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The Waverley Route revisited!


bigwordsmith
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Author's note January 2020

 

When I started this thread there was no inkling of building anything bigger than a 10'x1'6' shed layout to the side of my desk in the study, but an unexpected move three years later resulted in 12x3' becoming available, only to be followed 2 years on by the building of a 37'x11' loft! So from a small engine shed the thread morphs around page 6 into a project to bring back to life the Waverley Route in its late 1950's last days of glory.

 

This project lasted just four years before another move led to the dismantling of the whole railway and a year in storage, before finally arriving in its new home - a loft over the garage of 9'6' width by 20' length. A more manageable size, one of the discoveries when we had 37' to play with was that eyesight didn't really give much of a view of trains at the other end of the room, so signalling and operations were impractical, but a new challenge, especially as I'd built up the stock for a monster railway!

 

So take your pick about where to start, the latest part of the saga kicks off around page 19, and thank you for reading.

 

Peter

 

The story so far...

Shortly after my father passed away a few years ago, leaving me his lovingly built n-gauge line based on a fictitious Isle of Arran railway, I decided that model railways didn't have to mean mainline tail chasing, despite the fact that the last layout he and I had worked on together ( some 30+ years ago) had allowed us to run a full length 'Queen of the Scots', 20 truck coal trains and so on, and look right.

Full marks to him, having never actually had a model railway of his own, after my mother died, and he was left alone at the age of 85, he decided it's never too late to start, so built himself a great little railway on a long shelf above the desk in his study. Many happy hours, and a good excuse to go visit him for a Saturday afternoon!

Despite not having had a layout for close to 20 years, my collection continued to  grow, and after my father passed away I began to think maybe I should look at 'N'. However, having witnessed the problems of ageing eyesight when trying to lay 'N' gauge track  (both his and mine) I decided to stick to 00 and built a small tail chaser in the spare room.

A year later we decided to remodel the house and the tail chaser got dismantled, but two years further down the line an article in one of the Railway Mags about someone modelling a shed led me to decide that this offered the perfect compromise and the idea of Waverley Shed was born.

Over the years I've acquired a fair few locos. Back in the days of moulded handrails and having a job that took me round the country, I used to pick up locos secondhand that weren't native to the retailer, such as Hornby A3s for a few quid at Froude & Hext in Swindon, then do them up with proper handrails, buffer detail, scale wheels and a half decent paint job, and sell them for twice what they cost me to other model shops where the demand was higher!

Today, with the excellent quality coming out from the manufacturers there's nothing like as much to do. Also they run so much better, that it's practical to have a layout where the maximum scale speed is 15mph! Sitting musing on the way the world works, I realised that there was just enough space down the side of my desk in my last study, using a large cupboard as the base, giving me 10'6"x 20" narrowing to 12" to play with.

Bingo!

Then, last summer, having got it all wired up, but not much scenery, we decided to move, Waverley went into store and we duly moved at the end of August.

Fast forward to this April, and after discussing all sorts of daft ideas involving sheds, extensions, and even digging out the ground under the deck at the back of the house, my beloved offered me the front bedroom ( i.e. the one that no-one will ever stay in, and is currently a store room). Waverley duly got dug out of storage and the first problem immediately became obvious - it didn't have a leg to stand on!

After experimenting with various unsuccessful (i.e. wobbly) solutions using 2x2, a visit to the local model railway club open day at Horsham threw up the idea of trestles. Much drawing of ideas ensued, a fair bit of 2x1 got chopped and fixed together, but none of the solutions worked - at least not if having a level and stable baseboard mattered!

Then by chance a google search for ready made trestles popped up not one, but four IKEA adjustable trestles being sold on eBay - the problem was the chap selling them had put them  in two auctions of a pair each! Placing what can only be described as a pre-emptive bid for both sets, they were duly won - the first pair for £25, the second for £16 - Go figure, but still a whole lot less than the full £35.00 each that new ones would cost.

It turned out the seller was a Globemaster pilot from Swindon, but as it happened I was visiting Bristol that week, so at the crack of dawn one morning we met in a garden centre by the M4, and the deal was done.  Breakfast at the garden centre was pretty good too, and on a special price - full fry up with coffee & toast for £3.95 - Bonus!

So back home, trestles assembled, and Waverley was once again stable. Just a bit smaller all round that its new home - 11'6" x 13'

Now you might be thinking with all that space available, stuff Waverley shed - why not do the station?

Here the challenges of being middle-aged etc. come into play. I don't mean creaky joints and being unable to sit down without going 'Aaaaah' but 'Stuff'. Specifically stuff that we may need from time to time, like garden cushions, spare bits of furniture, and the inevitable bulk purchases that always ensue from a trip to Costco.

Looking around the room, it is tempting to ask 'just how many garden cushions does one couple really need?' Either way the answer is half a room full, at least in winter, so Waverley is confined to one wall, giving around 11'6" x, let's say 3'

The first pic is the only one I took of it in its original setting. The other two pics show the boards in their new home - you can see the added on bits as they are in fresh cork underlay at the front. To get better access for wiring and soldering, the deck has been hinged onto the four trestles and plywood decks have been made up to go between them, giving the whole thing a touch of rigidity, as well as useful space for putting things on beneath the running scene.

