Takahachikawa

[railsquid]

Somewhere in the west of Tokyo, where the Kanto plain hits the hills, there is a fictitious station called Takahachikawa (高八川) served by the Chuo Line, and due to some inherent vagueness in geography various other lines (Yokohama, Nanbu, Musashino, Hachiko etc.), with a fair bit of freight passing through (including those nice red dual-voltage locos from the Musashino line). Nearby there's one of those funny Seibu branches which infests the west of Tokyo in a mildly disconnected manner, which may or may not actually be the Chichibu railway as well, or maybe even one of those JNR Chuo Line branches which time forgot, or something else, depending on how the tea leaves settled. There's also a small tram network because I like trams.

 

Takahachikawa by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Well, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Until I think of something better.

 

A shot from an aerial survey drone earlier today, various sections pending (re)development so don't read too much into the current configuration, however the main elevated tracks will remain as-is.

 

aerial-view by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

 

[railsquid]

Whoops, seems the layout has gone AWOL:

 

reconstruction_001 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Turns out it needed to take a short break due to essential air conditioner maintenance.

 

reconstruction_002 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Reconstruction commences:

 

reconstruction_005 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

reconstruction_013 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Somebody forgot to add the English version of the station sign:

 

station-sign by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[railsquid]

An attempt at an embankment overgrown with scrub, rather than the usual verdant scenic foliage.

 

embankment by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

On some days I imagine this is a version of the Minobu Line, rising to join the Chuo Line in the foothills rather than on the plain near Kofu.

 

minobu-sen by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Finally I've managed to fill in the remaining holds between scenic blocks; the remaining gaps will be disguised by cunningly-placed greenery (amazing how many sins you can cover up with greenery, I find).

 

scenery-gaps by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[JR 500系]

That's a cute little staircase there that seems perfectly fitted in with the height and all! (though I wonder if it will be used since it is in-between 2 tracks...  😛 )

[railsquid]

3 minutes ago, JR 500系 said:

That's a cute little staircase there that seems perfectly fitted in with the height and all! (though I wonder if it will be used since it is in-between 2 tracks...  😛 )

 

It fits because I cut it to shape :P It was originally part of a Tomix station, I need to paint it though. It is intended for use by permanent way workers and as a possible passenger evacuation route, as there's no other way down from the elevated section without going through the tunnels.

[railsquid]

Haphazard scenic progress. It occurred to me one of the Tomytec Diocolle farm buildings would fit in just nicely here.

 

hillside-2018-05-27a by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

hillside-2018-05-27b by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[railsquid]

Some steam action for a change :)

 

tunnel-d51_02 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

tunnel-d51_01 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[railsquid]

Starting to get some "depth"

 

tunnel-d51_03 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

farm-buildings by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[kvp]

14 minutes ago, railsquid said:

Starting to get some "depth"

Ok, i have a question. There is a tunnel portal and a bridge in the upper left corner. Where does that track go?

[railsquid]

7 minutes ago, kvp said:

Ok, i have a question. There is a tunnel portal and a bridge in the upper left corner. Where does that track go?

 

It goes from nowhere to nowhere, or alternatively wherever you imagine it goes 😉.

new-hill-construction-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

It's purely decorative, I will use it from time to time to display trains, like this:

 

rhaetischer-bahn by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Edited May 28, 2018 by railsquid

[railsquid]

Some detailing work, mainly painting those steps a more "natural" grey so they don't stand out so much.

 

steps-painted_2 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

steps-painted by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

steps-painted_3 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[kvp]

2 hours ago, railsquid said:

Some detailing work, mainly painting those steps a more "natural" grey so they don't stand out so much.

Good idea! Imho using slightly different grays for the metal handrails and the base concrete could make it even nicer.

[railsquid]

The handrails are actually thick enough they could be cast concrete ;), but yup, I will get round to painting them differently at some poinmt

[railsquid]

Scenes of construction.

 

tram-tunnel-2018-06-01 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

 

construction by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[railsquid]

The geoformers have been in, attempting to create that "edge of town Showa feeling".

 

commercial-buildings by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[cteno4]

The strata formations in that part of town are amazing squid! I bet there are dinosaur bones between the blue and pink layers!

 

jeff

[railsquid]

The blue layer is actually fossilized Plarail track.

[railsquid]

Mini-extension in place:

 

layout-extension by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Fills the gap between the layout and the table on the right.

 

reconstruction_013 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[railsquid]

For no better reason than it's June 6th (6.6), a picture of an EF66:

Tomix EF66 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Note to self: add the numberplates and stuff

[kvp]

9 hours ago, railsquid said:

Fills the gap between the layout and the table on the right.

Is this what is often called layout creep? Like in the sense that a layout always slowly occupies all space that is available around it.

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, kvp said:

Is this what is often called layout creep? Like in the sense that a layout always slowly occupies all space that is available around it.

 

That already happened a couple of years ago, this is just the last missing piece of the plan, bwahaha.

[cteno4]

Layout blob! I think model railroader did a comic on it once.

 

jeff

[railsquid]

Retaining wall and (hard to see) groundscaping over the styrofoam.

farm-progress by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Obviously work-in-progress, structures on "tabs" will be embedded later.

[railsquid]

And a bit more work on Old McTanaka's farm:

 

farm-overview by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

farm-main-building by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Old McTanaka's farm van parked at the side of the main farm building:

 

farm-gateway by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[valkyriepm]

Great scenery! Love the feeling of it. Specially the last pic.

 

Martin