Kyle of Minogue

[Craig Watson]

Hi all,

 

This layout was created and exhibited over a period of time between 1989 and 2006, it was initially started by the late Jim Morin then being completed by David Kirkwood.

 

Upon David's untimely death in 2009 the layout passed to Rutherglen Model Railway Club of which David had been the secretary.

 

In late 2010 Rutherglen MRC decided to see if anyone was interested in taking the layout as they were struggling for storage space in their Scout hall base, the scouts were looking to use the cupboard where the layout was stored and with the club busy building their new layout "Kirkwood Central" they decided it was unfortunately time for the layout to move on.

 

Upon reading that the layout was available I contacted the club and arranged to visit and see the layout, it was explained that some buildings and most of the electrics were missing but I went along as I had seen the layout in the flesh at a few shows and it was one which has interested me.

 

After looking over the layout a deal was struck and arrangements made to pick the layout up, the layout consisted of the baseboards, station building, goods shed and control panel, there was a big bag of wiring that was suspected to belong the the layout as well as the legs and a replica metal totem sign, it is now at home and space is being made available to get the layout back into exhibitable condition and replace the missing electrics, backscene, engine shed and a canal overbridge.

 

I was also given a large pile of pictures which had also been posted on David's fotopic site, with the recent collapse of fotopic I'm glad I have the prints as they show all the missing bits giving me something to work with!

 

One of the first tasks undertaken was to carry out some repairs to the station canopy which had been damaged at some point, then with the recent pleasant weather I've managed to make a stat on surveying the baseboard electrics to assess what is needed to get the layout operational again, this has included testing the fulgurex point motors which all appear to be working ok.

 

Today I set up 3 of the baseboards outside to pose some stock to get some pics to start this topic, the same 3 boards will be getting set up again soon to allow work to begin on getting the wiring sorted out and fiting backscenes, the plan is to work on these three boards first then progress through the next two plus the fiddle yard.

 

I haven't set a target to do the work as yet although anyone I've mentioned the layout to always asks when they will get to see it again but it's sharing time with my HO Canadian project which has had some slow progress over the winter!

 

I took some pics with stock posed on the assembled part today which I've posted below, I also have the article on the layout which appeared in the November 1994 British Railway Modelling mag which details the history and setting of the layout, I'll post a brief overview over the next few days.

 

An overview of the boards assembled today,

 

The area of the missing engine shed,

 

44762 awaits departure with a local service,

 

The goods yard,

 

Another overview,

 

The location of the missing canal bridge,

 

Two of my DJH Caley locos which will be part of the fleet,

 

That's all for now, I'm hoping the real work on the layout will start over the next few weeks, starting with tidying up the wiring and sorting out some siezed/sticky switched on the control panel, there's also a possibility that the layout will become DCC controlled but I've not made a final decision on that front yet.

 

One thing that is likely to stay will be the name, a few people have mentioned to me that I should change the name but my personal view is that it will stay out of respect to the builders of the layout.

 

Cheers

 

Craig

[LN Lancs]

This looks an excellent layout Craig, thanks for the pictures and I'll be following this thread with interest.

[Katier]

Lovely layout, the picture of the canal bridge had me scratching my head trying to figure what wasn't right.. then realised.. Canal's VERY rarely have waves ( unless a boats going through ) they're usually dead calm. Ok bit nit picky on a layout well above the standards I can dream of achieving - but just made me smile when I realised.

[Jamie]

Nice one Craig, not seen this layout for ages - and don't think I ever paid it the attention it looks like it deserves.

You can add me to the list of folk keen to see it in the flesh again someday.

B)

[Allegheny1600]

Hi Craig,

Lucky you!

Thats a smashing layout there, good on you for homing it. Nice to see you have some highly appropriate traction for it too.

Oh yes! You MUST keep the name!

I remember when I first saw it, I thought "bu66er - wish I'd thought of that!" as it's a very clever play on words!

A Scottish BLT and the tiny princess of pop all in one, what could be better?

Cheers,

John E.

[grid56104]

Craig - good to see this layout has been saved and look forward to seeing it back on the circuit. I only saw it once at the SECC and was impressed with it so it will be good to see it once more.

