Wemyss Private Railway - Scott's Road - Allan Goodwillie

[Allan Goodwillie]

Hi Tim,

just finishing one or two things off - I had not forgotten that you asked me whether I made drawings/sketches etc. before building anything. With the wiring I tend not to as often when wiring up some things I have found need to be sorted out on site as it were, so wiring is planned as systems and the coloured wire and thickness of wire decided early on for whatever is being built. I have not entirely made my mind up yet whether to go DCC or not due to the costs involved as it is perfectly possible to get good slow running etc. without it but sound etc. might be fun to do and the pleasure factor is what sometimes motivates me so I have used heavier wire for track power which allows me to go down this route if I finally decide what to do. I do avoid using single strand wire in exhibition layouts even for low voltage circuits like lighting for the buildings. I have had a few unfortunate experiences with broken wires over the years and try to avoid it now. If you are interested I am using 24 strand/0.2 wire for the track power and 16 strand/0.2 wire for my point and signal power and may go down to 7 strand for my wiring for building lights and situation sound.

I have used different coloured feeds for different areas as I intend having the layout sectioned even when I may go DCC otherwise if there is a fault it does help track down where it is. I had a friend who had taken out all his track sections before a show and joined everything up going DCC and suffered a complete failure at a show which was not resolved until he returned home. Particularly important if you have a number of operators running a large system. You don't want one person causing a short which will knock out what everyone else is busy doing. So putting cut outs in each section helps with this problem.

As for the buildings, I do often draw them up and enjoy doing that the old fashioned way using a drawing board and pencils etc. I attach a photograph of the drawing for the water tank. It is not a scan , just a photo, as I hope maybe to have an article published some time on the layout but happy to show you the drawing in this form. Sorry the photo is not particularly good as it was taken last night in not very good lighting conditions , but does give you an idea. Remember that all drawings are just a plan and subject to alteration, and so they should be as reality steps in and you have to accept some alteration from the original concept and that applies to everything. Wiring changes for example should be recorded as they are made otherwise the original plan becomes less distinct as time goes by and incomprehensible to someone new to the system.

Hope this is useful Tim.

[Colin Parks]

Hi Allan,
Those drawings are a work of art. Do you intend to frame them. They would be a good feature to display when exhibiting the layout. (Forgive me if you already do such things.)

All the best,

Colin

[Allan Goodwillie]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for the complement, I am afraid the photograph is not particularly good, but I do enjoy making drawings in a hand crafted way.

I did display them when we were at Glasgow along with photographs of the real thing as part of the overall display of layout construction. When the layout is finally displayed and up working they will be included as part of the overall display panels which will surround the layout. I have a rather unusual approach intended for this which will be seen as progress is made towards finishing the project. Remember this layout is designed for all round viewing, which is not the way we see most layouts.

[Le Corbusier]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for the complement, I am afraid the photograph is not particularly good, but I do enjoy making drawings in a hand crafted way.

I did display them when we were at Glasgow along with photographs of the real thing as part of the overall display of layout construction. When the layout is finally displayed and up working they will be included as part of the overall display panels which will surround the layout. I have a rather unusual approach intended for this which will be seen as progress is made towards finishing the project. Remember this layout is designed for all round viewing, which is not the way we see most layouts.

Allan,

You are tempting me to dust off my Mayline and clean the watercolours off! ... but then again when I finally get around to drafting up the Monsaldale Station CAD will allow me to print multiple accurate copies for aid with construction ... though I am still tempted - I could even go for a sedimentary wash sky a la Farey.

[Allan Goodwillie]

Hi Tim,
these things do have their pleasures, but you are right about a computer drawing, but I can scan my drawings and they are still available that way. It is the personal finish which I like as we see so much that is generated by computers these days. I am busy working on my building for the blacksmiths shop for Burntisland this week - just painting the stonework. I really enjoy the painting stage. Might post a couple of photographs when I get finished. Spent an hour digging snow to be able to get the layout out tomorrow for pick up as we are route learning this weekend before the next exhibition - Railex.

