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IanLister

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  1. IanLister
    Hi.
    Things are progressing steadily at Spittal. The summer and hot weather often results in a slowdown in activity for a lot of us; holidays, barbecues, family commitments and possibly a little heat-induced lethargy……..I’ve found the answer to the latter. Spittal is being built in a converted farm building with 3 foot thick stone walls, and though it’s south facing it stays wonderfully cool and comfortable even when outside is ridiculously hot; I’m not really a Mediterranean climate sort of person. So the weather can be used as a reason to go over to the workshop ‘because I need to cool down a bit’…………...how long before that excuse gets rumbled? The downside is that any kinks, doglegs, knackered bits in the trackwork can’t be blamed on climate change but are the results of my own somewhat hamfisted efforts!
     
    There’s been a steady sequence of visitors over the last few weeks. Firstly, Splinter and Screwit, the local carpentry firm, extended the layout by adding a further 2.4m baseboard, taking the length so far to 7.8 metres; I’m going to start a bus service to transport operators/helpers etc around the place.
    This allows the trackplan to extend as far as the start of the terminus platforms and the spread of sidings into the goods yard:
     

     
    Two tracks on the left are platform 1 and the release road/carriage siding, next are the bay platform and a release road which also serves the goods arrival road to the right of it. The right hand tracks fan out into the goods yard, with a branch leading off and down to Spittal Point and the fish quay starting at the goods yard entrance.
     
    Once the clouds of sawdust and bad language had cleared, next to visit were the PW gang and tracklaying engineers. The trackwork on the previous board is now nearly finished; just the long carriage siding and the coal drop siding to go, but the latter will have to wait until the coal yard is in place, which won’t be until the wiring underneath is completed……….complicated I know, but I’m trying to avoid crawling about underneath with a soldering iron as much as possible, for a lot of very valid health- and wellbeing-related reasons……… The trackwork now flows onto the new baseboard; 3 more turnouts are in place and just need blades to complete them. Once that’s done I’ll have a small runround loop and access to the headshunt and coalyard sidings, so work on the layout will be frequently delayed by passing trains/testing/playing/wasting time.
     
    While all this was going on, the signalling department were busily working on the breakfast bar at home, surprisingly. The end result was my first homemade signal; something I have been looking forward to with some concern and trepidation but amazingly it works:
     

     
    Construction involves a 3mm square length of walnut strip filed to a taper in the vice; easier than it sounds due to the nature of the wood. The rest is made of various bits from MSE and a couple of homemade parts. Just 11 more to build…..fortunately there are no 48 arm signal gantries, although the linkages for the 3 junction signals may prove a little testing.
     
    After all this mayhem, peace and tranquility descended on the layout in the form of the local electrical contractors, Tangle and Testitt Ltd, who have been brought in to try and save the world/sort out the muddle/connect things up. I’m actually very lucky to have the assistance and advice in this area of a leading exponent of all things electrical and DCC, without whose knowledge everything would be taking me a lot longer as I’d have to keep the instructions in one hand while doing various 2 handed and 3 handed jobs with the other one…..not easy, especially when the flowing of electrical current is as mysterious to me as the flowing of the River Styx of Greek mythology (you cross it to enter the underworld, apparently).
    So with lots of help, the track is all connected up to the DCC bus and it works. A twin 12v DC bus provides power for uncouplers, which also work, and Megapoints servo boards and relays for frog switching, which, amazingly, also work. Lots of little flashing lights and faint clicking and whirring noises accompany what can only be described as smooth and seamless operation; the signal pulls off in 2 stages, and bounces splendidly on returning to danger. Remarkable, really, and it bodes well for future operation. So my control panel now has 1 of 12 signal levers earning its keep, along with 3 of the 11 rather nice retro look rotary switches. I even did a small amount of it myself………..
    On a practical note, the servos, controllers and wiring are largely on top rather than underneath, for ease of access from the back of the layout. It’s an advantage of building a layout set on a sloping river bank; there’s a retaining wall (the sort I used to sit on to watch the trains, and fall off occasionally) along virtually the whole length of the back of the station area which will hide it all, and access will be via cutouts in the backscene. You may notice in the photos my rather overcomplicated design of combined servo mount and wire-in-tube link terminal, and you may also notice the mk2 version operating the signal, which is much simpler: servo mounted snugly in a hole cut in the 9mm ply baseboard top and secured with silicone glue, so removable if necessary...this leaves the moving bit at exactly the right height and is much quicker and easier to do while being more secure. A loop in the springy operating wire copes with excess movement, and is easier than attaching the omega loops.
     
    The final visit, on July 1st, was by a group of about 20 visitors from the North East and Borders area group of the EMGS. We had a barbecue in the courtyard outside the workshop, and several of them brought stuff to run on the layout. It was really rather inspiring to see the bit I’ve done so far populated and busy with a variety of visiting locos and rolling stock; onwards and upwards as they say. Hopefully, anyway……..good weather, good food and good company.
     
    And now, for those of you who have just scrolled through the above because you just want to look at the pictures, let’s pop back to 1960:
     

     

     

     

     
     
     
     
     
    An almost brand new class 2 diesel on running-in duty is waiting for clearance to head off up the hill towards the ECML and the junction just south of the Royal Border Bridge. It’s heading for Kelso and St Boswells on the Waverley route. The leading coach still awaits its new maroon paintwork. Just behind and on the next track across waits a goods departure for the Alnwick and Cornhill branch behind a far-too-new looking K1. The reason for the delay is a delayed Edinburgh-Kings Cross express on the ECML blocking access to the junction; it’s apparently just leaving Berwick heading south, so the route should be clear in about 5 minutes.
     
