Flood

Right then seeing as it's now the 24th of May I think it's time for...... Happy 1st birthday to Aberdeen Kirkhill To celebrate this wonderful occasion, and the fact that we didn't have many photos taken at the exhibition, I took my camera to Glenn's on Saturday to get some photos outside. Now they probably would have looked very good with real sunlight but the sun was so strong that it started to warp the plasticard on the shed and the cleaning platforms so we had to very quickly move the layout into the shade. Luckily no permanent damage has been done but it was a close run thing. So there now follows quite a few photos of the layout, some of which you can only achieve when it is partially dis-assembled. Somebody who's good with photoshop could make these look even better. Wheel lathe and sub-station Wheel lathe CET point Gas store and portakabin Carriage cleaners and shed Office and battery end View along cleaning platforms Overall view with push-pull (and seagulls!) Push-pull 08 leaving the shed Sleeper from footpath Overall view with HST Towards Wellington Road bridge Towards the bridge with corner of Supervisor's office

Thanks for the compliments as always. I've never seen a photo of one of the ScotRail BGs on any other train apart from the Glasgow to Aberdeen push-pulls. I asked Glenn on Saturday as he was at Haymarket during 1985/86 and he says he never saw one on any other service either. I'm not saying that they never were but with there only being five of them and three rakes needed per day it would only have been on the odd occasion (if ever).

Well the morning after and it all seems so far away. Apart from a few small issues with the uncouplers (and a 47 that ran away) the exhibition was thoroughly enjoyable for us and hopefully the paying public. We've had offers from a number of other exhibitions but I won't say any more until all details are confirmed (some will be in more like 2012 rather than next year). We've also had a very interesting chat to one of the current monthly modelling magazines and we will be following up on that as soon as we can as well. All in all it seems to have been a great success. Many thanks to the organisors for inviting us; Steve, Alex and Richard for all their help; Glenn for putting up with me and especially all the members of the public for their interest and comments (apart from the person who asked Glenn if it was part of a larger layout, nuff said).

What like this?

Now that's turned out really well.

Quality photos as always Steve. If the weather looks decent one weekend we'll have to set up the layout in Glenn's back garden.

Thanks Dave, try and pop by if you can. I tell ya this exhibition lark is very draining, only got back home at twenty past ten and I've still got to make some dinner. Those seagulls kept trying to fly off and raid the neighbours' bins! Pesky things. Well the points all work, as do the lights and we've had an 08 and a 37 trundling around so far (talking of which...) We look forward to seeing as many people as possible over the weekend. We're in the smaller hall to the right as you walk down past the pay desks. A big thank you to everyone on RMweb for all the kind comments over the last few months, they've certainly kept both of us perked up and glad all the effort has been worth while.

Anyway, once I've pushed all the chaff out of the way.... I know how much you've all been waiting for these. I would have posted this at lunch time but I ran out of time before going to work. They'll be flying over to Kirkhill on Friday, ready to be roosting on Saturday.

That's excellent Bob, thanks. The seagulls are being painted and will be on the layout in time for the weekend.

Never a problem, go for it.

Thanks as always. The quality of those last three photos is very poor, Glenn has taken some but I haven't got copies yet. One week until the exhibition. We now have some carriage cleaners and the seagulls are being painted. Glenn has had considerable problems with the cladding peeling off the Wheel Lathe shed but that now appears to be solved. Also some drama with the lighting towers but I am awaiting correspondence before commenting further on that issue. A few small details may have to be left off for next week, we'll see how it all pans out. Ramrig will hopefully be taking some more photos at the exhibition so we'll post them after the event. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible next weekend.

The original vacuum braked rake was replaced in about 1989/1990. The photo of the observation car from k9-70 is from the later rake, all the other photos are the original rake.

More changes over the last weekend - mainly being the newly arrived lighting towers. Apologies for my phone camera!

Cue bagpipes blasting out "The Engine Room" as the trip gets under way. On a different note I have been informed that the three lighting towers from Express Models have been sent 1st Class post (should arrive tomorrow, i.e today ) and, to quote from Glenn, "The Seagulls Have Landed". Bit of luck we've got two free days this weekend to get even more work done - now to get on fotopic and find some photos of seagulls.

Another marathon day which started at eleven o'clock and finished for me about 15 mins ago (Glenn is still working). Apart from a break for lunch it's been 8 hours of making and fitting Kadee couplings to 20 coaches for me (plus a rest when I added some data panels to a couple of locos) and the same length of time for Glenn who has been wiring up a block detector and making the wiring that goes to the lighting at the far end of the layout neater. Board 4 is now totally finished, including the first of the lights for the C.E.T point and while the dinner is cooking Glenn is now doing the remaining C.E.T lights on board 5 and extending the lighting wiring to board 6. As per the two photos below I remember someone once said that for DCC you only need two wires Ok, strictly speaking the DCC is only two wires, then there's the point motors, block detection, layout lighting and the uncouplers.

