Silicon Valley Free-Mo-N Passenger Station Module

Thanks Dave! What can I say about the lack of scrub.... mostly my hands were cramping up yesterday, and the sun was getting hot, so decided it was time to stop, take photos and clean up.

Was thinking about a shade tree or two in town. Wasn't sure whether I should make it (them) bare and dead, or still alive. I have never done a tree from scratch, and most commercial trees are not appropriate for the scene, so a living one may be something that will wait for future enhancement.

 

I finished up adding the flora to the ghost town and around the surrounding desert. I consider this module pretty much "done" (at least until I find my coyotes, and maybe get a burro)

Here's a close up of the new Fifer building



and, an overhead shot of the town

 

Here's looking from the back side of town



and here is looking up from the wash



I took a lot of my inspiration for the town from the real ghost town of Rhyolite, NV, just outside of Death Valley. Wrong plants (have items from Sonoran, Mojave and other deserts), wrong topography... but inspiration.

 

With San Felipe "finished", started actual work on the Silicon Valley station. This module will not be complete before the Sept 7 show, but as my video showed, it is operational.

I trimmed the road bed along the double station tracks, to allow the platforms to be positioned up close to the tracks (with enough of clearance for the all the fancy heavy steam engines (AC-12s, Big Boys, etc) with whatever they may have hanging off their sides.

Next, I made the passenger crossing sections for right at the central station building. I actually got these painted (but they are not yet attached). The paving is just below the rail head, so nothing should catch (clears all my cars and locos which I have tested so far)



I then started the plaza area in front of the main building. At a scale height of 44 inches, there has to be a stepped entrance to the station. The pencil marks that you see are the steps leading to the platform (with it extended flush at the top). There are also ADA ramps on each end

 

Next was to see how this all looked with trains and buses at the station, even without the actual steps built.

From overhead



Looking along the tracks


and looking at the front of the plaza

 

Spent a little bit of timing learning how to use Photoshop (just got it recently, and only used very basic functions up until now). This is a composite of the photo of San Felipe from the wash superimposed on the mountains as seen from Death Valley looking east (from the Borax Processing exhibit, to be exact)

 

Got the plaza steps built and test fitted. Have a primer coat on it (not shown) and will do final paint tomorrow, along with some further platform and parking lot layout.







The two triangular areas formed by the ramps will have trees and/or shrubs.

 

Last night and Today was long tedious day... ballasting the approx 36 feet of track on the station module, including the 4 switches. I got the freight track done last night after dinner, then, prior to starting on the dual passenger tracks, I took a rubbing of the tracks. See, there is still a use for the old fan-fold dot matrix printer paper!



Why, you ask? Well, since I want the station platform to conform to the curvature of the track, this ensures I have an "as built" template versus any planning template I might have.

After that, spent quite a few hours chugging away at ballasting. Haven't done this many linear feet at one time, ever, and my back is now paying for it. Sections still drying in this photo



Here is a close up of the station and completed plaza. I am now marking out the platform "wings" on the rubbing, which I will then use to cut out the styrene. There will be lift out platforms across the section gaps, so that I don't have styrene sheets free floating on the edges. They will be about 20 scale feet wide.

 

Necessity being the mother of invention, I found myself in need of a light box to transfer the templates I made on the computer paper rubbings for the platforms to the sheet styrene.



By Sunday evening, all the platforms were cut and assembled

 

Today, got the platforms painted, including yellow safety line along the track edge. I just had to see what it all looked like with a couple of long named trains, so here are the pics, with an 11 car CoLA, pulled by an E9 A/B next to a 12 car El Capitan, pulled by an F7 ABBA string. These fit perfectly with just enough room for either to move and clear the other. The only train that won't fit in the station is a full 18-car consist of the Morning Daylight.

 

The brown strips are a sloped embankment, which will have plants, between the raised platform and the parking lots





And here you can see the yellow safety stripes

 

Here is a photo of an underside. I use lots of "piers" although they are really just strips on edge. This isn't pretty



And, the same piece right side up

 

Thanks, Dave. I do plan to have lighting, just haven't decided on exactly what and where. There will be benches on the platforms, along with some classic train poster art, and more modern CalTrain signage

Next comes parking lots, sidewalks, houses on one side, a park on the other, a large industrial building, MOW area, two overpasses, one at either end, maybe some Downtown Deco buildings on the far side of the freight tracks, .... LOL. And with the size, lots and lots of people, possibly.

Plus, lots of trees, and about a scale mile of fencing! But, this is about what will be seen this coming weekend at the show.