ian b Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Hi all!I've been a serial modeller for as long as I can remember and have models from Z to O but N-gauge is my love and i've always had an n-gauge railway of some sort. Some may remember aborted attempts on here (Exeter St Davids & Fort Augustus) but i'm determined to get further with this one!A recent move to the Scottish Borders brought with it a burning interest in all things Waverley Route. It had an incredible variety of traffic and motive power and it seems unbelieveable in this day and age it could ever have closed. Happily in my day job I may have some involvement in rebuilding the new Waverley Route from Millerhill to Tweedbank!My railway is built in our second bedroom which also needs to double as my wife's craft room and also leave room for a futon for when we have guests to stay to I am making use of a space 13' x 2'6" at its widest, thinning to 18" in the middle.Being n-gauge this enables 8 coach trains to run nicely without looking too cramped and although the curves are tighter than I would have liked they will mainly be hidden so as long as the locos can get round them, i'll be happy!As you can see from the photos (apologies, by the way- they were quickly grabbed to add to this description!) I have a double track main line with a 5-platform station. Four of the platforms are through lines with a small bay. Theres a still-developing depot with a turntable and a yard with half a dozen roads. A branch line heads off in the direction of Lilliesleaf, Ancrum and Jedburgh.I chose Hassendean as its approximately halfway along the route and was a small, country station. Not far in each direction were Hawick and Galashiels- both of these offered what I wanted in terms of branches and yards but I didn't have room to model these so in my world they both remained fairly small and Hassendean was developed as the focal railway point.There are local passenger services consisting of a Farish 101 or 4MT, stopping and semi-fast services hauled by a Dapol 26, Farish B1, Dapol A3 or Farish A4 and express passengers headed by the A3 or A4. Freight services are looked after with the 4MT, B1 and a Minitrix 27.Five loops at the rear of the layout will provde the fiddle yard and to access this i'll keep the backscene to around 6" or so and see how I get on!Points are all digital (i.e. operated by finger!) and the layout will remain faithfully DC- future plans include developing a 'what if' using the rest of my stock and setting out alternative timetables set in the 80's and 2000's but I want to get the 50s/ 60s sorted first!Any questions, comments or advice please feel free!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 These are the track plans for my layout. The reason its split in two is I only have the trail version of Anyrail which allows up to 50 items per plan!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluefredie Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Hi Looking foreward to this layout and its construction I lived in St Boswells in 1950/53 and used to travel to Hawick to school I attended Hawick High and travelled through Hassendean every school day in Steam Days Unfortunately we did not have a camera then Good Luck with the layout David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Hi Ian, Looks very good. I have occasionally been tempted to switch from 00 to N by the ability of these "dumbell" shape layouts to cater for near scale length trains and associated infrastructure in a space along one bedroom wall (and also tempted by the new rtr N models now available, of course). Looking forward to seeing more and please keep up the good work. Regards, Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danemouth Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Ian, Like the plan and the way it's coming on. Its got all the feature I like on a layout, station, loco shed, goods shed etc. Tried N gauge about twenty years ago but it was too small for my eyes :-( Will watch with interest. Regards, Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 Thanks guys! Had a good hack at the boards this morning to get the turntable bedded in and added an extra siding to the hidden area off the branch- big enough for 3 car unit or loco plus 2 coaches. Amazingly all seems to be working well except for one errant point which will be attacked tomorrow morning in an attempt to improve it. If that doesn't work it'll mean buying some track for the first time in about 5 years!!! All locos are doing ok too except for the (old farish) black 5 which I think needs a service and the dock tank, which is suffering from wear and tear more than anything else. Finally last bit achieved is that the 26 now has the headcode discs applied- I used a .4mm drill to put the spectacle holes in them first so the lights aren't entirely wasted! Off to Ikea now to purchase a couple of trestles to act as supports- the plastic drawers have a tendancy to shift a bit too much. Have a nice evening all!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 Spent a lovely day gathering inspiration- Hawick Exhibition & Liddlesdale Heritage Museum Waverley exhibition separated by my first trip on the real Waverley Route (Newcraighall service excepted). Racked up a whole mile of haulage on RB004 (the railbus at Whitrope)- wonder if I can get an n-gauge one of them... