SHerr

I really like the size of these buildings, the real railway is normally dwarfed by its surroundings and not a lot of uk based ‘big stuff’ available when you compare the the likes of the Walthers Cornerstone range that you get in HO. For new stuff I would stick to a similar theme for now. How about some Distillery buildings, warehouses etc? - quite a unique style that I for one would be interested in. I would avoid MR signal box and Northlight Engine shed/factory Route that lots of others have gone down - don’t think we need any more of them. alternatively how about some large goods sheds, there are plenty of quaint ones around but not much if you want something bigger. All the best with whatever direction you decide to take.

After all the stories of sold out stock I thought I might have missed out here having taken my eye off the ball with these arriving. A quick search on Thursday night found that KMSRailtech still had approx 18 in stock so promptly ordered 2 which arrived today. All I can say having looked back through the thread is that none of the photos posted do these justice, the deck/mesh is simply stunning and the uprights are fine but feel very robust. These are very impressive indeed. Now i just need to get the layout back together and pluck up the courage to weather them. Well done to Cavalx.

Thanks for the info and the link, looks very nice what you have achieved.

Now that looks very nice and those buildings are excellent. You should consider selling them as kits - I'm sure there's lots of folks out there would be very interested in a West Highland building of that quality.

That looks amazing, could you describe how you’ve finished the stonework please, is it ‘simply painted in layers over the kit’ and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way or have you done something with the surface to raise the texture?

I’ve just noticed that Pop Up Designs are now showing Ballachulish station building. 1st reaction is aarrrgh! - I’m halfway through trying to scratchbuild a representation of it but will now have to re-think! It looks very nice and available as full L shaped building or without the side building. Now for the Signalbox, goods shed and engine shed !!

The fairly cool weather has allowed a bit more time in the loft trying to sort the baseboards out, I've now got a good way on with what will be the water/harbour area. I have also made a tentative start on a station building as an 'inspired by but not a copy of' Ballachulish. the starting point is a little unusual being a resin Skytrex factory roof that is pretty much spot on for size. Mainly thick card shell and clad in plasticard, however the bay windows are from an unwanted Metcalfe Terraced house kit that have been filled around the scribe marks and painted/partially clad. Early days but I'm fairly happy with the character.

Well I’m glad you’ve mentioned that book as I bought it when I modelled Scotland in the 80’s but now re-looked through the earlier photos with great interest. However what is even better is When I put it back I then picked off my shelf ‘Diesel Days Scotland’ by Brian J Dickinson and on page 104 I’ve answered my own question as there is a photo of class 25 D5182 on a Buchanan St to Oban service dated 4 July 1964.

That’s useful info re the mine, I assume that most of the coal would have gone by ship, my assumption is that the railway was to connect Campbeltown with the top of Argyl, Oban, Inveray etc rather than much onward traffic to Glasgow. There certainly wouldn’t have been many tourists when built but I suppose that by the 60s there would have been some demand as it’s a pretty long track for a 1960s car. Tarbert etc on to Glasgow is more plausible. I suppose a coal train could have rumbled around feeding the local depots etc. Its a place I definitely want to visit but it would involve my golf clubs and a trip to Machrihanish.

Thanks, the one of the 20 and 27 is great. There are quite a few around of 20’s on the West Highland in the early to mid 60s including George O’Hara’s book. I’ve seen the 24 and 25 green with full yellow ends photos before. I have also this weekend found a photo labelled as 1967 on the Eastbank MRC page of a 120 and 21 behind so happy that they both lasted until that date. I’m going to work on a bit of modellers licence that the extra lines in the area meant more traction required and that 24, 25 and 26’s make a few more appearances. I’ve seen a photo somewhere in early/mid 60’s of a 26 on an Oban to Edinburgh train in the Stirling area but I don’t know if it worked through or there was a loco change at Stirling. Crinan shows them quite regularly and A few other layouts of west coast have 24’s and 26’s running and they don’t look out of place.

Some good progress on the baseboards, the main sections are pretty much finish and just need Backscene boards. I've also started the front extended section for the harbour area, however the boards are not their final shape. Tracks are still just loose laid to give a feel of what's going where.

