Jump to content
 

scottystitch

RMweb Gold
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,492

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by scottystitch

  1. scottystitch

    A side Note - The Isle of Hauge

    By scottystitch,


    A Side Note
    Doggerland was always a working title, or place holder, for my imaginary isle in the North Sea and I've bean scratching around for a proper, permanent name for the land mass.
     
    I live in The Howe of the Mearns.  In Scots, Howe has come to mean valley, or hollow, which fits this area because the Howe of the Mearns was once under water and marsh, hemmed in by hills on two sides and by high ground to another.  It has since been drained into a lush fertile area.  However, Howe seems to come from the old Norse "Hauge", meaning mound.  And so, my island was a Danish possession, known as Hauges Hav - Mound of the Sea - until the second battle of Copenhagen in 1807, following which the Island was seized by the British.  Not long after it was incorporated into the British Isles.
     
    Anglicised "Hauge" is pronounced "How".
     
    The Isle of Hauge.
     
     
  2. scottystitch
    Thoughts have turned to distribution of the DCC power/signal and the carving up of power districts.  I've arrived at the following:
     

     
    The grey boxes, top left, are circuit breaker boards,  They receive the DCC power/signal from the NCE Master Panel and the power is split into three power districts, each with their own circuit breaker...cicuitry.
     
    #1 District serves the upper fiddle yard and teh hidden main-line track all the way to the lift out section.
    #2 District serves the whole of the branch, including the lower fiddle yard, the hidden branch line and Clarencekirk proper.
    #3 District 3 serves The hidden Main-Line/Virtual Carriage sidings from the lift out section to St Catherine's Bay and St Catherine's Bay proper.
     
    The black rectangles on these busses are distribution boards connected to the track dropers.
     
    Daisy chained to the NCE Master panel are four more DCC panels to enable flexible control options.
     
    If I can finalise this arrangement, it means I can get the busses and DCC cables installed before the baseboard tops go on.
     
    I still have to look at the best arrangement for the positioning of the Megapoints circuit boards....
     
     
     
     
  3. scottystitch
    Some further thought has gone into trains formations, timetabling, etc.
     
    I have already done an awful lot of work on a Glasgow-based layout and Perth-based layout (same era, same timetable) so it dawned on me to make proper use of this research.
     
    To this end I've decided that St Catherine's Bay will be timetabled almost exactly the same as Glasgow Buchanan Street, as per the 1964 timetables.  Ditto the train formations (helped by my hope to eventually build my Glasgow North layout in the fguture - If I'm going to hang on to stock, why not use it instead of storing it?)  St Catherine's Bay will serve three main destinations correlating with Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness from Buchanan Street.  Other services may/will be added when we're up and running, where circumstances allow, but there is already a Blue Pullman service (because I have one and I wan't to run it) along woth it's associated back Pullman LHCS.  Tentatively I envisaged a daytime and an overnight "London" Train, the overnight having  Motorail stock included.
     
    The timetable:
     

     
    To this needs to be fed in freight movements, ECS movements, etc.
     
    The train formations (taken from the official BR Carriage Working Documents and photographic observations):
     

  4. scottystitch
    I've been doing some more work in the background of this project.  The single track main-line at the rear of the branch terminus, continued to make me uneasy.  I just couldn't find a mechanism that would allow my brain to accept the arrangent as presented, i.e. that of a single track main-line passing a branch-line terminus (Particularly when the branch is served by St Catherine's Bay, and by extension the means of landscaping between the two.  It all felt far too contrived.
     
    With this in mind, I've abandoned the passing main line and reverted to this section being hidden.  Monclarence felt cumbersome on first impressions, but I felt it would grow on me.   Alas, it has not.  ST Clarence was a possibility, but offers no variety from St Catherine's Bay.  The answer was in my present home town allowing itself to be corrupted.  Clarencekirk feels much better.  Perhaps this part of the island attracted a community of Scots to work the quarries and mines of the area?
     
    Clarencekirk will now sit on it's own, within a box and proscenium, with space behind to access the hidden main-line for cleaning, etc., from beneath.  Previously the hidden branch-line climbed around the room behind St Catherine's Bay to the fiddle yard, but the latest plan calls for this to cicumnavigate on the level to it's separate fiddle yard at the front of the fiddle yard board.   A cassette will allow trains to transfer between the Clarencekirk and the St Catherine's Bay fiddle yards as required.
     