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium maq1988 Posted August 19, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 19, 2012 Hi, Great use of space and arrangement of the track plan, lots of interest areas. Please keep up the good work and keep us updated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 Hi, Great use of space and arrangement of the track plan, lots of interest areas. Please keep up the good work and keep us updated. Thankyou- i'll try! Trackplan works quite well although IF I should ever think of exhibiting i'll have to sort out the fiddle yard. I worry so much about handling the new stuff as it feels so fine i'd need to factor in some sort of cassettes. But while the intention is to stay at home it does the job! Got a load of books out of my local library on the Waverley one of which not only has the timetables in for my chosen period it also has the diagrams for the locos. Only trouble is i'm going to need about 2 dozen locos to make up a day's worth of traffic. Gonna have to beg my boss for some overtime...! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 Progress has been made! Boards are now supported by B & Q adjustable legs at each end propped on a storage cupboard in the middle. Was going to go with Ikea trestles but my wallet tightened and £25ea started worrying me! Supporting board for the backscene is now half completed and should be finished off tomorrow all being well. The turntable is wired in and working ok (not bad seeing as its been dumped in a box for five years!) and hopefully i'll get the chance to get some photos tomorrow. Stock has been gradually increasing- got a couple of Farish box vans at NE Railex last weekend and an online bargain purchase of a new two-tone 24 for £49 has left me with a dilemma! I was intending to renumber it to D5072 which was seen on the Waverley in that livery but Kernow have that available as a limited edition. There were only 5 in this livery and I think that was the only regular visitor so do I just wing it and leave it as D5038 or renumber it to one that is commercially available. Decisions decisions... TTFN! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted August 30, 2012 Author Share Posted August 30, 2012 Pictures as promised. No prizes if anyone guesses the look i'm aiming for with the tunnel entrance! South end North end Layover time on shed D5301 arrives with an Edinburgh to Carlisle semi-fast D5038 arrives with cattle wagons from Kelso 4MT sat on shed before hauling an evening local to Carlisle Any comments gratefully received! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 No updates for quite a while as work has taken over. However, things have changed! Track layout is roughly the same although instead of 4 through roads, I now have one through road and 3 terminus platforms. Truth is I was getting frustrated having the trains spending more time in a fiddle yard than out front so after much debate the deed was done. I've also moved on into my comfort zone- that of the mid to late 80s with trains hauled by a mix of 37/4s and 47/4s. I'll try and post some photos up in the next few days! Ian B Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack00 Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Sounds really intereting Ian. Will be good to see the progress Got to love 47/4's Jack. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linthorpe Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 However, things have changed! I am a fully paid up member of that Club I've also moved on into my comfort zone- that of the mid to late 80s with trains hauled by a mix of 37/4s and 47/4s. I'll try and post some photos up in the next few days! That is much more my cup of tea, I look forward to it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 Hi all! Some belated photos to show the changes i've made! 37417 waits to leave on a stopping service to Edinburgh while the Kingmoor 108 waits in the bay for the through service to Hexham 31285 waits on the shed to take out a cement train for Eastgate while 08717 waits its next duty 40009 has brought in some empty vans to be loaded with fruit for market down south. The three coaches in the left hand siding are left there until required to cover for failure of DMUs or when needed in an emergency. The fiddle yard- 47712 waits to arrive on an Edinburgh express while 37413 has the next stopping service from Edinburgh. 37108 waits to haul in cement tanks from Kelso via the branch while the HA 101 waits to arrive with a Berwick stopper. Also in the shot are 47517, 37408, 47035, 37262 and a bodyshell waiting to become 31275 in railfreight coal. Any comments are welcome! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 So why now Jedburgh? Boredom, i'm afraid! I got a bit fed up of having a through station as I seemed to spend more time assembling trains in the fiddle yard than enjoying them out front so I decided to alter the layout to be mainly a terminus. To do that I had to alter location slightly to make sense of it. Jedburgh had a station up until 1958 and, many moons ago, was famous (believe it or not!) for a beautiful crop of pears and fruit that were exported around the world- providing a perfect excuse for some sidings and a business! My layout now has services that turn round here with 37/4s bringing services in from Edinburgh and anything available taking them forward to Carlisle, along with a sleeper service and morning and evening express services to Glasgow via Edinburgh formed of 47/7s plus Mk3s & DBSO. The through platform at the south end heads along a branch towards Otterburn while the north branch heads for Berwick via Kelso. There is a through service from Otterburn to Kelso formed of a Haymarket 101 and cement trains serving a depot near Kelso from Eastgate and hauled by Thornaby locos. A class 108 also forms a stopping service to Hexham via Riccarton. Off scene the two main lines divide heading north to Edinburgh and south to Carlisle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share Posted January 6, 2013 Merry Christmas all and Happy New Year! The festive period (and a lot of generosity!) has seen the fleet bolstered somewhat at Jedburgh with 03066, 26038, 31438 (my repaint!), 47535 and 47708 all joining