Tweedsmuir - A Caledonian Railway Micro-layout

[BennyBobRM]

So I am in the process of gathering the pieces for my next major railway modelling project - Tweedsmuir. Tweedsmuir is a little village in the former county of Peebleshire, not far from my childhood home and about 8 miles from the town of Biggar, the birthplace of the famous Albion motors automotive company. At the end of the 19th century, the Edinburgh and District Water Trust set out on the construction of the Talla Reservoir to meet the city's increasing water demand; this necessitated the construction of a service railway branching off the Caledonian's Symington to Peebles branch about a mile from Broughton at Rachan. The railway was opened on the 29th of September 1897 and ran to a platform at Victoria Lodge at the head of the dam (or where it was to be built). The reservoir was completed and inaugurated in 1905 with great fanfare (see photos attached) and the track was lifted in 1912. In addition to freight trains bringing in puddle clay for the construction of the dam, there was also a passenger service from Broughton for the workers and the locals known affectionately as the "Tweedsmuir Express". The line was mostly worked by the construction company's 0-6-0ST Peckett B1 Works No.897, named 'Talla'  In 1909, a proposal was made by local minister the Reverend W.S. Crockett that the Caledonian should take over operation of the line for the convenience of the local population: however this was rejected. But what if this weren't the case?

 

The layout is based on the premise that the Rev. Crockett's proposal had in fact been accepted and the Caledonian Railway Tweedsmuir branch became a thing. I have made the assumption that the Water Trust retained control of the (still existing) platform at Victoria Lodge and the Caledonian was forced to build a new station to the layout plan below, a very simple, but functional station consisting of a run-round loop and a single siding goods yard - all that would have been necessary for a little village like Tweedsmuir. The overall scenic area will be 125x28cm, very small indeed but necessary as I need it to fit on a shelf in my student flat! I may (in fact, probably will) add scenic extensions in the distant future. The rolling stock (for Caledonian operation, I will cover later periods in future posts) will consist of a CR 439 0-4-4T - the mostly likely engine to have ran the trains on such a branch - and a CR 812 class 0-6-0 (I would have gone for a Jumbo, but I'm not sure how good the DJH kit is and I have two of the Bachmann 812s ordered), probably for special trains. The station building, which I have already scratchbuilt from plastikard is a replica of that at Dunsyre (photos of the model and prototype included below). I have ordered a Wills kit of a goods yard store which I will paint up in Caledonian colours. I would have scratchbuilt such a structure, however I cannot find any suitable prototypes to follow (any help would be greatly appreciated!) and I feel the Wills kits, with a little modification and painting, can produce really individual looking structures - just google "Wills Goods Yard Store" and hopefully you'll see what I mean. I intend to put some very basic signalling controlled by a ground frame, this will be mostly for operational interest as the real thing would most likely have used "one engine in steam" operation. That is all for the time being and I look forward to the next update on this little foray into modelling a pre-grouping Scottish branch line!

 

Photos of the Talla Railway and Dunsyre station courtesy of Biggar Museum Trust.

 

Firstly, the historic photos of the Talla line:

 

 

Next, the Station at Dunsyre on the CR Dolpinton branch, the main building I have replicated being on the far-left of the photo:

 

And my model, the roof needs re-doing as it is too low proportionally (and of course needs a lum!) but otherwise, I'm pretty happy with it:

and the interior:

 

And finally the plan of Tweedsmuir:

Edited February 22, 2021 by BennyBobRM
Forgot to add a photo

[Andrew D]

Oh my, this looks like a really interesting project indeed! Following with much interest. 

[Londontram]

As a massive die hard Caledonian fan I'm looking forward to this with great anticipation and already that station building looks superb and I like the idea of the Wills goods store, I wonder if to give it a more "Scottish" look maybe the trestle base could be replaced with a stone base made from some Wills stone effect plasticard but that's just my opinion.

