Arigna Town - this week's scenery

[David Holman]

A case of goods in/cattle out. Hazlewood is the train engine, usually with five vans of SLNCR/GNR/CIE origin. After the loco runs round [and visits the turntable], the vans go to the goods siding & Hazlewood picks up the cattle vans to make up the return train. As can be seen from the photos, this means the good siding is completely full & a certain amount of trial and error has led to a specific set of wagons in the sequence. One too many [or indeed, couple too long] and the rake fouls the main platform line.

On the reverse working, the cattle train enters the loop line [a rare use of the third doll on the signal] so the cattle vans go back to the dock after the loco has run round. Most of the time it all works really well, though occasionally I get the wagon order wrong and we find that the goods siding is overflowing. A few rude words [and when no one is looking] a bit of crane shunting usually sorts it out, though some of my more eager operators will happily fall on the resulting Chinese puzzle and spend 20 mins or so sorting it out the proper way. The last couple of pictures show the yard at the end of the sequence, after which the fiddle yard needs rotating, so a new sequence can begin.

I haven't included the railcar/railbus or excursion train, as these are simple 'out and back' movements which have been shown extensively elsewhere on the site. However, look out for a new chapter in my workbench section - there is still one spare track in the fiddle yard and I'm hoping my 'winter project' will fill that, eventually!

 

Edited September 14, 2015 by David Holman

[Noel]

This layout is simply in another league. A land of imaginary realism - its alive. One fees like one has walked down that track in a dream, or a distant memory. Pure class.

[Mayner]

The photos of the goods kind of reminds me of photos of a B143 shunting Newcastle West in 1974 a bit like trying to solve the rubic cube every siding and the run round full of wagons.

 

I find pick up goods or way freight operation far more interesting to running round with fixed formation trains.

 

Like steam few people under 50 in Ireland or the UK have any memory or experience of goods trains dropping off and collecting individual wagons at wayside stations or when an additional coach or passenger rated van could be added to a passenger train.

[David Holman]

The layout only gets seen as still photos on the web, but at the recent Worthing Show, some video footage was taken. it can be found on http://www.railwaymodellers.com Go the the 'Wadebridge Show' section & after a few minutes of modern image, Arigna town gets some attention.

[driver301]

Simply Stunning.

 

Well done on your layout

[jhb171achill]

In my very early life, for a few short months I lay in a cot within earshot of SLNCR engines shunting in Enniskillen. Perhaps this is why I'm fascinated by this layout and its operation; there must be something of me poking my head over the fence at that weed-strewn track and wagons destined for such distant and exotic places as Claremorris or Portadown.....

 

In fact, can we adjourn to the Railway Bar behind the station to discuss it?

[David Holman]

Especially if its a Guinness JB, though it is not quite the same this side of the water.

[jhb171achill]

Mr Holman, it's your round....

[murrayec]

Hi David

 

If you haven't seen this its worth it, video of Drumshambo to Arigna!

 

Its a closed group so don't know if the link will work!

 

 

The group is 'Rail Thing - Rails of Ireland'

 

Eoin

[burnthebox]

Worked fine, what a great memory from the past, thanks Eoin for posting, rare auld times !!

[David Holman]

Stunning - thanks Eoin, am sure I'll not be the only one to enjoy this. Immediately identifies two things missing from my layout - litter and a line side donkey! The first not too difficult, the second will have to wait until the Reading Trade Show in December, though might be something at ExpoNG next week in Swanley. Not sure how I mimic children running alongside the train though. Anyone doing holographic projections yet???

[David Holman]

A major part of the fun in exhibiting is meeting some lovely people. So it was on Saturday at St Albans, where our evening dinner table consisted of yours truly plus Gordon & Maggie Gravett, Continental Modeller Editor Andrew Burnham, Tony Wright [of Stoke Summit fame] & his wife, plus Dave Walker a noted loco builder in larger scales & pupil of the great Beeson no less. It was a fine evening's conversation, well lubricated with wine & beer!

On Sunday morning, Tony took a few photos of Ariana Town & emailed them yesterday. Happily, the files are small enough to share with you, so here are a couple of favourites. Just goes to show the effect of a fine photographer & a quality camera.

[scahalane]

Just stunning and beautifully shot as well.

[richrua]

my goodness it is incredible to look at

[Broithe]

my goodness it is incredible to look at

 

I disagree, I think it is completely credible!

 

 

 

Obviously, I do agree, really....

[richrua]

very good Broithe lol

[Dave]

Superb! There is so much to look at, the devil is in the detail

[jhb171achill]

NOW I know where my hen went, back in July 1957...... it's beside the turntable.

 

As always, this layout is absolutely the epitome of excellence. So is the lighting and photography.