the fold, along with 2 TPOs, 2 nuclear flasks and a new Mk1 BSO. A decent amount of time off (at last) has also allowed me to take stock of what needed doing, sort out a few niggly issues and given me the chance to think about what I want to achieve so here are a few ideas: 1) construct a control panel. Not a difficult job but one i've been putting off 2) sort the scenery out a bit, starting with the platform and station area, working around the industrial warehouse are, through the town to the hills 3) replace the original Mk1s with the new version and some new Mk2s. As a new one is bought the originals are being retired and popped on ebay to make back a few quid. 4) have a serious think about DCC. Love the thought but the volume of old stock I have is worrying. However, more new DCC-friendly items are arriving and seeing Bridge of Orchy's sound fitted 37175 has driven me crackers with envy!!! 5) make sure I enjoy the layout. I'm determined to not get bored, not worry if something doesn't work quite right and to spend time on it when I want to- not feel like I have to! I've attached a few photos to give an update- all comments welcome as always! 31285 waiting in the warehouse stabling siding 31438 waits to depart on one of the three a day through services to Nottingham via Carlisle and Leeds. 26038 waits at the buffers with the TPO. These are tripped through from Carlisle, the loco then either trips a freight to Kelso or works nuclear flasks from Dounreay back to Sellafield The 03 has pulled the TPO clear of the platform, allowing the 26 to pull down. On the left is 47517 on the empty sleeper coaches waiting to head ECS to Craigentinny and on the right is DBSO 9701 leading a set including 47708 on a ScotRail Express service to Glasgow via Waverley. The 03 drops the TPO rake back into the stabling siding for the day. These will be brought out in the evening to form a service attaching to the London TPO at Carlisle The 26 has now moved to the stabling point, drawing in alongside 40009 (which arrived on the inbound Carlisle train) and 37408, which will be hauling the next stopping service to Waverley 37413 arrives on a stopping service from Waverley A Haymarket 101 arrives with the branch service which runs from Berwick, via Kelso and Jedburgh, to Otterburn 31438 now departs with the Nottingham service. I hope these give a flavour of what I am trying to achieve! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1977joey Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 Great update Ian, Looking forward to seeing more All the best, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Quick update! Currently building platforms now that i've finally got round to straightening out an annoying kink in the boards! Also completed a couple of other jobs this week- 47517 and 37262 now have all transfers and plates on courtesy of R3sprays. I've also renumbered a recently purchased (and long wanted!) intercity mainline 37 to 37401 Mary Queen of Scots. 31438, 37262 and 47517 have also had a first dab over with Tamiya weathering powders. The muck'll be gradually added to over the coming weeks. Hoping to receive a third (!) Dapol blue 27008 next week- the first 2 have both been returned due to lighting faults. If this one is the same i'm going to give it up as a bad job... Whilst in front of the TV i've also been working on a 7-day timetable. This should enable everything to get a run out regularly and leave room for fleet expansion! Next job is to create the higher town level and then commence the dreaded ballasting!!! I hope to get a few photos on shortly but may wait for the MacRat to arrive. Again! Thanks for your interest! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 A quick question! I'm looking at options for automatic uncoupling of locos and coaches- what would people recommend? I've seen, and i'm tempted with, DG couplings but i'm not sure about sprat & winkle and whether these would be easier/ cheaper/ better! Also unsure about Dapol's couplings as the conversion kit seems fine for fixed wheelbase stuff but most of my shunting is with locos and coaching stock. I have no knowledge of microtrains couplings but the ones i've seen sound a bit awkward to set up and rather expensive. Any thoughts or opinions would be much appreciated! Ian B Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Popped down to the station today and found a newly repainted 37401 'Mary Queen of Scots' sitting on the depot awaiting its next turn to Waverley. Also on shed were 37022, 37408 and 03066... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor0o9 Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Starting to look very promising! Look forward to further updates. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bri.s Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Just found this thread and had a good look through nice looking layout you've got there nice plan plenty of room to run good length trains .just a quick question where's the Dbso from wouldn't mind one in blue .looking forward to updates .great layout that coming on nicely good stuff Bri.s Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian b Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 Hello! Thanks all for your kind words. The DBSOs (i've got ScotRail and blue/ grey) are from the Electra Railway Graphics stable- you get a Farish Mk2, strip off the paintwork and stick the vinyls on. Getting the hang of their conversions now- I can do a full relivery in about 20mins!!! Ian B Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bri.s Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Cheers gonna have a look as I said before the layouts coming on well keep up the good work Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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