    Both types of servo mount visible above, and in the last pic you can see the inconspicuous DG couplings, which work well and don’t look too intrusive; on a layout which will extend to 1.8m in widthe in some places (for scenic reasons) hand-powered uncoupling is not possible, I’m afraid.
    The goods stock is kitbuilt and weathered; the coaches and locos have been gauge-converted and fitted with Dgs, but I haven’t had time to weather them yet.
     
    In the pipeline: a goods brakevan, an RT Models chassis to convert my DJM J94, bought when I was intending to model in 00FS, more signalling and the rest of the trackwork on the new baseboard; and then, just for a change……….another baseboard which will take the track to the end of the station.
     
    Thanks for visiting Spittal; sorry if it’s been a bit busy.
     
    Ian
  2. IanLister
    Hi
    Time for a long overdue update on the progress on the south bank of the Tweed estuary….I know it’s been a while, but I’ve kept looking at it and thinking, “Not just yet, I’ll just get this bit finished first.” I keep going home and leaving bits and pieces all over the place and then coming back and picking up where I left off and truth to tell it’s not been very photogenic; a combination of mess, clutter and infrastructure work that’s not very spectacular. You wouldn’t want me to scare you with photos of that, would you?
     
    But now I’ve reached a point where, if you’re interested, you need to know where I’ve got to.
     
    The board I’m working on is the hub of the whole layout in several ways. It’s where the single track descending from Berwick and the ECML comes into Spittal and starts to branch into the station and goods yard approaches, and from where the industrial branches to Tweed Dock and Spittal Point start to diverge. It’s also the best place to locate the main control panel for various reasons. To understand the strategic importance of this bit, you need to know a little about the operating regime I have in mind……
     
    Spittal is not a one-man operation. The run from fiddleyard to terminus is about 80 ft, and there are two significant branch lines to operate as well. Three or four drivers/shunters and a full time signalman is the plan, and I’m fortunate that a very friendly and supportive group of EM gauge modellers meet at the workshop once a week; I hope they’ll become the operating team.
     
    The signalman will be in charge of all train movements and will control this:
     



     

    The track diagram represents the hub of the layout: passenger facilities and runrounds, and the start of goods yard, Spittal Point and tweed Dock branches. Once trains leave this section, they are either on their way to Berwick, the ECML and Tweed Valley junction, or they are heading down the token-operated one-engine-only industrial branches or into the goods yard. Whichever of the latter it is, they leave the signalman’s domain and are not allowed back without permission. While there are passenger services to Berwick and Eyemouth, all stations to Edinburgh, all stations to Newcastle, and the Tweed Valley and Alnwick-Cornhill branches, in addition to excursion trains arriving, the vast majority of the train movements are freight orientated, with the goods yard, Tweed Dock, Spittal Quay and Spittal Point interacting endlessly to process a very significant amount of inbound and outbound traffic to and from all the destinations listed above. Trip and transfer freight workings will be almost continuous, and the traffic will keep the signalman very busy indeed. He has route-setting 2-position switches and a bank of 12 signal levers to control the movements. On the wall in front of him but behind the layout will be a 28” monitor, with a rolling train information display so he knows when he may have time to grab a cup of tea……..
    The goods yard, and the 2 industrial lines, will have their own discrete control panels, which will be driver operated; as they are single engine operations it’s the obvious way to do it, and spreads the load somewhat.
     
    The control panel sits on the front of the station hub baseboard mentioned above, on which the trackwork is taking shape fairly quickly:
     



     

    There’s just a bit more tracklaying to do and then the job of connecting it all up, adding servos etc and building the signals for this section. One of the great advantages to me of working in this sequence is that once I’ve connected this bit up and added the long single track section I’ve already made and had running, the control infrastructure will be complete for the whole layout; 5 power districts with circuit breakers, the accessory bus and all. When I add the next board and track I’ll just need to hook it up to what’s already in place and it’ll be up and running, so the apparent hiatus in developing the layout while I’ve put the control infrastructure in place will actually speed progress enormously.
     
    One of the things that was worrying me about building the track on this board was my decision to ash ballast to the tops of the walnut sleepers before laying the C and L chairs and rail. This has worked well on the plain track sections with the use of a simple homemade jig to align rail position in relation to sleeper ends (there is a Templot diagram stuck down but you can’t see it because of the ballast!), but I was worried about turnout building using the same method. I built the crossings in place before ballasting, then added the ballast, and gauged everything from the crossings and it appears to have worked; my first 5 turnouts in EM/4mm and rolling stock runs through them all even without the check rails added…..which I’m leaving until the wiring and final testing is complete:
     

    The ballast is Advanced Lightweight Polyfilla stippled with a paintbrush; it will be painted/weathered after the track is finished by letting well thinned acrylic paint soak through it. The way in which the paint spreads through the ballast without soaking into the walnut sleepers is wondrous to behold, easy to do and a great time saver compared to the usual ballasting methods. I’m lucky the NER used ash ballast in this area on its branch lines.
     
    So there you are; evidence that I’m still alive and still busy developing the layout and loving every minute of it!!! If I’m honest, it’s my model railway dream coming true….the layout I always wanted to build one day in the future……
     
    Ian
  3. IanLister
    So, you wait 3 months for a blog entry and then 2 come at once……..I seem to remember buses like that.
     
