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Kinlochmahen


FraserClarke
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Hi all,

 

I thought I'd put a topic up here about the little layout I've been building for/with (mainly for at the minute!) my kids (definitely not for daddy, definitely not... hmmhph).  It's evolved from a very simple loop a on a pair of old doors to something slightly more permanent. We don't currently have a space to leave the layout up permanently, so I've kept the pair of 2.5' x 4' door panels, which can be brought into the kitchen for quick running sessions. The panels are aligned with wooden dowels, and clamped with toggle catches. Seems to be holding alignment well so far...

 

In the 5'x4' (max) space, there is only really room for a single track (using 2nd radius curves), and no passing loops or storage sidings. The design also constrained to only use whatever code-100 bits I'd recovered from a previous layout! It's roughly split into two sides, a small station + yard (kind of inspired by Rannoch), and a engine shed (kind of inspired by Kyle of Lochalsh). Always had a fondness for the West Highland, so that's as good an excuse as any!  There will be an over-bridge, tunnel, and hill up the middle, so hopefully there will be some element of coming-and-going to the trains running round and round!  

 

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Mocked up with some track, before I started chopping holes in the boards (at which point my wife reminded me that we were meant to be keeping them to use as doors again in the future -- oops). The tunnel will be at the far end, as per the track plan above. I've used transition curves into the 2nd radius corners to try and smooth things out a bit. Even though it's for the kids, I still want to enjoy building a model :) The lima deltic hauling two blood and custard coaches is highly prototypical for the WHL of course...

 

post-14708-0-92372500-1520634374_thumb.jpg

 

I started this around Christmas, but ended up lifting, spraying, and relaying the track to include some foam underlay (2mm 'fab foam') -- this gives a bit of a ballast shoulder, but unfortunately little/no noise deadening properties...  Each sectoin of track has it's own droppers, which hopefully improve conductivity... It was then sprayed in Humbrol earth (#29) to tone things down. The track was laid into a bed of PVA (also tried copydex, with little difference), covered with ballast (mix of N-gauge granite and some fine red scatter), and the excess hoovered off after 15-20 minutes. That technique is quick and neat, but struggles to get enough depth for the thick peco sleepers.   At the baseboard joins, the tracks are soldered to brass screws driven into the boards. So it's taken me until now to get the layout to a basic operation state. The main line is laid and ballasted. The yard is laid, but not ballasted yet. The engine shed roads still to be done. That's enough to have some fun running trains around for a while. Next steps will be to finish the basic control panel, and the start doing the major landscaping.

 

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Finally, what will be the driver's view emerging from the tunnel into the small station and yard...

 

post-14708-0-68715200-1520634427_thumb.jpg

Edited by FraserClarke
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A quick bit on the wiring, which is mostly done...

 

Wiring diagram was done in a rather manual fashion -- drawing on an overlay of the track plan! I found it a surprisingly effective way of sorting out the wiring actually, but it does need converted to a proper diagram at some point...   The number of tracks cross the baseboard joint is a bit of a pain, and leads to quite a large connector for the size of layout (I think 20 wires, if I wire the isolating sections back to the control panel; TBC)

 

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Layout is split into three sections; 1) Main loop + yard, 2) Station 3) Shed. It's designed for DC operation, but compatible with a change to DCC if/when I go that way (have no DCC stuff, or budget to buy any, just now). I've gone with dead sidings when the power controlled by the point direction, but because the sidings basically all sit across the baseboard joint, it will be fairly easy to swap it to live sidings if needed in the future (i.e. for DCC).   Wiring underneath is colour coded by section / common-return / function.  There will be control panel in the corner, and probably I'll try to keep the option open of having a second handheld controller too... (two kids, two controllers... what could possibly go wrong!?!).  The wiring underneath is 16/0.2 for the main bus wires (overkill for this size I think!), and 7/0.2 for the droppers and point feeds.

 

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Cable between boards is short and sweet, using DSUB-25 I had in hand. I've now twisted the cables up to make them a bit neater, but didn't take a photo of that. There is space in the connector if I decide to run the isolating sections through; current thought though is just to leave the on local switches near the sections.

