Canon Street ~ N Gauge

[Zunnan]

Just a little update as the seasonal alchiehol (hic) got the better of me as usual...

I've had a stab at working on the roadway overbridges that run behind the goods shed (which will be constructrd as soon as the bridge is fixed in place). They're built using loft insulating board with daler board glued to the surface then carved out to shape and will use Scalescenes brickwork to give the finish. The initial bridge has been in place for months so I could lay the track in the goods yard, and after gathering a bit of dust I thought it would be a good idea to get round to finishing it off.


The rear roadway added to the lower station access road.


The bridges carved out and most of the Daler board skin in place, with some brickwork and the grass bank between the two roadways started. All that remains is to extend the platforms out to meet the roadway, skin the bridge over the station and add the road surface and tunnel mouth over the main running lines to the rear.


Santa paid a visit and left a 9F behind.


New and old side by side. Such a shame that the new one runs like a lemon.

[Chuffer Chuff]

Wow, fantastic layout, really impressive!

I do like the long good trains and those 9F's.

Can't wait for more progress, well done!

[80064]

The wheels on the new one makes so much difference to the overall effect don't they?

[SouthernBoy]

Nice work. So that's two road bridges running parallel? They're going to look good.
I meant to ask you - in the last picture of the previous set of photos: is the railway bridge a kit or scratch built item? I like it.

[Zunnan]

I love the look of the Dapol 9F, only the plastic center driving wheel detracts from the overall look (the wheel looks cheap and nasty). I'm having real problems with it though, the traction is next to non existant! My Dapol Ivatt can pull more It's going back to Dapol themselves as they've expressed some concern in the problems I've found. A real pity, because if it ran well I'd have a couple more of them!

I forgot to add the work done to the town that will be located on the Mid-level board. The insulation board base has been topped with black card to give a nice flat surface to mount the buildings. I've made a handful of Metcalf kits and positioned them to give me an idea of what will fit where. I haven't started on the 6 foot long row of terraced houses yet...That is still scaring me!


Mid-level town viewed from across the railway by the engine sheds.


The beginning of the High Street viewed from Canon Road overbridge.

The bridge being built certainly is two parallel roads at differing levels. The upper level I will surface with a road and low relief shops as it's intended as the scenic break to hide the setrackesque curves at the end of the board, the lower road is the approach to the station and goods yard.

The bridge in the Standard 4 pics is scratch built, but it's VERY easy to make them. The girders are just glued to Daler board and reinforced with plastruct underneath and handrails added on top, shown in the pics below.




I needed to make another for the station access bridge, so took pics of the construction as I went along. In total it took an hour from cutting the pieces to having it mounted in position and primed ready for weathering, and thats including the time for the paint to dry!


The basic components. Plastruct C beam with T section for the ribbing.


The parts all cut to fit, ready for assembly.


Partially assembled using little more than a scalpel to trim the ribs to fit and long nose pliers to position them when glue is applied.


Assembled and primed.


Fixed in position within an hour! The rough black card will look far better when skinned with Scalescenes brickwork.

[Sprintex]

Some very impressive work there

And as for this junction . . . .




F . . . . .





Paul

[SouthernBoy]

Thanks for the mini-tutorial on bridge building with Plastruct, nice work. I've not seen Plastruct before - just done a search and find they do a wonderful range of materials, including trees.

Anyway, the layout is coming along a treat and I look forward to more updates and pictures.

[Zunnan]

Tracks Lifted at Canon Street!

But don't worry, the Beeching axe hasn't been weilded, there is no alternative route so the line will be reinstated as soon as I get my bum into gear and I get it all painted up ready for relaying and balasting.

I wasn't happy with having a plasticard to card join on the baseboard join which passes under the bridge carrying High-level trains onto Mid-level, so took the opportunity of the scenery still being 60% removable to rip it out and start again. The bridge and it's plasticard abutments have been retained, although cut back to allow the new retaining walls to be built in situ and extended onto Mid-level board from Low-level. I also used it as an excuse to get the tunnel mouth fully assembled and finally fixed in place ready for overall painting of the area prior to the plaster coat for the embankments going on sometime in the future.


Track and bridge lifted and the abutment hacked back ready for extending,showing the join between baseboards and the pitiful card retaining wall beyond into the tunnel.


All new plasticard abutment on the left complete with stone support for the bridge added and the tunnel mouth trial fitted behind before its own final trimming down ready for the final fit.


All fixed in place (excpet the bridge which remains loose for ease of painting) and sitting in a coat of primer. I'll most likely dry brush the area with acrylics and give it a pale wash to bring out the mortar detail and streaks for the lime stains.