    Yesterday was such a lovely day up here in North Northumberland; so calm it was almost windless and a clear blue sky. Just the day for a long dog walk on the beach or a walk up into the Cheviots? Actually it was perfect for going to the workshop, getting the workmate out into the yard and doing some baseboard woodworking without getting soaked and/or frozen and without the plywood flapping about. So I did, and took the stack of A4 track templates for the next section…..just in case.
     
    And then when I got there I couldn’t get the door open………..
     
    Something appears to have broken inside the mechanism; when you turn the handle the latch pulls back but not enough to allow the door to open no matter how much fiddling about I do with it. So a call to the door fixer and he’ll be here ‘sometime next week’……...oh good.
     
    Fortunately we also have the unit next door and they’re connected internally, so Val’s hobby room became a sawdust-footprint-decorated corridor between the workmate (out in the sun) and the layout ( tucked up safe and warm in the workshop)…….and I covered several miles with various sizes and shapes of timber and ply, knocking the occasional supposedly precious ornament over now and again, but generally managing to behave myself. And it turned into one of those rare good days where everything you do just seems to work at the first attempt; so I got a lot done.
     
    When I arrived there was a 2.1m x 1.5m baseboard frame sitting on trestles in the middle of the floor.
     

     
    Legs for one end were already on the adjacent board so I made the ones for the other end, fitted the end profies and joined the baseboard to the next one with dowels and coachbolts. It all fitted together surprisingly painlessly, and was flat and level. The trackbed on this board is on the raised bit at the back, with a road, Carr Rock jetty and the river in front of it, which explains the width. A retaining wall runs along the back which will give me about 150mm of useable hidden space the full length of the board, so the 5 turnout motors on this board will all be surface mounted for ease of installation and maintenance; possibly Cobalt SS.
     
    The track templates were carefully trimmed and tacked together with sellotape; easy enough to do but not so easy to move about safely at 2.1m long! This allowed me to cut the trackbase as a single piece from a sheet of 9mm plywood; it’s a tricky shape as the front edge curves pretty much the full length and there’s a cutout for the coal drops.
     
    So far so good, except for the door, and it was only 2.30. I fitted 2 longitudinal trackbase supports along the full length, letting them into the cross profiles to a depth of 100mm, and glued the trackbase down with lots of heavy objects strategically placed; and then used the templates again to mark and cut the 3mm high density foam underlay. I get it from a company who make orthopaedic insoles and it comes from a 1m wide roll, so I can use it in big pieces. Stuck down with Evostik and with the templates added using Photomount, which was the trickiest bit as I stupidly decided to lay the whole length in one piece………..but it worked eventually, and is flat, correctly positioned and firmly attached. So, on to the tracklaying………..
     
    My plain track sleepers are cut to length from 1m lengths of 3.5mm x 1mm walnut strip using a small guillotine with an end sto set at 34mm. It’s repetitive but strangely enjoyable as long as you keep your fingers out, and I can cut 600 or so in under an hour. The walnut looks good and is stable, easy to stain and weather, and seems to work with butanone and C and L sleepers better than ply; the grain is a little more open so I suppose the bond into the wood is more effective. I really like this product for sleepers.
    By now I was way ahead of schedule for the day, which is highly unusual, but I decided to make the most of it. So after a chopping session with the guillotine I laid the first sections of sleepering for this board:
     

     

     
    From the left, the first track is a siding leading from the end of the platform 1 runround loop; it’s used for storing coaches, mainly from the excursion trains coming down from the Borders mill towns or along the ECML from Newcastle or Edinburgh. It will hold 8 or so depending on type with any excess being taken up to stable at Berwick until needed. The next track leads into the station, coming down from the ECML at a junction just south of the Royal Border bridge. The third track from the left leads into the goods yard, while in the other direction it crosses a bridge next to the one in the photo and curves downhill to Tweed Dock. 3 or 4 short trip freights each day will use the dock branch; there’s a maltings, an oil depot, a Co-op distribution warehouse, a coal loader, a timber quay, a cement quay and a general merchandise quay, so it’ll be busy.
    The track on the right is the goods yard headshunt with the coalyard siding leading off it. At the far end in the photo there’s a short section of track that appears to be offset to one side; it’s not bad alignment, I changed the plan slightly after laying the templates on the first board months ago…..honest!
     
    So next, a few more sleepers and then the mysteries of EM turnout construction, which will be a first, though I think the fact that I built a few in 2mm FS should help a little.
     
    In the evening a few local members of the EMGS came round for our usual Wednesday night get-together and a very useful discussion took place about control panels, turnout switching and other stuff which I’m learning about; and I finally got home at 11.30pm. But it was a good day, despite the door.
     
    Ian
  4. IanLister
    Hi.
    Talk about being sidetracked……………..
     
    In my last entry I mentioned getting corners finished, backscenes fitted, boards aligned against back walls etc. Well………………………………….
     
    A couple of weeks ago I was invited to demo my techniques for making stone buildings at the EMGS North East Area Group ‘Workshopwise’ day event; a really good day and met lots of interesting people. As all the buildings (actually just the one) are fixed down on the layout I had no finished models to take, so I made a short video and sat beside it making a couple of fairly small straightforward bits for future use; a low relief factory end and the base for Spittal signal box which will sit at the south end of the bridge overlooking the junction with the dock branch. I managed to get both made, scribed and painted on the day, so I had quite a productive time and had a few interested visitors.
     