 

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The points are all insulfrog, and operated by hand. I have however taken the precaution of pre-wiring the frogs so I can convert them to pseudo-electrofrog points if the blade connections start to get dodgy...

 

post-14708-0-01799000-1520636693_thumb.jpg

 

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  • 1 year later...

Well I've been very slowly trundling along with this layout.  The kids don't seem that fussed about trains at the minute, so I'm not going to push them.   I'm just using it as a bit of a test bed for various things. 

 

Roughly half of the major scenery structure is done now.  The layout has a central 'spine' road to divide it.  The hills are made up of extruded polystyrene insulation boards 'grip filled' together and carved to shape.  The road is made of mount card, and will be painted and 'tarmac'd' at some point.  The overbridge is a scalescenes kit I built years ago for another layout and never used.  Once all the major forms were in, I covered it in sculptamold (which is relatively expensive, but seems to work very well), and then painted it in generic matt brown paint from the clearance shelf in B&Q!    The far board is awaiting me sorting something out with the tunnel mouths... 

 

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I scattered some chinchilla 'dust' into the wet paint, let it dry, hoovered off the excess/unstuck bits, and painted over with more brown paint to give a bit more surface texture.  The 'dust' was quite a bit larger than I was expecting (would make quite good ballast I think!), but perhaps the bag had settled and all the fine is at the bottom.

The white areas here will be painted grey to represent rocky outcrops/cliffs.

 

IMG_20190328_144126737.jpg.35decea1d0da7b1e2aca49ab60567a1d.jpg

 

The picture below shows the station area. No platform yet, just a mock-up of a west highland-ish station.  The brick bridge is not very west highland, but I already had it...

IMG_20190328_133028120.jpg.df435abcc20f9f1f6783c20e98fa04f8.jpg

 

 

Edited by FraserClarke
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Hi there, 

 

Looks a really good start I must say. Slight concern over how close that yard point is to the edge of the board though? Is there a safety net just in case? 

 

There's an excellent thread about a layout based on Rannoch on here. Don't know if you've seen it but here is the link: 

 

Keep up the good work! 

Edited by ModellerChris
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On 30/03/2019 at 08:04, ModellerChris said:

 

Looks a really good start I must say. Slight concern over how close that yard point is to the edge of the board though? Is there a safety net just in case? 

 

 

Many thanks Chris.  Yes, the point is - or rather was - close to the edge.  Might not be obvious in the last set of pictures, but I've done a 'cut-and-shut' on this part of the boards, taking a triangle from one side and fitting into the other.  This makes it look much more reasonable, and gives a much nicer line to the baseboards.

 

Thanks for the Rannoch link, not sure I've seen that one...

 

IMG_20190330_104320521.jpg.5fa6d56bb151aeebf68b9c5d34e85add.jpg

 

Edited by FraserClarke
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A bit of work on the platform, which I need to size and site before I can finish off the landscaping on the road behind.

It's a simple mounting card structure, with a recess cut in for the small station building to sit in.  The yard is based on Rannoch, but the station there is too big, so this one is based on Arsaig/Morar instead...

 

 

 

Mock-up of the station building for sizing

 

IMG_20190401_223643396.jpg.b5f19177a160a990ff33b720e288fc3b.jpg

 

Tried to be fancy with edging slabs and the sloped concrete 'cornice' underneath. Not sure it worked!  We'll see how it all looks once painted up as concrete...  The rest of the platform top will have a gravel covering in due course.

IMG_20190402_000518203.jpg.3dc8a87b799de4854f1ba24dd3eff978.jpg

 

 

Finally an overview of the station area,  framed with some randomly-place-for-picture sea foam trees the kids made a Pendon last summer. 

A set of mainline blood-and-custards has just left!  Don't worry, they'll be back round in about 5 seconds...

 

IMG_20190402_001035158.jpg.dbf5a45a356e23e8f634ec46d9139f02.jpg

Edited by FraserClarke
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  • 2 months later...