The theory behind adding width is that it allows me to add some scenery, and I've got a couple of sneaky ideas for getting some operational bits going, one of which involves a traverser allowing locos to disappear as they go 'off shed' and be removed from the layout for replacement by others.

The reason for calling it Waverley Shed is that I don't have the width to do justice to either St. Margaret's or Haymarket, but as I was born in Edinburgh and brought up with a strong Gresley and Peppercorn influence from my father - our house actually backed onto the ECML at Joppa - I wanted to depict something about my childhood home.

I make no apologies for the carpentry as it's all been added on using scrap wood from the new summerhouse that somehow managed to sneak in to the spot where my beloved had originally indicated we could put a model railway shed when we first looked at the new house!

More posts will follow,but with a busy job and a large garden they will be sporadic!

 

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Edited by bigwordsmith
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David you've got good eyesight! It is indeed a Clan. I had to blow the original up to very very big to make sure myself!

 

Tx for the recommendation about the Haymarket books - I've been reading Life on and off the footplate and thoroughly enjoyed it - what was the title of the other one?



Tx Rob - in fairness this is over two year's work to get where it is!

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Hi Peter

 

If you are referring to Harry Knox the two books he published are,

 

Steam days at Haymarket,

 

Haymarket MPD Edinburgh 1842-2010,

 

Both thoroughly recommended.

 

Incidentally he is working on a new publication regarding St Margaret's Edinburgh 64A.

 

David

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Bit of progress this weekend.

 

The idea is so that I can run an engine off shed behind a scenic break and onto a traverser which allows me to pull it out from behind the scenery and remove it from the line - all theoretically out of sight.

 

Brian at Morris Models suggested using Peco Loco Lifts so I've bought a couple of those and laid out some tracks for parking the engines - OK so it's 'Hand of God' time to move them but I can't see an option.

 

The traverser base is a piece of ply running on kitchen drawer runners - it's going to take some engineering to get it right, but I suspect that may not happen too soon as my beloved needs help in the garden!

 

Hey Ho.

 

SO a couple of pics...

 

The traverser base

 

post-10395-0-75050200-1372099037_thumb.jpg

 

And the tracks below the scenic deck for parking locos off scene being laid - note the base of the Loco Lift being used to ensure decent separation, and a small drop of Speckled Hen to ease the proceedings of a Sunday evening!

 

post-10395-0-78775900-1372099122_thumb.jpg

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Masses of progress in the last few weeks!

 

So I managed to get some serious tracklaying, wiring and general moving on stuff going on and of course took loads of photos, but actually on reflection they;re all pretty boring...

 

So just to say that everything now works - I can store over 44 locos on the various lines - all analog and all using trusty H&M multipack selector switches.

 

So now it's  on to the scenery build.

 

Much emptying of old boxes of 'stuff' revealed, well, not a lot that was much use actually!

So trip to Gaugemaster where I bought aload of WIlls walls and windows, and some Faller DekkorPlatte stone walls - much cheaper than NOCH and I've started laying stuff out on the board as you can see from the pics.

 

Many thanks to Brian at Morris Models near Worthing who very kindly allowed me to offload my excess point motors and other assorted peco items in PX for a rather nice looking A3. IN fact I was so grateful I then splashed out a a new V@ as you can see from the pics below.

 

The brick shed is under construction and I'm playing with the Faller panels to see what I can come up with int he way of an overbridge to hide the main shed which isn't actually here, but will be 'behind the back scenes.'

 

 

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David  I've been thinking about that and I'm tempted to take lessons from you!

 

Another thought I had was to use this as the 'old shed' that is in the process of being demolished and leabe it with just a girder roof structure!

 

Any suggestions?

 

ATB

 

Peter

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  • 2 weeks later...

So more on the scenic front, as well as some wiring sort outs!

 

Gaugemaster provided me with  the final pieces needed for the North Wall in the form of Faller DekkorPlatte, but the tunnel mouths for the West end bridge were not so easy - the problem is that I had a two track, a three track, then another two track opening  that lead through to the 'new' shed, which of course isn't actually modelled!

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That's 60147 North Eastern just easing off the turntable - a recent acquisition from the good folk at Bachmann

 

The solution came from shaping a piece of plain wall and cutting the heck out of Faller tunnel mouths which look distinctly continental, until you butcher them!

 

Thank heavens for a sharp scalpel and the hot wire - much left to do including both the capping stones and the arch stones in the custom made arch, but the effect of the bridge coming down a hill is looking pleasing already.

 

Of course having posed the RT bus on the bridge I then realised that I'll need to swap my collection of varied EFE diecasts for some Edinburgh Corporation examples!post-10395-0-51688300-1379431493_thumb.jpg

 

Looking East there's not much change, but finishing the walling off will make a difference post-10395-0-70397500-1379431482_thumb.jpg

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Hi Peter, Well I have just caught up with this and I am well impressed, I hope to build an Exhibition Layout in a similar vein when I have moved house.

