Auchentogle

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After a break from the hobby for 20+ years I decided to build a layout again. My main interest is the Scottish Region and DMUs and my lack of space made me think of a small branch station. However the temptation of the (at the time) forthcoming Accurascale Deltic proved too much and I've been pushing the boundaries of my wife's tolerance over how big the layout could get (it's in our lounge) to include a main line through station with a branch platform and stabling/fuelling point for the branch DMUs.

Location is somewhere and anywhere in Scotland. My early trainspotting years were in Fife/Edinburgh Waverley then I lived beside the West Highland Line and spent several years travelling the line behind 37/0s and by the time the 37/4s took over I was working on the buffet cars (BSOTs) on the line. I was then transferred to the E&G buffets and so 47/7 push-pulls will also feature on the layout.

Working title for the main station is Auchentogle the branch station Glen Togle - both references from The Broons.

 

It's OO scale, and switchable DCC / DC depending on what stock I run (at least until everything is chipped). Ballasting/weathering of the through roads and branch platform of the main station is complete and the platform (Scalescenes) construction in progress.

In the image I'm running mid-1960s trains; the 40 on a sleeper making it's last intermediate stop on it's journey from London; the six-car Met-Camm on a morning commuter service - some of its passengers will transfer to the Cravens on the branch train; branch services will be shared with the Met-Camm at the fuel point; the Clayton will pop up the branch to pick up some wagons from Glen Togle Distillery.
 

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Today was a Sprinter day in Auchentogle.

I'd finished the superstructure of platform 2/3 and began to cut out the card for the platform top. The Class 156s are the longest stock I have - same length as a Mk3 but the underframe gear is wider - so I'm working the platform edge for those. Even with the very modest rail curves it might need some 'Mind the Gap' lettering.

I'll probably leave the platform top in this state for a while, at least through some different running sessions with different stock in case there are any rogue vehicles that cause fouling problems.

 

The platform edge for platform 1 is glued in place - the main station building will be on the left so I have to make decisions on what that will be before I build out the width of the platform.

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Progress this week has been on the 'dead' end of the main station. It's an end-to-end layout with a through station at one end. I'll have to either pretend the trains are working through this station or build a temporary track for them to run in/out of - probably the latter - but I needed a scenic break for the end of the board.

I've built a Scalescenes girder bridge with a retaining wall. The platform continues under the bridge for longer trains. At the end of platform 3 where the railbus is sitting I intend to add some wooden steps for staff to access the fueling point.

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It's been a slow few weeks for layout building, partly due to my own lack of forward planning.

 

The main progress has been on the branch station. I'd received the five Peco bullhead points the track required, then created the station plan in templot and printed it out so I can get a consistent curve, and then thought it would be silly to use two straight points on that curve. So I decided to order to order two British Finescale Finetrax points (https://www.britishfinescale.com/product-p/finetrax-00-b7.htm) which took a couple of weeks to get here (normal postal time), and not only did I have to construct a point for the first time (these are simple!)  but I also had to adapt them to have a slight curve.

 

These are not spring like the Peco points, so were not immediately usable - I had to decide what point motors to use. Tortoise ones are readily available here but I opted for DCC Concepts digital ones. I was able to purchase them in the US but it was still over a week for postage from the east coast. Then I realised - oh they are quite big - I need to get the right angle adapters, so that was another week wait!

 

The station is on an 8 foot board that fits in my bay window - the image shows it out on the balcony just before I fitted the point motors. It's a double-deck layout at this point with the fiddle yard beneath. The second image shows the fiddle yard line-up one morning, full of DMUs ready for the commuter services.

 

[RobinofLoxley]

Quality ballasting that man

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Work lately has focused in the branch station.

The trackwork was completed and after a couple of weeks of testing to make sure all ran ok I sprayed the track an umber brown as an initial weathering then ballasted. I used Woodlands ballast - fine grey all over then medium size mixed grey through the platform road to give the impression of fresh ballast on the running line. The ballast was then lightly weathered (first image) - further weathering to be done later.

I'd intended to have a loading platform in the yard but inspired by some images of the Scalescenes good shed I had a go at that instead. The space is quite tight but I should get away with. It shall get some weathering once I practice on some other items, and the ground around it can now be completed.

I've also got the platform face in place and starting to think about what building to use there.

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Progress has been slow, and focused on the main line station Auchentogle.

 

The station access road down from the station took some time as I had to build the Scalescenes retaining wall in a curve. The canopy on the island platform also had to have a curve introduced, albeit modest and was not as tricky as I feared. Both station buildings are still incomplete. The footbridge is temporary, used for helping me work out spacing.