Not really. I've finished off the basic landscaping behind the station, painted the rocks, and made the base of the tunnel portal on the far side -- but I had to pack the layout away to make space to paint some doors, and then work has been so hectic it's not come out again. Things should calm down after July!

Edited by FraserClarke
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  • 3 months later...
On 18/09/2019 at 17:54, Module00 said:

soon new photos? :rolleyes:

 

Just for you, a morning photo update from the garage!  Currently making (very) slow progress on the tunnel mouths, and hence landscape around.  A simple 'modelscene' one on one side, and a scratch built version of the borrodale tunnel portal on the West Highland.  Both still need painting, and some kind of internal walls to extend the illusion slightly.  Base landscaping is almost done, but I'm not ready to fix it down and cover it before I've finished installing all the electronics in the control panel.  That's my next job when I find time/motivation!  But next week, I have to come to your part of the world for work :)

 

IMG_20190919_083120484.jpg.965cb15367fab39898c2aee6d56187dd.jpg

 

IMG_20190919_083103015.jpg.0d86d81b4382de0637de3f8a5efe439a.jpg

Edited by FraserClarke
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  • 3 weeks later...

I finally got round to buying a "modern" Gaugemaster controller. I had been planning to make something equivalent built into the control panel - but I think spending money rather than time was the right decision here.  A rebuild of the simple control panel was needed, and that was a good opportunity to get the boy child soldering.  Started with preping and tinning some wires...  (We did finish the drink/food before soldering BTW!). 

 

IMG_20191006_152327806.jpg.d646f6a09335fb1372b5ac60b846e4f6.jpg

 

and here's the new panel part mounted into the side of the layout. It all worked first time too!  After a little bit of testing, it will be mounted properly onto its frame, which tilts it back to protect the toggle switches a bit. 

 

Now this is working and wired up, I can progress a bit more with fixing the scenic base down...  

 

IMG_20191006_161605846.jpg.f553afe99e873a2bbcb47160ca012c2f.jpg

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I've started sculptamolding the scene in the post above, but the garage is bl**dy freezing now and it's taking forever to dry!  In the meantime, I've moved the other board into the spare room to work a bit on the 'yard' (I daren't risk anything as messy as sculptamolding in there!).  At Rannoch, there is/was a loading dock opposite the station, with a couple of huts on it (at least one is extant and well photographed. The other I think is now extinct).   Aim is for a look somewhat like this:

 

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com%2Fv%2Ft51.2885-15%2Ffr%2Fe15%2Fs1080x1080%2F66818585_218471325784807_6728152426461596254_n.jpg%3F_nc_ht%3Dscontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com%26oh%3D19c80e47a384a5de6b06c5ba0dfbeb81%26oe%3D5E0319D7%26ig_cache_key%3DMjEwNTI4NDg3MjY3MjEwOTE2NA%3D%3D.2&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpicdeer.org%2Fplace%2F233590789&docid=H9vrlO-rz-DVBM&tbnid=Adn1mhzXn2l2_M%3A&vet=12ahUKEwjRg571xYPmAhWaAGMBHdazBvc4ZBAzKBcwF3oECAEQGQ..i&w=1080&h=1080&itg=1&bih=754&biw=1536&q=Rannoch station&ved=2ahUKEwjRg571xYPmAhWaAGMBHdazBvc4ZBAzKBcwF3oECAEQGQ&iact=mrc&uact=8

 

The base of the loading dock is just built from grey-board/mount-board, with insets for the huts. Mock-ups in place to check the look. 

 

IMG_20191123_213946919.jpg.16942cf3fa56752a90071b713b63173a.jpg

I feel this dock somewhat overpowers the small station, but the kids are quite insistent on it going all the way to the end!

 

IMG_20191123_214037507.jpg.6f22169f0f24b77c96e46950e71e40cd.jpg

Some nice info on the loading dock here. You can see my from-memory mock-up did quite get the aspect ratio of the hut right. 

