caradoc Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 Just to clarify a couple of things. Carstairs Down Platform (which is on a loop) is fully bi-directional; The Up platform, on the Up main line, can be used for Down arrivals, but not departures as there is no crossover to return trains to the Down line. A portion from Edinburgh could arrive in either platform, and would then draw forward onto either the Up main line or Up passenger loop, before propelling back onto the Glasgow portion. There are fixed red signals, on the Up main and Up loop, for Down direction movements, to allow this. There are still quite a few passenger trains over the curve between Carstairs Station and Carstairs East Junction; Cross-country run a 2-hourly service, Scotrail run an irregular Glasgow C/Edinburgh service, some of which extend to or from North Berwick, plus one East Coast and one sleeper portion each way per day. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-e Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 Used to love Carstairs junction, coming up from the south hanging out the window with the anticipation of what loco would be waiting on the Edinburgh curve ready to back onto the portion. Here are some photos from the 1980s A bit of a rare beast for haulage 47369 gets attached to its portion at Carstairs. 20124 and 47292 at Carstairs c.1984 47292 was awaiting its turn to drag a portion to Edinburgh and was equally rare at the time been an IM Immingham based loco. Cheers Steve 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted September 3, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 3, 2014 j. howie's 'lowland locomotives' site had a page about carstairs, inc. a couple of track diagrams, info about splitting trains and the scary looking reverse cant curve off the edinburgh line. http://www.jhowie.force9.co.uk/contents.htm site seems to be down at the moment, but might be available via the 'wayback machine' was looking for the page today and it's here: http://web.archive.org/web/20101102164441/http://www.jhowie.force9.co.uk/carstairs.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westie7 Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 was looking for the page today and it's here: http://web.archive.org/web/20101102164441/http://www.jhowie.force9.co.uk/carstairs.htm Cheers for that info I have now recovered some of Jim's more handy pages from that archive. I spoke to Jim Howie when the site went down, complete HDD failure and probable total loss which is a crying shame. I used to spend hours following the links and comparing old info with what I found on my travels round whats left of the Monklands industrial area. But thats for another thread 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waverley47708 Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 From another topic I came across the video of a layout of Carstairs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great central Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 Yes, that's ours. Being looked at for possible redesigning shortly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waverley47708 Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 Would like to see photos of the layout of possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great central Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 (edited) Would like to see photos of the layout of possible. It's been in store for a good many years, rooting around I've found a few not great quality pictures (I'm very much a point and shoot picture taker) taken at Wakefield show in 2006 which may well have been it's last outing. We had got our hands on several tubs of Woodland Scenics snow and decided to 'improve' the, in places, fairly sparse scenery with snow cover hence the very light appearance of the ground. Overall view of the station area. Most of the station side of the layout Lima 87 hauling tanks past south juction Hornby 90 on passenger at the north end of the station Same train heading round the bend towards Law Junction which was on the back of the layout then into the fiddle yard Lima 87 heading south towards the station. Sorry about the quality of the photos but these are about the only ones I have I think as I'd not had a digital camera long before the layout's last appearance. Edit: There's another picture in post 13 of this thread. Edited November 9, 2016 by great central 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chameleon Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 One of my favourite workings was the 1844 postal train from Edinburgh. It consisted of 1 BG hauled by 2x class 27s. The locos were longer than the train! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon H Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Edit: There's another picture in post 13 of this thread. Actually, Post 12 I believe. And who was responsible for using an 87 with a diamond frame pan on the tankers ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great central Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Actually, Post 12 I believe. And who was responsible for using an 87 with a diamond frame pan on the tankers ? Sorry, raises hand sheepishly. I'm looking at getting some Judith Edge cross arms if it looks like the layout may go out again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted November 11, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 11, 2016 always remember wanting a Lima 87 and the working OHLE - may not have been the right type of pantograph but it was designed to work, unlike the more recent and expensive RTR electric locos. GC, was the overhead powered? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon H Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 Sorry, raises hand sheepishly. I'm looking at getting some Judith Edge cross arms if it looks like the layout may go out again I bought a kit when they first appeared, at the Nottingham show a couple of years back. Still not put it together yet - but then I have no idea where the kit is now anyway... The overhead was certainly available for power on 'Carstairs' (as an alternative common return) if each rolling stock owner chose to use it. Having gone to all the trouble of erecting the OHLE and scratchbuilding the pantographs to go with it, it would have seemed ridiculous not to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonC Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 I bought a kit when they first appeared, at the Nottingham show a couple of years back. Still not put it together yet - but then I have no idea where the kit is now anyway... The overhead was certainly available for power on 'Carstairs' (as an alternative common return) if each rolling stock owner chose to use it. Having gone to all the trouble of erecting the OHLE and scratchbuilding the pantographs to go with it, it would have seemed ridiculous not to. was all the fiddle-yard wired too in that case? did that not really get in the way of the non-public viewing side? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great central Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 was all the fiddle-yard wired too in that case? did that not really get in the way of the non-public viewing side? Yes it was wired with some very simple and substantial overhead built up from welding rod because scratch built cross arm pans went straight up when de-wired. Also a couple of locos were designed to only work from the overhead like those on High Gill which went before. It didn't get in the way particularly, you soon get used to it, having worked layouts with OHLE for around 25 years I simply make allowances automatically. That said, any re born Carstairs is not really likely to have the fiddle yard wired 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon H Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 (edited) was all the fiddle-yard wired too in that case? did that not really get in the way of the non-public viewing side? Yes, though rather more robustly than the scenic section. The layout (28' x 10') was designed such that only one end was non-public viewing, and even that was limited to a small area where it was intended to locate a TV/PC monitor. Apart from this, the layout is viewed from all sides. The fiddle yard is hidden from view along the Lanark/Law Junction side by the backscene. You simply get used to the solid wiring in the fiddle yard. It sounds far more of a problem than it is in practice. If you watch the video, which is of a complete lap of the layout, you can see some of the fiddle yard arrangement. [Edit] I see Neill got in just before me with much the same reply! Edited November 11, 2016 by Gordon H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
locoholic Posted November 12, 2016 Share Posted November 12, 2016 14/1/84 The wires were u/s between Crawford and Carstairs, and 20s were being used to drag the electrics through the dead section - another useful scenario for anyone modelling the area. Rare traction, but it rather ruined our Merrymaker trip from Birmingham. I recall we had less than an hour in Edinburgh before we started the journey home, by which time the OHLE had been fixed, thank goodness. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaneofFife Posted May 23, 2021 Author Share Posted May 23, 2021 will Carstairs see the exhibition circuit again ? Lots of new electric traction and coaching stock has along since it was built...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great central Posted May 23, 2021 Share Posted May 23, 2021 4 hours ago, ThaneofFife said: will Carstairs see the exhibition circuit again ? Lots of new electric traction and coaching stock has along since it was built...... Really don't know the answer to that one. There was a plan in place and started, but it has since stalled. The Law Junction side of the layout has been dismantled and stripped, the intention being to make the station side a layout in it's own right mitigating some of the downsides of the original layout, sorry Gordon! As for all the new locos and stock I'm afraid you can count me out of those completely, far far more expensive than I can reasonably afford and would even consider paying. Apart from that my modelling output has been pretty much zero for about 10 years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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