7mm Scruft's Junction:- the time has come

[Spike]

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.



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.


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.


Peter

 

[john lewsey]

Looking good Graham

 

[Dog Star]

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.

 

[Dog Star]

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.

 

[JimG]

As this point I am unsure as to how to reproduce the texture of the tooled stones.

I was just going to ask that.

Jim.

 

[daifly]

?..... 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]

... 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)).