Gateside and Northbridge

[danstercivicman]

Nice workmanship looks good to me

[luckymucklebackit]

Thanks as always for the kind comments, the depot is now in position and connected tot he rest of the layout, will post some photos once things look a bit more respectable

 

Jim

[Legend]

These tenements look fantastic Jim. Could be walking down Dumbarton Road at Yoker! Northbridge has hints of Buchanan Street about it . We need to see more of this great layout Jim. This is the sort of stuff I'd like to see in magazines , along with how you operate it, as that also looks fascinating.

Edited April 10, 2018 by Legend

[luckymucklebackit]

These tenements look fantastic Jim. Could be walking down Dumbarton Road at Yoker!

 

Thanks Legend - If you want to have a go making one for yourself I have the Pdf file for the front of the building, it is not subject to any copyright as the stone pattern was not available from any of the propitiatory sources, it was pieced together from a google streetview shot of a tenement - and yes you are spot on, it was one in Yoker Ferry Road, however that one had been cleaned so I had to darken the stone back to 1960 grime using photo editing software then matt varnish and weathering powders.

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

Nearly there with this project!

 

Added some further detail to the water tank by adding a platform/walkway so that the ladder access now comes up the side of the building and through a hatch, the another ladder from the platform to the top of the tank.  Platform base is chequerplate plasticard with some reinforcement and plaststrut girders.  I substituted ladders from Ratio signal kits in place of the rather crude ones that come with the Dapol/Kitmaster kit

 

 

The water pipe which on the kit is from the centre of the underside of the tank is now routed from the corner of the tank down the side of the building, I used parts from the Knightwing pipework set to route the pipe

 

 

General view of the (nearly) completed depot

 

 

The office building is based on one that used to be at Alloa station, it is a card kit covered with brickpaper, windows are hand made from microstrip, At the front on one site is a bench with three figures that used to sit a bit out of sight at Gateside - the rack on the other side was built from bits of the disused ladders from the water tank kit plus a couple of bits of sprue from that kit, lamps are springside and on the top shelf are fire irons that came with a loco.

 

 

 

General views of the nearly completed project

 

 

 

Jim

[Legend]

Nice Jim. I still think this layout just oozes Central Scotland charm. I’d say Glasgow charm but I note you’ve captured bits of Edinburgh too. Great. Thoroughly enjoyed browsing on here and found your thread on NRM. Superb!

[Signaller69]

The new section had blended in really well Jim, looks like it was always there. The crew building really has been finished off with that lamp storage "rack" outside, a very nice detail; might have to pinch that idea!

 

Martyn.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Signaller69

[luckymucklebackit]

Thanks guys - Martyn - pinch away, I stole the idea for the three men around the bench from another layout on here so what comes around goes around

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

Hi all, just getting back to normal now after going through a cataract operation on my left eye, so back in the loft where spring cleaning and patching have been the order of the day.  There were a couple of areas where I made minor improvements as I didn't feel it was looking great.

 

One the Northbridge Road Bridge, I had used the old Airfix/Dapol platform lamps but these are not really appropriate so I went on line and bought some decent ones that don't look a million miles from those that used to be seen in Edinburgh

 

 

 

The real ones are a bit more ornate, but short of getting a fret these will have to do.  The wires are not connected yet, that is a job for the future.

 

 

Up at the Top end of the layout, a chance photo showed the tunnel into Gateside was a disgrace (out of sight behind the roof beam = out of mind)

 

 

This has now been rectified with an overlay fabricated to look a bit more presentable

 

 

On the motive power front, I have a Lima Metro Cammel DMU which superficially looks great but runs like a dog, so this has been made a Dummy two car set which will run either as a three car set with the parcels unit providing traction as shown here, or will pair up with the Bachman Cravens unit both of which are excellent runners

 

 

That's all for tonight

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[danstercivicman]

Very nice

[Signaller69]

Jim, that view across the bridge, especially at street level is superb, the row of shops/tenements on the right beyond the retaining wall really has me struggling to tell if it is a very nicely modelled low relief 3d model or a photographic reproduction taken from just the right angle, but I'm guessing the former? Great job as usual!

[luckymucklebackit]

Jim, that view across the bridge, especially at street level is superb, the row of shops/tenements on the right beyond the retaining wall really has me struggling to tell if it is a very nicely modelled low relief 3d model or a photographic reproduction taken from just the right angle, but I'm guessing the former? Great job as usual!

