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!

Many thanks Jeremy - that was the picture intended

They were a permanent adaptor fitting to the BS gangway Larry - not very portable - guess they swapped the adjacent vehicle. Here's a shot of an adaptor fitted BS Gangway http://www.flickr.co...N06/4370916458/ and one without the adaptor http://www.flickr.co...N06/4370916458/

Hope you meant extended rather than retracted Bruce! Apart from having the buffers on the Pullman gangway fitted vehicle extended, the British Standard Gangway had to be fitted with as Coachmann says an adaptor - this was a permanent addition to the BS Gangway, and comprised an extended faceplate at the top to cover the gap in the height difference between the (taller) Pullman and the (shorter) BS Gangway - of about 3-4". In addition, the BS 'Adaptor' Gangway was fitted with an additional pair of side clips able to connect the two different thicknesses of Gangway Faceplate. It was of course necessary to use the screw coupling form the BS gangway fitted vehicle to connect the two vehicles.

Only if you've not read the title

On the real thing John, the bodyside panels either side of the bodylight were stamped with a flat section about an inch wide over it's height allowing the (flat) glass to sit on a flat portion of the curved bodyside! Not something you could create in plasticard I suspect unless you could create a tool for the job.

And for the hat-trick! I knew I'd put that list somewhere http://www.rmweb.co....t=43523#p661604 Sorry no pre-Mark 1s but a more accurate list than Parkin

The real trick stuart (apart from counting the bodylights) is to look at the roof vents! Now once you've done that you can call yourself a Coaching Stock nerd and join Robert Carroll's BRCS group! Sadly to date there is no definitive list of pre-Mark 1 Scottish Region stock for a few basic reasons - none of the regional Coaching Stock bureau information appears to have survived. With the centralisation in Derby in the Early 1980s went all of the historical records relating to vehicle allocations and shopping, intended to be "computerised" and apparently 99% of it ended up as landfill. What remaining CM&EE records there were, the majority ended up in skips at the back of Buchanan House. A similar situation occurred with the abandonment of the Regional Passenger and Operations managers organisation. Sadly (with hindsight of course) none of the common daily stats and records that we produced by the forest depleting load was ever considered "historical" to the extent that they were offered to BRB for preservation and as such, few have survived even into the hands of enthusiasts. CWN and diagram books offered little in the Scottish Region in the way of clues as to vehicle numbers as unlike the pedantic Southern Region with fixed sets by vehicle numbers, only the vehicle type required was recorded in them. Finding a definitive list is as easy as finding the Ark of the Covenant!

Alan, This link to the old RMweb should answer your first question http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=46732 though it will pay to read it all! Allocation (by prefix) to a Region meant that region was allocated the vehicle for operational use on that regions allocated trains. In the case of the Scottish region, that generally meant purely it's Internal Services (those not venturing over the border) - there were of course exceptions - like special trains originating within the region on advertised excursion trains or enthusiasts specials however almost all of the regular anglo-scottish trains were formed of either E or M prefix stock (route specific of course)! The prefix also meant that region was responsible for the overhaul of these vehicles (generally but not exclusively on that regions workshops) and for the budgeting and costs of those vehicles regular maintenance and servicing. As Chard rightly points out it wasn't unusual to see "other" regions vehicles well off their patch as a result of meeting service contingencies and also the fact that whilst a vehicle may have been transferred, the physical change of prefix could be a long time coming as unlike loco's with their fancy shedplates and depot stickers, coaches were not usually changed till the next trip to the main works. Coaches were only nominally allocated to C&W depots for heavy maintenance and for diagram provision to meet that depots trains, light maintenance however was determined by the diagrammed work hence the reason some of the Eastern and London Midland stock was maintained on the Scottish Region and to that end regional prefix letters were a bit meaningless save for cost attribution.

Suspect Pointing Man has found that missing widget nut Nice work there John - It's a fine change to see scratchbuilding as opposed to the usual bitsa kits and cut n' shut work you see these days!