I am looking forward to going as I had to miss out the trip to Southampton at the start of the year as I was trying to get my own layout ready for Glasgow.

[Le Corbusier]

Hi Tim,
these things do have their pleasures, but you are right about a computer drawing, but I can scan my drawings and they are still available that way. It is the personal finish which I like as we see so much that is generated by computers these days. I am busy working on my building for the blacksmiths shop for Burntisland this week - just painting the stonework. I really enjoy the painting stage. Might post a couple of photographs when I get finished. Spent an hour digging snow to be able to get the layout out tomorrow for pick up as we are route learning this weekend before the next exhibition - Railex.

I am looking forward to going as I had to miss out the trip to Southampton at the start of the year as I was trying to get my own layout ready for Glasgow.

Allan,

If you are happy to wait ... perhaps I could drop off your bending tool at Railex ... really looking forward to seeing Burntisland in the flesh

[Allan Goodwillie]

Hi Tim,

Yes that will be more than fine - I will look forward to seeing you again. Hope the tool has been of some use to you. Remember the washers that go with it - people always forget when they return the item!

Looking forward to seeing your buffer stops. - Might be useful to bend a few more for future use.

Allan

[Allan Goodwillie]

Having had a week after Scalefour North just doing things other than model railway - re-assembling Dave's greenhouse,and working in the garden, it has given me time to breath and perhaps contemplate the next move on the railway.

Scalefour North was very interesting in that I was surprised just how many have been following the thread and who came along with interesting questions. I am sorry if anyone came along and it just so happened I was due to go to lunch- half past two on both days! Big apologies, I was hoping Tim, that I could have managed to spend some more time with you just finding out how you were progressing - I should manage this when we bring down Burntisland to Railex. Pressure on the stand was continuous throughout the two days. I only managed to see one train run and that was on Pulborough - which was looking splendid. 5 minutes late Saturday - I have been told that the exhibition was excellent!

The most recent work on my workbench is my contribution of the blacksmith's shop, to the Burntisland buildings. We had a group painting session the previous weekend. I still have a few details to add, but progress to the building goes on as does the work of the others involved in making theirs. We are all under pressure now to have everything finished for Railex. The chimney is made of wood and the bricks are paper "chads" glued on. The down pipes and guttering are still needing fitting.

I was asked at the weekend by quite a few that were at the show, what progress I had made with the blacksmith's shop, so here are a few more pictures.

The clean side of the building away from all the blacksmith's chimneys.

The dark side of the building showing a considerable amount of dirt, eventually the real buildings were black.

A close up of the building, showing the texture of the stone. It is also noticeable that some of the stone chimneys are not entirely vertical, this seems to have been a problem with the building and eventually some of the chimneys were taken down. The opposite side of the building ended up with similar chimneys being built in brick, but I am not sure at what date this happened - this was likely to have been later than 1883

Allan

[Colin Parks]

Hi Allan,

I like the look of your model of the blacksmiths' shop. The fact that you even modelled the leaning chimneys is most impressive!

All the best,

Colin

[Allan Goodwillie]

Thanks Colin

Everything ages and buildings can show instability as the years go on. For some reason the outer ones were the first to go, although others were showing signs from early on. Just exactly when the end ones were taken down I do not know, but clearly they had become unsafe. At a later date another complete set of blacksmith's forges was build down the opposite side of the building. This time they were made using brick which would be lighter. This happened at some point in the history of the building, but at a later date than we are modelling. I would really like to know when the changes came about. Anyone out there know?

