Model Railway Forum

Particularly like the first photo. What is the structure if I may ask?

Bandit Mick wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:56 pm Particularly like the first photo. What is the structure if I may ask?

It’s the Ratio coaling tower with some scratch built corrugated canopies added. Not unlike the one on the NYMR, although mine is nowhere near dirty enough.

I originally positioned my goods shed some distance from the station and used it as a bit of a ‘scene blocker’ but it has always felt not quite right. Time to plan a move.

2020-12-19_12-44-22 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

This morning I made this small infill to a corner adjacent to the station which will allow me to make the goods yard part of the station complex and link it to the road across the level crossing. The area that it has moved from is still adjacent to the coal yard but will probably have my ‘Dent snow huts’ installed as workers accommodation. The advantage being that they are single storey so don’t block the view of the running lines.

If all goes to plan I won’t need to relay any track, just do a bit of scenery blending to bring it together.

Thought for a minute you were making a cello. Bet the change to the layout won’t take you long Steve. Never does.

I managed to get some of the basic groundwork done today - in between hunting for various bits and materials that seem to have found new hiding places in the last few months. And they remain hidden to this day.
Unfortunately as we were put into Tier 4 overnight I can’t just pop down to the shop to get more paving for the edge of the road and I was surprised to find that Wills building sheets are as rare as hen’s teeth on Amazon.
The ‘tarmac’ was sprayed on quite thick, so it was easy to slice off the area for cobbles and the shed with a sharp chisel. I was even able to use some shavings to replicate road repair patches. Next job will be to add some texture around the yard area and maybe extend the cobbled area slightly - it’s a bit too ‘regular’ at the moment.

2020-12-20_05-16-29 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

2020-12-20_05-16-50 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

Looking good. Those cobbles are really nice to work with and are easy to distress and hide joins too. I really enjoyed using them.

Carried on laying cobbles until I ran out of sheets. Filled in the empty corner with my usual mix of plaster and playpit sand coloured with black and earth from the Woodland Scenics range. Airbrushed and washed the cobbles to make them grimy.
Hopefully the paving will arrive this week so I can complete the paths before adding some static grass aro7nd the scene.

20201221_140549 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

20201221_140637 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

A quick trial fit to give an idea of how this fits in with the existing station. I have now fitted a couple of extra locating tags under the section to help it fit more securely to the old boards. I have a small ‘adjustment’ to make to the exit of the goods shed - my tolerances were out by about 1.5mm.

2020-12-21_05-36-14 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

Looking good!

Like the cobbles - very impressive.