WIP (AS YET UN-NAMED) - 1970's Far North Terminus

[sulzer71]

Not a happy chappy this evening , just found out my cork sheets I ordered from a UK website are actually coming from Poland , dispatched yesterday and currently held somewhere in Germany !

[sulzer71]

Just a small but essential delivery today

[sulzer71]

Not much to report this week , still awaiting cork being delivered! , a few more items delivered though

[sulzer71]

Found some handy storage solutions in B & M last weekend , one to keep all my Heljan spares tidy

[sulzer71]

And one for my Shawplan/Extreme Etchings bits

[sulzer71]

A small relatively insignificant delivery today

[sulzer71]

Another storage box purchased and sorted parts into

[Legend]

3 minutes ago, sulzer71 said:

Another storage box purchased and sorted parts into

 

Smacks far too much of organisation to me !  

[sulzer71]

8 minutes ago, Legend said:

 

Smacks far too much of organisation to me !  

Trust me , it's far from organised! , just neater than the pile of plastic tubs they were in previously

[sulzer71]

So , still no progress but the cork for the baseboards is due for delivery today , finally!! 

 

I was bored this weekend so as the progress will be slow I knocked this up using some scrap pieces of wood I had laying around , I'll be adding a fiddle yard at some point the idea being it gives me somewhere to practise things like ballasting/track weathering etc and if it turns out nice then it can be taken to exhibitions hopefully if it gets invited , I won't be fitting legs of any description , I plan to use some form of trestle set up if it goes to exhibitions , it's been constructed so it will fit in the back of my little Astra van comfortably , just need to come up with a plan for it now!

[Ighten]

Did you get Farrow and Balls colour consultancy service to do the boards  Very Nice  

[sulzer71]

8 minutes ago, Ighten said:

Did you get Farrow and Balls colour consultancy service to do the boards  Very Nice  

No , just a lick of Dulux Weathershield Concrete Grey 

[sulzer71]

23 hours ago, sulzer71 said:

So , still no progress but the cork for the baseboards is due for delivery today , finally!! 

 

I was bored this weekend so as the progress will be slow I knocked this up using some scrap pieces of wood I had laying around , I'll be adding a fiddle yard at some point the idea being it gives me somewhere to practise things like ballasting/track weathering etc and if it turns out nice then it can be taken to exhibitions hopefully if it gets invited , I won't be fitting legs of any description , I plan to use some form of trestle set up if it goes to exhibitions , it's been constructed so it will fit in the back of my little Astra van comfortably , just need to come up with a plan for it now!

Ok , slight change of plan with this , board will now become the fiddle yard as I thought to myself sod it , I'll use the 6 x 1 board I was gonna cut for the fiddle yard as the main scenic board instead , will have to start a new thread for this when I come up with a plan 

[sulzer71]

No progress recently unfortunately , I've started another thread for the other layout here if you want to keep up to date with it https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/162789-wip-6-x-1-the-usual-tmd-fuelling-point-small-country-terminus/

[sulzer71]

2 minutes ago, andrew's trains said:

I remember seeing and then reading the article for Steve Flint's 'Kyle of Tongue', in Railway Modeller. That really changed my idea of what a layout could be, now oh so many years ago.

 

I love what you have so far, and look forward to seeing more as time goes on.

Thanks Andrew , I have the said Railway Modeller although I saw various articles on it over the years and the odd picture here and there and it just captures what I loved about the Scottish railways back in the days that I was interested in the real railway , progress will probably be very intermittent over the forthcoming months due to other commitments and financial commitments unfortunately 

[sulzer71]

Just thought I'd update everyone on the progress of this but there hasn't been any as I wasn't happy with several things and I lost my mojo! , unfortunately the layout has now been abandoned in favour of something new I've been building over the last few weekends , I decided that an end to end wasn't the one for me as there will be occasions where I just want to sit and watch trains go by so I built this which is basically a 13ft oval with the main scenic section being just over 10ft on raised trackbed , there's an 8ft by 18in fiddle yard against the back wall , the plan is not really set in stone yet but initial thinking is a single line with/without a passing loop and focus will be on the scenery , I'm mulling over other plans too but due to work commitments  it's unlikely there will be any progress now for a couple of weeks at least , the upside of that is it involves extra money in my wages

 

PS , the boards are not on an angle it's just the way the photo is taken as the boards are at my chest height 

[SHerr]

Is there a thread on the new layout or are you using this? Will be interested in seeing what rises from the ashes. 
 

I always think it’s best to start afresh if your not happy, I’ve tried to tweak things in the past to compromise and it never really works. I often try to loose lay the track and play trains for a couple of weeks/months. I often find that what looked a good idea doesn’t quite cut it and best in the long run to be brave.

 

Good luck with the follow on.