     
    The thing about St Catherines Bay as a terminus was the lack of goods opportunities, beyond that of those within the station environs.  I thought a solution might be to have goods trains. partiularly modest block workings, arriving in the station and then reversing back the way they had come, ostensibly to serve "the docks".  Again, this felt more than a little contrived and probably an opperational nightmare.  Inspiration for the answer came from Fort William, Mallaig, Penzance... Despite being a terminus, one platform is a through line serving "the docks", these being a set of sidings within the fiddle yard where van, cement, oil, container, Fish trains arrive and, after a suitable pause, depart through the station.  The station building will provide a suitable view blocker for the inevitable hole in the back(side)scene.  For the through platform (#4) to operate flexibly, it needed a run-round facility, and this has been added.  This at the cost of the Dairy siding, which I have removed.  The dairy will be the only industry served by reversingback up the main line. to a cassette.  This cassette facility will also serve as the carriage sidings.  The fish loading shed has also been removed, merchandise now being dealt with of-stage at "the docks".  The dock branch also allows for a continuous run for locomotive running in, etc.
     

     

     
     
  5. scottystitch
    I've been thinking about trains which will run into St Catherines's Bay, with consideration being given to their length and the number of each type required to operate the day's services.   I've pretty much nailed on the passenger services, I think.  Most trains will spend life as permanent sets, and most will have a dedicated cassette for storage, when not in-play.
     
    Express 1 - Mk1 - BSK, SK, SK, RMB, FK, BSK, SK
    Express 2 - Mk1 - BSK, SK, SK, SO, RU, FK, BSK
    Express 3 - Mk1 - BSK, SK, SK, SO, RU, FK, BSK 
    Express 4 - Thompson - BSK, CK, FK, *RMB (GRESLEY), SK, SK , BSK 
    Express 5 - Mk1 -  BSK, SK, SK, SK, RU, FK, BSK
     
    With the exception of the Thompson rake these are based on the rakes used for the Glasgow Buchanan Street/Aberdeen 1964 train sets.
     
    Motive power will be drawn from:  Double Headed (DH) 27s, DH 26s, DH 22s, DH 25s, DH 24s, 44, 52, 42, 40, 47, 7p Royal Scot, 6P5F Jubilee, 5MT Stanier and B1 classes.
     
    Semi-fast 1 - Stanier - BFK, SO, SO, BSK, BG
    Semi-fast 2 - Gresley - BCK, FK, SK, SK, BG
    Semi-fast 3 - Hawksworth - BSK, SK, SK, CK, BG
    Semi-fast 4 - Mk1 - BSK, SK, SK, BCK, GUV
     
    Motive power will be drawn from: 22, 24, 25, 26 and 27 classes.
     
    Pullman 1 - PFP, PFK, PFP, PFK, PSK, PSP, BOGIE B
    Pullman 2 - Midland (Blue) Pullman 
     
    Motive Power will be drawn from: 47, 52, 55 and Princess Coronation classes.
     
    Sleeper/Motorail 1 - SLF, SLF, SLSTP, SLSTP, CCT, CCT, CCT, CCT, BY
    Sleeper/Motorail 2 - SLF, SLF, SLF, SLSTP, BSK, CCT, CCT, CCT
     
    Motive power will be drawn from: 40, 45, 47 and 52 classes.
     
     
  6. scottystitch
    My little station has a name. I think I have settled on Monclarence.  My SO had a cat, a blue British Shorthair whom she wished to call Clarence, after the angel in "it's a Wonderful Life", her favourite movie.  The name Clarence was vetoed by her then husband as not being a name for a cat, and so he became Bubba, which to be fair my SO also chose and liked.  Since his passing a couple of years ago, I have always wanted to honour the fiesty-yet-affectionate little fellow somehow, without being tacky or twee.  And so he has a sleepy branchline Terminus named after him.  I felt "Clarence" was a) less than subtle and b) a little "American", striking images of a midwest gold mining settlement, with its associated lawlesness... and so with the idea that the area is elevated (from sea level) I have settled on Monclarence, a local corruption of Mount Clarence.
     