Allan

[Allan Goodwillie]

It has been some time since I posted anything about progress and some must have wondered whether I was still on the planet. I have been busy writing another children's book and will also have to take time off this year to do the illustrations, but hope to continue on with my Wemyss Layout. The last item being discussed was the construction of the blacksmith's shop on Burntisland. We are going to be at Ally Pally soon with the layout and most of the final stage is visually complete at this stage including the shed area buildings. I was asked by Lindsay and Chris to run a short course covering the painting of the buildings so that everyone could get a similar outcome, so the buildings looked as if they had been all built at the same time and survived the same conditions of weather and stain. I was at the Linlithgow bash yesterday on a demo stand, looking at weathering and painting buildings including the blacksmith's shop and the smaller buildings for the Wemyss layout, including the water tank.

It struck me that the presentation I made up might be of interest to others building stone buildings so I am attaching it here for anyone to follow the techniques. The actual construction techniques and use of materials I am sure will be covered sometime by Lindsay who has made a superb model of the Engine shed and as I am sure it will be covered somewhere in time, I would not want to detract from the article when it eventually appears in the press, which it thoroughly deserves to do. I might also mention the efforts by the other members of the group who deserve a lot of credit for taking on the other buildings and create the total picture, worth much more than the sum of its parts. Burntisland has always been truly a group effort with at least 30 modellers working on it over a long period.

Burntisland stonework.pdf

(2.17 MiB) Downloaded 111 times

[Allan Goodwillie]

This is by way of an apology, in that it has been ages since I made a post on this thread. I was asked whether I could have the layout ready for Scalefour North 2020 and I have been under pressure to get on with it and we have also been busy with some work on Burntisland and also on the West Group layout producing wagons - I will try to post some things on these if I can find time, so my various workbenches have been pretty well filled with stuff. I have been taking photos as I have gone along, but have not found time to do any writing up.

So for the one or two (particularly Tim), who have been asking for some recent photographs - I have been working up the board which has featured most so far and tried to finish it for some publicity photos, and to get some sense of what colours would best go with the locomotives and stock, at present it is late summer, but I am contemplating early autumn, same as Grayrigg, so since the colours are likely to change, here are one or two black and whites for people to be going on with. Hope you like them. .

The other boards are at different stages of track laying and wiring up, but are also making progress.The locos have taken a back seat - as I have a couple of painting demos coming up, however most of the stock has been built - about 90 wagons on the Wemyss/Coal Board side of things - again I will try to show sometihing before Christmas on the Forum once Scalefourum is passed and we have visually completed Burntisland.

These photos use a couple of the engines which I have used before, one is a small Barclay which was based in the area and the other a Caley tank which the WPR bought in the late 50's and was painted in blue when they first purchased it. There is also a shot of my 64616 which has wandered away from Dubbieside and down the Methil branch which ran parallel to the WPR at this point. Unfortunately the passenger branch traffic ceased in the 1950's, but this is my model railway and I will be keeping it open at least a little bit longer! (I will not be getting everything right then!)

There are still some details missing which I am leaving off until the rest of the layout is ready - fence wire, additional figures, etc. but it is beginning to shape up.

This is the area where engines congregated to pick up water and get some attention

A close up view of the two characters

Seagull's eye view - a little less convincing (unless you are a seagull of course.)

A view from the opposite side of the layout with 64616 passing on a freight.

[Le Corbusier]

....consider my appetite well and truly Whetted

[Allan Goodwillie]

Thanks Tim,

This area has a real forest of different telephone and telegraph poles as well as a couple of pylons. I have made them plant-able so that I can eventually take photographs from the same positions on the model as on the real thing. The original photographs of course, are all in black and white so I hope it will be interesting to do a comparison at a later date to see just how realistic the scene becomes. I am well aware that the locos I have painted to date have yet to be weathered and that does show up in the pictures and of course there are the Jackson couplings and ............

Here is my little worker - he has still to get his belt around him, some of the men preferred not to use them. All the poles in the area relied on the workmen having either leg grips or shoe teeth. Not sure what the technical term was. I notice from the photo that there needs to be a small block inserted where one of the cross arms existed - this seems to have been common practice and I seem to have missed this one.