 

  My one thought is the Caledonian although it did occasionally happen were as a company very adverse to running tender first and in some cases like the Balachulish extension to the Callander and Oban line Tender locos we're banned from the line untill the Turntable was completed so it might be worth looking around for a 439 class tank loco (They turn up frequently on that auction site both built and unbuilt plus I've seen some good conversions of Hornby M7 to the 439 class too)

[Marly51]

Delighted to see another well researched Scottish micro! 

[BennyBobRM]

@Londontram I have a kit built DJH model of the CR 439 class so all is good in that department! The curvature of the real Talla line I believe reduced it to only using small tank locomotives, there are certainly no photos or records (that I know of) of anything larger than that being used. I also suspect the weight restrictions would have been fairly tight had such a branch came into Caley hands. 

[andyram]

As someone who loves the Scottish region I will follow this with interest.

[BennyBobRM]

So shortly after putting the opening post up, the goods yard store kit arrived: which I started putting together without hesitation and after the initial construction was painted with the help of my girlfriend who has a wonderful eye for colour and has been lending a very helpful hand.  The roof still needs painting and the trims, gutters and drainpipes need another coat of the purple brown paint, overall progressing very well. I think I will proceed with a brick base for the Goods Store as I want to make the station platform out of brick (the platform still at Victoria Lodge today is constructed from brick, image below) and the Caley seemed to favour brick construction more in its later days as far as I can tell.

The platform at Victoria Lodge today; Many thanks go to Cheryl and Matthew Toomey, the current residents of Victoria Lodge, whom spent a lovely winter's afternoon with my father, girlfriend and I: showing us the old platform, giving a history of the line and passing on some very useful resources which have provided major inspiration for this project. I cannot thank them both enough!

[BennyBobRM]

Just a little update on further progress, the Goods Shed is mostly together, the mortar in the bricks needs added and an access ramp also needs added as well as some advertisement signs and further external weathering. The Roof has been fully painted and weathered. I  have also taken the liberty of painting the rails on the points. The points are code 75 Peco and are placeholders till I can get their bullhead counterparts. The straight sections consist of DCC concepts code 75 stainless steel rail, which I opted for as there is not much bending required and (to my knowledge) the conduction is superior. Hopefully I'll pop up a photo of some of the rolling stock I intend to use on the layout shortly. The main delay in the layout right now is obtaining the baseboards, which my father is making for me back home, with me currently being at my student flat in Edinburgh and there being a national lockdown.

[BennyBobRM]

Baby Steps still, but all important nonetheless! I have since completed the doors and brick mortar effect on the Goods Shed and redone the roof for the Dunsyre building, now in need of a little chimney. As you can see, it looks far more in proportion now, and weathered roof too! (the photo doesn't show the weathering too well though, I'll be sure to get better ones in the future!) Might as well show off some of the stock as well: The principle locomotive will be CR 419, although her earliest sheds are not known, by the First World War, she was at Polmadie. However, the earliest photo of her shows her at Lockerbie, and it could probably be safely assumed her shed was either Carstairs or Beattock, putting her in the right area. Also, being the survivor and the CR loco I have seen the most of, I therefore cite Rule 1 of railway modelling and she is my choice of loco! In the future, I would like to build the CR 104 class which would make a good fit for the branch. As far as passenger coaches go, I only have the (as of yet, uncompleted) preserved pair, which will be too long for the platform so will likely not feature much  However, Hattons Genesis coaches to the rescue! They are producing LMS coaches which going by this photo:

 

The Hattons one for comparison:

 

 

 

are a pretty good match for the Caley ones which would place the time frame around 1923/24 initially. Hattons are planning on producing a Caley variant in Batch 3 as well, which I will no doubt pick up when they become available, whenever that is! Finally, I will probably build some of Jim Smellie's Balerno Branch coach kits at some point which would complement the genesis ones quite nicely, again placing the time frame around the early 20s. Goods Stock consists mostly of open wagons from the pre-grouping Southern Scottish companies (NBR, CR and GSWR) plus a couple of covered CR diagram 67 vans, a 15T brake van from a Caley Coaches kit and some proprietary private owners coal wagons.

