Chuffed with doing this!

[bootneck]

Hi Adrian,

 

I'm just old and so I can remember both stations with some affection.  In fact, when I joined up, I left Birmingham from Snow Hill station (1965) and remember seeing a King class loco on the opposite platform.  Maybe I shall build one of those someday.

 

cheers,
Mike

[bootneck]

Right, now where was I?

 

 

Mike

 

 

[bootneck]

If you look at the corners of the baseboard, in my previous image above, you may notice little yellow stickers.  These mark the elevations at road level in feet around the area, with the base elevation of the trackwork in the centre.  If we make the centre, 390 feet, as level 0 then the other  road heights above the station level are:

NW = 428 ft     =  78.260 mm

NE  = 424 ft     =  70.022 mm

SE  = 408 ft     =  37.671 mm

SW = 411 ft     =  43.249 mm

 

With this information identified, I now have to make a sloping upper level for the roads.  For this, I drawing the profiles for each side out on paper and then pasting them to balsa sheets for strength.

 

 

This area appears to have more than its fair share of points.  I'm finding it difficult to get the track pieces to fit.  I may have to think of another method to represent them.

Three of the sides have been positioned for size.  They seem to look OK.

 

 

I've also hit another problem........  swmbo wants the table back!

 

I've never done a railway layout before so I am learning as I go along.

cheers,

 

Mike

[Heather Kay]

1 hour ago, bootneck said:

I'm finding it difficult to get the track pieces to fit. 

That's an understandable problem. The real thing was designed and laid out to fit the site, and could be replicated by scratch building each point to fit. I guess you really don't want to go that way, so you're going to be stuck trying to fit standard ready-to-play points in the space. A measure of compromise, I fear, will be in your future.  

[bootneck]

Yes, I think I shall have to rip off the rails, lay the sleepers and then bend the rails to match and glue them down.  As this is a non-working layout, I won't need those fiddly connectors either and just glue the rails end to end.

If that fails then I might have a go at drawing and 3D printing rails and points, similar to the types found on Del Prado sets.   I'm not sure that I would achieve everything by the GB end date though.

 

Mike

[AdrianMF]

4 hours ago, bootneck said:

I'm not sure that I would achieve everything by the GB end date though.

Looks like a brilliant project though, even if we have to follow it on the (gasp) “Vehicles (non military) forum”, or would it be “Dioramas and Vignettes”?

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Paul821]

18 hours ago, bootneck said:

I shall have to rip off the rails, lay the sleepers and then bend the rails to match and glue them down.  As this is a non-working layout, I won't need those fiddly connectors either and just glue the rails end to end.

Back in the early days of N gauge a friend of mine built a model of Kings Cross without buying any points. He chose the routes he wanted the trains to run on and laid track for those, all the other track and points were fabricated as you suggest. There was a lot of filing to get the points correct.

 

Good to see progress.

[bootneck]

I think that is what I shall try to achieve.  Lay the through roads and then work out where any crossovers start and end.  At those places I shall cut and shape small sections of rail and then file them to a knife edge to blend in to the main line.  I need to look at more photo's to work out how sleepers are formed and positioned there.

 

cheers,
Mike

[Mjwomack]

21 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

could be replicated by scratch building each point to fit.

I'd never thought of it like that before, but you're right- scratch building in 1:1 scale- which is one of the few things not to appear in this GB thus far!

 

On 4/10/2021 at 4:57 PM, bootneck said:

King class loco on the opposite platform.  Maybe I shall build one of those someday.

 

Trickier than they look - the leading bogie (set of wheels) change from outside to inside frames so not the tidy straight reference points that would help

[Paul821]

10 minutes ago, Mjwomack said:

scratch building in 1:1 scale- which is one of the few things not to appear in this GB thus far!

Believe it of not - on my to list for the next month is to build some 1:1 scale (if there is such a thing) section of track for a museum display, I had not thought of entering it here. I will be in the museum tomorrow so could be tempted to show some sprue shots on here.

[Mjwomack]

5 minutes ago, Paul821 said:

Believe it of not - on my to list for the next month is to build some 1:1 scale (if there is such a thing) section of track for a museum display, I had not thought of entering it here. I will be in the museum tomorrow so could be tempted to show some sprue shots on here.

Go on, do it! It would be a public service because you'd be giving @bootneck a source of information on track construction. AND nobody could ever question how accurate it was!

[PeterB]

I remember doing a bit of track assembly for our School three rail O guage layout back in the 1960's and making points was tricky enough in that scale - I wish you luck!

 

Pete

[bootneck]

It is about time that I stopped researching and got back to building.  The problem has been with identifying elevations, as the road heights are different on all four sides.

There are also four underpasses for the layout, one is a tunnel and the other three are girder bridges, but even these are different widths and heights.

 

The first girder bridge under construction.  The real thing is one of the longest plate girder bridges on the railway. 

The signal box, also shown in the photo, is also one of the longest; being 80 feet (24m) long.

 

I shall be using sheets of balsa to make up the surrounding walls and roads, with plastic sheet to reinforce where needed.

This is will be the north side section. For anyone who knows the area around the station, this is Swallow Street.