I have a figure up working on the highest telephone pole and when I was over working on Burntisland the other week I discovered that JIm had done the very same thing! Great minds think alike! or is it fools seldom differ, errhemmm! Never mind they both look great.
That's progress for you, yes Progress!

Allan

[Allan Goodwillie]

Hi Tim,

Just a couple of photographs in colour just to get a feel for that side of things, but again the locos just a bit too clean to be believable at this stage.

Just a broad view giving something of a flavour of the colour range I am using. Industrials had often optimistically bright colours. The NCB had two shades of green and the WPR locos were mainly chocolate with either yellow or cream lining (if they had any, but there was an example of black above the footplate and everything red below which I hope to cover.)

This is a close-up showing No. 21 which was an ex-Caley loco which Wemyss repainted into almost Caley blue with a different lining scheme - I have seen a chocolate coloured model of 21, but don't think it ever received that livery - but there may be a photograph out there to prove me wrong.. The small Barclay loco is of an earlier pattern one with the open back cab, stove pipe chimney and other details that were different on the older engines. It still has to get a spark arrester fitted to the chimney. 21 has the indignity of having a wagon buffer fitted to the front LHS as you are looking at it - and a foreign country's at that!

Allan

[John Palmer]

Lovely stuff, Allan, please keep it coming. Particularly good to see the attention paid to things like the pole route and electricity supply apparatus. The arrangement for tensioning the pylon stays is quite intriguing.

[Allan Goodwillie]

Hi John,

There were an intriguing variety of posts all doing different things. My mother would have wondered at me putting in the power lines, I was not initially sure myself - from my mother's point of view it would have been for aesthetic reasons, but they were there in real life and I could not remember ever seeing this type modelled before, so I thought I would have a go and if it did not look right I would not have to use them. My intention was that this area which had the double torpedo tanks for the engines to fill up with water would have the tanks dominate. When I fitted the poles I realised that the tanks would still dominate due to their size and weight and that the tall poles only added to the drama.

The particular poles I did have photos to work from , but they were not close up photographs. Most of the photographers took time to get them out of the way so that they could photograph the engines. I have gone out and photographed many similar more up - to - date examples noting changes. I could publish them here and what I have learned from my research if there was enough interest, same with the phone lines. Something I took a particular interest in when building Grayrigg. They were all part of the railway infrastructure. Present day overhead has a similar fascination to the eye.

Here is a photo of the poles under construction.

In more recent designs there is normally only one bar across the top and it is in the form of an L-girder. They are a very crude approximation, guesstimate of sizes etc. Finding something acceptable for insulators etc. interesting. The final one in the stretch having a lamp attached - many of the poles in the vicinity had that and I hope to be able to light the yard for evening working using them as I did many years ago on Dubbieside.

Here is a photograph of the final job which stood on either side of the farm road which went right through the site

They do need some final detailing - barbed wire warning notices etc.when I have the odd few minutes here and there.

Allan

[John Palmer]

For information about telegraph poles and their fittings there's much useful information in 'Railway Signalling and Telecommunications', with similar information in the instructions that accompany the Masokits kit of poles and their fittings. Even so I found that wasn't enough to cover all the variations for our chosen prototype, and ended up having to do CAD drawing of the poles - which is as far as I have yet got with this particular exercise.

[Allan Goodwillie]

Yes John,

a very useful book which I have been able to borrow but not been able to obtain my own copy yet. We were discussing insulators, as you do, the other day and their colour - I had quite a collection of them when I had the museum in Melrose. I do know the red ones carried power supplies, but have never had an explanation of the various browns that were used and I have never come across one of the black topped ones which had a fuse inside.

