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Carndonagh Station - the Indoor Section, Part 5 - Final

29/3/2015

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I set myself the task of completing the indoor section of the railway this winter; as my definition of the season is January, February and March, I have achieved my goal with two days to spare.

The last month has been spent carrying out the scenic work and making all the fiddly little details that add life to the scene but take quite a while to produce.

The majority of the station fencing was recovered from the removed second platform at Culdaff. This needed to be cleaned up and repainted and then reconfigured to suit the new site; a small new section of fencing had to be added to this and a gate made to give access to the General Manager's office which is located at the bottom of the station garden. 

The station lamps are Roundhouse kits, the two in the loco yard are finished in red primer but the three platform lamps received seven coats of acrylic moss green (the paint was very thin). I have fitted the lamps with 18v grain of wheat bulbs rather than the supplied LEDs, the LEDS will be used elsewhere in the future.
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General Manager's office and garden gate.
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The General Manager in the garden, note the enamel signs.
The enamel advertising signs were made from photographs of actual signs, most of them taken on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, but the two Irish Whiskey signs were photographed during a trip to the Jameson's Distillery museum at Midleton County Cork in 2009, I knew I would use them one day.

The photos were cropped to size and scaled down, and then printed on high quality photo paper. Once the images were cut out using a scalpel, they were given a coating of Artist's clear glaze spray; when dry, the signs were glued to 30 thou black Plastikard sheet and glued to the station fencing. Curiously, all the signs advertise beverages of some kind or another, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. 

The station names on the benches and the large nameboard were made in the same way, but these were produced in Open Office Writer on the PC, this could probably also be done in MS Word, but Open Office Writer delivered just the right shade of green for me.

I also reduced and printed on plain paper, a GSR poster advertising the delights of travel in Ireland and a timetable, this is a scaled down copy of the July 1929 timetable for the Castlederg and Victoria Bridge Tramway. These were mounted on small pieces of Plastikard and stuck either side of the waiting room door.
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Name board, fencing, lamps and the Paddy whiskey advert, (I prefer Jameson's).
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Station building with timetable and poster, and alcohol adverts.
The loco yard was cluttered up with various items including some nice Platelayer's tools from Back 2 Bay 6, sadly no longer with us, plus oil drums (Modeltown) and some real coal. A water crane from GRS was installed between the tracks and some Modeltown telegraph poles were planted. 
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Ballast on the mainline and the yard surface. The telegraph pole is upright, the image is distorted by the camera lens.
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Platelayer's tools and coaling area. The ballast colour is more accurate in this photo.
The mainline was ballasted by dry brushing Postcrete in between the sleepers and then soaking with water by using a hand held garden spray bottle. The station was masked off during this process to protect it from cement splashes.

The loco shed was given a floor by building up layers of plastic sheet to rail level between the rails and laying a piece of OSB between the two tracks, the rest of the shed floor and the loco yard was infilled with repair cement and then soaked with the spray bottle. Once dry, the shed and yard area was given a wash of diluted black masonry paint.
The area to the front of the goods shed was given a bit of contour by building up with layers of foam board cut to a contour shape and then coated with plaster of Paris. This area, the station garden, mill yard and footpath and the front edge of the layout were painted with artist's acrylic Raw Umber. Once dry the areas were painted with diluted PVA and scatter grass or gravel was applied as appropriate, finally finishing off with various shades of Lichen.
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The mill yard. The square structure, that looks like a well, is where the mill race turns through 90 degrees after leaving the mill wheel and then runs underground.
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The lever frame and staff toilets.
The final piece of detailing to go in was a six lever frame, made up from three two lever frames from Back 2 Bay 6. I am not a S&T enthusiast, so I have not modelled any point rodding; some one once said 'life's too short to stuff a mushroom', and I think that applies equally to adding point rodding! In order to disguise this glaring omission, I have made up a boarded cover for the cranks and rodding, made from planked plastic sheet, this runs to the edge of the nearest track, don't ask me what happens to the rodding after that!
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View looking towards the mill.
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View looking towards the loco shed and yard.
Finally, the edge of the baseboard and the legs that support the workbench above the station were given a couple of coats of matt black in order to tone down their appearance.

With the exception of making a small diorama a couple of years ago, this is the first bit of indoor scenic modelling I have done since the early 1980s, and that was in the smaller scales. The finished result is not to exhibition standards but I think it conveys enough atmosphere to make it fairly convincing. I can now say that the railway is complete, but not finished, another possible extension is being planned for development in 2017/18!
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Carndonagh Station - the Indoor Section, Part 4

22/2/2015

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At the West end of the station the line disappears through a hole in the workshop wall, supposedly leading to the goods yard, and the connection and exchange siding with the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway. In order to disguise this hole, I have built a watermill on one side of the line and a low relief goods shed on the other side.