There doesn't appear to have been that many shots taken from that bridge Brian (wasn't it fenced up at either end in the late 70s, to prevent any "yoofs" getting access to bomb the loco's)? and these days it's another huge shopping complex...... Clear overhead shots of a 27/2 roof at the boiler end seem even rarer - though there are the odd ones - like this http://johnlawontherails.fotopic.net/p35216455.html showing what appears to be the sealed up ports, the remains of the cover "slides" and the centre of the three boiler air vents on one side, then in use as the exhaust port for the Deutz ETH Generator. Unfortunately the 2b's with the wrapround end doors and (particularly) the lack of centre doors in the TSOs and FK make them a little too wide of the mark (no pun intended) for the E&G Mk II(z) or IIa stock. I guess the choice then would be the PRMRP MkIIa's or work on Pete to produce them! The DBSO ground to a halt round about the time our house got partly flooded which kind of got in the way, and I've yet to re-start it - though I am down to the stage of creating the cab and end details otherwise it'll be finished all bar the painting!

I don't know how well you're advanced on the painting front Brian, but here's a nice rather rare clear overhead shot of a 27 taken from the Cunningham Street Bridge over Parliamentary Road above the Tunnel Mouth at Queen Street showing 27109 in it's best weathered style..... http://johnlawonther.../p63317878.html [Edited once I realised the 27 was nearer to the tunnel than I first thought)

Kirkhill certainly is leading the way as Seagulls must be the least researched part of Railway history; When I was on the night shift at St.Rollox we'd annoy the hell out of the sleeping gulls on the roof and the lighting tower by shooting them up with eight inch lengths of old vacuum cylinder rolling rings found lying about the brake shop - no seagulls were really harmed of course, just a bit of bruising and damaged pride at three in the morning. Much later In the five years I was at Aberdeen we had; - One siding closed to traffic whilst the mother sat in the nest between the rails and at least until the young could fly.... - One Seagull that repeatedly built it's nest between the fuel point and by-pass roads despite the Power Cars, 37s & 47s throttling up or idling but a few feet away.... - No roof maintenance on the shed during the breeding season - Regular "Pigeon" shoots - Frequent approaches by snake oil salesmen offering the next generation of bird netting and sound emitters to scare them off (and a plastic bird-of-prey - which really looked like - a plastic bird-of-prey). Sadly it was always GNER 0 Seagulls 15. and a lot of burst black bags. Craigentinny had the best solution - a rather expensive 25kv Depot Electrification scheme - admittedly a bit excessive, but they don't like it up em! Any more pics from the exhibition Graham?

The Seagulls still doing time in Craiginches..........

Great choice Brian, this would be mine; http://diesel-image-gallery.fotopic.net/p48215445.html 5411 before being 27117 / 211 / 065 - as in your own pic http://briandaniels.fotopic.net/p18715052.html All you'll need (apart from the other end), is Pete to produce a Mark II BSO, FK & (4) TSO for you! - getting someone to produce a sound chip with the Deutz engine running could be somewhat problematic never mind the length of track you'll need to run it on! Beware the dreaded ETH jumper minefield! and spot the additional conduit running along the solebar of 5411!

The only fire involving Mark 3 stock we had on the Scottish Region was on an E&G set at Cadder August 1983. Concluded to be caused by a discarded cigarette butt, both adjacent ends of TSOs 12025 & 12029 were extensively damaged in the ensuing fire. Spread of the fire was assisted by the foam gangway units (which were already subject to a modification because they were prone to getting damaged, being damp! and having moss growing on them.... Needless to say the modification programme was somewhat accelerated after that. Back to the OPs question - you could realistically model the scene in the aftermath, if you just simulated the tarpaulins over the (allegedly) fire damaged end and had the vehicle/ssitting in a siding - therefore not having to ruin a good Mark 3, and anyone viewing it can make up their own mind if it's fire or heavy collision damage. All of ours were fairly quickly tarpaulined over as the (naturally) the GMs were deeply concerned that we shouldn't be advertising where things went wrong. For more details of the incident at Cadder (including a photo taken mid-fire by one of the passengers) see http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/DoT_Cadder1983.pdf

Thanks Graham! - How far are you and Glenn going with detailing the interior of the Wheel Lathe Shed? Certainly looks the part.. Cheers,

What there going to produce the 439 Class after all? - jeez that was a curved ball Simon Okay so whose going to tell MRE Mag' that the term is "Caley" not Cale, as in Kail - Cabbage? when referring to the True Line! That wasn't such a bad result though - 7th Overall for the 439 Class..... Another foot in the door!

