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Newton Stewart on the Port Road


Bochi
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I'm very new here; had a couple of layouts in previous homes - both small GWR branches. The ceiling fell in on Staines West, and Midgewater suffered from being in a loft with a savagely sloping roof that did my back in every time I went round the far side of the layout. 

So after moving and settling in to a new house I splashed out on a large shed/workshop - 18' x 14' - which is now full of timber and old/new trackage and tools and so on. But what to build? I've fiddled with exciting but impractical Freezer plans and looked at some favourite subjects such as Woofferton on the Hereford-Shrewsbury joint, but what has really sparked me is the Port Road - surely a true secondary mainline, much of it single track, with steep gradients and some quite short trains, as well as the "Paddy". Andrew Swan's book "The Port Road" is probably the nicest railway book I've ever read and it has plans for all the main buildings at the back!

So to Newton Stewart, the junction for the Whithorn branch and an important market town in its own right - lots of cattle and sheep, meat and refrigerated vans. Anyway, I have come up with a plan using AnyRail and would be very grateful for comments from those much more experienced and knowledgeable than I:

 

640793509_NewtonStewart.jpg.247151d4ed332a06f4c5bd0c1c36da60.jpg

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I haven't annotated the plan so here are some details. The shed doors are on the left - double doors, one will open nicely into the relatively blank area on the left. The Whithorn branch has a runaround loop for a fiddle yard. The track rises on the left to the Stranraer fiddle yard. On the right it will cross the Cree viaduct before proceeding to the Dumfries fiddle yard. I borrowed the fiddle yard arrangements from Iain Rice's "Binegar" plan, with an 8ft link between the upper and lower yards for a continuous run.

 

There is a large island platform and to the south of the main running tracks, the station building and the little bay which I think was for parcels. I removed one siding from the engine shed area which was built in 1930 to provide additional room for 32 wagons. The existing goods yard, while the sidings are not long, is quite extensive so I hope it will look busy. In reality it fanned out more but I had to keep it to a 3ft reach. Even so it is a stretch for shunting and I think I will have to use an automatic coupling system. Any ideas?

 

I compressed two 'Y" type formations into the double slip to save a foot or two. There was a road bridge between them - I think this had better go to the left of the double slip now. There was also a very long lattice footbridge spanning all three platform roads and the throat of the goods yard,

 

Although it is somewhat compressed I've kept all the lines and sidings of the original apart from that one addition, and used a ruling radius of 2' 6" in a few tight spots, 3' 0" for preference. Medium points throughout. Criticism and improvements welcome!

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I had a look at the NLS website for 25" to the mile content, but the most recent is 1908. it does give a much better rendition of the track plan rather than the Old Maps Site.

 

I found these on Britain from Above.

 

https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/SPW034399

https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/SPW034401

 

Beware, though, if you haven't already found Britain from Above, it can be addictive.

 

Regards & good luck with the build

 

Ian

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Great idea...I actually looked at this a while ago and for a number of reasons didn't move forward with it. That's not to say I won't in the future though.

This location has the lot. A station, a brabch, a yard, loco shed and loops. The plan you've devised is clever and makes logical use of the space.

Do you have all the stock? What do you plan to run? One reason bi didn't keep going was I couldn't get clan locos, Hornby discontinued while eBay got greedy!

Anyway, really look forward to this develop. Plenty of knowledgeable folk on here who've always been invaluable with information to me.

Any pics of the space etc?

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I love it. Did a bit of research a while back when designing an N gauge version.

 

I like that arrangement of fiddle yard but you might want to introduce some method for turning locomotives so that you don't have to handle them too much.

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Should be interesting - I also looked at doing this a few years back but as a ‘what if Beeching didn’t happen’ set in the mid 80s, but couldn’t really get it to work in the space I had available at the time.
 

Good luck with the project.

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17 hours ago, Ian Smeeton said:

I had a look at the NLS website for 25" to the mile content, but the most recent is 1908. it does give a much better rendition of the track plan rather than the Old Maps Site.

 

I found these on Britain from Above.

 

https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/SPW034399

https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/SPW034401

 

Beware, though, if you haven't already found Britain from Above, it can be addictive.

 

Regards & good luck with the build

 

Ian

 

Thank you Ian. Those photographs fill a big gap in my knowledge - they show the station in relation to the contours around it and to the town. Also they show the two road bridges over the main and Whithorn lines which will form a natural break in my layout to the south of the engine shed. I didn't know what they looked like.

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13 hours ago, 37403 said:

Great idea...I actually looked at this a while ago and for a number of reasons didn't move forward with it. That's not to say I won't in the future though.

