has taken me a while but i said i would upload some plans to give an idea of what im trying to achieve. well here we go, hopefully the photos are the right way up this time...
first image tries to give an impression of how the whole thing fits together. there are effectively three scenic sections representing Greenhill Upper and Lower junctions, Cowlairs Junction and Eastfield, and Glasgow Queen Street. There are two completely independent fiddle yards underneath the Cowlairs, Eastfield and GQS sections each with 15 tracks. Each fiddle yard contains a reversing loop so trains dont need to be handled, especially important given access is somewhat tight! there are a number of links between various exits of the scenic sections and each fiddle yard providing some interesting timetabling potential! The fiddle yards are fully laid and wired and the link lines with some interesting junctions, flyovers and gradients are all laid waiting connection to scenic sections.
the second image shows a schematic of Greenhill Upper and Lower junctions. these are nearly completely laid and wired. as stated in earlier post all track is Exactoscale concrete FB for main lines, C&L wooden sleeper bullhead for loops and sidings. Pointwork mostly Tillig for simplicity although there are 2 C&L kits in there too for the sidings. Points are powered by Tortoises.
finally, i have the plan for Glasgow QS and Cowlairs / Eastield all marked out, points all bought and wired awaiting installation but have not yet started track laying on this section. This will be Peco points with Exactoscale concrete, C&L wooden track. Have fallen out of love with Tillig points to be honest and for the difference in price the Peco are going to be an acceptable compromise. This and the fact there is not enough clearance for Tortoises under this section due FY under which has lead me to shallower Peco PM option.
As you can probably guess, some way to go yet but i should be able to play trains on the Greenhill part pretty soon which will be a milestone :-).
Aim eventually is to try to represent the wide variety of traffic through this area around late 1980s onwards. Freight is my main interest and currently building up stock to represent:
Petroleum block trains from Grangemouth to Mossend
Speedlink from Grangemounth, Inverness, Aberdeen, Stirling, Fort William and Oban to Mossend
Container traffic in more recent era to/from Grangemouth and North
Coal trains to Longannet that now take this route
+ a few fictional ones (what if steel from Ravenscraig was exported through Grangemouth Docks for processing in Sweden and this saved Ravenscraig?)
Additionally I have far too many engineering wagons and will represent sleeper services coming up from dividing at Mossend and also on WHL along with DMUs or Sprinters to / from Cumbernauld and Falkirk and Dunblane and of course the Edinburgh-Glasgow push pulls...