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I hope all rm webbers are having a great christmas. As the weather was dry I took the opportunity to put the relevant boards outside to show progress to date with the new extension. 4 boards virtually complete in terms of woodwork and the 5th being worked on which will be where the mainline goes off the main boards. Only another corner board, a straight split board (ie getting me backup to fiddle yard height)and various fiddle yards themselves(and all associated legs for the complete extension) to construct prior to thinking about laying track. Off work for a week so should get some movement over the next few days. The gap on the corner board is for the viaduct. Max

Brilliant. Video really shows the work you have put into this project. Have followed this since the beginning and comparing it to my own loading tower. The detail of the mechanical doors etc that you have built are way beyond my skills. Mine of course is manually loaded through a chute. Interesting to see your more 'even' loading of each wagon compared to those on The Maxwell Colliery Loading Point which is very much dependant on the skills of the operator. Keep up with the updates. Max

Artizen - the layout that has been exhibited to date is based on the first plan (and will be at Railex NE in Tyneside next August)attached but these boards are for a much bigger extension to be complete in time for Model Rail Scotland 2015!! Plan for that also attached. Hope this explains what is going on? Max max colliery load short plan001.pdf Proposed Plan for Model Rail 2015 001.pdf

Family matters meant that I did not get to the Falkirk Show (seems like a good one from all reports) but I did manage to get some work done on the layout between outings. Laid out the first 4 extension boards externally to see how they looked then today spent time on the first corner board and finished the supports for the track bed up to the viaduct on both sides. Next week i hope to get this board finished and move onto the next straight one. Lots to do and not a lot of time to do so!! Max

another weekend of working on extension boards. 2 now complete to basic standard ie end pieces, sides, track plywood base and relevant supports off base frame. The second board is the one that will have the junction off to the 'original maxwell colliery' - refer previous post re proposed plan of all extension boards. Next board is a corner board and will have a viaduct so that will be fun to arrange timber for that!! Another update in a couple of weeks. photos should the 2 new boards together, the proposed track arrangement at proposed junction and complete 2nd board. Max

more work today on 1st extension board inclding finishing mid supports, fitting ply track bed, some cork underlay, outside edge plywood and connecting up 2nd board to establish end piece to match 1st board etc. Max

the base frames for the 4 straight extension boards and 2 corner boards are now build - just the split board that connects to the main fiddle yard to construct (and all additional fiddle yards etc) - and today I started on the 1st extension board in terms of end pieces, the mid supports and the track bed plywood.Pictures attached. only 15 months to they all have to be complete! Max

Cathcart is over and all boards are back in store as work must progress rapidly on the various extension boards planned for the SECC in 2015. As usual damage occured after show - the current end board was not secured properly in the van (down entirely to myself) and as it was on its end it fell over. While there was not much damage, a 'horse' lost its life, and my pride an joy (the telegraph poles and wires) suffered the worst so superglue to the ready as soon as. I was pleased with the comments re the layout some of which are noted under the Cathcart Show Topic The only outing at present next year is Railex NE at the end of August. Max

Given the work I have set myself for the extension to the layout for February 2015, I have now got 5 base frames build for the main boards - refer attached picture. I have attached photos of the lining paper template and the proposed track layout of the main boards. The various hidden sidings etc will be built last - refer previous posting with total layout proposal. The 5 base frames built will commence from the board that currently has the farm buildings - these can be seen on previous picture postings. Anyone who hasn't seen the layout please come along to the Cathcart Model Railway Show at Pollockshaws Burgh Hall the last weekend of the month. Mad Max

Legend - thank you for your comments. They are appreciated and spur me on for the next boards. Max

Now that the Bonnybridge Show has gone (and thanks to all those that made positive comments re the layout at the show), the boards etc are back in store until the last weekend in the month when they will re-appear at the Cathcart Show (at Pollockshaws Burgh Hall) in Glasgow. While we had no major problems at the show some minor damage to the last fiddle yard board took place as we took the boards out the van - refer attached photo. However, as I was on holiday yesterday, the damage has been repaired. I have attached some pics of the layout from the show. In the interim, I now need to make a serious start to the new boards for the extension for Model Rail 2015. More to follow. Max

Mark - sorry you could not make it but family must come first. My club members were sure a jet was landing everytime a 56 came down the line. 56127 was stalling all over the place - need to look at those contacts - and was dispatched quickly back to Ayr Depot!! Despite setting up the 2 37s at the same settings they were playing push-pull with each other and I decided to run them individually. The 2 class 56s I tried on Sunday morning failed as they buffer locked on the curves due to the 3 link couplings and were also seperated!!

