Patricks Layout

[David Holman]

Looks much better to me. Low relief buildings can be made to work, but need carefully blending into the back scene, with (especially) something to hide the lack of depth at the ends. Trees, or a deeper building can do this. The silo, having more depth anyway, clearly doesn't have this problem.

[patrick]

A few more shots of the East side of Glen More goods yard. I'm questioning the gantry crane, it somehow bothers me that is so close to the main line.  The crane itself is by no means an accurate model of the prototype, its dimensions were estimated from photos but it more than captures the feel of the prototype which I remember so well from the North Kerry yard in Tralee. 

[leslie10646]

Glad to know that you are literally getting back on your feet, Patrick.

Mind you, ballasting will affect your mental health!

[Robert Shrives]

Good to see metal exercises to counter ballasting !   For my small coins worth  I thought of the crane as a signature Irish item - and putting CIE ahead of many with early containerisation - such cranes of their time as now a reach stacker does it all and more, but this would be far to modern for Glen More. In the days of yore where common sense took a more important role of safety elves I think as place fine - the crane as was at Ballina nor Mallow fenced from the loop or running lines.  Layout looks better with it.

The factory being  a flat perhaps looks better in real life if opposite the regular operating position - but like compressed scale reductions only work from one viewing point.   If it is to remain David is on the money with needing to disguise the fact it is applied to the back scene. This would need some extensive scenics as the eye would be looking for extensive side walls and the associated infrastructure and dross - fule tanks, parked bits, rubbish bins electrical supply and perhaps a transfomer building etc

Currently it looks a little lost as a centre stage item - perhaps on the end wall by/ beyond the tar shed so it only gets a passing glimse which will "overlook" the 2D nature.  As a rural area perhaps the end of an orchard  with farmhouse painted on - in the middle distance might achieve the break in the landscape behind the station .  

All easy to suggest  from many miles away and miss your motivation but hoping to add to mental process rather than be negative (" less of those negative waves" as a film tank driver might have said!)      

loving it all as I do not have my own 4mm layout- just a collection of bare started projects. 

Robert 

[fishplate7]

Patrick. Let me join the queue of well wishers and to wish you a speedy recovery! As others have said, yours is an inspirational layout where 'less is more'! I always enjoy looking at the development of the layout and look forward to the next series of photos. I also note you have included traps - an essential part of the working railway! How did you do this - dissect a standard point? Tks. Eamonn

[patrick]

Being a lone wolf modeller, by circumstance rather than choice I greatly appreciate the feed back I get on this site. It is after all the only place anybody remotely understands what I'm trying to achieve! Thanks to Roberts comments the crane will stay.  The scene is finally coming togeather. The catch point is a cut down Roco point.

Edited September 2, 2020 by patrick

[StevieB]

Patrick

You’ve captured the feel of a country railway in South Waterford, but change a few details and it could be anywhere in these islands. Have you got room to run dolomite trains from Lombardstown and oil and magnesite Trains to/from Cork?

Stephen

[Georgeconna]

I must admit this is one of the nicest layouts Irish wise out there. Captures the feel of the countryside excellently.

 

[Robert Shrives]

2 hours ago, Georgeconna said:

I must admit this is one of the nicest layouts Irish wise out there. Captures the feel of the countryside excellently.

 

Agreed it catches the remoteness well and the little hives of activity that make up rural areas at a time when most if not all went by rail. Today the line would be host to 2600/ 2700 railcars and the carparks fill up the old yards - the crane long gone ! to be replaced by yards of palisade fencing, tarmac and gratuitous miles of yellow lines and notices stating the obvious.   Please keep the line "timelocked " as it is! 

Robert         

[David Holman]

Building a convincing model railway can require as much artistry as practical and technical skills. Knowing what to leave out can be as important as what to put in and for me, this certainly has 'the look', so always enjoy seeing updates.

[jhb171achill]

On 9/2/2020 at 12:36 PM, Robert Shrives said:

Agreed it catches the remoteness well and the little hives of activity that make up rural areas at a time when most if not all went by rail. Today the line would be host to 2600/ 2700 railcars and the carparks fill up the old yards - the crane long gone ! to be replaced by yards of palisade fencing, tarmac and gratuitous miles of yellow lines and notices stating the obvious.   Please keep the line "timelocked " as it is! 

