Three-D Modelling for Railways

Note: This was was originally published on my "around Preston" blog, two years ago before I had started this blog. The North Union Railway (NUR) built the first railway bridge over the River Ribble in 1838. The Blackburn and Preston Railway used the same bridge from (I think) 1844, for their line to Blackburn; this company became part of the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) in 1846. Following a dispute between NUR and ELR over train priorities, the ELR decided it wanted its own bridge and station. Preston Corporation petitioned against this, perhaps because several members were also share-holders in various other railway companies! In the end, permission was granted, but the company had to pay for landscaping what would become Miller and Avenham Parks, and to include a footbridge as part of the design. The new bridge and station were opened on the 2nd September, 1850. The original design was three iron arches, with further brick arches at each end beyond the river. Photos of it ...

This is a work-in-progress, with more to be added as more photographs become available. This is about the housing built around 1900; the standard "two up two down". There were thousands of them built in most towns of any size, all exactly a like. Except, of course, they were not all alike. The standard house fronted directly onto the street, and had a living room at the front, a kitchen behind, with two bedrooms upstairs, the one at the front being the master for husband and wife, the one at the back for all the children. Behind would be a small yard, with an outhouse and coal shed. A gate would lead out to a back alley, known as a "ginnel" in Northern England and Scotland. They were not just found in big cities; even small villages might have a row or two. This photo is from a place called Abbey Village, which has (I guess) a population of less than 1000. Some of the terraced houses built at that time were rather more upmarket. If there is a front garden and a bay ...

This is just a link to a lengthy article I wrote for another site about using Blender for 3d printing. http://www.prestonanddistrictmrs.org.uk/articles/using-blender-for-3d-printing/

This is a work in progress, but I wanted to show what I have so far. The basic concept here is that railway viaducts are often made up of different parts. Obviously you can have a plain arch, but if there is a longer distance to span, one section could be iron or steel, or just a different, extended arch. Arches are often filled in, and sometimes rented out to business use. Viaducts are, by there nature, big, so a 3d print would have to be done in sections, and given that it then becomes attractive to design sections that could be put together in different configurations. What I have come up with is a set of joiners and sections. Joiners are all the same; the sections are varied. This shows the basic concept. You can see the first and fourth sections are plain arches, the second and third are businesses, and the fifth is filled in. The sections still need parapets added. The join is very simple, just an angled section that goes inside the joiner. The plan is to have basswood strips ove...