Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

What individual members are up to.
User avatar
Le Corbusier
Posts: 1598
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2015 3:39 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Le Corbusier » Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:47 pm

Allan Goodwillie wrote:Hi Rob and Enigma,

my birthday is in July and I also hope I am given time, Enigma to finish all my kits. I have only bought one kit recently and that was for a diesel loco for the layout - it was a trial loco working on the Wemyss line and was bought by the NCB for use at the local colliery. It still exists and when I get around to building it next year I will probably write it up as I have photographs of the original and could put them up here for use of those building the kits. I have built a lot of new kits to give me the number of wagons required. I have about 100 for use so far, however only about 40 have couplings on them yet! Most of the locomotives and stock will be finished over next winter I hope. Hoping to get the layout itself finished before then. :)


So much for slowing down and a leisurely retirement, looks from here like there is a brick stuck on the accelerator :thumb
Tim Lee

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:27 pm

Hi Tim, :)

Time is a precious resource Tim, just making the most of it. Thought I would post this image taken by Ian Terrel of Ray Nalton's lovely little tug which is sitting on the water section of Burntisland, to show how well the gel works to produce water. It is nice to show Ray's tug as normally it is Jim's rendering of the train ferry or my passenger ferry which normally appear in articles on the layout, however Ray has built the tug and two sailing ships for the group as well as most of the special wagons which appear on the layout and they are all excellent. Ray is ex-navy and likes to get things right. However I would like to have you cast an eye on the water, remember it is only the thickness of the gel and can be rolled up to travel. The boards supporting underneath are painted a soft mid tone of blue/grey. :)

Allan :thumb

Burntisland - Ian 017.JPG
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:34 pm

Still catching up on the work done on the layout before Glasgow. While I was still laying track I was preparing the electrics and had made the decision to lay out three boards only with track as I was hoping to show all the structural stuff with another two or three - these would be worked on at the Glasgow show to show the methods of construction. So I will look at the track and how that was laid first.

DSC02839.JPG


This view looks towards the works yard which is on the next board, this being the junction board. The points have had their sleepers painted prior to laying. They have been "laid" first with a few drawing pins as I add sleepers and rail fitted with chairs in between. Towards the bottom end of the board there is an area for servicing locomotives - the pit will be cut out later. This view shows quite nicely some of the ideas I am playing around with. You can see the ply upper frames, the supporting battens going across at regular distances and behaving like a sprung floor. The second railway will be laid at a later date on the left hand side when the baseboard goes in at a different level from the upper level. On the right hand side there is no cork or foam board on the upper level, this allows space for all the electronics to be laid out and wired up above the board I am using MERG components. All the electronics are kept separate from the wiring that will be fitted for the track power. :idea:

I have already come across a number of problems on exhibition layouts using electronics where signals can be mixed due to problems with the wiring and outside interference. I decided I was not going to go down the fly by wire system. It may be fine on a model railway at home, where, if there is a problem, it is easy to go and get the computer out - the last thing you want to be doing at a show is getting the computer out to re-programme chips with everything below the baseboard! - I will come back to the electronics later. :|
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:02 pm

:) Additional things to consider when laying the tack.

DSC02863.JPG


Across the area in question there is a farm track which crosses the railway and this also goes down to the works yard. This I have done with some of the pizza base material which has been fitted between the check rails within the tracks All joints will be filled later and any blending done with lightweight cornice filler, which is fantastic stuff.

You will notice a strip of wood on the opposite side of the electronics, this is for their protection. There will be thin MDF put on as a protective cover at a later date. I also used cut-offs to form profiles of the embankment. This will later be covered with old style carpet underlay. Note the servo with its operating drive driving down below the baseboard. This bit of the road in the front of the image I will hinge to be able to replace the servo if it should ever need it.

