Loughan Quay

[Tullygrainey]

A few people have asked to see more of this layout after BCDR diesel No2 was recently spotted trundling round it, so allow me to introduce ‘Loughan Quay’ (say it out loud.... see what I did there). Actually it should probably be called ‘The Learning Curve’ since that’s exactly what it was/is for me. It replaces an earlier layout which had too much track and too little thought.

It’s 4mm OO gauge, with a scenic section around 180 x 55 cm. It’s wired for DCC and uses an NCE PowerCab but a DC controller can easily be plugged in for ‘one loco in steam’ operation. The points are conventional solenoid-driven using a stud and probe control panel. It was started in early 2015 and reached its current state around the end of 2017. Not much has been done to it since but the chief engineer has plans...

I have to confess to being more interested in building stuff than running trains though that might change if I ever manage to build a layout that works well operationally. I wanted a dockside and places like Dundrum in County Down and the harbour branch at Donaghadee provided inspiration. Essentially though, the thing evolved as my interests changed and each little sub-project led on to the next. I tried wherever possible to make things rather than buy them ready-made, rolling stock as well as buildings and structures. Along the way, bits got changed, buildings got replaced, and rolling stock has come and gone. Thematically, it’s all over the place and the loco roster makes no sense at all. But bear with me, I’ll get there eventually. Is it Irish? Well it’s definitely not a GWR branch line. Anyway, a few pics...

Alan

 

 

Buildings are mostly card or foamboard shells clad in embossed plastic (Wills, Slater) or printed paper from the Scalescenes downloadable print-it-yourself range.

 

 

The loco shed. That coal has gone a very funny colour. You'd never raise steam with that stuff.

 

 

No 20 waits to draw wagons out of the goods shed. One of a number of hacked Hornby Caley Pugs lurking around here. Business at McCaughan Bros going at its usual pace I see.

 

 

The Clyde Puffer is a Scalescenes download with a few additions - brass rails, white metal details and wooden hatch covers (good old coffee stirrers, where would we be without them). The deck winch is a Langley Models white metal kit.

 

 

The harbour surface is made up from painted card, Wills plastic cobblestones and Metcalfe paving slabs grouted with filler (Gyproc ProMix finish, a brilliant product. You can even repair the walls in your living room with it. Who knew!) The cables on the cranes (non-working) are made from 0.45mm brass rod, blackened and painted with Humbrol Metalcote. As a result, they always look taut, something hard to achieve using thread or elastic. Likewise the rigging on the Puffer - though don't look too closely at that, it's a bit of a fudge. That crewman is looking pretty relaxed despite the fact that his vessel isn't moored.

 

 

Stone walls are Wills Coarse Stone with Das coping stones. The businesses are named after my 4 great grandfathers.

 

 

Hope you like the wagon Leslie. I do.

 

 

The evening sun softens the shadows as No 16, ex-NCC (another hacked Pug) hauls the last load of the day.

 

 

 

[Flying Snail]

Wow. It really does look wonderful. You can see that everything has been carefully considered - even the little things, like the buildings in the back scene in the centre: the sense of depth they provide is really convincing! 

[Tullygrainey]

Thanks FS, glad you like it. If you've ever been to the Folk Museum at Cultra, you might recognise that street in the backscene.

Regards, Alan

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

That looks brilliant, I love the details, well done lad.

[popeye]

Love it.

Nicely set out and beautifully built.

[jhb171achill]

That is an abolute masterpiece.

[scahalane]

Stunning layout and workmanship. Thanks for sharing.

[David Holman]

Superb. Well done Alan. Especially like the soft, muted colours you use - very realistic and atmospheric. Indeed a well balanced beautifully modelled scene!

[Galteemore]

Agree with all of the above. Iain Rice would have used this layout in his books as an example of the standard to aim at. 

[Bob229]

Fantastic layout and modelling, so much detail, well done

[Ironroad]

Less is more, a great example of what can be achieved in a small space, really exceptional.

[Tullygrainey]

An embarrassment of praise! Thank you very much everyone.

GM, I will treasure your Iain Rice reference. Thank you.

Onwards with swollen head

Alan

[Rush and Lusk]

Outstanding !

