Craig Watson

Hi Gus, The layout was extended following the article, the goods shed was replaced and other changes carried out. Cheers Craig

Cheers mate, Hoping to get it ready for our own shows then take it from there, it will be available to go out either as myself or as the club. See you on Friday anyway! Cheers Craig

Hi all, I've now heard back from the custodian of David Kirkwood's photo collection granting me permission to use the layout pictures as I wish I've attached a selection which were originally published on Fotopic below, copyright David Kirkwood collection. The main pictures of interest show the missing structures, first the engine shed, A general view of the layout at the 2006 Glasgow show, the missing canal bridge can be seen, I have more pics of the bridge but haven't scanned them yet. Some general pics, I'm planning on getting more wiring checked today then look at ordering plasticard to make a start on replacing the missing bits!! Cheers Craig

Great pics, I believe Model Rail 2006 was the layout's 20th and last outing to date, from the display that came with the layout it was listed as having attended the following, Cathcart, October 1999 Cathcart, October 1991 Cathcart, October 1994 Ayr, September 1995 Greenock, November 1995 Wardlawhill Church Fete, December 1995 Model Rail Scotland, Febuary 1996 Paisley, Nonvember 1997 Wardlawhill 54335 Group, May 1998 Scale Rail New Lanark, May 1999 Pollockshaws, June 1999 Ayr, September 1999 Greenock, November 1999 Scottish Vintage Bus Museum, September 2000 Ayr, September 2000 Cathcart, October 2000 Dunfermline, April 2001 Wardlawhill Church Fete, May 2001 Model Rail Scotland, February 2003 Model Rail Scotland, February 2006 Seeing mention of the exhibitions at Dunfermline and New Lanark brought back some memories too! Cheers Craig

Hi all, As promised, some basic history and background to the setting of the layout, based on snipets taken from the BRM article and the information board that came with the layout. The imaginary village of Kylie is said to be situated around five miles south east of Airdrie near Kirk O'Shotts, the branch was constructed as the Minogue branch to serve the nearby mine of the same name by the Caledonian Railway joining the same company's Glasgow to Edinburgh (via Shotts) line near Carfin, there was also an intermediate junction with the Airdrie to Omoa (Cleland) line. During the time period in which the layout is set (late 50's to mid 60's) the line was served by passenger services from Glasgow (via Bellshill), Airdrie and Motherwell, occasional parcels traffic and goods traffic serving the goods yard adjacent to the station as well as coal traffic to and from the mine, the area is also served by an extension of the Monklands canal which pre dates the railway, however the arrival of the latter has all but swallowed up the canal traffic, the NCB also have running powers between the junction for the colliery branch (just off scene) and the goods yard, as such occasional appearances of the NCB colliery loco can be seen working exchange traffic. On to the layout itself, the track is SMP with handbuilt points controlled by Fulgurex motors, the signals are non operating Model Signal Engineering kits and the buildings are all scratchbuilt based on various prototypes, the signalbox is based on Haughead Junction which controlled the junction with the lines to Larkhall on the Motherwell to Hamilton line, the station building is based on Milngavie married to the canopy from Crainlarich Lower on the Callander & Oban line, the goods shed is based on one which existed at Blantyre and the (now missing) engine shed on the one which existed at Loch Tay on the Killin branch. The Eglinton Arms Hotel is based on the real version at Eaglesham. As the layout developed over the years some buildings were changed/enlarged, the original BRM article shows the layout as it was in 1994, with a smaller goods shed, the layout itself was also enlarged after this time to it's present form. Back to the restoration of the layout itself, more work has continued on the tracing of wiring on the control panel but due to work I've not had the chance to progress much with the layout itself, more time has been allocated to this next week as my shift pattern allows!! I've also been looking at obtaining more stock, particulary passenger, more on that later though!! Meanwhile, another few pics to wet the appetite! Cheers Craig

Thanks Jim, I've sent a message enquiring about the use of the original layout pics. Craig

I haven't, and wouldn't know where to start, I wasn't aware of that. Craig

Hi all, I've taken advantage of our club being closed tonight to start to get to grips with the wiring, I now have most of the control panel wiring sussed out and recorded, the biggest problem is that there doesn't seem to be any form of colour coding so individual wires have had to be traced one by one!! Hopefully I'll get some time tomorrow to trace the wiring on the boards, I've enough info from the control panel to work it all out now. I've also ordered new strips of connector block to allow me to reroute the wiring on the outside of the boards to allow me to fit permanent backscenes, hopefully I can match the wiring looms that were given to me with the layout to the connectors on the board. I also discovered two sets of points where the solder has came away from the tiebars, these will be an easy fix though. I've also started thinking about replacing the missing structures, until fotopic crashed the layout gallery created by David Kirkwood was still online which contained various pics of the missing structures, when I got the layout I was given a pile of prints which matched most of the fotopic ones, prior to this I had saved most of the online versions too, given that David has passed away I'm not sure about any copyright complications of posting them again, the collapse of fotopic was a pain as prior to this I'd have been able to link to the pics! Thanks again for the comments and interest! Cheers Craig

