Aberdeen Kirkhill T&RSD

[nhdesigns]

When I first saw in Railway Modeller I just had to read all about. It's is such a fantastic depot there.

[Flood]

Thank you for your kind comment.

 

Further to going to Warley this year (with three 08s now) there is good and bad news for next years calender.

 

The good news is that we will be travelling the length of the British Isles. From Sutton Coldfield and Trowell in the Midlands, up to Perth in Scotland and down to Folkestone and the Isle of Wight. Hopefully that gives most people a chance to see the layout.

 

The bad news is the fact that we won't be going to Stafford next year. Glenn is due a knee operation after Warley but, as he is not a professional sportsman, it will take at least 8 weeks to recover from. He has had a word with the organiser of the Stafford show who fully understands and so we have withdrawn from the show next year but hope to be there in 2015.

 

There may well be another exhibition I have missed off but hopefully that list will keep you all interested for a while.

Edited October 27, 2013 by Flood

[nhdesigns]

Thank you for your kind comment.

 

Further to going to Warley this year (with three 08s now) there is good and bad news for next years calender.

 

The good news is that we will be travelling the length of the British Isles. From Sutton Coldfield and Trowell in the Midlands, up to Perth in Scotland and down to Folkestone and the Isle of Wight. Hopefully that gives most people a chance to see the layout.

 

The bad news is the fact that we won't be going to Stafford next year. Glenn is due a knee operation after Warley but, as he is not a professional sportsman, it will take at least 8 weeks to recover from. He has had a word with the organiser of the Stafford show who fully understands and so we have withdrawn from the show next year but hope to be there in 2015.

 

There may well be another exhibition I have missed off but hopefully that list will keep you all interested for a while.

No problem. Are you going to be at the model exhibition in Cornwall by any chance?

[Flood]

We haven't had an invite to anywhere in Cornwall yet and the travel costs might be a bit restrictive but we don't mind where we go.

[cromptonnut]

Hopefully you'll be down my way some time - really like this one

[sdw7300]

Excellent. Sutton Coldfield is my local show. Will definately be going next year then! Looking forward to seeing this in the flesh.

[Waverley47708]

I am also looking forward to welcoming you to the Show in Perth next year. You can be assured of a warm welcome next summer, especially from me a mid 80s Scotish Modeller from the club.

 

Only 139 sleeps until Perth 2014!!!

 

Waverley47708

[black and decker boy]

Not had chance to wade through all 24 pages but the recent limited edition by Invicta prompted me on this photo. Taken in 1986, 47636 works a service train out of Glasgow Queen St. The BG is presumably covering a shortage but offers a splash of colour.

 

I don't have the coach number (I was 12 when I took the photo).

 

[Flood]

There was a batch of Mk1 stock converted to breakdown train use around that time and Inverness got a set of replacement vehicles. It may well be that the coach is one its way up to Inverness and the easiest method was to use a service train.

 

I keep meaning to get round to photographing more of our stock but as it is stored at Glenn's this isn't always straight forward. One thing I have finally managed to do is a visual representation of the services we run during the course of the schedule. This has taken a lot of reducing/cutting and pasting/messing around but I'm pleased with the result.

 

In addition to the trains shown we also run one of two charter rakes (an InterCity Charter set or the Bounds Green Mk1 Pullman Set). A visual consist of these will have to wait for anther time.

 

Anyway I hope you find the attached interesting and possibly useful. (click to enlarge)

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Flood

[Flood]

Back from Warley, I'm glad I don't have to be at work at 7 tomorrow morning.

 

To any of you who saw the layout over the weekend I'd like to give a big thank you from the Kirkhill crew. We had a lot of interesting questions to answer and all the comments we had were very positive. As always we appreciate any kind words that people have to give.

 

I even manage to remember to take my camera so here are a couple of shots of some of our road vehicles. It does make an enormous difference to their appearance by toning down the brightness of the colours straight out of the box, especially as our layout is set in the winter in snowy/slushy conditions. Anyway, enough of my waffle just enjoy Glenn's skill with an airbrush.

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Flood

[43179]

Good evening,

It was great to see this layout for real finally this afternoon,  - Myself and 'Shedmaster' were chatting to you while enjoying the failed HST power car 'swap' . This was one of the layouts that made the whole visit worthwhile for us - it not only looks looks like a depot but also has proper plausible depot movements, and with perfect running qualities. Shame we didn't see the push-pull sets in action while we were there..Thanks for your time chatting, hope to see this one again.

 

Jon

 

43179

Edited November 24, 2013 by 43179

[Shedmaster]

Good evening,

It was great to see this layout for real finally this afternoon,  - Myself and 'Shedmaster' were chatting to you while enjoying the failed HST power car 'swap' . This was one of the layouts that made the whole visit worthwhile for us - it not only looks looks like a depot but also has proper plausible depot movements, and with perfect running qualities. Shame we didn't see the push-pull sets in action while we were there..Thanks for your time chatting, hope to see this one again.

