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Scarside - 009 the easy way


Nile
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With the advent of 009 RTR trains and setrack I've been thinking about a project to demonstrate that a compact, but still interesting, 009 layout can be built without too much actual modelling involved. The idea is to use Peco 009 setrack and suitably adapted ready made buildings, and RTR stock.

I already had some of the 009 setrack, combined with some N gauge setrack I tried out some ideas. This was an early attempt, the station building is a Hornby Skaledale cricket pavillion.

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Some time later I'd settled on this basic design.

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I've limited its size to 3 feet by 8 inches to make it a shelf sized layout. The headshunt at the right end is long enough for a loco + 1 wagon (Skarloey is about the same length as a Baldwin 4-6-0). The gaps in the station run-round loop will be filled by half length track pieces I will have to make. This is to make the loop long enough to fit a train of 3 wagons plus brake van without making it too long. the track in the upper left corner will be hidden, the 'fiddle track'.

 

Moving on a bit, I bought some extra track and some buildings I thought I could use. This is the final iteration before fixing the track down. I've made a basic board from some 3mm MDF and strip wood.

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Here is a bird's eye view of the layout after the track was stuck down with Copydex. This saves me trying to draw a track plan.

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At the top left is a bit of N gauge track that will be hidden, this is the built in fiddle track that can also connect to an external fiddle yard or cassette type thing.

The curved bit of track leading to this had to be modified slightly as only half a curve was actually needed. I made cuts in the sleeper webbing at one end and straightened the rails.

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I needed a total of four half lengths of straight track, two in the loop and two on the ends at the right. To make these I cut two pieces of track in half (these are the shorter bits of setrack that PECO make).

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To enable the joiners to work at both ends the sleepers at the cut end need notches cut in them. The rails were slid out of the way to do this.

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Before sticking the track down I drilled holes under the point tie-bars to enable motorization of the points, there is room inside the base board for this. I put some masking tape over the hole and cut a slit in it to help hide it.

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With the track stuck down and tested I'm now going to deal with some of the buildings, first up is the goods shed.

I chose the Bachmann corrugated goods shed because it has a relatively small footprint, looks good and the internal platform is a separate part. This first photo shows it being used as it was meant to be, with a standard gauge van.

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Substitute that for a narrow gauge one and it looks a bit silly, the shed is far too tall.

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But if the track is raised to the top of the brick base things look a lot better.

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So it was out with the hacksaw to remove the brick base. Some time later this was the result.

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This was fine for the PECO L&B vans, but I have some other vans that are slightly too tall to fit. The solutions was to make a base for the shed from some wooden strips, raising it slightly.

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I added some brass rods to the underside of the shed, these locate into matching holes in the wooden base. There are also tiny magnets to help keep it in place.

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The brown van, from a Nine Lines kit, is the tallest one I have and just about fits now.

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I still have to deal with the internal platform, it will probably be easier to make a new one rather than modify the original.

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I've seen others use brass rods to locate removable buildings before, but not the addition of magnets. Great idea, I might try it on my G scale layout.

 

PS the brass rods can also be used to get power to lights in the building.

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Hi Matto, I'm going to leave the shed as it is. The larger van will be a rare visitor, it will mostly be smaller vans in the shed and they would look a bit lost if it was any taller.

Onto the station building. I doubt I'm the first to use the Hornby skaledale cricket pavillion in this role, it has a bit of a light railway look to it. For its intended role it needed to raised up a few mm, the canopy roof was a bit low in relation to the PECO coaches I' going to use. I made a base with some bits of balsa wood, then added a platform extension and ramp. These were topped with Slaters planking.

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Here it is in place.

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Something had to be done about that sign on the roof. Trying to remove it would probably result in a right mess, so I made use of it. I printed a new sign with the railway's name on it (inspired by the model's origins).

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Next building is the Bachmann low relief warehouse.

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Its main role is to hide the track at the back and its exit. I cut away parts of the side walls so that it could be set further back and better cover the track.

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It's set at a slight angle to match the goods shed. The train just fits under the roof.

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The train can either hide behind the building(s), or exit to a fiddle yard or track.

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Some more on the warehouse. To hold it in place I've used some 2mm screws with their heads cut off, glued into the corners of the building.

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These locate into holes in the board and are long enough for a nut to be screwed onto them underneath.

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The warehouse isn't enough on its own to disguise the fiddle track, it needs a bit of help. So I tried a few ideas to see which worked best.

One idea I came up with was to extend it with another model, so I made a mock up from card to try it.

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While this does a good job of hiding the track, it does leave the odd sight of the train running into the side of the building.

I replaced it with some card that could be a wall or fence.