This location has the lot. A station, a branch, a yard, loco shed and loops. The plan you've devised is clever and makes logical use of the space.

Do you have all the stock? What do you plan to run? One reason bi didn't keep going was I couldn't get clan locos, Hornby discontinued while eBay got greedy!

Anyway, really look forward to this develop. Plenty of knowledgeable folk on here who've always been invaluable with information to me.

Any pics of the space etc?

 

 

Thanks! I don't have all the stock by any means. I plan to set it in the 1930s and possibly WW2 era (which would allow military trains to the massive camp at Cairnryan. With a bit of historical revisionism you could also assume the base was built earlier and thus got more use.)

 

I do have some LMS stock acquired over time - 2P, 4F, Fowler 2-6-4T etc - but not all of it is right for the line. I'll probably start with what I've got and add to it according to prototype requirements. The Rails of Sheffield/Bachmann Jumbo is on order. I probably need three or four but I don't want to bankrupt myself!  Iconic for the line in LMS times were the 2P and 4F along with ex-Caley Jumbos and 4-4-0 "Dunalastair" locos, then in 1939 the Stranraer turntable was extended to 60ft and Black 5s, Patriots and even rebuilt Scots were seen in the war years. So a very nice mix is possible just from RTR stock. Especially if the Jumbo ever materialises! 

 

In the back of my mind is to maintain my own interest in the layout by developing my kit-building skills - currently negligible - and thus introducing more ex-Caley stock, including coaches and wagons. I have a 3d Printer and although I have never tried to design anything so complex, I think it would be fun to see if I can produce sides and ends for the longer-lasting ex-Caley wagons and mount them on existing chassis/kits - so as to bring the layout increasingly into line with what really did operate on the Port Road.

Edited by Bochi
I mistakenly typed "Crianlarich" instead of Cairnryan
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5 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

I love it. Did a bit of research a while back when designing an N gauge version.

 

I like that arrangement of fiddle yard but you might want to introduce some method for turning locomotives so that you don't have to handle them too much.

 

The fiddle yard roads are very long so there should be room for turntables in the two corners - you are right. 

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18 minutes ago, Bochi said:

 

 

Thanks! I don't have all the stock by any means. I plan to set it in the 1930s and possibly WW2 era (which would allow military trains to the massive camp at Crianlarich. With a bit of historical revisionism you could also assume the base was built earlier and thus got more use.)

 

 

The wartime period was certainly busy on the Port Road. My father was based in Londonderry towards the end and his leave trips to/from London were made along the line.

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On 27/03/2020 at 02:10, Bochi said:

I'm very new here; had a couple of layouts in previous homes - both small GWR branches. The ceiling fell in on Staines West, and Midgewater suffered from being in a loft with a savagely sloping roof that did my back in every time I went round the far side of the layout. 

So after moving and settling in to a new house I splashed out on a large shed/workshop - 18' x 14' - which is now full of timber and old/new trackage and tools and so on. But what to build? I've fiddled with exciting but impractical Freezer plans and looked at some favourite subjects such as Woofferton on the Hereford-Shrewsbury joint, but what has really sparked me is the Port Road - surely a true secondary mainline, much of it single track, with steep gradients and some quite short trains, as well as the "Paddy". Andrew Swan's book "The Port Road" is probably the nicest railway book I've ever read and it has plans for all the main buildings at the back!

So to Newton Stewart, the junction for the Whithorn branch and an important market town in its own right - lots of cattle and sheep, meat and refrigerated vans. Anyway, I have come up with a plan using AnyRail and would be very grateful for comments from those much more experienced and knowledgeable than I:

 

640793509_NewtonStewart.jpg.247151d4ed332a06f4c5bd0c1c36da60.jpg

 

A small detail but if the turnout to the bottom of the link ramp is an RH turnout somewhere on the curve you can have a lesser gradient on the ramp and also a slightly longer pair of sidings at "Dumfries".

 

As to the turntables, I am surprised how often I see people use "full fat" model turntables in these situations when all you need is a length of ply and a central pivot.

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8 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

The wartime period was certainly busy on the Port Road. My father was based in Londonderry towards the end and his leave trips to/from London were made along the line.

 

There is an archived film of a journey along the whole line from Stranraer in 1965 shortly before it was closed. https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/3696

 

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1 minute ago, Bochi said:

 

There is an archived film of a journey along the whole line from Stranraer in 1965 shortly before it was closed. https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/3696

 

 

I have seen that. Wish I had found it before Dad died. He would have enjoyed that a lot, not least because he did not get to see much of the line travelling mostly at night.

