Arthur's Quay

[Glenderg]

Evening All,

 

It's called Arthur's Quay for three reasons - I grew up in Limerick City right across from it, I wanted an excuse to include some guinness traffic and 1'10" gauge stuff, and I needed a name that was synonymous with Dublin, without being a specific location.

 

It's very loosely based on a part of the North Wall in Dublin, but takes plenty from the south side of the river before it was replaced by Googleland etc., so it's kind of a historic nonsense layout, but it's a multi-period layout - 1944, 1964,1984, & 2004 give or take a few years either side.

 

 

Like many here, I'm restricted with both space and time to work on this, so the dimensions for the layout are 296mm x 1400mm, designed to fit onto an IKEA Lack shelf, so I can hide it away when not in use. It also means I can work on small bits at a time, rather than having to tackle it all in the one go.

 

Anyway back to the plan - This part of the docks had an amalgamation of MGWR, LMS, and GSWR all jockeying for the most traffic, and along the frontage were these enormously long goods sheds which handled the main goods - cattle, timber and so on. There are two of these sheds remaining on the south side of the river which I've surveyed three times in the last few years. As part of the multi-period, it functions as a shed up until the 80's period, and will then become a shed for rail traffic.

 

 

I also want to use off the shelf code 100 track, using odd formations to create a shunting puzzle or three. I've had good fun dreaming up a scenario - "Breakdown Brake Van" - more of this when it gets going. But I'm aware of the nasty look of 16.5mm versus 21mm so I'm going to cobble the entire area with varying patterns to blend the rails into the surface.

 

 

Yip, much fun ahead but this is the effect I'm after.

 

 

But there's the buildings there too, and some are mind blowingly epic, so I've chosen a few around the area, some long gone, some from other similar parts of the city.

 

 

The Multi-period thing is defined by the fashion, posters, vehicles, rolling stock and minor changes to buildings, so I intend to create each building in it's 1924 condition, and as each period rolls around, fill in windows with steel shutters, or cover with period billboard posters as necessary. One building - the Ivy House above, will be modelled in two states though as I need one that really highlights the grim conditions of the early eighties - roof missing and steel supports etc.

 

to be continued next post...

[Glenderg]

Other things I really want to capture was the process of painting brickwork with signage, that hinted at times past, particularly when Dublin was the second city of the British Empire, and then subsequent graffiti tags such as "No to the EEC"

 

 

Then there are the German built bascule bridges which are iconic remnants of that era. I've inflicted a "you've no choice" policy on this one, and I think it'll be worth it.

 

 

This will form the scenic break at one end of the layout. A second board has been designed which will have it's bigger sister, featuring the customs building, coroners court and the harbourmasters office.

 

There also has to be ships at some point - one of my other hobbies. I have the hull complete for the LE Eithne, and a 1:76 of the Canon class USS Slater destroyer done, so they will satisfy the marine part for the 80's and the 40's respectively. The will be on a separate shelf that attaches.

 

Track layout has been fun designing, but I've still a bit to do with wagon turntables and narrow gauge guinness stuff. Here's the test run of the track on the kitchen floor.

 

 

That's fine in practice, but how does it work in theory?

 

 

I've always wanted to use a scissors and prototype formations early in the century used this to come from private owners sidings onto the main line - for the life of me I don't know why. Anyway this is how it all ties together, and it's taken me about 3 years to get to this point, so I'm going to allow myself 54 months to complete it.

 

 

For the 1944 layout, it will be mostly coal wagons, steam shunter Sambo, and transfer of MGWR, GNRI and GSWR wagons from the main line to the goods shed, and back into the wagon yard (fiddle yard). As it moves on to the 60's delivery of new 121's will feature, more goods wagons etc. but by this time my fictional MGWR transfer yard has become a Guinness Yard, so there will be early guinness traffic. For the eighties, CIE have taken back the yard, and the scrapping of laminates etc. has begun within, plenty excuse for old black and tan stock to appear dockside. Pushing onto 2004, I can have deliveries of MK4's, tara's (alexandra road exploded so this is a re-route ) and so on.

 

I know this sounds fairly mad and ambitious, but I won't be getting the hands dirty anytime soon. I've more than enough to finish for you lads before that happens!

 

Thoughts welcome.

 

Richie.

[heirflick]

i have to give you 10 out of 10 for comming up with this project - pure history with loads of athmosphere! the potential for so many different scenes and senarios and eras is mind boggleing! am just picturing a scene with the British troops loading up their equipment on the ships and depaeting for home after the Treaty. then there is the unlaoding of the Guinness ships.....it just goes on and on! . Oh jasus Richie - you picked a great one and one i will look forward to seeing!