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Some trees behind the wall could disguise the hole in the side of the building and the trains behind the wall.

After a bit of a search I found an old Wills stone building for the coal yard. It will also help hide the trains at the back.

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This is the one I like best.

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I think one thing which makes free lance narrow gauge look right (or not wrong) is a consistent loading gauge to which all stock conforms. The companies used to really hack stock about to make it fit at times, so maybe a saw taken to the wagon would have been more prototypical, or the timbers above the door bashed up out of the way to clear.

 

The great John Ahearn(?) of Madder Valley fame carried this to extremes by modelling stock to a commonish loading gauge and track gauge and wide variety of scales and it looked right...

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Black!

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To seal the surface against an eventual onslaught of scenery I've painted it with some cheap enamel paint.

To protect the layout in transit I've made a backscene from some more bits of MDF. It's held on with screws, so can be removed.

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I don't think I'll use it as a permanent backscene as I find it overwhelms the layout and limits access from the rear. Maybe it would be better if it was sky coloured, this is it with some white paper on it.

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Following some test running I discovered that the points aren't very reliable. Like most PECO points they rely on the point blades for electrical conduction, so no real surprise there. Things work fine if these are kept very clean, but this is not always possible.

To eliminate this problem I've fitted links across all the points, linking the two diverging routes. The photos show the crossover, which has four links.

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Each point has a short and long link, the longer one can eventfully be connected to a microswitch when motors are fitted. Until then the whole layout is live with no isolating sections, so only one engine at a time can be used.

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Wiring up Peco points , live , helps a lot. In fact I consider it essential(Some Peco points used to have a groove in base of sleepers, so think it was considered a a possible design idea), but I also add isolating sections on diverging tracks. A simple switch is then fitted across the isolating joints.

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Back to the buildings. My original intention was to stick to ready made models, but I'm going to allow some Wills kits in as they are so easy to make. The first is the stone shed seen earlier in the coal yard. It's looking a bit better now that I've rebuilt and repainted it.

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Trying to squeeze a signal box in proved difficult, I hadn't really left enough room for one. The logical place was at the back, to the left of the station. As any model there would need modifying to fit I used the Wills ground level box, the ideal model for this type of layout. It will sit at an angle against the back of the layout.

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For  info  Junction Box  Models   listing  the  Cricket  pavillion  at  £20,  (  the  new  version of   the  building is  £36 on  Hattons)  I bought one  yesterday from  J Box.

 

thejunctionbox.net     item is  listed in  the  skaledale  section   still showing the listing just  now  so may  have  stock  still.

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Some more progress on the buildings. The signal box looks quite normal from this angle.

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From the back you can see how it's modified to fit its location.

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I've added a few bits to the interior, including an ex-Airfix figure.

The back is removable, it's held on by tiny magnets.

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The fence is some planked Slaters plastikard, stuck to the side of the coal office to keep it secure.

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The added guttering has an important role, the downpipe hides the vertical join at the corner.

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Moving slowly on I've painted and ballasted the track. Humbrol dark earth on the rail sides and railroad tie brown on the sleepers. The ballast is Woodland Scenics fine brown and dark brown.

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I didn't want to ballast along the sides of the tie bars, in case it got gummed up. To reduce the resulting gap  I added some 1mm square microstrip painted brown.

Before:

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After:

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The ground cover next to the ballast comes from a bag labelled 'random gravels'.

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With some basic scenery done I tried laying out some of the buildings I have to see how things looked. Some already have fixed locations, others may end up being moved. There are some areas I haven't decided what to do with yet. I've made a new, smaller, backscene from another off-cut of MDF painted white for now. These photos give a basic idea of how the layout is going to look.

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Very nice Nile, and a good advertisement for 009.

 

I have one of those Hodson & Co low-relief warehouses too. It's quite effective but I was wondering what to do with it. The way you've used it here gives me some ideas, many thanks! 

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I like the higher backscene too..

 

I'd use the higher one, paint it blue, but then cut an access hole out for the fiddle siding.  From experience I've found it frames the layout much better and draw the eye in. If you really want to go to town, build a proscenium arch :)

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The smaller backscene is more user friendly for home use,. I might still make use of the bigger one, it's better at protecting the layout.

On with the build and it's time for some scenery (green stuff). To help contain the foliage I added a second rear wall to the coal office.

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With some Woodland Scenics foliage added, arranged to hide the train without getting in its way.

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To secure the building in place I added some M2 headless screws. These fit into holes in the baseboard.

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With the coal office and coal bins in place I added more foliage along their tops. It does a good job of hiding the hole in the side of the warehouse and the train behind the office.

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