DSC02864.JPG


After fitting the infill I always check that an uncompensated wagon will run cleanly through - I do this with everything at every stage. I mentioned that I was doing certain things in parallel and wiring up and getting the points to work was also going on. In this photograph the points on the left hand side had already been tried out and stock and engines run through. In preparation for ballasting I have filled the operating holes with brownish plasticine. Once the ballast has been applied and the glue set it is easy to move the operating mechanism back and forward, this forms slots in the plasticine which are permanent and almost unnoticeable when the layout is in operation. It also stops any glue getting to the mechanism. :idea:

DSC02862.JPG
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Colin Parks

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Colin Parks » Sat Mar 17, 2018 3:55 pm

Hi Allan,

These pictures are quite impressive and the exposed electrics really do show that you are making a 'machine' to run trains on! The positioning of the electrics above-board must have save a lot of bending over when intalling the wiring.

All the best,

Colin

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Sat Mar 17, 2018 7:54 pm

Hi Colin, ;)

saved hours of hassle! It also means that the control wires for the points run down one side of the layout. Track power wires run along the length of the spine so there is no chance of stray information making its way to the chips controlling the points. The adjustment of point throw is now done on top of the layout where you can see the adjustment pots and the point you are adjusting directly in front of you. I am hoping that at an exhibition if something goes wrong ( I have heard of servo creep) at least I can lift the hinge and there in the embankment are the adjusters. A couple of quick twirls with a screwdriver and we are back in business.(No re-coding and no need for plugging in a computer and reprogramming I have photos coming up of all this.

There are others which could fit in buildings, etc. I will photo where and how they have been fitted and disguised. There are no soldered joints below the baseboard except for my point linkages. There are microswitches but they all have spade connectors and are bolted on so that they can be replaced within a short time if absolutely necessary. Again photos coming up. :thumb

Spending today and tomorrow working on Burntisland, painting trackwork and tomorrow ballasting and doing infill between the various areas in the yard - pizza bases to the rescue again. Tried my building in place and everything fits nicely, might take a couple of photos tomorrow if I have time. Hope to be able to paint it soon.

Allan :)

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:42 pm

One little job I was doing on this board was preparing where the puddles were going to go around the water tank. I am thinking that the scene will be an autumn one with some frost still hidden in the gully and the occasional icy puddle. Here I am marking out where I plan to put one or two puddles, there will be a few more put in later where the drainage and cess were a bit blocked here and there. I plan to light one side of the layout using warm light coming from the south and back lighting with cooler light from the north.

DSC02867.JPG


Another job made easy as I have only to cut through the cork and the foam board to create the engine ash pit for servicing both NCB and Wemyss locos. The ash pit still has to have brick sides added and will be fairly full as it often was to be seen in photographs. There will also be an ash wagon somewhere that will have to be used from time to time. Huge mounds of ash accumulated around these areas. They might deserve their own smoke units! :)

DSC02868.JPG


As I was doing this I was also making up my servo units in batches and installing the wiring.

DSC02838.JPG


Here you can see more evidence of this on the left hand side of the photograph sitting in what will be the embankment

DSC02869.JPG


I do colour code my wiring and make notes of what I have put in there will be diagrams for each system and each board and related boards.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Le Corbusier
Posts: 1598
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2015 3:39 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Le Corbusier » Sun Mar 18, 2018 10:17 pm

Alan,

Have you done design sketches and drawings for all of this ... or is it simply in your head?

Tim
Tim Lee

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Mon Mar 19, 2018 8:40 am

Hi Tim, :)

I have made up drawings of all the buildings as I intend to publish an article on this at some point and I do get some pleasure out of doing them anyway. I will take a couple of photographs.

At the layout planning stage when I was deciding on baseboard sizes and just what the track formation and building footprints were going to be I was also looking for modifications I might make to be able to place and conceal the electrical, and electronic parts. The new type of baseboard allows more flexibility this way, although I have not gone into that much at this stage, I have tried a couple of variations on this one to see what might be possible in the way of modification - it would not be me if I did not do that, so this is a solution still being progressed.

The use of embankments to hide electrical items I have already used successfully on Grayrigg as per the articles in the Snooze. I did not show any trains running on Grayrigg as I think sometimes that can be a distraction to what you are trying to show the readers. I hope to follow them up at a time later when I manage to get all the locos finished that I want to have on the layout. Dave likes to run his mainline diesels on it and we have a full timetable which we can work, but I still have a few Jubilees and Scotts etc. to finish first - at the moment the building of this new exhibition layout is taking priority. Grayrigg develops as I have time.

