Dave John

I have been thinking about urban coal. Victorian cities consumed huge amounts of coal and of course Glasgow was no exception. Statistics for the quantities mined and moved are available, but staggering though they are do not actually make me think about coal. So instead I started to look at chimneys. I live in a normal west end two bedroom tenement flat which as built had three fireplaces and a kitchen range for cooking and hot water. So thats 32 fires in this block of 8. 14 closes and 2 churches in this street . Up to 450 now. An interesting aside is this link which gives a feel for the the kind of architecture I am on about, I live at the west end of Woodlands. Also has a good map showing how kelvinbridge station and yard was sandwiched in there. https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=16798&p=0 Have a look on google earth at the west end and try and guess how many in total. I gave up, the answer is a very big number. So how did the railways and in particular the Caledonian deal with the need to bring in and facilitate the distribution of all the coal needed? Firstly, they had a lot of coalyards, I reckon at least a dozen to the west of the city centre, including the NB ones. Thats just yards for wagon to bag to cart deliveries, big factories and institutions such as hospitals had private sidings for direct wagonloads and the tramways were connected to the railways at various places to allow wagonloads to be delivered at night. Hmm, so not a couple of small coal staithes then. Here is a picture of Kelvinbridge yard, note the piles of coal between the six sidings. Piles that are actually the height of wagons. Bagged coal was used to form “walls” to support it all and anecdotal evidence suggests that summer stockpiles were built up to cope with the winter months. Bear in mind that the photo is from the 1950s when gas and electricity were beginning to have an impact on coal usage. As a personal aside I remember talking to the elderly lady who lived in the flat below me many years ago who had been resident in the west end long enough to remember the yard being shunted at night in the 1920s and 30s. To quote her “ I have no idea how the people that lived next to the yard ever got a wink of sleep” Thats the background to my thinking, sorry to blether on a bit. Therefore I have started to make some piles. To the modellers eye these may at first look excessive. But given the evidence it seems to me to be along the lines of what must have gone on. Still a lot of detailing but it does begin to look very urban. Just a couple of snapshots to give you the idea. As ever, comments welcome.

"Cardean might have been the darling of the Caledonian's publicity department but it was a black 0-6-0 moving coal which paid the bills" Oh well, my ratios may be all over the place but at least I got something right........... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/2091/entry-21153-cr-d63-brake-in-service/

Top class modelmaking.

Very good, I do like the natural look of the horses too.

There we are, the D63 in service after its 30 year refurbishment. I’m not sure that I’m completely happy with it but perhaps we are all getting a bit harsh on ourselves since close up photography shows up all sorts of things that are just invisible from normal viewing distances. You never know, one of the rtr manufacturers might bring out a very nice version. Probably by the time this one has been in service for another 30 years…… So a close up pic; Aye, well. In practice these vans would have spent most of their time on coal traffic so thats the service I will be using it for.

There is also a secondary effect which comes into play in a long dry spell which nobody has mentioned. The thermal coefficient of expansion of wood ( Particularly plywoods but with other timber it is different along or across the grain ) is very low compared to that of the ns rail. However the expansion and contraction of plywood is significant with changes in relative humidity as the wood absorbs or releases water. In a long dry summer the shrinkage in a plywood baseboard can be significant, my 8 foot boards are about 1mm shorter than they were, so that is about .4 mm /m. Given that I based my rail expansion gaps at 0.7 mm ( 20 deg rise, ns rail subject to sunlight, laid at 20 deg C , 16.7ppm /k average case, 1 m lengths secured at the end ) I was glad I just called it 1 mm, just enough to compensate for board shrinkage. Must be a lot worse for layouts in harsher environments. So far I have had a minor problem with a point going a bit narrow but thats all. The technical solution would be baseboards made from ns, but that sounds a bit pricey.......

Kelvinbank has two brake vans, and really it could do with a couple more. This one has been sitting in store for a long time. It is a CR D63 20 Ton six wheeler. I built it in 1988 from a DJH kit ( no, really they used to do some wagon kits ) and it is very much a child of its time, compounded by the fact that I didn’t have access to the prototype information that I do now. ( Actually the original kit might have been meant to represent the later type outside framed D63 as preserved at Boness, but the kit wasn't outside framed. Or I only got half an etch ) So looking at the original . Hmm, the caley put half round beading round all the planked panels, the internal ends are in the wrong place, some of the etching shouldn’t be there. The doors opened the other way. The wheels are sat in blocks of whitemetal, just a solid lump. The kit called up spoked wheels, I think I used OO ones but they were rollers with overscale flanges. Photos however show solid disc wheels. It stayed on the track, mainly because it weighed a ton. Cast whitemetal roofs are not light. Handrails were not like that at the ends and the whitemetal buffer heads are not very good. Of course it could do with decent ajs too. Caley coaches do a kit, I may treat myself to one in time. However this one is sitting there so stop whining Dave, put it on the bench and do something about it. Ok, so the body tidied up a bit, ready for a coat of primer to show up all the faults …. A simple chassis, removable if anything goes wrong.

All good advice Clagsniffer, but the one thing I would say is buy a good back to back gauge. Check every wheelset out of the bag no matter who made them and when you are happy apply a spot of superglue to lock them. A lot of the time they are fine, but it saves a bit of hassle with the odd one that isn't.

Very nice, the coal merchants cart is an excellent bit of modelmaking. And 2467 is just gorgeous. May I make a small suggestion ? I think there would have been a standpipe or water pump and some buckets in the yard, possibly near the cattle dock. Maybe even a metal or stone drinking trough. Horses and cattle need water especially in a long hot summer like this one.

It really is an epic example of a layout. If I had a space like that I would be tempted to sell the flat and move in with the layout....

