Shortly after my father passed away a few years ago, leaving me his lovingly built n-gauge line based on a fictitious Isle of Arran railway, I decided that model railways didn't have to mean mainline tail chasing, despite the fact that the last layout he and I had worked on together ( some 30+ years ago) had allowed us to run a full length 'Queen of the Scots', 20 truck coal trains and so on, and look right.
Full marks to him, having never actually had a model railway of his own, after my mother died, and he was left alone at the age of 85, he decided it's never too late to start, so built himself a great little railway on a long shelf above the desk in his study. Many happy hours, and a good excuse to go visit him for a Saturday afternoon!
Despite not having had a layout for close to 20 years, my collection continued to grow, and after my father passed away I began to think maybe I should look at 'N'. However, having witnessed the problems of ageing eyesight when trying to lay 'N' gauge track (both his and mine) I decided to stick to 00 and built a small tail chaser in the spare room.
A year later we decided to remodel the house and the tail chaser got dismantled, but two years further down the line an article in one of the Railway Mags about someone modelling a shed led me to decide that this offered the perfect compromise and the idea of Waverley Shed was born.
Over the years I've acquired a fair few locos. Back in the days of moulded handrails and having a job that took me round the country, I used to pick up locos secondhand that weren't native to the retailer, such as Hornby A3s for a few quid at Froude & Hext in Swindon, then do them up with proper handrails, buffer detail, scale wheels and a half decent paint job, and sell them for twice what they cost me to other model shops where the demand was higher!
Now with the excellent quality coming out from the manufacturers there's nothing like as much to do. Also they run so much better, that it's practical to have a layout where the maximum scale speed is 15mph! Sitting musing on the way the world works, I realised that there was just enough space down the side of my desk in my last study, using a large cupboard as the base, giving me 10'6"x 20" narrowing to 12" to play with.
Bingo!
Then, last summer, having got it all wired up, but not much scenery, we decided to move, Waverley went into store and we duly moved at the end of August.
Fast forward to this April, and after discussing all sorts of daft ideas involving sheds, extensions, and even digging out the ground under the deck at the back of the house, my beloved offered me the front bedroom ( i.e. the one that no-one will ever stay in, and is currently a store room). Waverley duly got dug out of storage and the first problem immediately became obvious - it didn't have a leg to stand on!
After experimenting with various unsuccessful (i.e. wobbly) solutions using 2x2, a visit to the local model railway club open day at Horsham threw up the idea of trestles. Much drawing of ideas ensued, a fair bit of 2x1 got chopped and fixed together, but none of the solutions worked - at least not if having a level and stable baseboard mattered!
Then by chance a google search for ready made trestles popped up not one, but four IKEA adjustable trestles being sold on eBay - the problem was the chap selling them had put them in two auctions of a pair each! Placing what can only be described as a pre-emptive bid for both sets, they were duly won - the first pair for £25, the second for £16 - Go figure, but still a whole lot less than the full £35.00 each that new ones would cost.
It turned out the seller was a Globemaster pilot from Swindon, but as it happened I was visiting Bristol that week, so at the crack of dawn one morning we met in a garden centre by the M4, and the deal was done. Breakfast at the garden centre was pretty good too, and on a special price - full fry up with coffee & toast for £3.95 - Bonus!
So back home, trestles assembled, and Waverley was once again stable. Just a bit smaller all round that its new home - 11'6" x 13'
Now you might be thinking with all that space available, stuff Waverley shed - why not do the station?
Here the challenges of being middle-aged etc. come into play. I don't mean creaky joints and being unable to sit down without going 'Aaaaah' but 'Stuff'. Specifically stuff that we may need from time to time, like garden cushions, spare bits of furniture, and the inevitable bulk purchases that always ensue from a trip to Costco.
Looking around the room, it is tempting to ask 'just how many garden cushions does one couple really need?'
Either way the answer is half a room full, at least in winter, so Waverley is confined to one wall, giving around 11'6" x, let's say 3'
The first pic is the only one I took of it in its original setting. The other two pics show the boards in their new home - you can see the added on bits as they are in fresh cork underlay at the front. To get better access for wiring and soldering, the deck has been hinged onto the four trestles and plywood decks have been made up to go between them, giving the whole thing a touch of rigidity, as well as useful space for putting things on beneath the running scene.
The theory behind adding width is that it allows me to add some scenery, and I've got a couple of sneaky ideas for getting some operational bits going, one of which involves a traverser allowing locos to disappear as they go 'off shed' and be removed from the layout for replacement by others.
The reason for calling it Waverley Shed is that I don't have the width to do justice to either St. Margaret's or Haymarket, but as I was born in Edinburgh and brought up with a strong Gresley and Peppercorn influence from my father - our house actually backed onto the ECML at Joppa - I wanted to depict something about my childhood home.
I make no apologies for the carpentry as it's all been added on using scrap wood from the new summerhouse that somehow managed to sneak in to the spot where my beloved had originally indicated we could put a model railway shed when we first looked at the new house!
More posts will follow,but with a busy job and a large garden they will be sporadic!
- Read more...
- 0 comments
- 361 views