Robert         

Couldn’t agree more!!! And the endless twisted supermarket trolleys, settee cushions and burst bin liners, invasive weeds, groups of scumbags under bridges and graffiti.........!

[patrick]

After much anguish the East end of Glen More is finally coming together I'm reasonably satasfied! The hard standing is thick card and has yet to be glued down.

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by patrick

[Robert Shrives]

Looking good !  Hard standing looks to be effective.  In UK for a short while in Scotland we had log loading "over the fence"  but due to a loader tipping over in the quagmire one night loading points now need to have concrete pads - so the cost of this put the rail operation into a non profit zone and now it all goes by road - no hard standing of course!   

Thanks for updates good to see mojo on 10.

Robert    

[jhb171achill]

3 hours ago, Robert Shrives said:

Looking good !  Hard standing looks to be effective.  In UK for a short while in Scotland we had log loading "over the fence"  but due to a loader tipping over in the quagmire one night loading points now need to have concrete pads - so the cost of this put the rail operation into a non profit zone and now it all goes by road - no hard standing of course!   

Thanks for updates good to see mojo on 10.

Robert    

Wow - so it’s not just here that blind idiocy is used to take traffic off the rails and onto the road!

[patrick]

Robert Shriver messaged me and suggested that the concrete hard standing was not appropriate for the era modelled which is 1974 and thinking about it I believe he is right. Concrete is expensive, crushed stone or gravel was much more common. Looking through photos revealed some stations including Youghal and Albert Quay had tarmac areas by the tracks so some Scalescenes tarmac was downloaded and simply glued on top of the existing hard standing. Here are a few photos from the short operating session which followed which was simply having the pick up goods shunt the yard while an empty cement train ran from Cork to Waterford.

Edited September 6, 2020 by patrick

[patrick]

Truth be told the attempt to use a downloaded surface for the hard standing was laziness on my part. Ultimately dissatisfaction with the results led me to do what I should have done from the very start and put down Woodland Scenics fine ballast. It was applied over diluted white glue and the whole thing was then sprayed with isopropyl alcohol. Before the whole mess had dried lightly poking random spots with a finger gave the impression of potholes which broke up the uniform appearance of the surface. Hopefully I can now finally achieve closure and move on!

Edited September 8, 2020 by patrick

[Robert Shrives]

Patrick - That is it perfection as you desire , it looks just like my depot at Minffordd on the Ffestiniog Railway and a bit less like an airport runway !  Perhaps a small pad on the Beet loading bank to hint at where progress in going will suffice. The angle of many phots of beet banks hint but give no details of surface and weeds - I imagine ( await to be told better) that weeds ran amok but a winter of tractors and trailers ground a clear way for a few months - so perhaps a bigger collection at the bufferstop end trailing to nearly clear at road access point  . Of course some very plant unfriendly weed killer might have been used a bigger sites.

If I may suggest a tree or similar to help nature cover up how the sky is fixed above the lorry trailer - or it might be a ufo... who knows but I guess we have all had an errant screw head ! 

Always great work and thanks for showing.  Rome not built in a day and always changeable so is Glen More  but I think you are as good to go with the yard. . I do not think anybody has said but the colours in the ballast and the clean sleeper tops feel just right for the era compared to the mechanised mess we have today.

Robert   

 

[patrick]

The beet bank surface is a Scalescenes concrete download which unfortunately looks like it could pass for the marble floor of an OO scale cathedral. It will probably get the same treatment as the yard if I can figure out a way to deal with it in order to prevent an unholy mess when glue and isopropyl alcohol are applied. As with the yard area the bank has given me much grief over the years while trying to compose the scene. It has been longer, shorter, higher and on a curve and has had several different surfaces. I'm hoping to make peace with it soon! As for the back scene, the sky and clouds were done blending light blue paint applied with a paint roller and white paint blended in with a brush while the blue was still wet. This technique was learned from a Model Railroader DVD and gave wonderful results. Unfortunately my first attempt at painting hills was not so successful. They were too high and I tried to incorporate too much detail. Painting over them destroyed the silky smooth texture the sky backdrop had, and yes that screw has to go! 