    The idea was to put both on one side and come back to them in a few months when I needed to get them onto the layout. Unfortunately, however, in my enthusiasm I polyfilla’d over the locking room door on the signal box and scribed and painted it, and when I got home I could hear the signalman screaming to be let out, so I just had to ‘do a bit more’ as the saying goes…...something I’m tempted by too easily. So, the backscenes still aren’t fixed and the corner boards still aren’t in the corners, but I have a low relief factory:
     

     
    The lower section is as finished as it needs to be, as there is a yard wall in front of it.
     
    I also have a signal box, complete with stairs, gables and windowframes made of wood, just like the original, except that I used walnut strip. The railway structures on my layout are all based on Alnwick and Cornhill Railway prototypes, built in the 1880s by the NER; a choice made for 3 reasons:
    1. They are contemporary to the building of the Spittal branch so the same architect would have designed them
    2. Many are still standing and in good condition, and it’s only just down the road
    3. They are my favourite railway buildings, which is reason enough on its own.
     
    So this was Spittal box this morning, showing the use of walnut to good effect, along with the rooftiles made of self adhesive photo paper:
     

     

    And this is it this evening, with all that beautiful woodgrain buried under thick layers of British Railways North Eastern region Sky Blue and Ivory:
     

     

    It even has a nameplate in glorious regional tangerine, so I can remember where the layout is set.
     
    Now, where are those backscenes……...or is there something else I can be getting on with instead?
  5. IanLister

    First finished corner

    By IanLister,

    Hi
    The corner board I've been working on is now finished. Tomorrow it will have a plain sky coloured backscene added and will take up permanent residence in one corner of the layout. How to do the backdrop has been a bit of a challenge; it's such an iconic location with the ECML and Royal Border Bridge in the background I've either got to do it very realistically or not at all, and I feel it would look a bit odd with a mainline railway painted on the wall behind....especially if I painted it. Photo panorama is not an option unless someone can lend me a time travel machine to go back to 1960, so it's going to be pretty plain, with a few half-relief trees and a low relief factory end. I may faintly suggest the rooves and chimneys of a few distant industrial buildings lurking in the misty distance; that'll depend on whether I feel brave tomorrow.
    So here's the finished bit:
     




     
    Next I'm moving on to the other corner board which takes the Berwick branch round behind Tweed Dock and into the fiddleyard, via a 25' hidden run (accessible, don't panic) behind the buildings on the dockside. The board is made, so I just need to get on with the trackbuilding; my first go at 4mm EM gauge and I'm really enjoying the track construction, with C and L chairs and rail, walnut sleepers and stippled polyfilla ash ballast laid before the rails go down, which I find a lot easier than ballasting afterwards.
    The track climbs towards Berwick, so I suppose you could say it's a case of "Onwards and Upwards", though perhaps better not to........
     
    Regards
    Ian
  6. IanLister
    Hi
     
    In an earlier entry in this blog I raised the dilemma caused by having boards of a width that makes the back unreachable when they are in place in the layout’s permanent location, particularly in corners. Make them narrower? All well and good, but when you’re modelling a real location, and two tracks diverge from each other as they progress round the end of a U-shaped layout, it’s just not possible, particularly when the tracks are on raised embankments with a road in between and at a lower level. So of necessity, the end boards are 900mm wide, and much deeper into the corners. And my arms aren’t long enough.
     
    As explained in the earlier entry, my answer is to create all the landscape outside the line of the Berwick – Spittal branch before moving the boards back into their rightful place in the end of the workshop. As this is my first attempt at 4mm modelling, an additional advantage is that I get to develop all the necessary techniques to complete the project. My previous attempt was 2mm FS, where, if you keep VERY quiet about it, you can get away with a lack of detail in certain things because it’s so small. But don’t tell anyone………….
    So an early worry for me on becoming a 4mm modeller was to get my head round the level of detail needed to make acceptable landscape and building models, and to establish whether I would be able to achieve it using methods used earlier or whether I’d need to learn some new tricks. I have to say it’s been an interesting experience so far, and I’m really enjoying it.
     
    Please excuse the temporary backscene in the following photos; I needed an edge to work to, but if I put the proper full height one on I couldn't reach to do anything!
     
    Spittal Forge is now finished, including the adjacent rather ramshackle stableyard and paddock (both still awaiting some further detailing), and as you can see, Mrs Sparrow is rather keen on her gardening, even if she does make the flower heads from grated oil pastel. The area between the lane and the railway has its ground cover and some of the detail, though there is a lot more gorse, bramble, hawthorn, cranesbill, meadowsweet, poppy, nettle etc to add, along with a large quantity of native biological gibberish of the I-don’t-know-what-it-is-but-it’s-green variety. You know, the stuff that the dog gets tangled up in.
     

     

     
    Two further pics show the forge’s location relative to the direction of the line, and allow it to be visualised.
    The first, taken over the top of the Forge yard from the top of an adjacent tree by a child who obviously had no regard for the danger of heights, shows the branch descending towards Spittal. In the distance can be seen the Brandywell Bridge (no, it’s not ‘The Hobbit’); just beyond here is the entrance to Spittal station and the start of the dock branch which returns along the river bank almost parallel to the Berwick line but diverging gradually away and falling to dock level.
     

     
    The second shows the view towards Berwick.
     

     
    The track continues to climb and curve fairly gently before entering a fiddle yard conveniently screened by some very large industrial buildings, including this one:
     

     
    There are some detailed parts of this first attempt at scenery I’m particularly pleased with.
     
