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A Scottish Branch Line Terminus: making a start in EM Gauge


rhnrhn
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The goods shed sits in a plinth, constructed from 1mm cardboard clad in brickpaper. 

 

The plinth is "planted" into the baseboard, and the shed slots into the plinth, thus eliminating any gap between the shed and the ground, whilst allowing the shed to be removed for access to the track for cleaning.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, rhnrhn said:

The goods shed sits in a plinth, constructed from 1mm cardboard clad in brickpaper. 

 

The plinth is "planted" into the baseboard, and the shed slots into the plinth, thus eliminating any gap between the shed and the ground, whilst allowing the shed to be removed for access to the track for cleaning.

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What a simple and brilliant idea

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On 23/01/2022 at 13:35, Ben Alder said:

Looks good! What did you use for the slates?

 

Thanks! I used Scalescenes TX18a Roof Tiles, printed onto self-adhesive paper, then cut into one row strips and attached to the roof from bottom to top using the original laser markings as a guide. The pitch is just right so that each strip slightly overlaps the one below it.

 

goods_shed_0.JPG

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The original layout plan by Ian Futers’ suggested a cattle dock for the kick-back siding. However in order to justify the continued existence of this branch and its terminus into the BR Diesel period (as well as giving my BRT Grain Wagons a destination) I have re-purposed this as an unloading siding for a grain elevator and storage silos for some nearby distilleries.

 

I was going to use the Scalescenes low relief kit, modified to full relief, but searching around the internet suggested that this building was more typical of southern England rather than northern Scotland!

So instead I have taken the scratch building route, and using (a lot of) Wills Corrugated Asbestos sheets built a grain-elevator loosely based on the one that was at Muir of Ord. It is not a scale model by any means, in that I dimensioned it by counting the panels of the real thing from a photograph, and the Wills panels look somewhat squatter than those on the real thing.

 

This results in the model being much less tall than the prototype, but I think that helps with regard to fitting it in with the rest of the layout.

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That looks fantastic, I’m using a very similar theory/excuse around being able to run Grain workings.

 

I’ve used the Walters Cornerstone kit which seems quite ‘anglicised’ but have wondered a few times about cladding it in corrugated sheeting.

 

The other thing it will let you do if you wish, is potentially run a class 40 deep into ‘type 2 territory’ as they regularly ran to Muir of Ord Invergorden (for Alcan workings) and Burghead.

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1 hour ago, Graham T said:

Very nice.  You'll have loads of fun painting that!

 

What's the base level?  Brick?

 

Thanks! According to the pictures that I have seen, the base level is concrete.

 

Painting ( and weathering ) will definitely be fun...

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On 30/01/2022 at 15:27, SHerr said:

That looks fantastic, I’m using a very similar theory/excuse around being able to run Grain workings.

 

I’ve used the Walters Cornerstone kit which seems quite ‘anglicised’ but have wondered a few times about cladding it in corrugated sheeting.

 

The other thing it will let you do if you wish, is potentially run a class 40 deep into ‘type 2 territory’ as they regularly ran to Muir of Ord Invergorden (for Alcan workings) and Burghead.

Thanks! 

 

Regarding a Class 40: the release crossover is big enough, just. The question is whether such a mammoth is justified for the short trains that can fit into the rest of the layout!

 

There is always Rule 1 of course....

 

 

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2 hours ago, rhnrhn said:

Thanks! 

 

Regarding a Class 40: the release crossover is big enough, just. The question is whether such a mammoth is justified for the short trains that can fit into the rest of the layout!

 

There is always Rule 1 of course....

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There’s a photo in George O’Hara’s book of a 40 with 4 BRT’s between Inverness and Elgin (probably heading for Burghead). It’s dated 1970.

 

Ive seen a few others with 7-10 hoppers around Burghead and Dufftown branches and I think I’ve seen a shortish train with a 40 on it at Muir of Ord but a quick Google has drawn a blank on that one.

 

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2 hours ago, rhnrhn said:

Thanks! 

 

Regarding a Class 40: the release crossover is big enough, just. The question is whether such a mammoth is justified for the short trains that can fit into the rest of the layout!

 

There is always Rule 1 of course....

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There’s a photo in George O’Hara’s book of a 40 with 4 BRT’s between Inverness and Elgin (probably heading for Burghead). It’s dated 1970.

 

Ive seen a few others with 7-10 hoppers around Burghead and Dufftown branches and I think I’ve seen a shortish train with a 40 on it at Muir of Ord but a quick Google has drawn a blank on that one.

 

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23 hours ago, SHerr said:

There’s a photo in George O’Hara’s book of a 40 with 4 BRT’s between Inverness and Elgin (probably heading for Burghead). It’s dated 1970.

 

 

Ah so no need for rule 1 then - just 8 more axles to re-gauge! 

 

I have just done a quick search for George O'Hara's book, as it sounds like it could be a good resource. Is it "BR Diesel Traction in Scotland"?

 

Richard

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14 minutes ago, rhnrhn said:

 

Ah so no need for rule 1 then - just 8 more axles to re-gauge! 

 

I have just done a quick search for George O'Hara's book, as it sounds like it could be a good resource. Is it "BR Diesel Traction in Scotland"?

 

Richard

That's the one, and yes it is:D

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17 minutes ago, slow8dirty said:

That's the one, and yes it is:D

Mines slightly different it’s ‘Scottish Region Colour Album No.1’ - looks similar but mine has some of those silly Kettles in it!

 

Great reference material either way, very well regarded and often referenced on here, I might have to get the Diesel traction one to compare!

