 and 7), two avoiding lines (up and down), through line (platform 6 and 5), two bays (platforms 4 and 3) and finally through line (platform 2 and 1). Although the station has been compressed it is still possible to get two trains onto the through platforms and the scissor crossings in the middle allow trains on the central platforms to cross each other.
     
    The bays are large enough for five or six coach trains if necessary - so you can see why I am desperate for Hornby to bring out some non-corridor Western coaching stock.
     

     
    a view striaght across the station throat.
     


     
    and now looking towards Wolverhampton (which I think I shall rename Worford for the layout).
     
    Although you can't see it in the background by the large tub of PVA glue are the four running lines (slow lines on the inside of the curve - the fast lines on the outside). The pointwork is such that any train arriving on a slow line can access any of the platforms and all four bays. Any train arriving on the fast line can access the main through platforms and the bays at platform 10 and 11.
     
    In reverse trains heading out this way can all leave by the slow lines and trains from platform 10, 11 and 5 and 6 can leave by the fast line.
  5. rovex
    The latest CAD ramblings.
     
    I've been playing with the canopy parts to see if construction could be made simpler by putting all the parts together and this is the result.
     


     
    I've ordered three of these to test out the modular design and see if it works. if it does I shall be selling a lot of unopened ratio canopy kits.
     
    The eagle eyed amogst you will have spotted that one of the arms on the support has lost its detail. I don't know why this keeps happening, but it does not look like this on the Shapeways site. We shall have to see what it looks like when it arrives. I am expecting it any day now.
     
    If this works then I shall need a canopy end piece and here it is
     


     
    So you can see with these two parts and a spare support canopies of any length of a tolerable GWR design can be built for reasonable outlay - lol
     
    for example
     


     
    Though seriously I am wondering if there is a market for these. We shall have to see what the actual products look like.
     
    Finally as a bit of fun (who am I trying to kid) this is the entrance from livery street.
     

     
    Still a bit of work to do on the brickwork and the crest above the door will have to be added in modelling clay. Again the rivet counters will have noticed that the inner door is not arched. I have done this because the topology of my Livery Street is a little lower than the actual one which has resulted in me stretching the door downwards to meet the proposed pavement. This made the door too tall and narrow for my liking, so I lowered the lintel by adding the inner archway.
     
    Still some brickwork to add - and my goodness that is laborious.
     
    Dean
  6. rovex
    Arrived home from work today to find that the sample side all had arrived from shapeways. This was done in FUD and I must say looks a far better product than previous samples. However this is reflected in the price.
     
    I've sprayed in brick red as a primer and also to help it show better in the photos below.
     

     
    An exterior shot.
     

     
    close up of the column detail
     

     
    Another exterior shot
     

     
    and a partial interior shot.
     
    The top and bottom screens will be glazed and you can see in the last photo how I have created a recess to take some plastic glazing. This should also help to strengthen these peices. Although there are not that flimsy.
     
    The distorted look is caused by two factors - the hole the column has been planted in is a little too large (so the column is not standing upright) and the bottom barrier is somewhat distorted, but hopefully this will be resolved by the glazing and gluing them together.
     
    Cost is going to be an issue - this was about £30. A cheaper material could be used but wouldn't print. I'm not sure whether it would be possible to cast this, given the complexity and I don't think resin would be a solution.
     
    Also as Livery Street rose towards Colmore Row on the real thing the heights of the columns got progressively shorter and this may mean designing each one individually.
     
    it might be possible to design this with the screens as separate parts and then perhaps these could be cast along with the standard length columns, with the ones getting progressively shorter being 3D printed.
     
    Another thought would be to hollow the columns out to reduce the amount of material used and perhaps run plastic or brass tubing up the middle for strength. As the original columns were cast iron dressing on H girders this rather has the merit of imitating the real thing.
     
    Dean
  7. rovex
    As promised in my last entry, I have finished the design work on a section of the platform building. My idea is to create a kit of parts and to create the platofmr buildings from this "pack" of standard parts.
     
    This is the image for the first of these, what I might call "full length large windows section". All the time has been taken in adding the brickwork. it all having to be drawn in by hand - if you thought scribing individual bricks was a long haul - think again.
     

     
    A column with attached wall section will go either end of this piece and so on.
  8. rovex
    The laser prints arrived today. So I am posting a few pictures for comments.
     
    I apologise for the quality of the photos but my camera isn't up to much when it comes to close ups and the flash bleached everything, so I had to turn it off.
     