    I wanted to supply Monclarence Station with some additional traffic and a further reason for Monclarence village's existence, beside agriculture, and so off scene there is now a small quarry which produces crushed stone for railway ballasting purposes.   
     
    Empties will arrive at the station platform where the locomotive will run 'round and take them to be loaded at the quarry.  The process is mirrored for loaded departures.
     
    The station building for Monclarence will be a copy of that at St Cyrus on the real-life Inverbervie Branch.  The goods shed and signal box will resemble thosee from the same line.
     
     
    Passenger trains for the Monclarence branch will be selected from:
     
    A 3-carriage Maunsell set BSK - CK - BSK with a Type 2
     
    A 3-carriage Bulleid setBSK - CK - BSK with a Type 2
     
    3-car 101 DMU
     
    3-car 108 DMU
     
    2-car+2-car 101 DMU
     

  7. scottystitch
    I've been working on refining the track plan for the terminus station and I think I'm just about there (famous last words...)
     
    The terminus has also gained a name. 
     
    And so, gentle reader, I give you St Catherine's Bay (pronounced Cathereen):
     

     
    Goods Shed Goods Yard Goods Yard Locomotive release runaround Passenger platform Passenger platform Locomotive release runaround/van storage Passenger platform Passenger platform Carriage siding Carriage siding & Motorail loading Fish loading shed Goods yard headshunt Milk loading shed Goods departure siding  
    With no apologies, St Catherine's Bay is based on a shortened and single-line fed Bournemouth West. I love Bournemouth West and I'm delighted to be able to incorporate a station derived from it on one of my layouts.  I'm hoping to emulate the colours of the area in the ballast, ground cover, platform canopies, etc.
     
    I've moved the locomotive shed on the other side of the approach line, to hopefully help give the impression that space is at a premium at the front of the layout, where the light green will be  quite a steep slope.  The terrain will rise quite steeply on the engine shed side as well, with the area carved out of the hillside for the locomotive facilities, the approach line being on a ledge.  I tried having the arrangement flipped, with the turntable on the left of the formation, as per Kyle of Lochalsh, but the geometry wouldn't fit.
     
    Permanent Way will be British Finescale Code 40 Finetrax.
     
    Buildings initially at least will be refined Metcalfe Settle & Carlisle kits just to get something down, and then later I'd like to go back and design my own etched building kits a la Severn Models.
     
     
  8. scottystitch
    Having largely sorted the intermediate station, still with no name, I decided to give it a while before ordering the turnouts.  This would be where the first spike would be driven so I wanted to be reasonably sure I was happy with it.  Almost immediately a sense of, I don't know, not so much doom but something that made me feel a bit uneasy. 
     
    Long story short, it became increasingly clear that what had started out as an exercise in creating a layout with a decent scenic area for trains to run through, had grown arms and legs until it was effectively two decent sized stations taking up two sides of the room and the anxiety of a) building it, and b) operating it started to build again, which was the main driver for abandoning the previous project and going down this road the first place.  Whilst the vast majority of the layout was on show, as was the intention, I'd suffered from mission creep.  The largish terminus is fine, but what started out as a small intermediate station now took up a disproportionate size of the other long wall, not to mention what would be required to work it.  A rethink was in order.
     
    The result is attached.  A long sweeping single track run from the fiddle yard, along the long wall across the doorway and into a hidden section a little longer than maximum train length. I was struggling with what to do with that left wall. Access is required for the gas boiler, so the curve had to be as compact as possible leading into St Catherine's Bay, which means the approach to St Catherine's Bay is by necessity quite short.  By blocking off that section of the left wall, a train can depart SCB, and if desired be held out of sight, to give the feeling of time passing, before entering the scenic run and off scene;p all this whilst shunting elsewhere on the layout or assembling a train in the fiddle yard.  The same would apply for trains heading to SCB.  I think it's a decent trade off to have that short section of track hidden and to have the rest of the layout opened up to have a nice sweeping run through the landscape.
     
    The small branch terminus has now been moved from in front of the fiddle yard to in front of the mainline, and 3.75" below, a scale 46ft.  I still need to come up with a plausible explanation as to why the BLT is there with a mainline thundering past it without serving it.  The obvious answer may be that the main line was built some time after the branch.  I also need to work out what the geology and contour lines would look like
     
    The layout of the BLT remains similar to the original copy of St Cyrus with the addition of a short siding next to the loco release in the goods yard.  The two sidings on the left, one for Milk Loading and one for the goods shed, is inspired loosely by CDGFife of this parish Cadhay Sidings.
     