[JasonB]

Really like that finish in the yard. It captures that slightly rough appearance, with little maintenance, really well. My type of layout. Less is definitely more.  

[patrick]

More progress on scenery. I have decided to go with the printed factory at least for now. Three storage tanks which were fashioned from a piece of plastic pipe which was lying around in the garage hides the fact that it has no dept on one end and some bushes and a tree do the same on the other. The tanks still need tops and some detail.

[Rob]

Looks great, really impressive.   Before my time/era, but must say the signal looks really good-   great photos Patrick.

[popeye]

A beautiful scene but the factory does look a little flat and you do not have much room

to play with. 

[patrick]

A little detail has been added to the tanks. Hopefully I can find a prototype industrial building to base a low relief model on to scratch build at some point but for now this will do nicely. I'm considering adding a sign or graphics reading Glen More Coop.

Edited September 14, 2020 by patrick
Spelling

[patrick]

A tractor and trailer arrives at Glen More with another load of beet after a rain shower in early October in 1974. In reality the wet surface is due to the fact that the glue has not yet dried after applying Woodland Scenics fine ballast to the bank.

Edited September 14, 2020 by patrick

[NIR]

A tractor cab! What luxury.

[StevieB]

It just gets better with every posting.

Stephen

[Robert Shrives]

Patrick,

I hope you have now found peace !  Loading bank looks the part .

I have seen one or two layouts which were suggestive of a just past rainfall with puddles  and wet roofed buildings.  But you can enjoy the passing phase as it dries out . 

As everybody adds great layout that inspires .

Robert   

[patrick]

Here is a mockup of the Glen More goods store which I built in order to establish its dimensions. First impressions are that it should be a bit deeper and the roof pitch seems a bit steep.

[David Holman]

Think you are right in both Patrick. Nevertheless, shows the value of a simple mockup, especially one in the right colours.

[StevieB]

Glen More is beginning to look a lot like Dungarvan.

Stephen

[MOGUL]

On 6/15/2020 at 12:25 AM, patrick said:

I was on that trip from Tralee to Fenit and back, all of 12 years old! My father did know Gleasure's in Tralee but then again between his job and the Tralee Development Association he seemed to know half the county.

Talk of Fenit makes me think that Patrick's layout wouldn't be out of place on the North Kerry line.. The gantry crane is very like Rathkeale, and the beet bank would fit right in somewhere the west of Ireland.. 

Edited September 21, 2020 by MOGUL

[patrick]

Yesterday I spent a couple of pleasurable hours tiding up the East side of Glen More which involved touching up some parts of the backscene and valance and adding some scatter material to bare spots of scenery. The offending screw on the backscene proved immovable so it got covered with a tree!  Looking back on this thread I was surprised to learn that the rebuild of Glen More goods yard began two and a half years ago and only now is now basically complete although much more detail could be added. A search through my parts boxes did not reveal the SSM  ground signals which were removed from the layout for safe keeping prior to the rebuilding!                                                                                                                          MOGUL's comments regarding the North Kerry line are correct. Not only was there a similar crane in Rathkeale but also in the North Kerry yard in Tralee. The tar depot is also based on the one which was also there. 

Edited September 22, 2020 by patrick

[Robert Shrives]

Patrick,

I guess the home signal the other side of bridge which must be convenient!  The hardy screw tree does the job luckily will never lose its leaves in the fall!  Might be a bit of work for the PW fencing gang at some point but it looks pretty well done for me .  You have achieved much more in 2 1/2 years than you will believe.  The layout has been a personal inspiration and to many others as well.   The hobby does sucessfully pass over borders and oceans and long may it continue to do so.  Hope the 121s land soon. 

Thanks for sharing this lovely corner 

Robert    

[patrick]

Loose coupled goods train runs through Glen More.

[Robert Shrives]

Good film ! Peace returns after its passage ! Train a long one one showing the way forward with one new container. 

Thanks for showing .

Robert