Moray Coast Terminus 1960s's

[SHerr]

I have been wondering for a while about building a small layout to go alongside my large loft layout. Mainly as I still ave some stock left from some time ago, but more so when I modelled Scotland I have always had a thing for Class 21's and 24's as well as single class 20's and 26's. Now with the Dapol 21 and the SLW 24's in production I started thinking more again about getting this moving. It will also serve as a good test bed for more of the scenics for my main layout. 

 

I started thinking around some of the Ian Futers track plans for small a terminus and started playing around with some ideas and also researching different areas where I could run 21's and 24's together. Initially I wondered about a branch around Aberfeldy with a link to the Callander lines but it all seemed a bit far fetched so I then tuned my attentions to the North East

 

I had in the garage some board that measures 4 foot by 2 foot 2 inch and decided to try something around this being cut in 2. initially I struggled but them came up with the idea of the boards being tapered - after all a small terminus would not need much of a fiddle yard. This gives a bit more scenic space for goods facilities.

 

I have now fine-tuned a few times and come up with the plan below - inspiration from GNSR lines and particularly I liked the look of Lossiemouth with some hints of other places like Peterhead and Kyle.

 

 

I have settled on a single platform, with Fish loading dock behind the platform, in the main yard is a goods shed and another dock.

 

Passenger traffic is anticipated to be short 2 coach trains mainly - either mk1's or ex LMS staniers and class 105. There are even pictures of a single class 20 on a service at Lossiemouth so pretty much anything will go. I currently have a badly repainted Heljan 26 that was Green but I sprayed Blue this will be stripped down and whilst hoping to get it to base green suspect it will be resprayed from scratch.

 

Freight is Fish, usual mixed vans and coal etc but also imported Whisky barrels in open wagons. I've also seen in the background pictures of Presflo's at Lossiemouth but I can't find any reference to what traffic they carried.

 

I have cut the board and had an initial layout of stock and everything seems ok.

 

I am toying with using the Peco Bullhead, but I need to get my head round the wiring as this is something I really struggle to get my head around. Alternatively I may just stick with code 75. 

 

Any thoughts on the plan or info on other local traffic will be appreciated.

[Joseph_Pestell]

A good friend of mine has family round there. We explored a lot of the old railway routes on a trip there (1985?). Very interesting area.

[sammyboy]

A nice compact track plan. Good luck with the rest of your layout build!

 

Sam

[scottystitch]

Going by your description of your boards, each square is 12", and so the only thing I would say is that your locomotive release won't be long enough to release anything other than the smallest tank engine, by the looks of things.

 

I model in N, but I'm guessing in OO you'd need approaching 12" to release a 21, or thereabouts?  If that is the case, I'd be looking to move the crossover to the left by about another 6 inches.

 

Best

 

Scott.

[37Oban]

20 minutes ago, scottystitch said:

Going by your description of your boards, each square is 12", and so the only thing I would say is that your locomotive release won't be long enough to release anything other than the smallest tank engine, by the looks of things.

 

I model in N, but I'm guessing in OO you'd need approaching 12" to release a 21, or thereabouts?  If that is the case, I'd be looking to move the crossover to the left by about another 6 inches.

 

Best

 

Scott.

Hi,

 

I agree with the above.  I'm currently have the boards ready, but not the track, for an EM terminus, based in Glasgow, in a length of 5' 6" and have allowed a length of 11" for the locomotive release.  I have checked this and it means that with the buffer stop in place (I'm using Caledonian Railway "ordinary" buffer stops which are shorter than surface mounted ones) I can release a Cl27 or Cl29 and still have a wee smidgen to spare.  A Cl37 is a no go though. If I was using a standard surface mounted buffer stop I would allow another inch to two inches to be sure I had enough space for the loco.

 

Roja

[SHerr]

Thanks for the comments regarding the length of the release, yes I’ve realised it was drawn slightly wrong (I think you need about 9” for a small Type 2) but I also forgot about the buffer stop!

[scottystitch]

55 minutes ago, SHerr said:

Thanks for the comments regarding the length of the release, yes I’ve realised it was drawn slightly wrong (I think you need about 9” for a small Type 2) but I also forgot about the buffer stop!

Indeed, it seems I was a bit out with 12" for a 21.

 

 

So not such a big tweek needed on the release.

 

I suppose, if it is a squeeze, all you need is the bogie to clear the points of the switch blades

[SHerr]

11 hours ago, scottystitch said:

Indeed, it seems I was a bit out with 12" for a 21.

 

 

So not such a big tweek needed on the release.

 

I suppose, if it is a squeeze, all you need is the bogie to clear the points of the switch blades

Thanks that’s great, I measured a 25/26 as being able to fit in 8 inches plus buffers at a push, more realistically 8 1/2 and a 20 is shorter but don’t yet have a 21 to measure.

[SHerr]

I've had a little play around with the track plan, altering the loco release length. I've also looked to see what adding another foot onto the boards does. I'm not sure other than a little more sense of space that it achieves any real benefits so will most probably stick as is.

 

Slightly modified 8 foot layout

 

 

Similar plan with 9 foot board

 

Expanding a bit more on likely operations, research suggests passenger trains were generally still loco hauled with ex LMS standers changing to mk1's from mid/late 60's. There are photos around showing classes 20 and 21 at Lossiemouth on passenger turns and the coastal route also saw classes 24/0, 24/1 and 26. Also some local services would have been class 105 DMU's.

 

Freight will be fish, coal, local merchandise. I have also seen pictures of Presflo's which after asking a question on the Scottish modelling thread appear to be cement but others have also had suggestions about additional RAF and Naval traffic that could be modelled as well. I am also going to use a bit of modellers licence to have imported barrels for the Speyside distilleries coming through the harbour - at the moment this will be transferred at the loading dock but I am going to ensure I can add another short board beyond the station for the harbour in the future if I get carried away!

