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Bob Reid

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  1. Bob Reid
    Works started at last in firming up the baseboard. The trackwork is "customised" Peco Code 75 - customised by having the outer edges of the sleepers cut back to the edge of the chairs. All of the rails within the carriage shops were flush and level with the road surfaces necessitating in the case of the model, bringing the level of the baseboard up to the that of the rail. This was done by using a layer of 3.5mm cork, followed by a layer/s of fine surface filler. Cutting back the chairs allowed the cork to be brought within a few mill of the rail edge and reducing the amount of filler required to bridge the gap. The four foot was filled using strips of card.


    Prior to the trackwork being laid, all of the (Peco) pits were installed on both sides of the traverser. The traverser pit itself was framed in 10mm x 10mm 'L' section aluminium strip - mainly to ensure that the long edges of the pit remain parallel to each other. Final after the trackwork was laid, droppers for power were installed on each road (though these have not been covered over at this stage)

    Also positioned were the main roof pillars. These are to be constructed using brass sections with some yet to be made resin tops however in the interim to make laying out of the structures etc. temporary plastic tubes have been slotted into the baseboard holes.Also added (in the form of a thin plywood box)! is the presently undecorated lift shaft. Glasgow Works had a huge expanse of underground storage, built below the carriage & carriage list shops;


    During the late 60s modernisation of the works, lifts were added for bringing the materials up to where they were needed, the one being modelled of course was located in the carriage shop.

    Finally a view with some stock in place! Problem now for me is resisting the urge to both lengthen and widen the boards. Oh for another 2m!
    Bob. (p.s. No prizes for spotting the Diag 97 RMB.....)!
  2. Bob Reid
    Work progresses slowly on the main baseboard, with the track cut to (rough) size - waiting a decision on the traverser! All of the baseboard surrounding the track and pits has been raised to (almost) rail level using 3.5mm cork. Pictures later in the week once I've more "features" to point out however in the interim;
    The following couple of photographs were obtained from the original photographer (with thanks to Mr Barr) and were of particular interest to me having been taken around my time there - if perhaps a little earlier;
     
    This first one shows the carriage shop taken from the rear of the area that I'm modelling, looking towards the Carriage Lift shop in the distance (keen observers will spot the E&G DMU vehicle I'm sure) - probably taken about 1972 ;
     

    This second shows the Paint Shop Traverser (incorrectly labelled on the original photograph) and although I'm not modelling this one, I've included it show some of the production processes.
     
    Bob
  3. Bob Reid
    In one of the previous entries to the blog, a question arose about the somewhat unique lifting traverser (most are for "traversing" sideways! only) that was installed between the Carriage and Carriage Lift shop at Glasgow Works. Pictures of it do not appear too often however having first run this past Andy.Y these images were taken from old BREL Glasgow Works pamphlets.


    There were three traversers in the Caley, one outside of the carriage shop, one within the paint shop and this, the only one inside the main workshops. The difference with this particular one, built by John Boyd Ltd of Annan, was that it was a lifting traverser equipped with two lifting frames complete with four electric driven hoists at each end (the frames containing each pair of hoists were adjustable along fixed rails according to the length of vehicle). In total the lifting capacity was 70 Tons and far in excess of the heaviest vehicles they encountered. Vehicles being brought onto the traverser were drawn down from the main (No.1) entrance road by an electric winch using a long steel rope. The winches can be seen on the deck of the traverser at the nearest end of the coach. Once on the traverser the vehicle was disconnected from its bogies allowing them to be run out from below and taken for overhaul. The bogies were then replaced with higher than normal ‘service bogies’ (putting the underframe about five feet above the ground). The service bogies can be seen under the vehicle on the traverser and a spare is seen sitting to the left of it. Once the service bogies were in place, the traverser was moved to the next free road in the Carriage Lift shop and the vehicle drawn off the traverser by running the steel winch cable out and around the nearest capstan and back onto the vehicle. Note the large beam above the traverser in the photo is not part of the traverser itself. When it was installed, to gain enough space for the traverser pit, the old Caledonian Railway cast iron roof columns had to be cut away and these beams used (along with additional end columns) to provide the necessay roof support.
     

    This shot of the other side of the traverser shows the console on which the operator sat and controlled it. Needless to say he supported Scotland!
     
    Modelling the traverser should be interesting to say the least. Perhaps the easiest way would be to modify the Heljan unit and add the lifting frame to it. Whether or not I’ll try and make the hoists work is a bit of an unknown at this stage!
     
    Bob
  4. Bob Reid
    You know the script with tribute bands like The Bootleg Beatles – kind of like the real thing but not quite! Well this “working diorma†is in essence a bootleg B.R.E.L. Glasgow Works /St.Rollox / “The Caley†(if you’re a local), specifically part of the Carriage and Carriage Lift Shop complete with the unique within BREL, lifting traverser sat square in the middle, set in the years 1974 to 1979.
     
    The “not quite†bit is down to it being almost half the width with half the roads of the original, but with all the bits in it that I can remember. Why 1974 to 1979? Well that’s when I served my apprenticeship there as a coachbuilder working for BREL at a time when on the Scottish Region Mark 2f stock was the epitomy of style and we’d only seen Mark 3s in railway magazines. Coupled to that there was still a steady turnaround of pre-nationalisation stock for us apprentices to learn on.
     