[David Holman]

Many thanks chaps. The layout hasn't been worked on for over a year now. Indeed there are some bits that could do with a bit of attention after a dozen outings now. As some of you have said, a good photographer can conjure up all sorts of enhancements just by clever framing, composition and the like, so credit this time is very much down to Tony Wright.

[jhb171achill]

All it needs is a more youthful jhb171Senior peering at the track, clad in long brown trench coat, pondering what on earth to tell Manorhamilton about the maintenance regime... whole idea is to get SOME money out of Stormont and Leinster House. And is that Bill Haley or Elvis on the wireless receiver?

[David Holman]

St Albans' like York, seems to be one of those shows that generate multiple other invites, though only one new one is going to be possible this year, as the list already includes Huntingdon, Crawley, Alexandra Palace, Reading, Croydon, East London Finescale & Cultra. Have also agree to Manchester in December, then found there was an invite to Eurospoor in Utrecht in my RMWeb page... That is far too close to East London & Cultra, so will have to wait for another year, assuming they will still have me. Eurospoor is amazing - I went with an 0n16.5 layout in 1994 - & has over 200000q ft of space. Trouble is, it would be a 5 day trip, albeit a very tempting one!

Still, the G2 is almost ready for service again, while the two new Sligo coaches are also close to completion. It is the annual modelling completion at the club on Tuesday & for once, this creates a deadline for Sir Henry & his train. Hopefully will have some pictures soon.

[jhb171achill]

When's Cultra?

[David Holman]

Saturday 12th November, JB. If you can make it, it will be good to meet you. Likewise any of the rest of you on the far side of the water.

[jhb171achill]

Saturday 12th November, JB. If you can make it, it will be good to meet you. Likewise any of the rest of you on the far side of the water.

 

In me diary.

 

But it's you that's "on the far side of the water"! :-)

 

(I'll maybe stick to the day job..)

Edited January 25, 2016 by jhb171achill

[David Holman]

Arigna Town's fiddle yard has 7 roads, which equals two railcars and six trains. The latest addition now means it is full, as not only do we have Sir Henry, but a couple of coaches for him to pull. These are SLNCR 6 wheel saloon brake number 4 and bogie number 10. The latter is the infamous 'day coach', so called because it did not have any electric lighting.

Both coaches are scratch built in plastikard and microstrip. The 6 wheeler runs on a Tyrconnel etched brass chassis, while number 10 runs on cut down Slater's bogies. They are finished in very faded, peeling paint, as per the photograph in the Tom Ferris' second volume of Irish Railways in Colour. Indeed, several different shades of Humbrol brown were used, as the colours fade & peel more the higher up the sides you go. The peeling effect is done by first painting a base coat in 'weathered wood' [Humbrol natural wood + grey], then [when dry] Maskol is dabbed on in appropriate places. When this is dry, the top coats were put on. Finally, when this is dry, you use tweezers to pick at the Maskol & the peeling paint effect appears. Not my idea, but well documented in the painting' bible 'The Art of Weathering' by Martyn Welch - probably one of the most important modelling books every written.

Sir Henry is shown with the train, though at St Albans last week, he/it gravitated to the mixed train, where more shunting is involved. Hence, Fermanagh will probably take over this train in future.

Meanwhile, the repairs on G2 2-4-0 are complete. The squashed cab was flattened with blunt nosed pliers, while the smokebox & chimney were re-attached & a bit of filler used to cover the dent. These only took a few minutes, though the painting required a lot longer. Bare brass needed masking off so primer could be resprayed, then the top coat was 'stippled' on. This does your brush no good at all, but is a useful technique for applying weathering & done carefully is almost as good as spraying.

The only problem now is that not only is the fiddle yard full, but there is little room left in the car for any more stock boxes. So, a change of direction will be required at some point. I could certainly 'go diesel', so a C and G are not out of the question [provided I can get some drawings], plus there is a narrow gauge project now waiting in the wings. Will keep you posted.

[jhb171achill]

Clapped out, badly faded, peeling carriages - just sublime! Excellent work as always. Cultra here we come, I hope!

[David Holman]

Thanks JB. Coaches won a shield at last night's club competition, though Sir Henry was beaten by a 7mm Gresley P2 2-8-2. A case of a big green'un always beating a weathered little 'un methinks...

[jhb171achill]

You mentioned you had a narrow gauge project - presumably that was the Gresley P2!

 

;-)

 

Shield WELL deserved!

[David Holman]

While preparing for two shows in the next two weeks [st Neots and Alyypally], have had the baseboards tipped up & wondered if I had shared some of the mechanical/electrica bits before? All have proved themselves over the last couple of years, so hope it might help anyone contemplating building a layout themselves.