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To accompany the Grain Elevator, and again based on photographs of the facilities at Muir of Ord, I have constructed a wagon unloading shed using the remainder of the Wills Sheets and some Evergreen Strip / H-Profile.


The internal access platforms were left over from a Wills Girder Bridge kit.

 

 

 

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The posts will be trimmed and a more substantial base fitted, once I have re-gauged my rolling stock so that I can establish the correct loading gauge (… still waiting for the wheels…).

 

 

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In the hope that I will receive my wheelsets in the not too distant future, I have set about completing the wiring under the main board.

 

Nothing fancy, just a straightforward DCC Bus with breakouts for the track feed droppers, point motors and signal module. Two wires branch from the bus to be attached to the base station, and there is provision to extend the bus so that it can be joined the second board containing the storage tracks in due course.

 

I have gone for DCC Concepts’ Cobalt Alpha Digital point motors which were very easy to connect up with simple connections for the DCC supply and frog feed.

 

One thing I didn’t get right first time was the position of the holes for fixing the motors. I thought (trying to be clever) that I would drill holes for the screws from the top of the board. Even with the jig provided, I guess I didn’t drill them square, or maybe I didn’t use the jig correctly. The upshot was I had to do them again.

 

Fortunately they were so far out that it was just a case of drilling new holes using the jig as a guide and filling the old ones.

 

The card board rectangles by the way are the base flanges for the Kadee decoupling magnets.

 

Incidentally, none of ballast fell off whilst the layout was on its side - which was a bit of a bonus 🙂

 

 

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On 30/01/2022 at 14:06, rhnrhn said:

The assembled building, minus doors and glazing prior to painting:

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I appreciate it may be a little late in the day, but Hillside Distillery is just up the road from me, and sits just outside Montrose.  It's rail served elevator is still extant, although remains disused.

 

This is it here:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@56.7431786,-2.4720098,3a,60y,83.9h,92.24t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sump3x8Z1VnGFktTtSdCn6w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@56.7424302,-2.4725897,3a,24.1y,48.87h,92.52t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1smRofsKOsAy_XVK-fStNLEg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@56.7424199,-2.4672079,3a,15y,287.72h,94.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1smEsE2foqxLH4E-5TJuVAmA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

https://www.google.com/maps/search/hillside+distillery/@56.7425273,-2.4722828,513a,35y,27.11h,6.68t/data=!3m1!1e3

 

It doesn't have a large footprint and so may fit your arrangement better?

 

Like I say, I know you've already built yours, but if it ever requires a rethink, perhaps Hillside would be useful.

 

Best

 

Scott.

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7 hours ago, scottystitch said:

 

I appreciate it may be a little late in the day, but Hillside Distillery is just up the road from me, and sits just outside Montrose.  It's rail served elevator is still extant, although remains disused.

 

This is it here:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@56.7431786,-2.4720098,3a,60y,83.9h,92.24t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sump3x8Z1VnGFktTtSdCn6w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@56.7424302,-2.4725897,3a,24.1y,48.87h,92.52t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1smRofsKOsAy_XVK-fStNLEg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@56.7424199,-2.4672079,3a,15y,287.72h,94.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1smEsE2foqxLH4E-5TJuVAmA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

https://www.google.com/maps/search/hillside+distillery/@56.7425273,-2.4722828,513a,35y,27.11h,6.68t/data=!3m1!1e3

 

It doesn't have a large footprint and so may fit your arrangement better?

 

Like I say, I know you've already built yours, but if it ever requires a rethink, perhaps Hillside would be useful.

 

Best

 

Scott.

Hi Scott,

 

Thanks for this, I wish I had seen this sooner, it looks a lot easier to build!

 

Interestingly, when looking at a large scale maps, the footprint of the building at Hillside looks to be 20m by 16m, which believe it or not is about the same as that at Muir of Ord, if both the elevator (ca 20m by 10m) and unloading shelter (ca 20m by 6m) are considered together. 

 

I think either way I am pushing the boundaries of Rule 1 by suggesting that such a small terminus would be home to such a facility, but then again I need a destination for my BRT Grain Hoppers!

 

Regards,

Richard

 

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15 hours ago, rhnrhn said:

Hi Scott,

 

Thanks for this, I wish I had seen this sooner, it looks a lot easier to build!

 

Interestingly, when looking at a large scale maps, the footprint of the building at Hillside looks to be 20m by 16m, which believe it or not is about the same as that at Muir of Ord, if both the elevator (ca 20m by 10m) and unloading shelter (ca 20m by 6m) are considered together. 

 

I think either way I am pushing the boundaries of Rule 1 by suggesting that such a small terminus would be home to such a facility, but then again I need a destination for my BRT Grain Hoppers!

 

Regards,

Richard

 

Ah, I thought it looked a bit smaller than your model, but as you were!

 

I don't think you're pushing the boundaries all that far. It's not at the terminus, but the Burghead branch served a facility about mid way along the line, at Roseisle Maltings:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@57.6695046,-3.4762375,3a,75y,125.59h,85.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjNIj8LYsVnoqdH1KwO-yZw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

 

The line has been lifted but you can see it's remnants in the line of trees.  The line was still active into the 90s, although not serving Burghead.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Burghead/@57.6693795,-3.4732471,1275a,35y,119.97h/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x4885737649db9aef:0xb3ae2868bff551d3!8m2!3d57.700232!4d-3.489213?hl=en

 

In the link below, you can see where it's sits, in the centre of the map, and it's relative size.  On the right, you can also see where the branch left the main line (Aberdeen to Inverness) at Alves. Burghead is bottom left.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@57.6684202,-3.4736629,7224a,35y,101.35h/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

 

Best

 

Scott.

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