Faking it and tunnelling ...

As I decided on different projects along the line, I realized that some projects were going to require much more skill than others. One of the most difficult ones for me would be the station building at Yea.
It is a brick building and it would have to be scratchbuilt entirely. So I put it at the bottom of my list of things to do and, for the time being, decided to fake it ... Some time, when my skills had improved, I would tackle it. The yard at Yea is also very much a work in progress...

One of the things I was really looking forward to do was the Cheviot Tunnel. I had taken a number of photographs of both the up and the down side , and it seemed fairly easy to do in cardstock and brick paper. None of the brick paper I found though looked remotely like the Cheviot portals, so, in  the end, I decided to do it photographically. I extended the brickwork on each side of the tunnel mouth in Photoshop, doubled the cardstock where there were rows of bluestone and carefully touched up the bricks and stonework that needed it and also shaded the bluestone, to give it a 3-dimensional effect.

The lining of the tunnel was easily achieved with homemade brick paper, using the same pattern, repeating and then printing it.

After the tunnel was put in place, I built the hills around it, combining them with the photographic back-drop. They are not as authentic as the hills at the rear of Cathkin would later be, but I am quite happy with the general impression of the area.

The fact that the real Cheviot Tunnel is situated some 8.7 km from Yea yard, rather than the scale
300 m it  is on the layout, shall forever remain our secret.