Great pics BTY

Edited September 19, 2014 by heirflick

[iarnrod]

Excellent idea for a layout there, Richie. Certainly out of the ordinary. Look forward to seeing it come to fruition, especially the buildings. Should be epic knowing your handiwork.

[Warbonnet]

Nice Richie. If I was ever to do an Irish layout it would be late 60s Dublin docklands. Urban grot and plenty of variety. Excellent choice!

[BosKonay]

Can not wait to see the master progressing this one!!

[Garfield]

Can not wait to see the master progressing this one!!

 

Actually, I've got nothing to do with it but I'm sure Richie will get on just fine...

 

Fantastic Idea, Rich... looking forward to seeing it progress!

[scahalane]

I think this will be the layout of all layouts when its finished....at long last you've thrown your hat in the ring (at least in terms of layouts) and I for one can't wait to see the results. In particular I'm looking forward to the bascule bridge model,

an iconic piece of engineering that's crying out to be modelled. In terms of marine modelling how about a chain bucket dredger for something a bit different.

[Glenderg]

I think this will be the layout of all layouts when its finished....

 

Uhm....look who's talking! My layout is only a fraction of a thing in comparison to what's going on Kent wise!

 

As far as marine modelling, if it fits one of the unfilled era's then it's go, waterline from now on, those hulls are a hoor to get right! USS Slater is currently a sad sight, but I'll get some photos next week of her.

 

The guinness barges and their larger draughted aunties are also on the cards incidentally....

 

I'd really like to have a crack at one of the coal boats that came over from wales early in the century. There was a great story of a mother who had a fling with a "coloured lad" and she produced a boy of colour at the turn of the century, who ended up working on the coal boats, disgorging it's cargo onto the coal trains that were sent around the country. This coloured chap was a bit of an oddity at the time, as you'd imagine, but he drank pints at the rate of knots and beat the heads off all comers and was as good as any in Mayor Street. His mother was interviewed around 1966 and asked why it was that she tied a red neckerchief around her lad's neck going to work every morning, given that he'd stand out anyway. Says she "shur they were all bloody darkies bee the time they were done wid da coal, twas de only way I could find 'im for his dinna"

 

Another tale was that the famous "one and one" came from that era. A chap came over working on a boat from italy and jumped ship. Think he was a stevedore but he quickly realised that the lads on the docks were relying on their mammies to bring down cold pasties etc. for the grub so he set up a little hot oven with a bicycle to serve cheap and cheerful to the masses. After a few months, he had made enough to bring his missus over, and whilst he served the north quays, she was allocated the south quays. Problem was, she hadn't a bloody word of english, so the men of Townsend Street would queue up and point at what they wanted. "Wun o dat, and wun o dem" they'd say, trying to break the language boundary. (Apparently she was a bit of a looker too, italian lassies!) She would respond with "Uno y Uno?" pointing feverishly and the transaction would be completed with a nod and an exchange of a few pennies. Evermore, the expression of a "one and one" became commonplace in chippers with the imbibed of Dublin. Why am I telling yee this? No reason, really, just when researching all this lark you find these gems of real life that infects the modelling ideas.

 

I've thought about using adjustable lighting and looped audio to help with ambience, perhaps to offset flange squeal etc., from loco speakers and set the tone without wrecking my head - reeling in the squeals?

 

Thanks lads for the positive vibes - and shem - if I can get Weshty to produce enough GSR wagon stock, I'll have Larkin giving a speech surrounded by the huddled masses, and the peelers bailing in 1913 stylee! R/

[josefstadt]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15153[/ATTACH]

 

A fascinating photo of North Wall Quay - a great find and thanks for posting it. The photographer (do we know who it was?) appears to have been standing on the lifting bridge over the Royal Canal, beside the old Midland goods yard (now the site of the Convention Centre). I never realised that there were two lines of sidings on the roadway running parallel to the river and that they were used for loading / unloading wagons. I had always assumed that the rail wagons went into the sheds for these purposes. Notice also the wagon standing on Guild Street, which would have been the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company's line linking the MGWR's Sheriff St yard, on the western side of the canal, to the riverside.

 

Certainly looking forward to seeing this layout develop.

[Noel]

Uhm....look who's talking! My layout is only a fraction of a thing in comparison to what's going on Kent wise!

 

As far as marine modelling, if it fits one of the unfilled era's then it's go, waterline from now on, those hulls are a hoor to get right! USS Slater is currently a sad sight, but I'll get some photos next week of her.

 

The guinness barges and their larger draughted aunties are also on the cards incidentally....

