Platform surfaces

[Julia]

What would be typical surfaces used for the building of a rural station platform ?

J

[buz]

Hi Julia
That really depends on the budget and expectations of the railway building the stations.
Two Ideas I am toying with that I think would work well in a rural setting.
Are a stone faced pretty normal looking platform for the Important centers?? with a stone building
Or a timber earth filled platform with a gravel top surface for the well we want a station here shame the village is five miles away situations with wood or corrugated iron building.
For an even less used station (the kind a lot of people don't even bother modeling) you could have ground level sleeper built platform with an oil light and name board and thats it and civilization doesn't even get a look in.
Another thing that would look good in a rural setting is a milk platform out in the middle of nowhere this is literally a small timber platform that may or may not have a shed on it for milk churns.
That the first passenger train of the day would stop and pick up and the last train would drop off the empties.
hope this is of assistance
regards John

[sishades]

For my platorms, I used Peco side walls and thick mounting card painted a grey colour.

[b308]

As John said it depends on the wealth of the railway... they could even be completely made from wood!

[buz]

Hi Julia
They don't come much simpler than this.
The platform edge is two sleepers stacked one above the other and a good length.
Would probably be the length of a four wheel coach over the buffers one end has
a short ramp the other is just squared off well sort of.

found on the disused stations web site

stane_street_halt_old.jpg (35.7 KiB) Viewed 2041 times

regards John

[rocketman]

Usually they were more sturdily built than you might think for the traffic. I think materials would generally be either locally available or surplus to the company from elsewhere. Stone and brick faces and surfaces were common, wood less so. The platforms were usually short (2-3 coaches).
Some of them, especially in the south and west were surprisingly utilitarian, others were quite surprisingly important looking. It all depends on the history of the line you are modelling.
Just an example
this was always a branchline backwater but the station belies that (now long closed, of course). Many were like this in extent.
http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Crieff%20and%20Comrie%20Railway
ROCKETMAN

[stuartp]

Packed ash/clinker was common, railway companies had the stuff coming out of their ears. It was used for surfacing all sorts of things - paths, platforms, yards, and the coarser stuff used as ballast on some lines.

The Comrie pics show it well. As for how you actually model it, fine sand and talc sprinkled onto wet grey paint can be made to look good with some green flock around the edges and in undisturbed corners.

[gppsoftware]

What would be typical surfaces used for the building of a rural station platform ?

J

Julia: Depending on how large it was, the could be anything from sleepers/timber to 4 foot by 3 foot slabs.
Depends on the period you are modelling - once tarmac became more common IIRC mid 60's, it because the 'norm' for the surface but 4x3 slabs were still retained at the edges.

Sishades: "For my platorms, I used Peco side walls and thick mounting card painted a grey colour."

Without appearing to be critical, may I suggest that those platforms in your picture are too high above rail level ? Yes, the Peco product is too high - that's why your trains look like they are submerged behind the platforms!
The platform surface should be no more than 12mm about the top of the rails. See: http://www.mrol.com.au/Articles/General%20Modelling%20Articles/00ScaleMeasurements.aspx
The reason why real platforms (in the UK) are no higher than 3 foot above rail head is because parts of rolling stock, particularly buffers and underframes would collide with them.

Graham Plowman