     

     
    These are probably the best of the photos. The surface is a bit rough and I managed to mismeasure the roof column so this is a bit short. I've corrected the uploaded version, so next time should get it the right size.
     
    Would appreciate knowing what people think
     

     
    This is screen shot of a possible wall piece - a work in progress. I am contemplating making up several different types and constructing the main station buildings from these. Still work to do including adding a brickwork texture - Is there an easy way of doing this.
     
    Does anyone have any thoughts on the best material to use. The above were printed using frosted acrylic - but its quite expensive when you consider the quanitiy I'm going to need. I was wondering about white plastic - which is considerably cheaper.
     
    All opinions welcome
     
    Dean
  9. rovex
    Last week I finally took the plunge and ordered the results of my CAD doodles. I sent for one roof pillar and enough canopy parts to make up some three sections.
     
    I decided not to buy the valance sides and having designed a roof and failed to upload it properly decided from a cost point of view that these bits could be more readily constructed from plasticard.
     
    When the items arrive I shall post the results.
     
    For the last few days I have been playing with the roof column to make a piece for the sides of the roof. Here are the preliminary results.
     

     
    an amended column and screen - still needs the lower part of the screen wall designing.
     

     
    and here a bit of a play to show what they will look like with several joined together.
     
    Dean
  10. rovex
    Well this 3d printing malarkey is something that can cause the brain to melt and dribble out of your ears. I have been playing around with a model for the overall roof columns. The hope is that if I can succesfully design one than it can be amended to create the other two types.
     
    So having beavered away, I then have to convert it to a "dae" file, then download another programme and convert it to an "stl" file, then downlaod another programme , because Shapeways doesn't like the design - something to do with holes - this programme every time I pressed fix made it worse. Finally I discovered a function which allowed you to upload the model to the cloud - it fixed it and then you downloaded it.
     
    However something funny happens along the way a model which started out as 92 mm is suddenly 3.2mm abns too small for Shapeways.
     
    So I go back through the conversion process and open it in Sketchup, now its over 16 metres long?????
     
    Anyway after reducing it down again I've managed to get it to upload to Shapeways.
     
    The girders for the canopy were too thin? so I have to decide whether to proceed or beef them up a bit - they only seem to be 0.1mm to thin, so I might risk it and see what one of each looks like.
     
    Anyway here is a presentable version of the roof columns
     

  11. rovex
    Well a pleasant afternoon which should have been spent in the garden - or at the very least doing some productive modelling has been spent beavering over my new toy - sketchup - on the computer. The results are here.
     

     
    The Central girder
     

     
    The intermediate girder
     

     
    the valance
     

     
    and all four compenents shown together - roughly
     
    Now I shall no doubt find that what I've created is unprintable.
  12. rovex
    Impressed with what can be acheived with 3D printing I have been having a play over the weekend with "Sketchup" a free 3D drawing programme that can be downloaded off the interweb.
     
    I had intended to use the ratio canopy kits to produce the extensive canopies that covered the bay platforms at Snow Hill. Each one being approximately a metre long (or more) in model form. However the work needed to beef these up was concerning me, and I wasn't sure that they would look high enough.
     
    They also (whilst a prototypical GWR design) weren't right for Snow Hill - Although I don't know why I'm being so precious on that score.
     
    Anyway having seen other people's efforts I thought I would at least try and draw some up and see If could create something that could be printed up. Given the nature of the beast it lends itself to a mass production technique like 3D printing.
     
    So here is my attempt at drawing the support column and cross beams. - lots of these will be needed.
     

     

     
    I'm quite pleased with it. the programme is quite easy to grasp, The only thing I haven't got to grips with is making rivets - any ideas anybody.
     
    Dean
  13. rovex
    Following on from last nights post, here's the same thing after ten years of wear and tear.
     




     
    Weathering has been done with some Humbrol white weathering powder and some old cars weathering powders, mainly black, brown and rust. The leadroof was first washed with the white powder and white spirit. Lead tends to whiten as it ages and then it was given a wash of the black and whiote white spirit. This took the edge of the white and added the soot.
     
    The sides were done in a mixture of the brown and black. whit copious amounts of white spirit to prevent it looking to extreme.
     
    Finally the girders were done in rust. This has been washed down a couple of times and I may do it again, as I had forgotten just how far a little rust powder goes.
     
