Aberbrothock

Does a double slip need a facing point lock?

Better get on with "making " my layout, then!

Finally got round to some "cosmetic" work on the cutting today - rail painted, bushes added and grass planted - a reasonably green scene has resulted. Might add point rodding if I can be bothered..........

Added the wires to the fencing today - will need to paint/weather to tone down the "new" look. Good to see the fence following the contours - I'll have a rest now to get my eyes back in focus....... I'll also use these photos to assist in tweaking some of the wires to make them look as though they are in tension.

They are by Scale Model Scenery and are just the ticket, I think - more photos of their installation today, hopefully. scalemodelscenery.co.uk is their website. Have fun!

Just as well I didn't go over to Arbroath yesterday - match abandoned after 11 minutes - the goalie couldn't kick the ball down the pitch against the wind and the ref. stopped play......... Shame for the Stranraer supporters who had travelled half way across the country to support their team.

Having tried to scratch build fence posts from this strip wood and encountering quite a few splits on the way, even before adding the wires, I decided to buy laser cut posts which are made from three ply wood and less susceptible to splitting and also benefit by being pre-drilled for the wires, and am now installing them along the line of the pathway above and across the line. Because I used plaster bandage on chicken wire to form the cutting side, there isn't a deep foundation to drill into to take the posts, so I'm drilling another hole in the posts and adding a short wire at ground level, which will hopefully be firmly glued into the ground before adding the wire. Time will tell, but the pics show progress today, giving an impression of how the completed fence will look.

Some progress on the lineside path today, and the siding laid in and ballasted - the wobble in the track alignment isn't obvious in reality - it only shows up when you point a camera at the scene! There's a post and wire fence to be made for the railway side of the path, so that'll occupy the brain cells for a few hours, no doubt. Grass, bushes and the odd tree to be added as well.................

Making progress on the Inverbrothock valley line - current position attached. The path along the cutting needs a bit of support to stop the land above caving in, so coffee stirrers to the rescue as usual, (some being installed behind the signal 'box),- lots still to be done, but more atmosphere all the time, I think.

The "new" junction is on one of the removable boards leading to the upper storage loops, having taken the left line at St Vigeans Junction. The layout plan on page 1 of this thread doesn't include this junction as it's been created quite recently. You could call it layout development..........

Not a great deal of progress just now, for some reason........... However, the chicken wire fairy has been on her rounds and the cutting is taking shape. Looking North towards the overbridge - the track in the foreground has unaccountably slewed itself, but no problem. The 'box has acquired a new name, being now more correctly and geographically been named Inverbrothock Junction. Apparently the hinterland away from the town is all best described as part of the Parish of Inverbrothock. FYI, the Scottish term "Inver..." describes the confluence of two water courses, in this case the Brothock Water and the Hercules Burn - all useful but probably irrelevant detail! The second shot is looking back down the line to St Vigeans Junction and Arbroath. Next will be the messy but fun attack by the plaster bandage, probably in 2019.

Hi Les All the best to all and guid new year when it comes. We're basically fine, but looking after a neighbour's cat as the owner in in hospital recovering from a fall in his kitchen. Took some time to get an ambulance organised, but the neighbour is now in the right place for now. As to modelling, if not modelling, what else is there???? Ken

My Arbroath layout can recreate the van train for the Metal Box Co. sidings - a couple of shots taken the other day.......... The Hunslet was drafted in as yard pilot after the Ivatt 2-6-0's had departed.

Start of landscaping the "Forfar" line to frame the new overbridge. This is the brutal "warts and all" stage when all of the support structures can be seen, but it serves to show the methods - old, but tried and tested. Chicken wire, then plaster bandage to follow, then the greenery will be applied. I chose some appropriate motive power - a very old Jamieson Lambie 0-6-0 and a much newer DJH O-4-4. The signalman should get a pretty reasonable view down the line within the angle of the cutting sides......... I've tried to beat the age-old problem of the track disappearing through a hole in the sky, but some judiciously planted vegetation may disguise the sudden exit. (Comparison with the Norrie Forrest photo in the previous post should show what I'm trying to achieve).