 

 

 

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There's not been a great deal of progress of late on the layout - in the time I've had it's mainly been running sessions and working on stock.
 

I added a plain sky backdrop to Auchentogle so I'm not looking at wallpaper, and a weathered fence, station name and trees at the end of platform one. These can be seen in this clip of new purchase 37027 departing with a sleeper service. The sound on the loco is superb - my wife does not appreciate it as much and you can hear her cursing in the background!

 

 

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Attention has turned back to Glentogle station - which is the through branch station. I could never decide on what to use for the station - then the Peco West Highland station was released at that was that answered.

While the construction of that laser cut kit is in progress I'm working on the card platform top and have roughed out the road down from the bridge in polystyrene.

 

To avoid it looking too much like a West Highland Line station as its an anywhere and everywhere in Scotland layout the Peco Helmsdale signal box will be used.

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Progress continues slowly on Glentogle station. Fine coloured sand has been added as a platform surface, and a layer of modelling clay put over the polystyrene to form the rock face on the cutting at the west end of the station.

 

 

The roof of the station building was finished and a start made on adding some fencing, seen in this video clip:

 

 

This was the first run of a BSOT Micro-Buffet conversion which has taken a huge chunk of modelling time, mainly in prototype research, covered in this thread:

 

[PaulRhB]

That’s looking very nice 😀 Do you have a Track plan of the whole layout?

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On 17/10/2023 at 22:19, PaulRhB said:

That’s looking very nice 😀 Do you have a Track plan of the whole layout?

Thanks! I don't have have a trackplan, but if you can recommend somewhere to make one online that's simple to use I can have a go...

[PaulRhB]

8 hours ago, SC55015 said:

Thanks! I don't have have a trackplan, but if you can recommend somewhere to make one online that's simple to use I can have a go...

Sorry unless you use the popular templot I have no idea, I still hand draw mine 😁 oh well I’ll just have to work it out as we go along enjoying the thread 👍

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On 19/10/2023 at 15:26, PaulRhB said:

Sorry unless you use the popular templot I have no idea, I still hand draw mine 😁 oh well I’ll just have to work it out as we go along enjoying the thread 👍

Well I've had a go at hand drawing. I know I'll never make any money as an artist but hopefully they give some idea of the track plan!

The layout is an L-shape, about 19ft by 11ft. It is construction in several sections that allow me to take individual sections out to work on them on a table where I can get around both sides.

 

On the left end of the layout on the longest part of the L is Auchentogle station on an 8ft long board. It's a main line station with two through roads* long enough for a seven coach train (with loco) and a dead end platform road long enough for a six-car DMU. This road is meant to services the branch trains, but some main line DMUs that terminate here also use it. There is a two road fuel point for the branch DMUs.
* although it serves through services the road bridge on the left is the scenic break masking the end of the line, one day I might build an extension.
 

 

To the right of Auchetogle station is a narrow 8ft long board taking the main line downhill (into a tunnel) and the branch uphill. Branch trains have to cross over the main line from the station, over two double slips which give them access to any line on both directions. This board has no scenery or ballast yet, the mainline including the slips are HO track and will be replaced first.

 

 

To the right side of the L the layout is now in two layers, these corner sections are about 3 x 3. The top layer simply takes the branch around the corner, the bottom layer is after the tunnel and the entrance to the main fiddle yard with two crossovers giving access to all drags on the way in or out.

 

 

The main fiddle yard  (not shown) sits underneath Glentogle to maximise space, each of the main line roads opens into four giving eight storage roads.

 

Glentogle, the branch station, is again 8ft, the platform can take a four-car DMU. There is a loop, a siding, a headshunt and a goods shed siding. The goods shed may be replaced by a loading dock. A road bridge marks the end of the scenic section, beyond is a small two-road fiddle yard each long enough for a two-car DMU. This drawing should be 90 degrees clockwise to the others.

 

 

This shows the double decker layout which sit in my bay window. The toggle switches are for isolating roads when on DC operation.
 

[PaulRhB]

6 minutes ago, SC55015 said:

Well I've had a go at hand drawing. I know I'll never make any money as an artist but hopefully they give some idea of the track plan!

They don’t need to be fancy, those are nice and clear thanks 👍

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I've been working on some lamps for Glentogle station, now ready for fitting. They are DCC Legacy lamps, the closest I could find to the style used on Inverkeithing station:

 

 

Latest addition to the fleet is 37190. It's just a Lima model, but the price is right for me to practice resprays. It was 37216 in Midline livery, and I did it circa April 1983 when it was at Eastfield but pre-Scotty (see https://www.flickr.com/photos/bystuart/50594692978/):

 

 

It's still on DC so no sound chip, here is a video of it running through the station. 37112 sits in the loop, it's a straight out the box Lima model:

 

 

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Today Auchentogle fuel point contained my two Lima repainted Eastfield 37s. The yard area still has to be ballasted.