Well, I'd suggest having a go with a simple rocking W iron etch. Advantages; it means that the wagon doesn't have to be perfectly square , and even if they are when you build them stuff moves about. Later on you can drop the wheels out for maintenance. Much tougher than plastic W irons. The wheels sit in proper brass bearings which last for years . Makes painting simpler. Decide to go EM or p4? Generally less of a hassle. Disadvantages : adds a few quid to the cost. Might require a bit of soldering. Might need some extra bits such as springs and axleboxes. There are loads of threads on here with advice, have a shot at it.

True mikkel , it does look very slender, but thats the way with cast iron or steel, very strong in compression. I have pictures taken from underneath, I should post them sometime. The building has gone but the bridge is still there as built with 40 ton lorries rolling over it on a daily basis. The whole site has been redeveloped in the last couple of years as student accommodation, makes the decision by tesco to demolish the listed building all the more galling. I think it could have been externally preserved and turned into a cafe/restaurant type of thing. The lead picture in this article shows the sheer scale of the flats built on the station site compared the local architecture. https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/growing-number-of-student-flats-raises-eyebrows-in-glasgow-1-4355504 The pup and I will take a wander down with a camera and do a philosophical blog.

I was getting a bit worried. Sooner or later someone with a valid ticket and a train to catch was going to try and jump out of the station building and land with a bit of a splat on the platform. It has taken a bit of time but thats the stairs in a fairly completed state. Might need a bit of adjustment where it meets the station and platform buildings but I won’t be fitting magnets into the platform till I decide exactly where the canopy sits, and I would prefer to be able to see it from both sides with the layout spread out rather than fiddle about at arms length in a corner. Oh, and drilling through for the lighting feeds. I might wait until I have got to grips with the backscene and combine the jobs. So a few pictures to put it in context; Hmm, enough buildings. A brake van rebuild next I think.

Loads of operating potential there. Bear with me while I make an odd suggestion, following on from "runs as required" s idea. I don't know how high the "ceiling" of your garage will be but lets say 8 feet. So think down not up. Lets say you want 2 foot above the highest point of the layout for a backscene and lighting. Since you are building a multi level layout lets say the layout depth is 1 foot. So thats the bottom of the layout at 5 foot. . Build a couple of plinths a foot high the size of the operating areas and you are viewing the layout at a comfy height and the duckunders are not backbreaking. Also you have the space round the plinths to work comfortably under the layout. Rough measurements, adjust to suit. A fag packet sketch ; Not a completely original idea , some big layouts do it this way, but might save your back a bit.

Very atmospheric scenes. I'd definitely agree that the camera can see many things the ageing eyeball misses.

Followed your progress with interest Teaky. I think you are doing the right thing; getting the environment in which to build a layout right from the start is important. I think you have made a cracking job of that loft conversion, lets you concentrate on the layout build without worrying about the space in which it sits.

Fine scenes as ever Allan. Is it just me that thinks the lady in the blue coat brings back memories of Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple ?

I have generated textures for buildings from photos taken by myself for things which are not commercially available. For the stairs shown below the white tiles, purple tiles and matchboard planking are all printed; http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/2091/entry-21069-looking-a-bit-more-like-a-stair-now/ I used an epson ET 2650 ( which uses liquid inks ) to print onto epson matte photo paper which is then sealed with Ghiant matte inkjet fix. So far ink useage is a lot cheaper than cartridges. Since all the styrene layers are cut on the silhouette it is easy to generate and print out cutting templates for the printed textures. I find Glue and glaze good for sticking the printed to the styrene, it doesn't bond instantly and allows a bit of adjustment time. Hope that helps.

Cheers . The window astricals are all done on the silhouette, its actually just one sheet of 10 thou clear so that they are all identical and line up. I use a blade set right down at 1 with minimum speed and it just engraves the whole sheet. Each side of that is a 10 thou inner frame, again cut as a single sheet, pre painted and then suck on with glue and glaze. Next is the outer frame, cut and prepainted with the brown. All the positions for the beadings are marked on that by the silhouette. The end brackets are part of the same 4 layers so it really is just a styrene sandwich. The other big advantage of the silhouette is that making identical left and right handed sections is very simple, just duplicate and mirror. Really I doubt I could tackle this sort of thing without the silhoutte these days.

Having got the sides to a shape I am happy with progress has been reasonable. Being stuck in the house for a day waiting for a parcel to turn up has a silver lining. Anyway its about ready for some paintwork and then a roof . Fiddliest bit was the gutters, I think these would have been cast ogee section rather than half round and I’m going to have to fit some downpipes. Mind you its always the same , the small projects do tend to take up much more time than you ever thought they would. Glad its just the one platform......

True Mikkel. The photo is from the 1950s I think, the columns were whitewashed to stop folk walking into them in the blackout.

I did. Which was rather nice, let me enjoy the pics all over again. Inspirational stuff for all of us in pre grouping EM.

This is one of those things that I thought might be straightforward, but which tripped me up a bit. This is the third go at making the sides up for the stairs from the station building to the platform. The first two attempts somehow didn't have the right proportions and I wasn't happy with the angles somehow. I don't have any sort of drawing to work with so I have been taking drawings and photos from similar CR stairs and condensing the design taking into consideration features which tended to show up in buildings designed by Miller. Sounds a bit clever, in reality its a case of squinting at things and doing a best guess about how it would be. Actually this is the best photo I have of the one I'm trying to model, though its much later on timewise , certainly open to a bit of interpretation; Anyway, slow progress, but this is how they have turned out so far. I'm happy enough with them to push on and try building the whole structure up a bit.

Many thanks, I'll get some of that and have a go with it.

Having the point rodding adds a lot to a period layout. I agree it is a fiddly job, but that run looks good. I do like the tree line blended into the backscene, very effective. May i ask, what did you run the telegraph lines with ?