The main baseboard is created from a 60cm floating shelf from my local Home Bargains

The cork underlay is mad from cork wall tiles pulled off the wall at my step-son's house when they renovated the kitchen. I have kept these in the garage for an opportunity like this.

The cork tiles were glued to the shelf with PVA and then trimmed off to size with a sharp knife

I added weights to the board, while I waited for the PVA glue which is holding the cork to the baseboard, to dry.

The fiddle yard will be a single piece of track, fixed onto a plank of CLS which was rescued from a house clearance.

I want to incorporate live loads into this little diorama to add more operational interest, and also work as a test piece for a future module of Dib's Yard.

This starts with making a 3D model in Tinkercad of the wagon that will be loaded and the concrete hardstanding.

The hard standing for the aggregate loader is made of three laminates. 

• 2mm plywood

• 1mm card

• 1mm card

The laminates re cut to profiles to allow the hard standing to butt up snuggly against the edges of the rails.

Next the building shape and position of the loading chute need to be designed.

Further design work goes in to the loader

This is a very early card mock-up I made a couple of years back when I first decided I wanted live loads on the quarry module. This is the concept this design is coming from.

I used my Creality Ender 3 to print the hopper

While the printer printe the hopper I move to the fiddle yard. The fiddle yard track is a simple straight piece, as it does not need to  be more complex. There will never be more than one train for the diorama.

The 3D Printed hopper is designed to disperse the load into the wagon evenly.

The hopper has two guides to push the aggregate to the ends of the wagon.

I have used 2mm plywood which was ear-marked for the future quarty layout buildings, but as this is a pre-cursor to that work, I don't mind using it for this.

All through the design process there will be many times the the building will be dry-assembled to check the fit of the pieces already built in case any need chnaging.

Checking the fit of the walls to the hard-standing.

The first floor of the loader will only be seen from the underside so C-channel beams are added for detail.

As the inside will be able to be seen, a frame of 3D printed universal beams (RSJ / I-Joists) is assembled to give a believable structure to the building.

More dry assembly to make sure everything is fitting correctly.