    Gorse:

     

    The footpath down to the wooden footbridge over the track; for obvious reasons the bridge isn’t in place yet, so the buttress is currently a favourite spot for local trainspotters and those feeling suicidal (not many of those in such a beautiful part of the world):
     

     
    The wall for the low-relief factory end that will be behind it on the backscene. It’s not sloping, honest; it’s just that the retaining wall in front diveges on a curve. I particularly like the brambles:
     

     
    And finally, my first ever rock face (sorry about the colour; for some reason the flash fired on the camera):
     

     
    Conveniently, there are strata of blue craft foam which reach the surface here, formed millions of years ago by some confusingly complicated geological process and thrown up to the surface of the world to be mined and sold very expensively on Ebay. Or you can buy it from the manufacturer, as I did, and save a lot of money.
     
    So, some more detailing on the embankment, and then this bit can be sent to stand in the corner while I get on with some proper stuff: track building, signals, trains etc. Only about another 70 feet or so of baseboard to go…………………………………
     
    Regards
     
    Ian
  7. IanLister
    It’s lunchtime, June 21st, 1960. Eric Sparrow and Alan Cole, proprietors of Sparrow and Cole, Iron Founders, Blacksmiths, Toolmakers and Boilermakers Ltd, have gone for lunch to the Harrow, a local pub on Dock Road in Tweedmouth.
    Their yard, at the Upper Forge overlooking the Berwick – Spittal ex NER branchline, is quiet for the first time in a few hours. Let's have a look round while they're out:
     

     

     
    Inside, they have been repairing a fairly small boiler which has been in use for 60 years or so operating pumps at Scremerston Colliery; it’s on its last legs but the colliery, a small family run business, is not doing too well and cannot afford a new one. Most of the businesses around here are locally owned and run; it’s a delightful backwater of cottage industry and local enterprise even in 1960, and in many ways unique in the rapidly changing modern world of industrial Britain. How long it will survive who knows, but the local railway will do its best to support these hardworking Northern folk.
     

     
    Out in the yard, Eric and Alan have been sorting through some of their stock odds and ends. They’ve just received a new order to make 400 assorted picks, shovels etc for the contractors developing Kielder Forest and Dam, and there’ll be some serious reorganising of stuff to do; they’re not the tidiest as you can see.
     

     

    There’s also a job to be done on the old hoist Alan’s dad built many years ago; it’s lifted many a boiler onto farmcarts, trailers and flatbed trucks over the years. Rural North Northumberland was at the forefront of small-scale steam power on farms, limeworks, quarries and coalmines for a long time, and a lot of Sparrow and Cole’s stationary steam power is still working, though with many a wheeze, splutter and hiss by now. The hoist has been creaking a bit of late, a bit like Alan and Eric, but they’ll get it sorted, just like everything else.
     

     
    Eric’s finishing early this afternoon; his wife has been staying up the river with friends in Hawick for a few days with the kids, and he’s meeting them at Spittal Station just down the hill. they’re due on the 4.45pm arrival from St Boswells, 3 Gresley 51ft suburbans and Eric’s favourite local loco, the V1. He likes his trains, does Eric. He might even leave a little early, and watch the J72 shunting Spittal Yard and the fish quay. If Alan doesn't mind that is........maybe Eric'll buy him another pint. That should do the trick.
     
    What the two of them don’t realise is that they’re being spied on by Seagullcam:
     

     
    Excuse my ramblings; I'm starting to believe all this stuff
     
    Ian
  8. IanLister

    Forging Ahead......?

    By IanLister,

    Hi.
    In order to develop and try out construction techniques to be used for the large number of stone buildings which will populate Tweed South Bank, I’ve concentrated over the last couple of weeks on making progress with the small industrial complex overlooking the Berwick line; this will be set back in one corner of the layout and needs to be in place before the corner board, currently in the middle of the floor, takes up its rightful position and stops cluttering the place up. I’m using mainly the same building methods I used on my 2mm FS layout, in order to see which transfer to 4mm and what needs to change in my approach to the scarily larger scale.
    So…….welcome to the almost finished world of Messrs Sparrow and Cole, Blacksmiths, Iron Founders and Boilermakers………

     
    North Northumberland and the Lower Tweed Valley were in the forefront of technological advances in agriculture in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the associated developments in quarrying, mining and so on drew people to the area, which accelerated development of transport links. The industrial revolution came gently to the area, bringing benefits but without quite the same levels of squalor, slums and poor hygiene of most northern cities of the time. The coming of the Newcastle and Berwick Railway to the Tweed, meeting up with the North British Railway by the building of the Royal Border Bridge, drew local village craftsmen to the coast in search of fame, fortune and, in the case of the local blacksmith at the village of Ford (a certain Mr Thomas Black) the contract to supply spades, shovels and pickaxes for the construction of the bridge. A fair-sized contract, I would think, given the size of the finished bridge. In his haste to get started on this mammoth undertaking he sold Ford Forge and moved to the Upper Forge in Tweedmouth, high on the south bank of the Tweed Estuary and close to the new railway. Business boomed, and after twenty years or so he built the new Seaview Foundry in Spittal, which remained a successful manufacturer until closure in 1953. The Seaview Works is now a printing business.
     
    Matthew Sparrow and Samuel Cole were two young iron workers from Dudley in the Black Country. As you can imagine, during the nineteenth century the Black Country got blacker and blacker…..unhealthily so. Matthew and Samuel, like many of their contemporaries, decided to seek pastures new. Unlike the vast majority of their mates, however, they didn’t seek the supposedly greener and pleasanter lands of the coal, iron and shipbuilding on the banks of the Tyne and the Tees; they headed further north and settled on the far more desirable banks of the Tweed (which must be hugely desirable, given the number of times people have fought and died to own them).
     
