Gairloch (a slight change of direction)

[andyram]

It's coming on well Andy, you must be pleased with your little helper mate.

 

 

Thanks Andy. Yes it is nice that she wants to help. She did a pretty good job today. I was going to take a photograph of her at work today, but she decided to strip off and work just in her pants!!!!

[Andrew P]

Thanks Andy. Yes it is nice that she wants to help. She did a pretty good job today. I was going to take a photograph of her at work today, but she decided to strip off and work just in her pants!!!!

Yes, best not mate.

[Psiborg]

Thanks Andy. Yes it is nice that she wants to help. She did a pretty good job today. I was going to take a photograph of her at work today, but she decided to strip off and work just in her pants!!!!

At least you didn't     I hope! 

 

Simon

[andyram]

At least you didn't     I hope! 

 

Simon

 

 

No. I thought that would be very wrong. I am sure that there will be plenty more opportunities to take photographs of her correctly attired - she is always asking to help out on the layout build. It is almost becoming a joint effort.

[andyram]

New goods shed now ordered. Should be here by the weekend.

Edited August 21, 2017 by andyram

[andyram]

A quiet day at home has produced yet more progress on the Loch Tay based layout. More ballasting has taken place, with the main station line and the entry to the goods yard given the treatment. The station platforms have been glued in place. Sadly, the stonework applied to the platform tops has not been completely successful with some bare patches appearing. This will need to be given a second treatment at some point in the future.

 

 The goods shed building has arrived and has been put in place. Some polystyrene blocks have been glued in place. These will form the base for the access to the yard. Although not in keeping with the actual location, I am considering adding a low relief factory building in this area. Perhaps, in my fictious world, it could take on the identity of a Scottish brewery or Distillery. 

 

 Here are the latest pictures:

The ballasted station area.

The station building and goods shed. The bottles at the back are weighing down the glued polystyrene blocks that will form the base for the access to the goods shed.

A low level view of the goods sidings. You can see the small gap between the track and the back scene. Perfect for a low relief factory building perhaps.

Edited August 26, 2017 by andyram

[scottishlocos]

Andy

 

That's looking good thinking of building a Loch Tay type small/micro layout in N as my first foray into Dcc using the Farish Highlander set as a basis and a couple of sidings for loading ballast and or logs

 

Regards

 

Dave

[andyram]

Andy

That's looking good thinking of building a Loch Tay type small/micro layout in N as my first foray into Dcc using the Farish Highlander set as a basis and a couple of sidings for loading ballast and or logs

Regards

Dave

Loch Tay is perfect for small projects. As mentioned at the start of this thread, I have used one of Paul Lunn's track plans from the August edition of Model Rail as a starting point for this project. It has been amended to fit my available space.

[clecklewyke]

Andy

 

That's looking good thinking of building a Loch Tay type small/micro layout in N as my first foray into Dcc using the Farish Highlander set as a basis and a couple of sidings for loading ballast and or logs

 

Regards

 

Dave

 

If you do so please incorporate the steamer pier. The whole point of the station at Loch Tay was to serve the steamers on the loch. Barry Norman shows how this could be done in his Wild Swan book on layout design. The trick is to have the pier in the foreground with trees making the background, i.e. the other way round to Andy's design. 

 

Ian (who sails dinghies on Loch Tay and loves exploring this area.)

Edited August 27, 2017 by clecklewyke

[andyram]

If you do so please incorporate the steamer pier. The whole point of the station at Loch Tay was to serve the steamers on the loch. Barry Norman shows how this could be done in his Wild Swan book on layout design. The trick is to have the pier in the foreground with trees making the background, i.e. the other way round to Andy's design. 

 

Ian (who sails dinghies on Loch Tay and loves exploring this area.)

 

 

That sounds like an interesting alternative. My plan is rather dictated by the baseboard which was already built.  The pier ran almost at a right angle to the station so the boards would need to be much deeper to incorporate it. 

 The back scene I have purchased does have a section of a loch which I may try and use in some way either on this board, or on a second scenic board. Long term I have thought about building a second board to allow a longer run into the station - this may also be used to depict the edge of the loch. 

[clecklewyke]

Have you thought of adding a small curved extension to the "loch" side of the layout and thus changing its shape to a sort of triangle with a curved hypotenuse? *

 

This would then become the front of the layout with a curved pier, along which you could then curve the sidings? The whole thing could then fit into the corber of a room.

 

Building the pier with water in front of it would be fun.

 

Ian

 

*  I dragged that word from the recesses of my mind. I haven't used it since "O" levels in 1963!

