Inverkeilor station layout

[tigerburnie]

Old platelayers hut? and what is left of the station yard sidings

[tigerburnie]

A short update on progress(or lack of it), baseboards are in place in The Old Summer House and track has been laid loosely to check if it fits and it does. Now awaiting the postie with rolls of cork and some track connectors, I have decided to solder the droppers to some Hornby connectors rather than the track to reduce heat damage to sleepers. I hope to commence final laying of track in the next week or so and hope to pick up a few items at the Perth show at the end of the month.

Edited June 16, 2019 by tigerburnie

[tigerburnie]

Well I learnt something today, whatever Hornby use to plate their rail connectors with, does not like heat applied to it with a soldering iron, I was able to solder droppers to Peco connectors, but not the Hornby ones. A sticky brown tar like liquid appeared on the surface of the connector and would not allow tinning to take place, I tried cleaning the surface with a bit of glass paper, but still wouldn't take a coating of solder. Not a problem as I will be able to use the Hornby ones where droppers are not intended to be used,

Main bus wire has been installed as well so now need to decide on exact position of the track and drilling for the dropper wires is the next job.

I have a question regarding the two level goods loading platform that I understand was a fairly common item in on the East coast of Scotland, how did goods get on and off these, did vehicles drive on to them, or were goods loaded by hand?

[Caley Jim]

Vehicles could drive on and off them as the high level part was ramped up from the rest.  Often the lower level part was at the level of the road outwith the yard.

 

Jim

[tigerburnie]

Thanks Jim.

[tigerburnie]

A bit of work has commenced, track has been laid and droppers for the bus wire installed, some pins used to fix the track whilst I ran a loco over the track work to find any problem areas. The droppers are not yet connected to the bus wire in case things have to move, ditto not permanent fixing track yet either.

Not the ideal lens for the job, but gives you a flavour of the plan, first image is looking south so to speak, 2 sidings on the left, two main lines in the middle and the yard track work to the right. Second image is the reverse image looking north(The Old Summer House is actually pretty much parallel to the track, so orientation is quite accurate), the right hand sidings will be extended, just not sure how far yet, need to clear tools from this end and lay next section of track.

 

Edited June 21, 2019 by tigerburnie

[tigerburnie]

I learnt from my previous loft layout that is a good idea to lay track during hot weather in a place where there can be temperature swings as the track expands and contracts, with the forecast heatwave coming, this will be ideal to fix the track more permanently, that way it will be fixed at it's longest and I won't end up with a big dipper fairground ride in warmer weather, I do have heating, but I won't be having it on all the time, though I might put those frost free cylindrical heaters, just for back ground heat later.

[tigerburnie]

After a very pleasant if warm day at Perth yesterday I was keen to put the advice given into practice, I have divided the station area into three isolated areas using peco insulated connectors and ran locos all over it in analogue and all worked well, including travelling from one section to another across the insulators. Feeling full of myself I then disconnected the wires and connected up the digital(which had a broken wire on it) and not only ran the loco that I thought I had fried all over it, but programmed the new loco and ran that as well, happy days.

I will be constructing the sides next where the fiddle yards will be located, again isolated from the main areas, then I can begin with ballasting the station area and adding the contours and vegetation etc. Station platforms and buildings along with a signal box, then the yard ramps and buildings, a lot to do, but hope to get most of it done this year. Final task will be to complete the loops with either a lift up or lift out section to save having to limbo dance under the track.

[tigerburnie]

Both side sections of the layout now in place, so commencement of fiddle yards/storage sidings has begun, serious shortage of points so a lot of searching on 't'internet required, locos run over the new track work and all is working well so far. Pictures to follow.

[tigerburnie]

The entrance to the new fiddle yard, up main line on the left and 4 roads for the sidings

[tigerburnie]

The yard entrance

[tigerburnie]

New addition to the rolling stock, with a bit of weathering, this should be a nice addition to the layout, runs very well, just need to add a sound chip at some point.

[tigerburnie]

A question for those with knowledge of the East of Scotlands twin level goods platforms, when they loaded Sugarbeet into the wagons, what kind of wagon would be used? I'm guessing 7 plank wagons with sheets on?

