SC55015

For the Class 116 centre car, none of these had toilets, so the pipes on the roof of the Lima 117 had to be carefully removed. The roof vents are the wrong type, but something I'll live with. The Lima 117s have gangways, which my ScR prototype did not have. First the end detail would be cut off (this is the centre car): Then I made a filler for the gangway holes (this is the DMBS, with the holes for the exhaust): Thinking that no matter how much I filled and sanded the gap between the two layers I would still see a an outline of the doorway, I decided to stick a sheet of paper on the end - thinner and easier to cut the top curve than plastic. I smothered the end in glue then stuck on a bit of paper, ensuring the top was pushed into the roofline: Once set it could be easily trimmed:

1973 We see a Class 27 arrive into Auchentogle with a parcel rake of pre-grouping stock. In the summer months a Class 122 single car DMU was used to provide an extra Auchentogle - Glentogle service at peak times. This was for the seasonal staff of the Glentogle Distillery, most of whom lived in the town of Auchentogle. During the day it was stabled in the siding at Glentogle until the return evening trip, although some days it was added to the branch service to give extra capacity for visitors to the Distillery.

1972 DMUs from the (North) Eastern Region were not too unusual in Scotland, particularly on school specials from the Newcastle area. Here we see one of these in Auchentogle station: The yard shunter at Glentogle is currently Barclay 2414, which in 1972 was allocated to Dunfermline Townhill and would later become 06002. This Hornby Railroad model has the best 0-60mph of all my locos.

I cut out the upper bodyside to suit the new window arrangement. I made sure there was space all around for easier attachment of a glazing strip later. I left the occasional vertical strip temporarily to stop the bottom getting too floppy. The handrails were removed from the cab front - the ones between the cab windows were quite a pain to do! I drilled the marker lamp holes slightly bigger as there was too 'metal' around the lens. The destination box had some plasticard added to form a top then filled/sanded to create the missing section of dome. The brass sides had some extra length at the cab end, giving the user the option to form the cab corners and use the supplied ends to make a complete brass body (sans roof). I cut off the excess brass with scissors. I also made the choice - which I may regret later - to only butt the bodyside up to the underside of the rainstrip, as placed in the image below. To get the proper door top alignment it would mean cutting off all the riveted underside of the gutters. Or cut a thin strip off the top of the brass, which I doubt I would be able to to neat enough. One thing that will stand out later is that instead of the rivets being raised from the bodyside, they will be inset. Here is the number one side just before glueing on the brass to show how much was cut out: The bodyshell with the first side glued on: And the second side added. This was the glue I used, and the clips were left on overnight for it to set.

I recently did a 110 to 104 conversion and all it needed was some plasticard, filler and paint. Not the best job in the world but I'm perfectly happy with it, given my skill level.

1971 Two early morning trains seen in 1971. First, a couple of views of 9021 with a London bound service in Auchentogle station. On the branch, the first train of the day has a CCT full of newspapers attached to the DMU.

The Swindon cab was finished off with some Westhill Wagon Works jumpers/cables and vac pipes. I scratched a "1" into the right hand headcode box, only one side seems to have been in use towards the end of their time on the E&G line. It still needs wipers and horns when I can get those. It was weathered to match this image (from the 53A Models of Hull Collection flickr): The next DMU conversion is well underway. I have two sets of etches from Worsley Works, one for a Class 100 and one for a Class 116. I thought I'd start with the easy one as the curves on the Gloucester are a bit daunting. For the three-car Derby unit the DMS is being done first, using a Lima body as base. The lower body profile is wrong on the Lima model. In the image below, the left side is untouched and it goes outwards in the vertical direction until level with the marker lamp where it turns tightly inwards. It should be a more gentler curve starting at waist level, and I've been sanding the side on the right and it already makes quite a difference. A start has also been made on cutting down the headcode box. All door hinges and handles were cut off. I also cut off the raised window frames, although later I found that wasn't required. Next step was to mark out for cutting the plastic away from where the windows are. The spacing was rather different on the Lima one!

