Barrwick – Fictional Southern Scotland, 2010 onwards

[Fluo66]

This is my first layout thread here and hopefully my first working layout.

 

The OO gauge layout is based on a fictional location named “Barrwick” in southern Scotland near Edinburgh. The time frame is 2010 to present. The size of the layout is 3.2 x 1.2 m. This is much smaller than my last unfinished layout. That took years to build and has never seen a proper running session for some reasons. Due to the smaller size of the layout I hope I can achieve visible results in a short timeline (months instead of years). Less is more...

 

Initially I started a thread in “Layout Track & Design” to discuss my track plan. After that I decided to reduce the track plan. The planned TMD was replaced with a pure scenic/countryside part. I was inspired by the Youtube channel of Mouldy Raspberry with his layout “Yorkshire Dales” where the trains are running through a beautiful landscape.

 

Otherwise on my last layout the Metcalfe viaduct was one of my favourites and my wish was to have a viaduct again on the new layout. A TMD can be added easily on top or instead of a fiddle yard later but not a scenic area with a through line. Here is the revised track plan:

 

 

The layout is divided in two halves: the station area and the scenic area. A backscene in the middle of the layout will be added later.

 

The construction started 6 weeks ago in mid-November 2018 after I dismantled the old layout. This is the empty room:

 

It is a bit difficult to capture the whole room with my camera.

 

 

Baseboard construction

 

The frames were constructed from 60x15mm softwood, the legs are 45x45mm softwood and the surface is 9mm poplar plywood. All was glued and screwed together. The dimension of the rectangular boards is 1300x600mm. For the semi circle board I have built a special frame.

 

The legs have a length of 900mm - a very comfortable height for me. The old layout was just 800mm high and this is a massive difference.

 

To test the track plan I have printed it on A4 sheets and layed it down to the baseboards and placed some of my rolling stock on it:

 

Nearly the complete layout was then covered with a layer of 2mm cork. For the tracks I added an extra layer of 2mm.

[Fluo66]

Track laying

 

All trackwork and points in the visible area are Peco code 75 with concrete sleepers. I did not want to mix concrete and wooden sleepers in the visible area even if this is partly prototypically.

For the hidden (tunnel) area I used Peco code 100 (mixed Setrack and Streamline). The main reason for this were the curved points. Otherwise I could not build the crossovers to connect the fiddle yards later. Yes I know they can cause problems but fingers crossed. I made some test runs with my rolling stock and had no problems at all. The transition between code 75 and code 100 track was built with Peco's transition tracks.

 

I extended the sleeper spacing by cutting the sleeper webbing. The sleepers were aligned roughly after cutting and then again while glueing the tracks down. This was a very boring and time consuming job but it was worth the effort. Respect to everyone who has done this on a large layout!

 

 

The 180° curve was laid as super elevated track with 2mm stripes of cork under the outer rail but the transition was too short and caused some derailments. So I decided to remove the track and lay it again without super elevation. Reliability is much more important to me than visual effects.

[Fluo66]

Point work / Electrical installation

 

All points are driven by servos. My intention is to use the Megapoints controllers components and build a control panel with these. The servos are HobbyKing HK-15178 as recommended by Dave Fenton from Megapoints. I followed his very useful instructions on Youtube and used .9mm piano wire for moving the tiebars. For the start I bought a servo controller which can operate 12 points – exactly the amount of points I have on the layout at the moment.

 

The electrofrogs were wired as recommended by Peco. I added microswitches next to the servos to switch the frog polarity.

 

A few points were slightly bent to make a Y-point or a curved point. But there was one thing that I did not have in mind: If you bend a point the closure rails may get in contact with the frog and this ends up in a short when the frog has the wrong polarity. Locating this short took me a complete hour! I fixed the problem by cutting a small piece of the inner closure rail.

 

An other issue is the vertical throw of the piano wire. I fitted this in the most inner hole of the servo lever. But the vertical distance between the top and bottom position can be 2-3 mm. If it is too long some rolling stock can run against it. If it is too short it may disappear under the tiebar. Maybe I will change the installed servos from vertical to horizontal rotation where necessary.

 

All wires are connected to splicing connectors made by Wago. The installation is much easier than with conventional terminal blocks. Just clip the cables in and it's done. Another advantage is that the connectors work as junction available with 2, 3 and 5 inputs/outputs. The connectors are glued with superglue under the baseboards.

 

Until the layout is finished and a final control panel is installed I have built a simple temporary control panel with toggle switches for all the points:

 

The Hornby Select is still my first DCC controller and can hopefully be replaced in the near future with a SignaTrak or Lenz controller.