Without a doubt Graham & Glenn what you've achieved so far is first class. Whilst it good to see the the (prototypically correct) loco's and rolling stock, it's the little things of the depot itself that set aside as quite different to me. It's the attention to small details, that set it apart from being "just another depot" layout (if it ever could be as carriage depots don't get modelled much unfortunately). Some of the particualrly good features are the representation of the "battery ends" with all the usual clutter of ETS and ETH cables, and also the cleaning and tanking equipment - the right coloured hoses - with collars (that were supposed to be yellow but were often not) with the ends in the sterlisation containers..... One thing I didn't notice - it's probably one of Glenns (apologies Graham if it wasn't) - but the BRUTES on one of the platform roads, have the sleeper linen in the large white bulk carrier bugs sitting in them - Nice touch.... Add to these the shed in the correct colours for a Scottish Region Carriage/HST Depot. There's too much to mention to be honest other than these wee points but it's suffice to say it looks JLTRT! - p.s. where have you parked our Blue Astra Van or the Depot Managers blue 309? p.s. (when you get bored with it, how about adding a digicam pointing up the shed with a live video link to a "public facing" flat screen monitor for the punters too see the sets arriving in the shed! (okay it's a bit extreme)

Thought you would sneak that one in under the wire to see if we are paying attention? - a Ground Wheel Lathe Where did that come from - totally missed that one in the past. Hope it'll contain a scale Hegenscheidt lathe (c/w Hegenscheidt Engineer flown in to fix it)!

Thanks Chard......Still not managed to make a start on it - slightly (an excuse will do) delayed by getting partially flooded in November past thanks to the small river at the back of our house (normally 6-12" deep) becoming a 7-8ft deep torrent.......fortunately most of our house is upstairs but access this week was by a ciuple of the builders planks. Okay excuses over. Still torn between this and the somewhat more local but bigger station at Stonehaven - still on the Glasgw-Aberdeen main line but about 35 miles further North and the ability to legitimately run East Coast expresses from Edinburgh and all point South with impunity. Failing that I've a fall back position of something entirely fictional still in the same area but like Dave the Dog using all the best bits! Oh and there's the small matter of a 2010 challenge to build when I can develop all or any of the nonsense in my head I've in mind for it. This is to be my Chinese year of the Layout - where I'll actually build enough to run the stock I have......A shunting Plank would do

Having spent a good part of my life part-time (and for a while full time) restoring old (Scottish) hand built bicycles I can at least tell you what "Chromatic" paint was...... First of all - what it wasn't - a metallic finish. Chromatic paint finishes were very popular either side of WW2 specifically from around 1937, and later from 1951 on. The finish was originally achieved by applying translucent coloured cellulose paint or lacquer over the steel frame having been first nickel plated. The effect of this was that the colours appeared to have greater depth as the nickel plating shone through the translucent paint and appeared to change in intensity in different light. Post war the big manufacturers like Raleigh adapted the same process for volume production, and produced a similar finish for the masses by painting the translucent colour over a bright silver base (paint) coat instead of the more expensive nickel plating, and later the finish was referred to as "Flamboyant". It's not that difficult to spot the finish, as it appears (no matter what the colour) to have a bright silvery tinge when looked at in different lights and from some angles. Now whether Hymek's or any early blue diesels were painted as such, I have my doubts however I wouldn't be surprised if the name had been adopted by the enthusiasts of the time..... Just to illustrate what the finish looked like - here's an unrestored 1937 machine in (Poly)chromatic Green.... p.s. And no Gwiwer, I didn't think they nickel plated the Hymeks but fire away if you want to repaint any of yours - I'll send the spec for the painters

Great photo Graham - you've managed to capture the (literally) bleached brewers hoses well - especially the later photo of the end sitting in the drum complete with it's plywood collar.... These wee details are often difficult to capture however you (both) have managed it, and it makes all the difference! Just remember the majority of hoses (except those on the fuel point) were the orange brewers hose, as you never knew where the catering cars were going to end up positioned, so they just made them all orange in the sidings! Have you managed to source 4mm propane bottles? p.s. It's nothing like Aberdeen............................ There's no bl@@dy seagulls nesting in the four foot or on the roof of the shed waiting to doo upon the unwary......

Here you go Dave http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete2.php?id=13456