 

 

Next on the workbench for conversion is a Hornby Class 110 to become a Class 104. None of the forthcoming Heljan 104s fit my need for a (non-Mexican Bean) Scottish one, and I'd rather bodge a £50 Hornby than a £400 Heljan - and I'll have more fun. I'm planning on a DMS - TBS - DMS formation that ran in rail blue in 1987/88 (set 457 https://railcar.co.uk/data/set/457),
 

 

Station wise I have been looking at benches for the platforms, the passengers are getting tired of standing while waiting for their trains. I ordered three types for evaluation:



The Peco one is noticeable smaller (particularly in height) than the other two, it may be more suiting to TT scale.

 

 

I like the legs on the Skaledale one, they are more like the cast iron legs I have in my head, but I also like the squarer timber on the Wills one. Here are the three painted into the Glentogle station colour scheme:

 

[young37215]

8 hours ago, SC55015 said:

The Peco one is noticeable smaller (particularly in height) than the other two, it may be more suiting to TT scale.

 

Interesting perspective in the last picture, makes me think I need to review my use of Peco's bench on my west highland layout which I have not previously considered to look out of place. 

 

 

 

[SC55015]

7 hours ago, young37215 said:

 

Interesting perspective in the last picture, makes me think I need to review my use of Peco's bench on my west highland layout which I have not previously considered to look out of place.

But if they don't look out of place then all may be good?

There are a lot of compromises on layouts when we play with station dimensions to make them workable in the limited space we have. The use of underscale furniture - if not noticeably underscale - would help a station look bigger than it is.

[scottystitch]

With SC55015's blessing, and working from the drawings and photos here and some extras by PM, I have sketched a track plan of the layout in Anyrail:

 

Best

 

Scott. 

[SC55015]

10 hours ago, scottystitch said:

With SC55015's blessing, and working from the drawings and photos here and some extras by PM, I have sketched a track plan of the layout in Anyrail:

 

Best

 

Scott. 

Many thanks Scott - you've done an awesome job and it's pretty spot on. A big improvement on my sketches!

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This weekend I had a go at adding some scenery on the small embankment behind Glentogle station. It's an area that won't we seen in normal viewing, the aim was to provide something when looking through the fence from the platform side, but it will open up photo possibilities.

The cardboard in the foreground is part of the road that comes off the overbridge to the left of these images. I've used a basic light green grass mat to the right of the signalbox as a temporary measure just to hide the bare boards, in time the plan is to build the frontage of the small Glentogle distillery there, the road becoming the access road.

 

 

 

 

Next I'll add a little foliage creeping through to the platform side - it looks too clean at the moment.
With working lights on the platform I now feel obliged to have a go at fitting lights into the station building, pity I hadn't thought about that when building it...

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No build progress on the layout recently but stock has evolved to the large logo period. I really need to fit all the detailing bits on this ViTrains 37!

 

 

 

 

[Clive martin]

I have just enjoyed checking out your layout thread ,every thing you done looks superb,you also have a very nice and well chosen fleet of stock ,looking forward to seeing your completed class 104!

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Not a lot of progress on the layout as I was back in the UK for the holidays.

Anyone looking through my posts will notice that the layout is not fixed to any era. The layout was always intended as a showcase for first generation DMUs on the Scottish Region - with some complimentary locos and rolling stock.

For the start of the year I've now reset the stock back to 1958, and week by week I intend to evolve year by year until the end of the ScR first generation DMUs in 2000.

1958
The story should start in 1957 with the introduction of the Swindon Inter-City DMUs to the Edinburgh-Glasgow services - until I get one of those (Silver Fox now have a kit), then I'll need to begin in 1958.
At the start of 1958 Gloucester twins were introduced to the Edinburgh suburban services, in March the Battery Electric Unit started on the Ballater line. In May the first of the Region's Met-Camm DMUs began to be delivered. These twin sets were first allocated to Dundee, their lack of whiskers made them easy to tell apart from the triple sets that arrived later.

 

Here one of those twins pauses at Glentogle on its way to St Andrews. It's a Bachmann Middlesbrough/Newcastle set with the whiskers removed and the destination changed. It has the original style white vacuum pipes and silver wipers.
 

 

Meanwhile, on the main line a K1 pauses at Auchentogle with an express. My coaching stock from this era is solely Mark 1s and I should probably be mixing in some earlier built stock - if anyone can suggest any RTR stock appropriate for the ScR 1957 on I'd be grateful!