Kirkbean 2014 - train layout The Town and Country Railway

[playmofire]

For others, though, it's a working day with bread to deliver to the cafe:



shopping to drop off at home:



painting to be done outside:



and milk to deliver:



and grass to cut:



More to come later today (it's currently 06:38, so a shower and breakfast call).

[Birdie]

These are wonderful    Thank you for posting them!

I really like the brown painted pathway and the station. Oh, and of course that picture in which a girl is taken by surprise when she gets flowers. 

[playmofire]

Thank you, Birdie.  The paths were painted freehand very carefully so as not to make them too wide.  I thought, too, that having the tarmac road after the level crossing just petering out into earth and then the station have a tarmac or concrete carpark was probably the sort of thing that would happen in real life! 

The picture with the couple and the flowers is a favourite of mine too.

[playmofire]

We'll have a look at the main station now; if you want to see larger versions of the pictures, just click on them.  (There will be more on this in the Trains section later on.)

This is a custom building but the idea of using the cargo beams this way is not my own as a member of klickywelt showed the idea first. 

It took a lot of planning and experimenting at home on the dining room table to get it to work as the track had to have odd kinks in it to give enough clearance for the goods vans.  (That catch on the brown goods van's sliding door is a real nuisance for catching on things!)  Having got the design finalised at home, when I set the track out at Kirkbean I found the station was too long(!), so I had to shorten it by one platform's length and then had to run lots of tests again to get it positioned exactly right for trains to clear it properly.

Here's an aerial view of the station.  Originally, I intended to glaze the roof area with plastic, but in the end I didn't have time to do this.  The nearer side is used for passenger traffic and the far side for goods.  For passengers, there is car parking to the left (watch out for the parking warden!) and there is access by steps and ramps.



I warned you about the parking warden!



Here's a shot of the platforms with a train obviously expected soon:



Before it arrives, however, a non-stopping express goes through on the other line:



Here's a close-up of the main entrance showing the glass panelling put in when the station was refurbished in 1977.  Previously, the walls had all been sold with just small windows at the top, as on the goods side.  Replacing the solid walls with glass has made the station much lighter and more attractive for passengers.   The posters opposite the platform are actual railway posters from before the war scanned from this year's National Railway Museum diary.




Cyclists are catered for in the parking arrangements, and there are no parking wardens for them to worry about!  Here's a commuter arriving for his morning train to work.



There are passengers arriving at the end of their train journey too:



Later today, I'll post photos of the goods side of the station.

[sunflower]

A lot has been said about this beautiful diorama. I agree it is great to look at for a long time. There's so much happening in so many different scenes. I love the way you used the old town with modern people and a great stations that blends in nicely. Looking forward for more!

[Salamander]

Great set up! Really fun to see all the details. I bet all the people who got to see it in person really enjoyed it.

Kitties getting petted!

[PlaymoMan]

Wow, fantastic diorama! There is so much going on, the various scenes were really well done. Looking forward to more!

[Birdie]

Such lovely photos! 

[playmofire]

Thank you all for your kind comments and apologies for not posting more photos.  Last night the computer was very slow on the internet (I discovered the browser cache was full and cleared it this evening) so I couldn't get any posted.  I've a bit of time now to post some, so here goes with the goods/freight side of the main station.

To start with a general view of this side of the station.  There's been a drop-off by a stopping goods train recently and the goods are being loaded onto a lorry for delivery to their final destination.  Meanwhile, there are some empty crates waiting to be picked for return to their starting point, and a couple of packing cases awaiting collection.  The goods storage shed is to the left and some, hopefully, empty chemical drums are being put into store.  ("Hopefully" because they have no closures on them!)  The little orange truck is one of about four I have as they are so useful (pity they only come in orange) because of their small size.  Maybe I'd better start thinking about painting one or two of them, or maybe making a canvas cover to vary the shape a bit.



Here's another view which shows the goods warehouse better and the engine shed in the background:



On the other side of the layout is an area which allows locos to drop off one train and pick up another or carry out shunting.  A loco can also bring a train in, uncouple and then run round it to couple up at the back so as to run in reverse.  This section of track can be isolated from the main layout so locos not being used can be "parked" there.  I did take a spare controller so that I could operate trains on the main layout and do some shunting in this area.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take any cables for connecting the controller to the tracks!   



Time's caught up with me again, but more tomorrow.

[Tiermann]

Lots of wonderful detail Gordon, I'm really enjoying the closer views.