Skip to the content
Gluing and clamping the first Tim Horn endplates.
Marking out the track bed with the Templot plan.
Fixing 6mm ply track bed to the Knauf foam board.
Templot now glued down on ply and cork track bed on central boards.
Nearly all pointwork is on these two boards – endplate with dowels visible.
Marking out station junction ‘transition’ board for cutting.
Aligning London and Brighton station boards for marking out and cutting.
Helicopter view of likely extent of Phase 1.
Fixing curved 4mm ply sides, also showing underside ply reinforcement.
Board outlines are now smoother.
Looking from Brighton platforms to Oxted lines (left) and Eastbourne (right).
The station roof structure will sit partly on this drop-in board …
… which itself sits on ledges between the London and Brighton boards.
Track building components ready for the first turnout.
Timbers cut and numbered prior to riveting.
Drilling holes for rivets with a pin vice.
You don’t have to have a rivet press for this, although I do also use one.
Timbering, rivetted as appropriate, now glued down.
Chairs loaded on to rails, and droppers soldered to underside.
First stock rail soldered to rivets and crossing gauged from it. Chairs remain unglued.
Mint gauge ensures smoothness of crossing …
… followed by rolling test with wagon.
Locking/insulating fishplates around isolating common crossings.
Completed first turnout. TOUs will come later on in construction.
Test wagon now fulfilling Engineer’s Dept. role as a repository for broken chairs, offcuts etc.
Moving on to the next turnout and towards the diamond.
Siding crossover complete, diamond in progress.
Making sharp angle in rail, notched with razor saw; using a small slot head screwdriver …
… tap with jeweller’s hammer and voilà.
Couple more point rails and wing rails to do, with much use of two flangeway gauges.
The stock rail below the right hand crossing is not fixed yet because it needs to be gauged in.
1:3.4 vee the ‘Brian Harrap’ way. Fold rail 180 degrees and bend free end to shape, …
… support with lengths of rail tack-soldered across and solder up vee area, …
…trim off excess, clamp in vice and file off waste, and …
… finally clean up leaving completed vee.
Vee loosely in place.
Vee gauged to upper stock rail and fixed, then lower stock rail gauged to vee.
Country junction pointwork essentially complete.
C10 into siding/headshunt added.
Board wired up underneath with ‘frog juicer’ electronic modules.
Laying plain track across board join, adjusting ‘un-rolled’ sleeper positions with paper template.
Razor saw at hand to cut rails before separating boards.
A bit more plain track added before moving on to the station junction.
Imagining myself to be PW manager determining configuration of long timbers.
Starting on first turnout, with some extended check railing on closure rail.
Even more prototypical check railing on stock rail.
Timbering laid for first tandem.
Left hand road laid, with more check rail.
All this (apart from the Oxted lines route) will also need conductor rail.
Centre road finished.
Right hand road finished.
Second tandem added, also check railed on the right hand route.
View from the station platforms towards the country junction.
Overall (foreshortened) view of track completed so far from the station end.
View from the country end.
Some alignment adjustments into the station – there’s no substitute for rail and Blu-tack!
Atlantic and Maunsell 3-set come off the Oxted lines on route to Brighton.
The sun suggests this is a winter morning service.
Returning to the Oxted lines, the Atlantic is passed by an EMU from Ore to Brighton.
Thanks for watching!