rovex

You must have nerves of steel. If I'd spent all that time building something as delicate as that I wouldn't be able to bring myself to pile one can on, never mind that many. I'm green with envy at all the work you've done, and don't envy you the work still to do.

Just a series of shots showing the baseboards as they start to creep along the back of the shed. The main basebaords are made from 3 inch strips of 12 mm ply, two are glued together to form L girders and two of these girders form the sides of each section. Single 3 inch strips then span between these. The track will be laid on 12 mill ply boards with 6 mm mdf stips along the sides, (just like Eastwood blog - sort of). Part of the trackbed has already had this treatment, which explains the earthquake zone along the middle of the boards where the trackbed falls 3 inch This allows an open baseboard and plenty of space under the tracks for wiring etc. Also allows me to have the road on either side of the station rise and fall. Just waiting for a bisciut router to arrive (bargain off ebay - well, will be if it works), this is going to be used to join the track beds together. Still deciding whether to model the slopes into and out of the station. Snow Hill was built on a hill (doh) which meant that both the access tracks from North and South fell away from the station. Apparently Snow Hill tunnel was quite steep and it wasn'y unknown for a train to fail to make it up the slope and have to be rescued. I don't intend modelling this, the slopes on my last layout were a bit too steep in parts, although modelling a rescue will add interest to operations.

I keep an eye on this thread just to make sure that anything I occasionally list doesn't end up on it However I've been keeping an eye on this Wills kit of the ground level signal box, listed at an ordinary price originally and now going for £10.50. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WILLS-OO-SCALE-GROUND-LEVEL-RAILWAY-SIGNAL-BOX-KIT-/320753115390?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item4aae6020fe, A quick search shows a "buy it now" at £4.50, unbelievable.... I wish I had that kind of money to waste

You don't have a local pit nearby you could blame for subsidence?

Well, the station hotel is a bit of a botch job. A search of the city archves at Birmingham Central Library provided absolutely no information whatsoever, as the railways were exempt from the usual planning laws at the time. So as I wasn't going to be able to make an accurate model I went for something that would be a fair representation. The basis for this model is a Vollmer kit which gave me the window surrounds, the rest was a matter of trial and error to work out what would work before I started. I would like to build a representation of the front of the old Great Western Arcade which as you will know stood oposite the hotel before being bombed in the last war. However again this is only going to be representational as I can only find one partial photo and a victorian sketch. However the archives may have something on this, so maybe another trip to the Brum. Thanks for the comments by the way, its always gratifying when someone who knows the building your trying to model recognises it. Rovex

With the shed half lined out, and me awaiting more plywood to finish the job (hopefully this August bank holiday weekend), I 've printed off the track plan and laid it out in the shed to make sure it fits. Bit put out when it didn't look like it did, until I realised that I had made too little allowance for the overlap between sheets. With the sheets stuck together all was well. I've been inspired by the skill shown not only in track building but in baseboard ideas and construction on the Eastwood blog on this site and will try and follow his style of construction. This will mean an open frame sub base on which the track baseboards will rest, with at least at the city end a top baseboard to carry the town centre and a possible tram circuit. This will also allow for the undulating nature of the site with the ground falling away from the station buildings abnd then rising again at the other end of the station. Should also allow me to build a very slight gradient in as the train arrive and leave the station. The plans have been laid out on a couple of sheets of ply and a couple of buildings placed on to allow me to gauge how much space is needed at the back of the layout. The boxes laid out behind the station are intended to represent the footbridges and access to the tracks Now I mustn't spend to much time day dreaming. Rovex

Sorry quite right, I did mean Northern approaches. Had it been on the Southern it would have been under the road. I haven't decided on the windows, as yet,- the originals looked to be sash windows with very little in the way of fenestration. The thickness of the transoms on the kit windows would work for the verticals but be a bit odd for the horizontals, and of course you wouldn't get the effect of a sash window. I might have a play about with one and see how it comes out.

