Bochi

It is a beautiful spot, quite magical - and currently under threat of fracking to add to the existing interest in conventional oil drilling. The backstory for the proposed layout is convincing! Looking forward to hearing more about it.

Thanks again. About time I checked out the signal diagrams properly! I shall have to work out where to put the yard trap since I've compressed to make the double slip precisely at that point. It could just go under the footbridge I suppose. There needs to be one, anyway. I imagine the branch platform had non-passenger stock left there from time to time from the branch train, if only temporarily. This photograph shows it crammed with vans:

Some questions for the experts - Where were the trap points, if any, at Newton Stewart? I can see a trap on the east "headshunt" siding, but not one in the throat of the goods yard. There seems to be something at the east end of the goods loop but I haven't seen a clear photograph. Also, what did they use for ballast? Most of the colour photographs show a mixture of brown and grey chippings, mostly brown, of what I'd call a medium size but fairly regular. But they are from the 1960s. The whole line was reballasted in the late 1920s/early 1930s after an accident on the Cree viaduct. In any case the station photographs show the tracks riding quite high on the ballast with the sleepers standing proud.

Well. Yes and no. The yard was cramped by most standards and so shunting was quite a puzzle especially on market days when it was crammed with livestock vans, milk and meat vans and other goods. (One reason to keep the sidings fairly short on the model is so that with a more limited stock than the LMS had at its disposal, it can still be made to look crowded and tricky to shunt). So yes, that's an important aspect. But the branch is not without interest. The Whithorn trains would come into the north island platform, then the loco ran around. But it would also use the shed for coal and water, and to turn: by the 1930s it was usually a Jumbo. You don't see many tanks on the Port Road. There was also a through coach to and from Edinburgh for the branch: a number of bigwigs had holiday homes in Whithorn! There's a fairly even distribution of operational interest in Newton Stewart - right down to the horse box (later parcels?) siding in the little bay. The other thing about creating an operating space on the far side of the station boards is that I want to keep space in the centre of the room for workshop equipment and other activities. At least, I don't want to surrender it without a fight! But you've got me thinking, for sure.

Here's a new plan based on shortening the sides by a small amount and taking advantage of the extra space to bring the goods yard back. I don't know whether it is an improvement or not. I think it might be a little bit easier to reach the sidings - and especially the pointwork - but not a lot. Something which would make a considerable difference to the engine shed arrangement is if the two back-to-back points - one leading to the branch and shed, the other to double slip and main platform - could be a double slip instead. But the geometry just doesn't work because one side needs to be straight right across. This more than anything would bring the Whithorn branch several inches away from the main line and thus provide more room to adjust the shed.

Thanks for the thoughts! The issue with shortening the straights is that the left hand side, just south of the engine shed, is where the door is and a lift out sections. There's a further 44 inches beyond. So the end of the shed section and the beginning of the lift out piece is about six inches beyond the end of the station, give or take. There is a natural scenic break in the prototype: two road bridges cross the main line and the Whithorn branch. On the engine shed, I've already lost one siding - the one built in 1931 to provide extra goods capacity. The other sidings are, from inside to out, a two road engine shed, one road passing through, the coaling road, and a 50ft turntable (extended to 52.5ft). The shed housed ex-CR 0-6-0 and ex-GSWR 4-4-0 locos in the 1930s, says Swan, and later, a Jumbo and 2P 4-4-0s in the 1950s when it was a sub-shed for Stranraer. I've had difficulty shortening it because of my 30" ruling radius and the need to get the turntable in there. Nevertheless I was surprised to discover that removing a massive 3" from each side means the goods yard can be moved a good 12 inches west from the corner (and if the sidings were cut shorter than in the following plan, you could make an access hatch there).

I haven't bought/downloaded any photographs from eBay yet but I should set up a search, indeed. It does have a steady stream of pictures. Thanks for the tips! It is an issue. The yard at Newton Stewart was relatively compact with seven short sidings rather than a few long ones and my plan compresses it in reasonable proportion to the overall compression The shed area sprawled rather more than the goods yard! The long siding on the west side was also part of the goods yard arrangement. Access is tight, to be sure. I am quite tall and have tried to ensure I can at least in theory stretch to reach all tracks but that's not the same as performing delicate operations. However, my eyesight is not brilliant and a shunter's pole with three link couplings would be out of the question anyway. Shunting will, of necessity, have to involve an automatic coupling system of some sort. Kadee? Dinghams? Haven't decided - I have never used remote coupling/uncoupling before. Another adventure!

I too obtained that piece of wood from a movie franchise starring Keanu Reeves. I don't drive so companies that deliver promptly without charging an arm and a leg have a head start. But this stuff is poor.

It's also a nickname here in the UK for the big chain DIY stores. Which assimilate small independent stores until you can't find good quality tools and materials...

Just because it was a lovely day, here's Newton Stewart's home from the outside.