    Sparrow and Cole bought the Upper Forge from Thomas Black, and a dynasty was born which, by 1960 (the year in which my model is set) was a successful small foundry and boilermaking business
    catering to local small industries in Spittal and Tweedmouth and the local farming community.
     

     

     

     
    The model has a plasticard and foamboard shell with stonework scribed in lightweight filler which is also used for the ground texturing: a combination of stone setts, paving flagstones and trodden cinders. One new technique I’ve employed is the use of 110gsm adhesive-backed matt photo paper for window frames and roof slates. It cuts accurately, takes paint wonderfully well and sticks to perspex windows without fogging or other issues I’ve had before.
    The stock racks in the yard are constructed from walnut strip (very satisfying to work with and easy to paint/weather) and have a corrugated aluminium foil roof. They’ll be a good place to use up all the odd offcuts of card, plastic and brass I end up with......
     

     
    The yard walls need their final pastel weathering and pointing, the cinder areas of the yard need painting, and the main roof needs finishing; then I’m going to try and get my head round how to do guttering and downpipes.
     
    I’m happy with how this is coming along, which is a relief given the scale of architecture I’ll need to model to get the layout finished.
    Regards
    Ian
  9. IanLister

    Back To Front?

    By IanLister,

    Hi.
    It seems to me there's a standard basic way of building a layout in stages:
     
    Plan
    Build baseboards
    Lay track
    Wiring and testing
    Buildings and scenery.
     
    It became clear to me that I cannot sensibly follow that approach, which is a shame as it seems to work for a lot of people. My 3 end boards, which carry the Berwick line uphill from Spittal and the dock branch downhill to Tweed Dock, need to be 900mm -1350mm wide in order to recreate the geography of the area reasonably accurately, which is one of my 'must haves' for the layout. The track up to Berwick is laid and wired, but it has become obvious that the area behind the branch on the outside of the curve needs to be finished while I can get at it, i.e. before the 3 boards take up residence at the end of the workshop. Once they are in place I won't want to move them again unless it's unavoidable, and with them in place I cannot reach to work on the back. Soooooooo........
     
    I'm currently working to landscape the area inland of the branch, which is quite steeply sloping up to Tweedmouth and needs to give a reasonable representation of the old quarry workings and also the start of the Tweedmouth industrial landscape. To give an idea of the setting, this photo shows the Berwick line shortly after leaving Spittal to climb up to join the ECML just south of the Royal Border bridge:
     

     
    And this one shows almost a driver's eye view of the descent in the opposite direction, which includes a good view of the ash ballast used in these parts and also a substantial rock outcrop exposed when the line was constructed:
     

     
    There's an old wooden footbridge halfway up the climb, carrying a footpath from Dock Road and the riverbank up to Tweedmouth. The buttress and steps up to the road are taking shape:
     

     
    And in the background is evidence of the early stage of construction of the buildings of a local foundry, typical of the small industries of the area:
     

     

    While I'd love to get all the track laid and have some trains running, a big advantage of doing it the way I am doing it is that I get to develop all the construction techniques I need at an early stage in the build. as this is only my second layout, and the first in 4mm scale, that's actually quite important. And anyway, the track I've built so far is wired and it works, so my loco can potter up and down the gradient and dream of things to come..........
     
    Regards
     
    Ian
  10. IanLister
    3rd Time Lucky? Let's Hope So...........
     
    This blog will document my third attempt to successfully complete a model railway project. If I may explain...........
     
    1st go...The Berwick, Spittal and Tweed Dock Railway. I made good progress with this in 2011/12, documented in a layout thread on here. This was my first attempt at building a layout and was rather ambitiously done in 2mm FS. A sudden change of lifestyle (setting off on our travels in a 36' long motorhome) led to the layout being entrusted to the tender care of my daughter with a view to me finishing it after we'd circumnavigated the globe a couple of times or so. Needless to say, she needed space in the loft so without asking my opinion put the layout in the garage; you can guess the rest I expect. It may have just about have been salvageable but I doubt it; you should see my daughter's garage........
     
    2nd go...Port Mohrair. Documented in a blog on RMWeb, this attempt came to a somewhat spectacular end. Another 2mm FS effort, I made steady progress with it for a year, though I have to say 2mm FS doesn't really lend itself to the environmental variables experienced during a fulltime life in a motorhome, particularly when you consider some of the places we visited..........
     
    In late 2014, life was turned upside down. My son, 22 at the time, was nearly killed in a serious car accident; neck broken in 3 places, both thigh bones broken, pelvis shattered, internal injuries etc. A month in intensive care, 3 months in hospital and then in need of full time care for quite a while. His situation wasn't helped by the death of his mother (my former wife)while he was under sedation following the acccident; guess who had to tell him the news. Needless to say, we gave up the motorhome life so we could look after him while he recovered......which I am pleased to say he has done, and spectacularly so, although it took nearly a year of care and considerable effort on his part.
    I'm afraid Port Mohrair wasn't my most important priority, and went off in a sulk.
     
    We set off again in the motorhome again, but it wasn't the same. Too much had happened that made us think twic e about life, and we decided to give it up and settle down again; which we have done in Seahouses on the Northumberland coast, close to the North Northumberland ex NER and ex NBR branchlines I love so much, and half an hour from the Spittal and Tweedmouth I had researched so carefully back in 2011. What goes around comes around, they say...........
     