 

Hi - Thanks Martyn - The street ahead and the row of tenements are just a home made backscene, the street is the Royal Mile photographed looking East from just about outside the Museum of Childhood - I stood for ages waiting for the traffic to clear so that it would look a bit older, the row of tenements was a photograph of one block found on an Edinburgh Estate Agents site which was duplicated and flipped to exetnd the row then photoshopped to make the duplicated block look slightly different.  By pure luck after a bit of playing about with the scaling the two went together perfectly, must admit I have been pleased with the effect myself - this is a small scale jpeg of the montage which shows some of the detail, I have the full scale backscenes saved if anyone is wanting an Edinburgh view

 

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[Signaller69]

Hi - Thanks Martyn - The street ahead and the row of tenements are just a home made backscene, the street is the Royal Mile photographed looking East from just about outside the Museum of Childhood - I stood for ages waiting for the traffic to clear so that it would look a bit older, the row of tenements was a photograph of one block found on an Edinburgh Estate Agents site which was duplicated and flipped to exetnd the row then photoshopped to make the duplicated block look slightly different. By pure luck after a bit of playing about with the scaling the two went together perfectly, must admit I have been pleased with the effect myself - this is a small scale jpeg of the montage which shows some of the detail, I have the full scale backscenes saved if anyone is wanting an Edinburgh view

 

final cut backscene jpeg.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Jim

Well blow me, it looks so 3D in the photos, it had me fooled and really looks the part, especially where it mates to the buildings on the Royal Mile photo at the same height.

 

Lovely work and truly effective.

[luckymucklebackit]

The Allenshaw Inglenook

 

I have always had the desire to build myself an Inglenook as part of Gateside and Northbridge, but the question was - where to put it. The conclusion that I have arrived at is to put it above the fiddle yard, but as the standard inglenook would cover the whole fiddle yard and I wanted an open area to lift off and replace stock and locomotives I needed to improvise.  After some thought I came up with the idea of a bridge over the Northbridge Western throat and putting the headshunt on the bridge, this does have prototypical provenance - the ex LNER branch from Shettleston to Hamilton had been closed in 1955, but a section near Peacock Cross in Hamilton had been retained to provide a freight service into Allenshaw Foundry, and as you can see from the map the line had been truncated just beyond the bridge, the link line comes up from the Caledonian line which passes under the bridge. The track layout is almost a classic Inglenook

 

 

There are a few photographs taken by the late George C. O'Hara showing the infrastructure in that area, to model the prototype girder bridge would mean a lot of scratchbulding as there is nothing like it in a ready to use formal.  I therefore chose another long disappeared bridge from the Glasgow Area, that which carried the former Caledonian "Switchback" freight line in the East End of Glasgow over the Airdrie to Glasgow Line, this is a bowstring design and there are laser cut versions quite close to this design

 

 

Here is how I envisage the yard will fit on the existing layout, 

 

 

So I have started on this little scheme by building the bridge, I used the laser cut bridge as a basis, but built up the base substantially to look more prototypical, I also added fences down each side and discarded the cross girders as supplied and replaced them with plastrut girders fabricated to suit.

 

 

 

 

 

As this will form the headshunt of the Inglenook, I checked the length for the regulation loco and three wagon lengths, it fits just nicely!

 

 

With that done I will set aside the structure and start to build the supports and think about the rest of the inglenook, I found a sheet of spare ply and started to mark out the plan, as usual I am getting ambitious and starting to think about an "inglenook plus" with an exit track at the back and possibly a loco depot or single platform station.  Still flexible about how this will eventually develop   : 

 

 

We shall see how this develops, I have an idea to build it on sub frames on the main layout, and build a plank onto which the sub frames could be transferred and used as a stand alone layout (exhibition possibly?)

 

Cheers

 

Jim

Edited June 20, 2018 by luckymucklebackit

[Signaller69]

That bridge looks great Jim. I came across a photo of shunting at Peacock Cross in an old Bradford Barton Scottish steam book and did think it would make a good model with the factory buildings and the old tall signal box out of use and without any steps. The plan you posted helps with the context no end too!

[luckymucklebackit]

That bridge looks great Jim. I came across a photo of shunting at Peacock Cross in an old Bradford Barton Scottish steam book and did think it would make a good model with the factory buildings and the old tall signal box out of use and without any steps. The plan you posted helps with the context no end too!

 

Thanks Jim - The photo you refer to would be this one Jim, https://www.flickr.com/photos/gateside_and_northbridge/28036090967/

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[Signaller69]

Thanks Jim - The photo you refer to would be this one Jim, https://www.flickr.com/photos/gateside_and_northbridge/28036090967/

 

Cheers

 

Jim

Couldn't open the link Jim for some reason but if its by W.S.Sellar showing N15 no.69178 its the same one! Those foundry buildings and the track layout are just superb, and it actually looks quite rural in the photo, surprising when looking at the plan.

 

Cheers,

Martyn.

[luckymucklebackit]

Couldn't open the link Jim for some reason but if its by W.S.Sellar showing N15 no.69178 its the same one! Those foundry buildings and the track layout are just superb, and it actually looks quite rural in the photo, surprising when looking at the plan.