[Fluo66]

The viaduct

 

The viaduct is my first scenic element on the layout. It is necessary to build this at the beginning to complete the track laying. I wanted to replace the Metcalfe card viaduct with something more realistic. There are not many really good products available. Most plastic kits look too small and generic (including the Wills viaduct). Then I decided to use this product from the German manufacturer Vampisol because it has prototypical dimensions: http://vampisol.de/Viadukt-ueber-die-Lenne-Grundset-mit-zwei-Boegen-weisses-Material

 

The prototype is located in Germany but some similar bridges can be found around Europe including Scotland and England. IMHO other generic kits are at least also wrong in place...

 

The viaduct comes as kit made from dental plaster. It is a very hard material. The recommended skill level for building this kit is 4 (of 5). Therefore I was a bit nervous. But there are some good videos on Youtube that explain the construction of a similar viaduct from the same company including painting and weathering. I bought the basic kit and one extension. For the building I needed 6 hours without painting.

 

I had a few problems fitting the arcs in the middle section.

 

The gaps were filled with liquid dental plaster (included in the kit) and cleaned with a short brush. This was much easier than expected.

 

In the end the result is simply stunning:

 

On the next day I painted the viaduct with a very thin mixture of sand/ivory acrylic paint.

 

I wanted to have it in a light sandstone but in the end I was not happy with the result and painted it again in grey.

 

After my first real weathering job I am more than happy with the result. First I applied white colour and wiped this away with a paper towel so that this colour remains only in the gaps.

 

Then I used 2 mixtures for weathering: black/green and black/brown. Both were applied with a brush and wiped off with paper towels.

 

And this is the final result. It looks quite good to me. (The picture does not show exactly the real colour due to the bad lighting conditions)

 

I will add Scale Model Scenery railings later.

 

It was fun to build a structure from plaster and painting/weathering it. Vampisol offers also tunnel parts. So I will create the tunnel portal that is needed for the scenic section with those and paint it in the same way.

Edited January 4, 2019 by Fluo66

[Fluo66]

Track weathering

 

The tracks were weathered with brown acrylic colour. In the past I used enamel colour but this is much harder to remove – liquid or dry. I applied the colour with a fine brush and cleaned the rail tops and the sleepers with a piece of 2mm cardboard immediately. Like the extension of the sleeper spacing it is a very boring and time consuming job. But also here the result is worth it.

 

Maybe I have to rework the weathering here and there when I would recognise on a photo that this would be necessary.

[Fluo66]

Station platforms

 

The platforms must be built before ballasting. I started with the Peco concrete edges and sprayed the tops with a white paint. In my opinion the grey spray paint was too dark. So I decided to mix my own light grey colour and apply this with a brush.

 

The platform edges were then glued with PVA onto the baseboard. The platforms were then filled with stripes of 1mm cardboard to support the surface.

 

The platforms go 30-40cm inside the tunnel under the station area to give the illusion that the station continues there. The platforms follow the radius there and the distance between platform and track must increase. Probably you can't see much of this when it's dark inside the tunnel.

 

I found that the colour of the edges doesn't represent the correct concrete colour and is painted too uneven. Therefore I will respray the edges with spray paint (paint ordered yesterday). To make it perfect I have to repaint some of the white edges also again.

 

For the platform surface I will use 1mm grey cardboard painted with a dark asphalt grey. I want to add real looking coping stones like here (taken 2015 in Waverley):

 

But these are in working progress. Therefore it can take 2 weeks or more until I can finish the platforms.

 

 

Bits and bobs

 

I added Peco's dummy point motors to the points and catch pits from Scale Model Scenery between the tracks in the station. Wills cable trunking is on it's way.

 

 

That's it for the beginning and today.

The next job is ballasting.

[treggyman]

Hi Fluo66

 

Looks good & some very good modelling......

 

Especially your excellent weathering of the viaduct & very useful description of how you did it.....

 

My only concern is it's a very narrow layout in 'oo' so your curves at the ends will be very sharp.....

 

Will be  following with interest.....

 

Cheers Bill

[Mike at C&M]

Impressive. Even more so considering the short amount of time it has taken you to get to where you are.

 

The viaduct is a superb find, and has a real presence, despite not being that big.

 

Looking forward to seeing this layout progress further

[McRuss]

Hello,

 

you have achieved much in short time. Your viaduct looks great. I don't know if you know that there is a german speaking Forum about british railways and model railways.

 

http://75355.homepagemodules.de/

 

Markus

[pinzaboy]

That is a terrific layout and the viaduct is simply marvellous. Great work.

Tim

[Fluo66]

Thank you all very much for your kind comments.

 

Today I resprayed the platform edges. I masked off the whole area and sprayed the tops wgain with white colour:

 

After the paint was dry I masked the white edges and spryed the rest of the edges with Tamiya AS-16 USAF light grey. This is the nearest colour I have found that looks like concrete:

 

Job done:

 

Then I sprayed the prepared Wills cable trunking with the same colour:

 

And here are the cable trunkings loosely laid in place: