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Distillery yard micro layout - back out on the exhibition circuit


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Well now my exams are pretty much over i can start work on my new layout - a fictitious set of distillery exchange sidings set in scotland in the 60s. This layout was inspired by the loch Dhu layout built by Nigel Burkin and the many pictures of grubby distillery engines that i have found online. The layout will be a replacement of my current home layout ravendale. This layout will be designed for the exhibition circuit and will measure 4 foot by 1 foot including fiddle yard with the potential to be extended in the future if desired. It will be oo gauge using code 75 track with electrofrog points. The basebaord will be recycled from one of ravendale's boards and will be enclosed in a ply wood box with built in lighting rig. This is my first venture into Scottish industry and I look forward to sharing more about with you in due course. Todays job has been ordering the track off hattons so hopefully it will be here by the start of next week.

Edited by luke the train spotter
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Guest ShildonShunter

Hi Luke this layout which you are going to build sounds really interesting and especially around a Scottish railway theme. I will be watching with great interest.;)

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Thanks guys, your interest is really encouraging and i hope that I can build a layout which portrays the rail served scottish distilleries well. I have done a few sketches of the layout including one of the track plan. These are just a few ideas jotted down on some paper and I am no artist so they aren't the best sketches. post-32204-0-98047300-1528992139_thumb.jpg The numbers correspond to the key below:post-32204-0-06739700-1528992190_thumb.jpg I also did a sketch of a 3d view. This is pretty basic but my layout wont be that flat - I mean I am modelling Scotland!post-32204-0-18345400-1528992256_thumb.jpg Because there will be an embankment closest to the viewers' side, there will be a raised fascia so a viewer looks down into the scene. This forced perspective should give the view of a trainspotter looking down into the exchange yard and it should make my detailing stage more purposeful. post-32204-0-36873700-1528992373_thumb.jpg Thanks for looking and I hope to update you soon when the track / baseboard wood arrives. Before I can start with the baseboards, I will need to dismantle my current layout.

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Guest ShildonShunter

Hi Luke nothing wrong with the drawings mate is mere mortals understand where your coming from with this layout. I like the fact you are using a fascia at the front of the layout so people have to look down into the layout. You can't go wrong with an embankment in a layout as I'm partial to them. Also Luke i like the bridge for the farmers. Will be looking forward to seeing more.:)

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Hello Luke,

 

May I suggest something regarding your track plan. Make your fiddle yard a three track traverser use the outer tracks for storage and the centre one for moving stuff around and as a run around. Two reasons for this the first is that you will not need to take anything off the layout once the locos and stock are in place and secondly it will make operating it a lot more interesting.

 

Over the years I've seen stuff dropped and smashed at shows, I've seen one of those cassette thingies break and a whole train empty out onto stone flags in a church. It's very easy to get a bit flustered at shows and one accident can easily spoil the whole day.

 

If everything works properly and a layout is not boring to operate then shows can be the best thing a railway modeller can possibly do (IMHO of course :-)

 

Cheers

You are definitely right about exhibitions being great! I've helped exhibit rumbling bridge a few times and thoroughly enjoyed it. Good idea for the fiddle yard. I had already ruled out cassettes but am in 2 minds about the traverser. My wood working skills are very poor so constructing a neat traverser would be near enough impossible for me. The layout wont need much stock and I am planning a removable extension for the fiddle yard so that I can have slightly longer trains. About the run around, because the other siding is the distillery siding I don't think that the main line locos would ever enter that section so there wouldn't be the need for the run around.
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If I was going to make a traverser I'd use Lego; it might seem crude but it's a medium I'm confident in! Not the whole thing, but the runners under the board.

 

I agree with Jim, there's a lot of things in railway modelling which are hyped up, having to 'do it properly' using these methods and these products, which puts a lot of people off. I'd say go for it and if you make any mistakes and overcome them it'll be a new skill in the bag. Best of luck! :-)

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If I was going to make a traverser I'd use Lego; it might seem crude but it's a medium I'm confident in! Not the whole thing, but the runners under the board.

 

I agree with Jim, there's a lot of things in railway modelling which are hyped up, having to 'do it properly' using these methods and these products, which puts a lot of people off. I'd say go for it and if you make any mistakes and overcome them it'll be a new skill in the bag. Best of luck! :-)

Ive built plenty of sector plates before but they seem to be fairly simple. I have actually built a traverser out of lego before on my pastry lane layout. Another reason why im doubting building a traverser is that the fiddle yard will be semi extendable. The fiddle yard would be hard to extend if it was a traverser i think.
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Before I could really progress with this layout it needed a baseboard. To solve that problem I have stripped the scenery off my previous layouts' baseboard. These are 2 years old now but very well built so i have no worries about them warping. Here is a picture of the baseboard.post-32204-0-91505600-1529135835_thumb.jpg Since that picture was taken I have put some stock on the layout to see how things will look. I don't have many wagons appropriate for this layout at the moment but i hope to sell some of my older stock to raise funds for some. I've got me eye on some grain wagons, a couple of box cars and another open top coal wagon. All of this stock has been determined by what I have seen in prototype pictures. It'll be a while though before I order any of that stuff due to my really small modelling budget (everything model railway related for £10 a month so this layout has taken a bit of saving) but thanks for looking. :)

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Hello Luke,

 

I'm the same as you always looking for ways to not spend any money.

 

http://www.igg.org.uk/rail/index.htm

May I ask you to go to this site and scroll down to Appendix 2.

This will take you to lots of wagon drawings, including Scots companies absorbed into the LMS.

 

You could then get hold of wagon chassis and make the bodies from card.

I've done a PDF on how to make them you would be very welcome to it.

 

11r9lzm.jpg

These are some under construction in 0 gauge.

I will be doing the same in 00 for my new micro.

 

Cheers

That is very helpful thank you very much. :) I've just got into scratch building rolling stock out of card for my side project 009 so this is right up my street. I like the sound of this idea very much. Would be possible for me to have the pdf document please.
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A big leap of progress on the layout today. The postie brought a large parcel from hattons containing all the track I need for the layout. The track is all peco code 75 with the points electrfrog to allow better running for the shunters. This was all laid and stuck down with pva glue. The point holes where cut before the track was laid and I installed some pm2 seep point motors. I hope to wire these up to the electrofrog points so that the frog will change polarity when the point is thrown. I've put some stock on the layout to get an idea of size and where things will be placed. Next up will be the wiring of the track and the point motors but I need to order a pair of passing contact switches first. I will leave you with some photos of the current state of the layout.post-32204-0-95917000-1529340340_thumb.jpgpost-32204-0-94454500-1529340355_thumb.jpg

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Guest ShildonShunter

Luke I like that you have recycled one of your old layout boards for the build of your new layout. The track plan looks great Luke and look forward to seeing your progress after all the wiring is completed.:)

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Luke I like that you have recycled one of your old layout boards for the build of your new layout. The track plan looks great Luke and look forward to seeing your progress after all the wiring is completed.:)

Thanks Kevin. Hopefully I will have working point motors by tomorrow evening. I've got everything I need its just assembling it all together and seep point motors are brand new to me so there will be plenty of learning on the way.
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Looks like a strong start there Luke, will be following this. I can highly recommend Iron Rails and Whisky Trails by Ian Peaty. Its full of atmosphere and especially useful if you're pinning any building to a time period or a location. Also have a peek at RailBrit and AmBaile.

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