Rounford Halt N Gauge Scenic Micro Layout with Continuous Run Part 8 Station Platform

 

Rounford Halt is a very small railway station set in the heart of the countryside serving an offstage hamlet or small village.  The station for Rounford Halt was designed to follow the minimalist rural theme I often pursue but with a concrete platform to give the main feature a different appearance to my other N gauge model railway layouts.

 

 

 

The station platform for Rounford Halt was constructed using Peco NB-27 N gauge concrete platform edging and matches the loading platform featured in my blog post dated 31 December 2014.

I constructed the station platform to accommodate the scratch built platform shelter originally created for Hampford Halt and featured in my blog post dated 02 May 2014.

 

 

 

Painting methods used to weather the loading platform, the subject of my blog post dated 31 December 2014, were used to weather Rounford Halt station platform.

I decided to wait until the exact location for the shelter was decided before adding Ratio fencing and a few imitation enamel advertising signs to the rear and ends of the curved platform.

 

 

 

Passenger trains which call at Rounford Halt will be short one or two coach trains, diesel multiple units or railcars.

I find that after operating a micro layout for a while I stop noticing compromises which some people could find unacceptable.  Using Peco first radius track with tight curves enabled me to assemble an interesting arrangement of components on a very small baseboard.  One drawback however was the clearance required for trains made up of longer items of rolling stock such as coaches.  A curved platform must be positioned a long way back to allow enough clearance for the middle section of coaches or long locomotive bodies which encroach into space on the inside of the branch line.

 

 

 

On the outside of the branch line the front and rear corner of a coach or locomotive can require significantly more clearance than rolling stock travelling on more sympathetic curves with a larger radius.  The appearance is slightly less obvious when using short locomotives or shunters to haul trains.

Micro layouts like Rounford Halt are usually built purely as a bit of fun.  The blatant circular track plan can only be disguised as well as ingenuity will allow, therefore inherent compromises which accompany this assembly style should be accepted in order to enjoy a more relaxed approach to model railway design.

Rounford Halt is one of my N gauge scenic model railway layouts. To see more model railway layout baseboards I have designed and built visit my website www.brianford.co.uk.