Building the High Line

While preparing a summary page of all the modules in Utrainia, I realised that I hadn't actually posted anything about the construction of my second module. Let's fix that...

I have a particular fascination with snow, and have spent many weeks in the USA trudging up hills through knee deep snow and chasing blizzards to get the perfect snow photos. I always enjoy it and I love the look of fresh snow on the railroad. So for my second module I decided to model a stretch of the BNSF "hi-line" in Montana, where the BNSF main line crosses Glacier National Park. Full of conifers and representing mountain railroading at its finest this seemed the logical place to model. This module is the transition between double track and single track mainline, and so features signals, a #10 switch, a switch heater (to stop the points icing up), a signal shed, and some assorted railway detritus.

The inspiration for the scene is this wonderful photo of the ...

Masterton model train show

This weekend was the Masterton Model Train show, something I had been looking forward to for quite some time. Rachel and I went along mid-Saturday to have a look around.

There were a wide variety of railways on show, including a pleasingly strong showing of N scale.

The Wairarapa Railway Modellers had both their club layouts there: an HO folded loop that had several trains running at once through a nice variety of scenery.

Motorised Dandruff were there with some very fine hand laid track. I was particularly interested...

The modules of Utrainia

Utrainia is a modular railway, with each piece connecting to another to form a large continuous railway. Each module is roughly 750mm long and has removable legs so it is freestanding. I have moved around a lot over the last 10 years so it makes sense to build a railway that can move with me. I find 750mm is exactly my attention span: I can remain completely focused and not get distracted, then 2 months later I am ready for another completely different scene. I can have snow in one scene, and prairie in another, and the sea in the next.

Kaikoura Coast

The Kaikoura coast along the South Island is one of my favourite stretches of scenery in New Zealand. It also helps that the railway line through there is stunning, skirting along the sea shore before plunging into tunnels. Having taken a cab ride through there with the late Colin Kemp, it also holds a special memory. And when I left the South Island to live in Masterton, the Kaikoura coast put on a stunning show of po...

An engaging build, part 2

Continued from part 1...

The Church

Raparapa is a very cozy little town, so a small village church seemed appropriate. I based the model on a real church here in Masterton, opposite the SPCA where our kitten came from.

Working from Google Street View, I sat down with a pencil and paper and sketched up full size elevations of the building to check proportions and sizes.

I then quick quickly cut out all the walls, found some window castings, and set to work:

An engaging build, part 1

Fraternal Republic of Utraijnia recently take great pride in celebrating royal engagement of Prince Mikhail Douglaski and Rahela Annushka. Special steam train make maiden voyage to glorious fan fare!

Here we see the steam train special posed at the station as the royal party disembark. Many Utrainian residents drove considerable distances to attend the celebrations, for the steam train was a very notable event; not only was it the royal-proposal-train, but it was also the first train to ever run on the real (model) Utrainia.

The new terminus of Utrainia is now Raparapa, which is a portmanteau of "Wairarapa" and Rachel's initials, R A P. I built the village of Raparapa in order to propose to Rachel, a task it achieved most splendidly!

I tried to remem...

Installing the rockfall shelter portals

The rockfall shelter is continuing nicely. Yesterday I spent some time cutting slots in the rock to accept the end walls of the shelter. This involved lots of slow sawing with a broken hacksaw blade, and lots of plaster dust everywhere.

Today I did a test fit and all went well. So I mixed up some "super concrete" which is pre-mixed patching plaster and PVA. The PVA makes it stickier and easier more pliable. I filled the slots with a generous helping and then pushed the portals into it. Hopefully when the plaster dries the PVA will help hold the portals in place. Any gaps I carefully filled with my "super concrete", and I added a good thing seam to the inside edges.

A machinist's square helped keep things nice and square, and a selection of overly large wagons helped check clearances.