 

Next step is to cover the front of the dock in sleepers like the prototype, and then get it set in and the yard area ballasted.  However as I am writing this whilst once again trundling up with WCML for work, that will take a while... 

 

 

Edited by FraserClarke
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  • 4 weeks later...

A brief possession on the spare room has allowed me to finish off the base landscaping on one side of the layout.  The platform has been covered in some redish scatter, to represent the interminable red shale/gravel which seemed to adorn Scottish parks, paths, and platform surfaces in the 1980s, and which I don't miss digging out of my knees these days.

The spare room has now been returned to operational duties for the festive period, so back out to the garage for the layout!IMG_20191214_121440477.jpg.923c58c85c39587088a47032cdc4f392.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

Much excitement as the last bit of 'hard landscaping' has been finished on Kinlochmahen. It does look more like the Australian Outback than the West Highlands, but it's a good base for grass and scrub later.

IMG_20200220_225652825.jpg.0fa737b3784aa66a2cdf617e35cd3400.jpg

The last 'quadrant' was waiting on me finishing the 'borrodale' tunnel portal, and recovering enough insulation foam to cover the last bit of tunnel.

 

 

IMG_20200220_225708282.jpg.7bff80e3ccd779e6b7cbc2451610ae9f.jpg

 

An LNER J72 pops out of the tunnel with a very out-of-region GWR MOGO in tow...

 

 

IMG_20200220_225741683.jpg.a31b22d095652eab765328d346f20938.jpg

Overview of the whole layout. Next step I think is to do the road surface, and then start with some grass :-\

 

 

Edited by FraserClarke
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Hello,
I like your layout very much. The track plan is very interesting. The terrain is perfectly done.

I look forward to seeing the rest.

I can’t wait to see the Australian outback turn into the Highlands. :)

A big bravo to you.

 

Edited by Module00
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  • 1 month later...

The boy child has very much enjoyed building this Metcalf cottage @queensquare kindly gave him at the Southampton show back in January.

 

I was given the job of painting edges and doing the tricker glue jobs, but he did most of the cutting/assembly himself. He specifically requested the lilac window frames!

 

Not sure where it is going to fit in the layout though!

 

IMG_20200327_213418889.jpg.89c0535148b4c785f260e3a639ea1469.jpg

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  • 5 months later...
On 12/09/2020 at 21:21, Module00 said:

No update ? all is ok ? :huh:

 

Thanks for the concern :)  No progress on the layout for the past few months. The current 'situation' means the spare room has been turned into an office (for the foreseeable future),  and the garage has spent the summer hosting a bathroom which was meant to be installed at the start of April (finally done a few weeks ago).  So the layout has been packed into its storage box for a while now.  I plan to do some insulation work on the garage in the next few months, so I think it will be a while until there is a clear space to work on the layout again.  I've been fiddling instead with some small dioramas which are easier to get out of the odd bit of 15 minute work.  Kids too busy running around outside over the summer too, so not that bothered about trains. 

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  • 5 months later...

Seems like it is time for my annual March update...  They layout has been packed away for most of the year, so I haven't done anything on it -- but I did decided over the last week to finish off the scale scenes engine shed I started many many months ago. I would not rate this as one of my finest builds, but the scale scenes kits are very enjoyable to put together.  This is the smallest version of it you can build (it's only a small space) - but overall the impression of the scale scenes kit is not unlike Mallaig shed, which is in keeping with west highland theme.  It still needs a good coat of varnish (or rather a coat of good varnish?) and a bit of weathering. 

 

I placed the shed so the open doors try to make you walk into the pit if you're not careful -- represents my real world experiences at Didcot <_<

 

IMG_20210311_163212411.jpg.a05ccccfacd60475128f42de04d7e449.jpg

 

Class 25 being stabled before its next run round the loop...  That parking will really p*ss off the shed staff...

 

IMG_20210311_163507279.jpg.1378e21954b2ac543033a436e9fa0347.jpg

 

Hopefully the garage will get more amenable to a bit of evening tinkering over the coming months, and maybe I'll get a bit of the shed area done. 

 

Edited by FraserClarke
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