 

I'd really like to have a crack at one of the coal boats that came over from wales early in the century. There was a great story of a mother who had a fling with a "coloured lad" and she produced a boy of colour at the turn of the century, who ended up working on the coal boats, disgorging it's cargo onto the coal trains that were sent around the country. This coloured chap was a bit of an oddity at the time, as you'd imagine, but he drank pints at the rate of knots and beat the heads off all comers and was as good as any in Mayor Street. His mother was interviewed around 1966 and asked why it was that she tied a red neckerchief around her lad's neck going to work every morning, given that he'd stand out anyway. Says she "shur they were all bloody darkies bee the time they were done wid da coal, twas de only way I could find 'im for his dinna"

 

Another tale was that the famous "one and one" came from that era. A chap came over working on a boat from italy and jumped ship. Think he was a stevedore but he quickly realised that the lads on the docks were relying on their mammies to bring down cold pasties etc. for the grub so he set up a little hot oven with a bicycle to serve cheap and cheerful to the masses. After a few months, he had made enough to bring his missus over, and whilst he served the north quays, she was allocated the south quays. Problem was, she hadn't a bloody word of english, so the men of Townsend Street would queue up and point at what they wanted. "Wun o dat, and wun o dem" they'd say, trying to break the language boundary. (Apparently she was a bit of a looker too, italian lassies!) She would respond with "Uno y Uno?" pointing feverishly and the transaction would be completed with a nod and an exchange of a few pennies. Evermore, the expression of a "one and one" became commonplace in chippers with the imbibed of Dublin. Why am I telling yee this? No reason, really, just when researching all this lark you find these gems of real life that infects the modelling ideas.

 

I've thought about using adjustable lighting and looped audio to help with ambience, perhaps to offset flange squeal etc., from loco speakers and set the tone without wrecking my head - reeling in the squeals?

 

Thanks lads for the positive vibes - and shem - if I can get Weshty to produce enough GSR wagon stock, I'll have Larkin giving a speech surrounded by the huddled masses, and the peelers bailing in 1913 stylee! R/

 

What a great read and unique idea for a layout. Classic.

 

The HBA website may have some useful marine info http://www.heritageboatassociation.ie/cms

 

I know a few of these guys quite well if you ever fancy a ride on one. They come into Dublin en mass every spring. One of their bugbears is the severe operating restrictions at the notoriously renamed "effin bridge". Many spend the rest of the year on the river Shannon.

 

Rambler passing under newcommon rail bridge on the royal canal.

[Mayner]

Richie:

 

Great concept with the different era's from modern state of the art the 1860s to the increasingly run-down and obsolete as the port shifted Eastwards. Modelling an urban Irish layout warts and all is a challenge and a welcome change from a country station in a scenic setting.

 

As a South sider I never got to explore the North Wall quays and yards until the late 70s, I will always remember going with my parents as a nipper to see what seemed to be the whole US Navy tied up along the South Quays from Butt Bridge to the Grand Canal Docks some time in the early 60s. To me the most striking thing was the dockside cranes of which there is little trace.

 

Like most ports the Docks was melting pot of races and culture that never really recovered from the loss of traditional dock work and the community being dispersed to Corporation housing estates in the suburbs in Brendan Brehan's words to Hell or Kimmage.

 

The decline seems to have set in from the closing of the LNWR passenger station and hotel when the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company lost the Mail Boat contact to Dunlaoire in the 1920s.

 

Your plan has a bit of the Iain Rice's London Dock schemes about it, not sure about modelling the Quayside sheds (Campshires). Visually they cut off the view of the more interesting 19th Century buildings and streetscape from the river.

 

The North-Wall Liverpool passenger boat also carried cattle up to its replacement by Car Ferry in the 70s, cattle arrived by rail and were driven "on the hoof" down the North Circular Road from the Cattle Market for loading on what's now City Bank and the Dockland University.

 

There was an interesting photo in Heitons head office of a coal boat being off-loaded into railway wagons on the quay outside the Point Depot in GSR days.

Edited September 20, 2014 by Mayner

[201bhoy]

Pushing onto 2004, I can have deliveries of MK4's, tara's (alexandra road exploded so this is a re-route ) and so on.

 

Thoughts welcome.

 

Richie.

 

Don't forget some pockets and 42 flats to put your containers on Sounds like an incredible layout!

[StevieB]

I'm a great believer in model railways having a historical background and this is just brilliant. Like others, I await further details as the project progresses.

Stephen

[ttc0169]

Interesting choice,but a great history attached to the area,

Good luck with the project Richie,I have no doubt that your attention to detail will be of the highest standard-as we have seen with any of you excellent modelling creations in the past.

[Dave]

Great choice of location Richie, it's going to be stunning! Looking forward to seeing this progress.