The goods shed is made from two pieces of OSB sheet cut to the profile of the gable end of the building. The outermost piece has had apertures cut to accept a window and double doors. The window and the pair of doors were salvaged from the ruined Culdaff loco shed.

The back piece was painted black in the areas that would be behind the window and door apertures, the window was then glued in place behind the front sheet, and the two pieces of OSB, plus a further spacing strip on the rear of the right side were screwed together; the spacing strip was used to enable the shed to be angled away from the backscene so that it is more or less at right angles to the track.

The walls were clad with dressed stone effect plastic sheet and the roof with embossed slate sheet. Bargeboards made from plastic sheet, and guttering were then added. The stonework, roof and bargeboards were painted and finally, the doors were glued in place.
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The pieces of OSB
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Ready for painting.
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Finished shed in position. Note the door of the 'hole' is closed.
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Carndonagh Station - the Indoor Section, Part 3

16/2/2015

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The two road locomotive shed and works at Carndonagh is five feet six inches long (1.65m, 110 scale feet) but only the front ten scale feet is modelled; the shed lines run off stage through the backscene and under a raised storage area in the real world workshop. The modelled part of the loco shed is therefore only a short low relief structure.

The basic framework was made from Filcris recycled plastic topped with gables made from offcuts of OSB timber. A false roof was added made from some old plastic signs, the interior wall that is visible from the normal viewing angle was detailed with embossed planked Plastikard and Evergreen plastic strip framing. A window and roof vent were salvaged from the now ruined single road shed at Culdaff.

The exterior was clad in scale size sheets of corrugated aluminium and then painted matt black, the interior was painted in a dull brown shade. A set of fire irons were hung on the framing inside the entrance. The shed should really have some doors but I think these will get in the way in what is a confined space, maybe one day I will add some.
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The basic structure with salvaged window added.
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Shed clad in corrugated sheet.
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Completed shed in position.
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Carndonagh Station - the Indoor Section, Part 2

3/2/2015

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The completed water tower is now on site, along with the hut and urinal.
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Carndonagh Station - the Indoor Section, Part 1

30/1/2015

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I have set myself the task of completing the indoor section of the railway this winter. The indoor track was laid in early 2014, but there is a lot of scenic work to be done.
First, I fettled the warped walls and roof of the station building by heating them with a hairdryer and strengthening with off cuts of wood once the parts were straightened out.
The station platform has been given a coat of dark grey paint, but this will also be surfaced with fine grit in due course, the platform has been edged with individual slabs cut from Plastikard.
Stone walling from Modeltown, and a gate for the mill yard have been painted and glued in place along the back of the station area.
A platelayer's hut and a urinal for the staff have been made from Modeltown kits. I added a back wall, interior lining, a tiled floor and plumbing to the urinal. The hut roof has received some rust treatment since the photo below was taken.
There is a brick buttress half way along the workshop wall and I am in the process of building a large low relief water tower to disguise this feature. The base structure of the water tower was made from 6mm MDF, this was overlaid with stone effect plastic sheet for the tower and plain Plastikard with plastic strip detailing on the tank section.
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Platelayer's hut and urinal
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MDF base of the water tower
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Urinal interior
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Water tower ready for painting
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Structural Repairs

21/10/2014

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PictureRepairs completed
While I was working away on the railway extension this year, I was well aware that the woodwork retaining the front of the original layout was in need of replacement after 7 years in place. The woodwork was rotten in several places and the infill of earth and stones was leaking out, leaving the concrete base of the station as an overhanging ledge with no support along the front edge.
I had various ideas of how I would carry out repairs, including building a brick or stone wall or making a retaining wall from interlocking wood blocks. In the end I went for a cheap and quick solution, a repeat of the original method using fixed log roll panels and infilling behind, but this time infilling with concrete rather than earth or stones.

In order to get the panels as near vertical as possible, they had to be  positioned further from the front of the layout, leaving a gap between the top of the panels and the edge of the concrete; this gap also allowed for the concrete to be poured in to the void behind. First of all the narrow slab path had to be moved a short distance away from the layout, and the panels driven in immediately behind it.

In order to facilitate pouring the concrete  through the gap, the adjacent station platform on needed to be removed. Post fixing concrete was then poured dry in to the void until it was filled up to track level, eight and a half bags of concrete were needed to achieve this. The dry concrete was then well watered so that it would harden. Heavy rain the following day ensured that all the concrete was watered.

Since building the extension, the second platform at Culdaff was no longer required, it was put in to add operational flexibility to the old oval layout with one station; I decided not to reinstate it. The concrete surface beside the Culdaff passing loop represents a section of the public road; the only piece of road modelled on this roadside tramway!

The removal of the platform also resulted in a bit of signalling rationalisation, the starter signal on the removed platform was also dispensed with and the starter on the main platform was relocated to a position nearer to the signal cabin, controlling both lines.