Puffmeister - thank you very much for your comments. They are greatly appreciated. I know the layouts not child friendly (although a few did watch the trains running through the countryside disappearing in and out of the cuttings) but I do enjoy operating it (as do my fellow club members although they thought at times a plane was landing giving the noise the class 56s were making). Pity you can't make Cathcart. Keep an eye on progress about to commence on the extension for Model Rail 2015. Max

As it is noted in the programme of this years show which has just taken place, I can now state that the Maxwell Colliery Loading Point will be heading south of the border for the 1st time next August (2014) to attend Railex NE at North Shields. Max

Ken - the normal procedure at Renstrie (more commonly known as Ravenstruther)if the loco/s were at the tower end when they arrived which was standard for trains arriving from the south ie from the Carstairs direction (and at the now demolished Knockshinnoch), was the train was loaded as the empty hoppers were pulled through first time and then after the loco/s had run round the train, the wagons would be topped up on the way out. At Renstrie (if the train was arriving from the north ie from Mossend etc) and the train was backed through the loader, it would still be loaded initially and then topped up after the loco had run round and pushed the wagons back through a second time. I trust this is of use. Max

its been a long time since there were any postings re the layout however I am currently working on scenic items on the layout that were not complete when it made its debut last September at Ayr and that includes 4 lighting units. The layout is out twice in October - Bonnybridge on the 5th and 6th and then Cathcart (actually Pollockshaws) on the 26th and 27th so its all hands to the pumps. The layout will be in the back hall at Bonnybridge and the main hall at Pollockshaws and on both occasions, the layout will be under my club - The Glasgow and West Of Scotland MRC - banner rather than under my name. Next August the layout will be venturing over the border for the first time. as if I didn't have enough to work on, the layout should be representing my club at Model Rail Scotland 2015 at the SECC and it is my intention to add a lot of additional boards - refer to the attached pdf. Of course we still need approval from the Show Organisers. The intention is to allow some trains to be run on the double track mainline while a train is loaded at the tower and another train can use the single line and take the branch before the tower (to the single track fiddle yard) which represents the actual Maxwell Colliery original line. As the layout is set in South Ayrshire, part of the scenery will include a segment of a golf course given how many golf courses there are in the area. All the new boards, electrics and scenery will have to be complete in just 18 months. Now you know why they call me Mad Max!!!!! Max Model Rail 2015 Plan 001.pdf

here are a selection of photos of my layout at its debut at the Ayr Show over the weekend. The first 3 photos show the layout from above - the first the overall arrangement, the second the scenic boards and the third a close up of the single line from the tower to the fiddle yard. Others show various points on the layout and the various locomotives that were used. Apologies for the quality of some of the pics. One of the pics show one of my operators filling the wagons from the back of the tower - a simple job as my guest DEMU/Scottish Modellers operators including Mrdblue17, Mike Bartle and Beeralston will testify!!!! They all didn't hang around too long to load much more than 1 train - don't know why!! some loading was undertaken better by some than others and some of the last photos clearly show that the tower was running low on coal stocks by the end of the weekend!! in some of the photos, you will see coal scattered around either end of the loading tower. None of that was placed - it all came from the wagons where they had been overfilled and it simply fell off - just like the real thing. a big thanks to Stephen Cunningham of Ayr who gave the invite to attend that show. Thanks also to Stephen, Mike Bartle and Rodders of Ayr MRG for the help they gave at times leading up to the show - Rodders finished painting the tower 30 minutes before the public appeared on Saturday morning, Stephen again for the loan of his class 20s and 37s and Scottish Modeller for weathering the inside of a few of the MGR's - they looked great. Thanks also to my colleagues in the Glasgow and West of Scotland MRC for their asistance in etting up, taking down and operating and Archie Brown in particuar for assistance with some parts of the layout. lastly thanks for the kind comments about the layout on RMWeb and at the show. It does make the effort worthwhile. My tic toc clock is firmly locked a way for a few months but hopefully I may get asked to exhibit the layout elsewhere so it may yet make a further appearance as I finish a few jobs that remain incomplete, enhance the layout in areas and build proper exhibition lighting. Max