    Dean
  14. rovex
    I have got around to painting the model of Brackhampton (pronounced Birmingham) North Signal Box I made several moons ago. I have been unable to find any decent colour pictures showing how the box was painted in real life and the girder supports were causing me some heartache. "black" seemed too stark and dark stone didn't seem appropriate either.
     
    Anyway, last week I was leafing through a new book of GWR structure colours in Ian Allan's Brum bookstore when I found out that some features on GWR buildings were painted "chocolate" and this was before BR(W) region adopted it for surviving GWR buildings - and so I seed was planted.
     
    The girders would be painted "chocolate", the rest would be painted in typical light and dark stone colours. So was born what must be one of the most colourful of buildings to grace the layout - Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen would be proud. Of course the whole thing is going to be weathered considerably. I want to aim for a building that hasn't been painted since before the war and has been standing out in Brum's sooty atmosphere for ten years.
     




     
    railings and a door need to be added, and I shall have to dig out my Coopercraft Signal box name kits and add a name to front and back (it appears to have had plates on both sides - although that on the back looks more like an enamel one on one photo I've seen.
     
    With all those windows some representation of an interior will need to be added - as it was an electrical box this means I can avoid having lots of levers.
     
    EDIT
     
    Some work done on an interior - as its not pianted yet the camera tends to bleach things. But I've built the 37ft electrical lever frame with lots of little levers (thank you Station master ).
     

     
    The photos I;ve seen show a writing slope and two benches at the back. Also a number of cast iron radiators along the front - I'm going to see what I can do to represent these. The false roof I've inserted means I've lost some of the space where block instruments fitted, but again I'll have to see what I can do.
     
    Some of the interior photos (http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbsh1772.htm) show some extra instruments added in front of the lever frame. They look like black cylinders about a foot long - one of top of another - anyone know what these were for?
     
    A final shot showing a badly painted signalman enyoying some fresh air now the platform is safely railed off.
     

  15. rovex
    track laying has recommenced. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but following an expansion problem and an experimental track fixing method I lifted all the track on my layout and decided to start again.
     
    This time 4mm cork underlay has been glued down with copious amounts of undiluted PVA glue. On top of this the track plan has been pasted. It was printed out on heavy duty printer paper and then pasted down with wallpaper paste. This should ensure that the track is in the right place. I'm starting in the middle but before the scissor crossings which were such a feature of the original Snow Hill go down, I've decidd to try and make a representation of Great George St Bridge. The photos show the attemprts so far. The cork underlay is cut out and a 20 thou plasticard peice fitted to shape. track chairs are fitted to two pieces of 4mm square plastic strip from evergreen, using a lenght of track to ensure there are in a striaght line. With sleepers attached to each end these are glued down to the 20 thou sheet. Cross timbers are then added and the whole sprayed grey, the timbers picked out and then the sides of the rails painted brick red to represent the rust. All will be suitably weathered once in situ.
     
    I am also taking the opportunity to paint the sides of all the rails to represent rust. I only hope my patience lasts.
     



     
    Now for a question. This time around I intend to wire up as I go along, including the numerous point motors that will be needed, but where to put them. The point motors that is. Obviously they will have to be beneath the track, but do I cut out a small hole and feed a rod up, or cut out a larger whole and fit the point motor directly below the track.
     
    If the motors go immediately belowthe point I was thinking as all points are handmade I would fit a plasticard rectangle beneath the tiebar and then fit the point motor to that - I intend to use peco point motors operated using old Hornby passing contact switches (assuming that will work).
     
    Do any one have any thoughts, opinions etc?
  16. rovex
    Having had to lift all the track at Brackhampton due to my revolutionary track fixing technique proving about as effective as Network Rails maintenance of the Dawlish sea wall. I've been concentrating on scenic modelling whilst I save up to buy more finescale flexible track.
     
    Latest thing I've been doing is building the platforms. The arrivals side has been started, using large amounts of wills platform kits and additional paving sheets. This has also meant I have had to have a go at the subway which went down to the Great George Street ticket office under the station. Here is my attempt.
     


     
    and with the side wall moved away
     


     
    I know very little about this subway, other than it was probably faced in white glazed brick, that it opened into the lower ticket office and that it descended straight down in two flights. So this is my interpretation of the subway that originally graced Snow Hill.
     
    The subway on the other platform, which will be next, truned though 90 degrees and wrapped round two sides of a lift.
     
    Hopefully both sets of stairs will lead to a representation of the Ticket office - but I don't intend going to great efforts in that regard as it will be barely noticeable under the layout.
     