 

Max Fowler

[ScRSG]

Have lots of memories of operating Kylie with DK, my first exposure to working on a layout at exhibitions. Glad it has been saved and good luck with the renovation, such a shame that bits are missing/damaged, pity it wasn't looked after better!

[G46208]

Hi Craig,

 

Well worth the effort eh! The pics have came out really clear and I'm sure everyone will follow the future work with interest. The Caley locos are just made for this type of layout. Glad to see that you have become a steamie convert, well done,

 

 

Cheers

Geo.

[Craig Watson]

Thanks for the comments folks!

 

I managed to set up the other two scenic boards today along with the station throat board, I've also started to trace the wiring and look towards starting work on replacing coroded connectors etc, quite a bit of the wiring is routed along the rear of the boards, this will get in the way of the planned backscenes so I'm planning to re route these sections under the boards.

 

Some pics of the other two boards and the wiring follow, the only board I haven't yet set up is the fiddle yard.

 

The view from the fiddle yard end looking towards the station throat,

 

Class 24 passing the sidings on the approach to the station,

 

The site of the missing bridge, straight over the join between two boards, the main canal section is a single 8 foot section which runs along the front of the two remaining scenic sections.

 

Black 5 coming onto the goods line from the fiddle yard

 

WD arriving onto the goods line,

 

Another view looking from the signalbox towards the fiddle yard end of the layout,

 

That's all for now, I'm now off to price various components to get the wiring started!

 

Cheers

 

Craig

[bruced2]

Hi Craig,

The layout is looking good there in the sunshine i'm sure it will look even better when you have finished regenerating it looking forwarsd to seeing it in the flesh at shows soon.

 

Bruce

 

 

 

 

[mobi323]

The greenery looks very real. How did you manage to get that effect?

[7APT7]

Hi Craig

 

Love you Model Layout... Keep the Pictures coming... B)

 

Love the Canal running parallel to the railway and with the lock as it gives some depth along the length of the layout.

 

Do you have a track plan...?

 

Cheers

Jamie

[Legend]

Craig

 

Glad to hear you have taken the layout on. I saw this at SECC and I think at Cathcart as well, where I spent a lot of time just watching the shunting operations. I think it was the sidings near the canal end that gave it a little more opearting interest, although I admit struggling to remember exact details. One thing I can say was that it was the name that drew my initial interest. I thought it was very clever, so I'd definitely keep it. Looking forward to seiing it around the shows again

[Dunmar]

Hi Craig,

Wot a 'jammy devil' you are I remember this layout -only ever saw it once! I agree you have to keep the name! Will be great to see it again. I'm sure you will do it justice. (now where did I put those LL 37's - you know the 'weathered' ones )

Bill.

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi All,

 

Craig knows how lucky he is...

 

He beat me to the sale by a matter of minutes!

 

Never mind - at least it has gone to someone who apprciates it and it's place in Scottish modelling history.

 

Thanks

[luckymucklebackit]

Hi Craig - I echo the sentiments of the other posters, I too "had a shot" working this layout and it was a great experience. Hope to see it on the circuit soon. Is the model of the Eaglesham Eglinton Arms Hotel still there?

 

Jim

[Craig Watson]

Hi Craig - I echo the sentiments of the other posters, I too "had a shot" working this layout and it was a great experience. Hope to see it on the circuit soon. Is the model of the Eaglesham Eglinton Arms Hotel still there?

 

Jim

 

Hi Jim,

 

It's still there,

 

Cheers

 

Craig

[Craig Watson]

Hi all,

 

I've taken advantage of our club being closed tonight to start to get to grips with the wiring, I now have most of the control panel wiring sussed out and recorded, the biggest problem is that there doesn't seem to be any form of colour coding so individual wires have had to be traced one by one!!

 

Hopefully I'll get some time tomorrow to trace the wiring on the boards, I've enough info from the control panel to work it all out now.

 

I've also ordered new strips of connector block to allow me to reroute the wiring on the outside of the boards to allow me to fit permanent backscenes, hopefully I can match the wiring looms that were given to me with the layout to the connectors on the board.