Both Kirkhill and Nobbs End are DCC so you'll have to chat to Alan and see which loco he can spare. Either that or hire a Peak from Justin.

The interior was being looked at by Glenn's friend Ian but he has had no time at all of late so basically there hasn't been anything made interior wise. We had a discussion about possibly converting a rolling road but that was months ago so we'll have to get our heads together and work out the best solution. I can safely say that we won't have a wheel lathe for May!

Excellent job you've made of those coaches Dave. Luckily for me and Glenn we don't have to put any passengers in our stock!

The depot shed and the wheel lathe shed are both made from 4 mm plywood. I've posted the following photos on the blog already but that was a while ago so I'll show them again here. Normal wood glue used to glue it all together. The depot was then sprayed in Halfords primer just so it was an overall grey colour for the October exhibition. Evergreen metal siding plastic card used for the upper panels and Slaters brick plasticard used for the lower brickwork, both these stuck onto the plywood using Bostick. Evergreen roofing and Bostick for the roof. The depot building was sprayed in primer over everything except the brickwork and then the upper panels were sprayed blue (couple of coats). The brickwork is painted in Humbrol rail grey enamel, left to dry thoroughly and then over painted in Humbrol matt 32 which is wiped off to leave the dark grey mortar. The windows had the edges scribed on using a small screwdriver and were then painted white and rubbed off. I used acrylic which was a real pain, in future I'll stay with using enamels for the paint and wipe method. The window edges are the thin strips you get with the Evergreen roofing sheets. These are glued where the supports are in the wooden structure so you can't see any frosting of the plasticard.

Just for Bob, photo hot off the press from this evening. Just goes to show that Glenn works even when he's on holiday. Note: this is at the elusive far end of the layout, rarely seen by people except at exhibitions or home visits! With the wheel lathe shed being added and the scenery currently being extended this far down you can now expect to see more photos of this half of the layout.

I'm sure we'd love to have a good travel round but as Derby is our first major exhibition we've only managed to publisize the layout on RMweb so far so no offers from further afield. We'll be at the mini Midlands RMweb open day in July and back at Mickleover in October. As long as we feel the layout is up to scratch in May we'll probably start actively promoting after that. I'll have a chat with Glenn, and most probably the guys from Farkham, to work out the best plan of action. Naturally I keep you all informed on here. BTW thanks for the praise, always appreciated.

More work yesterday i.e. Saturday (plus a play in the evening, got to make sure the schedule works). I've finished off two more portable battery chargers, finished the gas cylinder store, painted and fixed some propane, R22 refrigerant and acetylene cylinders and made an electric barrow for the full bin bags to be carried on. Glenn has been having huge fun with flock, static grass, horse hair and numerous other scenic items and all this for half the length of the layout. On the other half he has now added relief to the front in insulation foam, polyfillered it and painted it ready to be flocked etc over this next week. No time for masses of photos but I was very impressed with Glenn's scenery so I dug out a 37 to keep everyone happy and took a couple of snaps on Glenn's 'phone camera. ...only 34 days to go.

OMG! :icon_wow: Only 38 days, eeek! ...and Ramrig has updated his status! What's going on here? I thought you were a fully paid up ludite?

First of all I'll keep Glenn happy. I thought that everyone would have had enough of shore supplies but I know have much work you put into these so hopefully I've found the right photo. Now to answer Rob's query. In the old days when fotopic used to work all the time finding the reference photos would have been easy. Page 1 of this thread has a picture from Bob showing a Mk2c FK after it hit the battery end. This has a good view of the control box for the loco hauled stock. This control box is very low, probably in a hole made a previous occasion the shunter didn't stop in time. A good view of a portable battery charger, the platform sockets and some hoses at Craigentinny can be seen here. The thread on old RMweb had another of Bob's photos showing a permanent battery charger (link, just over half way down the page). The concrete apron and the pipe in the background are the Controlled Emission Toilet discharge area for the Mk3a Sleepers. Finally Bob sent me a link for a photo showing the shore supplies currently at Aberdeen (not taken by him). You would have to ask him direct about that photo but this one can be clicked on to be made bigger. It shows a junction box by the base of the lighting gantry support with a new style control box right next to it (in aluminium). There are four sets of this combination in the photo. Nowadays only one type of control box is used, in the 1980s loco hauled stock and HSTs had different shore supply control boxes. The loco hauled style is as stated above, the HST style was exactly like the new style but painted yellow in the old days. You'll notice both types on roads 1 and 2 on our layout. Also seen in the background by the sleeper rake are the yellow drums with hose coils and these are also between the roads where the lighting gantry support is. All this should get you on the right track. Don't forget that every depot had slight differences anyway.