Whilst I await the delivery of some more GWR dark stone paint to paint the girderwork on the Signal Box, I've been cracking on with the water tower for the station. The original one at Snow Hill stood on the Southern approach to the station, on the opposite side of the tracks to the South signal box and next to a typical GWR overgirder turntable (very good article in the RM last month on how to make one of these). I have only a few photos of the tank and its supporting brickwork and so once again I've kit bashed rather than try to make an accurate model. the base is from some cut down parts from a Kibri factory kit. The tank is 80" styrene, with 20 tho glued on top once the rivets have been embossed on it. The curved top is made up from three layers, one layer is 80 thou ribs and strips, overlaid with 30 thou styrene to give the curve and finally overlaid with slaters corrugated plastic card. The last shot (sorry its a bit blurry) shows the model with only the bottom row of bricks waiting to be applied before it is painted and then detailed with the usual clutter lamps signs etc. The windows have been placed in temporarily to give an idea of the what the finished article will look like. Rovex

I didn't initially realise these were 2mm - very impressive Rovex

Looks amazing

Thanks Guys, I'll have to dig a copy of the book out. I've scoured the online sources (generally very informative but almost all show Snow Hill in its last stages just before demolition). I've got the usual books on the station itself and GWR architecture - couple of useful shots in Vol 4 Historical survey of GWR stations and Russells book on GWr signalling. Thanks again

Work has progressed apace, the supporting girder work has been finished including the curved bracing to support the box floor. In order to try to get these as identical as possible, 14 pieces of 20 thou plasticard (20mm by 15 mm) were glued along the edges. the shape marked out on the top sheet and then the curved bottom part cut and sanded on all 14 sheets at once. the sheets were drilled to provide the inner curve then seperated and cut and trimmed to fit and glued in place. The relay and storage boxes between the legs have been fitted and wire draped beneath the box to represent some of the underslung cabling. The roof was leaded and so this avoided the need for laying loads of slates. The stairs currently stop well short of the ground, as I'm awaiting receipt of the other set, but the eagle eyed amongst you will recognise the steps from the Hornby Signal Box. Some filling to do and a little bit more work before I consider the paint job. I'm giving myself a bit of a headache about the actual paint scheme, all the photos I've got are black and white and all relatively late in the box's life. They seem to show it in an all over light colour including the supporting girder work. As my model is meant to be about 1950, this would suggest GWR light and dark stone, but what colour would the girders be? Any thoughts anyone? Rovex

That "Beeching" look doesn't come cheap

I like etched brass windowframes, you can't beat them for getting a really fine look, but I have a knack of getting glue all over the them when I try to use them, so I'd thought I'd try this instead.

Thanks John. Got the central panel the cross bracing at the ends and the sliding doors fitted this evening. More work to do tomorrow then I'll post a couple of photos of progress. Rovex

Whilst I await some decent weather so that I can order the materials to line out the new shed without them getting soaked I've been dabbling with building the North Box for the station. This is based on the old one at Birmingham Snow Hill, which was some 50ft by 10 ft and stood on girder stilts because of the restricted site. The basis of the cabin are some butchered sides from a number of the Hornby GWR Dunster Signal boxes, the windows whilst typucally GWR do not match those of the prototype but life's too short to get overly concerned with such matters. The photos give an indication of the work so far. The box was electrically operated so no locking bars to model just lots and lots of cabling. The photos I've managed to dig up show lots of cables slung beneath the box and carried down the side of the stairs. This shows the parts from the Hornby kit which are going to be used. I used four kits to get the necessary parts, I could have used fewer but that would have meant more joints. The windows from the remaining parts will be used on the South Box, whilst the level crossings I'll stick back on ebay. These are the parts, with all but one trimmed and butchered. The windows turned out to be finer than I thought, obviously thicker than etched ones, but with a little work thinning the back of the frames down quite acceptable. With the sides fitted to a new base, and some stregthening of the back wall. The only photo I have of the rear of the box, which because of the way it will be placed on the layout will be the public face of the box was unusual (well to me at least) in that several of the panels of windows were painted out. Perhaps even stranger whilst there is an obvious soil pipe for the toilet facilities, these appear to have been behind one of these painted out window panels (in this case the first one after the access door). And now it sprouts legs. I was concerned that the girders looked strong enough to support the structure, and having glued them in place (evergreen plastic mouldings), was becoming a bit worried that I'd gone over the top. cross girders start to go in. Final shot for this post. Most of the girders are in place. There are two cross girders to go in at the ends to give "X" bracing. Between the other legs were a series of cabinets with sliding doors for stores so far as I can work out, and a panel carrying cables. Braces also need to be added from the top of the legs to the edge of the Box. These will be fun to try and cut. The roof is loose for now to allow access to glaze the box after painting and because of the large number of windos to allow me to fit some kind of interior. Rovex

