OO/HO African profile model railway in Kenya: 11 - the station

[John Ashworth]

I started the station building, a Metcalfe card kit, a while ago and then got bored with it. Restarted it today. Metcalfe call it a "wayside station" but it's big enough for a small African town terminus in the 1960s, I think.

Once I've finished the station building, I can work on the platforms. I have some card kits (I think both Metcalfe and Superquick) but my platforms will be nearly two metres long, and it'll be tedious building that from card, so I'm going to try a tip I got from my brother-in-law in England. On his layout he simply cut long strips of plywood and painted them grey. I'll try the same, with either plywood or chipboard. The height of two pieces of chipboard will just be slightly lower than a British platform, and a bit higher than some I have seen in South Africa and Kenya, although both those countries also have full-height platforms in some stations. I plan to have just one long platform with a track on each side of it. Platform 1, where the long express trains come in, will have an isolated section at the terminus end so that the station pilot can come and remove the coaches and release the train loco. Platform 2, for shorter and local trains, will have a run round loop. The platforms will probably be about 20 cm wide, but the station building will sit on a wider bit at the terminus end. I'll probably make the ramp at the country end of the platform from one of the card kits.

[John Ashworth]

More progress

[John Ashworth]

The basic structure is now finished, with just some detailing remaining.

[John Ashworth]

Tracks now laid. There are five parallel tracks. From the far right:

Track 1 - Platform 1 - for main line passenger trains. It has an isolated section at the terminus end so the train loco can be isolated while the station pilot removes the coaches and thus releases the train loco.

Track 2 - Platform 2 - for local passenger trains.

Track 3 - the run-round loop for Platform 2.

Track 4 - carriage siding.

Track 5 - headshunt to access the good yard, which can be seen in the foreground of the photo.

NB: The coaches in Platform 1 are BR Mark 2, which are hardly prototypical for Africa, but I got them dirt cheap and have had them for ages, and they're useful for checking the track laying and clearances. I find some of these older Hornby vehicles don't like some of the Peco points.