luke the train spotter

Had a productive afternoon starting the station platform. Quite quick construction using foam board and a hot glue gun. 

Looking at photos of the platform at Carron it's possible to work out that construction was mostly large rough blocks of stone that were quickly weathered by all the muck around the rails. The mortar looks fairly thick but is difficult to distinguish from the stone because of the soot and muck. I'd say that this is pretty typical of all the Speyside stations except the halts and part of Craigellachie which had a wooden planked section. 

For those interested in this layout you may also be interested in First Generation Scottish Diesels. I picked it up second hand and it's already provided a huge amount of inspiration. A few photos I hadn't seen of the Speyside region including distillery shunt manoeuvres as well as plenty of branchline traffic to work out formations from. Only problem is it's got me thinking about adding a class 29 to the fleet... must resist!

All the track in the fiddle yard has been wired up so I can finally get trains running. Really enjoyed simple station operations and shunting a few wagons about the yard. Once I get some scenery down I'll post a video but in the meantime a few quick photos. 

After a couple bits of on and off work on the layout there is some progress to report. Firstly the layout now has a name, Dalmunach, after the new distillery built on the old site of the Imperial Distillery at Carron. I liked the idea of a new take on a classical Speyside so pinched the name. 

Most of the progress made has been laying and wiring the track. Since the layout is dcc electrofrog this has taken me a bit of time but I think it's pretty much there. I've tried to keep the point control simple too, based off the wire in tube method but with a couple of tweaks. Firstly I'm using the PECO point polarity switches instead of the much cheaper SDPT switches I normally use which the wire passes through underneath the baseboard. This gives a much cleaner finish than the surface mounted approach I normally take. The wire is then guided with some pieces of cheap electrical terminal blocks hot glue gunned to the underneath of the baseboard. 

This wire then passes through the fascia and is formed is bent upwards for ease of use. 

I should add that the wire used is in fact 1mm steel rod from Scale Model Scenery. In the long term I will probably come up with a slightly more ergonomic attachment for the wire but this will do in the meantime. I don't have any plans of exhibiting this layout at the moment but if it does make an appearance on the circuit at least my hands won't be constantly in the scenery looking for little switches.

Where the baseboard enters the fiddle yard I've opted to give the "ProTrack RailAligner" a go from ModelTech. These interlocking pieces of precut copper clad PCB board are a fantastic innovation and made the daunting task much easier. The baseboard with the fiddle yard on has the corresponding joiner and they slot together and the boards are held tight in place with a couple of bolts with winged nuts. Simples. 

And so with all that this is the current state of progress on the layout. 

You may notice that the Highland Signal Box is coming along though the roof is still loose so I can fit an interior and the paintwork needs touching up in quite a few places. But I'm having a lot of fun with this project and look forward to getting some trains running soon! :) 

I like the little scenic section extension at the front a lot. I might have to steal that idea to add a bit more depth to Dalmunach. 

A bit more progress today mocking up some of the buildings with a couple cereal boxes and masking tape. These are a bit crude but you get the idea. 

I would say that this 3D mock up stage is probably one of the most important stages of construction, to see if the scenic side of things will work. I thin on a whole I'm happy with it, the left hand side of the layout could do with a bit of work to avoid large gaps in the scenery to the backscene so some super low relief trees might need to be made for that. 

The goods shed on the right will be based off drawings of that of Blacksboat which has been preserved as a listed building. These drawings are available from the GNSRA which I keep recommending to everyone.

The station building will be based off the one at Carron which is still standing though not in the best condition. This will probably be modelled in half relief so that it doesn't take up too much of the width of the platform.

The signal box will be the Peco Highland box kit. This may be slightly out of region for this layout but I think it captures a huge amount of Scottish branch line character and saves a half relief platform mounted signal box scratch build that would be required otherwise. Anyways, rule 1 prevails. 

Hopefully with this combination of buildings I will be able to recreate an essence of the Great North of Scotland Railway in a slowly dying BR guise. 

So in true layout planning style I've decided to rejig the layout. It felt a misjustice to model Cromdale without including the actual station so that project has been shelved for now with the full intention of revisiting it when I have more space to do it justice. So what's the plan? I've managed to free an additional 15cm up for the baseboard length which breaks the layout out of its Really Useful Box shell which creates a couple of problems. Now the layout needs to be extra robust so when I built the baseboard I used 8mm ply, extra bracing, plenty of screws and copious amounts of expanding Gorilla Glue which is pretty serious stuff! Hopefully this will do the job but means that technically this new baseboard has the same footprint as the external dimensions of the Really Useful Box.