    Carriage repair and overhaul at Glasgow Works was carried out in two main areas - the Carriage Shop, and the Carriage Lift Shop - all the bodywork, fitting out of the interior and exterior was carried out in the Carriage Shop, and all of the bogie and underframe work, was carried out in the Lift Shop. Both areas were split either side of a lifting traverser. In this somewhat compact version, this will still be the case with a separate (4 road) platformed area fitted out for the carriage work on two vehicles per road, and part of the lift shop, again 4 roads, two of which have centre pits. Two roads exit the Carriage Shop again via the traverser, one of which I'll be placing the ETH flash testing compound, followed by a high level roof access platform, and on the remaining road, full length side and centre pits.
     
    At the moment the (main) board is constructed as a basic 3-wall shell and awaits being "fitted out" in an industrial scenic sense (I'm modelling the interior only). The '00' gauge trackwork is cut to length but not fitted, and the pits have been assembled. Not much to show at the moment - though hopefully the pictures will offer some clues.
     



    So there you have it. On the 5th of August 1974 I started working at the Caley – apart from that not much else important happened – except I guess Nixon releasing the Watergate Tapes!
  5. Bob Reid
    Coming from the Scottish central belt you get used to the obliteration of track formations and structures caused by "progress" - goodness knows what some of the property developers would have done without the BR Property Boards once vast portfolio of redundant trackbeds and yards. The downside of this "progress" is that much of the recognisable railway has progressively disappeared over the years. Move out of the Edinburgh-Glasgow corridor north-eastwards (in our case by 125 miles) and it's incredible the difference it makes.
     
    Whilst over the last two years I've wandered here and there up and down for a location for a layout, never really settling on a location, it became obvious that much of what I was after was on our (literal)! doorstep. One prospective candidate was Auldbar Road on the Caledonian main line between Forfar and Guthrie Junction. The line closed in 1967, and though the station closed in the 1950s a surprising amount still remains - almost all still exists (if a little overgrown) bar the wooden station buildings and of course the track and signals! The original stationmasters house remains, and adjacent to that, Auldbar Road signalbox, functioning as a private outbuilding these days, but looking better than it did in the early 60s when it was then a "redundant" BR asset.
     

     
    Perhaps you can see why I'm inspired to use this location for a layout.
     
    For more info on this section of the Caledonian main line to Aberdeen I'd thoroughly recommend The Arbroath & Forfar Railway by Niall Ferguson published by The Oakwood Press
     
    Bob
  6. Bob Reid

    My Blog evolves.....

    By Bob Reid,

    You know, when Rmweb3 appeared, I really couldn't get my head round how to fit in layouts and workbenches in the old sense to this new environment. First I tried dumping all the old workbench topic I had directly into the new blog format, then I added a couple of updates...... Then it fell apart at that point! No reactions from anybody but the odd soul (sorry Max, your not that old) who follow my wanderings, no real indication of whose actually reading the thing (if only to make it all seem worthwhile) anyway the light went on last week when I noticed how much more "interactivity" of the type I was happy with there was for those who created separate topics (as opposed to blogs) for their layouts and workbenches. So this is the format I've arrived at;
     
    I'll create separate conventional topics for my 4mm Layout (in it's MkIV iteration) and individual workbenches for my Rolling Stock work.
     
    The "Blog" will just be a regular diary of my wanderings around the Scottish region, in model and protoype form, with more "magazine" like short articles on what I come across - on anything railway orientated that takes my fancy....
     
    If you would like to contribute to this and pass comment please do - This is perhaps not what Andy Y intended for this medium however it's at least one I'll be comfortable with
     
    Bob
  7. Bob Reid
    Just to maintain some kind of continuity, this link is to the pages I previously cobbled together on the old site. Okay I could copy them over however fresh start what
     
    Bob's Carriage Shop - JLTRT 7mm Mark 2f DBSO
     
    To be followed by a bringing up to date series of articles....(for which there are lots) honest!
    __________________________________________
  8. Bob Reid
    There's plenty of photographs of Glasgow Works / St.Rollox but usually involving locomotives and rarely of Loco-Hauled Stock, NPCCS, DMU's or EMU's in the Carriage Shops....
     
    One person who did take some however was Brian Daniels to whom I'm grateful for allowing me the use of these shots;
     

    View looking East to the end of No.6 Road in the carriage shop - usual Met-Camm in for a bit of bodywork and one of the many to get the rainwater strip removed and replaced with full length aluminium alloy gutters under the refurbishment programme. The platforms were not usually that untidy - doubt the labourers were having an off day.

    Each carriage shop platform road could accommodate up to two 70ft+ vehicles accessible on both sides. This EMU is sitting at the opposite end of one of the roads to the DMU shown above.

    This class 303 vehicle is sitting at the opposite end of the carriage shop within the works on the approach to the traverser. Of particular interest in the foreground is a brake test trolley which enabled the operation of the vehicles brakes to be tested as if from a loco, but using the works static air supply. Also note in the bottom right of the photo. one of the capstans for pulling vehicles off the traverser using a long steel rope and winch - held on to the vehicle by a steel hook and a lot of willpower!
     
    If anyone else has photo's of the carriage and carriage lift shop, I'd much appreciate seeing them!
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