[Tullygrainey]

Coal comes in at Loughan Quay and goes by rail to Downpatrick, Newcastle and Belfast. Hugh Vernor operates a small coal business at the quay, supplying local domestic needs. Scandanavian timber arrives too. Sand sometimes comes in as ship's ballast and is moved on by rail, ending up with the building trade.

The produce going out includes potatoes, grain, some whiskey, pit props from timber grown locally and occasional consignments of Mourne granite - kerbstones mainly but the trade is gradually ceasing as concrete supplants cut stone. There's no provision for livestock export at Loughan.

 

Not sure what's in the McCaughans' packing cases. I'd ask if they weren't so busy.

 

 

James Nixon. Fruit, Veg, Poultry.... and propellors.

 

 

Actually, the propellors originate from Townley and Sons though their usual trade is in goods and services for local agriculture.

 

 

UTA Jinty No 19, lately strayed from the Belfast docks (anything's possible in this universe), heads back there with the evening goods.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by Tullygrainey
typo

[Patrick Davey]

DROOL........

[David Holman]

Keep the pics coming and how about a track plan?

Love the raison d'etre too and finally worked out the pronunciation! In the past have played with Ballyrina, Killyconcarnay and my favourite, Ballyshawbeagan. Think zebra crossings!

 Ever thought of doing a magazine article? Loughan Quay deserves a wider audience, methinks.

[Tullygrainey]

12 hours ago, Patrick Davey said:

DROOL........

 Don't do that Patrick. You'll short circuit the track!

2 hours ago, David Holman said:

Keep the pics coming and how about a track plan?

Love the raison d'etre too and finally worked out the pronunciation! In the past have played with Ballyrina, Killyconcarnay and my favourite, Ballyshawbeagan. Think zebra crossings!

 Ever thought of doing a magazine article? Loughan Quay deserves a wider audience, methinks.

 Brilliant! I like those. Needed the clue for Ballyshawbeagan though!

I'll draw a proper track plan soon but in the meantime, here's a photo of an early stage which gives some idea. Some of those buildings got the chop later.  As did the Mourne Mountains on the backdrop. Bulldozed into the sea  Two exits to FY, one front, one back, on the left hand side.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Tullygrainey

[Patrick Davey]

2 minutes ago, Tullygrainey said:

 Don't do that Patrick. You'll short circuit the track!

Ha!  This is a truly magnificent layout Alan - most definitely please do articles on the layout and the BCDR diesel!!!

[Tullygrainey]

 I wrote in an earlier post that the loco roster at Loughan Quay didn't make a lot of sense. Well, here's the proof...

 

UTA No. 22, ex LMS and LMS NCC, a Harland and Wolff built diesel which ended its days back with Harlands as a works shunter. Judith Edge etched kit with High Level gearbox, Mashima motor (remember those) & Alan Gibson wheels.

 

BCDR 4-4-2 tank engine No. 30, escaped from Cultra for the day, looking in vain for some passenger coaches to haul. Made from an Oxford Rail Adams Radial bought second-hand but mint on eBay.

 

My attempt at the BCDR's long-lived workhorse, 0-6-0 tender engine No.26. A kit bash from a London Road Models etched kit of a L&Y Barton Wright Ironclad. Mashima motor, Branchlines gearbox and Alan Gibson wheels. Proportions are a bit off I think - too long in the boiler among other things. But it runs quite well and I have a soft spot for it because it nearly broke my heart building it. (No reflection on the quality of the kit - it was all the modifications)

 

Class G Deutz diesel 601, well off its normal territory. Black Beetle bogie under a Silver Fox resin body.

 

 

Like the Jinty in the last post, another escapee from the Belfast Dock lines. NCC 0-4-0ST No. 16, built at York Road in 1914, survived into UTA days. Created from a Hornby Caledonian Pug. Not long ago, Hattons were selling these new for £19. I bought three at the time and used the chassis in all sorts of things. Looking at the prices asked now, I wish I'd bought more. I bought a few very cheaply on eBay but it was a false economy. Most of them were knackered. New ones run much better. No.16 is probably a bit over scale but that's what you get for starting with a Smokey Joe.

 

 

Onwards in a parallel universe 

Alan

 

[Patrick Davey]

Love the BCDR tank!  Love it all!!!!  Can't believe you have been keeping all this from us Alan 

 

[David Holman]

They all look very much at home.