    So now I have a 38ft x 16ft dedicated railway room, all the time and enthusiasm in the universe, and eyesight, brain and manual dexterity that may be 5 or 6 years older but are still functional on a good day. So it's back to the South Bank of the Tweed estuary and my original concept for the B, S and TDR mentioned above.......though being built in 4mm to EM track standards as a concession to the increasing age of my eyes and fingers.
     
    I'll introduce you to Spittal Town and Tweed Dock, with history, trackplan etc in the next entry, but to give you a quick idea:

  11. IanLister

    Trackplan

    By IanLister,

    Here's a pretty basic trackplan to give an idea of the project. The 2 tracks leaving Spittal Town diverge in the vertical plane; the Berwick branch climbs to the ECML (fiddleyard) whereas the dock branch descends to riverbank level. The track to Spittal Point and the fish quay also descends after leaving the goods yard.
     

     
    To date I have the baseboards completed from the fiddleyard to the point where the 2 tracks diverge. The bridge shown in earlier posts is on the Berwick branch just after it leaves the station. There was another bridge beside it on the dock branch, with Dock Road between the 2 tracks and emerging under the dock line onto the waterfront ar Carr Rock Jetty:
     

     
    The bridge on the waterfront was blown up when the dock branch embankment was demolished in 1973; I have a photo of it flying through the air. The other one, which I have modelled, though on a lesser gradient, is still there:
     

  12. IanLister

    Getting Started

    By IanLister,

    Background
     
    We've moved back to the North Northumberland coast after living around here for a while a few years ago, during which time I fell in love with the minor railways in the area. Researching for my first layout made me realise that the weakness of the local railway infrastructure due to poor planning decisions when the lines were developed was a major factor in the relative stagnation of the local economy; my project is an attempt to show how things might have been better if more joined-up thinking and co-operation had taken place. I have a 38' x 16' workshop which will be exclusively for the railway; it is stonebuilt and has power, central heating and good lighting so should be an improvement on the small spare bedroom and motorhome tabletop which were the homes of my 2 earlier efforts!
     
    The History
     
    The NER and NBR shared the common goal of linking the ECML across the border at Berwick in the mid 19th century, but, largely due to ambition and the bull-in-a-china-shop approach of George Hudson (Mr NER at the time), they couldn't agree to work together. NBR had built Berwick station, with goods facilities and a substantial loco depot, and that should have sufficed, but Hudson had his ego to consider, and instructed his architect to design Tweedmouth station with the express purpose of outdoing his rivals.
    The result of this nonsense was the existence of 2 mainline stations, each with a full set of facilities and loco yards, all of half a mile apart with the Royal Border Bridge over the Tweed in between. The Kelso branch left the mainline at a north-facing junction just south of the river, so trains left Berwick, stopped at Tweedmouth less than 5 mins later, and reversed to take the Tweed Valley line.........hmmmmm.
    While this was going on, local industries (lots of them) were springing up and demanding transport infrastructure. The Tweed Basin is one of the UK's most productive areas, and the existence of local raw materials such as coal, lime, and various types of stone were generating much activity. The salmon fishing industry had prevented the development of Berwick as a port, and in the 1870s Tweed Dock at Tweedmouth was opened to support and develop all this activity. The NER was asked to build a branch to the dock, which it did, but because Tweedmouth station was so close to the coast, and so high above it, the dock branch had to be a switchback with gradients as steep as 1 in 30 and two headshunts which limited traffic to a small tank loco and 3/4 wagons max. Needless to say the branch was not hugely effective, and though it survived in operation till the sixties it never really allowed the local industries to achieve what they should have. Spittal, just south of Tweedmouth, had no railway connection but had a major industrial element and was also a beach resort much used by people from the Northeast and the Tweed Valley for holidays and daytrips. In the great days of rail travel, they could see the ECML just above and inland from the beach, but to get there they had to travel to Tweedmouth or Berwick and walk the rest of the way. Spittal needed a railway.
    It was all a bit Heath-Robinson in style. With the great benefit of hindsight I think it's easy to see what should have been done, and my project explores what might have happened had Hudson and the NBR had more sense and worked together.
     
    My Alternative
     
    Still awake? That's a bit of a surprise.........
    Hudson and the NBR did a deal to develop Berwick station, goods depot and locoshed together, and Tweedmouth station was never built. When Tweed Dock was built in the 1870s, the NER built the branch starting from just south of the bridge, giving greater length for the descent and easier gradients. Rather than a simple reversing spur at the south end the NER built Spittal Town station, with a branch from there heading back north to the docks at Tweedmouth. The line was built concurrently with The Alnwick and Cornhill branch which features some of the most outstanding branchline architecture in Britain, and the same style was used to build Spittal Town.
     
    Spittal Town has 2 platforms and a goods and transfer yard, and in addition to the Tweed Dock branch there is a short industrial branch which serves the industrial area on Spittal Point (4 chemical works, a foundry, a gasworks and one or two smaller industries) and also the fish quay.
     
    Passenger traffic consists of the Berwick shuttle, the Tweed Valley branch trains, trains to Alnwick via the A and C and the occasional excursion from the inland mill towns, Edinburgh or Newcastle.
     
    Goods traffic is about 90% of the activity at Spittal, and consists mainly of lots of local short trip workings linking Tweed Dock, Spittal Point, Spittal Town, Berwick on the ECML, the A and C and the Tweed Valley branch. There is no loco shed at Spittal; 2 tank locos are based there each day for shunting and trip working and return to Berwick each evening.
     
