Moving Upstairs - The Philip's Creek Overbridge

With the work on the Hunter River Bridge and the area north of Singleton now substantially complete, my focus is moving to the upper level of the layout and the refurbishment of the Philip's Creek township. In the reorientation after the move, much of the earlier Philip's Creek was demolished and is to be replaced. 

However, the first project arose unexpectedly. I had been musing about how I could connect the 'commercial area' (one pub and two shops) and the railway station. A good mate recently invested in a 3D printer and offered to print a rail overbridge based on a standard NSWR North Coast Railway design. He printed the bridge superstructure (beams and deck) in two parts and separate prints for each pier set and abutment. In addition, the fence frames was printed in four separate pieces, two per side.

The components were glued together with superglue and I overlaid the 'deck' with a sheet of Evergreen styrene V grove to simulate the actual timber decking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commercial CGI sheet was glued to the handrails to complete the barrier fencing and the superstructure was fitted to the pier sets in preparation for painting.

Once painted, the overbridge was fitted and then glued into position.

All that needs to be done now is to complete this project is to undertake some significant earthworks to create the bridge approaches but that's a story for another time.

Many thanks Ian.

 

As a footnote, the standard design provides for both a single and two way road widths. The single lane version has four bearers while the two lane bridge has five. The modeled overbridge is a two lane version but only has four bearers. We both realised this error after the event but it is not obvious from normal operating positions. Maybe, I should put load limit signage on the bridge approaches!

 

 

 

Hunter River Bridge - Finishing the Scene - 2

Well, I have finally got to the point when it was time to add 'water' to the Hunter River.  

In preparation, I painted extra trees on the backdrop to represent the foliage on the river banks and added trees and scrub on the terrain close to the backdrop. I also installed formwork to retain the 'water' while it is curing.

'Adding the water' was a task I approached with a degree of well founded trepidation. I used a product called Feast Watson Glass Finish available at Bunnings. It is a two part product and this was where my problems started. I don't think, I mixed it thoroughly. After it was poured onto the baseboard, it cured properly in most areas but, in a couple of spots, it remained in a viscous form. In addition, the surface crazed in some places. I wasn't too worried about the crazing as this is meant to represent a flowing river rather than a very still lake, so some turbulence can be anticipated. However, the soft spots remained a challenge.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and there probably are a few things I would have done differently. Obviously, I would have been more thorough in my mixing process. I would also have poured the product in two thinner layers rather than a 5mm single pour. However, it is what it is, and once the pour had been completed and the soft spot problem had emerged, I turned to gloss Modpodge. I dabbed it onto the soft spots and a few other locations to simulate turbulence around flood debris and the piers. A few twigs were used to simulate drift wood on the river flats and these also serve to mark where the soft spots are.

There is still few more things to complete. I need to install check rails on the bridge as well as a conduit which was slung just below the sleepers.

The short video below shows 4449 hauling  stock wagons north towards Muswellbrook and beyond. The video was taken as the Modpodge was curing hence the few white spots.  But at least now, when a train crosses the bridge, I can see its reflection in the 'water' below.