Well its all over!!. The Maxwell Colliery Loading Point made its debut this weekend at the Ayr Model Railway Show. A good time was had by all and the layout worked well given it had never been put together as one prior to the show. It was back home and stored up by 6 20pm given I only stay some 5 minutes from the show venue. While Phil Holman has shown a couple of shots of it under the Ayr Show post in Exhibitions, I will post more tomorrow as I am off work for the day. Some of the DEMU/Scottish Modellers team had a go at filling the trains - it was that easy!!! While the layout has no other definite outings, hopefully it will be at Bonnybridge and Cathcart next year and is penciled in for Model Rail Scotland 2015!! Any other requests for exhibitions will be gratefully considered. Max

after months of trails and tribulations, the time has arrived and the Maxwell Colliery Loading Point sits in the Citadel at Ayr awaiting the viewing public. The layout went together fairly well given it has never been together before (only bits of it). Some minor jobs to undertake tomorrow morning. some seriously good layouts on display including Rannoch Moor, Hunterston, Hazelbank and of course the new layout from Ayr MRG. tomorrows operating will see how we do although tonites trial loading run proved how difficult it will be to ensure more coal ends up in the wagons and not in the catch tray under the board and that the coal is evenly spread throughout each wagon!! some pics tomorrow. if you are coming along please say hello. Max

now less than 3 weeks to the debut of this layout. Tic, Toc, Tic, Toc!!!! Have been working today on developing the end supports to link 2 boards together for transporting to the Ayr Show. While the boards will lay on their sides with the formed wood structure bolted on to each end at 2 locations to each board (utilising the 2 out of the 3 holes on the end of each board which form the connection between boards) and utilising the same bolts that will join each board, I discovered that put vertically, they actually take less room (useful in terms of the shed space required). Boards 1 and 4 will be joined and 3 and 5 joined in this way. The corner board (2) and the last board (6) will remain single! Photos show boards 1 and 4 together standing vertically, a typical board end support - the wholes for the bolts still to be drilled out (they sit in between the various screws) and the end support attached with the bolt in place - seems pretty secure for lifting. Regarding the 1st picture, there is no bowing of the wood I can assure you. Its an optical illusion! Now need to get the 2 signals wired, the broken wiring fixed, the loading tower finished and weathered, the locos renumbered and perhaps weathered, the stock weathered, the backscenes completed etc etc etc and everything else on my to do list. Tic, Toc, Tic Toc. Max

thanks for the comments to date. now 30 days to go to this layouts debut at the Ayr Show - tic, tic, tic. Have had a few days off real work and have been working away like a beaver but the list of things to do within 4 weeks appears to be getting longer (not shorter) as each day goes by!!!! Have also been working on the loading tower itself and the 'concrete' base around same. Have attached a few shots showing the backscene and the method of pouring the coal into the tower. Yesterdays demo run (with assistance from my model railway club colleague - Archie Brown - who was planting a few weeds and plants around - on the layout of course) did not go quite as well as it had done previously. The support for the 'hidden conveyor belt' is not quite right (and not yet finished) and I hope to modify it but that will be a last minute item if I have time. The idea for this is the similar support and the now demolished Knockshinnoch loader - refer photo. Other boards have been worked on and the double track entry boad to the fiddle yard needs a little tidying up but is almost complete although the signals need to be wired up. Rather disappointingly I have discovered today that a number of my droppers to the bus wire have parted company from the bus wire itself on a number of boards and these will need to be reconnected and resoldered. No explanation for this but has just added another item to the list of things to do. Hope to get more photos of the other boards - weather permitting - this weekend. Max

I was loooking at your 'location' and assumed thats where you stayed - oops. You never know the layout may get an invite south of the border at some point dependant on the reaction north of the border. Mind you when you look at the standard of a large number of layouts in RMWeb which are regulars on the exhibition circuit, I am just playing at it. Max

Thanks for the comments phixer. The rock faces are simply lumps of cork bark infilled with ready mixed plaster and painted over as required. Mod-roc was used on the top for the grass edge etc. I did cheat a little in that most of the cork bark came from a club layout that we were getting rid of and had to be cut and hacked about as required to get the shape and form I wanted. if you can make it to the Ayr Show, then say hello and we can discuss futher. Max

less than 7 weeks to go and counting - tic, tic, tic!! have been working non-stop yesterday and today and enclose some photos of an almost complete board 5 - the one I decided to add in! Hopefully the pics convey what I am trying to achieve as the line meanders through the countryside to the tower. Board 6 has also been the subject of attention with work on the bridge at the entry to the fiddle yard progressing and the addition of some power lines as seen on a few local farm fields to add a bit of interest. Only one wire on at present with others to follow tomorrow. Have 2 more days holiday - tomorrow and tuesday - so a further push to have board 6 complete by Tuesday evening is the target. Max.

with some assistance yesterday from Stephen C of the Ayr MRG, boards 1 (headshunt) and 2 (corner board) are almost complete scenically and board 5 (the extra board I decided to add in at the last minute) is not far behind. Static grass in profusion and some fencing put up next to the occupational underbridge on board 5. Board 5 shown as of Friday and then as of 6pm today. Now less than 8 weeks to its first showing - don't panic!!! Max