Chapter 12 - Telegraph and Telephone line construction has a lot of very useful information. In 4mm we can get away with less defined insulators, but when going up to 7mm it would be possible to be more exact. Still I am not hoping to get everything right and I am not sure that anyone coming along to a show would appreciate, something more refined even f they could see it. It took three years of my museum being open before I had someone come in and recognise a length of wartime track which I had laid, the same was true of a kit which had been put together in a bit of a hurry and one side of the van had been put on upside down. After discovering the mistake I allowed the wagon to continue to run, wondering when someone would point it out - nobody did!

I am detailing some of the points and there was at least one point with inside wooden fasteners as someone else was discussing elsewhere on the Forum - sorry forgotten which thread it was now, but I doubt if anyone will notice - but the real one was a late survivor. The truth is that we all put into our models the things that interest us and probably get it wrong half the time - I have no date except perhaps late fifties for the point to be replaced, so did No. 21 ever ride over it during its short time with the WPR? We probably have quite a number of things wrong on Burntisland, and there are a few who want to do away with certain items because they do not fit in with the 1883 date we set ourselves, but who is going to throw away good modelling done with the knowledge that was available at the time and what we know now?

The big questions are not have we got it all right in every detail, but does your model have an authentic feel and is it interesting and absorbing to watch and look at when operating at an exhibition.

When it comes to operating the WPR it was a very busy railway, especially this yard, but the BR line running alongside had very little traffic in comparison, however at exhibitions the branch will be kept much busier than it was in real life and I make no apologies for that. I will try to get the appropriate operation right, but also be able to fully entertain the public and frankly ourselves as operators.

Back to the book, I see there is no date of publication, but it was produced in LNER days and I would not want to reproduce a PDF of the chapter here unless I was sure we were no longer within the copy write period-not sure how long that is. It is at least 70 years since the publication was first produced. It may of course be somewhere on the internet already.

All the best
Allan

[Julian Roberts]

Great to see and read of progress happening Allan. I'm looking forward to the subtleties of colour of autumn you were talking about earlier. May I venture to suggest that sort of thing - the overall impression that's so much to do with the way it's painted, so that is, your artistry! - is at least as if not much more important than every tiny thing being "correct"?! I do like all this stuff about poles and power lines though. It's something I think I don't notice, but then I see something like this that reminds me of the railway as it used to be where there were the old style telegraph poles, and how much that sort of stuff captures the flavour of a now distant time and takes me back.

The CR Class 782 in blue looks very jolly compared with my dingy version!

[John Palmer]

Back to the book, I see there is no date of publication, but it was produced in LNER days and I would not want to reproduce a PDF of the chapter here unless I was sure we were no longer within the copy write period-not sure how long that is. It is at least 70 years since the publication was first produced. It may of course be somewhere on the internet already.

All the best
Allan

Fortunately, it is! Go to http://samhallas.co.uk/repository/railway.htm and the links to Telephony Parts 1 and 2 about 3/4 of the way down will take you to PDFs for Chapter XI of 'Railway Signalling and Communications'. Apologies for having previously got the title wrong. The website also has other items of railway interest worthy of a further browse.

[Allan Goodwillie]

HI John and Julian,

firstly John - that is great and I would highly recommend the volume, it is excellent for info on bell's and operating equipment in signal boxes etc. I notice it also covers things like crossing gates - now wishing I had realised that before installing a temporary set on the branch (non-operational at this stage) Thanks for posting where the information is as it has saved me looking it up and will provide the info for others to use - I am sure it will prove very useful to all.

Hi Julian, thanks for your kind comments I decided to go for late summer as far as the foliage etc. goes and once I have set up my lighting, will colourise the scene at that point more towards autumn using acrylics and my airbrush to effect the transition. continuing with what I learned with Grayrigg everything is unplug-able including the larger trees, pylons,signals, poles and buildings to allow for adjustment and access for repair and photography at a later date.

The blue engine will be a nice foil to the chocolate and greens and I am trying to get scenery which will go with the locos and NCB stock and not be quite such a clash as it could do during certain seasons and conditions. Weathering could effect NCB colour in lots of ways, especially when drying out. I don't know if you have noticed but as on Grayrigg there are a number of large puddles here and there, especially on the roadway down to the wagon works.

