Aberdeen Kirkhill T&RSD

[Flood]

Well the morning after and it all seems so far away.

 

Apart from a few small issues with the uncouplers (and a 47 that ran away) the exhibition was thoroughly enjoyable for us and hopefully the paying public.

 

We've had offers from a number of other exhibitions but I won't say any more until all details are confirmed (some will be in more like 2012 rather than next year).

 

We've also had a very interesting chat to one of the current monthly modelling magazines and we will be following up on that as soon as we can as well.

 

All in all it seems to have been a great success. Many thanks to the organisors for inviting us; Steve, Alex and Richard for all their help; Glenn for putting up with me and especially all the members of the public for their interest and comments (apart from the person who asked Glenn if it was part of a larger layout, nuff said).

[Poor Old Bruce]

For those following the Thread..

 

"Houston, Tranquility base here. The Seagull has landed"..................................

 

Graham did have to do a 'double take' when he spotted the thread on here about Hornby's DCC sound fitted 'Herring Gull' before he realised that the subject was actually an A4 and not a bird

 

Richard

[Rammy]

I spotted on of those pesky seagulls during my trip to Aberdeen Kirkhill:

 

[Bob Reid]

Kirkhill certainly is leading the way as Seagulls must be the least researched part of Railway history;

 

When I was on the night shift at St.Rollox we'd annoy the hell out of the sleeping gulls on the roof and the lighting tower by shooting them up with eight inch lengths of old vacuum cylinder rolling rings found lying about the brake shop - no seagulls were really harmed of course, just a bit of bruising and damaged pride at three in the morning.

 

Much later In the five years I was at Aberdeen we had;

 

- One siding closed to traffic whilst the mother sat in the nest between the rails and at least until the young could fly....

 

- One Seagull that repeatedly built it's nest between the fuel point and by-pass roads despite the Power Cars, 37s & 47s throttling up or idling but a few feet away....

 

- No roof maintenance on the shed during the breeding season

 

- Regular "Pigeon" shoots

 

- Frequent approaches by snake oil salesmen offering the next generation of bird netting and sound emitters to scare them off (and a plastic bird-of-prey - which really looked like - a plastic bird-of-prey).

 

Sadly it was always GNER 0 Seagulls 15. and a lot of burst black bags.

 

Craigentinny had the best solution - a rather expensive 25kv Depot Electrification scheme - admittedly a bit excessive, but they don't like it up em!

 

Any more pics from the exhibition Graham?

[Dunedin]

Kirkhill certainly is leading the way as Seagulls must be least researched part of Railway history;

 

When I was on the night shift at St.Rollox we'd annoy the hell out of the sleeping gulls on the roof and the lighting tower by shooting them up with eight inch lengths of old vacuum cylinder rolling rings found lying about the brake shop - no seagulls were really harmed of course, just a bit of bruising and damaged pride at three in the morning.

 

Much later In the five years I was at Aberdeen we had;

 

- One siding closed to traffic whilst the mother sat in the nest between the rails and at least until the young could fly....

 

- One Seagull that repeatedly built it's nest between the fuel point and by-pass roads despite the Power Cars, 37s & 47s throttling up or idling but a few feet away....

 

- No roof maintenance on the shed during the breeding season

 

- Regular "Pigeon" shoots

 

- Frequent approaches by snake oil salesmen offering the next generation of bird netting and sound emitters to scare them off (and a plastic bird-of-prey - which really looked like - a plastic bird-of-prey).

 

Sadly it was always GNER 0 Seagulls 15. and a lot of burst black bags.

 

Craigentinny had the best solution - a rather expensive 25kv Depot Electrification scheme - admittedly a bit excessive, but they don't like it up em!

 

Any more pics from the exhibition Graham?

 

Good job we didn't have to cease operations due to them last weekend then!!

 

There are a few more pics from last weekend and we'll post them over the next few days.

 

I remember some of the fitters at Craigentinny bringing their shotguns in on a Sunday to get rid of pigeons - there's only so many times even the most reasonable fitter can stand being bombed from the roof. Of course, that was before the wires went up at Craigy.

 

Glenn

[P.C.M]

Hi Flood,

Looks like you had a good exhibition, the latest pics look good.

 

I posted a question on the old forum about Scotrail livered BGs, I thought as you know a bit about Scottish coaching stock you may be able to help. Did they ever get used on other services apart from the push- pulls?

 

Cheers Peter,

[Flood]

Hi Flood,

Looks like you had a good exhibition, the latest pics look good.

 

I posted a question on the old forum about Scotrail livered BGs, I thought as you know a bit about Scottish coaching stock you may be able to help. Did they ever get used on other services apart from the push- pulls?

 

Cheers Peter,

Thanks for the compliments as always.

 

I've never seen a photo of one of the ScotRail BGs on any other train apart from the Glasgow to Aberdeen push-pulls. I asked Glenn on Saturday as he was at Haymarket during 1985/86 and he says he never saw one on any other service either. I'm not saying that they never were but with there only being five of them and three rakes needed per day it would only have been on the odd occasion (if ever).

[Flood]

Right then seeing as it's now the 24th of May I think it's time for......

 

 

Happy 1st birthday to Aberdeen Kirkhill

 

 

To celebrate this wonderful occasion, and the fact that we didn't have many photos taken at the exhibition, I took my camera to Glenn's on Saturday to get some photos outside.

 

Now they probably would have looked very good with real sunlight but the sun was so strong that it started to warp the plasticard on the shed and the cleaning platforms so we had to very quickly move the layout into the shade. Luckily no permanent damage has been done but it was a close run thing. So there now follows quite a few photos of the layout, some of which you can only achieve when it is partially dis-assembled. Somebody who's good with photoshop could make these look even better.

 

Wheel lathe and sub-station

 

Wheel lathe

 

CET point

 

Gas store and portakabin

 

Carriage cleaners and shed

 

Office and battery end

 

View along cleaning platforms

 

Overall view with push-pull (and seagulls!)

 

Push-pull

 

08 leaving the shed

 

Sleeper from footpath

 

Overall view with HST

 

Towards Wellington Road bridge

 

Towards the bridge with corner of Supervisor's office

[P.C.M]

Thanks for the compliments as always.

 

I've never seen a photo of one of the ScotRail BGs on any other train apart from the Glasgow to Aberdeen push-pulls. I asked Glenn on Saturday as he was at Haymarket during 1985/86 and he says he never saw one on any other service either. I'm not saying that they never were but with there only being five of them and three rakes needed per day it would only have been on the odd occasion (if ever).

 

Thanks Flood,

I am still tempted to do one though its not high on the to do list. Those outside shots look good, can't believe you guys have done all that in a year, top stuff.

I noticed the 08 hasn't had its pipework added yet, I used the Hornby pipework supplied with the model and just tweaked the ones near the middle out a bit and have had no probs with the Kadee not working.

 

Cheers peter,

[Flood]

It's been a year of every weekend and, for Glenn, some very late nights. In fact he said last week that he's actually looking for things to do now, it all seems very strange.

 

You're right about the hoses on the 08. Glenn only bought it off ebay just over a month ago, it was in EWS then! I've still got two 47s, two 37s and two 26s to do the hoses for.

 

If it wasn't for the fact that I've got no money - and even so I'm still researching it - I'd be out buying a couple of 40s, another 27 to go with Glenn's, some old style 47s, a steam heat 26 and a Deltic. 1981 seems very tempting!

[D9JEF]

Flood,

 

At the speed you guys work at I'm sure the outstanding pipework will be done by the weekend !!Seriously impressed with the quality of the layout and I enjoyed watching it at the Derby show the other week. Many thanks for sharing.

 

Jeff

 

 

[Flood]

Thanks for the compliment Jeff.

 

I still haven't done any of the hoses yet, my excuse is that all the locos are at Glenn's and I won't get over there for another week.

 

We are due to be next exhibiting at the RMweb mini open day at Mickleover, Derby on July 10th. Then we will again be at Mickleover for the October 2nd and 3rd open weekend of the club room and community centre.

 

Then we're off to Rawtenstall for the Lancashire and Yorkshire DCC Exhibition on October 30th and 31st and finally we've also had confirmation to appear at Nottingham next year on March 19th and 20th.

 

Life is only going to get busier!

[bcnPete]

Really like the originality and simplicity of this layout.

 

Those last photos are great - you can almost imagine yourself sneaking around the depot!

 

Keep em coming please...

[47707 Holyrood]

This layout is awesome. I absolutely love it, the attention to detail is brilliant. I hope one day o be able to build something to the same quality standards as this. A shame it can't be joined with 'Waverly West'

[Flood]

I'm feeling embarassed from the number of compliments Glenn and I have received. We obviously like the layout otherwise we wouldn't have continued to build it but it is another thing when other people like something you've done as well - I must admit that I'm not used to this at all. All I can continue to say is a big thank you to everyone.

 

The originality of the coaching stock depot concept was a great incentive for both of us, I'm guessing the simplicity stems from the fact that Glenn designed the layout around the work that would have been undertaken on each rake as it arrived in reality. The fact that I stipulated the requirement for full length HST rakes has helped give the depot a spacious feel which adds to the realism.

 

The modelling itself is straight forward in the respect that we just copied what we saw in photos (although we have got quite a few years modelling experience to fall back on).

 

The fact that I am a stickler for correct coaching stock types and rakes (and loco diagramming) and Glenn won't stand for half measures when it comes to board construction, track laying, electrics and scenery means that each of us are constantly challenging the other to push themselves to the first's wishes. It also helps that Glenn loves shunting and I like organising the movements to and from the fiddleyard and swapping rakes as required.

 

I feel our purpose for the layout can be summed up by the words in the PSL Model Railway Guide No.5 - Operating your layout.

 

"For operation which will remain interesting and entertaining on a model railway layout, we must base it as realistically as possible on the way in which prototype railways are run.