[sulzer71]

On 01/06/2021 at 17:57, SHerr said:

Is there a thread on the new layout or are you using this? Will be interested in seeing what rises from the ashes. 
 

I always think it’s best to start afresh if your not happy, I’ve tried to tweak things in the past to compromise and it never really works. I often try to loose lay the track and play trains for a couple of weeks/months. I often find that what looked a good idea doesn’t quite cut it and best in the long run to be brave.

 

Good luck with the follow on.

Hi

 

Sorry for late reply , been working away! I will probably start a new thread for this , I originally planned to do something similar to this anyway but my lack of carpentry skills put me off so i took my time to get it the best I could 

[sulzer71]

Don't know if the title can be edited for this thread but for those who don't know this layout is abandoned and I'm now progressing with the new layout although progress is slow due to work , I posted some pictures further up at the start , here's what's been done recently 

 

All the boards were covered in cork which will be cut to the track bed when all the track is down to form the ballast shoulder

 

 

[sulzer71]

A little track has been laid on the scenic straight area , bus wires are in throughout the layout , point motors are fitted , wired and working , I may be making some revisions to the track yet

[sulzer71]

It's been far too long but I'm back

 

Unfortunately there hasn't been much progress on the layout due to losing my mojo/constant indecision and a constant flow of new locos/stock!

 

Changes since last update have only involved dismantling part of the framework/baseboards and redoing them although changes may be coming soon again!

 

I've now vetoed myself from buying any more unnecessary locos/stock and think I have a clearer idea of where I'm going 

 

My main area of indecision currently is whether I stick to what I have available to me now as far as the baseboards are concerned or rip everything apart and go back to the original plan of a terminus emulating Kyle of Tongue but to modern standards (I've also been thinking about swapping over to EM Gauge) but having the baseboards built professionally due to my crap carpentry skills

 

The other possible plan I've come up with is leave the baseboards as is in the roundy roundy configuration and have a through station imagining that lines came from the North (from Thurso) and existed south (towards Lairg) this would be a good scenario for just calling the station 'Tongue' therefore not copying Steve Flint

 

The plan is now to run pre-tops/tops blue from around 1970-78 (currently have 3 of the Bachmann 24/1's on the workbench for modifications seen as we probably won't see the Suttons ones this year)

 

I am also looking for information relating to formations that would be best suited to this kind of area so I can rid myself of stock that won't be required , passenger trains would be 4/5 coaches maximum

 

One question is whether any of my Maroon MK1's would be any use? I know I could probably get away with my maroon CCT but I don't think anything else I have is of use 

 

Any information or input is welcomed and fingers crossed I will be back to making some progress soon 

 

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by sulzer71

[lmsforever]

  Have a look      at  A Highland Railway Jou rney dvd  by Kingfisher Productions tel  08707472983  it will give you all that you need to know and plenty of ideas for scenery. If I  remember  correctly blue and grey started to filter in by the early seventies and mixed colour trains were around then.But why not go for the sixties freight passenger parcels all running and the non rail side much more interesting than the seventies.  I model this era and have steam and diesel running together or I run seperate eras .Good luck Chris

[sulzer71]

17 hours ago, lmsforever said:

  Have a look      at  A Highland Railway Jou rney dvd  by Kingfisher Productions tel  08707472983  it will give you all that you need to know and plenty of ideas for scenery. If I  remember  correctly blue and grey started to filter in by the early seventies and mixed colour trains were around then.But why not go for the sixties freight passenger parcels all running and the non rail side much more interesting than the seventies.  I model this era and have steam and diesel running together or I run seperate eras .Good luck Chris

Thanks , I had planned modelling the green period crossing over into blue and have collected a few green class 20s/26s/27s but all I knew growing up was blue and the liveries that followed hence being swayed towards 70s blue 

[lmsforever]

Found another good dvd  The Railways of Scotland  vol5  The Western Highlands   colour Rail  01274 652828 if no joy have a look at the Blackpool shop .  This dvd has steam diesel  plus some excellent shots of highland scenery there are a whole series of these on Scotland.  Hope this helps  Chris

[SHerr]

I know the feeling about changing your mind and buying different stock/locos. I was supposed to have 2 separate small layouts either side of the loft one which went from Norfolk to Devon, I bought a class 50 on eBay and less than a week after it arrived I scrapped it all and went for 1 bigger layout with 2 stations. 
 

It’s taken me years to get something I think I’m happy with and lots of stock purchases that haven’t run much. 
 

I’ve come to the realisation that what makes a good exhibition layout doesn’t necessarily make a good home layout depending what you want to do. A good exhibition layout probably only needs to hold interest for 20-30 mins max. Trying to copy this with small home layouts with 2-3 sidings means I’m bored after a couple of months. I’m sure not everyone is the same but that’s what I’ve found.
 

Good luck with whatever you do.