Aerial view of the revamped bridge and tunnel portal area, and most of the Down line still to be lifted can be seen either side of the bridge. The new joint can be seen an inch or so behind the bridge; FAR more subtle than the card joint that sat beneath the bridge, and now allows some colour continuity over the baseboard joint. A lick of paint and it'll finally be ready for ballasting, this area was origionally "completed" 18 months ago! I'm so glad I changed my mind, the difference is amazing even in this primer form

[SouthernBoy]

I like the fact the bridge crosses at an angle to the tunnel mouth - it'll make interesting viewing when the trains are rolling over/under each other. What's going between this area and the two tracks at the back ?

[Zunnan]

Theres another retaining wall lined cutting and tunnel mouth to go in on the line at the rear (the black lined tunnel can be seen in a couple of pics) so the area between the lines needs raising a little up to the top of both walls once the rear tunnel is in place, with probably an access road/path leading down to trackside. The whole hillside and embankment here will probably be covered in long unkempt grass leading to either the rear of terraced houses or some allotments. More than likely it will be the former with an alleyway between the houses and the wasteground.

I've made a cardboard mockup of the rear tunnel so far which actually looks ok in card. I'll see how the painting goes with the Low-level one before making the decision of keeping the card or building it in plastic as the outcome will dictate what I'll make the wall out of which runs the full 7 feet from tunnel to tunnel along the rear of the station. I'm also half tempted try Lyddle end retaining walls here to save my sanity if it all gets too much!

[SouthernBoy]

... I've made a cardboard mockup of the rear tunnel so far which actually looks ok in card. I'll see how the painting goes with the Low-level one before making the decision of keeping the card or building it in plastic as the outcome will dictate what I'll make the wall out of which runs the full 7 feet from tunnel to tunnel along the rear of the station. I'm also half tempted try Lyddle end retaining walls here to save my sanity if it all gets too much!

I've just completed around 5' of retaining wall built using Plasticard and to be honest it wasn't too much work. Once I'd worked out the components (back wall, uprights etc) I just got myself a little production line going and cut all the bits out in about an hour or so. Gluing didn't take long either. What did take me ages was painting because initially I couldn't quite get the colour I wanted. It's a lot cheaper than buying ready-mades and gives a bit of individuality to a layout too. I'll post some pictures on my thread in a week or so (when I've finished doing other bits around the same area).

Anyway - carry on the good work!

[Zunnan]

Heres the conclusion to the bridge remodelling/reconstruction that went on a fortnight ago, along with the first test section of ballasting and track weathering. I decided to test here because most of it is under cover, so it won't matter as much if I made a pigs ear of it all!


The bridge placed back in position and a few pieces of rolling stock placed to make sure that everything still has clearance after I noticed the baseboard decided to swell up after a botch up with the glue mix for the ballasting. It looks FAR too clean, so out comes the Railmatch, thinners and a ruined brush.


Getting a bit dirtier.


Track all nice and grubby with the line to the goods yard given an extra coating of matt black thinned down so it soaks into the ballast.

Now it's done, it seems a shame to cover it up with the bridge! It's making me want to get the rest of the ballasting done now! That means it's time for the embankments to go in. Watch this space...

[Zunnan]

Three days of headaches, swearing and solder dripping onto my hands later, I have the track reinstated over the bridge and the nightmare junction 80% operational. The added bonus is that trains can now run over it this time, meaning that for the first time in it's existance Canon Streets main running lines operate as intended; a double track figure of eight AND a double track normal circuit! And if the points are set right, a train can now take two full laps of the boards to reach the spot it started out from after a run of 62 feet, or near to a scale 2 miles!

The windcutter did the honours being the first train to run over the bridge under it's own power hauled by Peak 'Scafell Pike' shortly followed by Jubilee 'Galatea' in the opposite direction with a semi fast rake of Mk1s. A few laps later and the Jubilee passed under the slow moving mineral train, encapsulating the image I had set out to create with this railway better than I could have ever hoped for!

I've run out of point motors now, so bringing platforms 3, 4 and 5 to life will have to wait a little longer...and I'll actually have to build them now!


'Scafell Pike' heads 30 16 tonners in the windcutter rake, the first train to move over the bridge under it's own power, as 'Galatea' storms underneath for the first time.

[tinsleytmd]

Thats a great looking layout i,ve missed this ones progress for a while i lvoe that over bridge i think layouts with multi levels are always exciting.

Simon.

[SouthernBoy]

T ... a train can now take two full laps of the boards to reach the spot it started out from after a run of 62 feet, or near to a scale 2 miles!

.....encapsulating the image I had set out to create with this railway better than I could have ever hoped for!

I bet you feel exhilarated on both counts. Well done - and here's to many more such milestones to come !