I was wondering. Those of you who have station platforms on your layout - how do you equalise the levels between the street and your platforms? A platform is 12mm high, so the passengers need to escalate somehow.
I'm guessing the simplest answer is some scratch-built steps, but more realistically, to raise the level of the street to the same level as the platform.
Any chance I can see some pics of how everyone else has done it? 😏
Quote from: Richey1977 on March 19, 2014, 11:17:51 PM
Any chance I can see some pics of how everyone else has done it? 😏
By coincidence I am working on this topic at this very moment. I've raised the level of the street by 12mm. I am using 1mm card for this and there will be two layers. One is flat and the other is cambered by placing a strip of card down the middle of the first. Haven't worked out how much camber yet. There is also a footpath 0.5mm thick as well. So, I need to raise the card by 9.5mm. To do this I cut a load of strips of card 9.5mm wide and glued them onto the first layer of the road in a frame with several cross bracing pieces until I was happy that it was stiff and rigid. Then the cambered layer and footpath are glued on top. (There is a very good article on road building in the tutorial section of this forum.)
In my particular case I have a big wall at the other side of the road which provides the side of a higher level track. I'm using Scalescenes Low Relief Arches for this complete with under arch shops and workshops.
Hope to publish some pictures showing the build process in my construction thread in a week or two.
Bob
I just made ramps... The 'steps' part of the operation is in my imagination... :-[
Both steps and ramps. The outer ends of my platforms slope towards car parks and access paths while there are steps down to any roads at the rear of the station .
Hope this helps.
Komata
'TVR - serving the Northern Taranaki . . . "
BTW: You could always follow the US pattern and have no platforms per se'.
Platforms are rarely the same as street level in flat terrain areas as it's usually the tracks that are on the same level ground as surrounding streets (albeit slightly built up on their ballast base), so not sure how 'realistic' building the street up would be? The platforms are nearly always built-up structures with access via steps, ramps or both ;)
My platforms are accessed through the main station building which is on the same level, with steps up to it from street level :thumbsup:
Paul
I built up the road and surrounding area to platform level at one end of the station with an down hill section to the level crossing as show here
(http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/60/thumb_3561.jpg) (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=3561)
That looks awesome caz, glad this question was asked as I too would like something like this for my little branch station after I watched the uk sitcom oh dr beeching. I really like the station and it's surrounds and yes I will have a Harry standing in the doorway of the signal box :D
Bart
Quote from: whiteswan on March 20, 2014, 09:05:16 AM
I built up the road and surrounding area to platform level at one end of the station with an down hill section to the level crossing as show here
(http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/60/thumb_3561.jpg) (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=3561)
Sorry Caz :-[ but looks like a 'elf & safety officers worst nightmare. :-X No demarcation between road and platform, potential for road vehicles to mix with pedestrians, potential for vehicle to access running line. Surely there needs to be some form of barrier between the two areas. At our local (end of Branch) station there are steps and a disabled persons access ramp to the front access to the station ticket office. There used to be a direct level access to the platform but this was via a narrow pedestrian gate and has now been closed off to 'improve security' i.e. make sure everyone on the platform has a ticket
The only way onto/off the platform on Dunestone (a terminus) will be via the station building at the end of the platform. I will assume there will be some steps/ramp inside the station booking hall...
Quote from: Sprintex on March 20, 2014, 06:03:47 AM
Platforms are rarely the same as street level in flat terrain areas as it's usually the tracks that are on the same level ground as surrounding streets (albeit slightly built up on their ballast base), so not sure how 'realistic' building the street up would be? The platforms are nearly always built-up structures with access via steps, ramps or both ;)
My platforms are accessed through the main station building which is on the same level, with steps up to it from street level :thumbsup:
Paul
Perhaps not 'streets' as such, but many of my regularly-used stations have car parks or some sort of space in front of the station building that's at the same level as the platforms, so there's no 'stepping up' to platform level.
I'll give it some thought. Thanks for the replies and photos.
Quote from: ColinH on March 20, 2014, 04:00:38 PM
Quote from: whiteswan on March 20, 2014, 09:05:16 AM
I built up the road and surrounding area to platform level at one end of the station with an down hill section to the level crossing as show here
(http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/60/thumb_3561.jpg) (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=3561)
Sorry Caz :-[ but looks like a 'elf & safety officers worst nightmare. :-X No demarcation between road and platform, potential for road vehicles to mix with pedestrians, potential for vehicle to access running line. Surely there needs to be some form of barrier between the two areas. At our local (end of Branch) station there are steps and a disabled persons access ramp to the front access to the station ticket office. There used to be a direct level access to the platform but this was via a narrow pedestrian gate and has now been closed off to 'improve security' i.e. make sure everyone on the platform has a ticket
That wasn´t élf and safety in the fifties, people just took more care and responsibility for their own actions. The station is modelled on the original Bampton & Brize Norton Station on the Fairfield Branch, picture of the original below. For more pictures of the Fairfield Branch see this part of my layout thread http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=6570.msg114855#msg114855 (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=6570.msg114855#msg114855)
(http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/60/thumb_3560.jpg) (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=3560)
No criticism intended Caz. I think your layout is brilliant and your postings are always most interesting and informative. Hope I did not offend.
Quote from: ColinH on March 20, 2014, 06:19:37 PM
No criticism intended Caz. I think your layout is brilliant and your postings are always most interesting and informative. Hope I did not offend.
None taken Colin, just wanted to show how things were really like back then without all this H&S :censored: ;) :)
The images raise a question for which I have never had a satisfactory answer; the matter of railway yard surfaces:
(and no, this sis not an intentional hijacking of the thread)
We are all told that it is absolutely essential that we place our rails on a sub-base (usually cork, or similar). This is fair enough, but what happens in our modelled railway yards? Placing track on a sub-base rises the track by 'X' mm above the baseboard, yet in full-sized railway yards the yard surface is invariably level with the top of the rails, or at least with the tops of the sleepers.
If we try to emulate this on our models, by adding ballast within the yard that is up to rail (or at least sleeper) height, the access road/s that enters the now-raised 'raised' yard from 'outside' inevitably rises ABOVE the level of those 'outside' roads. This looks very unrealistic of course, and quite unlike anything in the 'real' world.
Obviously we can't dig into our baseboard (although no doubt some do) to lower the rails, so what is the solution?
Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks
Now, to return to 'platforms'
The real world is not a baseboard, much as the Flat Earth Society would like us to think otherwise. Even in nominally flat areas like parts of East Anglia there are subtle ups and downs, and in fenland the railway is usually raised a little above the surroundings for drainage purposes. So if the yard has been constructed with the surface level with the rails, its access road would simply slope up or down to reach the level of the road it was connected to.
Thanks Edwin, I was trying to say the same thing but my brain can't seem to assemble a coherent post tonight.
What do you mean, it isn't just tonight ;) lol
Lay the track on a thin base. Cover the rest of the space with a thicker base.
With Kato track for example its not uncommon to put cork sheet on the board (loose), lay the track on it, cut the shape of the track out and then fit the track (on its ballast) to the board and the cork sheet everywhere else. You can make your sheet or foam or whatever much higher if you want and then carve it down to the level needed.
Alan