A Midsummer Night's Dream

Another point for Rothervale has now been built and the Midland Railway station building is well under way.

Here is the latest point, which has a 1:9.25 degree crossing and a length of 8 inches. Click on the pictures for larger images - but please don't look too closely!

As with the longer point illustrated last time, I still have a lot of finishing off to do - but will do this once the point is secured to the baseboard. I was really dreading building these points, but in reality have not found them particularly difficult or time consuming to make. If I can do it, almost anyone can, so don't be frightened - give it a try!

The station building is based on Water Orton, but has been back-dated to a slightly earlier style of architecture - a kind of prequel, I guess. So far, only the lower floor has been assembled, but the upper floor is in progress.

The structure is being built using using plasticard, so I'm feeling quite high on Mek-Pak at the moment . I am making the 2 floors and the roof separately, so that I can easily add interior detailing. It should also help with the painting. The window frames will be adapted from Scalelink etches. The building will be installed next to a substantial overbridge. I will paint and weather both at the same time, to ensure a consistent finish.

A Bit of History
Through further research I have discovered, much to my surprise, that there really was a south-to-east link between the North Midland line and the Worksop to Sheffield line, called the North Staveley curve. The trackbed appears to have remained intact well into the 1980s, if not later. It has since been landscaped over, but not built on. My idea of getting Sheffield to Worksop trains to call at Rothervale is feasible after all. Here is a plan of how the various lines now fit together:

The LD&EC line to Clowne would provide a more direct link to the Robin Hood line than my original idea of running trains via Staveley. It also means that I have a junction within modelling distance of the station. The LD&EC line remained open as a colliery line most of the way to Clowne until the 1980s. Just west of Clowne, I will assume that a connection was made to the Midland's Staveley-Creswell line, as bridges beyond here on the LD&EC line were demolished some time ago.

So, A Midsummer Night's Dream is becoming a reality! With a lot of money and imagination, it really could all have happened. In fact, you could say I'm feeling quite SNUG. Let's hope my enthusiasm doesn't BOTTOM out - or my mind switches OBERON to a new project. I might PUCK up the courage to redo the fiddle yard next.

Oh dear - I'd better keep away from the Mek-Pak for a few days, I think.....