    The subway is constructed from the stairs from an old Hornby footbridge and 80 thou plasticard covered in slaters embossed plasticard. The arches are by Wills. Once inset into the platform, railings will go round three sides and there should be some kind of ornate gateway at the top of the stairs.
     
    As for the track. I had originally glued the cork underlay and track down with spray adhesive. With the warm weather far too much of it had lifted. So the remainder was lifted and the pointwork painstakingly saved. 4mm thick cork sheet was bought of ebay - very reasonably priced if you avoid the stuff specially sold for model railways - this has been glued down with copious amounts of PVA glue, and then once dried the Templot track plan has been printed off on 160gsm paper and pasted with wallpaper paste to the cork.The track will be laid directly on top of this secured with yet more PVA.
  17. rovex
    I couldn't help myself - I had to upload a few photos of my latest ebay purchase. This is a model of GWr railcars 35 and 36 made from three Hornby railcars. Not my work I have to admit. Very well made and needs only a little bit of fillering and sanding to complete the bodies.
     
    I intend to replace the plastic handrails and install flushglazing and other details.
     
    I can now sell the Westward kit I bought of this train many years ago.
     
    So now my Brackhampton has a suitable train for its express service to Cardiff.
     




  18. rovex

    A stairway to heaven

    By rovex,

    Just a few shots of one of the stairways up to the footbridge. Construction is plasticard and slaters embossed brickwork. Doors and windows will be added from Scale link etchings once the stairs have been painted. The stairs themselves come from an old Hornby concrete footbridge glued together to get the necessary width and cut down to the right height.
     
    Still some fillering to do and a bit of fettling to tidy this one up - and oh yes the one for the other platform to build too.
     

  19. rovex
    With quite a lot of the track down, I've been knocking up the platforms (well roughly at least). Nothing spectacular in the methods used. Paper template and a pencil held against the biggest coach.
     
    The photo shows the platforms 1 to 6 (I think - it doesn't help that at some point the platforms were all swapped round). Platform bases are 12 mm ply and topped with 2mm plasticard scored to represent paving slabs. Later I'll build up brick walls to cover the edges of the ply, with suitable wiring strung along it as seems to abound on a lot of platform sides.
     
    In the distance can be seen the basis for the footbridge steps. These are some plastic steps taken from old Triang/Hornby concrete foortbridges, The height will be reduced and the sides covered over with plastic sheet and embossed brickwork.
     
    The bay platforms are very narrow, to my mind, although I think they comply with the regs - but this can't be helped if I am to get the station into a sensible width. It also matches the width of the ratio GWR style canopies which will cover most of these.
     

     
    And this shot just shows the Great Western Hotel and concourse (which hasn't progressed much since the last photos of it, mocked up across the station throat
  20. rovex
    Work has commenced on laying the pointwork at the North end of Brackhampton. I've been waiting until Hayfield of this parish (who has been very patient with me and long suiffering) had built enough of the various pointwork to allow me to lay the mainline almost all at once. I didn't want to lay each piece as it was built only to find I had miscalculated and it didn't fit. These first two photos shopw the point work for the mainlines with the trackwork leading to the eastern bay platforms.
     
    This next photo shows the crossover between the main and relief lines. These haven't yet been laid but will be the next to go down.

    the pointwork for the rest of the eastern bays and the relief lines as they feed into the western bays has yet to be built.
     
    For the technically minded the track is laid on 1/8 inch cork sheet and is stuck down with Evostic spray glue, care being taken to protect the moving parts of any pointwork.
     
    Soon I will start building the platforms starting at the South end and working North. As the platforms will be scribed to show the paving, I've been puting this job off.
  21. rovex
    As I was in the shed this evening tidying round I thought I would take a few shots of the fiddleyard baseboards.

    These are made of 12mm ply with 3inch wide strips of 12 mm ply for the edges and strapping. I've used this method before (although in that case it was 9mm ply) and found it generally quite sturdy as long as the boards are adequately braced underneath.

    I'm particularly pleased with the hatch (I know sad isn't it). I added the diagonal brace as it was flexing too much when opened and this seemed to have solved that problem.

    The last shot just shows the final gap to be filled, might be a bit more obvious if everything wasn't ply coloured.