I have often in the past built my buildings by putting measurements directly on to the material and getting on with it. I have sectional drawings of the wagon works, but that might be all I have before construction. I will build the works from the foundations first as I want to have a number of operating features and I want to have them working before I build any building around them - which is the exact opposite of what we are doing with Burntisland, just a different approach. :)

My follow up layout I hope may take things a step further. :)
Last edited by Allan Goodwillie on Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:06 pm

It struck me Tim,

that perhaps you meant mainly the wiring. I do record the wiring and stick to particular coloured and sized wires and relate the to the particular system. I then record the systems.)

One little comment is that having the underside of the boards painted white is useful as when at an exhibition, if you are unfortunate to be the person allocated the thankless post of fault finder it will help you to see. Curtains cut down even further on any visibility. A light that you can strap on to your forehead is very useful, but does enhance the impression of you being a minion!

Another comment is about extending a layout and not sticking with the systems already laid down, or understanding what the systems are. Moving away from the rules written down create uncertainty. Going for one system and sticking to it is best so think well about what you are doing before starting.

I, many years ago, joined the local model railway club in Livingston which sadly is now defunct. I was most impressed with the layout being built at the time of joining. The layout had an outer double track main line and an inner one with a major junction happening between the two. The railway was sectioned with the signalling and power being interlocked using relays with a certain amount of automation - fantastic, but it turned out that the person who introduced all this had left the club the previous week as he had been offered a job down in Southampton! Needless to say no-one else in the group knew how to continue with the wiring and no-one understood the system - in the end this large layout had to be demolished and of course was never finished.

My layout is designed so that hopefully I will never need to go under the baseboards at exhibitions, nor will anyone else for that matter and I hope to build with the same reliability that John Stocks has managed on his Kettlewell layout. It is just a pleasure to operate Kettlewell at exhibitions and I hope that will also be the experience of anyone joining me at a show. The panels will be simple and clear to operate and pick up quickly. Each system will have its own power source so that none are over taxed and interference between systems can be avoided.

I remember one time I was extending Dubbieside and the two parts being built were in different locations. The original part of the layout used H&M point motors which had a tendency to stick if not maintained properly. The other half used Post Office 2000 type relays which when switched on draw current continuously. I used to swap over the power source which contained a large old-style capacitor when working on each section. The lack of any cut out was my own fault needless to say.

When we took the layout to the exhibition it was working well for the first period of the morning, but operators do not always follow rules laid down and at one point all of the levers in the new yard section with the relays were left over at the same time drawing maximum power when someone on the original section pulled a lever and a H&M failed to go over and stuck pulling maximum power. I was walking around the show at the time and looked down the hall when I heard the bang . The sight of an atomic cloud rising above my layout was really quite spectacular, but of course a total failure of the system. Fortunately - I was able to get a new capacitor and importantly, a cut-out to add to the system and had them fitted within the hour - but lessons learned.

Operators having at least a rudimentary understanding of the limits of the systems employed is desirable at shows as it helps them to recover normal working as soon as possible. It also helps later when faults have occurred as to where the fault might be.

Noting the wiring and systems is not too much of a worry Tim on a fairly small layout, but it is a good habit to get into. :thumb
Last edited by Allan Goodwillie on Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:29 am, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
Le Corbusier
Posts: 1598
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2015 3:39 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Le Corbusier » Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:34 am

It was a general question ... but actually prompted by your comments about water puddles within the scene. There just seems to be an imense amount of thought out detail steadily added as things unfold. I wondered if all of this had been carefully pre worked out or it was more instinct and feel as you go along using a mental map.
Tim Lee

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:09 pm

Hi Tim, :)

Instinct and feel do matter as you do get ideas along the way which you can play around with and they often add to what you are trying to achieve. This is the artistic approach, a model railway is a balance between technical and artistic achievement. Playing around with an idea sounds as if I am not serious about getting things right, but for me it must also be fun to do and give you pleasure otherwise what is the point, it should be a pleasurable pastime after all and nothing more.