[Steamysandy]

Latterly they were using 16ton mineral wagons for sugar beet.Seed potatoes were vans as far as I'm aware which were lined with straw for insulation like a   a Tattie Bing!

[Caley Jim]

2 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

A question for those with knowledge of the East of Scotlands twin level goods platforms, when they loaded Sugarbeet into the wagons, what kind of wagon would be used? I'm guessing 7 plank wagons with sheets on?

They weren't just an East of Scotland feature.  Pretty common all over Scotland.  I would guess that they would use whatever wagons were available.

 

Jim

[tigerburnie]

Managed a bit more work today, a Metcalfe P0247 bridge kit has been modified to make a structure very close to the original, it will need some paint to give it some local red sandstone colouration.

 

What may be of interest is the material I used for the embankment, this is florists foam, used as a water retaining oasis when flower arranging, cuts like butter, but don't squeeze to hard. With a layer of Modroc plaster bandage on top to give it some strength, I think this will work just fine as long as I don't soak it lol. Finally a coat of undercoat paint, this will next get ballast stuck to it along with grass and bits robbed from the hanging basket to make the blackberry brambles next.

[tigerburnie]

As a post script, I have noticed nothing seems to stick to the foam, the plaster bandage has followed the contours, but not stuck to it, something to bear in mind as it may not take pva and grass when doing the scenic stuff.

[Marly51]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

As a post script, I have noticed nothing seems to stick to the foam, the plaster bandage has followed the contours, but not stuck to it, something to bear in mind as it may not take pva and grass when doing the scenic stuff.

 

Will the foam take a prime coat of paint? I always paint polystyrene on my models, before applying clay or any other material. It’s a real nuisance after all the work you have put into that part of your scenery!

 

Marlyn

[tigerburnie]

Put some pva onto the plaster and stuck some ballast to it to simulate the bank, will try some grass tomorrow, seems to have stuck just fine, probably finish off with spray, probably some hair spray when I do the brambles with the hanging basket lining.

[Caley Jim]

10 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

As a post script, I have noticed nothing seems to stick to the foam, the plaster bandage has followed the contours, but not stuck to it, something to bear in mind as it may not take pva and grass when doing the scenic stuff.

I suspect that the problem is caused by the relative lack of cohesion within the Oasis.  While the plaster (and any other adhesive) will stick to the outer layers, they will be coming away from the body of the foam. Perhaps you could seal it with some dilute PVA or other thin adhesive which will soak into the surface.  Wallpaper paste?

 

Jim

[tigerburnie]

Further work done today, concentrating on the over bridge area and the two main lines first, everything else will then naturally fall into place(he says hopefully). Station platforms to build,even though the station closed to passenger traffic before WW11, modeler's licence may be enacted to get items collected from the station and some perishable items could arrive for the old village shops too...……………………….

The scenic work is not finished, some tufts of longer grass to be added also some black grit added to the yards surface.

[Marly51]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

Further work done today, concentrating on the over bridge area and the two main lines first, everything else will then naturally fall into place(he says hopefully). Station platforms to build,even though the station closed to passenger traffic before WW11, modeler's licence may be enacted to get items collected from the station and some perishable items could arrive for the old village shops too...……………………….

The scenic work is not finished, some tufts of longer grass to be added also some black grit added to the yards surface.

 

Wow, ’ tigerburnie’ , you’ve certainly moved on apace! The scenery is looking really good!

 

Marlyn

Edited July 16, 2019 by Marly51

[tigerburnie]

A fair bit of ballasting today, no pictures until it's done, I am concentrating on the scenic area at the moment, but there's more boards to lay for the storage/fiddle yards to do as well, no real plan, just winging it at the moment but it will have to come together for the two rails that will go over the lift section by the doors(yep double doors, just to make things complicated).

[Bill37]

Hi tigerburnie, Looking good, now following this thread with interest.

 

Bill.

[tigerburnie]

Thanks Bill, I learnt quite a lot doing the old Great Central layout, so hopefully this one will be a bit better.