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4 minutes ago, Wheatley said:

Only issue I can see with your trackplan is that the Stranaer end of the loop (top left) wasn't a loop, it was a long siding on the outside with the running line on the inside. Good luck!

 

I didn't know that! The track diagram in Swan's book doesn't extend that far. I shall adjust - I think it allows me to ease out the curves too which is all to the good. So that's a long headshunt, basically?

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On 28/03/2020 at 15:27, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I have seen that. Wish I had found it before Dad died. He would have enjoyed that a lot, not least because he did not get to see much of the line travelling mostly at night.

 

Did they have reasonable coach accomodations? The engineers sent to Cairnryan had to travel in ancient coaching stock with no windows and no heating - in the middle of winter! On the site they used a locomotive engine to run a generator for power and heating.

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2 minutes ago, Bochi said:

 

Did they have reasonable coach accomodations? The engineers sent to Crianlarich had to travel in ancient coaching stock with no windows and no heating - in the middle of winter! On the site they used a locomotive engine to run a generator for power and heating.

 

Ordinary Stanier 3rd class compartment stock so far as I know. There was a direct Stranraer service from Euston but very slow involving an early departure. Travelling from Kings Cross via Newcastle, he could get a few more hours in London.

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8 hours ago, 37403 said:

Any pics of the space etc?

 

Here are two pictures of the space. As you can see, everything has a place and everything in its place. Mostly, that's in a box, on the floor, on the table, or on the chair...

 

 

space.jpg

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20 minutes ago, 37403 said:

Looks great. Who supplied the shed? Fully insulated etc?

Crane Garden Buildings did the shed. Yes, it's fully insulated, floor and walls, and sits on a concrete base - dead level, too, I checked. So I'll know who to blame when the baseboards turn out squint...

 

They are expensive but I found them easy to deal with. I still have to get it properly connected to the mains - I am running a cable out to it from a nearby power point but wasn't able to get an electrician in before the virus hit, so have to be careful about overloading it. Hence the portable oil heater. As you can see it's a wide shed and with the layout going round the walls, a space about 8' x 12' is still available in the middle for workbenches and tools etc. Tool cabinets and bookcases and the like can go under the baseboards.

 

I anticipate the upper yard to be flush with the bottom edge of the window frames with viewing from ordinary chairs and perhaps operating from draughtsman chairs. I have a couple of mates who are interested in playing trains with me so someone can take care of the shed and branch, another one the goods yard, and a third the main running lines. And then there's the fiddle yard and the east and west signal boxes...you could justify quite a big group.

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6 hours ago, Bochi said:

Thanks! I don't have all the stock by any means. I plan to set it in the 1930s and possibly WW2 era (which would allow military trains to the massive camp at Crianlarich. With a bit of historical revisionism you could also assume the base was built earlier and thus got more use.)

 

I'm not sure what military camp you're referring to - Crianlarich is a couple of hundred miles north of Newton Stewart, on the West Highland. Do you mean Cairnryan?

 

6 hours ago, Bochi said:

I do have some LMS stock acquired over time - 2P, 4F, Fowler 2-6-4T etc - but not all of it is right for the line. I'll probably start with what I've got and add to it according to prototype requirements. The Rails of Sheffield/Bachmann Jumbo is on order. I probably need three or four but I don't want to bankrupt myself!  Iconic for the line in LMS times were the 2P and 4F along with ex-Caley Jumbos and 4-4-0 "Dunalastair" locos, then in 1939 the Stranraer turntable was extended to 60ft and Black 5s, Patriots and even rebuilt Scots were seen in the war years. So a very nice mix is possible just from RTR stock. Especially if the Jumbo ever materialises! 

 

If you're going to model the war years, you will need Jubilees (plural)! I presume you know about David L. Smith's books on the railways in the area? If you don't, I would recommend 'Legends of the Glasgow and South Western Railway in LMS Days' as being most relevant to your era. There's also 'The Little Railways of South-West Scotland' and 'Tales of the Glasgow and South Western Railway'.

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37 minutes ago, pH said:

 

I'm not sure what military camp you're referring to - Crianlarich is a couple of hundred miles north of Newton Stewart, on the West Highland. Do you mean Cairnryan?

 

 

If you're going to model the war years, you will need Jubilees (plural)! I presume you know about David L. Smith's books on the railways in the area? If you don't, I would recommend 'Legends of the Glasgow and South Western Railway in LMS Days' as being most relevant to your era. There's also 'The Little Railways of South-West Scotland' and 'Tales of the Glasgow and South Western Railway'.

 

I mean Cairnryan. I will edit the post! Thank you.

 

I do know about those books and they are on my "to buy" list. I didn't know how relevant they might be to the period. I will redouble my efforts to chase them down.

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