     
    As cash is a little short at the moment (when isn't it) I'm trying to concentrate on what I can do with whats around, so any tracklaying on this ection will have to wait. However as power is now down to the shed I might start wiring that part of the station that is laid and start working out what what wires need placing where etc.
  22. rovex

    Let there be light

    By rovex,

    Not much to report on the modelling front, but over the weekend I finally got power supplied to the shed. A heavily armoured cable has been laid down the garden from the mains fuse box to a separate fuse box in the shed, this has then been wired into the wiring I had already put in the shed for the security lightin, the ordinary lighting and a small ring mains with more sockets then I am ever going to need. Both the main fuse box and the shed box are protected with RCD breakers. I have also taken the opportunity to update all the wiring to the two garden ponds.
     
    The wiring in this house is a nightmare and over the past couple of months I have been slowly getting it all replaced. Is was interesting to see what fuses controled what circuits. Upstairs only had three sockets each on different fuses!!! Its amazing the place hasn't burnt down before now. Only a little bit of the old wiring still remains and this will have to wait until the kitchen is replaced.
     
    I have also been building the baseboards for the fiddle yards. I have dropped the idea of having a traverser, mainly because I have never built one before, and will be going for the traditional ladder of sidings. I think I have worked out who to allow the mainlines to access almost all the tracks of the sidings but its going to be a bit heavy in double slips. I plan to use peco code 75 for the sidings as opposed to the finescale SMP tflexitrack and handbuilt points used on the scenic boards.
     
    Have also built a flap section - another first for me, which seems to line up alright but will only really be tested once some track is laid over it.
     
    Now I have power I must start wiring the layout and get some trains moving.
     
    Rovex
  23. rovex

    Letting things slip

    By rovex,

    I recently purchased an old MTK kit of Ebay of a Sunshine stock slip coach to diagram F24. I'm not a great fan of MTK kits, for those who don't know they come with the sides and roof and solebars all folded up from one sheet of aluminium and they usually have badly fitting ends.
     
    It was described as an unknown kit but resarch before I bid allowed me to discover the coach type and for £12 I didn't think I could go far wrong. The Ebay photo suggested brass sides and so I thought perhaps the previous owner had bought replacement sides from Comet. They hadn't .
     
    But the usual aluminium had been given a brass or copper plating and the dorrs had been etched/gouged out which is unusal - well unusual to my limited knowledge of these kits.
     
    Anyway after a bit of fettling which has included a lot of filling to hide the joins between the ends and the sides, cutting away the moulded on lamp irons, fitting seperate handrails new shell vents from Comet and door hinges from plastic card, it has now received a coat of undercoat.
     
    This should help highlight those areas that still need a bit of work such as where the ends meet the roof.
     
    Not looking so bad for £12 especially when you consider the same kit from Comet is over £40.
     
    I'll let you judge for yourselves.
     



  24. rovex

    Slow Progress

    By rovex,

    Not a great deal of progress since my last entry, mainly due to the fact that until I can get a trench dug gown to the garden shed to lay the electric cable, my modelling is limited to the weekends and eventhe only whilst the sun is up.
     
    However "Hayfield" of this Parish has continued to do me proud with his trackbuilding and I thought you might like to see his latest builds. The first two shots show the South end of the station and once the pointwork to the left has been laid and connected in, this end of the station is complete.

    I can then mark out for the platrforms and get these built, allowing me to build the steps to the main station concourse, thus setting the height at which the main station building will be fixed.
     
    This next photo gives a wider shot of progress so far
     
    and this one a close up on the two scissor crossovers which were in the middle of the station. Unprototypically these will sit on the bridge over Great Charles Street, rather than to one side and yes I know points shouldn't be on bridges but I can't help it given the space constraints.
     
    As you can see Platform 9/10 can easily accomodate an eight coach train, indeed there should be room for a nine coach train with engine, ten with the engine just sitting beyond the platform - memo to self make sure that the fiddle yard is big enough.
     
     
    Progress can now start on the North end
  25. rovex

    Progress

    By rovex,

    Baseboard building continues a pace and these are few shots of progress. Holes have been cut for the streets and canal to pass under the station, although having checked google I'm going to have a cut a few more.

    Track laying on the Southern end of the station has also started. Cork underlay is used and this is glued down with contact adhesive, Which has also been used to secure the trackwork. I lay no claim to having built any of this. It was all made for me by "Hayfield" of this site, and a good job he's doing too.

    This is the first time I've used handbuilt trackwork and Code 75. My last layout was all Peco Code 100, but the complexity of the trackwork for this layout left me with no alternative. I've been very lucky to find someone who will build it for me. I can recommend his work very highly.
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