The Bridge

[Penrhos1920]

Do you remember as a young child standing on a bridge over the railway line somewhere eagerly awaiting for the next train to pass by? To try and get the number or to count the carriages or wagons? Or to watch the local shutter busy itself in the goods depot. Or to watch long trains of wagons slog up the hill? To watch passengers as they wait for the train? Well now you can do that again, except in model form. The bridge aims to capture the experience as a lean on the parapet wall and watch the trains pass underneath you. Be careful not to get an eyeful of smut or a lung full of smoke.

[Steve Carter]

I'm there

[ginger_giant]

What an excellent idea. Looking forward to the experience.

[Worzels Works]

I've got the ebay notification set up for 'the ABC of locomotives', who said time travel isn't real!

[jim s-w]

Your description made me think of this

lnwrbns_str3610.jpg

[Alan Turner]

What's this guy up to?

lnwrbns_str3610 2.png

No hard hat, no Hi-vis. What's the world coming to!

Obviously a reinforced Trilby.

regards

Alan

[essdee]

Banksy's (great-?) grandad?

Location, location, location?

Lovely image of the percehd lads...................

Steve

[Noel]

A Star in late condition, with Collett screw reverser housing, elbow steam pipes, short safety valve bonnet and short, wide chimney. Mid-1950s from the clothes? No idea where.

[jim s-w]

Location, location, location?

Birmingham Moor Street. The chap on the ladder is down by the midland lines into New Street

[grovenor-2685]

Here?
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=19.0&lat=52.47909&lon=-1.89225&layers=117746211&b=1

[jim s-w]

Spot on Keith

[Simon_S]

Your description made me think of this

My first thought was this:

The Bridge.jpg

which seems ambitious...

[Stephan.wintner]

Your description made me think of this

My first thought was this:
The Bridge.jpg
which seems ambitious...

Hah. Brilliant novel though.

[Penrhos1920]

Your description made me think of this

My first thought was this:
The Bridge.jpg
which seems ambitious...

Hah. Brilliant novel though.

A man lies in a coma after a near-fatal accident. His body broken, his memory vanished, he finds himself in the surreal world of the bridge - a world free of the usual constraints of time and space, a world where dream and fantasy, past and future, fuse. ....

I think that describes the builder of this layout pretty well !!

[Tony Wilkins]

Your description made me think of this

My first thought was this:
The Bridge.jpg
which seems ambitious...

It's been done in T gauge.
Regards
Tony.

[Penrhos1920]

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted on here about building The Bridge (assuming I keep that name). I had hoped to be able to show you some progress but unfortunately the baseboards that were promised for January still haven’t arrived.

It is going to be the central part of my much larger layout Penrhos. A few years ago I gave up the thought of building Penrhos in P4 as the track I had built for it was totally useless. But with the announcement of the British Finescale points and 3D printed track straight from Templot, building the track now seems possible. It turns out that the area between the road bridge and the Barry viaduct including a reasonable amount of the cutting is only about 17 ft2. so this is the area that I’m entering into the competition.

The area modelled is boards 16, 17 and 18. I’ve decided to increase the width of boards 17 and 18 to match board 16. The backscene follows the blue line. The normal view is from the top, there will be an additional view leaning over board 18 looking under the backscene along the tracks.

DF304D24-44B0-430C-BAA9-46435E7AB66F.jpeg

Having a deadline really helps focus the mind. However, instead of laying track on the baseboard the last couple of weeks I’ve done an inventory of rolling stock. The conclusion is I am going to need a few more wagons! The question is how long should I make my trains? A friend of mine suggests that a train that is more than one third of the scenic length of your layout is too long. But given that on one track the scenic length is just over a meter between the two bridges that makes a train as nothing much more than the steam railmotor. Even my friends DMU wouldn’t be permitted. Whereas in reality trains of up to 80 wagons were seen on that route. Now I can’t manage 80 wagons and have any wagons left over for the other trains. But I do feel that I should run a train where the loco is hidden by one bridge and the brake van is hidden by the other bridge. What do you think?

On a more important topic, I’m looking for a recommendation for someone who can supply me custom flat pack baseboards for a curved section. It looks like my first choice will be taking too long to laser cut those boards. I found a local supplier who can do all the other boards but will not do boards that don’t have 90 degree corners.

[ChrisMitchell]

On a more important topic, I’m looking for a recommendation for someone who can supply me custom flat pack baseboards for a curved section. It looks like my first choice will be taking too long to laser cut those boards. I found a local supplier who can do all the other boards but will not do boards that don’t have 90 degree corners.

Could perhaps try Grainge and Hodder, who at least produce angled boards…

https://www.graingeandhodder.co.uk/shop

Regards, Chris

[Penrhos1920]

Thanks Chris I looked at the Grainge and Hodder baseboards and planning the big build. Unfortunately those corner boards and the nice 60° curved module are designed for trainset curves.

The good news is the kits for the 2 scenic boards have arrived and this is a dry run of building the first board. With The Bridge in situ. Normal viewing will be from the other end of this board.

C2119E00-30B7-4944-AE0B-7C04E4DF183E.jpeg

[Penrhos1920]

Updated plan, grid is 250mm.

the_bridge_2024_04_16_1757_26.jpg

Viewing is unconventional in that you can view it 'normally' or you can view it looking along the tracks, leaning on the bridge parapet. this of course involves secret smoke and mirrors. Here I'm running the risk of showing you how bad my track is; hopefully better than my first attempt which looked like colliery track with a massive subsidence issue.

[Terry Bendall]

On a more important topic, I’m looking for a recommendation for someone who can supply me custom flat pack baseboards for a curved section.

Tim Horn may be able to do this.

Terry Bendall