Sunday 7 December 2008

Final final final plan!!

The front sidings are now almost laid, believe it or not! (It's a good job I'm not trying to build Retford!!!!)

I've had a slight re-think on the rest of the track plan since the original design. The sketch above shows the revised plan as well as illustrating the other features that will make up the overall scene.

I think having the back siding and industrial buildings at an angle and the through line and loop on a slight curve will add a little more visual interest and hopefully create the impression of more space than if everything was parallel. The back siding will run into the buildings with the track then curving sharply to exit parallel to the back of the layout, allowing for longer trains than can actually be accommodated and possibly loading and unloading of wagons off-stage.

The exit of the through line to 'stage left' will be screened by a small building and some scrubby trees, while the 'stage right' exit will be disguised by an ivy-clad two-span brick road bridge carrying a narrow lane over the railway, the front and back of which will be hidden by a hedge and trees.

In front to the right there'll be the back of some allotments, seperated from the railway by an overgrown hedge. Opposite, at the back of the layout, there'll be an embankment, with steps descending to the trackside from the lane. Along the top of the embankment, disguising the backdrop, will be a thicket of trees.

Most of the track will be buried at least to sleeper height (and some to almost rail level) in modelling clay, weathered, and then liberally 'grassed'. (Some of my favourite railway pictures are of dilapidated railway backwaters, often freight-only or industrial lines, where the railway is gradually being 'reclaimed' by nature.)

3 comments:

  1. Matt,
    'Stage Left' is left as the actors look out to the audience - you have your terminology wrong way round! (But we know what you mean.)
    John, Finland.

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  2. I've been enjoying your blog for a while- and I love this idea for a scene. An air of genteel dilapidation is incredibly difficult to get right, but judging from the rest of your modelling I can't wait to see the finished result!

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