East Neuk, Plockton and West Highland

[Neil_S_Wood]

I noticed that there quite a few threads on Scottish layouts so I thought I might start a thread on my layout which is also based on Scotland. I am in the process of finishing off some parts and renovating or changing some other bits of it. Bit of background first as it might explain other issues. The layout was initially designed to have four separate compartmentalised sections so that I could run US, UK, Swiss and German stock. At the design stage I thought this was pushing it a bit so I cut out the US section. The hangover from that period is that the layout has some very large radius curves which were put in place at the design stage so that I could run some very large US outline.

 

 

The UK and Continental stuff were continued and the plan was to have a fishing village from the East Neuk in Fife, a Highland station, a German city scene and a Swiss station. I never got round to doing the German city scene and just really accumulated buildings for that. As things have progressed I have never really run much Swiss stock so I decided that that section could be cut out. I also am now looking to build a new German epoch 1 or 2 layout, haven’t fully decided though probably 2, which can go in a to be built spare room in the house. To this end I recently decided that the entire garage based layout would now be based on Scotland. I have removed the dividing boards between the sections and am now modifying the sections to fit in with the new plan. The overall plan of the layout is two large loops with a smaller inner loop on the main level. About six inches above the main layout at the rear are two shuttle lines which I tend to run DMU’s on as these are great with the shuttle feature. The entire layout is DCC with 75% of points and accessories being controlled as well as the locos and shuttle lines. I gave up analogue about five or six years ago.

 

 

The raised shuttle lines operate between a Kyle line station, Plockton, through a mountain scene to what was a Swiss station. The Swiss station will go and be replaced by a West Highland station which I built last year and is looking for a home. I am going to extend this section for another metre or so to get more running space.

 

 

Here’s some pictures of that bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rear part of the layout is modelled on a section of the Highland mainline but could really be anywhere in Scotland. There is a lower section with a turntable, whose motor has died, that I’m not sure what to do with now. I could always cover it with woodland if I get really stuck for ideas.

 

 

Back at ground level the fishing village is mostly built and just gets detail stuff added every now and again. The German city scene has been scrubbed and is getting packed up for eventual use on the new layout. I have made a start to the new section at the very front of the layout. The Fishing village scene was bounded by a cliff which was the divider between this section and the former German scene. This cliff is now being extended back and will merge into a small section of woodland, a wheat field and then the plan is to make a Scottish baronial style castle along the lines of Falkland Palace or St Andrews castle. The castle building will help merge the upper scene with the lower scene where the tracks emerge. This picture is from a river where the two scenes merge.

 

 

The overall plan for the layout is that the lower Section of the layout represents the East Neuk line from Leven to St Andrews as it would be now if it had not been closed in the sixties. I did not model the layout on any one village and took different aspects of different towns to great a generic East Neuk village. This means I am essentially running stuff from the late nineties up to round now along with the odd preserved steam loco. I still don’t have a name for the layout as I can’t really come up with anything that suits.

 

 

That’s a bit of background so here’s some pictures of what’s here now.

 

 

This is the very front section which is the fishing village.

 

 

 

 

 

There's been a bit more work going on of late so I'll add an update soon.

 

cheers

 

Neil

[P.C.M]

Hi Neil,

I really like your fishing village, the top bit has come along since I saw it last, lovely senics. Glad to see you are still getting a bit done. I think at one point you were going to start again!

 

Keep the pics coming,

 

Cheers Peter,

[Neil_S_Wood]

Hi Neil,

I really like your fishing village, the top bit has come along since I saw it last, lovely senics. Glad to see you are still getting a bit done. I think at one point you were going to start again!

 

Keep the pics coming,

 

Cheers Peter,

 

 

Hi Pete,

 

I have completely changed the top bit now. There's some pictures below. Where all the buildings were are now cliff tops. I'm putting in some concrete block houses and a gun emplacement on the top of the cliffs as these are quite common in the area I am modelling. I will have to redo the cliff face a bit as it got damaged when I took a jig saw to the backboard.

 

I am boxing up all the German buildings and replacing this area with scenery. I am also redoing the brickwork in the cuttings to make it look appropriate for the area. Ignore the German locos in the background. They're getting a bit of a run before they get boxed up til the German layout happens.

 

cheers

 

Neil

[Neil_S_Wood]

Over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to finish sections of the top of the layout at the front so I can start work on the cuttings below. I had forgotten that there is a lot of work needing done down there. I haven’t even painted the rails yet. That’s the problem with having a break; I forget what I had done and hadn’t. The plan is to work from the top down so I don’t dump scenic stuff on the completed sections.

 

I painted all the fencing green so next step will be weathering that with rust and adding some missing pavement to complete that area. I boxed up all the German buildings so I now have a bit of space to work in.