 

Next walled section will be south side, which is Navigation Street

 

Followed by the steepest incline on the model, Hill Street.  This is the section with the long girder bridge.

 

The sections are placed on the layout for checking, to ensure the walls and bridges are the correct distances from the tracks.

 

It is becoming obvious that I now have two inter-related builds on the go.  One is the layout itself and the other is the upper level roadway.

 

I hope to show more progress soon.

 

Cheers,

Mike

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Go for it, Mike!

[Mjwomack]

5 hours ago, bootneck said:

It is becoming obvious that I now have two inter-related builds on the go

And if you put the Matador on the road it would be three inter-related builds! Great to see this getting back on track, there's no denying that it's ambitious but don't worry you've got until July, then it could slide into 'Unarmed GB' and then onto KUTA- well that's how I would go about things!

[Jinxman]

Brilliant stuff.

[bootneck]

One of the problems I had was getting standard tracks and points to fit all the curves on the layout, plus the points are expensive to buy.

 

Therefore, I have decided to scratchbuild the track layout.   To start with, I have placed a template sheet for the points onto a piece of board.

 

The next task is to cut lengths of plastic strip to the size of the marked sleepers on the template. I shall canibalise some standard track for the rails and dispose of the attached sleepers.

 

Once all the sleepers are in place, I shall cut lengths of the track to size and glue them to the sleepers in line with the template.

When this unit has been completed, it will be transferred to the layout and then I'll start on the next one.  Hopefully this will all build up into a decent looking layout.

 

More later.

cheers,
Mike

[bootneck]

The sleepers are now in place.  Next task was to remove one of the rails from an old track piece, cut it to length and bend to shape to match the line of the template.

Here is the first length glued to the left turnout.  I am using CA glue for the bond between the metal and plastic pieces.

 

The pins holding the rail in position have been removed and the rail stayed in place, amazing.

 

That's it for tonight as my eyes are tired.

cheers,
Mike

 

[Paul821]

Mike

 

Your dedication to the title of this GB is inspiring - you take the  the only part of your build  components that are injection moulded (the sleepers) and through them away. I thought cutting up coffee stirrers for my Inn build was bad enough but you have certainly set yourself a challenge here.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

By the way have you considered this:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164762122894?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-153316-527457-8&mkcid=2&itemid=164762122894&targetid=4585513249221171&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=398826050&mkgroupid=1310618119775374&rlsatarget=pla-4585513249221171&abcId=9300501&merchantid=87779&msclkid=aed1355184c91e45277355c621de3cf0

 

and this

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224434075852?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-153316-527457-8&mkcid=2&itemid=224434075852&targetid=4585307090533053&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=398826064&mkgroupid=1307319585150363&rlsatarget=pla-4585307090533053&abcId=9300501&merchantid=87779&msclkid=a977a3524960173c39eec3c5ec77d791

 

As a source for loco's? The LMS streamliner is certainly our of your era but would look good. As I have done you can scan the cards and resize / recolour them if required. In most cases with these models there are images posted online of the cards so you don't even have to purchase them!

 

[bootneck]

Hi Paul,

 

thanks, and for the links as well.   It will be a while before I get to thinking about adding locos; however, I did have a go at this prairie tanker for a 3D print until I realised this type didn't go through New Street station.

 

I might try something similar but with that Princess loco in the link.

 

cheers,
Mike

 

 

[bootneck]

Back to the layout and work continues with the walled structures.  The gantry bridge and the tunnel are progressing well, with just some lintels and parapets to be added. 

 

Then I shall work around to the left side, which is a little more complex as it has a large pub, the Golden Eagle, situated there and I shall have to scratchbuild that.

View of the rear, from the roadway over the tunnel, and looking up Hill Street.

 

View looking down Hill Street to the junction with Navigation St, and tunnel below, in the distance.

 

View of the pub, showing the complex shape; also,  it is set on two levels with the rear being one storey lower and this project into the layout area.

 

cheers,

Mike

[bootneck]

More work done on the set of points today.  The remaining rails have been cut, shaped and filed down to size and added to the template.

 

The set has been removed from the template, by soaking the paper and gently peeling off.

 

The piece has been placed onto the layout as a test fit.  It looks OK and matches the marked lines quite well.  It is my first ever attempt at making my own track and I'm quite pleased.

 

Looking at the layout, there's only about another twenty sets of points, cross-overs or turnouts to do. 

 

cheers,

Mike

[Dave Swindell]

21 minutes ago, bootneck said:

It is my first ever attempt at making my own track and I'm quite pleased.

Looks pretty good to me too.

 

22 minutes ago, bootneck said:

Looking at the layout, there's only about another twenty sets of points, cross-overs or turnouts to do.

You'll be a dab hand at them soon!

[helios16v]

You do some amazing scratchbuilding Mike.  

[Paul821]

On 5/10/2021 at 9:13 PM, bootneck said:

I'm quite pleased.

So you should be - this is an excellent sub-build.

 

On 5/10/2021 at 9:13 PM, bootneck said:

there's only about another twenty sets of points, cross-overs or turnouts to do.

No to mention all the other pieces that are required.

 

Keep up the good work.