 

Jon

 

43179

 

Hi all, Good Evening,

 

I'd just like to second these thoughts Jon. I found this to be my favourite layout of the day and thought it came accross so much better in person than when in a magazine.

 

Many Thanks,

 

Kindest Regards,

 

Shed.

[JBM37404]

Echoing other comments, saw this on Saturday, this was a cracker to watch!

[Dunedin]

The week after Warley, I had a knee operation to reconstruct a ligament which broke during a ski holiday last March. Faced with the prospect of six weeks off work, on crutches and pretty much confined to the house for at least the first three weeks, I needed something that I could do sitting down. Daytime TV? Definitely not!

 

The first week was spent renumbering and detailing a Class 37/4 which I got from the Bachmann returns stand at Warley, but after doing my Christmas shopping online and writing the Christmas cards, I needed something else to do.

 

 

 

It seemed the perfect opportunity to do something about building the Comet Models kit of an inspection saloon that I acquired from Poor Old Bruce a few years ago. Now I know that Bachmann are bringing out a model of one of these shortly - in fact an example was on display on their stand at Warley, but I needed something to occupy myself and having never built anything from brass before, this seemed the ideal opportunity. After all, how hard could it possibly be?

 

The subject I wanted to model was the ScotRail General Manager's saloon, no. DM45020, which I remember being based at Craigentinny when I worked there. It was one of two that we had and they were a source of frequent frustration and trouble: they were usually wanted a short notice (that's my story anyway) and the batteries were invariably flat and the gas bottles would be empty, but in spite of this, they were something of an oddity, even back then.

 

45020 was of interest because it was somewhat unique, being painted in ScotRail colours (well it was Chris Green's) and also mounted on B4 bogies - and Bachmann's saloons don't appear to include this variant, for now, at least. I didn't know it when I started, but 45020 was actually a little more different than I thought, but more of that anon.

 

This will be part of a few posts, but for now, here's a link to a photo of the real thing at Inverness:

 

http://www.departmentals.com/photo/45020a

 

 

[Dunedin]

I had bought various melting point solders at the Stafford Show last year, together with some liquid flux and I also managed to get hold of a section of roof from a stand selling Comet kits.

 

Early in December, I bought myself a temperature controlled soldering station, so I reckoned I had everything ready to make a start.

 

I read up on some of the threads on RM Web on the subject of soldering brass kits, so I thought I knew what I needed to know. I had a go at soldering some scrap bit and pieces of brass together to get used to the soldering station and the types of solder. That seemed to go ok, so it was on with the kit.

 

The kit consisted of

• 2 bodysides
• 2 ends
• 2 reinforcement pieces to enable the sides and ends to be joined together
• 2 headstocks
• 2 droplights for the ends
• 6 droplights for the doors

 

There were also components to make up 2 sets of retractable steps, a table for the interior, a propane gas bottle storage box and a gas control box.

 

To assemble the body, the first stage was to solder the droplights in place on the ends and the sides. I cleaned all the components and buffed the surfaces which would have the solder applied using the wire brush on my Dremel.

 

 

All I had to do then was solder them together. Having painted the surfaces with flux, they were placed very carefully together so that the droplights were located exactly where they needed to be. Then the idea was to tack them in place with solder, before making the final joint. That was when the problems (or challenges) began! How do you stop two pieces moving relative to each other when they are too hot to hold? After several attempts, together with what seemed appropriate expletives I managed to locate one droplight, but I couldn't carry on like this. Then I hit on the idea of clamping them together, but the clamp wouldn't have to act as a heat-sink or the solder wouldn't run. I found some small plastic clamps which were perfect - they didn't melt because the heat wasn't applied for long enough and they didn't absorb much heat for the same reason, but they held the parts together so I could tack-solder them. The rest of the droplights followed in no time.

 

Making the joints between the sides and ends went ok - more flux, plenty of heat and the solder ran into the joints perfectly. Soldering brass kits was a breeze, I thought.

 

Here are a few photos:

 

 

 

The underframe incidentally is from a Mainline LMS full brake, donated by Graham, which we thought would be an acceptable substitute for the Comet version.

 

I sat back to admire my handiwork and compared it with the photos of the real thing. Here is another link to another picture of 45020 - this time later in its life:

 

http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/dm45020/Interesting

 

Now apart from the hopper windows that have replaced the LMS sliding vents (which on the model are still correct for 1988), can anyone spot what I did?

[Flood]

Errm, you decided that having a swear box was not a good idea?

[Dunedin]

 

Before continuing with the thread on the saloon, this is a brief note in memory of my former colleague and very good friend, from Haymarket Depot, who sadly died before his time last Thursday following a long illness.