 

 

 

I had got reasonably far with my wheat field but ran out of (Busch) wheat. I ordered another pack from Hearn’s hobbies but it just arrived on Friday afternoon so haven‘t had a chance to pick it up yet.

 

 

 

What I have done is finish off the woodland scene. I have pretty much finished that off and made walls to bound it next to the road and edge of the cutting. I’ll need to get some markings on the road to finish that off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

['CHARD]

Just found this thread (that's the downside of having the 'Active Content' screen running as my RMWeb default), and loving the very charismatic East Neuk vibe; anyone familiar with the Fife Coast line will recognise the signature features you're making your hallmark, excellent work! Like a few others on here, your layout joins a select band that is really getting to grips with the elusive atmosphere of a locality, it takes consummate skill to translate observation into model form.

 

Thanks for namechecking some of the products used and also the w-i-p shots - these help to get an overall feel for how you're managing to fit so much into a finite space and flow the discrete 'scenes' into one another. Great stuff

[P.C.M]

Hi Neil,

That forest looks great, keep the pics coming.

 

Cheers Peter,

 

 

[Neil_S_Wood]

Thanks guys.

 

I tried to incorporate some of my favourite features from the East Neuk into the layout rather than take one town and model it. Good to know that I have managed to keep the East Neuk vibe.

 

cheers

 

Neil

[arran]

HI All

 

I see you have pics of Crail in the backscean, the big white house is called the customs house, and Ive replaced windows in it as my real job as a joiner.

 

You will know me better as =C=Rail= e.g Crail.

 

Regards Arran

 

 

Hi Neil,

That forest looks great, keep the pics coming.

 

Cheers Peter,

[steve1]

My wife is from Leven, so I have been to the area a lot and your representation is very authentic. The village looks very much like Lower Largo at first glance.

 

A fine bit of work!

 

steve

[arran]

 

A wee trip round the coast.

 

Regards Arran

 

 

My wife is from Leven, so I have been to the area a lot and your representation is very authentic. The village looks very much like Lower Largo at first glance.

 

A fine bit of work!

 

steve

[steve1]

 

A wee trip round the coast.

 

Regards Arran

 

Many thanks Arran! That was fascinating!

 

steve

[Neil_S_Wood]

Hi Arran,

 

the back drop is Crail as you correctly said. The harbour was actually modelled on Crail harbour. It’s smaller than scale but the same shape.

 

There are a few local buildings in there, the Railway inn from Lower Largo (the black and white building) and the The Ship Inn from Elie (the white and blue pub). The scene with the wall and forest behind is modelled on part of the Cupar road as you come down to Leven. Dangerfield Rd I think it’s called. The area above the cliffs is modelled on Elie cliffs. When I was a kid me and my mates used to go camping there and hung out in the old blockhouses at the top of the cliffs.

 

Hi Steve,

 

I’m from Leven too. I grew up in the Broom (not the west side).

The railway viaduct is modelled on the one in Lower Largo but is curved for spatial reasons. I would like to do this again and model Lower Largo exactly but should really finish this layout off first. I’d like to have fitted the Crusoe in too as I used to work there. That would look good being built onto the pier but it would stick out a fair bit if done to exact scale.

 

 

Nice film clip Arran. There is a good bit of film of the Fife coast line on the Scottish Byways dvd from Cinerail. It has the section from Cameron Bridge to Leven with a bit of Leven Station and then through Lundin Links and Largo to Anstruther. That clip you linked is better though. It’s funny looking at it from a drivers view point as I am used to walking through these areas now rather than riding on a train. I’d love to get that on a dvd.

 

Thanks for the kind comments guys.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Neil

 

 

[Ben Alder]

I really like the East Neuk approach; its not a part of the world that seems to be modelled much, but its full of lovely buildings and attractive scenery- the closure of the coast line was a great loss. Imagine The Great Marquess on a Jacobite type operation round this part of Scotland . You have certainly got the feel of East Fife here.

Richard

[Neil_S_Wood]

I really like the East Neuk approach; its not a part of the world that seems to be modelled much, but its full of lovely buildings and attractive scenery- the closure of the coast line was a great loss. Imagine The Great Marquess on a Jacobite type operation round this part of Scotland . You have certainly got the feel of East Fife here.

Richard

 

 

Hi Richard,

 

it certainly surprise me as there are several places that would make a great basis for a layout in the East Neuk. I suppose because the line closed some time back it has been forgotten about. But there's plenty of information and pictures available for those interested.

 

cheers

 

Neil

['CHARD]

This reply is really an open letter to the crew responsible for the 'Scottish Loco Poll' thread.

 

We talked on there of inspirational, signature ScR layouts that could be used to promote the attraction of Scottish modelling, in an awareness raising sense.