No back scenes yet for this view I am afraid.

Glen Lyon working on the local passenger to Methil passes the worn road and rickety fences down to the wagon works

Thanks both I will try to post a bit more on Sunday nights again.
Allan

[Allan Goodwillie]

Hi everyone,

On the work bench this week are some mineral wagons being put together by my son Dave and I for the West Scotland 4mm Group's Calderside layout which features an exchange yard for a colliery - oddly enough, isn't that what Wemyss is all about? Well yes, but they will be very different beasts when finished.

Here is a photo of the unfinished wagons, but they will have to be completed by next weekend as we are having a show of the original Calderside in our new home in Paisley.

Wagons waiting on couplings being fitted and at different states of painting - nothing unusual here.

The sidings they are sitting on are on one of the new boards for the Wemyss exchange yard - as you can see the track is laid and wired up, point motors etc.but no scenery as yet. Not all the boards are as advanced as last week.

Also spent some time over at Burntisland on Saturday working on the East Group Burntisland layout - a good number turned out and much progress made. I was just doing some maintenance repairing any mechanical faults in the signalling, Jim Batchelor will also have a look at the electrical side of them before Scalefourum. No photographs of the work being done however as I think it is hoped that Scalefourum visitors will get first sight of the finished engine shed area and the display and lighting improvements - another good reason for as many to turn up to the show and support the organisers and those who humph layouts around the country.Good luck to them all and may we have a fine get together. Looking forward to it!

The finished wagons I will show next week once a few hours have been spent on them.

Tonight I am surfacing the loco yard on one of the other boards - all very messy using lightweight filler and sanding down - trying to make sure there are a few pot holes. Might post a couple of photos although just one of these things done to create realism, but not really considered good enough to be covered in articles - but maybe this is possibly the place, then again maybe not - one of the boring bits as my friend Chris Coles would say.

Allan

[jon price]

Please do post details of the work on the yard surface. There are lots of tedious things, like ballasting, that need to be done right. I'd be interested to see how you get on with filler.

[Allan Goodwillie]

Hello John

If you're sure? The works yard is mainly ash in the working areas, later replaced by the use of stone chips where lorries turning caused too much breakdown of the top surface. There is a crane to go in the middle of the area - a Scot's derrick which I am looking forward to making - I have the brass all bought. The area where locomotives stood and outside the works was "paved" with old sleepers of different types and vintage, most of which had at one time been chaired with either 2 bolt or 4 bolt chairs. This area I have created in the same way as I did 50 years ago on Dubbieside using thin polystyrene sheets. I press them on to the track once it has been laid and this leaves a perfect imprint of the rail and then it is just a case of cutting along the lines left by the track and popping in the sections and gluing them down in between the rails. After they have been glued , a nice sharp pencil is used to mark out the individual sleepers and punch in the holes to represent the pins that hold the chairs in place. It is also great for concrete surfaces, the fact that areas can be worked up quickly and very directly using a pencil saves a huge amount of time and it is also a clean method of working.

Here is a close up of the sleeper infill between the tracks using the above method. It is all very clean at the moment, but the material has been given a basic coat of paint to represent timber and marks where the chairs were once attached. All a bit obvious at this time, but I will show photographs of the area once it is worked up with degrading and spillages, puddles etc.

Here is a photograph taken of Dubbieside and the concrete surfaces of the dockside made from basically the same material - now I use the material which comes along with pizza bases - a material likely to disappear in the future as it is fairly indestructible - I have buildings made out of it and they have seen no change in 50 years.

pleas.e excuse the smoke and stem - just a it of fun

I have covered this elsewhere, can't quite remember where now, so will not cover it any more but to mention it just now and follow it up later as things develop. I will spend a bit more time now, just covering tonight's work with lightweight filler.

Allan