After some really good info around DMUs and Shipping I have a question around loco usage that hopefully people can help with. My time frame is 1965-67 and Eastfield started to receive class 24s and 25s through 1966. There are lots of info about 25s on West Highland and Oban lines in the 70s and early 80s and I’ve found the odd photo of a 25/1 at Oban in 1969 and a 24 in 70/71. I know they were never regular but also not rare in these parts but did they start to appear soon after arrival in 66/67 or was it later? I suppose same question for class 26’s - I’m planning on 24/25 and a 26 as occasional performers (mainly as I already have a 26 in bits that’s getting resprayed and put back together) but wondering if they are justified on a more regular basis. One benefit of modelling somewhere that never had a line is you can be a bit creative as the extra traction demands would have meant there were not at the time enough locos to cover this line. Slightly worried this may become an expensive question and lead to a shiny tin box with expensive loco inside!

Thanks for the response, I understand not wanting to be tied to a forum. I tend not to bother if people reply or not but still find myself spending more time seeing if someone has responded than modelling or reading other articles. I like the idea of using Scalescenes as a template, I’d thought about it on my other layout for a building but had not yet crossed my mind for a boat. That may well be a really good option especially considering your comments about size of Artitec. i will investigate the other forums but not sure I won’t drag down the standards as I’m nowhere near that skill level.

Really impressive layout, the harbour scene looks superb. I really like the Scalescenes fishing boat, I’ve been looking a lot at the Artitec ones but am now tempted to try the scalescenes one as yours looks fantasy and doesn’t look like a card printout kit. I will need to re-read your thread with a bit more time. Any reason you’ve not put the layout on here? - I’m sure it will be well appreciated.

Unfortunately I’ve decided not to progress this and is now being superseded by something a bit bigger based on Tarbert on the west coast. Similar philosophy and timeframe, I was struggling to convince myself that I could live with class 21s without tablet catchers and really didn’t fancy trying to modify one. I did one on a cheap 25 body for a 24/1 and that wasn’t great and the simpler square recess. Wrecking a £130 loco put me off a bit.

Found this earlier and didn't pay too much attention! May have to have another look. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OO-4mm-Model-Railway-boats-Small-inter-island-turntable-car-ferry-1-76-0206-/223429099072

Thanks, I think that conclusively puts it in the too hard box, certainly a back burner until the layout is finished.

Thanks, really useful info. The Car/rail ferry below is what I was wondering about, partly as it will actually fit! However, after looking more using your info it looks nothing like what would have operated so I may well drop the ferry idea and save me venturing into an area that I know nothing about. I will probably stick with a couple of trawlers which was the original plan. It surprises me that given their popularity nobody does a kit of a Calmac, but I suppose there are too many differences and will be too big for most.

I've been building the baseboards over the last week and have loose laid out the track to test the general feel. I was concerned that when laid out it may feel a little crammed in but I am really pleased, plenty of space around the goods yard etc and general feel is as I was hoping. The boards in the photos are sat on part of the old layout that I have now taken down tonight so starting to take shape. Track is Peco code 75, I've stuck to either long or Y turnouts and a couple of curved which again are fairly gentle curves. I quite like using Y and curved turnouts as I feel you get a more natural flow. Whilst most track designers will tell you all turn outs must be on straights, the Victorians certainly didn't!! Distillery lines, the one nearest the building will disappear off scene behind another building with the outer line being on scene still. Short siding at front is old Engine shed but I may move this slightly back towards the yard/harbour. Yes I know the Grainflow hopper is the wrong era - just measuring! The goods shed will be replaced with something more suitable. Can't have any GWR stuff on here!!

Thanks for all the info, some really good stuff. I’ve seen quite a few photos of class 120s in Oban, I do have a DC Kits model on my larger 80s layout and they do come up time to time so may be a longer term option. In terms of Tarbert or West Tarbert you threw me to start as I had not thought of that, but looking at Google Earth I’m sticking with Tarbert for fishing traffic and a smaller car ferry that seems to run to Portavadie. That looks the more ‘industrial’ shipping centre and I’m assuming whisky went out that way in the past. There is a smallish car ferry on the Langleys website that whilst European looks like it wouldn’t seem out of place hopping across the sea lochs (I’ve been on the Corran Ferry a few years ago and something like that would probably look interesting).

Thanks, yes I did wonder about that. I've got some Limby 101 bodies and under frames so could probably cobble something together. I also thought about a Tarbert to Callander/Stirling with a DMU that fills in between the Glasgow trains. There is an option for a Tarbert-Cambeltown DMU and could even run a trial Railbus service. Enough opportunity for a bit of rule 1 for something that wasn't ever built.

