I hope that some of you might be interested in my latest project on my garden line. I've been constructing this railway for about four years from an original idea that somehow didn't pan out and each stage seems to evolve from previous false starts and ideas. The main scenic part of the railway is constructed on a raised bed with an extended running line that is built on planks on upright posts, the scenic area is the part that I'm currently developing. Originally I had no intention of having a tunnel as I didn't think that there was really the space, but when I scraped the chippings back to construct a road as part of a village scene and saw this potential mound, I realised that there was the possibility, also egged on by friends in my local 16mm group.
The photos I hope give you an idea of how I'm going about it. The banked up chippings will eventually be covered with soil and planted with suitable 16mm scale alpine type plants and the top of the tunnel will be covered over in sections and eventually developed into a diorama scene, possibly a street, but not along it's entire length as I think it would be too much. Time will tell on that subject.
'I couldn't find any commercial tunnel portals that were narrow enough so I decided to make my own. They have been made using some mosaic type tiling material obtained cheaply when my local diy shed closed down, glued to a substrate of paxolin that I had saved for years wondering what I was ever going to do with it and then grouted with some waterproof tile grout. It may not be true to any prototype but I think that it looks fairly realistic, I will be adding some 'wing walls' to the portals from the same materials which hopefully will be done in the not too distant future.
By the way the tree stump will eventually have ivy growing to hopefully disguise it.