[andyram]

Have you thought of adding a small curved extension to the "loch" side of the layout and thus changing its shape to a sort of triangle with a curved hypotenuse? *

 

This would then become the front of the layout with a curved pier, along which you could then curve the sidings? The whole thing could then fit into the corber of a room.

 

Building the pier with water in front of it would be fun.

 

Ian

 

*  I dragged that word from the recesses of my mind. I haven't used it since "O" levels in 1963!

 

 

A nice idea. Sadly, I do not have the room at present - but it is definitely worth considering for the future. 

[andyram]

Ok - so I can announce a slight change of direction. For a while I have been considering a name for this Loch Tay based layout, but have not settled on one that I like despite some good suggestions from fellow RMWeb members. Then, the other night whilst sat up with my poorly daughter, I had that Eureka moment. Whilst the station and track plan will still have a distinct Loch Tay flavour, the layout will now be based in a different part of the Scottish Highlands. It will take on the identity of "Gairloch". 

 

Why Gairloch?

 

This name is special to me as I grew up on a street named after this Scottish location. It is also, after research, a location that never had a station. The nearest station to the village of Gairloch (on the banks of the loch of the same name) was Achnasheen.

 

Achnasheen station was opened in August 1870 by the Dingwall and Skye Railway, but was operated by the Highland Railway from the outset. It was once an important railhead handling passengers, mail and freight for various areas of the Wester Ross region including Gairloch. In 1893 there was a proposal to build a 35 mile branch line to Aultbea via Gairloch. However this was never constructed because it was felt that it would never be commercially viable in such a remote area.

 

In my reality the branch was built as far as Gairloch, connecting with the Inverness - Kyle of Lochalsh line at Achnasheen. Gairloch station is a small, cramped affair - similar to Loch Tay - so that the track plan does not change. A small loco shed is provided at Gairloch for locomotive stabling and, as in my original plan, this will be depicted in low relief. The two siding goods yard handles goods for the village and also serves the Gairloch Distillery. The latter industry is purely a work of fiction - but allows me to use my Bachmann low relief factory building. This allows the transporting of the Gairloch malt to the wider world.

 

I am sure there are more holes in my back story than a sieve, but right now I feel happier with the reason for the layout. The addition of the factory has meant a change to the back left corner of the layout with much of the polystyrene blocks now too tall for the factory so these have been ripped up today and replaced with smaller pieces, cut to the appropriate shape. I hope to post pictures tomorrow.

Edited September 4, 2017 by andyram

[Jerry1975]

Hi Andy.

 

Your layout is looking very good, my mother in laws partner used to live in Gairloch and ran a guest house and shop there.

 

I like the fact your little helper is helping you with it too, you never know she may build her own layout one day.

 

I look forward to seeing more.

 

Jerry.

[andyram]

Hi Andy.

Your layout is looking very good, my mother in laws partner used to live in Gairloch and ran a guest house and shop there.

I like the fact your little helper is helping you with it too, you never know she may build her own layout one day.

I look forward to seeing more.

Jerry.

Thanks Jerry. She is very keen to help.

[Andrew P]

I like the new name Andy, keep up the good work you TWO. 

[andyram]

I like the new name Andy, keep up the good work you TWO. 

 

 

Thanks Andy - not sure why I did not think of the name before. Mind you - it has given me a dilemma. Whilst researching Gairloch I have found out that it has a harbour and a had a decent fishing trade at the time the layout would be set. The current scenic section does not have enough room to represent a harbour, and thus the accompanying fish traffic. This means that I am already considering a second scenic board (to the left of the current board) to represent the quayside. This would mean relocating the loco shed. However - doing that would allow me to model the shed in full. Alternatively I could build a second board on the right hand side, meaning that trains would pass the quayside on the approach to the station. This would mean that low relief loco shed would remain in place. Hmm decisions, decisions.

 

One further change from last night - the "distillery" is changing to a Scottish brewery instead because I think the factory suits a brewery better (and let's be fair the "Gairloch Brewing Company" is a rather apt name!).

 

More pictures soon.

[andyram]

Today is the last day of the school summer break and, whilst hiding away in the spare room completing some work and avoiding a germ ridden wife and daughter, I have managed to make a small amount of progress on Gairloch. The previous polystyrene blocks have been removed and smaller blocks cut and glued into place to provide the base for the Gairloch Brewing Company building. Here it can be seen placed in-situ.

 

[andyram]

 Has Gairloch changed direction again and headed out West? The presence of an ex GWR Prairie tank in the goods yard is certainly not in keeping with the layout's Scottish roots.  