I hope the construction of your layout is also giving you pleasure and the same goes for all the others willing to show what they do on the website. I know that what I am doing for myself is not to everyone's taste, and it is nothing compared to the efforts that some people have put into their modelling, but this is my own little bit of railway and like yourself I am happy to show what is going on. What I do is just what I do - I don't expect anyone else to follow me - nothing is prescriptive, each person follows their own way that way you end up with something that is unique to you.

You may not have noticed but I have not strayed into some of the other main thread areas as there are real experts within these areas. and would possibly be condemned for straying from the true faith I am sure. I am just a bit of an all rounder who enjoys the range of things the hobby has to offer and encourages others like yourself just to enjoy what you are doing.

As you know I have had a couple of threads on the starters area, that has been done as a teaching aid for the West Group when we have been running courses, so that the club members have access to the ideas and information that was covered in the course/s. It just struck me that it might be useful and practcal tool for other groups and individuals to pick up and use. It has also saved me doing the whole thing over again for our starters group, so hopefully they too will find it useful.

I have some more to catch up on and will do it this evening, but will take a break for a few weeks as life is about to get too busy for any modelling. I may from time to time have a browse to see what you and a few others are doing just to know what has been going on with you all.

Allan :)

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:32 pm

One modification I have carried out was to strip away the foam board at the edge of one of the boards to make room for the electronics to be hidden in the embankment. I discovered that when I stripped back the foam board that the MDF started to take on a curve towards the edge. The baseboard floats over its supports. The reason for taking out the foam board was that I did not want to modify the crank/servo relationship and wanted to keep it all simple. Less complication means less can go wrong.

DSC02802.JPG


In the image above you can see the clamps holding the pieces of quarter curved strip wood in place to stop any movement of the board edge. Note the cross pieces are marked and there is a row of holes which allow for a screwdriver to get in to ease off the top set of baseboards if they are going into store allowing the chassis to be used for a second layout. Typical view of engineers in possession I am afraid. Below we can see the screw and wing-nut that is typical of the ones which connect the upper and lower structure together. I thought it might be the case that if the wing nut was too tight I may need to get them out again and require more than just a twirl with the thumbs. Thus the holes to allow a screwdriver in to the top of the bolt, this will ensure release.

DSC02876.JPG
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:54 pm

A brief look at wiring up. The baseboard design allows for the baseboards to lye on their sides while being wired up. They are very light and easy to put on their side on the table. Here we have an example of one being wired up. Most of the solder joints are soldered from above the baseboard and passed down via holes to the underside. Due to the construction of the baseboard the cross strips can carry the wiring as well as the central spine. I use the central spine to carry track power and keep it away from the servo wiring which is all above the board. The servos are attached by bolts and connected using spade connectors so can be easily taken off - small multi pin plugs would have been even better :idea: , however it is all done now. :) Note the recommended thickness of wiring.To allow for testing I will be using DC to begin with, but have put in beefier wire to be able to cope with the heavier loads DCC requires as I intend adding chips to the locos.

DSC02861.JPG


Here we have the set up for the points. Servo fitted with omega loop operating the point actuator. It is also clear how the micro switch is fitted making contact with the crank. Not complicated. Good solder joints should allow for long term use.

DSC02873.JPG
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:42 pm

Here cable ties are being used to go around the wooden strips and the wire clipped in place. Note one or two holes going through the cross supports.

DSC02874.JPG


This shows the inter board arrangements for the wiring. There is no need to have sockets hanging below board level. The power wiring is going via the 15 way, while the control wires for the servos goes via the 25 way. The female plugs are the better ones to use here as they are less likely to be damaged. This idea is not mine but one of John Stocks'. The male parts of the connections are the ones which can be boxed for travel.

DSC02875.JPG


The actual connections look like this - they can be standard throughout the layout and a couple of extras made so if any pair get damaged for some reason you can have another one already made. Note the multi pin plugs are held horizontal and less likely to work loose which can be a problem with ones held vertically.

