As you can see, Dolfor Junction station was a little bare when this photo was taken in January 2004.
Work is underway to correct this with a set of station buildings. You can find more details below:
This page shows the railway under construction. As with any good model railway, construction is a never-ending task. I've also included a separate page on the philosophy behind the model.
The first photo shows one corner of the railway room with the rather ad hoc
benchwork that supports the CR&DJR. Pythagoras is pulling
slate wagons through the future site of Dolfor Junction station - scroll down this page for a more recent view of the station.
As you can see, Dolfor Junction station was a little bare when this
photo was taken in January 2004.
Work is
underway to correct this with a set of station buildings. You can find
more details below:
Work has also been progressing on the track. I recently bought ten 12"x12" slate tiles from a local stone merchant. Hitting these with a large hammer results in "scale" slate waste that can be used for ballasting. Here's a length of track at the north end of Dolfor Junction station ballasted in this fashion. I think it looks rather good.
Here's an overhead view of the station area taken April 4th. 2004. You can see the four partly-completed carriage shed modules and the new station building with platform, also partly completed. A mixed train stands in the main platform road, and the slate waste ballasting can be clearly seen. Notice that the connecting line from the carriage shed road to the mineral line has been relaid since the photo at the head of the page to make more room for the carriage shed.
The southern loop of the line is a tight radius curve and was originally (and accidentally) also on a significant slope. This made it hard to trains to traverse without assistance from the "giant hand in the sky". In November 2004 this curve was rebuilt on an embankement to make it level and allow trains to pass easily.
The following photo shows the cross-section of the embankement:
The track was originally laid direct on the baseboard. As you can see it was necessary to raise the trackbed by about 2 inches to make the entire curve level. The embankement was created from strip wood (actually an old wine case) which was then covered in plaster bandages. Once the bandages dried, commercial grass was added. This is the first section of the layout, apart from the station, to acquire some scenery.
August 21 2005 The next scenic task to be undertaken is to create better grass. Most 16mm railways use real grass outdoors to do this, but the basement is dark and won't support real flora. Instead fake grass is used, the following photo shows Brake Van No. 6 standing in front of a test piece. I'm pleased with the result; click here to find out more about how this effect is achieved.
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