Craig Watson

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 Craig - I echo the sentiments of the other posters, I too "had a shot" working this layout and it was a great experience. Hope to see it on the circuit soon. Is the model of the Eaglesham Eglinton Arms Hotel still there?

 

Jim

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

Yep we've removed the handles from a lot of the points cabinets due to contractors nicking them for personal kit. We tried spraying them bright pink first but that didn't stop it. Our MOMs, S&T and Pway carry them as van kit now except in a few remote locations where they rarely use points in possessions. If we go out it helps to remember to take the handle!

We only have two Top winders left on the area the rest are clamplocks.

 

The nasty surprise I refered too was people forgetting to take them on hand before clipping, the handle is very useful for knocking in and out scotches while keeping fingers safe.

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

The clamplocks are manually moved by opening the box next to the point and with permission from the signalman turning a switch to hand. You then insert the handle (kept in the point cabinet with the clips etc) and while holding a small lever to Normal or reverse pump them over until the blades and the ram have stopped. You then have to scotch and clip the points for facing moves or just scotch for trailing. Much prefer clamplocks to winders.

 

Different locks protect the point controls and the equipment cabinets just to be safe and you have to ask the Signalbox first or you could get a very nasty surprise when trying to take them on hand.

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

The Zig-Zag Railway is also well worth a look if you have the time. Basically recreated on the trackbed of the original mainline over the Blue Mountains but as no NSW kit was readily available it is stocked with ex QLD stock etc and is thus 'narrow gauge'.

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

Thanks David

 

I'll be sorting out a trip there then.

 

Cheers

Craig

34.7km from where I'm staying (Harrington Park) to the museum, the trip is on

Cheers

Craig

Just down the road a bit (well, 40km) from Campbelltown is the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum at Thirlmere.

 

http://www.nswrtm.org/

 

Cheers

David

Thanks David

I'll be sorting out a trip there then.

Cheers

Craig

This thread is on interest to me as I'm off "down under" for two weeks in March for a family wedding.

I have relatives who stay near Campbelltown outside Sydney, I'm looking forward to seeing a bit of the network in the area as well as looking for some model shops in the Sydney area, my Mum has been before (it's my Aunt who stays there) and brought me back some Powerline stock the last time.

I'll dig it out and get some pics later today.

Cheers

Craig

M55 is a 66 today

66606 currently working 002 & 005 on 0Z70, 11:10 Basford Hall to Stoke Gifford (booked arr 14:49) although currently running about an hour late.

Cheers

Craig

I do indeed have the photograph but it dates from 18 September 1981. The unit number on the leading vehicle is believed to be 126 413 which would make it SC51043, the DMBS now preserved at Bo'ness. Class 126 unit formations were very variable so there is no way of identifying the other two cars in the photograph. Unfortunately I can't post it here for copyright reasons.

 

Great photos Bruce. The unit passing Falkland Yard shows the typical list to the compartment side of the trailer car and as usual there is no unit number on the DMS. These were usually left off because of the highly variable formations and the unit numbers went with the DMBSs only. From the headcode 2B28 the Bo'ness picture dates from 28 September 2008, Day 2 of the Diesel Gala.

 

Keep 'em coming!

Here's another of a Ayrshire DMBS from 126404 at Edinburgh, undated but shows what looks to be fresh paint and a trans clyde logo

http://donaldstirling.fotopic.net/p19924680.html

Cheers

Craig

My one arrived yesterday.

Took it up to the club last night and it ran well, no broken parts at all.

I'm really pleased with it, looking at PMP's pics above are spurring me on to do similar to mine!

Cheers

Craig