[leslie10646]

59 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

Love the BCDR tank!  Love it all!!!!  Can't believe you have been keeping all this from us Alan 

 

Have to agree with Patrick - the little tank looks splendid. Can we have a tutorial on how you did i?
 

The diesel from Judith’s kit looks good. I own a kit of it as well and must beat up someone who promised to build it.

a superb piece of modelling from end tend.

[jhb171achill]

7 hours ago, Tullygrainey said:

Class G Deutz diesel 601, well off its normal territory. Black Beetle bogie under a Silver Fox resin body.

 

Not at all beyond the bounds of possibility that the UTA might have asked to try one out.........

[Tullygrainey]

Track plan David. Loughan Quay has always lacked a decent fiddle yard, which restricts operation a bit. There's not much room left along the wall where the layout sits. Sloping ceilings don't help either. I have considered adding another board at right angles at the fiddle yard end to make an L-shaped layout but that would require curving the current exits to ease the turn. It's all a bit provisional at the moment.

 

I actually conceived the 3 sidings at the back right as an Inglenook shunting puzzle but, tucked behind the goods store, it's too awkward to be used in that way. 

 

 

 

[Patrick Davey]

Just fabulous!!!!  Would love to tackle BCDR goods stock like this, how did you go about this Alan?

 

[Tullygrainey]

Thanks Patrick. I used photos in Desmond Coakham's BCDR books as guides. The opens are made from Slater's 4mm kits for a Midland Railways 3 plank dropside. The covered vans are resin casts made from masters I made out of plastic card, plastic section and sticky labels (David Holman is the guru for this). The brake van is a one-off, made the same way as the masters. The hardest bit was the outside W irons for which I used etches from MJT. I'll pull together some photos and do a better description in due course.  Just now I'm off to PRONI for the talk and book launch on the Belfast Central Railway. More soon.

Alan

Edited February 28, 2023 by Tullygrainey
Typo

[PJR]

Fabulous layout and brilliant workmanship.

[Dave]

What a stuuning layout. The attention to detail is superb. 

[Tullygrainey]

On 27/2/2023 at 9:45 PM, leslie10646 said:

Have to agree with Patrick - the little tank looks splendid. Can we have a tutorial on how you did i?
 

All mostly done with plastic card, brass wire and stuff from the bits box Leslie. And a certain amount of ruthless butchery. The photo sequence is fairly self-explanatory I hope.

First BCDR No 30...

The starting point, an Oxford Rail Adams Radial. 

Very little was done to the chassis bar removing the outside cylinders/slidebars and the connecting rods. It all unbolts easily. The plastic cab and boiler all come off easily too.

 

Unwanted features filed off the metal bit....

 

Butchery over, the rebuild starts...

 

 

Halfords primer...

 

Humbrol aerosol paint and Fox transfers. Crew from Dart Castings. Only realised later that it should have 2 water fillers in the bunker.

 

And hey presto. Not entirely accurate but close enough for jazz? It came DCC ready so it's now chipped.

 

 

[Tullygrainey]

Now NCC No 16...

More plastic card and brass wire. Even more butchery...

 

The starting point, an unsuspecting Hornby 0-4-0 Pug...

 

I used 10 thou plastic card to wrap and extend the tank  - easy to bend and glue down.

L&Y Pug chimney (LYR0001) from Wizard Models. Dome carved from dowel. Archer rivets. Can't remember where the buffers came from.

 

Now the chassis. Plastic cylinders cut off. Connecting rods trimmed and drilled for 12BA bolts. New piston rods, crossheads and slide bars are Hornby spares (Ref: X8834W)from Peter's Spares.

 

New cylinders cut from the plastic barrel of a disposable propelling pencil.

And some weathering to finish. A scratch build might have been easier! Certainly more accurate. Next time 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by Tullygrainey

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Nice work lad, I love the finish product.

[Tullygrainey]

No 16 earning its keep

 

 

[Patrick Davey]

Gets better and better.  Just superb.

Thanks for the tutorial photos too Alan.

[David Holman]

So much better than the Desmond/Pug and am sure the loco feels all the better for it. Sow's ear to silk purse.

[jhb171achill]

Absolutely superb. The scenic detail on this is magnificent. Very smooth-running little engine.