As you can see, nothing special on the electrics front, though I do find sprung audio terminals useful at shows, because they are quick to connect. A single, twin terminal for power from the transformer in the middle and two more [one each end] for the LED lights in the buildings. A simple, but not widely used innovation are the clothes pegs 'hot glued' to the underside of the baseboard, to hold cabling while in transit. Not my idea, but like all the simplest ones, is certainly a good 'un.

Painting the underside in white emulsion not only seals the woodwork, but makes it easier when working on these areas.

The two main mechanical bits are the turntable and the signals. The turntable mechanism is a Frizinghall Models kit [as advertised in RM & elsewhere]. Essentially a few bits of Meccanno, I have substituted a longer drive rod [3mm steel from Wickes] and a chocolate block connector to join the crank handle, which is removed in transit. The Frizinghall kit uses neoprene tube, but found this started to slip after a while, no doubt due to my heavy locos.

The signals [like the points] are wire in tube, using home made cranks. Hopefully the picture shows more than I can describe.

[Irishrailwayman]

Fantastic models! Are the buildings based on the Alphagraphix range?

[David Holman]

They are indeed. In fact, the layout would not have been built at all without Alphagraphix, for I have used several Tyrconnel etched brass kits, plus loads of the coach and wagon card kits as drawings to scratch build my own in plastic. You will no doubt have spotted the bakery, garage, station bar, Glenfarne goods shed, Florencecourt station & Manorhamilton signal box - all of which are based on the card kits but scratch built using Wills random stone on foam or 'greyboard' frames. Roger also put me in touch with Adrian Rowlands who let me buy his last tow 'small tank' kits - though happily they are now available again from Studio Scale Models & very fine kits they are too.

[Irishrailwayman]

They are indeed. In fact, the layout would not have been built at all without Alphagraphix, for I have used several Tyrconnel etched brass kits, plus loads of the coach and wagon card kits as drawings to scratch build my own in plastic. You will no doubt have spotted the bakery, garage, station bar, Glenfarne goods shed, Florencecourt station & Manorhamilton signal box - all of which are based on the card kits but scratch built using Wills random stone on foam or 'greyboard' frames. Roger also put me in touch with Adrian Rowlands who let me buy his last tow 'small tank' kits - though happily they are now available again from Studio Scale Models & very fine kits they are too.

 

Great stuff. I used Alphagraphix extensively for my Irish OO Ballybeg including their signal cabin, Glenfarne station and shops http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/109-Ballybeg/page16 . I have started working in plastic and may convert some of the railway buildings in time. I am exhibiting Ballybeg for the 10th time at Easter in Wexford. I admire your stamina in showing your wonderful layout in so many venues across the UK!.

 

Incidently, I lived in Sligo during the 1990's and cycled all over Sligo/Leitrim coming across many artefacts and railway alignments relating to the SLNCR (Slow, Late, Never Comes) railway. What a shame it closed.

[jhb171achill]

More for the "might have been" thread.... if the two governments had decided to go on subsidising the GNR and SLNCR and it had lasted into the sixties..... another railcar and one or two diesel locos, perhaps, along with a few recently withdrawn CIE or UTA coaches to replace the oul wooden antique hen houses it had itself?

 

Probably Loughs Erne and Melvin might have struggled on into the 70s, as the last steam in Ireland.

 

Or they'd have made it part of CIE / UTA; cue a "C" class and a couple of laminates rattling up and down twice a day, with the railcar spirited off to the Nenagh branch!

[GSR 800]

More for the "might have been" thread.... if the two governments had decided to go on subsidising the GNR and SLNCR and it had lasted into the sixties..... another railcar and one or two diesel locos, perhaps, along with a few recently withdrawn CIE or UTA coaches to replace the oul wooden antique hen houses it had itself?

 

Probably Loughs Erne and Melvin might have struggled on into the 70s, as the last steam in Ireland.

 

Or they'd have made it part of CIE / UTA; cue a "C" class and a couple of laminates rattling up and down twice a day, with the railcar spirited off to the Nenagh branch!

 

We should probably revive the auld MHB thread, methinks?

[David Holman]

Had my Arigna branch been built, I like to think it might have lasted, in some form at least until 1990. That was when the coal mines closed and the line would have gone past the power station on Lough Allen, where the coal was sent after the Cavan and Leitrim closed in 1959. The line was also wholly in the Republic, so no issues with border crossings.

So, with a modicom of passenger traffic, the railcar might have been kept busy on a shuttle to Sligo, while coal may have been in the hands of a C or 121. The power station consumed around 1000 tons a week, or one ten to twelve wagon train a day.

There again, perhaps the line would have been left as an isolated section from mine to power station, with an G or an industrial diesel brought in to work it. Not much interest as a layout though...