    This new arrangement feels so much better already, but I will get into the train room and mock things up, and sleep on it over the weekend to make sure.
     
    There comes a point where we have to put the track planning tools down and start to build something...
     
     
     

  9. scottystitch
    I think the intermediate station is now getting closer.  I'm now much happier after removing the dual main line past the goods yard.  The goods area now feel sufficiently separate from the running line(s).
     
    Over the weekend, I started cutting/modifying baseboards, and after physically seeing the lack of separation between the hidden lower line (dashed on the illustration) and the line of the visible trackwork, I've realised that a viaduct is not viable, on the basis it will require low boards to accommodate it, which means I wouldn't get proper access to the hidden track in the event of a problem.  Instead, I will make it an embankment with lower ground at the front.  This also, happily, allows for a headshunt without having to worry about a double track viaduct.
     
    It also reduces complexity, removing the need for a single and a double slip, with just one double slip remaining.
     
    In addition, I think this track layout makes for interesting operations.  With no direct access to the Goods Yard from the Down line (Down is right to left), an arriving goods train can either reverse into the Goods Yard from the single track section adjacent the headshunt, or it can enter the station "wrong line" and cross into the Goods Yard through the turnout and the diamond crossing.
     
    Finally, I believe this layout will make signalling simpler.
     

  10. scottystitch
    The intermediate station, I think, needs the most work.  Based on Kirkby Stephen, albeit on a single track line, it' s the single track part that is causing me deliberations.  A milk loading siding has been added. Buildings will be Metcalfe S&C initially, pending an aspiration to design and build etched brass buildings in the future.:
     

     
    I'm unsure whether to put a facing crossover in where the red circle is to allow a goods train to be overtaken, for instance, or two allow a goods train being shunted to be left  in the loop that the crossover would create.   I'm also unsure about whether to elongate the stub at the blue circle, into a proper headshunt onto the viaduct. Otherwise shunting would require the train being shunted being brought out onto the main line.  It's not that busy a line, but I'm not sure that wouldn't jar with me.  Despite being single track, it's still a mainline, akin to the Highland line between Stanley Junction and Inverness.
     
    I've no idea, really, how to signal this station, so that's something I'll need to look into.
     
    The viaduct will most likely be built from ratio viaduct kits, and I had contemplated sawing the deck in half to make it single track, but I wouldn't need to do that if I lay a headshunt.  I'd need to see if this type of track layout existed in the real world ( I can only think of Bewdley off the top of my head, but that twas double track rather than a single line and a headshunt.)
     
    Dark green is higher than light green, and I am inclined to make the light green moorland beneath the viaduct, but that poses a problem for the backscene, so it may just that the viaduct cuts across a steep hillside slope
  11. scottystitch
    A couple of years ago, whilst having a wobble around whether my man cave (converted garage) layout would ever begin to see fruition, I dabbled in the idea of an imaginary island existing in the North Sea, not unlike the Isle of Man, or for that matter the Isle of Sodor, in the Irish Sea; Only "my" island would be larger.  Based on this premise, I hit upon an idea to design a layout that operated as a complete system, i.e. a terminus at each end, and a couple of intermediate stations in between.  In this way I laid out Bournemouth West as the first terminus, and then a Settle and Carlisle inspired station next, complete with freight holding loop sidings. Further on there was a terminus station that necessitated trans reversing to carry on further up the main line; a cement works and an oil loading facility (the island being rich in Lime and hydrocarbons, as well as granite).  It was a grand scheme and really quite ludicrous, with a peninsula, helices and double deck arrangement akin to an American Model Railroad.  But it was a welcome distraction and, designed on AnyRail, I still have it tucked away in a folder of fantasy layouts that will never see the light of day; I've rarely thought about it since.
     