I have spent most of the past week doing overdue annual accounts for an organisation for which I'm treasurer. It seems the tax year doesn't go on lockdown even if everybody else does. But I got into the shed and fixed up the three main fiddleyard baseboards with their legs and levellers. I used three coach bolts to hold them together which I think gives a lot more stability than two, and since I have no intention of removing them they should do the job. When I am absolutely sure the yard is as I want it, I'll probably screw a ply or MDF fascia right across the joins.

I thought I'd start a thread for examples of really bad wood and other materials. This picture shows the curvature on the end of a piece of 68mm x 18mm softwood. You expect some of these planks to be bowed across the length, but across the grain?!

Great operating session! That little ex-Caley "Pug" is a ferocious performer. The crew certainly earned their brew and perhaps a wee something added to it.

Certainly they can all go on the level. I started with Rice's "Binegar" plan regarding the fiddleyards which has gradients - and needs them because it is all about double-heading on the S&DJR but it is easy to just shorten the sidings. Level, the sidings are still 9ft long (11ft for the longest) which is more than enough, since the platforms are about 7ft. I guess I should take the advice. Gradients would be fun but most of the work is non-scenic so it's a lot of effort for the scenic effect. Better to suggest rugged landscape with the scenery dropping away or rising where there is space, perhaps - the river Cree on the east side, the area in the NW of the layout, and of course with the backscene.

For running or appearance?

Here's the latest version of the plan with extra sidings in the fiddleyard. I've reverted to the earlier idea of losing the 1931 siding from the shed area, but this time the coal siding is on the correct side of the turntable - I think it looks better like this and avoids using small points. I've replaced the Code 100 3-way points with the much prettier Code 75. I have plenty of Code 100 track which I'll use in the fiddleyard area but may use Code 75 throughout in the scenic area.

Hi Stephen - I could do that. It has its attractions! It is a good thought. On the other hand the Port Road was a hilly railway and the descent from Newton Stewart towards Palnure was 1 in 90: the railway descended 100ft just to the River Cree. On the Stranraer side it was more or less level at first but soon rose at 1 in 86, while the Whithorn branch descended at a vertiginous 1 in 70 at one point. So I thought the gradients would reflect that, although to strict scale, of course these gradients are negligible that close to the station. If the rise and fall are equalised and there's a 3" clearance, I calculated the gradients at 1 in 56 on the model. But doubtless it will be a bit different in reality. One other factor is that I'm persuaded to put loco turntables at the end of each group of sidings. These will just be centre-pivot sector plates. I'll post the new plan shortly which includes extra sidings so as not to lose staging when the loco runs back from the turntable to head its train again.

Baseboard construction for the fiddleyards continues slowly. They are 68mm x 18mm frames with 44mm x 44mm legs and levellers from Station Baseboards attached to the feet - they arrived today, thanks SB! I am using very simple techniques for these as the front half will be flat and the whole construction is non-scenic and will likely stay as it is. Fancy L-girders and other such stuff can wait for the station side.

It's a shame that the main Jubilee model is the old split chassis number which I believe is a pain to fit out for DCC. It's a class that's well overdue an updated version.

Not much to report today. After my rusty carpentry I decided to make a shooting board so I can square off the ends properly and get better joints. Legends of the GSWR in LMS days by David Smith has arrived which makes for entertaining reading: what a great storyteller he was!

Fantastic layout plan, busy in all the right ways, I'd say. Looking forward to seeing this one grow!

You could live on that dock without ever leaving! Pub, café, shops, dwellings...brewery...

Love some of the little details - the broken sign, the grounded wagon bodies, the little heap of pallets. Sweet layout!

Hi Dan! Will swap cattle for fish and Irishmen.

Another day spent cutting wood and making up the baseboards for the fiddleyard or at least the lower fiddleyards, Dumfries and Whithorn. This exercise is reminding me all over again of the basic rules - measure twice, cut once, and try not to end up balancing the whole thing on your knee when doing the countersinks. Chastened, I have ordered pattern makers dowels and foot levellers from Station Baseboards. The high yard is about 44" and I am looking for a clearance of about 3" which will give a 1:56 gradient on each side of the layout (1.5" up and down respectively) which gives wiggle room for tweaking. So supporting legs can be 40". I was going to use trestles until I realised that the trestles occupy most of the space underneath and I want to store books and magazines and other stuff there, so I will have to knock up socket legs. I would rather not have permanent legs if I can help it because it becomes unwieldy if you have to lift a baseboard to work on it. On the 8Fs, the munitions trains - unexploded gas shells and the like - and other BR traffic, I guess the station did not change much in the 1950s. An article about Cairnryan in British Railway Journal 54 details changes made to the line by the LMS for the increased traffic: at Newton Stewart. It consisted of a signalling change to effectively extend the loop to 500 yards so there is no difference to the track and very little change to the buildings: hence you could run the same layout in a number of periods. I am waiting for a copy of Legends of the GSWR in LMS Days to arrive.