Down on Beaverbrook: Once, twice, three times a…

Grade crossing! Yes it’s taken me weeks to generate enough energy to tackle this tricky but necessary step on Beaverbrook’s scenic journey…

It was for reasons like this that I included the tricky curved street crossing on Beaverbrook.

Beaverbrook almost feels like street running when you’re there or in my case visiting by Google Earth. That said there are in fact just grade crossings rather than proper buried track. On my horizontal compression of the street I’ve included three, including the cross street curved trackage that in reality curves across a block and to the Holcim cement plant.

The roads themselves have been cut from Daler 1.5mm mounting card, glued on top of a cork base to give a variation in height and some camber. These were sealed with MDF sanding sealer, to protect them from moisture later in the build. The road infills though are perhaps prone to more damage during cleaning or operation and I hadn’t a firm decision on what to use, nor even how is tackle the tricky curved crossing.

In the end I needn’t have worried, the method I used to cut the curved edges either side of the rails also worked for the centre. Taking a pencil and sheet of paper I did a ‘brass rubbing’ of the rails. I cut this out to check it would fix, and then used it as a template on the card, being careful to cut inset about 1mm each side of the line for some flange clearance. Checking for fit some small adjustments were necessary before superglue was applied to the edges of the board to seal and harden it against damage.

Spots of superglue on each tie before pressing it firmly into place secured it, before the easier sections on the straight track at each end of the street. With that step accomplished I decided it would be timely to begin to level up the bases for the buildings. These should be styrene so that the building can be easily located and no gap will be visible. However, for the styrene not to sag the base needs to be pretty level so various bits of cork have been used to build up the ground in the shape that matches the prototype too!

Once I’m happy with the foundations I can add some filler to blend the edges of the cork and smooth out variations… then it’s a coat of earth coloured emulsion as a base for the scenic work, but at that stage I can paint sleepers and rails and watch the railway begin to come to life. I plan to use the same method as Mollington Road for painting and treating the road surface itself, that will follow track and ballasting.

For now the layout is feeling like it’s progressing nicely at a comfortable pace amongst a variety of projects from ground work to structure and stock. As I type a ScaleTrains SDL39 is on the plane too, I’m sure I’ve mentioned before the fact that 582 visited Moncton in 1999 before spending a few months on trial on Prince Edward Island, it’s 2300hp enough to replace the pair of GMD1 that had been used on the heavier trains since H&M took over operation on behalf of the province after CN sold it off at privatisation… 

An overview of the layout, showing how the road and trees have begun to hint at the character of the final layout,

This layout is so straightforward but provides a great deal of pleasure in both its research, construction and operation. It’s character defined by the stock it’s a wonderful blank canvas, as Pont-y-dulais. I hope you’re enjoying the journey as well, in the meantime more soon…