Hi Jim, It's still there, Cheers Craig

Thanks for the comments folks! I managed to set up the other two scenic boards today along with the station throat board, I've also started to trace the wiring and look towards starting work on replacing coroded connectors etc, quite a bit of the wiring is routed along the rear of the boards, this will get in the way of the planned backscenes so I'm planning to re route these sections under the boards. Some pics of the other two boards and the wiring follow, the only board I haven't yet set up is the fiddle yard. The view from the fiddle yard end looking towards the station throat, Class 24 passing the sidings on the approach to the station, The site of the missing bridge, straight over the join between two boards, the main canal section is a single 8 foot section which runs along the front of the two remaining scenic sections. Black 5 coming onto the goods line from the fiddle yard WD arriving onto the goods line, Another view looking from the signalbox towards the fiddle yard end of the layout, That's all for now, I'm now off to price various components to get the wiring started! Cheers Craig

Hi all, This layout was created and exhibited over a period of time between 1989 and 2006, it was initially started by the late Jim Morin then being completed by David Kirkwood. Upon David's untimely death in 2009 the layout passed to Rutherglen Model Railway Club of which David had been the secretary. In late 2010 Rutherglen MRC decided to see if anyone was interested in taking the layout as they were struggling for storage space in their Scout hall base, the scouts were looking to use the cupboard where the layout was stored and with the club busy building their new layout "Kirkwood Central" they decided it was unfortunately time for the layout to move on. Upon reading that the layout was available I contacted the club and arranged to visit and see the layout, it was explained that some buildings and most of the electrics were missing but I went along as I had seen the layout in the flesh at a few shows and it was one which has interested me. After looking over the layout a deal was struck and arrangements made to pick the layout up, the layout consisted of the baseboards, station building, goods shed and control panel, there was a big bag of wiring that was suspected to belong the the layout as well as the legs and a replica metal totem sign, it is now at home and space is being made available to get the layout back into exhibitable condition and replace the missing electrics, backscene, engine shed and a canal overbridge. I was also given a large pile of pictures which had also been posted on David's fotopic site, with the recent collapse of fotopic I'm glad I have the prints as they show all the missing bits giving me something to work with! One of the first tasks undertaken was to carry out some repairs to the station canopy which had been damaged at some point, then with the recent pleasant weather I've managed to make a stat on surveying the baseboard electrics to assess what is needed to get the layout operational again, this has included testing the fulgurex point motors which all appear to be working ok. Today I set up 3 of the baseboards outside to pose some stock to get some pics to start this topic, the same 3 boards will be getting set up again soon to allow work to begin on getting the wiring sorted out and fiting backscenes, the plan is to work on these three boards first then progress through the next two plus the fiddle yard. I haven't set a target to do the work as yet although anyone I've mentioned the layout to always asks when they will get to see it again but it's sharing time with my HO Canadian project which has had some slow progress over the winter! I took some pics with stock posed on the assembled part today which I've posted below, I also have the article on the layout which appeared in the November 1994 British Railway Modelling mag which details the history and setting of the layout, I'll post a brief overview over the next few days. An overview of the boards assembled today, The area of the missing engine shed, 44762 awaits departure with a local service, The goods yard, Another overview, The location of the missing canal bridge, Two of my DJH Caley locos which will be part of the fleet, That's all for now, I'm hoping the real work on the layout will start over the next few weeks, starting with tidying up the wiring and sorting out some siezed/sticky switched on the control panel, there's also a possibility that the layout will become DCC controlled but I've not made a final decision on that front yet. One thing that is likely to stay will be the name, a few people have mentioned to me that I should change the name but my personal view is that it will stay out of respect to the builders of the layout. Cheers Craig

These look good Tim, need to look at doing a few of these myself when I get Kyle out to a show. Will need to have a look at using gouache, I've always used a mixture of airbrush/powders for weathering. Cheers Craig

We re stocked our cabinets about 6 or 7 years ago with new clips and handles, all sprayed luminous green, most have disappeared over the years, it's funny going out to big engineering jobs and seeing private contractors using the still green clips, we've got a few back that way, If we have a big renewal around a junction area we now go out the day before and strip the place bare, especially if they're fitting shallow depth replacements as new yellow clips are supplied with the job, inevitably if we don't they disappear, at £40ish a clip it doesn't take long for the cost to mount up. We've no top winders, just HW and HPSS/HPSA where the handles go in horizontally. I had my trainee with me at a points failure a few days ago, one of the things I emphasised was to use the handle to knock the scotch out as it's what I was taught years ago, never put your hand between the blade and stock rail! Cheers Craig