DSC02903.JPG
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Thu Mar 22, 2018 6:04 pm

I have junction boxes fitted to the spine where the feeds go off to the frogs via the microswitches. These are accessible from on top of the board as they are fitted to the spine and under a movable embankment down the slope from the upper level. I would not expect to make alterations to these particularly and the screw connectors will probably be replaced by soldered connecting strips eventually.

DSC02866.JPG


At the other end of all the wiring I have a temporary control panel. It is in the form of a length of aluminium with a number of switches fitted and a plug in point for a simple controller. I lead the wiring back to where the final panel will go and it straddles the joint between the key board and the one immediately to the right. The wiring is fed on to the connectors which will eventually connect to the panel This allows me to get things working quickly and it is held on to the layout using a simple clamp which can be undone in seconds. The panel can be built later once all the wiring has been done and designed according to what has been actually done as against what might have been envisaged. There are nearly always differences between the two. I hate seeing alterations made to panels once built!

DSC02904.JPG
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:58 pm

:) Just a few odd items about the track laying, realising that wiring and track laying are considered by many to be the boring bits. One member of the West Group when asked whether he had been having a look, said that he would get back to it once I had finished the boring bits, when I enquired which were the boring bits he said the baseboards. Ah! Honesty! (Thankfully I do have a few good friends who keep me grounded.)

The thread only started so that my friends in the West Group could see the layout develop as we were going to show it at Glasgow and it was going as a work in progress and I hoped they would pick up enough of the features to be able to chat with the public with some knowledge behind them. The thread has fulfilled its purpose and I am considering finishing after tonight. I will continue with the layout of course, but will not cover the scenic development or stock, except for the finishing of the Barclays as it will be nice to complete the Barclay thread.

DSC02870.JPG


There is a country road runs through the centre of the layout and I am adding some filler around the area to simulate the ash infill this will be rubbed down after it has dried. It is easy to see the double check rail as it goes through the crossing. It may also act as a catch all if there should be any wagon derail coming out of the sidings :!: :o :shock: :? :cry: I really hope not! The final proof will be when the layout goes to exhibitions.

DSC02871.JPG


In this photograph I am making up the cess areas. On our journey up from Birmingham we stopped off for coffee and discovered they were giving away their old coffee grouts to their customers. I came away with two large bags thinking I might just use them to give me a textured surface when modelling and if it did not work then it could go out into the garden to nourish the flower beds.

I dried out the grouts - nice smell of coffee throughout the house and this image shows me gluing it in place, with the right hand areas painted in a rather dull grey paint as a base colour. It may turn out not to be a good idea, :arrow: but who knows.

DSC02872.JPG


The ballasting stage is being done here after a bit of operating The track in the foreground dropping down to the colliery is ballasted using ash ballast heavier grade. The Wemyss tracks climb away using brown ballast of a superior nature and a finer version of the ballast in the sidings beyond down to the works yard. The scene is a bit too perfect as far as the track goes and there will be weeds developing here and there in the cess and a few in the 4ft here and there, which show up in photographs of the site taken during operating days.

I was given some super photographs by a friend the other day and have picked up a few from some of the people attending the show, so from my viewpoint it was worth being there just for that.

Well that is as much as I have on the development of the layout so far and I will take a break from posting for the time being, although I will take photos of the more interesting bits for my own record. Hope this has not been too boring for anyone reading the thread, if so I do apologise. :|

Until then, happy modelling everyone! :)
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Colin Parks

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Colin Parks » Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:41 pm

Hi Allan,

I do not know who these people are how find baseboard construction, track making and wiring boring. Your baseboard design is innovative, track making approach instructional and your wiring is so neat, tidy and well planned.

Please keep on with this thread, I for one have read every post of yours (twice in most cases!) Great to see the scenic elements coming together now. It will be interesting to see how you get on with those coffee grounds though.

All the best,

Colin

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Fri Mar 23, 2018 5:21 pm

Hi Colin, :) my friend's comment was half in jest, so he was not being unkind and I do like to stay grounded anyway. It is true that baseboards are not the most glamorous of subjects, but can make or break a layout.