 

 

However, I have not moved the location. Today, whilst recovering at home from a sickness bug, I managed a bit of work and testing on the layout. My plan is to mainly use Bachmann Standard 4 tanks on Gairloch - these were also used on the Loch Tay branch towards the end. Unfortunately my one model of this class is currently buried in a stock box at the back of a cupboard and I did not fancy spending ages digging it out until next month when it is likely to be on the roster for Skaleby West's outing at a show in Sheffield. The Prairie tank was much more accessible and was pressed into service to test out the track after a serious amount of track cleaning. Things were a bit slow at first, with the points not making accurate connections until some stray ballast was removed.

 

 I have also glued some screwed up pieces of newspaper in place around the polystyrene blocks to create the slopes from the driveway that will serve the Brewery building and the goods shed. I have also laid some card on top of the polystyrene blocks to form a base for the drive way. I have also test fitted the wooden coaling stage (next to the hut). Hopefully all the progress can be viewed in this picture.

 

 

Finally here is a (very dark) picture of the Prairie in the shed area. Apologies for the poor quality pictures - they were only taken with a mobile phone.

 

Edited September 7, 2017 by andyram

[Andrew P]

Hope you recover from your Bug, and can start work soon Andy.

 

Good work on the Layout as well.

[andyram]

Hope you recover from your Bug, and can start work soon Andy.

 

Good work on the Layout as well.

 

 

Thanks Andy on both counts.

 

Start work tomorrow - seem to have shifted it at last.

[Dzine]

 Has Gairloch changed direction again and headed out West? The presence of an ex GWR Prairie tank in the goods yard is certainly not in keeping with the layout's Scottish roots.  

Loch Tay 17.JPG

 

 

However, I have not moved the location. Today, whilst recovering at home from a sickness bug, I managed a bit of work and testing on the layout. My plan is to mainly use Bachmann Standard 4 tanks on Gairloch - these were also used on the Loch Tay branch towards the end. Unfortunately my one model of this class is currently buried in a stock box at the back of a cupboard and I did not fancy spending ages digging it out until next month when it is likely to be on the roster for Skaleby West's outing at a show in Sheffield. The Prairie tank was much more accessible and was pressed into service to test out the track after a serious amount of track cleaning. Things were a bit slow at first, with the points not making accurate connections until some stray ballast was removed.

Loch Tay 19.JPG

 

 I have also glued some screwed up pieces of newspaper in place around the polystyrene blocks to create the slopes from the driveway that will serve the Brewery building and the goods shed. I have also laid some card on top of the polystyrene blocks to form a base for the drive way. I have also test fitted the wooden coaling stage (next to the hut). Hopefully all the progress can be viewed in this picture.

 

Loch Tay 18.JPG

 

Finally here is a (very dark) picture of the Prairie in the shed area. Apologies for the poor quality pictures - they were only taken with a mobile phone.

 

Loch Tay 20.JPG

Hi Andy, Love how this idea is bending and flexing into something that suits your need.  Just by way of excusing GW loco's in Scotland, don't forget some were trialled there at the time of BR loco exchanges (Panniers I think)., that way you get the best of both worlds.  Kind regards Paul

[AJCT]

Hi Andy, Love how this idea is bending and flexing into something that suits your need.  Just by way of excusing GW loco's in Scotland, don't forget some were trialled there at the time of BR loco exchanges (Panniers I think)., that way you get the best of both worlds.  Kind regards Paul

 

Are you thinking of the 16xx Panniers (1646 and 1649) which worked the Dornoch branch from about 1957 until it closed in June 1960 ?

 

Alasdair

[andyram]

Hi Andy, Love how this idea is bending and flexing into something that suits your need.  Just by way of excusing GW loco's in Scotland, don't forget some were trialled there at the time of BR loco exchanges (Panniers I think)., that way you get the best of both worlds.  Kind regards Paul

Thanks Paul. Of course this layout is all your fault!

[andyram]

 A slight disaster today. Whilst running the Prairie again today, I noticed that it was catching on the edge of the station platform. Considering I had carefully measured the platform location,  surely there was not a problem. Of course the cylinders on ex GWR locos are known to protrude further than on other classes so perhaps that was the reason. No need to worry then - after all the layout will be operated with a Standard 4 class tank. I decided that I had better check things out so I rescued the Standard 4 from storage at the back of the cupboard and found that it also did the same thing. Then I tried running a coach past the platform and that also struck the edge. Considering I had used the same vehicle when measuring the platform location I was fuming.

 

 The result of this disaster was the offending pieces of platform were ripped up and relaid. The Standard 4 was then run up and down a few times and this time there was limited clearance. The coach also now clears the platform.

 Here is a picture of the loco stood  in the shed area.