...Thus our trains should appear to have a purpose when they move and not just look as if they are running haphazardly,..."

 

If the purpose of the layout can be established before it is built then that gives you a reason for everything you are making, a limit to what is possible (which can on occasions be stretched) and ultimately an achievable goal.

 

The other factor required is either to be single or have a very understanding partner - something I know too well is not easy to find.

[Flood]

No big changes over the last couple of weeks.

 

We stripped the roof off the carriage shed last Saturday to re-glue it after the sun warping fiasco. This worked reasonably well and the roof has now been repainted along with the vents and just requires weathering and then the whole shed needs reattaching to the boards.

 

With the next exhibition being only a month away we're not planning to do too much but we may install another uncoupling magnet. On that note we did have some problems with getting a full 18v from our transformer when at the Moorways exhibition, this meant it was difficult to get the Kadees into the delay position. To solve this potential problem Glenn is looking at using a AC adapter from an old laptap - 19v, 3.42 amps always available from 110v to 230v. We may need to lower the current a bit but apart from that it should work fine.

 

The wheel lathe being made by Glenn's friend is nearly complete and looks superb. Glenn will probably be going to collect it in two weekends time so it may well be ready for the mini RMweb open day on July 10th.

 

The only other small item which might also be ready is as below. It needs filler adding and smoothing down (the filler is at Glenn's and I won't be able to pick it up until Sunday) then it can be undercoated and painted in executive livery for the Plymouth to Aberdeen rake. Oh yes and the roof vents need sorting. Four weeks and one day - just about possible.

 

 

 

Only four Mk2e TSOs required to finish after that; apart from the Highlander charter rake, renumbering of BGs, numbering of the HSTs etc. etc.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Flood

[Ramrig]

I took this photo last week in Whitby................... and guess who sprang to mind...........................

 

 

 

.......................Evening Graham.

[John B]

I really like this layout. A breath of fresh air amongst the TMD layouts, this has something different and also some truly excellent, well observed modelling on show.

[Andrew P]

Hi. Saw the layout at Derby but it was so busy in the little room that it was difficult to do it justice, I am certanly looking forward to seeing it at Micklover. The photos look good, Ill bring some bird seed with me to Nottinham aswell.

[Flood]

The number of people in the back room has been commented on at the club before, it's strange because from behind the layout it never seemed particularly busy - probably because I had the running of the layout to think about.

 

It'll have a nice big room to be viewed in at the RMweb day in a month, hopefully anyone who wants time to take it all in will have more of an opportunity.

 

Please feel free to add any suggestions (bird bath, pidgeon loft etc.) Seriously though there may well be more we can add in the way of clutter to give it an even greater "well used" feel.

 

We're look forward to seeing as many of you all as possible.

[Melly]

A fantastic piece of work and very realistic - top work. Shame about the 'banana' Mk3's though , maybe I'll just keep the Lima ones afterall

 

08 leaving the shed

 

 

Sleeper from footpath

 

[Flood]

On 11/06/2010 at 12:23, Melly said:

A fantastic piece of work and very realistic - top work. Shame about the 'banana' Mk3's though , maybe I'll just keep the Lima ones afterall

I've noticed this in the photos as well. I've thought that it might be due to the amount of wide-angle used on the camera lens but the view below also highlights it. The side-on view below that is less pronounced, it's certainly not as noticeable when you're normally viewing.

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Flood

[43179]

Lovely layout - Its not often you see a 'stabled' HST in model form

Would love to see this in the flesh.

The bowed MK3s are unusual - I have lima ones which are fine - the Hornby ones are indeed banane shaped - except when you take to roof/glazing off - I think its something to do with Hornby retooling the glazing?

tfn

 

Jon

[edin_bry2x]

 

The only other small item which might also be ready is as below. It needs filler adding and smoothing down (the filler is at Glenn's and I won't be able to pick it up until Sunday) then it can be undercoated and painted in executive livery for the Plymouth to Aberdeen rake. Oh yes and the roof vents need sorting. Four weeks and one day - just about possible.

 

 

 

Only four Mk2e TSOs required to finish after that; apart from the Highlander charter rake, renumbering of BGs, numbering of the HSTs etc. etc.

 

Hi Flood

 

that BFK looks really good, if you dont mind me asking how many donor coaches did you need for all the pieces as id be interested in doing one of those myself, also what did you use for the compartment interior?

 

cheers bry

[Flood]

Hi Flood

 

that BFK looks really good, if you dont mind me asking how many donor coaches did you need for all the pieces as id be interested in doing one of those myself, also what did you use for the compartment interior?

 

cheers bry

I just used one Dapol Mk2D FO which I cut a section out comprising three windows and a door on each side (plus the end below the cantrail as well) then the brake section from one Dapol Mk2D BSO suitably shortened.

 

The compartment interior came from a Lima Mk2B BFK which I was once going to use with a Lima TSO to make a Mk2C BSO (way back in the mists of time).