7mm Scruft's Junction:- Down the Garden path

Spike

Western Thunderer
Well the holiday for me is over and I have at least achieved what I set out to (in part). The hills have been finished and the basic shape of the new bridge is in place.

IMG_0088.JPG

There is now greenery on Scruffs Junction, an evening spent examining photos of the Forest of Dean and mixing static grass to find a suitable colour has result in the below.

IMG_0089.JPG
Unfortunately I have now run out of static grass so the rest will have to wait.

This is only the base colour and now decisions need to be made as to what foliage and trees are to be added to give some height and depth to the landscape.

I also need to address the rather neat edges between the grass and the ballast.
IMG_0090.JPG

Peter
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Looking good Graham
Not just my work... Peter does more than me. Most of the ups and downs were built by Peter using expanded foam packinging. The covering was a joint effort with me cutting the plasterer's scrim into convenient pieces and Peter applying the bits with a coat of PVA. All of the grass effect was done by Peter (static grass fibres and Greenscene "cement").

I have built the basic bridge form and I shall be cutting depron sheet to fit specific parts of the bridge, Peter gets the task of embossing the stonework whilst I have the pleasure of dealing with the skew courses of the brick in the two inverts.

The short track to the left hand side is the end of a siding for the stone works - we have yet to decide on a suitable FoD name for this wharf. The centre road is the "original" route to the colliery (was Kidnells, now Norchard) whilst the right hand line climbs towards Parkend via Scrufts Junction (inspired by Tufts Jcn although we do not have a Mineral loop).

A fixed distant is on the cards for the main line, this is to warn down mineral trains of the junction between the low level and high level lines... about twenty feet beyond the end of reality and on the way to Lydney Docks.
 
Last edited:

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
The time has come...


I am determined that this is the year when the bridge gets done. So with that thought in mind we set off for a day in the Forest of Dean... humming the signature tune of the layout... first stop Norchard for a decent lunch at a reasonable price. We had Ian Pope for company and to act as guide for whilst Dilke is on a public road finding Mierystock is not that easy (the bridge existed solely for to maintain right of way for a forest ride). Lots of detail photos for modelling have been made, a sample has been posted in the Severn & Wye bridge topic .

We needed a bridge to span two tracks for our layout whereas Mierystock and Dilke are single arch / track bridges. After deciding that a two track bridge in the S&W style was not that impressive believable the inevitable conclusion was to build both side-by-side. The core structure is 5mm foamboard with a covering of 3mm Depron (to be scribed for the stone courses before applying to the base structure). We have retained the skew nature of the bridges and intend to replicate the helicoidal brick courses using Slater's 7mm brick sheet (stretcher bond as per the prototype). The stone voussoirs of the arch extend under the arch and interlace with the brick courses - with the appearance of Saxon "long and short" work.

The abutment are topped by a string course from tooled stones and with a row of "sawtooth" stones to provide a footing for the brick courses - as the bridge is "skew" then the brick courses meet the abutment string course at an angle.

Modelling problems?

Apart from working out how to interleave the brick courses into the voussoirs... the first problem is constructing the abutment string course as that defines the virtual horizontal baseline of the brick arch. The string course projects 6" beyond the face of the abutment with a 6" vertical face... and a sloping top towards the arch. I think that I shall build the string course as a styrene box with the top done in Milliput. As this point I am unsure as to how to reproduce the texture of the tooled stones.
 