 

Cheers,

Martyn.

 

Doh! - had the photo set at private, now corrected, hence the reason you couldn't view, however you are correct with the loco and number so you are familiar with it.

 

You are right about the rural feel, there is a photo of Peacock Cross station probably taken from the bridge in the background of that photo on the Canmore database and it looks as though it is in the middle of the country.

 

https://canmore.org.uk/site/203178/hamilton-wellhall-road-peacock-cross-station

 

Jim

[Signaller69]

Doh! - had the photo set at private, now corrected, hence the reason you couldn't view, however you are correct with the loco and number so you are familiar with it.

 

You are right about the rural feel, there is a photo of Peacock Cross station probably taken from the bridge in the background of that photo on the Canmore database and it looks as though it is in the middle of the country.

 

https://canmore.org.uk/site/203178/hamilton-wellhall-road-peacock-cross-station

 

Jim

Aye thats the one! What is more intriguing as its not visible in the photo, is that the plan shows a kickback siding to another warehouse or factory just on the left (of the photo, rising on a slight embankment by the look of it).

 

Cheers again,

Martyn.

[luckymucklebackit]

Plan for the Inglenook now finalized, the top two sidings under the travelling crane will be the 3 wagon sidings, the next one down will be the five wagon siding, thus creating the traditional Inglenook, I have added the crossover to add some operating interest should this ever become a standalone, the bottom siding could potentially become a run down truncated single track DMU terminus, or simply a lye by for the trip freight loco which could bring a fresh set of wagons form an off scene area. 

 

 

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

Tried the bridge in place last night just to see how it will look, I had feared that it might look wrong, but I was encouraged by the general arrangement, so onwards and very much upwards!

 

 

 

 

The "Plan for the Inglenook now finalized" was a bit presumptuous, as when I opened up the Walthers Kit for the travelling crane I discovered that the span was greater than expected, and that additional clearance was required for the side stanchions.  This resulted in a prolonged period of head scratching and shuffling about, the photos below show how I had to re-jig the configuration to fit round the travelling crane.  I was also forced into using a set-track point that I had in the odds and ends box to get round the edge of the crane, this should not be an issue as there will only be 4 wheel goods stock and small locomotives taking the turnout curve of the point, saved a few quid too as one of the aims of this project is to use up as much material surplus to previous projects as possible.. 

 

 

The outline of the crane supports is drawn in green, with the track centres in black, as you can just make out the original position of the crossover was directly under the buttress steelwork.

 

 

This will be how eventually the bridge will interact with the inglenook board, each will be removable from the main layout, the idea being that once I have these two sections complete I am planning to build a frame that would support these two sections with a bit on the end as a sector plate/fiddle yard so that the Inglenook would work as a standalone layout.  Really hoping that the temperature drops a little as it is just too warm to work in the loft comfortably, I sawed the board to shape after taking these shots and ended up knackering myself

 

Jim

[Signaller69]

...one of the aims of this project is to use up as much material surplus to previous projects as possible..

 

I usually have that aim too, only to find I end up with MORE bits and bobs for re-use than I started with, how does that happen??!

 

Looking good so far anyway Jim!

 

[Marly51]

Plan for the Inglenook now finalized, the top two sidings under the travelling crane will be the 3 wagon sidings, the next one down will be the five wagon siding, thus creating the traditional Inglenook, I have added the crossover to add some operating interest should this ever become a standalone, the bottom siding could potentially become a run down truncated single track DMU terminus, or simply a lye by for the trip freight loco which could bring a fresh set of wagons form an off scene area. 

 

Allenshaw Inglenook plan.jpg

 

 

Jim

You should post this Inglenook in the Micro Model section of the Forum, Jim.

 

Marlyn

[luckymucklebackit]

You should post this Inglenook in the Micro Model section of the Forum, Jim.

 

Marlyn

 

Hi Martyn - Will do once I get the track down, as you can see from subsequent posts some features of the plan have had to be re-drawn

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

Its been a slow week, constructing the "back" section of the bridge support involved building a structure that would become both the girder bridge support, an arch bridge, and the support for a plate girder bridge over the Gateside line.  This was not an easy task as the tracks that were adjacent to the bridge piers were not laid with a bridge in mind and the three tracks, two goods lines and the siding into the engineering company run at slightly different angles.  Various small sheets of ply were cut to size and glued and pinned/screwed together until I had the initial frame

 

 

 

This looks very rough, but once I stuck the first card overlay with the arch in place it looked much better

 

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The views from the other side highlight the very tight clearances, particularly between the bridge pier and the engineering company siding, but I checked it with a wagon and an 08 shunter and they pass OK, this siding is rarely used (it is more of a scenic feature so no big worries here.

 

 

Much more work to be done but I am pleased with the progress so far.

 

Jim