 

I do like the way the Coaling tower fits in nicely on the end. :locomotive: :locomotive:

 

I will be watching this with interest.

 

All the best.

 

Andy :sungum:

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Hi Peter

 

Your layout is looking very good indeed, I know what you mean regarding an IPhone, I now use an IPad Mini to take all the photos on my thread you can almost get inside the shed building with it.

 

I am just working on glazing the last two roof sections of the main shed building, all roof panels have now been spray painted so I cannot go any further now until I get the shed lighting completed which should be mid October, now of for a week's holiday in the sun.

 

Regards

 

David

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Hi Chris

 

It's totally analogue!

 

Having a print background I split the layout into four sections 'C M Y K ' named after the technical names for the four colours of process printing ( Cyan Magenta Yellow black Each section is controlled through a gang of H&M MUltipack switches which have been screwed up underneath the front edge of the baseboard.

 

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In addition I have the 4 'spare' switches of the 'K' (black) multipack set up to switch control of the sections to either controller 'A' or 'B' so you can have cab control for all loco movements.

 

THe track diagram shows how it is wired - where the line is bold it means that it is either permanently 'live' or depended upon a point being thrown to provide power. The big red numbers are the point switch numbers - it was logical, but when I widened the board and added siding roads I had to use the switches where they were not in logical order! The one on the top left is actually number 15 ( I number from the left of the gang)

 

I did think about DCC, but with 60 odd locos to retrofit, and many that wouldn't have taken it, the costs and practicality didn't equate.

 

I'll take a shot of the control decks shortly.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Right, another few weekends on the scenery, and moderate results to show for it!

 

The bridge and ramp coming down to the car park were made out of bits of scrap plywood, with the stonework coming from Faller in the form of 'Dekorplatte' sheets which are actually pretty effective, and easily cut to shape.

 

Amazingly there's about thirty hours' work to get this far, not that it seems like it, but when I got to doing the parapets on the ramp, I realised that the only way to finish the returns, was by slicing the individual stones off the sheet and glueing them on.

 

How deeply am I now impressed by those people whop make their own stones and stick them together - just like the real thing. Equally I have to be honest and admit that  I just don't have the time to go for that level of painstaking detail, but by the time it's all had a few washes of black poster paint to give it that whole 'dirty steam era' feel, who's going to notice.

 

I've not decided yet what to put in the car park area. I was thinking there should be a booking on office and a load of bike racks, so eyes peeled for suitable buildings  and accessories.

 

Hey ho. all comments welcome - well good and helpful ones that is!

 

This one shows looking up the ramp over the car park, towards the overbridge - you can see the backs of the Faller walls, which I've yet to paint out, and about halfway up you can see where I've done the painstaking returns on the stonework. Still much to finish.post-10395-0-98857300-1381850925_thumb.jpg

 

 

The lighting here is pretty pants, this was actually taken from the overbridge, so is a pretty good trainspotters' eye view!  post-10395-0-65479100-1381850912_thumb.jpg

 

This is a side-on view showing all the scenic work so far...post-10395-0-74639000-1381850937_thumb.jpg

 

Apologies for the 'soft focus view here, but I actually balanced the iPhone on the parapet at the top of the coaling stage to show what it would look like for an operator up there looking down on the yard. One day it will be full of steaming locos....post-10395-0-04422900-1381851356_thumb.jpg

Edited by bigwordsmith
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Hi Peter

 

Your layout is really coming on now, I wish I could progress Haymarket faster but with so much going on at the moment it!s having to take a back seat for a while.

 

We finally got our house back after Son and Daughter-in-Law moved out into their brand new house so the wife has a decorating and alteration list for me as long as the East Coast Main Line itself

 

How long is you shed it looks longer than the one I have built which is 720mm long, also may I ask where you got the windows from?

 

Keep the good work going and please put on more photos as you progress.

 

Regards

 

David

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Re your Gaugemaster walkabouts - try sticky back  + & - Velcro ( one + piece on each Controller back) and have several - Velcro 'stations' around your board edges. I've used that in the past and it works most of the time.

Great layout by the way......

P

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Thanks Mallard - brilliant idea!

 

David I wondered what had happened to you - good luck with the decor list I know how these things take priority 

 

The shed is a total cheat it's made up of Wills walling bits with their supplied windows - I've used 7 bays down each side and added extra brick layers to suggest the plinths and buttresses. All up I think it must be around 1100mm long x 190mm wide.

 

I've decided to paint the girders in new RSJ primer colour and leave the building open - the idea being that it is actually in the process of conversion from a steam shed to a diesel stabling depot with the old roof having been found to have been corroded by years of acrid smoke, so is in the process of being removed and a new steel framed roof due to go in.

 

As you know, BR was very good at never finishing projects before one of the Head Shed had a new brainwave, so this is perfectly prototypical.

 

With the pressure to stable overflow locos from 64B the shedmaster seems to have thought "S*d it, it's perfectly safe, so we'll carry on parking locos there in the meantime!"

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