Nathanville Model Railway Village

A Model Railway Village in the Making
Welcomes Careful Train Drivers!
And Railway Enthusiasts

The Bristolian, part of a photo from `The West Somerset Railway On The Web' with the permission of the photographer Roger Bailey. Nathanville Model Railway Village - video This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit Here.

MILITARY BASE

The military base overlooks Nathanville village, and during times of unrest protects it. The airfield and gun defence on the hilltop has external and internal access to the barracks and docks below by steps and lifts. Air, ship, train and road bring in supplies to the military base, and where necessary transported onto the village by rail. (The lift and lift shaft are made from 3mm plywood and thin plastic, glued using contact glue. The lift slides up and down the lift shaft by means of thin string tied to the top of the lift and wrapped around a handle at the top of the shaft). The military base is separated from the village by the main river. The training camp is situated adjacent to the village car park on the other side of the main railway line.

The Military airfield is heavily guarded by defences, which also overlooks and defends the village. The Barracks, just below the airfield is the centurial point of defence and is situated between the airfield and the docks. The Military docks separate the village from the Military base - It also brings in supplies from afar for the military base and the village. Trains then transport village supplies to the village main train station. The Military camp is the only part of the military on the village side of the docks, and plays an important role in defence. Not only is it used for training but also in an emergency acts as an advance attachment in the event of the village requiring ground defence. For added protection from air attack, a network of roads and rail run underground.

MAIN STATION, CAR PARK and VALLEY

The main train station and subway are the village's main link to the military base and the outside world. Although there is also access to the neighbouring villages and towns by country road. The car park over looks the valley, so if you are a little late and miss your subway connection you can wave goodbye to your train as it disappears through the tunnel? In such cases, the waiting room provides cheap coffee and all day breakfasts!

THE UNDERGROUND

Most modellers when they want to add height and dimension to a model railway village use crossover and gradients - and very commendable. I was not so ambitious as to try gradients and crossovers. Instead, I built an underground. The net result is that the layout 12ft x 4ft can support 8 trains (six running simultaneously). Five trains on the main surface and three underground. The important points are wired so that trains can be switched while out of site e.g. inside the hillsides and underground.

CHURCH & VICARAGE

The Church is at the heart of any village. The vicarage is the first, but will not be the last residential building in this part of the village. In time, the vacant plot next to the vicarage will be developed, as will most of the agricultural land on the hilltop. The road leading from the village to the hilltop (using 3mm plywood) was not easy to make - but fun.

Construction of Nathanville Model Railway Village

The Site Plan (not to scale) shows the general layout as it currently stands. You may notice there is a large area behind the main station (centre), and the agricultural fields on the hill to the right that are still under development. Some of the agricultural land (2ft x 3ft - 61cm x 91cm) is earmarked for residential development e.g. a row of semi-detached houses, and the waste ground behind the station for a depot. The green land next to the vicarage is ready residential development.

BASE TABLE

The frame and legs for the base tables were constructed using 2" x 3" (25mm x 75mm) softwood timber. The frame for the main tabletop was made no wider than 4ft (1.22 meters) as access is from both sides and it is difficult to stretch more than 2ft (0.6 meters) to the centre of the board from either side. The tabletop was covered using tongue and grove loft flooring boards, as this is strong enough to take the weight of the model village and railway. Sections were cut out of these boards for the military docks (shipyard), the valley and a small river running the width of the table.

UNDERGROUND

The underground (subway) was made in the same way but with a gap of 8" (20 cms) between the underneath of the top table and the top of the lower table to allow sufficient room for access when laying the track and for maintenance. The subway table has a hole in the middle (also for access) and although not as long as the main table (only 8ft (2.4 meters)) juts-out in front of the main table by about 6" (15 cms). The subway table is supported by the same legs supporting the main table top.

RAILWAY TRACKS

This was planed, laid and tested before making the valley, docks and hills, so that there was no doubt where to cut the baseboard for the valley and docks, and where the tunnels would need to go in the hillsides etc. The main board supports four railway circuits, of which one has a sub-loop hidden beneath the airfield - Therefore, the main village train system can support up to five trains (four in operation at any time). As a train on the outer circuit enters the hill under the military airfield that train can be stopped, points changed, and the train on the other sub-loop started. Thus, one train enters the hillside and a moment later another train emerges from the hillside. The points that control this operation are wired to a central control making the operation seamless. The system on the underground (subway) operates in a similar way - two main tracks, but with one sub-loop.

