Building the Beach Station

Work is continuing on my layout during the two week break that I've had between model train shows, with the former two track staging yard now looking more and more like a finished diorama.

I was also lucky enough to find another brass-coloured station name to match in with the four other NSWGR destination board signs that are already mounted on the rest of my layout. Lindfield, for those who aren't familiar with Sydney, Australia, is a station located on the North Shore Line via the Harbour Bridge.

The foundations for the brick platform edging were laser cut by Stuart from Walker Models.

Constructing the curved brick platform for Phills Harbour was a lot more difficult than the platform that I built for Philden Station three years back, but was made a lot easier by the fact that the brick platform edging was laser cut for me by my good friend Stuart from Walker Models up at Coolum Beach. All I had to do was paint it, which consisted of nothing more than mixing a white-ish wash of mortar mix to swear over the brickwork and gently wipe away before it completely dried, leaving it congealed in the mortar lines only. The bricks are simply unpainted MDF board, (that with the white smear of paint) are a great match for the modern orange-cream brick that was used on Grafton Station on the North Coast Line.

I used two A4 sheets of paper to trace the outline for the top platform area.

I made the platform surface from 4 millimetre MDF board, and to work out the clearance and overhang for the rail side of the platform, I simply used two pieces of A4 copy paper to outline the platform edge with a lead pencil. I then cut the outline using a pair of scissors, and traced the outline of this with a lead pencil direct onto the MDF sheet, which was then cut using a sharp hobby knife before sanding the edges smooth with some extra fine sandpaper.

An overhead view to test that the 2 car Xplorer actually cleared the platform edging.

The single piece platform was then placed into position to test the clearance with my 2 car Xplorer train, (the longest piece of rollingstock which operates on my layout).

The single piece 4 millimetre MDF board platform showing the cut out area to house the lighting.

I want the station building, or in this case the Countrylink Travel Centre, to be removable for if I ever need to change LED lights which I will install from beneath once this scene is completed. So I cut a large opening beneath where the structure will stand on the platform before I began painting.

The overpass at the southern end of the station area includes these cool banana trees from Modellers Warehouse.

While I kept coming back to apply several thin coats of acrylic paint to the platform over the course of a week, I also rebuilt the concrete overpass that disguises the number 2 mouse-hole entrance/exit between the two layout sections while I had my layout in pieces. With the third track now removed and the remaining tracks straightened out into a more gentler curve, there was no need for me to have the concrete walls fanned out into such a noticeable angle. Especially with the larger locomotives such as the NR and L Class locos I once had on my roster now long departed. What that required however, was for me to build the concrete abutments double-sided as you can see above. I painted these to match the concrete abutments on the other side of the mouse-hole highway overpass that leads to Philden Station at the same time that I painted the platform.

Once finished, I glued the new highway overpass into position, patched the ballast on the areas beside the concrete abutment, and super detailed the rock scenery with over 200 individually applied grass tufts and the great banana trees you can see in the photo above which I purchased from Modellers Warehouse at the recent Strathpine Model Train Show.

The finished platform glued into place showing the box housing for the removable Travel Centre.

The entire station area then had the same scenery treatment applied, with a couple of gum trees added in areas that won't impede operation, some rubbish bins behind the far end of the platform and another of the fantastic palm trees from Modellers Warehouse added down at the beach level. I almost used all of the 420 grass tufts I bought on this extension alone. Finally, I then glued the single piece platform into place and stood back to admire the scene so far.

The first look at my Countrylink Travel centre sitting snugly on the platform inside the box housing.

I used unpainted white polystyrene strips to build the box that will house the Travel Centre on the platform, and the base of the structure fits perfectly inside. I've never worked extensively with styrene before now, but its something I'm going to have to do as there are no Australian models available of anything that resembles the modern era Countrylink Travel Centres that were rolled out in the early 1990's, around the same time that my 2 car Xplorer train was introduced into service. As a starting point, I bought a cheap one-colour plastic kit for $10 on eBay. For that price it was cheaper than buying a single sheet of 4 mm styrene and included the postage price from China! At least it gave me 4 walls that I could use as a starting point to construct my model around.

I then stocked up with the other sheet styrene I needed at the recent Strathpine Model Train Show, and can now begin building the platform awnings and angled roofing that will cover the road coach set down area that you can see in the photo above. The roofing will all connect to the rectangular Travel Centre building to create the effect of being one big, modern monstrosity.

The view from what will be the front of the beach extension.

So with next weekend's Redlands Model Train Show being Philden's final outing for the year, it seems I'm agonisingly close to having the new extension completed in time. Only, once more I will have the layout displayed from the other side, and the new extension will remain hidden for now from the public behind the reversible backdrop. After the Redlands Model Train Show, I will have a break of 8 months before I exhibit the layout again, which will give me plenty of time to complete the extension to my liking, including adding lighting, figures, more palm trees and finishing the Travel Centre with a complete interior. By the time I display my layout again at next year's Brisbane Model Train Show, the layout, including the new extension, will be as finished as it's ever going to be! And then I can move onto my next project.

See also; Straightening the Beach Extension