I suppose I could have broken down the thread into various compartments then it would have been difficult to follow if it was always moving around so the workshop thread seemed the best way of doing this for my friends. It has been useful to the rest of the crew when we were at Glasgow. They were able to assemble two of the boards over the weekend from basically a set of parts and what they had picked up from the web without much help from me.

I will be watching and enjoying your own thread Colin, you are making a lovely job of what you are doing and I might make the odd positive comment from time to time if that is OK? :)

Philip Hall
Posts: 1943
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:49 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Philip Hall » Fri Mar 23, 2018 6:46 pm

This has been great stuff. Speaking as a bit of a renegade who is determined to put every control function and last vestige of wiring, even during construction, on top of the boards, it has been so useful to see Allan’s approach. I will not be entering into the Dark Art that is DCC (I have enough trouble with the old ways), but the idea of a big channel along the front of the boards for much of the wiring is a good idea and one I shall be following up.

How others do things is never boring, it’s an education. We might say ‘this is nuts, no way’ or ‘why didn’t I think of that’ but we learn so much along the way. Have a nice break Allan, and we look forward to your return.

Philip

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Sat Mar 24, 2018 10:33 am

Thanks Philip, :)

It was something I tried out on Grayrigg as an approach and found it worked really well and am now doing the same with an exhibition layout partly to see how robust the system will be at shows, particularly the electronics. If all's well I am considering bringing out a version of Grayrigg using the baseboard system and the sub frames again. All the scenery, buildings and signals lift off and could be easily transposed. (The layout was designed so that I could have a version with alternative scenery that could be made to feel like the Waverley route if I ever became bored with the Grayrigg scene.)

All I would need would be new baseboards and some fresh track. Even the control panel can be taken out with 8 screws and undoing the connectors. The main thing is just to get Wemyss finished and to that end I will be concentrating my efforts. :)

Stay in touch :thumb

Allan :)

User avatar
Winander
Posts: 842
Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2014 12:19 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Winander » Sun Mar 25, 2018 6:16 pm

Hello Allan,

I too would encourage you to continue posting as it has all been interesting and informative. You are clearly too modest by far and as a novice, I need people like you with experience to guide me. I am sure many others are in a similar position. I have found all your input to this forum to be informative and I particularly like your approach to loco building - showing us the way to do it without all the expense of jigs and other gubbins :)

regards
Richard Hodgson
Organiser Scalefour Virtual Group. Our meeting invitation is here.

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Sun Mar 25, 2018 8:40 pm

Hello Richard, :)

It is always nice to hear from someone who has been following the thread. I am pleased that the other information about building locos for the first time is also being used. I am still amazed at the number of hits it has had. What is really nice is to go to an exhibition and someone taps you on the shoulder and after a name check they show you something that is lovely that they have built using some of the ideas in the loco thread. It is very heartening to know that it has been of use to someone. I try not to make my modelling prescriptive, but try to show ideas which can be taken further or played around with to give hopefully good outcomes that can be reproduced.

It was all stuff which I did with my friends in the West Scotland Group - a great bunch of guys, I am sure they will not mind me saying. Unfortunately we are loosing our clubrooms in Glasgow (We met under Glasgow Central station) and are desperately looking for new ones to be able to carry on. Anyone out there able to help? We have for a number of years run classes on all sorts of things to do with S4 and by putting it on the web it allowed them to see what we covered and I thought it would be useful for other modellers starting out in S4/P4.

This Wemyss Railway is something I have wanted to build for many years and I do know of at least 2 other versions. One is much further advanced and being built over in Leven Fife by Pete Westwater who is not particularly well known in the society but should be as he was the first person to build a P4 layout and take it to an exhibition anywhere in the country. Pete has worked most of his life as a model maker, but mainly in gauge "O" - he has a superb layout at home and is building a much larger version of what I am building but in 2 full sized coaches. It is up and running and is open to the public one weekend a month. It is 00 and Pete will be running full length trains (36 wagons) The longest trains I will be able to run will be around 32 wagons so a little reduced, and I cannot find room for the station area for the Buckhaven line as the layout is designed to go in the back of my car for exhibitions. The visual part of the layout is made up of six boards 4' 0" x 23" stackable. I will have some interesting things that will make it different from Pete's and hope to advertise what Pete is doing as it is part of a much larger restoration site.