 

I do plan to extend running through the LMS period and into BR days. As far as LMS locos go, I will probably find a suitable tank engine, either a Jinty or, if I'm feeling cheeky, a foreign ex LYR 2-4-2T or ex LNWR Coal tank, but that is a while off yet in my plans. A couple more CR/NBR wagons with LMS and LNER liveries to complement the period should cover that. As far as BR period goes my plan is to run quite a variety of stock, I have a Standard 4 tank(No 80120) and a pair of BRCW Type 2s (26/27) along with Suburban brake coaches, both ex LMS and BR Mk1 types. Finally I am getting the Bachmann/Rails 812 class one of which will be in the BR livery and will be renumbered to one of the Carstairs (or maybe Beattock) engines so it would work very well for the task with a single brake coach.

 

Anyways that is all for now, not much progress, but lots of plans!

 

 

[BennyBobRM]

Progress! Firstly, and most notably, the scenic board has been put together with the help of my father (who I constantly had to remind that I'm an astrophysicist, not a joiner and so my woodwork skills are crap!). The trackwork has started to be laid and some Caley bufferstops from the Lanarkshire Modelling Supplies range, constructed and put in place. It was at this stage I realised that I have no insulated fishplates for the points and so a pack of them had to be ordered! Now having a chance to see the buildings in their rough positions, I have decided I will add a little ramp to the goods store on the side facing the platform. Advertisements have been added as well. The Dunsyre building is now complete bar weathering and interior lighting. On the subject of lighting; I have gotten a pack of the Gaugemaster gas lamps in the LMS maroon colours, which I immediately proceeded to repaint into something more Caledonian. The only really helpful source (I really ought to get one of the many books on the Caley!) I could find on the matter of colouring was this web page: https://www.stationcolours.com/scotland#:~:text=CALEDONIAN RAILWAY&text=were painted in purple brown,as much light as possible. which stated that the lamps were painted the duck's foot colour on the posts and that the frames - unusually - were blue. Odd, I thought, but I went ahead and painted it that colour and it really looks quite nice in my humble opinion, so that is what I'm going with!

[Londontram]

Those gas lamps are beautiful the rest is progressing nicely too

[ManofKent]

I'm enjoying watching this develop. What paint are you using for the buildings? That looks a good match for duckfoot.

[BennyBobRM]

More progress this week, the wiring has been completed and tested and to my joy, is fully working. Besides that, not a lot, the raised scenic sections have been glued in and the the platform has started to be put together from a Metcalfe kit, not my ideal choice, however I felt I should use up resources I have kicking around, and the surface will be gravel with the edge stones, much different to the generic Metcalfe kits.

 

@ManofKentTo make the duck's foot colour, I mixed some Yellow and Red (Humbrol 24 and 19) to get a basic orange colour (not much is needed) I then add an earthy brown colour, last time I used Humbrol 110 Natural Wood, though from experience, any should do. Once that is mixed, I then added more Yellow in little bits as necessary to bring it to the right shade. I used the station building at Birkhill (as it is presently painted) as my reference.

[BennyBobRM]

Latest Update, the scenery has been plastered, painted and the grass mats laid on top. The track has been ballasted and the platform has had it's gravel surface laid and glued down. The fences (with the advertisement signs, a telephone box and post box have been glued in place along with the station sign. Finally, the platform lamps have been glued in place and wired which looks nice. I will next need to focus on adding more to the grass and surrounding scenery, as well as making a coal office for the goods yard where the final lamp will be placed. I tried making the lighting in the station building work, however it didn't work as well as I hoped, the LEDs barely lit up and the orange colour contrasted too much from the platform lamps, so I will replace them at some point will bigger yellow-white LEDs. The new lighting made for a good opportunity to do a quick photoshoot with some of the stock.

 

[BennyBobRM]

Not much to update on, the layout has been moved up to it's permanent home at my student flat. I have since put together the fiddle yard board for the layout and ran the layout as a full setup for the first time. Since then no real progress has been made as have been prepping for and sitting exams. Perhaps the most exciting update however is the arrival of a pair of Balerno Branch coach kits from the Caley Coaches range, which I really look forward to putting together, they look like a really sweet little pair of coaches.

