Loco shed for Evans Gap

The process of constructing and landscaping a layout, I've found, can be quite a fluid thing. When I was putting together the original ideas for Splitters Swamp Creek, I had fairly lofty ideas of what I could include in the design. As time has gone on I've changed some ideas and tweaked a few others, but overall I've stuck to the original concept.

Due to space restrictions I've had to alter some ideas, but I have found a little more room than I originally thought I had. In a previous post I put together some buildings with some new weathering ideas with the idea of creating a scene at the end of the layout. This was a complete departure from the original plan. The picture I had in my head for this area was well and truly out of scale. So it now resides elsewhere on a mates layout.

I reverted to the original plan that included some basic loco facilities. Those being a loco shed, coal stage, and a second goods shed. Once I'd made the decision to revert to the original idea things have started to move forward nicely.

I've began with the locomotive shed. The area that the shed occupies has meant that the baseboard has had to be altered to how I'd finished it for scenery work. Thats ok as like I said I need to keep the process fluid. I have worked out the footprint of the loco shed and the coal stage and they work in well. The coal stage has been finished and the scenery will be added to the base before adding it into the environment.

The loco shed has been a bit of a process to construct. I like to try and keep the timber to the scale sizes that were used in the original building, and also I like to try to copy my impression of how it would have been constructed in the real. I decided to build individual frames for each 'bay' of the shed, and then use a jig to hold each frame to then allow the studded walls to be added. In theory this would work. In practice it proved very challenging. A couple of photos here to illustrate.

 This first one shows the frame that I made up sited in the jig. These worked ok, but when added to the jig in the photo below and the wall detail added, they just weren't strong enough.

The individual noggins ( I hope that's the right term) had to be cut up in matching parts for bay 1,2,3, and 4. As you can see from the numbers on the plan.

It seems I'd forgotten a rule that I'd made up myself. That being that the model construction had to be as close to the original as possible, only as far as the resulting structure has to be strong and rigid enough to be self supporting. The building in the photos above was not.

So what now? Well I actually went back to online photos, whether they were from facebook or other sources. The result was an idea to construct the walls differently, and it seemed, closer to how they were, rather than the written plan. I need to be ready to restart something that just isn't working. Instead of flogging a dead horse.

Above you can see that I've constructed a whole side of the building over the plan. I did the same for the other three walls. I haven't discussed windows, so here's a photo update. I chose one as close as possible, however they are not perfect, but close enough I think. Those are the ones from tichy train group #8157.

With all four sides completed I joined them together and placed them on the layout for a mockup of that area of the layout. The coal stage is in the shot also. The base board has been trimmed since then to fit the space available on the layout.

Next has been the construction of the roof. I kept the original frames and removed the 'legs' to just have the truss. The jig is a simple one, but serves its purpose well.

Next is the addition of the smoke hood that goes down the centre of the building. This has been a little bit of a steep learning curve also, with a change of process on this as well. Basically it will be board by board as seen here.

That's where I'm up to today. It has been a challenging build, and not over yet by a mile, but enjoyable.
more progress soon.
Have a great week!
Oorroo!
Geoff.