1970 At the dawn of the new decade we see a Class 27 arriving into Glentogle station with some grain wagons for the local distillery. 1970 was the last full year of the Swindon Inter-CIty DMUs on the Edinburgh - Glasgow line. Although their reign of the services was short (1957-1971) those 14 years were longer than most of the diesels that followed, the Class 27 Push-Pulls lasted just 8 years (71-79), the 47/7s 11 years (79-90), the 158s, 10ish years (1990-2000?) . The 170s seem to have surpassed the Swindon units lasting 18 years until electrification. The model was based on the following image from the 53A Models of Hull Collection dated as circa 1970. It was unusual to see an 'intermediate' power car on the end of this service.

1969 We see one of the less successful diesel locos in Auchentogle station - Class 29 D6129. This had been an Eastfield loco since 1960 and would be withdrawn in October 1971. The branch is been worked by a mixed-livery hybrid 101/105 DMU. It is seen arriving into Glentogle station. The Lima 101 has a roof pod that needs removing, it's about 30 years after this before they were fitted.

1968 1968 saw some new faces on the Scottish Region. On the DMU front some Gloucester bubble cars were transferred north from the Western Region, and here we seen one working on the branch at the Glentogle stop: Co-Co EE Type 4s were now regulars on Anglo-Scottish services. Here is one in Auchentogle operated by D402. It's just a Lima model the multiple working gear removed to reflect those early years:

1967 One summer evening in 1967 we see D1100 in Auchentogle station. New in October 1966, it was a Gateshead and York loco in its first years so its appearance on East Coast trains in Scotland was not unusual. On the same evening a Derby Lightweight DMU sits on the fuel point. It's a Carlisle set, they were known to venture across the border in their later years.

1966 This week it's 1966 on the layout and in the first image we see D365 arriving into Auchentogle on the main line with an express. The loco was allocated to Haymarket depot for its whole career: At Glentogle D5211 is shunting in the yard. I had a delivery from Westhill Wagon Works that included the point lever. The base needs insetting into the ballast and the lever shortening - shoulder height at the top of the swing seems a little too high. Or is the figure too small? Loco and wagons bought secondhand, weathered by their previous owners:

1965 East Coast legends. Class 55 D9019 spent most of its career at Haymarket depot. It was the last of these locos to be named in a ceremony at Glasgow Central on 11 September 1965. A4 60031 Golden Plover was always a Scottish loco, new to Haymarket in 1937 where it remained until February 1962 when it moved to St Rollox, its last depot until withdrawal in 29 October 1965. That dates this 1965 image at Auchentogle somewhere between 11/09 and 29/10. Info from brdatabase.info and napier-chronicles.co.uk. Hornby A4 and Accurascale Deltic, both straight out the box. On the branch we see a Cravens unit heading away from Glentogle station. Bachmann model, Scalescenes bridge, home made clay rocks that need finishing off. Work on developing the layout has stalled lately as I have several other projects taking priority, hopefully things will resume soon. I do manage run a few services most nights just to unwind though!

After applying a white spray primer the yellow was brushed on: The lining was from Modelmaster, which I've had in stock for years. The yellow panel is higher than the waist lining so it doesn't show on the cab. The flash is from Railtec: The underframe, being a Mk1, had oval buffers, so they would be cut off. I driller holes in the shanks to take round ones 'borrowed' from a Lima Class 101. When looking for a gangway cover from a Bachmann brake Mk1, I found they also had a dropped buffer, so the upright buckeye would also be replaced: Still a few little jobs to do, such as move the lamp iron down, and add a second one on the opposite site, but it's looking more like a DMU than a Mk1 now:

1964 This week it is 1964 on the layout and on the fuel point at Auchentogle we see a Met-Camm DMU and a Class 24: At Glentogle a Class 17 arrives into the loop with a short train of Conflats while a Cravens DMU waits to head down the branch:

There were two types of "intermediate" vehicles on the 79xxx sets, one with a toilet at the cab end and one with a van at the cab end. I went for the easier option without the water filler pipes for the toilet. But I did need to add two handrails: The cab end was then sprayed in primer. It looks like I needed to degrease it more first. I used Tamiya Fine Primer: Then a couple of coats of green gloss, this was from a Tamiya TS-9 "British Green" spray can. I'm working with a circa 1969/1970 image when it was in the darker "Loco" shade of green:

