One slight digression was that the webbing between the sleepers was cut away for the section over the viaduct. Regarding creaks, etc., out of curiosity I once used a dial indicator to measure the deflection of the bridge while an HO scale 20T shay passed over it: The outer edge deflected about .010" while the inside deflected .002". It appears to experience similar stresses as a full scale curved bridge might experience, but Titebond wood glue is strong enough to hold it together.

They were then soaked in strong tea and vinegar for a week to bring out the natural wood colouring and grain before washing with a light brown water colour. While this webbing is not normally visible thanks to the ballast, on the exposed section of the viaduct the plastic under the rails would have been very obvious and ruined the look.I did consider adding a mid-span support, but I couldn't figure a way to make it look other than really odd, so I laminated strips of wood on a curved form and the next thing you know... If I was running that motor on the lower level I'd have the throttle wideopen to get out from under before... In the diorama, trains will emerge from a tunnel, curve around and over a viaduct and disappear into another tunnel. Another reason for taking the build-and-slide approach is that this won’t be the final viaduct. When time allows I want to create a miniature version of the Trenance Viaduct and use this in the scene. A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.

Passengers are required to get off the train and walk across and re-board the train on the other side. By the way, I like your idea of the crew putting the train on "auto-pilot," so no lives are at risk. The image that creates in my mind makes me smile. As a finishing touch for the photograph, I took an N scale figure and placed him in the cab of the locomotive. Once I was happy with the shape, plaster cloth was then placed over the top and painted with an undercoat.

My wishlist on Metcalfe Models

To recap, this layout will eventually be a model railway of Southern England. Obviously, this is a huge undertaking and will require a LONG time and also a lot of space so I’m building it in regions and the first one being Cornwall. Scatter and vegetation were added using the technique covered here and static grass with my favourite applicator. Just to make life a bit more challenging, I want to scratch build it in its original Masonry & timber form seen here. This, of course, is going to be a challenge and will take some time so until then the wooden structure fills the gap — literally — safe in the knowledge that when Trenance is ready, I can slide out the current wooden and slot in the new version. A Tale of Two Tunnels