Challenge - Radcliffe to Harby & Stathern

[hertsbob]

Hi

After having dithered for a long time I thought I'd finally throw my hat into the ring.

My route forms a part of the LNWR and GN joint line and was also known as the Barnstone Branch.

It will run from Radcliffe on Trent via the Great Northern Nottingham-Grantham line and down the Barnstone Branch at Saxondale Junction. I'm planning to take it as far as Harby & Stathern (which was designated as the main exchange station for the line despite being in the middle of nowhere), and had a large goods yard as well as a turntable.

My main reasons for entering the challenge are to try and improve the speed of my scenery laying, and also to see whether I can get scenarios to work! I'm intending that this route will become the basis for something bigger at some stage, and as a result I'm going to have to put Portals in all over the place which is something I've never done before either.

I'll post up more once I get on with it... Having issues with the loading screen not appearing, no DEM, and no proper route markers at the minute!

Onwards and upwards!

Cheers

Bob

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Bob

Welcome to the Challenge.

Although it will be a tough call to finish a route completely in such a relatively short period of time, any experience gained from a concentrated effort like this should be very useful in the future.

[hertsbob]

Thanks

That's what I'm hoping! Part of me thinks it's going to be relatively straightforward, but deep down I know it's going to be anything but that!

Cheers

Bob

[hertsbob]

Having seen some of the screenshots people have posted I'm feeling somewhat out of my depth; certainly in terms of speed...

However. I do have a working turntable, which is nice. I've laid the main line, which is about 10 miles - trying to fit the gradient profile to the DEM has taken ages.

Had I managed to get my loading screen working (which I haven't) it would have looked like this:


The turntable works, and I'm now absolutely sure that I'd rather be doing scenery rather than laying track!



Time for bed!

Bob

[hertsbob]

Well I'm still going.

Harby & Stathern has received some attention. Stathern is in the distance, and Harby is about the same distance away on the other side of the railway:


Looking from the opposite side of the station:


Moving towards Radcliffe; Stathern Junction:


Finally, for tonight, Barnstone begins to take shape:


Cheers

Bob

[karma99]

Looking good Bob

[hertsbob]

Thanks. At this rate it'll take me over a month to get it finished!

[hertsbob]

An update on the day's work so far.

Heading north, the distant signals show that at Stathern Junction the route is set for the Barnstone Branch, and Radcliffe:



Bridge No23 crosses the Grantham Canal:



Taken from the Barnstone Cement Company's siding:



About 3 1/2 miles after leaving Harby & Stathern, the end of the scenery is reached at Barnstone. The cement works is just visible on the right:


More later

Cheers

Bob

[jamesh]

That's coming along nicely Bob, definitely has a nice country feel to it.

James.

[hertsbob]

Many thanks. I'm starting to go boss-eyed with painting all the fields!

A couple more.

Running through Barnstone, preparing to tackle the long climb ahead up to Harby & Stathern:



A stretch of line that looks relatively benign in the summer sunshine becomes a different beast once the heavens have opened:


Thanks again for the interest shown.

Bob

[paulz6]

I think you are doing a very good job of this. The field lines look very natural.

[hertsbob]

Thanks. There's an awful lot of them!

I'm glad to be back at work today for a rest!

Cheers

Bob

[hertsbob]

Hi

Having become wary of the fact that my trackwork was incomplete, tonight I started off laying the magnificently-named Saxondale Junction. (I'm a bit of a Steve Coogan fan and, sadly enough, the name of this junction was part of the reason I chose this route!)

The final missing trackwork then remained at Radcliffe on Trent, (which only became known as Radcliffe in 1974 - not a lot of people know that!). The next four shots are the story of my evening. With profound apologies to anyone who has ever been anywhere near Radcliffe on Trent!

After the yard sidings and crossovers have been made (what a nightmare!) Does anyone else end up with 'phantom track' when trying to undo a poor double slip? The outline is there but you can't see the physical track? Anyway, I'm glad it's done:




It's now 22:41. The flood plain of the River Trent is basically on the other side of the station, and you can see for miles, so all I'm really interested in doing is hiding it. Hence the new wood!:



Time flies when you're having fun!! Half-past eleven and we've got some more houses:



Another hour slips past, and here's about as much as I think I'm going to do with building Radcliffe on Trent:



Cheers

Bob

[sniper297]

To get rid of the phantoms, select the track tool so the end rectangles are visible, then drag a circle on the ground around the phantoms. To avoid them in the first place, split the tracks on either side of the slip switch, then drag a small circle around the slip switch to select the whole thing and hit the delete key.

[hertsbob]

Thanks for that. I'll give that a try next time I need to. I still find the whole track-laying side of things a bit scary, to be honest! It always works in the end, but I'm never sure it's going to until it does!!

Back to my humble route... I decided that actually Radcliffe had never looked anything like my previous screenshot, so I re-did quite a bit of the surrounding area which I hope is slightly more accurate:



Departing Radcliffe for Melton Mowbray:



And from the other direction:



Peeling off onto the branch at Saxondale Junction:


Cheers Bob