 

I reckon we've several contenders from the West Highland school, a couple from the Far North, one at least for each of Glasgow, Edinburgh and the sou'west, the Central Belt is fairly well represented, as is West Fife - but this is the first layout that comes to mind which puts the East Neuk on the map, and with what aplomb!

[taybridge]

Hi Neil

 

Great to meet you today at Peter's... here's a link on rmweb to the model station I mentioned that has the fabulous platform texture/colours. It really looks like it's going to be a fantastic model.

 

Lincoln Central Station

 

Cheers

 

Doug.

[Jamie]

I can hear the seagulls, smell the seaweed and am wondering if it's too early in the afternoon for a trip to the famous Fish Bar.

 

The water's very convincing, how it meets the sand particularly.

[Neil_S_Wood]

Hi Doug,

 

nice to meet you today. Good to meet someone else from the East coast.

 

Thanks for the link. I see what you mean. It's pretty good.

 

I'll keep an eye on that one.

 

Thanks for the kind comment Jamie. As it happens I have been thinking it needs a chippie. I'll try and look for suitable one to base on one. I'm kind of thing about the one at the shorehead in Anstruther.

 

The water is epoxy resin poured in about three separate layers.

 

cheers

 

Neil

[Neil_S_Wood]

I’ve done a bit more work over the last week or so and have a bit of an update.

 

I have finished off the old gun emplacement and weathered it a bit. This is how it looks for a couple of angles.

 

 

 

 

This is how it fits into the bigger picture.

 

 

 

I am now working on the old sidings in the lower level where the ordinance would have been delivered down from the gun emplacement. I have ballasted this bit and started on the weathering. It still looks fairly healthy at the moment but I want to give it a really old abandoned derelict look so it looks like nothing has been maintained since 1945. The main Leven to St Andrews line will look relatively well maintained in comparison. Quite a few jobs needing done in this section; more weathering tracks and walls, make the fences look rusty, install girders under the bridges, place plants and trees in and around the tracks and I really need a fence to stop those cows falling off.

 

 

 

While doing this section I continued using the puffer bottle for grass but found it didn’t work so well on these smaller sections. I really wasn’t happy at all with how the grass came out. I decided to bite the bullet and get a Noch Grassmaster as this seems to be set up to do small areas better.

 

I had been thinking about which castle to model for the section behind the field and have come to the conclusion that it will have to be Kellie Castle because of location and appropriacy. Trouble is that it will not all fit in the given space. I will have to do a bit of thinking to see if I can extend that area to get it in.

 

 

 

[georgeT]

Hi fantastic layout, would love to create those trees you have made were they easy to make ? cheers georgeT

[Chris_C]

Those seamoss trees look very nice. As does the rest of the layout

[Neil_S_Wood]

Hi fantastic layout, would love to create those trees you have made were they easy to make ? cheers georgeT

 

 

Hi George, as Chris said they are seamoss trees made using Anita Decor foliage from International Models.

 

Thanks for the kind comments.

 

cheers

 

Neil

[keefer]

 

i love this. i've become more interested in the east of fife line, purely through going for walks along the abandoned remains round about largo etc.

have also been in many of the coast villages and although there is a definite east neuk 'look' or 'feel', the buildings are by no means uniform. an ancient low-level cottage here, a victorian townhouse there, fairly modern built house etc etc. either as plain or as fancy as the owner could afford when they were built!

and of course, a lot depends on how they choose to finish/paint the buildings!

i have recentish photies of some east neuk places if you (or anyone else) are interested!

 

great stuff anyway, always nice to see something i recognise!

[Neil_S_Wood]

Thanks for the offer Keefer. I know what you mean about the varied look of the houses. I was home last year and got lots of pictures of Lower Largo from the "Temple" end and many are on a screen saver at the moment and you are right. There is a big mix of buildings. Crail and Pittenweem especially round the harbour area less so but all of them are quite varied.

 

The Fife coastal walk pretty much follows the coastal line for much of the section between Leven and Crail. It gets a bit lost in some parts e.g. Leven Golf Course where it has been landscaped over but most of it is still pretty evident.

 

cheers

 

Neil

[keefer]

i know what you mean about the leven 'golf' section, although aerial maps are a godsend we didnt have so long ago. a few weeks back, went to silverburn park, which was all very nice in its own way. but what i didnt realise was the cottages and stables of the one-time silverburn 'estate' show up on an 1880s-ish map as a flax works, which were a siding off the leven railway! they were merely re-used for their new purpose

 

walked from largo to where the pillboxes are, just at dumbarnie reserve, at largo bay, hoping to find any trace of railway ephemera - and not much to be found at all. past temple, out to viewforth, you can see stips of green where the sleeper 'holes' were filled in. as for largo station, the only things remaining are the stone wall along the back and some courses of bricks which were at platform level just to the east of the signal box.

 

just waiting for the oakwood press 'leven & east of fife railway' to come out!