So what will I do with my very exciting additional 15cm? Well with the power of an additional point in the fiddle yard I should be able to fit in a run around loop and couple of sidings to serve a small Speyside terminus station/goods yard. So technically the Speyside line didn't really have proper terminus stations, but junctions at either end so my layout will be an imaginary spur off the line with a small distillery to justify construction, though this will be off scene. 

The track plan is very reminiscent of Port Pennan (Railway Modeller June 2010) which is a similar concept of a micro space terminus. I plan to add an additional siding for a coal wagon or two and to mix operations up a bit. 

The run around head shunt is large enough for a class 26 whilst the actual loop should be able to comfortably take a 2 coach train. This will require a slight shunting maneuver to get it fully into the platform but that's a compromise that has to be made given the space available. In practice I've started mocking up the location of points and stock with what I had lying about. 

I know that this may not be the most prototypical layout but I couldn't resist a project where my railbus could run for much longer! 

On 19/12/2023 at 22:25, john new said:

Noticeable in these very useful colour photos are the light coloured bits of stone etc in the ash ballast. What I remember from days past and the early days of the NYMR but so often omitted when people model ash ballasted sidings. Thanks for posting them.

Hopefully I'll be able to recreate the little piles of ash with some fine bbq ash mixed in with the ballast.

A quick update on the layout, track has arrived and hopefully I'll get some free time to build the baseboard over Christmas. 

2 hours ago, Dunalastair said:

Looks good. How do you envisage operating it? As a confirmed diorama-builder, I always wonder how such micro micros can sustain interest.

I don't plan on any intense operating sessions but shuffling a few wagons around, maybe mocking up a delivery of grains, empty casks and coal for the distillery. Then the distillery shunter taking these wagons off stage. In real life these sidings would only be used twice a week so the prototype wasn't really that intense in operation. I think I'm more of a builder than an operator but certainly like the idea of using the layout as a good opportunity for photos of locos/stock. 

Tyneside Steel has now gone to it's new owner after it ran pretty well all weekend. The cheap phospher bronze paper thin pick ups on the sentinel packed in by Sunday afternoon so the peckett had to come out as the reserve shunter. Sorting new pickups out will be added to the job list. Here's a couple final pictures of the layout though!

We'll have to see what comes next now there is space for a new layout once again....

Just a heads up that I'll be taking Tyneside Steel to Workington Exhibition aka Solrail this weekend. Looking like it will be a great show!

https://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/event/y2023/25920-SolrailLtd_Exhibition

Beautifully modelled! The layout has so much flow to it. How are you controlling your double slip out of interest?

Looks absolutey fantastic mate. Love the palette of colours going on there.

8 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

Have been reading (and re-reading) the book by James Hilton (of Planet Industrials fame) “Small Layout Design” and it has made me reconsider my current designs for layouts.

 

 

It doesn’t help that one of his plans is a better interpretation of High Peak Wharf than my own (Blackford Wharf) which is making me rethink that plan/layout (!)

 

However, his thoughts on layout design and particularly his own Pont-y-Dulais layout got me massively rethinking DRS Engineering to the point of starting over to try to use his ideas of scene blockers etc…

 

So here it is, slightly (ever so slightly) progressed as there is now cork covering the entire baseboard area. Paper cut outs of Scalescenes buildings together with indications of area coverage are helping me visualise the yard area…

 

 

HOURS OF FUN!*
 

* when I should be doing other stuff!!

James Hilton's book is definitely a great tool for designing micro layouts! I think he's currently writing a follow up too which I imagine a lot of people will be interested in. Liking the change of layout composition a lot!

Looks excellent, I really like the wooden slats on Tindale.

Not much progress to share unfortunately, its coming down to dissertation crunch time so modeling is taking a bit of a backseat but I've got a couple of small projects on the go to keep me sane. First up is a small diecast lorry that I'm converting to carry a small loco like the ruston or maybe just a few wheels. I'm not sure how exactly prototypical it is but I quite like the look of it. So far its had the London Transport brandings removed with T cut and a short length of weathered bullhead track super glued down.

The second project is slowly starting to think about the necessary wagon loads for the layout. I've found a lot of pictures of bolster wagons carrying long lengths of piping like this scene at Stewarts & Lloyds in 1967 which is a scene I'd quite like to draw inspiration from.

So far all I've done is bought some tubing and stacked it on the wagon but given that they were probably just loose loaded for low speed shunting like this for internal workings I don't think I'll chain them down. This will allow me to have a number of removable wagon loads to add variety to the fleet without needing to buy boxes of wagons. 

Plenty more to do but nice to have a couple small projects ticking over in the background. 