    The wobble mentioned above revolves around the complexities of my "lifetime" layout.  This has had a long and painful gestation, moving through divorces, house moves, financial issues, health issues, Nelevator issues to name a few, but I've always rested safe in the knowledge that this is the layout I "want".  Lately, however, with the most recent wobbles I've realised that the layout plan has become a bit of a millstone around the neck and I've come to the conclusion that I'm ploughing on with "Perth Caledonian" (plan attached) belligerently for no other reason that that's what I've been doing for the past 8 years, and because I've bought so much stock that is tailored to the project;  Having spent time reflecting on it, I've come to understand that the very notion of building and financing the railway is causing more harm than good to my health, and stepping back to look at the financial and time undertaking I simply cannot justify something on that scale anymore.  Not only that, I've become disillusioned with the whole concept of the layout.  Whilst I'm of the view that fiddle yards and storage yards serve an important purpose in a model railway, much as the backstage changing rooms do in a theatre, the plan as it stands involves a 16ft scenic section, whilst 35ft is hidden for storage yards and approach tracks. In other words, two thirds of the room available is being used just to get trains onto the stage.  I've no reservations that I have the skills and abilities to complete the project (the bench-work is already largely complete), but the project as it stands is no longer what I want, and for health reasons, no longer what I feel I can take on.
     
    Dejected, my first thoughts were (as is usually the case) to jack it all in and list everything for sale.  However, this last wobble has coincided with an item that popped up on my Pinterest feed, a map and article about pre-historic Europe, the landmass that existed before sea level rises, and the gradual disappearance of Doggerland, penultimately resulting in an Island between the UK and Denmark and finally Dogger Bank as we know it today.  This immediately reminded me of the "system" layout I had dreamed up and the kernel of a new idea was nourished.  The system plan was still out of the question, arguably as unwieldy as Perth Caledonian, albeit for different reasons, at its heart was exactly what I wanted: more on stage time for the trains.  
     
     


  12. scottystitch
    The railway room is approximately 17ft3 by 9ft9.
     
    First up, the entire plan, without annotations showing the extent of the layout.
     
    The fiddle yard is along a short wall, 12 inches deep. In front is a small rural terminus, roughly 3.75 inches lower and again 12 inches deep. Maximum train length is 36inches, which is roughly 6 N Gauge mark 1s.
     
     Along the top wall is a Settle and Carlisle inspired scene with the line emerging from the fiddle yard, splitting into the double track station off scene, a Kirkby Stephen style goods facility and then across a viaduct into a tunnel. 
     
    Next, the line crosses the railway room entrance door. This door open sout the way.  A lift out section is envisioned with a cameo scene so that anyone opening the door, with the section in place sees a scenic diorama rather than the back of a board or a hidden railway section.  It also eliminates dealing with the unsightly joins if the section were part of the main scene.  This would be practically the only part of the railway room with hidden track when viewed from inside the room.
     
    The line then passes over another short scenic section, possibly another viaduct and then into a tunnel for the 90 degree turn into the terminus section.  The approach track may be on a ledge as it traverses sloped terrain before arriving at the opened out level area of the station.
     
    A line extends out of the fiddle yard in opposite direction, passing and descending behind the terminus board, descending along the door wall and under the intermediate station board to emerge 3.75 inches lower at the rural terminus station.
     

     
    The same drawing with annotations, most of which is self explanatory.  The Turnouts will be controlled by MegaPoints equipment and momentary push button switches.  Train control is by NCE DCC, with plug-in terminals strategically placed around the layout. I've still to decide if signalling will be by semaphore or colour light signals. 
     
     

     
    Whilst the line will be operated primarily by diesel motive power, principally type 2s, steam still exists in medium sized form, such as class 5s and B1s.  A shed and turntable is provided at the terminus for light turnaround maintenance.  Co-housed is a diesel fuelling point. 
     
    The Terminus station tracks serve as follows: 1 & 2 Goods yard; 3 Goods Shed; 4 Arrival platform with loco release; 5 Arrival platform with loco release, 6 runround road and /or storage; 7 Departure platform (arrival with loco release if required); 8 Departure platform; 9 Carriage siding with & Motorail loading/unloading; 10 Fish loading; 11 Milk loading.
     

     
    The intermediate station has Goods yard, Goods shed and Milk loading facilities.
     

     
    The rural terminus is a sleepy affair with a three coach platform with  loco release, a Goods yard and a Goods shed.  It was once an intermediate station on a longer branch but the line was truncated here and so the station is now the end of the line.
     

×
×
  • Create New...