Jesse

I have ordered the book this afternoon 😀

Thanks for all suggestions and sharing your memories, much appreciated! What I find interesting about the pre-modernized system is that all stations seemed to have their own character. Some had quite nicely designed entrance buildings (St. Enoch, West Street, Copland Road) while others were more basic, part of a building facade or altogether hidden in an alleyway. There appeared to be three main types of stations: The ones with a shed-type glass roof (Bridge Street, Cessnock, Copland Road, Partick Cross), the completely covered tube-like, deeper, stations (St. Enoch, Hillhead, Kelvinbridge, Buchanan Street), and then there were stations that seemed to have a number of rectangular shafts that let daylight in (West Street, Kinning Park, Merkland Street). I wonder how those stations looked at the surface, did they have a series of smaller glass roofs? It think it should be interesting to build a square shaped box with slots that show the different kind of stations, with trains running around in a loop, perhaps with different types of entrance buildings at the top. (as per the prototype some amidst recently torn-down tenement buildings) By the way, I can recommend this film: https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/0421

Hi all, I'm thinking about building a micro layout based on the Glasgow Subway as it was just before the 1970's modernization. It should be fun to try and create the run-down atmosphere of the last years. There are a lot of photos around but I have not been able to find any plans, particularly some of the stations would be very helpful. Can anyone help me?

Hi David, that's very true: the trick is to store them somewhere out of sight (and out of mind). Finding a new home for a layout also takes away the guilt, but that doesn't allow for any changes of mind... My current project in H0 is a little shelf switcher based on a layout called Fairweather Branch I found on Carl Arendts site. It's inspired by a quiet post-war goods line somewhere in the Netherlands. You'll find some photos of the construction over here.

Hi all, I'm aware this topic has been awfully quiet the last year. A number of factors have led me to abandon this project, sell my N scale BR stock and start a new, smaller and simpler, project in H0 scale. However, attempts to sell the halfway-completed layout have failed and it's still standing in the attic, not even gathering that much dust because of the way the parts fold together. The imminent release of Dapols class 142 pacer has caused my interest in British N scale to start growing again... why not finish the layout in a less ambitious/slightly simplified manner, get rid of those unreliable Dapol signals and run a couple of Northern/Arriva 153/142/156 units back and forth? That shouldn't be too hard to accomplish. So this story might continue after all!

Hi all, No spectacular news over here, still slowly working on the platform paving (besides enjoying the good life during my holiday ) I had a small building crisis before an exhibition at te end of may where I first operated the (unfinished) layout in public. During tests in the week before the show, a lot of shorts were caused by DMU wheels hitting both the stock rails and point blades. A problem I never encounterd with continental stock on Peco rails, and also not during testing in the early stages of construction. As it was too late to isolate the point blades from the frog, I resorted to covering their sides with heavy duty transparant lacquer, which appears to have solved the problem: everything ran without a problem during the 2-day exhibition. Lets see how long the solution will last...

That would be a nice detail, some wooden boards can be added easily. Thanks!

Hi, thanks for sharing the link to those Scalescenes arches. I like the look of them but I'm not a big fan of paper/cardboard scenery. But I suppose I could make them out of plasticard. I agree this type of wall would be more fitting than the Farish arches, which are clearly designed for higher walls.

Partially, yes. I used the clearances chart in this MoT document, which indicates the minimum distance between the outer rail and any trackside obstruction should be 4' 9 3/4", about 1 cm in N scale. As the signal is placed 1,2 cm from the track, that should be fine. I didn't know the diagram you are referring to then, which appears to make a difference between signals and obstructions like tunnels. But looking at photographs, signals regularly appear to be placed closer to the track than indicated in the 2mm association diagram. So I guess it's not that big of a problem for me. Thanks for the advice though! Meanwhile my whole family (including 18 months old daughter) have concluded I've gone completely mad as I restarted paving most of last night's 'puzzle' because I didn't like the alignment of the slabs. I also made the transition between the two halves of the layout less noticeable. But I doubt anyone sees the difference as most is obscured by the bridge... By the way, the Farish retaining walls I was talking about earlier have arrived. Although they fit well between the top of the platform and the top of the back wall, I doubt I'll use them as they feel a bit underscale. I'll probably and up scratchbuilding something that feels a bit more robust.

It's a bit of a puzzle, trying to fit the slabs around the signal while keeping them removable in case the signal needs to be taken out in the future. Especially as everything is at an angle... Getting there though!

Hi all, Thanks again for all kind words! Very helpful, Rich! Bending probably won't be necessary for me, unless the castings themselves are warped. But being able to cut them to length and would be handy. As they're not terribly expensive, I'll order a few and see what I can do with them. You're right, one cannot be cautious enough with resin dust. Assuming they're the same as the OO equivalent they're made out of some sort of resin. They are cast in the three bits you see in the picture. They paint well and can be cut shorter with a small saw (be careful of the dust). I'm sure I've seen someone on here manage to bend them quite effectively by immersing them in hot water and then forming them gently around something. Hi there, I'm living in the Netherlands (not that far from Germany) so Merkur products are easily obtainable. I have even been looking at the N scale variety you mention in my local hobby shop recently. But I just don't think the Merkur wall looks British enough for this project. Probably because the wall isn't tapered like the Farish one, and I like the combination of arches and the rectangular panel shapes above them. The Merkur wall looks like a very useful product though and probably a lot easier to alter than resin walls.. Ah another mad modeller But that's exactly what I like about hand-building walls or pavements, the tiny imperfections and hight differences give it so much more character. ...especially in the warm evening sun!

Will definately add some cracked ones, good idea! Meanwhile I have finished paving the first platform. It took me less then a week, which is much faster than thought at first. By the way, I have been looking at this pack of Farish retaining walls. They might be useful in the station area and perhaps I'll use them instead of the wall I made earlier. Has anyone used them? I'm curious about the material they're made of, can they be cut or easily altered in another way?

Thanks all! The stones are 4 x 8 mm in size, which is probably a little overscale, but just big enough for me to work and handle. Making good progress *edit* Turns out 4 x 8 mm (about 2 x 4 scale feet) actually appears to be a prototypical size for stone platform paving, as seen here on the Chester General picture.

I'll probably regret this... started paving the platforms with individual plasticard 'stones'. A bit time consuming, but it's exactly the look I'm after.

Just noticed on the Dapol website the Pacers are now 'in decoration', with release planned in september.