Last edited:

daifly

Western Thunderer
?..... We have retained the skew nature of the bridges and intend to replicate the helicoidal brick courses using Slater's 7mm brick sheet (stretcher bond as per the prototype). The stone voissoirs of the arch extend under the arch and interlace with the brick courses - with the appearance of Saxon "long and short" work.
.....
The abutment are topped by a string course from tooled stones and with a row of "sawtooth" stones to provide a footing for the brick courses - as the bridge is "skew" then the brick courses meet the abutment string course at an angle.
.....
Apart from working out how to interleave the brick courses into the voissoirs... the first problem is constructing the abutment string course as that defines the virtual horizontal baseline of the brick arch. The string course projects 6" beyond the face of the abutment with a 6" vertical face... and a sloping top towards the arch. I think that I shall build the string course as a styrene box with the top done in Milliput. As this point I am unsure as to how to reproduce the texture of the tooled stones.
Wow! Graham - you win the prize for the most architecture terms in a post on WT hands down. I spent more time looking up definitions of 'voissoirs' (BTW it's voussoirs!), 'helicoidal' etc. than reading the post!
Dave
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
... the most architecture terms in a post on WT hands down. I spent more time looking up definitions of ... 'voussoirs', 'helicoidal' etc. than reading the post!
WT always entertains and educates... seats available at front and back of the class.

Dave (@daifly), now that you have read the blurb and viewed the pikkies, you are admirably placed to advise on the construction - please apply for the post of site engineer and bring your yardstick (imperial only for these bridges were built 1879 (Dilke) and 1881 (Mire Stock - an alternative spelling which explains why the ground is sodden in the cutting either side of that bridge)).
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Almost three years since the last post... and probably would have been three years if not for the current health concerns. Peter and I are at home without the ability to stroll far from the door and so we have been working on our layout, see later.

Scruft's Junction has not been idle in the last few years, indeed the layout has travelled far once or twice. A few years back we were asked to take the layout to a S7 Group Open Day and that invitation was a cause of several months of serious work on the baseboards / electrics / scenery as preparation for the event. We have succumbed, finally, to the conclusion that we needed a better form of baseboard supports and so we have invested in a number of Wickes builder's trestles; these are easy to erect and easy to adjust the height of the top of the trestle, downsides are that the items are expensive when there is a need for about ten units and that there is no quiet / simple way to pack the trestles in a family car.

When we started Scruft's the layout was run as 12V DC. Since then we have embraced DCC and changes to the under-baseboard wiring have been less than elegant. So in preparation for the S7 meeting we decided to neaten the wiring and introduce changes ready for the pending extension of the layout, reporting thereof to start later in this topic.

When Scruft's last appeared on WT we had just started using static grass for the scenery - with very mixed results for after a while the appearance was rather like a threadbare cuddly toy as the density of fibres per square inch nose-dived towards zero. A chat with Gordon Gravett brought about a day long tutorial from the Master and Scruft's looks much more verdant, even overgrown in places.

The current "stay at home" advice has meant that we have run out of timber / screws / preservative for fitting out of Peter's workshop and so we have taken the opportunity to set up Scruft's in the new Top Shed. The interior of Top Shed is intended to have a worksurface upon which to erect (part of) a layout and with supports that provide storage space for individual baseboards - so we have room to extend Scruft's. The past week has seen us adding baseboard alignment dowels and fixing bolts to a new baseboard that extends the scenic run between fiddle yard and station from 8 feet to 12 feet. So some photos of Scruft's Junction in its new home.

The station as we were... in our storyline we are at the low level station looking towards Lydney. The main line on the right hand side has a gradient of 1:60 approaching the high level station and that has proved to be too steep for some of our more recent models hence a new board is to be added to reduce the steepness of the climb.

IMG_2672.jpg

And then the builders moved in:-

IMG_2683.jpg

In the photo above we have moved about one mile south of the station, towards Lydney, and then turned to face north for the photograph. The board at the far end of this photo is the board at the far end of the previous photo... turned through 180 degrees. In the middle distance is a new 4' board which both extends the scenic run and eases the gradient into the station (the prototype S&W Rly line rises at approximately 1:60 from Lydney Town towards Tufts Junction; in the photo above the line is rising towards the far end of the shed).