If your lucky enough to open a cabinet with a handle in it! (we keep handles in the van just in case ) There are exceptions to clipping (or clamping as we call it north of the border!) and scotching, if the signaller gains detection once the points have been operated they will move the respective thumbswitch on their panel to the required position and ask us to restore them to power, they then use the interlocking as normal to signal the train. Cheers Craig

Hmmm, manual operation of power points, a big part of my day to day job! I find clamplocks the easiest to work manually, with HW you have to clear the ballast away to save skinning your knuckes while winding! With HW the insertion of the handle into the machine operates a switch which cuts off the power, when finished you have to pop the button back in to restore control to the signalman, with Clamplock you turn the switch from "power" to "manual" with the permission of the signalman, hold the small lever to either normal or reverse then pump away, the controls being under the lid of the "power pack". Point machine covers have 2 padlocks, a 221 S&T one and a 222 operations one, a 221 key will open both but a 222 key wont open a 221 padlock which prevents ordinary points operators gaining access to the "gubbins" of the various machines. The saltire symbol on the power pack has an S&T meaning too, I think it possibly denotes that the machine is self bleeding but may be 100% wrong. HPSA ones use the same handle as HW but are a completely different animal which require some manual dexterity skills to operate (unless you're trusted enough to have a 221 S&T key to take the cover off ), luckily (for me anyway) they seem to be the most reliable we have I'm currently training my replacement on the practical side of all of the above prior to my move back into the signalling centre, I'll grab some pics next time we're out. Cheers Craig

Thanks for the link! I have one of the locos in the 1999 catalogue, http://www.rivarossi...035_RR_1999.jpg On page 33, top loco no 5431, Indiana Harbour belt 0-8-0 102 with booster tender. Have had it for a good few years, it still runs well too, will try and get a pic over the next few days, I picked it up second hand from my local shop for a good price, but wasn't sure when it had been originally sold. I've always been meaning to convert it to kadee couplings but it's another job I haven't get round to yet! Cheers Craig

70005 carried out another first for the class today by working the first revenue earning trip of the class in Scotland, working 6G05 Ravenstruther to Longannet and 4C07 empty return, I managed to grab a few pics when out on my travels today! First one is the loaded train approaching Mossend, The second is the empties passing Larbert on their return, Cheers Craig

Finally got round to getting some pics of my jaunt to Australia on fotopic, didn't get much chance to take any current scene pics but did manage a trip to the NSW transport museum which was only half an hour's drive away from where we were staying! The collection is at, http://craigsrailwaypics.fotopic.net/c1835275_1.html if anyone's interested! Cheers Craig

Hi all, Just back from Sydney following our break there! Went to the museum at Thirlmere, plenty to see but unfortunately quite a lot of it was out of bounds due to building and upgrade work, still spent an enjoyable morning there though. Also managed to pick up a few models too, considerably lightening my wallet in the process, we were staying near Campbelltown with a few visits being made to the Hobbyco store there as well as their store in the city, it reminded me of visiting Beatties years ago, picked up a few models too, A Lima (Hornby International) 422 class, and an Austrains NR class, I also picked up a cheap Life Like Trains GP38 in Australian National livery as something for my son to use on his set too, These will now sit alongside my old Powerline 48 class which was brought back as a present by my parents a good few years ago, Overall we had a great time, I loved the place so much it was a real wrench coming back Cheers Craig

We were up in the blue mountains yesterday as far as Katoomba, we didn't get to Lithgow unfortunately. We did have a ride on http://www.scenicworld.com.au/index.php/rides/scenic-railway-en which is billed as the steepest incline railway in the world. Have also managed to find a few model shops nearby, luckily our local newsagent had a copy of Australian model railway magazine! We also took a trip into Sydney from Macarthur, out on a DMU and back on a doubledeck unit, spotted some other stock including an XPT and an IR NSW class 44 in the container terminal at Minto. We're planning on taking a trip to the NSW railway museum at Thirlmere early next week too. Cheers Craig

I have a few more pics of the straight barrel PCA's on my fotopic site at http://craigsrailwaypics.fotopic.net/c1124315.html I'm around Mossend quite a bit at work so will try and get some pics of the Rio Tinto Alcan branding. Cheers Craig

Alcan currently use PCA's, of both straight barrel and v tanks, the v tanks don't work the Fort William traffic, just the straight ones for some reason, here's a pic of a refurbished one at Mossend a few years ago. The above wagons have gone through a rebrand recently with the "Rio Tinto Alcan" logo replacing the old Alcan logo. Theres a pic on railscot of Ballachulish yard in 1960 with traffic in the yard for British Aluminum at Kinlochleven http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete2.php?id=23922 Cheers Craig