Tarbert (not Tarbet!) the real location is on Loch Fyne between Lochgilphead and Campbeltown. The layout was initially conceived as an Ian Futers style small Moray Coast terminus but has grown somewhat from those plans, not to mention moved location by a few hundred miles. Whilst planning the small terminus which was always intended to play second fiddle to my main layout, I decided that my main layout was actually too big (never heard that one before!) and was not getting anywhere but also the electrics were becoming too complicated for me as this is not my strong point, and the curved section of the layout was getting too many derailments. After a few planning sessions I became confident enough that within the loft I could get both a bigger and smaller layout. I will focus here on the smaller layout which is going to be 12' by 2' widening at the station end. whilst researching the era I think I read the Crinan thread too many times and decided to change fora number of reasons. It is assumed that the Caledonian Railway stated building a line from Connel Ferry down to Campbeltown, however funding became stretched so it was eventually built in too stages terminating initially at Tarbert and then an extension on to Campbeltown. However Tarbert remained a terminus for what was little more than a glorified light railway extension. The layout is set in 1966-68 timeframe so will allow both class 21 and 29 plus 20, 27 and occasional 24, 25 and 26 workings. The Campbeltown branch is worked in a similar vein to the Ballachulish or Killin branches with a loco and 1 or 2 coaches and occasional freight trips. Services north split and join from the main Callander and Oban line at Connel Ferry and take a 2 or 3 coach portion - I have assumed the C&O didn't close as early and is still bumbling on. The Track plan is inspired by Ballachulish and was probably built at a very similar time so is feasible. There is a link to a nearby distillery and a quayside that still see's regular fish traffic although no longer transports the Whisky out by ship. I am assuming the Distillery branch feeds more than one location and is likely to be served by an Andrew Barclay tank. Other general produce, Coal, Vans etc still run to the goods yard and Grain arrives for the distillery and barrels leave in open wagons. I will hopefully post a few more early updates in the next few days

Modern standards are min 2.5m for less than 100mph and 3m for over 100 mph. They may be made wider depending on footfall but that would have to be quite high and beyond your country setting. In terms of jrb’s comments all of the West Yorkshire timber platforms that were mainly built in the 80s are very narrow to modern standards but fairly typical of the time as done on the cheap by BR with PTE funding. Anything from 1990s onwards would probably be 2.5m. look at construction types as well, the 80s Yorkshire platforms are a standard timber trestle and most modern platforms are of a modular type and less of a traditional brick or stone solid front wall. Most common is what’s called ‘cross wall and plank’ which is basically a blockwork wall across the width of the platform at approx 4-5m intervals with concrete plank/beams laid along the length of the platform if you Google the description there are plenty of sketches and pictures. That said they won’t be the easiest things to model, you can have a solid concrete until for the face that would be definitely easier!

Many Thanks for the above replies particularly Currour - really good info. I’d realised myself that fuel oil for the fishing fleet would be pretty certainly a regular flow. The bagged cement will also add some more verity. I have a copy of George O’Hara’s book and the photo of the class 21 is one of the things that got me interested in this as a location - short loco hauled trains still running - there is a similar picture of a single class 20 running nose first also on a passenger train. for those interested I’ve now managed to add the link to the layout topic in the signature.

I've done a bit more playing around with the track plan, initially as suggested above I wanted to make sure that I could add a potential future extension beyond the terminus. I ended up slightly re-arranging the sidings to make this fit better. Then I stumbled upon the idea of using the 9 foot board option but with the 8 foot layout and having a shorter section into the harbour area from the start. This is partly inspired by spending a lot of time over the last 2 days looking back through the wonderful Crinan thread. I always liked the canal area that was added behind the station and it inspired me to look at this. I think there is just enough room to do it justice and get a fishing trawler in. Also partially inspired by Crinan, I have re-worked what was the fish dock behind the station. I was never totally happy with this and realised it would look stupid there when the harbour is at the other end. So, I've decided to add a turn back into a local distillery and potentially including its own Andrew Barclay (Hattons) tank engine in a very similar vein to some of the other Speyside distilleries. I did actually in the early thoughts for this layout have the idea for something based around Cromdale with a Distillery exchange but needing a fiddle yard at each end meant the space just didn't work. So full circle and a Distillery exchange looks likely.