[ManofKent]

I'll be interested to see how the Balerno coaches go. If an when I get back to my vaguely Loch Tay planned small layout rolling stock is one of those big issues I've got to tackle. Suitable PO wagons and even visiting NB wagons are available rtr but there's very little else.

[Marly51]

12 hours ago, BennyBobRM said:

Not much to update on, the layout has been moved up to it's permanent home at my student flat. I have since put together the fiddle yard board for the layout and ran the layout as a full setup for the first time. Since then no real progress has been made as have been prepping for and sitting exams. Perhaps the most exciting update however is the arrival of a pair of Balerno Branch coach kits from the Caley Coaches range, which I really look forward to putting together, they look like a really sweet little pair of coaches.

 

Thank you for highlighting these Caley Coach kits! I think one of these might be a good opportunity to have a go at putting together an etched kit!

Edited May 7, 2021 by Marly51

[Marly51]

Sorry, in my post I seem to have managed to insert my comment into your quote, by mistake! 

[BennyBobRM]

I have decided that the goods store in it's planned position was going to be just too cramped to be realistic. so I am adding a loading platform: brick-built. I have just enough offcuts of plasticard brick to do it, so I'll crack on with that (time permitting of course!).

 

@ManofKent It is really frustrating the lack of 4 and 6 wheel coaches for the Caley, even in kit form, the Balerno pair are at present the only readily available ones out there I know of! Given the late setting of the layout (1905-23ish) I thought it gave me good scope to use a little modeller's licence and depict what might have been had more been built and they spread further across the Caley/LMS network.

 

[ManofKent]

Yes I could only find the Balerno kits, which look good if you're happy with late period Caledonian - I couldn't find anything turn of the century (to be honest finding photos isn't easy!). RTR coaches you've got the old generic Hornby 4-wheelers in a supposedly CR livery but they're pretty basic. The proposed Hattons ones might be okay if generic again.

 

[turbos]

The Hornby shorty Clerestory coaches can be redone as Caley 45ft coaches, there were hundreds of 45ft and 48ft Caley coaches, built around the turn of the century, almost the ‘standard’ Caley coach.
The roof and underframe need reworked the rest is up to you. The First/Composite is the easiest, Thirds and Brake Thirds require cut ‘n’ shut.

I’m currently doing a First class 45ft Caley coach. There are some good pictures and lots of information on them and all Caledonian Coaches in Mike Williams ‘Caledonian Railway Carriages’.

 

Brian.

[BennyBobRM]

Been a while since I've done anything on Tweedsmuir, mainly because I've been away from the flat where Tweedsmuir is kept. However now I'm back, some progress (and updates ) is due! Firstly, I've installed the final lantern at the end of the path up to the station. I have also been working on a Stevens and Co. Signal, one I already had kicking around from my other layout, I have added an LED to the lamp, glazed the spectacle plates and added a balance lever. My intention is to control the signal from the fiddle yard. I have also been working on a Wills platelayers hut for my other layout which I thought might make good use as a coal office for Tweedsmuir??? May need a repaint but would be a good hut for the job, equally well though I'd be keen on scratchbuilding one of brick. The biggest progress by far though has been on the Balerno coaches! The Brake 3rd is nearly complete, just needing her interior, roof, door fittings and lining kitted out. The Non Brake 3rd additionally needs her wheels and transfers, but is coming along well too! 

 

The new lamp

The Signal

 

The Platelayer Hut/Coal Office??

 

The Balerno Coaches

[Jerry1975]

Looking really nice. 

 

Jerry. 

[TechnicArrow]

Definitely looking good so far - that signal is some superb modelling. My first instinct is the platelayers hut is a little too ramshackle for a permanent coal office, but it could look good - I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[BennyBobRM]

@TechnicArrow I agree that the platelayers hut would look somewhat ramshackle - would definitely need a little repaint - however, the good thing is that the Tweedsmuir area has loads of these little ramshackle buildings around, notably the corrugated iron hospital and morgue for the workers during the construction of the reservoir! (I need to find some photos of them to share) Having thought about it since the last post, I think I will have a go!