 

I first met him at Haymarket Depot in 1983 and finished up working alongside him as Senior Technical Officer (STO) from 1985 – 87, before I left there for Craigentinny. Most of what I learned about Classes 20, 26, 27 and 47, together with the old heritage DMUs, I can attribute to him. We made a good team and had an immense amount of fun along the way into the bargain. I still regard that particular job as being one of the most enjoyable of my career on the railway.

 

I am not mentioning his name out of respect to his family, but my reasons for including this post are partly because some of you (Bob-65B for one) will remember him and will know who I’m writing about and partly because he provided me with an absolute goldmine of information which has been useful for our loco fleet here on Kirkhill. I still visit Haymarket Depot on a fairly regular basis in my current job. Whenever possible, we would meet up after work for a few pints and a chat about old times and progress with the layout. Unfortunately he never got to see Kirkhill for real, but was looking forward to seeing it at Model Rail Scotland in 2015.

 

Haymarket will seem odd without him.

 

 

[Bob Reid]

Sad news Glenn. My thoughts are with his family.

 

Regards.

[Merc435]

Very sad news Glenn. My thoughts are with you and his family. 

 

He'll be watching from the ultimate vantage point now.

 

Andy.

[Waverley47708]

The line up which includes Aberdeen Kirkhill for the Perth 2014 show has been added to RMWEB under exhibitions.  I for one am really looking forward to seeing it in the flesh and to meeting Flood and Dunedein.

 

Waverley

[Dunedin]

Since the last post on the subject of the General Manager's saloon, 45020, I have been somewhat distracted. I was asked at short notice to assist in creating a diorama to be presented to a colleague at his retirement after 44 years in the rail industry, working for BREL, various parts of British Rail, Intercity Cross-Country, Virgin CrossCountry and finally Bombardier. Two of us came up with the idea of the following:

 

Diorama.pdf

 

The 377 was cut and shut from a Class 170 and an Electrostar cab end from Wells Green TMD. Not my best job ever, but it was very well received. Just as well my colleague who was retiring isn't a modeller!

 

 

Back to 45020: I showed a photo of what I thought was a reasonable job:

 

 

Then I looked at a photo of the real thing and my illusions were shattered:

 

http://flickrhivemin...020/Interesting

 

I realised that I had too many doors and not enough windows! 45020 has two doors on each side, whereas the Comet kit and for that matter the forthcoming Bachmann model have three. Add to that the fact that the droplights are wrong too - the model has the original LMS wooden type - and it was clear that I had a serious problem and some decisions to take. Oh, and the centre windows at the ends of 45020 were fixed and not droplights, but yes, you've guessed it: on the Comet model (and Bachmann) they are also droplights. Damn! (or insert similar expletives as appropriate, like I did!)

 

I did a bit of research and discovered that I could actually get an etched brass kit of 45020 by A1 Models, but this is as it was in later life, with the hopper windows, so I would have to buy two kits if I wanted the correct windows. Besides, I decided that I already had one kit and there must be something I could do with it. If it didn't work, I could cut my losses and go down the A1 route.

 

 

Having never worked with brass before, I didn't really know many tricks or techniques, but I reckoned I could do something with my set of needle files and could use solder as a filler.

 

The droplights in the doors were removed - de-soldered by re-melting the solder and removing it using a solder pump. Then the new outline of the windows to replace the doorways were scribed onto the brass:

 

 

I filed out the droplights to form the new windows, using solder to fill any errors and then file out again:

 

 

I couldn't just remove the end window droplights because this would have left too large an opening, so I filled the edges with solder and then filed and smoothed it until I finished up with the result I wanted. In the photo above, right you can just see the result.

 

Eventually, this was the result, with the bodyshell primed, ready for the next stage:

 

 

What I learned from this stage was that brass is actually a very forgiving material to work with - it's actually easier to work than plastic and if you get it wrong, there are ways to recover it by using solder as a filler, then filing again.

 

The next stages were the roof and underframe. More of these anon.

[dakrail]

Can you send me details of the layout? I would like to invite the layout to exhibitions I organise.

[Flood]

Can you send me details of the layout? I would like to invite the layout to exhibitions I organise.

I've sent you a pm with a copy of our exhibition leaflet. Please email us with any invites that you can arrange.

[sdw7300]

Hi Glenn & Graham.

 

Really enjoyed seeing Aberdeen Kirkhill today - it's cracking to see in the flesh. Thanks for taking the time to chat. My boys' favourite layout was "the one with the long trains".

 

Cheers

[Flood]

Thanks Sam. The whole exhibition was thoroughly enjoyed by all of us so it's good that you felt the same. It's always a pleasure to chat to fellow modellers and, if need be, help out with any advice that we can.