 

I also discovered two sets of points where the solder has came away from the tiebars, these will be an easy fix though.

 

I've also started thinking about replacing the missing structures, until fotopic crashed the layout gallery created by David Kirkwood was still online which contained various pics of the missing structures, when I got the layout I was given a pile of prints which matched most of the fotopic ones, prior to this I had saved most of the online versions too, given that David has passed away I'm not sure about any copyright complications of posting them again, the collapse of fotopic was a pain as prior to this I'd have been able to link to the pics!

 

Thanks again for the comments and interest!

 

Cheers

 

Craig

[luckymucklebackit]

Hi Craig - I assume that you have been in touch with Andy Frew, who as I seem to remember took custody of David's collection after his untimely passing.

 

JIm

[Craig Watson]

Hi Craig - I assume that you have been in touch with Andy Frew, who as I seem to remember took custody of David's collection after his untimely passing.

 

JIm

 

I haven't, and wouldn't know where to start, I wasn't aware of that.

 

Craig

[luckymucklebackit]

Hi Craig - see this message on the Scot-Rail Site Clicky

 

Jim

[Craig Watson]

Hi Craig - see this message on the Scot-Rail Site Clicky

 

Jim

 

Thanks Jim,

 

I've sent a message enquiring about the use of the original layout pics.

 

Craig

[Craig Watson]

Hi all,

 

As promised, some basic history and background to the setting of the layout, based on snipets taken from the BRM article and the information board that came with the layout.

 

The imaginary village of Kylie is said to be situated around five miles south east of Airdrie near Kirk O'Shotts, the branch was constructed as the Minogue branch to serve the nearby mine of the same name by the Caledonian Railway joining the same company's Glasgow to Edinburgh (via Shotts) line near Carfin, there was also an intermediate junction with the Airdrie to Omoa (Cleland) line.

During the time period in which the layout is set (late 50's to mid 60's) the line was served by passenger services from Glasgow (via Bellshill), Airdrie and Motherwell, occasional parcels traffic and goods traffic serving the goods yard adjacent to the station as well as coal traffic to and from the mine, the area is also served by an extension of the Monklands canal which pre dates the railway, however the arrival of the latter has all but swallowed up the canal traffic, the NCB also have running powers between the junction for the colliery branch (just off scene) and the goods yard, as such occasional appearances of the NCB colliery loco can be seen working exchange traffic.

 

On to the layout itself, the track is SMP with handbuilt points controlled by Fulgurex motors, the signals are non operating Model Signal Engineering kits and the buildings are all scratchbuilt based on various prototypes, the signalbox is based on Haughead Junction which controlled the junction with the lines to Larkhall on the Motherwell to Hamilton line, the station building is based on Milngavie married to the canopy from Crainlarich Lower on the Callander & Oban line, the goods shed is based on one which existed at Blantyre and the (now missing) engine shed on the one which existed at Loch Tay on the Killin branch. The Eglinton Arms Hotel is based on the real version at Eaglesham.

 

As the layout developed over the years some buildings were changed/enlarged, the original BRM article shows the layout as it was in 1994, with a smaller goods shed, the layout itself was also enlarged after this time to it's present form.

 

Back to the restoration of the layout itself, more work has continued on the tracing of wiring on the control panel but due to work I've not had the chance to progress much with the layout itself, more time has been allocated to this next week as my shift pattern allows!!

 

I've also been looking at obtaining more stock, particulary passenger, more on that later though!!

 

Meanwhile, another few pics to wet the appetite!

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Craig

[Oldddudders]

A fine layout by any standard, and you are to be commended for rescuing it. Most modellers would be delighted to achieve such quality, but you obviously see potential for further improvement. RMWeb has already shown us a few layouts where second owners have taken the basic concept and worked it up into something even better. Here a mild renovation and replacement of missing buildings will provide a stonking good layout - although looking at these pics, some might suggest that is almost lily-gilding!

[G46208]

Hi Craig,

 

The extra pics are great and as other posters have commented you have done well to rescue this layout and as we have said, that background scenery will enhance it,

 

Cheers