Saddletank Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 So I thought about this a while back, and think I'm probably not the only person to find more inspiration than time for modelling, but that someone else might have a use for them. For instance most recently I've found interest in elements local to my far northern city of granite, which may appeal to someone more used to bricks and dark satanic mills looking for something a little different. Hopefully you get the idea. Just chuck a few relevant photos, a trackplan if possible, and a short description of what the period, traffic, operating interest etc would be if it were your layout. If nothing else it's almost like the group experiencing interesting new scenes with background stories, without anything physically being modelled! I'll kick it off, I've always been intrigued by the turntable pit in the corner of a city centre Victorian park (currently under threat of redevelopment) that used to service the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) which had its southernmost terminus at Aberdeens interchange station. The pit lies north of the station on the other side of the high bridge carrying the city's main thoroughfare over the denburn valley and is interesting because it is built under the embankment, with a beam covering about a half of it. It now lies abandoned and gated off from the rest of the park, inaccessible to all but the graffiti vandals, with a single track mainline going north and a long siding (never used) running alongside the park. But in my version we go back to pre big-four times, with the GNSR in full flow and the web of the north throat into the station running past the table, with sidings for those pretty 6 wheeler carriages taking up the rest of the room. The soot and grime is evident and the Union Bridge (the largest single span granite bridge in the world don't you know!) would make an interesting scenic break. Or, separately, you could model schoolhill station halt just before the double track mainline disappears into an ornate tunnel mouth northbound. Nowadays the halt is long gone with only the station buildings platform side wall remaining interestingly integrated into the dividing wall, with the single track realigned slightly. http://mcjazz.f2s.com/UnionTerrace.htm - history of the bridge but includes a lot of decent illustrations of the railway land as well as bridge architecture. Turntable is on the right of the image at the foot of the bridge pier, just below the dividing wall Photos from an architectural survey, made with a failed view to installing a commuter halt on the ground around the turntable pit. Schoolhill station, closed in 1937, was built only a few hundred yards from the interchange station, but was far more suitable for pupils commuting from Deeside to the private school close by, or for theatregoers attending an evening performance at His majesty's Theatre next door. The mortal remains of schoolhill station recycled into the theatre car parks wall. The outline of the platform foundations can just about be discerned, while the wall is very identifiable from the picture above, pre demolition. An overall photo showing the current condition of things, as shot from atop union bridge. The pit lies in the bottom left corner, the track covered a much wider area which has since been swallowed up by the carriageway. Schoolhill station lies in the gap between Rosemount viaduct (shown at the far end) and the tunnel mouth in the above photo. Since the area was massively redeveloped years ago the tunnel now appears incongruous beside modern landscaping, but used to carry the railway beneath a large area of road. Edit: a few more shots swiped from google streetview. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePurplePrimer Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 What an amazing setup Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddletank Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 Or how about this, a short (1/3 mile) electric tramway linking a small rural branchline station on the coast north of Aberdeen to one of Scotland's best hotels and links golf course, it was a marketing ruse by the GNSR to attract tourism but was a pretty major failure, and while the hotel kept going for about 40 years, WWII eventually put it out of business. Very small setup, just a runaround loop at the station end and a small network at the hotel end, with the terminus right at the hotels front door. There were also accesses for bringing in supplies and taking away laundry, plus a two road shed to hold the two unique trams that ran the route. http://maps.nls.uk/view/82861770 http://www.crudenbay.net/cruden%20tramway.htm http://theatreorgans.com/hammond/keng/kenhtml/Boddam%20To%20Ellon/CrudenBayStation&TramPhotos.htm http://www.billhudsontransportbooks.co.uk/selected-product.php?prod=the+cruden+bay+and+its+tramway&pid=2092 http://www.britishpathe.com/workspaces/prptram/3F9fVsnY The one single tram saved from the carcasses of the two, found in use as summer houses in the locale of cruden bay. Could be run as two separate scenes, perhaps showing the station and the front door area for simplicity, or the laundry / tramshed for more of a challenge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hartleymartin Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 For that last idea, you could even use one of the Bachmann On30 Streetcars with a repaint and detailing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cklammer Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Fascinating. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddletank Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 Anyone got an idea they're never gonna get round to, maybe someone else can pick it up and do something with it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_long Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Anyone got an idea they're never gonna get round to, maybe someone else can pick it up and do something with it? I have one that may or may not get built at some stage in my life. Its located behind Walsall station and before Ryecroft junction. (my era is the 1980s, but going back further increases the traffic, coming forward though limits it) 4 Tracks, no turnouts and set between a tunnel (carpark tunnel into Walsall station) and a road bridge but with a footbridge just down from the road, retaining walls both sides, and small modellable building either side. Perfect for a small looking over the wall layout! 47497 by Tutenkhamun Sleeping, on Flickr 47298 by Tutenkhamun Sleeping, on Flickr 25258 by Tutenkhamun Sleeping, on Flickr 25258 by Tutenkhamun Sleeping, on Flickr Enjoy, plenty of scope for some great freight trains, little passenger trains in the 80s, but pre and post 80s there were services to Brownhills, Lichfield and Burton, Hednesford and Rugeley. Regards Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddletank Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 That is a nice wee scene, with opportunity for heavy running on multiple tracks with plenty of variation in traffic flows. Like it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hartleymartin Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 It would be good for an exhibition tail-chaser with trains just passing through the scene. You could run just about anything, including an enthusiasts' steam special, or even a certain famous blue tank engine... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparks Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Anyone got an idea they're never gonna get round to, maybe someone else can pick it up and do something with it? A few of my ideas here:- http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/63309-micro-layout-ideas-rapid-transit/ Stuart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-59 Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 One I came across recently is the L's team track in Evanston IL. It was operated by the CRT and then CTA from about 1920 until 1960 and it was operated like any other American team track, except with overhead wires. The tracks have not been removed and my father tells me in 1970s they were used to store ballast hoppers. You can see the track arrangement here http://binged.it/19JnZcF It is rather simple with two siding that come together and then joining the main line at the South Boulevard station. Currently, the tracks only extend about half way down the block, but I suspect in the past they went all the way to the bottom of the ramp at the next street. Since the freight operation were conducted at night when there was little or no passenger traffic, it is conceivable to operate it as an inglenook puzzle. What put me onto this was looking for uses for this 3D printed electric locomotive http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/74057-baldwin-b-3d-model-project/ Which the L has two copies of: http://www.chicago-l.org/operations/freight/index.html#cars I would model it as shelf layout with the section from the station north to the end of team team track inculding both the team track and the mainline, and have staging at both ends. I would divide the operation in two phases. A day phase in which a set of L cars and a set of North Shore cars shuffled between the two staging tracks (The North Shore had trackage rights over this line as part of their shoreline, which from the mid 20s until abandonment in the mid 50s was used only for local trains) The night phase would then have the freight locomotive switch the team track. This would cover basically the whole era the team track was in operation. As far as the rest of the rolling stock: 3D models are also available for the North Shore and L cars and any era appropriate freight car could show up at the team track. Links to the 3D prints below NSL: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/boxcarmodels CTA: https://www.shapeways.com/model/758744/cta-4000-n.html?li=search-results&materialId=61 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 So I thought about this a while back, and think I'm probably not the only person to find more inspiration than time for modelling, but that someone else might have a use for them. For instance most recently I've found interest in elements local to my far northern city of granite, which may appeal to someone more used to bricks and dark satanic mills looking for something a little different. Hopefully you get the idea. Just chuck a few relevant photos, a trackplan if possible, and a short description of what the period, traffic, operating interest etc would be if it were your layout. If nothing else it's almost like the group experiencing interesting new scenes with background stories, without anything physically being modelled! I'll kick it off, I've always been intrigued by the turntable pit in the corner of a city centre Victorian park (currently under threat of redevelopment) that used to service the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) which had its southernmost terminus at Aberdeens interchange station. The pit lies north of the station on the other side of the high bridge carrying the city's main thoroughfare over the denburn valley and is interesting because it is built under the embankment, with a beam covering about a half of it. It now lies abandoned and gated off from the rest of the park, inaccessible to all but the graffiti vandals, with a single track mainline going north and a long siding (never used) running alongside the park. But in my version we go back to pre big-four times, with the GNSR in full flow and the web of the north throat into the station running past the table, with sidings for those pretty 6 wheeler carriages taking up the rest of the room. The soot and grime is evident and the Union Bridge (the largest single span granite bridge in the world don't you know!) would make an interesting scenic break. Or, separately, you could model schoolhill station halt just before the double track mainline disappears into an ornate tunnel mouth northbound. Nowadays the halt is long gone with only the station buildings platform side wall remaining interestingly integrated into the dividing wall, with the single track realigned slightly. http://mcjazz.f2s.com/UnionTerrace.htm - history of the bridge but includes a lot of decent illustrations of the railway land as well as bridge architecture. image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg Turntable is on the right of the image at the foot of the bridge pier, just below the dividing wall image.jpg Photos from an architectural survey, made with a failed view to installing a commuter halt on the ground around the turntable pit. image.jpgimage.jpg Schoolhill station, closed in 1937, was built only a few hundred yards from the interchange station, but was far more suitable for pupils commuting from Deeside to the private school close by, or for theatregoers attending an evening performance at His majesty's Theatre next door. image.jpg image.jpg The mortal remains of schoolhill station recycled into the theatre car parks wall. The outline of the platform foundations can just about be discerned, while the wall is very identifiable from the picture above, pre demolition. image.jpg An overall photo showing the current condition of things, as shot from atop union bridge. The pit lies in the bottom left corner, the track covered a much wider area which has since been swallowed up by the carriageway. Schoolhill station lies in the gap between Rosemount viaduct (shown at the far end) and the tunnel mouth in the above photo. Since the area was massively redeveloped years ago the tunnel now appears incongruous beside modern landscaping, but used to carry the railway beneath a large area of road. I'm going to wish I hadn't seen this post. What a neat location. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddletank Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 Haven't really come back to this thread as much as I'd hoped, but in the vein of minimum space operation I thought this photo found while researching another subject, might help some to justify such a small formation. Photo was taken at Kittybrewster in Aberdeen a couple of years ago, I believe the contents of the tank are something to do with drilling mud for the offshore oil industry as a weekly train of maybe half a dozen of these tanks usually makes its way down to Aberdeens Waterloo freight terminal, right by the harbour where there is some sort of storage / unloading facility for these wagons. I don't know why there's only one tank here. There used to be much more traffic on the branch and recently the yard has been massively overhauled to improve its facilities, from rutted paths to a large concrete hardstanding, though with no fixed container crane. Not sure what it handles now but during the 70s - 80s there was loads of drill pipe and other items for the offshore industry moving through there, due to its proximity to the harbours edge. That tank offloading facility has been there for quite a while, though recently also upgraded and expanded to cope with a second track worth of tanks. There's scope for varied operation with a good number of photos at the link showing a 08 busy shunting bogie bolsters loaded with drill pipe in its 70s revival. I think I like it better though in the pre upgrade photos where the yard is smaller, flimsy gates need to be opened to run trains through, and the tanks track is barely discernible through the grass. http://www.railbrit.co.uk/locationnew.php?photographer=&loc=Aberdeen%20Waterloo&offset=2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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