For a Scottish layout where DMUs are featured heavily some Swindon-built units would be very appropriate. I'd been looking at the Silver Fox conversions kits for these, and sent them a message in December asking a simple message - no reply. I tried again in January - again no response, so I don't have any faith in doing business with the company and am looking at other options. I have in mind to get a laser cutter which will let me make the sides, but in the meantime I thought I'd have a go a recreating one of the cab fronts. The 'intermediate' cab front on the 79xxx / Class 126 Inter City sets is pretty much a standard coach end with windows and headcodes added. I had some spare Hornby Railroad range Mk1s to use as a test piece. The coach was stripped down and the detailing cut off from the selected end and sanded flat. Looking at images the height of the cab window matches the droplights (later I realised the should be about 1mm higher) so I used tape wrapped round to let me mark the window location on the end. From a large image I printed out I could work out the height / width ratio, making the window 10mm high and 6mm wide. I coloured in the windows to see how they looked before cutting: After cutting out the holes I made the windows themselves, these were from an old CD case. I've numbered them to identify them for fitting later, the label also lets me know which side is outside and top: Next I made the headcode box also from the CD case as the thickness seemed about right. They have a slopped top and here they are glued in place with the gangway on temporarily just to see how it looks:

1963 1963 was the last full year of the "Queen of Scots" Pullman service that ran between Glasgow Queen Street and London Kings Cross. Here we see it in Auchentogle station: Yellow Panels began to appear on a few locos and DMUs in 1962, by 1963 they were much more common. The panel has been applied to this Met-Camm twin seen in Glentogle station:

I note the avoidance of the word locomotive. Fingers crossed for a DMU...?

47569 was a pre-owned Lima loco I picked up from Hattons. Not appropriate for the layout but I don't have a lot of 47s and so I thought it would be good to practice as a repaint into something more useful. I had some 'Andrew Carnegie' etched plates from years ago so 47517 that became the candidate. This is the model before starting. The previous owner had fitted etched plates. After stripping down. It had a factory fitted extra pickup to the un-powered bogie so that was one less job, but the bogies and motor were disassembled and given a good clean (wheels, axles, pickups, armature, brushes). This was going on concurrent with the 104 conversion so I didn't spent time on any detailing. The final model (Railtec transfers were used), not too bad for the minimal effort: I based it on this September 1985 image just after it was named taken by John Baker (spannerman37025 on flickr):

1962 On the mainline we see Haymarket allocated Deltic D9004. It was new in May 1961 and ran unnamed until May 1964. Working the branch is a Class 107. These were the last DMUs to be built at Derby the 26 sets were delivered to the Scottish Region from December 1960 onwards. This is obviously the Bachmann 108 that needs a few changes to make it more Scottish.

1961 A couple of Met-Camms sit in Auchentogle station. The two-car without whiskers, the three-car with. The latter is an out-the-box Lima that will get re-worked at some point. The lining is too yellow, the middle band is too high along the sides. At Glentogle a Class 27 has left its brake van in the loop and reversed the two vans into the sidings where the Hunslet will shunt them into the goods shed. D2592 was not a Scottish loco till 1967 so should be renumbered.

The Class 104 power cars were much delayed as the yellow paint I have is pretty awful. The rail blue is a rattle can and is no problem, the yellow was a rattle can which on the third coat decided to craze down to the plastic. I tried it again, same thing. So I ended up brushing it, but with so many attempts and layers it turned into a bit of a mess... Another time consuming part was the side windows where all the white frames had to be painted blue. I did this by hand without masking, a damp cocktail stick would take off any I got onto the glass. This Humbrol rail blue was pretty see through so it needed three coats. I can't get Railmatch stuff shipped out here. Here's where the three-car set is at now. I'll probably order some of the Westhill buffer beam detailing kits to the outer ends to finish it off. The plastic sheet I used for the cab window looks a little misty, I'll get new stuff for the next one. Overall, for a first attempt I'm very happy with the way it turned out. On a normal viewing distance it looks much better than these harsh closeups. I've learned a few lessons for the next one!

Thank you. There is a small mini fiddle yard missing from the track plan (it would be on the lower right), with two roads long enough for a two-car DMU. This allows a through branch service and room to shunt into the loop and yard.

1960 In the first year of the new decade diesels took over Edinburgh - Aberdeen services. Pairs of 1,160hp BRC&W type 2s would operate the service from the 4th April. Here the service is seen during the stop at Auchentogle: Both locos were new to Hornsey but had been reallocated to Haymarket by the end of May 1960. Meanwhile, the branch was being worked by one of the Cravens sets that had been delivered to the ScR the previous year. I need to change that Kings Cross destination blind!: