Baseboards
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 9:59 am
Well, with several items of rolling stock part completed (ie not completed) it was obviously time to address the issue of baseboards. My first attempt (DEMU challenge, failed to run) was much too large scale, depicting a fictional mainline junction, and the baseboards I built were not brilliant. A site visit, and re-assement of maps, convinced me that I could, and should, attempt an actual location. In addition there was the last birthday for which a (relatively) expensive present was likely. So I drew up the plans and ordered baseboards from Grainge and Hodder Ltd.
The transition from basic sketched plan with dimensions to design of components was very smooth, with just an emailed jpeg, and a couple of telephone conversations. From that point the manufacture took a matter of days./ The boards are laser cut from good quality ply and arrived like a big jigsaw to assemble. The basic rectangular boards are straightforward, but the main board was quite complex. Despite this the pieces fit together perfectly and produce a square end product which would otherwise be beyond my capability, and would have taken up far too much modelling (or prevaricating) time.
The layout will aim to look like the terminus of the Buckley Railway/Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway at Connah's Quay c1906. At this point the WMCVQR had just been absorbed by the Great Central, and there was also a link direct from the docks to the LNWR. The Buckley Railway had a ruling gradient of 1 in 28, but this was climbing away from the docks, so the track will be all level, which should make the building process easier. The back of the layout will be the embankment of the main Chester to Holyhead line of the LNWR. The Buckley railway, after careering down the steep incline from Buckley Mountain dives under a very low bridge and then splits, one side going into sidings on the old quay, and the other going round a 2 1/2 chain curve onto the main docks.
The photo shows the baseboards for the old quay. The rest of the docks are off to the left of the picture. The boards have been dry assembled and the track is just for scale.
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bu ... ndex.shtml
http://www.graingeandhodder.co.uk/store ... ducts.html
The transition from basic sketched plan with dimensions to design of components was very smooth, with just an emailed jpeg, and a couple of telephone conversations. From that point the manufacture took a matter of days./ The boards are laser cut from good quality ply and arrived like a big jigsaw to assemble. The basic rectangular boards are straightforward, but the main board was quite complex. Despite this the pieces fit together perfectly and produce a square end product which would otherwise be beyond my capability, and would have taken up far too much modelling (or prevaricating) time.
The layout will aim to look like the terminus of the Buckley Railway/Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway at Connah's Quay c1906. At this point the WMCVQR had just been absorbed by the Great Central, and there was also a link direct from the docks to the LNWR. The Buckley Railway had a ruling gradient of 1 in 28, but this was climbing away from the docks, so the track will be all level, which should make the building process easier. The back of the layout will be the embankment of the main Chester to Holyhead line of the LNWR. The Buckley railway, after careering down the steep incline from Buckley Mountain dives under a very low bridge and then splits, one side going into sidings on the old quay, and the other going round a 2 1/2 chain curve onto the main docks.
The photo shows the baseboards for the old quay. The rest of the docks are off to the left of the picture. The boards have been dry assembled and the track is just for scale.
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bu ... ndex.shtml
http://www.graingeandhodder.co.uk/store ... ducts.html