With the aid of the annual bonus from work I've purchased teh home for Brackhampton. Its at the end of the Garden and thus allows the long suffering other half to be free of all things model railway. It was put up surprisingly quickly on Saturday and once boarded out will give approximately 21ft by 14.5 ft to fit the railway in. Right, where did I leave that number of the builders yard Rovex

Thanks to Mikkel's help and a bit of lateral thinking, in that I could only save the screen print's in a format which I couldn't upload, so I ended up printing them off and scanning them in, here are two track plans for the environs of Brackhampton station. This first one shows the overground approach with four tracks from left to righ the main up and down lines and then the relief up an down lines. These run into from extreme top to bottom, platform 12/11, bay platforms 10 and 9, platform 8/7, two through lines, platform 6/5, two more bay platforms 4/3 and at the bottom platform 2/1. Whilst looking very complicated the plan isn't finished and so far I've omitted the turntable, carriage sidings and cross over lines to gain access to them. Some of these are going to have to go. Building the access lines on a curve makes for very difficult geometry. This one shows the opposite end of the station and again some rationalisation here as well as most of the point work will be under neath the city centre, consequently the fish sidings have been omitted as it would be impossible to work these. The top track splitting offo from the curve is intenede as an engine spur and again as it is underground there seemed little reason to keep it running along with the main line. This is very much a first work in progress and bits will need printing off to get a feel for the size. But I've measured the area where the layout is going to go (when I've built the shed) and it should fit. I was thinking for the opposite sie of having a split level fiddle yard with down and up lines on different levels. Rovex

perhaps not, never got the hang of adding pictures to comments - i'll try another post<br>

Thanks Mikkel. I've had a play around and hopefully these shots will give an idea of work so far.<br><br><a>file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/dean/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/brackhampton%201.bmp</a><br><br><br>

Modelling progress has been non-existent for the last couple of months as I broke my thumb during some very heavy gardening. I managed to drop several stone paving slabs on it, and when the swelling hadn't gone down after a week I went along to A and E. There were very impressed with the break and I've had to have a pin put in. All in all very painful and not to be recommended. Anyway I hope to get back to work on things soon, but with two new puppies demanding most of my spare time, things may be slow (very slow). In the meantime I have consoled myself by attempting a track plan. I decided early on that the track was going to have be hand made for the layout. I tried marking it out using peco track but it just wasn't going to work. Whilst I don't trust myself to make the track myself, I'm hoping I can find a willing volunteer (well - a paid volunteer anyway). I've purchased templot track design program which I must say has been a struggle to use ( steep learning curve doesn't come into it) and if anyone can tell me how I attach a trackplan from templot I'll let you have a look at my efforts so far. As the railway room is going to have to be built, any kind of construction is a long long way off, but the plan currently allows for the main platforms to be 3.7 metres long which should allow for a decent length express train. And whilst I'm building up stcok and scenery, I can get some of the pointwork made. Belated Happy New year to you all. Rovex

Once again another tour de force. Rovex

Love these layouts - this themed date thing is rather like that shopping programme currently being shown on British television - Don't know if you've seen it - each week the same High Street is themed as a different period, so we've had Victorian, then Edwardian, 1930's and then War time. Could we see the same here, Edwardian Farthing, 1927 Farthing, 1930's Farthing, Wartime Farthing, Nationalisation Farthing, Beeching Farthing followed by Derelict Farthing and then Shopping Centre carpark, sorry couldn't resist that last bit. Wonderful models as ever. Looking forward to more. Rovex

Whilst starting the scenery first is cetainly an usual way to build a model railway, its more protypical than most model railways, after all the scenery was there before the railway. good luck with it Rovex