ROADS, FIELDS, OTHER SURFACES, BUILDINGS and ACCESSORIES

The roads were made first by pencilling the outline, painting the roads on the surface of the main baseboard with black paint then sprinkling tarmac effect scatter on the wet paint. Grass, soil and other surface finishes were achieved in the same way - using green paint for grass, brown for soil etc., and sprinkling with scale modelling scatter. The scatter which comes in a wide variety of effects, and designed specifically for model railways, should be available from most modelling shops. Also, from any good modelling shop you have a wide variety of accessories to choose from for model railways and villages e.g. trees, hedges, people, buildings etc.

In this model, not all props were were bought, as this can prove expensive. The trees and hedges for example are made from sponge. Most of the fences, gates, level crossings and some garden effects in the vicarage garden are purchased accessories. The greenhouse, garden shed and flowerbed in the vicarage garden were made. The greenhouse was made from plastic sheeting cut to size and stuck onto a matchstick frame. The shed was made from small bits of wood, and the flowerbed made from sponge ripped to shape and painted in a variety of colours. All the buildings in the village are made from plastic kits, and painted - You can use cardboard buildings (most model shops sell them), but plastic kits are more realistic.


TREES and HEDGES

Sponge, cut to size and shape, is ideal for making hedges - and once painted and stuck in place can look very authentic. There are many different ways to make trees - for Nathanville village, hard sponge (used for packaging) was used, but any sponge would do. Hard sponge was chosen because it was found to be easier to break bits off and achieve the desitred shape and effect. Dowel was used for the trunks (painted brown and coated in dark brown scatter for bark effect) and then pushed into a hole drilled into a base.

GRAVE STONES

Match sticks and lollipop sticks were used to make most of the gravestone. These were then painted, and scale model gravel scattered in the centre of the stones. Two tombs were made from pieces of lollipop sticks that were left over when the gravestones were made, and the cross was made from small bits of wood.

HILLS, CLIFFS and VALLEY

The hills on either side of the layout (supporting the military airfield at one end, and agricultural land at the other) were made with 3mm plywood, supported by 1" x 1/2" (25 mm x 12 mm) softwood frame. The frame was glued and where suitable tacked to the main baseboard (using wood glue and 1" (25 mm) panel pins). Likewise the plywood was glued and tacked in place using wood glue and tacks. Use as few tacks as possible, as when the glue dries it gives a strong bond. The tunnels were cut in the plywood before gluing it to the wooden frames. Both ends of the hills have access panels to allow maintenance of tracks etc.

Once the glue was dry, the plywood was coated in a thin layer of sand and plaster (50% sand, 50% plaster mixed together with water to make a smooth paste). The plaster was applied using a putty knife to give a rough finish. For further effect, the rock face was spay-painted with a dark mat grey undercoat car spray paint. Before the paint dried scale model gravel was sprinkled down the surface of the rock face. The valley sides that extends from the main baseboard down to the underground level were made with 3 mm plywood in the same way the hillsides.

ACCESS TO HILL TOPS AND DOCKS - STEPS, LIFT and ROADS

External access to the military airfield is by steps and lift - The steps were made from 1/2" (12 mm) wood cut diagonally in half and stuck to 3 mm plywood using wood glue. The lift was made from 3 mm plywood stuck together with wood glue and a clear plastic front mounted using contact glue. The lift does actually work - using thin string rapped around a small metal bar (to make a handle at the top of the lift shaft). For the effect of metal, the lift sides were painted using aluminium air fix paint. The road leading to the agricultural land was made by cutting 3 mm plywood to shape, and finished by applying a very thin layer of sand/plaster mix to the sides and to fill (smooth) and gaps, especially at the ends.

BOMB CRATER

The recent bomb crater, where a police car was unfortunate to drive into just moments after an imaginary explosion, was made by making a hole in the 3 mm plywood, packing it with stiff card (shaped into a hollow) and coating the card and surrounding area with a thin layer of sand/plaster mix.

MILITARY DOCKS

The dock (shipyard) was made by making an opening in the surface of the main table, and then fixing a piece of loft flooring board to the underside of the table frame - thus giving a depth of 3" (75 mm) below ground level. The railway bridge over the dock was made using 3 mm plywood. Arches were cut into the plywood, and before fixing into place the surface was coated with brick effect wallpaper used for scale model buildings.