So out with the jigsaw and other powertools... I ended up with this...
The plan was to have a culvert originally but like all things, subject to change which it did.
The bridge was made of electrical conduit and then the tops claded with wood. A footbridge has been made in a similar fashion.
Track was dropped on top to make sure the top of the bridge was level with the top of the board before the sleepers were cut three at first but then I opted for five as it looked better and made the bridge look longer.
A platform was dropped in to see if it would look good with my leek and manifold waiting room / toilet on it.
A L&M coach was used as a "if this fits, everything will fit" but then I read the specs on the 16mm page and pushed it back further... the Roundhouse VoR is really wide!
While all this was going on I made a Foamboard Culvert to fill the hole...
and then painted it and glued rocks in...
I also made the classic mistake of ballasting the track before doing the main ground cover...
So thought I'd better do something about that and painted the board green... its amazing how far a tin of Humbrol Enamel goes...
I then had a moment of madness and ripped the foam board culvert out to replace it with an actual working water feature...
This was made using a piece of plastic guttering, some stones from the garden and a few lumps of ballast from work, a plant pot, some jenga bricks, a length of hose, a stack n store and a pond pump.
It took a fair bit to get it to seal resulting in using half a tube of silicon at one end and a lot of hot glue at the other end.
But it sealed eventually! and so making it less obvious what it really is had begun...
A few odds and sods were thrown in to make it look natural or as natural as you can get with a coopercraft wheelset and a peco sleeper in a stream... but its not unknown!
I had planned on having a little goods loading bay on the end of the platform with a pick up truck collecting some milk urns... but the steering wheel is on the wrong side and its a very american car so its now been removed in favour of a wide path to the station.
Had a bit of a photo shoot because the stream was now disguised...
The fencing is our favourite material... coffee stirrers! Painted brown
and the foot crossing is a mix of balsa wood and foam board.
Again, painted brown...
I found a coarse sand that isn't far off scale for a gravel so a tub of that later and I have made a few footpaths from it. It may get a bit of paint on it to tone it down a bit but I kinda like it as it is.
It's even good for creekbeds...
But overall it looks good!
Now I'm starting on the small details to add that little bit of extra wow... and I've started with an old saying. The Station is called "Upchit Creek" and has a Paddle stand for the local water sports centre at the end of the footpath... unfortunately the Paddle salesman is out of stock so those who don't bring their own are up a creek without a paddle...
Now there's one corner of the module that is a bit barren at the moment... well it was until earlier today when a piece of oo gauge track was laid to represent 15" gauge with a small loco and two wagons. There's also a water tower. If and when I build more modules then this will get longer and indeed work.
At present all it needs is grass and platform furniture and it can be called finished but I have plans to put a real plant on it somewhere as well if I can get it to fit without compromising the structural integrity of the module.