    The Model
     
    The model is J shaped, starting in a fiddleyard which represents the junction with the ECML. Spittal Town occupies the whole of one side and the dock branch curves round one end of the room to Tweed Dock about halfway down the other side. Most of it is to be built in place to be moveable if required, but the dock branch will almost certainly be portable and exhibitable should anyone be deranged enough to invite it. I'll post a trackplan shortly.
     
    The layout is set in 1960, and is to 4mm scale with EM wheel and track standards. I've just started building. Three baseboards have been constructed to date, and the first track is laid and wired for DCC and my EM-converted Heljan class 26 has tried it out successfully. Track, all of which is ash-ballasted in true NER branch style, is handbuilt on walnut sleepers and all buildings and structures will be scratchbuilt using various methods. The emphasis will be on accurate recreation of the local architecture, together with good enough operating standards to enable the vast amount of shunting this layout will require to be a demanding but enjoyable experience. DG autocouplers will be used.
     
    A couple more photos of the bridge over the Brandywell (yes, I know, it sounds like 'The Hobbit') just before the branch enters Spittal:
     

     

  13. IanLister

    Further progress update

    By IanLister,

    Hi.
    It’s been 3 months since I last updated this blog, so please bear with me if it’s a little longer than usual as I believe I’ve made some progress in several areas.
    Before Christmas I decided to conduct various tests and trials to establish the coupling system for the layout. Much as I like the look of 3 links, the width of baseboards needed to accommodate the area being modelled, and the significant amount of shunting which will dominate activity on this very operational layout make their use totally impractical. I used DG couplings on my 2mmFS layout and enjoyed the experience once I’d learned a little about how to set them up and use them properly, so I decided I’d give the 4mm version a try. Dgs are available in 2 sizes for 4mm, one being for 00 and the other, significantly smaller, for more finescale use. As my layout is to EM track and wheel standards, with less sideways slop than 00, a minimum radius of 45” and B8 turnout geometry as standard, I decided to try the smaller ones first. On receiving them I was amazed to find they’re almost the same size as the 2mm version, which caused some doubt regarding mounting, projection etc. I shouldn’t have worried; after some fiddling about and experimenting with mounting positions etc I now have DGs fitted to my entire fleet…..which currently amounts to a class 26, 4 ex LNER non-corridor coaches and 5 goods wagons, so it didn’t take too long. I also have a test and setup track specifically for the couplers, with an electromagnet, coupler height setting block and the necessary electrics to connect the NCE Powercab and operate the uncoupler. So I have no excuses if any of the stock fails to behave in an exempary uncoupling fashion on the layout; maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that!!!

    I’ve also been attempting to progress the conversion of a Hornby K1 to EM gauge; a little nerve-wracking as it’s my first attempt at anything remotely similar and I don’t want to ruin it. It’s making progress but is currently awaiting the manufacture of a couple of necessary bits; I’m getting lots of help and good advice from local modellers who meet once a week at my workshop where the layout is being built, so I’m confident the end result will be worth the wait. I’m looking forward to seeing what was probably my favourite North Eastern steam loco leaving Spittal and powering up the hill to the mainline before heading off up the branch to St Boswells or to Alnwick via the A and C route.
     
    Most of my progress has been with the layout itself. Needing to get the section along the back of the end baseboards finished so I could move them into their final positions, the first job was to extend the track towards Berwick to the point where it disappears behind the Tweed Dock landscaping and runs along to the storage yard at the far end of the room. I then needed to finish the scenic work on the outside of the curve, including a fairly major exposed area of rock where the cutting side was cut steeply away when the track was laid.

    This has been done, and has paved the way for the fitting of the backscene on this section, prior to moving the boards back against the end wall into their final position.
    The backscene has given me much to think about. It can’t really be left plain as the land slopes up away from the riverbank round the whole stretch of the model, which totals about 85 ft. Photographic backscene wouldn’t work as photos from 1960 of this area are few and far between, and ones of the area I would need are non-existent. So I’ve decided to resuscitate a hobby I tinkered with as a teenager and give painting a try, with water-mixable oil paints so I have lots of time to change things as they take about a week to dry. The fact that I gave up back in the 70s as I was no good at it wasn’t going to be allowed to get in the way…………..
    So I’ve had a go at it, and am reasonably pleased with how it’s progressing, though there’s still a lot of detail to add on some of the buildings, particularly Allan Brothers’ sawmill, in the middle at the back. I’ve even added in the embankment fo the ECML; it needs to have some detail added to identify it as a railway line which WILL NOT be a passing train as my painting skills would definitely not stretch to that. The junction signal for the south end of the Kelso branch, perhaps, and maybe a telegraph pole or two; maybe even a permanent way gang readjusting the odd lump of ballast while concentrating on the important job of watching the shipping and salmon fishers on the river.



    I’ve also built the next baseboard in the sequence along towards the Spittal terminus of the layout. This will contain some of the station throat trackwork, the coalyard and the start of the Tweed Dock branch, which, from here, will curve back around in front of the track already laid, to enter Tweed Dock on the opposite side of the room.

    Although the area of track is only about 2ft wide, the board is 5 ft wide as it will incorporate an accurate representation of the Carr Rock jetty, an iconic and historic landmark I cannot leave out if the model is to do justice to the area. Before Tweed Dock opened in 1876 it was the only deep water berth in the estuary.



     
    Completing the trackwork on this board is the next job, and will allow me to then work back around the layout to Tweed Dock, or to continue building down into Spittal; decisions, decisions!!!
     
    And finally, a couple of shots of the Kelso branch passenger train drifting down the hill into Spittal; this photo actually makes me think I’m getting somewhere with this somewhat ambitious project!


     
    Regards
     
    Ian
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