Simon (@Caggers) - maybe you recall making several 4' x 2' baseboards with me when you were living a few miles away? After eight years of storage in the garage those baseboards are coming into their own and are as sound now as when you and I built them (for "sound" think "flat", without "warp or twist").

regards, Graham
 
Last edited:

wenlock

Active Member
Hi Grahame and Peter, I’ve just spent a happy half hour catching up with all this! Good to see that progress is being made, if there is a silver lining to this Covid lark it’s that more time is available for modelling :)

The layout is looking great, as are the very impressive set of spirit levels!

BW

Dave
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
When we last visited the railway in the Forest we found that track had been lifted for 18" up to the summit (at then south end of the high level platform) and the chainage error corrected by the insertion of a new baseboard (4' in length) between the station(s) and the southern approaches. The final photograph of the last post shows the "new" main line formation under construction with an easier gradient than before (was 1:60, now 1:100).

Each evening of the past week Peter and I have been working on the new formation with a base of dense expanded foam sheet, then a layer of 5mm foamboard and finally a top of 5mm closed cell polyurethane foam - as here:-

IMG_2697.jpg

Next step is to shape the embankment edge and then move on to the line to the low-level station.

regards, Graham
 

Spike

Western Thunderer
Saturday progress update

Turned the boards round to allow planning for the front of the layout, foam has been stuck down for the middle line approaching the station. Between the front lines and the middle the landscape will be raised to act as a break between the lines.

04B891F7-D654-4870-96C0-F409B0C27B7E.jpeg

At the front will be a goods shed based upon Speech House Road and a mock of the building is placed to help with planning. The little siding at the very front has been extended which will allow for up to 5 or 6 wagons to be stored there are allow for some shunting challenges to take

E3736280-4492-4154-AF7A-00CAB7376622.jpeg

Thinking of adding a coal merchant to the left of the shed but that is yet to be decided upon.

Peter
 

Spike

Western Thunderer
Track is now being laid on the new board, my dad can work on the layout during the day whilst I am working so he has been doing the messy bit with the plaster.

We had 7 or 8 track panels made up which I am not sure what they were for but they have been permanently borrowed for Scruffs. They are a short style of track and will end up being heavily weathered to give the impression they have been there for a while.

572C08EB-BF7B-4239-91C2-5F0728A3F270.jpeg

Track in the front siding is not yet stuck down so whilst there is a gauge issue in the picture it won’t be like that once finished.

regards
Peter
 

Spike

Western Thunderer
First project on the new workbench is to build the goods shed for the layout. There will be two made, the first shown below is off to a new home once complete and then the second will live on Scruffs.

Created a drawing in Inkscape of plans within Severn and Wye book series for Speech House Road, this proved to be a good guide for cutting the foam board base and structure for the building.

24670C0D-A1B1-4C5E-993F-16AC15B6EA7D.jpeg

The base has scribed Depron on all sides, one limitation has been the flat effect on the stone, whilst the first building suffers from this the second I have been experimenting with cutting out stones and putting packing behind to bring the stone out slightly and break up the flat look.
A79AE874-D71E-44B0-BFC1-CA0D96401059.jpeg
C7457168-00EA-4780-9287-000064789F54.jpeg
A6717CFC-E9D0-42FD-8C1E-4EAD3DCA14F5.jpeg

Slaters shiplap plastikard has been used to cover the sides of the building and using my cameo to cut out and scribe the doors.

D78EE719-6543-4E47-9689-784E0331C7EA.jpeg

Making the roof corrugated is by chance, I had planned to make the roof with tiles but needing some new dinner plates a parcel from John Lewis arrived and between each plate was corrugated card that looked just right for a roof.

2AA9770A-3D48-4CFF-B3F5-CEB85801F892.jpeg

I have overlapped the corrugated sheets to break up the roof profile.

63D75001-25DB-4E79-A5B7-C6237A1B27E2.jpeg

Still to go are the barge boards and gutters, plus some steps to reach the end door.

regards
Peter
 
Last edited:

wenlock

Active Member
Good to see your progress. The Goods Shed is coming along very nicely, I particularly like the idea of putting “packers” under some of the stones to add to the texture.

BW

Dave
 
Top