Build a modern platform

Chris Gadsby builds a modern image platform.

Chris Gadsby constructs a modern platform for his third rail diorama.

The previous Workbench articles will show you that no two platforms are alike. And as the youngest of the Model Rail team by a good decade, there was only one type for me – the modern image platform.

You may recall I built some third rail track and a small amount of scenery on a Tim Horn 3ft by 1ft baseboard in Model Rail 266. Well, the reason for my choice of location was that it would also allow me to build the modern platform at East Ewell (Surrey) on the same board, saving me some valuable space!

As with everything in railways there is no such thing as a standard platform. Some have all the bells and whistles on them, such as dot matrix indicators, waiting rooms and plenty of facilities, while others simply don’t. A lot of this is down to station usage and passenger numbers, and in the case of Ewell East this doesn’t make for pleasant reading. When compared directly to the other local station Ewell West, Ewell East struggles. It handles fewer than half the passengers, likely due to its less frequent service to London, and as a result it does not have many facilities.

With new technologies becoming ever more common in model railways, and products such as Train-tech’s dot matrix indicator costing £50, you’d be forgiven for thinking that building a modern station costs the earth, but I built the whole layout for £100. A fair portion of that was taken up by the scenery, and a quarter of it was the Train-tech DCC signal. The platform and all of the furniture cost under £50 and was completed in a day.