A Station on the Biwako Line

[Darklighter]

As my Rocrail test layout doesn't see much action these days, I decided to upgrade it. Currently it's just an unsceniced Unitrack double track oval along the walls of my basement with a 6-track staging yard.

Now I want to expand it to a 4-track oval and build an urban station scene based on Seta Station (Google Maps) on the Biwako Line.

The width of this scene will be 40 cm but I haven't decided on its length yet (1.55 - 3.10 m). I'm planning to model only one side of the station (at least for now) because I prefer an unobstructed view on trains passing by to the view on more platforms. ;)

I will try to keep it simple in the beginning (Kilopost Layout Room -style) and add scratch-built structures, lighting, more details, etc. later on.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Darklighter

[Darklighter]

Made some progress.on the layout. I built two frames from plywood and glued extruded foam insulation board to the frames. It took a lot of sanding to make everything flush. I put some buildings and track on the layout to give you a better idea of my plans.

There will be office buildings and stores behind the station (http://goo.gl/maps/6Skbn), an industrial building on the far right side in the background (http://goo.gl/maps/g84yC), older houses (http://goo.gl/maps/Qgdom), parking lots (http://goo.gl/maps/y8MsZ), fields (http://goo.gl/maps/MNMnr) and newer houses and apartment buildings (http://goo.gl/maps/xLNLW) in the front (from left to right).

 

As for ballast, I think I'm going to use the grey "Phonolith" ballast from spurenwelten.de and weather it with pigments.

 

I like the Woodland Scenics track bed, but because I'm going to need a lot of it, I searched for a cheaper alternative. I found this drywall sealing tape (?) in a DIY-store (30 m x 30 mm x 3.2 mm). It has the big advantage of being self-adhesive on one side. Unfortunately there is a film on the other side, so I have to find a suitable adhesive...

[Densha]

Looking good! Just a quick thought: have you thought about the platform height and horizontal space when placing the tracks? Kato has standards for these and with flex track you can of course copy those.

[Darklighter]

That's the plan.  :)  Peco flex track on a 3 mm underlay has the same height as Unitrack and I will stick to Unitrack's 33 mm track spacing. This way everything will be compatible with Kato's structures and the unsceniced parts of the layout.