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The rotting wood gradually falling away.
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Platform removed
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Paving slabs moved and new wood panels driven in.
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Infilling in progress
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The gap between the retaining wall and the edge.
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Job done!
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Extending the Railway - Part 7

25/8/2014

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The outdoor section of the extended railway is now complete, following the installation of the cattle dock and station fencing at Malin station. There is one more structure to be built for the outdoor section but it is a non-railway building, a watermill, to be located adjacent to the pond at Culdaff; more of that in a future post.
The cattle dock is made from a GRS kit, it is a little under scale so I have chosen some smaller members of the cattle herd to occupy it. The fencing is supposed to be painted for outdoor use but I have decided to let the steel wire rails of the fence rust nicely. Once the rust has reached an appropriate level, the cattle dock will be taken inside between running sessions. I have designed the dock so that the top section is removable, the base is made from the same recycled plastic used for the track bed; this has been screwed to the station baseboard. The Malin station yard is relatively small and it was quite a squeeze to fit the dock in. I had to cut a section out of the station platform to accommodate it.
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Base of the cattle dock and station platform
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Cattle dock prior to painting and adding water troughs
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Malin station complete
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The completed cattle dock
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Aughaclay halt, complete with nameboard and fencing
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Extending the Railway - Part 6

23/7/2014

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Malin station building has been completed. The addition of a bench, fencing and a cattle dock are required to complete the station.
The station was to be named Malin Road, supposedly being some distance from the village, but the name board would be too long for its intended position on the side wall of the gents lavatory; so Malin it is.
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Malin station building
Since building the extension, the single road loco shed at Culdaff has been made redundant; a two road loco shed and workshops will be located at Carndonagh. I also wanted to improve the goods facilities at Culdaff by utilising the loco shed siding. My initial plan was to remove the loco shed and use some of its parts in the new shed at Carn; however, the building is cemented in and removing it would require a rebuild of the area including relaying the track. I had a flash of inspiration and decided to 'ruin' the loco shed. 

The roof, windows and doors were removed; the doors and smoke vent have been saved for use elsewhere. A black rattle can of spray paint was then used to smoke stain the masonry above the windows and door apertures.

The story goes that in the early days of the line, a loco shed was provided at Culdaff to stable a loco overnight for the first up train of the following day. During the 'Troubles' in the early 1920s, the shed was burned down, with a loco inside. At the end of hostilities, a change of the working timetable meant that the shed was no longer required and so it was never rebuilt. The siding has now been equipped with a hand operated crane and facilities for unloading mineral traffic.  The ruined loco shed now functions as a rather large buffer stop; the corners of the ruin are also used to store various items of clutter.
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The loco shed before the fire
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.........and after.
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Extending the Railway - Part 5

7/7/2014

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The third, and final, Culdaff station building is now complete! I was just waiting to add the door signs, which arrived today.
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Culdaff station building.
I have also made a start on Malin Road station building, another Modeltown product.
At the time of ordering the kit, Modeltown were in the process of re-tooling and updating this kit; they kindly included the prototype for the new lavatory extension in my order. The prototype does not include a roof, I will keep the weather off the customers with some corrugated sheet. In the production version, the seated accommodation is roofed over by a water tank.

The original unroofed urinal was also included in the kit, and I will use this to provide facilities for the loco crews and workshop staff at Carndonagh.
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Malin Road station in the process of being painted.
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Extending the Railway - Part 4

28/6/2014

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PictureNew Culdaff station building.
It has been 10 months since my last blog, but I have not been idle. During the winter of 2013/14 I was busy fitting out my workshop, a brick built garage, this included re-wiring, building a workbench and baseboards and laying track for the indoor section of the extended railway.
In April work started on the outdoor section of the railway, with all track laid by 16th June. I am in the process of building a page on the construction of the new line and I hope to publish this shortly.

The Culdaff station building featured in my last post has not stood up well to life outdoors, with serious warping of the walls and roof in the warm south coast sunshine. This building has been relocated to the indoor section and will become the main station building for the line's headquarters at Carndonagh. Hopefully judicious use of a hair dryer will help remedy the warping.

The replacement Culdaff building is a modified Modeltown kit. I have given the rather bland front wall a glazed set of double doors. These were from a set of Piko doors and windows which were in my bits box. My aim was to give the impression of the glazed and panelled frontage found on many waiting rooms in Ireland, particularly on the Great Northern, County Donegal and Clogher Valley railways.

The chimney provided in the kit was rather thin and spindly, so I have cut this down so that it looks more solid and squat. Modeltown have since modified the chimney in their re-vamped version of the kit.


The original Aughaclay station has found a new use as a halt halfway along the new line at the triangular junction. The extension building was removed, this will be re-used on the indoor section, and the waiting shelter and ticket office was given a new coat of paint to represent whitewash. It is painted with exterior masonry paint and the colour is named 'Buttermilk' which has a slight off white appearance. The halt will be named Aughaclay, using the original name board; which is almost as long as the very short platform!

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The old Aughaclay building is separated
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Aughaclay halt
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