Seeing the Metal Box Factory on Westerham's photo reminded me of the trip freight that ran from Arbroath to the local Metal Box Co's. factory, (accessed from Elliot Junction), during the late 'sixties/early seventies, now unfortunately just a memory. However that memory can be recreated easily with my Hunslet and some Vanfits ready to leave Arbroath main yard for its jaunt down to Elliot and into the sidings serving the factory....... A couple of nice shots in the winter sunshine:-

An update on the Forfar line footbridge:- A photo by the late Norrie Forrest of the real structure in May 1960 when the line to Forfar had previously been singled and by this time was out of use, although the signals look as though they're waiting to be pulled off for the next train........... When I was taking photos in 1973 the signal posts had been cut down and were lying on the trackbed - yes, I did measure them (!) - much more easy when they're lying flat rather than estimating their height when vertical. A wartime aerial view with the Brothock water and the old mill lade snaking down the valley. (The Brothock Water must have been re-routed when the Forfar line was built). If you've good eyesight you can see "my" bridge slightly above the line of the mill lade - there was a pathway along the mill lade, under the ex-NBR Montrose line, then up and over the Forfar line and on to the village of St Vigeans. The big mill pond is well seen at the bottom of the picture, while the ex-NBR North goods yard is full of stored wagons, and what looks like either short passenger coaches or goods vans. The St Vigeans Junction signal box is watching over the scene. And finally, progress on the model bridge - the supporting posts will be straightened up in due course!

Up to now, the "Forfar" line leading to the northern return loops has been scenically undeveloped, with only the track ballasted and cesses coloured in. A start has been made on a copy of the footbridge which spanned the line carrying a path from Arbroath to St Vigeans. It was made mainly from wood and there were quite few similar ones around Angus and Perthshire. Typically, its construction was quite complex, but the result is a light and attractive structure which will fill the bill very nicely. Unusually, it has a straight span with no ramps as it ran across the top of a cutting - that's where the simple bit stops and the complications begin. So far, I've cut out and fitted over 250 parts of microstrip, with the other balustrade to be done, but no effort, no result......... Anyway here's a pic of progress so far. Once the bridge is finished, I'll need to make the cutting to take it. ho hum, lots of fun!

Out and about today round the station and caught these locos going about their daily duties. Ex CR 0-4-4 arriving with a local from Forfar about to pass under the High Road Bridge at Guthrie Port with the ruins of the Abbey visible in the background. Moments later, a quick sprint catches the same train passing the North 'Box. A "few years later," a similar service is in the charge of one of the Dundee shedded Ivatt class 2's, no.46463, coming off the downward incline from St Vigeans Junction. Caught again passing the North 'Box. Nice to be able to recreate history from a long time ago................

Arbroath as a seaside town has a large population of seagulls......... On the Station Bar in Keptie Street, And on the flats in Dishlandtown Street. Probably should be more guano, but there's just been a heavy shower of rain, so a lot of it has guone.

Hi Les Good to hear from you - we're basically all right health-wise with just the usual coughs and colds that go with the season, but nothing serious, thankfully. As far as I know, there was no signage to identify the sheds, and the only sign in the area was a trespasser sign mounted on an old piece of rail at the top of the stairway which led from the walkway leading up to Ogilvy Place from the footbridge which I modelled last year. The sign has gone, but the rail is, I think, still there. As to the Red Lichties, I've been following their progress through the season, and it's great to see their success - I might even go down to Gayfield to watch them given a day when the snell wind isn't blowing off the North Sea. Thankfully I've now finished all the signal boxes which the layout requires and can move on to other necessary tasks - never be tempted to finish the modelling!

The long and the short and the tall - a selection of signal boxes around Arbroath - two fictitious and one real, but all with a job to do. The North 'box. Colliston Junction. Ladyloan Junction.

Colliston Junction 'box now pretty well complete and is shown in situ on the return loop board where I've installed a crossover/double slip arrangement which requires the services of a signalman and his 'box. Very little. i.e., no scenic work yet done, so I've posed an International Models backscene sheet to disguise this. Two local locos are passing by............ I think the box, (based on the one at Colliston on the Arbroath to Forfar line), is quite a little charmer. The 'box should act as a catalyst in prompting me to add the necessary scenic work - who's a glutton for punishment then?

Positively the final signal box for the layout, this time based on the Caley box at Colliston, which on my layout is renamed as Colliston Junction, sited at a crossover off the "Forfar" line which will lead to a small yard which can be used either for rolling stock storage or for a mineral yard. The two pics show progress up to today, with the usual finishing work to do. Once completed, I'll need to add some scenic work to the loop line to make the box look at home in its surroundings...........

There is this image of the "basement" of Arbroath North 'box which gives some idea of the normally hidden engineering - funnily never seen it modelled............. It's a small image unfortunately.