26/11/2025
Well, it's about time we hit you all with an update.
Following on from May, when we worked around the clock to get our model ready for physical display, not much occurred. Life has been pretty busy. Most of my time has been spent on wedding planning and then actually getting married!đA few weeks after, I opened the model and started to play around with a few pieces. I wanted to continue on with where I left off with the work on the pieces I optimised for 3D print. This meant constructing the section where the main station building joined the western screen wall, and also where the public footbridge passes through.
The arch above the opening reflects the wider arches on the main frontage where vehicles passed through, with details of the arch embedded into the wall as we've now concluded. The plans suggest the walls of the main building were flush with the footbridge opening, which meant extensive alterations to the model. What this investigation proved was that I was working with a small margin of error for measurements. With the wall moved along, it shifts the entire screen wall, and ends up altering the booking hall and the panelling I'd already settled on.
Naturally, the only solution was to go back, map out the entire steelwork foundation of the building and piece it all together, then dropping it into the model and seeing how it interacts with the masonry. What followed was a complete reconstruction of areas of the public footbridge, the connecting gangway between the two footbridges and the entire fish dock and approach. I've also now worked out that the ground sloped down from Milton St to the footbridge with masonry and details reflecting the style of the main building.
This has helped map everything out, BUT, there's still areas that don't make sense. The cantelever girders are causing a lot of confusion. Some plans suggest that there was a 6 inch gap between the girders and floor joists of the footbridge (inside the train shed), meaning the walkways were suspended above the girders with no contact. While other details on the same plans (the footbridge over the fish dock) suggest the joists rested upon them. The footbridges were all at the same level, so this has contradictory suggestions.
As usual, this is all a work in progress, and getting carried away has been all too easy. Hoping progress can continue a bit more in the next little while!