1 hour ago, sb67 said:

Thanks guys, I could add some posts to the backscene to use some spots but I do like the strip lights, I'll have to get my thinking head on.

 

@luke the train spotter what is the spotlight in that image? 

The one in the picture is one from ikea, I wasn't necessarily meaning this light in particular but more the style. 

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/naevlinge-led-clamp-spotlight-white-10449891/

23 minutes ago, sb67 said:

So a while back I was coaxed into exhibiting at my first ever show! As it is the only thing that fits in the car Ruston Sidings was selected. 

 

 

This is the state of play so far, not much has changed and I'd like to add some more detail in the yard and maybe at the front, not too much though.

Decide on which stock to use.

somehow make the running bulletproof, maybe use DCC, in which case I'll need some small decoders.

I don't think lighting is essential for the show but I might try and rig something up, the main thing is deciding on stock and devising some sort of operation to keep me going for a few hours, I only ever run it for 30 mins or so at home! 

Hopefully some better photo's as I get round to adding and weathering stuff. 

 

 

First time as an exhibitor is always very exciting! A couple words of advice would be to make sure thoroughly clean the track/wheels/pickups for the most reliable running prior to the show. It may also be useful to take a couple larger wheel base locos just in case the shorter ones start playing up. I'd say even if you're not sure about lighting it is still something to look into, poorly lit layouts are a big pet peeve of mine because you can never see the detail that went into the models. You don't necessarily have to build a massive lighting rig but a couple LED reading lights clipped onto the backscene are pretty affordable and very quick to set up and adjust. 

Regarding operation could you setup the layout to work in a shunting puzzle configuration? I find that actually operating the layout goes by pretty quickly especially when people want to chat about different aspects of the layout. 

5 hours ago, davidparker172 said:

Hi all

a question relating to points for this box file please.

I want to use Peco electrofrog points operated manually on the track by hand with no point motors obviously.

i would also like to the option to use dc or dcc (with correct controllers) depending on what loco I use.

Could anyone advise me on which of the “usual” mods to an electrofrog point I need to do…. Or none???

i will be relying on the moving rail to transfer the power.

I still get baffled with the point wiring😆

Someone asked me the same question on the micro nook thread on page 2 if that would be a useful reference. Using the rail to transfer the power is a viable option but it's reliability will decrease over time as the track naturally just gets dirtier. I guess the most important 'mod' to be aware of is to make sure you use insulating fish plates on the frog. 

Finally got round to sorting out a YouTube video. It's a sort of mix between a layout update and a running session but I hope its an enjoyable watch. 

1 hour ago, Oncomin5torm said:

 

Superb Luke.

It doesnt need to be fancy if it works, it looks like it does the job. I find too many people (myself included) try to over complicate fiddle yards and want it to fit the biggest thing ever, and then it doesnt work all that well.
 

As long as you're happy quickly popping wagons on and off the track by hand this solution works perfectly well. I will put down some pieces of thin foam (chopped up super cheap yoga mat) onto the plywood which just lets the wheels sit on something softer rather than having the flanges on a hard surface. Its the same foam that I use to line my stock boxes with so one yoga mat goes a pretty long way.

1 hour ago, davidparker172 said:

@luke the train spotter thanks for the reply.

it appears that lack of knowledge on the subject has come to haunt me and yes a runaround is a better idea.

i never even thought of two permanent joined boxes…. Good shout!

it would still be easy to store etc but also enable less need to faff with track joiners 

I think it might help with the robustness of the layout. Incidentally a friend of mine is doing exactly that and documenting the build on YouTube which may be of interest. 

6 hours ago, Oncomin5torm said:

What have you done for a fiddle yard luke? 

The fiddle yard is currently in a fairly primitive state. There is a small plywood toped baton frame that has been screwed and glued onto the original baseboard which supports the other side of the point that I added. Bolted onto that is a removable section which is very simple. Currently the trackwork is just a straight piece of spare flexi track taped on which I hope to replace with a longer piece and make it so the track comes apart when the fiddle yard extension board does. A 30cm ruler for scale. 

Woodwork is definitely not my strong point but it works so I'm happy. With the fiddle yard and extension board the whole layout comes to about 3 1/2 ft long. 

Plan looks great! I'd also agree that a runaround loop is a good feature to have. I regretted not initially putting one in on Distillery Yard and it was a pain to retrofit. Would it be feasible to have 2 modules of 2 boxfiles permanently connected rather than 4 individual ones? Would eliminate a lot of wear and tear on the boxfile track joints. That would also solve your worries about having all 2 lane boxfile joints.