The other year I brought down to Scalefourum examples of P4 items made in Scotland in the early days of the scale and also made up a slide program showing some of the early layouts etc. built by myself and my colleagues in the West Scotland 4mm Group. We were excellent in the early days at hiding our light under a bushel as Ian Middleditch reminded me a short time ago. We still are! :cry:

Pete's, like myself, was working independently as was the case with a few others I have come to know about only recently. Pete cut his timbers from Plasticard and moulded his own chairs. One of his locos was brass and the other experimentally Plasticard. The railway was pre-grouping North British. Pete has been very kind and has been very helpful supplying many photographs. When I display my layout eventually I would like to give the photographers that have helped out, a good exposure (If you don't mind the pun), because without them I would never have been able to build what I am building. We all owe a gratitude to those who had the enthusiasm and foresight to take photographs of even the mundane. An old friend Bill Roberton after a chance meeting went off and found some very useful images for me and I now know for the first time exactly what the far end of the works actually looked like and he wandered down the old BR trackbed and photographed the stream one winters day with everything covered in frost - quite inspirational!

Here are one or two photographs of Pete's early railway under construction - all very interesting, all scratch built. :thumb

Anstruther f3q view.jpg


signalbox.jpg


top view.jpg


goods yard bw view.jpg


markinch and three coaches.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Terry Bendall
Forum Team
Posts: 2416
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:46 am

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Terry Bendall » Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:20 am

Allan Goodwillie wrote:Just a few odd items about the track laying, realising that wiring and track laying are considered by many to be the boring bits. ,,,, The thread has fulfilled its purpose and I am considering finishing after tonight


I don't think anything you write Allan could be said to be boring. No matter how ling we carry on making models there is always something new to learn and whilst we may choose to do it differently, posts from you and others make one pause and think a bit. Having seen the layout in the flesh at Glasgow it was very good to compare what was in front of me with the postings. I look forward to further posts in due course but we have to accept that doing that sort of thing takes timer away from the serious business of layout building.

Terry Bendall

User avatar
Allan Goodwillie
Posts: 915
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:00 pm

Re: Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

Postby Allan Goodwillie » Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:47 am

Thanks Terry,

I have followed your own articles and posts over the years with much interest and enjoyment and likewise constantly find things to think about. I know you do build beautiful baseboards and have a way with wood that I for one appreciate, my father being someone with the same skills. I, as you know, am moving away from heavy baseboards just to be able in the future to take layouts to exhibitions.

Scotts Road may even make it to Scalefourum some day in the not too distant future. Unfortunately for me I am finding taking Burntisland around with the gang a bit heavy going - the boards are well constructed - just heavy and my back which was damaged many years ago, just keeps going out especially when we are moving the "grand piano" - two massive boards bolted together - quite a contrast to the "shoe box" board constructed as part of the original layout just to make the 18.83 square footage which was about one foot long!

I know you are coming to the end of your tenure as the organiser for Scalefourum and I would just like to say thank you to you and your team for all the magnificent effort you have all put in over the years. I have been involved with such enterprises in the past when I served on the AMRSS committee for ten years back in the 1970's. I am sure your teaching skills will still be with you and your output on the forum I hope will continue, in fact may even increase.

I have developed a habit now of just recording as I go along and often at a quiet time (normally late Sunday evening) putting a little text to it on the forum. Bit like a diary for the week. If treated that way it is no big deal and I am surprised that there are not more doing it. Yes you will find the odd person who might take exception to anything you may say - which is their right of course, but most realise that this is just a way of passing experience on and that is like a two way street as there are loads of ways of doing things with some success as you know and I pick up much of interest from the forum myself and appreciate other's efforts very much. :)

It would be a dull world if we were all the same as is often said

Allan :)


Return to “On My Workbench”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: ClaudeBot and 0 guests