 

I do have a bit of a class 24/1 dilemma - I really want the SLW one but they have headlights and the first ones were only fitted in mid 1967 which only really gives me a 1 year timeframe of having a class 24 and 21 running together. Otherwise I will need to get the Bachmann one but then cut the tablet catcher in the cab side - that said I'm going to have to do it on the class 21 anyway.

[37Oban]

Hi,

 

accepted wisdom is that if you can, add extra length to a layout, if possible, as it makes it look less cramped.  However, I prefer the 8ft version.  Stations could be restricted by the topology of landscape.  In rocky areas, such as coastal districts with cliffs,  it's expensive to use explosives to increase the station area, so the best use would be made of the available area and explosives only used as necessary,  to keep costs down.  A similar scenario existed in towns and cities where the price of land can be very expensive, even in the Victorian era.

 

My own EM terminus, based in Glasgow, is on two boards of 2' 9" with an additional 40" folding, rotating fiddleyard.  Well, it will be when I pull my finger out and stop buying kits to build!

 

Roja

[SHerr]

I've done a bit more playing around with the track plan, initially as suggested above I wanted to make sure that I could add a potential future extension beyond the terminus.

 

I ended up slightly re-arranging the sidings to make this fit better.

 

Then I stumbled upon the idea of using the 9 foot board option but with the 8 foot layout and having a shorter section into the harbour area from the start. This is partly inspired by spending a lot of time over the last 2 days looking back through the wonderful Crinan thread. I always liked the canal area that was added behind the station and it inspired me to look at this. I think there is just enough room to do it justice and get a fishing trawler in.

 

Also partially inspired by Crinan, I have re-worked what was the fish dock behind the station. I was never totally happy with this and realised it would look stupid there when the harbour is at the other end. So, I've decided to add a turn back into a local distillery and potentially including its own Andrew Barclay (Hattons) tank engine in a very similar vein to some of the other Speyside distilleries. I did actually in the early thoughts for this layout have the idea for something based around Cromdale with a Distillery exchange but needing a fiddle yard at each end meant the space just didn't work. So full circle and a Distillery exchange looks likely.

 

 

 

[IanStock]

Hi, I wonder whether you might be interested in my current project. We seem to share influences.  Not a lot of GNSR modellers out here...  https://trainsandtrad.wordpress.com/category/gnsr-in-4mm-scale/

 

 

[DLT]

Interesting project, I will be following.

All the best, Dave.

[SHerr]

Unfortunately I’ve decided not to progress this and is now being superseded by something a bit bigger based on Tarbert on the west coast.

 

Similar philosophy and timeframe, I was struggling to convince myself that I could live with class 21s without tablet catchers and really didn’t fancy trying to modify one. I did one on a cheap 25 body for a 24/1 and that wasn’t great and the simpler square recess. Wrecking a £130 loco put me off a bit.

 

 

[SHerr]

44 minutes ago, IanStock said:

Hi, I wonder whether you might be interested in my current project. We seem to share influences.  Not a lot of GNSR modellers out here...  https://trainsandtrad.wordpress.com/category/gnsr-in-4mm-scale/

 

 

Really impressive layout, the harbour scene looks superb. I really like the Scalescenes fishing boat, I’ve been looking a lot at the Artitec ones but am now tempted to try the scalescenes one as yours looks fantasy and doesn’t look like a card printout kit. I will need to re-read your thread with a bit more time.

 

Any reason you’ve not put the layout on here? - I’m sure it will be well appreciated.

[IanStock]

Thanks for your comments! The fishing boat isn't the card kit - I used the Scalescenes printout as a template to make it from plasticard. There's a post on it on the blog https://trainsandtrad.wordpress.com/2020/06/16/something-distinctly-fishy/  and I've just written up an article which I hope will appear in RM in due course. I have one of the Artitec ones pending building - it looks good, nice castings, but lousy instructions - and it's a lot smaller than the Scalescenes one.  I don't post on MRweb simply because I've followed too many people for whom it became a lead weight around their neck, to the point that it ruined their modelling. The bigger the crowd, the greater the risk, it seems to me. There is an FB group that I moderate with Paul Sherwood - Model Railway ReaIism and my blog links to that - some great workers on there, about 1500 people in all. Private group, but if you send me your details... Slight shame you've changed your mind on Moray, but it's a free(-ish) world!

[SHerr]

45 minutes ago, IanStock said:

Thanks for your comments! The fishing boat isn't the card kit - I used the Scalescenes printout as a template to make it from plasticard. There's a post on it on the blog https://trainsandtrad.wordpress.com/2020/06/16/something-distinctly-fishy/  and I've just written up an article which I hope will appear in RM in due course. I have one of the Artitec ones pending building - it looks good, nice castings, but lousy instructions - and it's a lot smaller than the Scalescenes one.  I don't post on MRweb simply because I've followed too many people for whom it became a lead weight around their neck, to the point that it ruined their modelling. The bigger the crowd, the greater the risk, it seems to me. There is an FB group that I moderate with Paul Sherwood - Model Railway ReaIism and my blog links to that - some great workers on there, about 1500 people in all. Private group, but if you send me your details... Slight shame you've changed your mind on Moray, but it's a free(-ish) world!

Thanks for the response, I understand not wanting to be tied to a forum. I tend not to bother if people reply or not but still find myself spending more time seeing if someone has responded than modelling or reading other articles.

 

I like the idea of using Scalescenes as a template, I’d thought about it on my other layout for a building but had not yet crossed my mind for a boat. That may well be a really good option especially considering your comments about size of Artitec. 

 

i will investigate the other forums but not sure I won’t drag down the standards as I’m nowhere near that skill level.