[David Holman]

Can only echo all the other comments. Will make a very original and atmospheric layout. At the Chatham Club, we did something similar in 7mm scale, so was 26' long, but it got lots of interest at exhibitions for being a bit different. Am sure it will be fun to operate while all the buildings will frame the view really well. Like everyone else will look forward to following its progress.

Great project - good luck with it - deserves to succeed.

[DiveController]

Don't forget some pockets and 42 flats to put your containers on Sounds like an incredible layout!

 

With any luck, by the time you have sorted out the earlier periods, you may have some modern RTR rolling stock. Very interesting project. Good luck. Keep the photos coming when you can!

[Weshty]

Duuuuuuuuuude!!!!

 

Love the proposed Amalgam of the the best of the past. I see where you're coming from on this, and given your archy background and previous form in station work ( malahide etc.) to quote the old Amstel ad...."this is going to be great!".

[Barl]

Sounds like a fantastic plan for a layout and I'm really looking forward to seeing the different times being modelled

[driver301]

This looks like an excellent project and I will be keeping a close eye on it.

 

If it is up to your usual standard Glenderg then we are in for a treat!

 

Best of luck with the build

[Glenderg]

More than two years since I started this thread, what an appalling work rate!

 

So last week I had to take a few snaps and do some tests on weight, short radius stuff, pretty boring when you're doing in almost laboratory style.

 

 

So I got annoyed, and made a start. At least I can use it to QC test the wagons....!

 

 

Do I make the disused line a working element, or a static thing?

 

 

The blades of the points wouldn't allow it to marry without a silly amount of engineering, and counsel with Garfield set my mind at ease. Leave it out.

 

 

A fair bit of bodging of the existing stuff to make it look like a long slip, rather than off the shelf.

 

 

 

The length of flexitrack is legit 1980's lima stuff, with prototypical rust an all. Throw nothin out!

 

 

I chose to solder all the track together from underneath, avoid all that dropper business. Just go for pure electrical continuity. (bound to regret it....)

 

 

The next step is to cut slips of 2mm styrene and fill in the sleeper gaps before a nice coat of readymix tiling adhesive goes in to hide the sleepers completely. Then it's on to cobbling time!

 

Edited November 13, 2016 by Glenderg

[Mayner]

Love it Iain Rice's trademark outside slip assembled in OO rather than EM or P4 using Peco components.

[DiveController]

You're going now, Richie! Great history, looking forward to the progress

[scahalane]

Looking forward to seeing the Bascule bridge and perhaps a dock side crane or two. Its going to be a cracking diorama I think.

[krose]

Good man Richie, I'm looking forward to the scratch building on this one, especially the bridge.

[jhb171achill]

That is a stunning concept. Very best of luck with it!

[Glenderg]

*Dusts off the cobwebs in here

Last Christmas Day 2018, I managed to make a hames of putting two ice cubes into a glass, which resulted in a severed artery and tendon in my left thumb, and any right handed modeller will know that it's the "clamp" hand. In the middle of it all, the London North Western Railway Group announced a competition on RMweb mid way during the year, and since one of the primary parts of the layout is the LNWR station (latter called the LMS Building), I thought it a fine excuse to jump in with the same gusto I had with the two ice cubes. 

Once the hangover wore off, I realised that there was a minor issue of making loads of plastic things, and I'd have no time for it, but the odd half hour here and there in CAD saw things develop a bit, to the point that I think I might have designed the whole thing in N, rather than 00, as the buildings are substantially larger than my original sketch. Uncle Arthur gets the blame on that front, once more. 

So the only true "downtime" for modelling arrived just after Christmas, there was nearly a week of quiet, and the physio said if I didn't start to use the thumb properly, I'd be stuck with a stuck hinge for good, so it made sense to make a start. 

The central part is the lynchpin to the whole thing, with LNWR clock tower above, so I decided that would be the best start, and I chose to avoid that evil material Wills' Sheet as I like having working fingers. So it's all card, printed photos of the real brickwork, warts and all, along with grey mottled card for the stone..

One of the things I should have done in some buildings before was properly spend time reinforcing it internally, so plenty off cuts were put to good use. 

Apologies to anyone upset at the mangled plough, I did that in a professional capacity! There are multiple levels of card used to build up the various stone details at each level, particularly as they go around corners... 

Excuse the fuzzy and the bits of buffers...banana for scale... 

It's pretty tricky to see the various levels of stonework, but the joints need to be expressed and the front weathered with charcoal and chalk dust to make the detail pop...

This is where she is at the minute and she'll go into cold storage shortly until next year. I'm going to try to get the last of the stone detail on before then, and it's been a great bit of fun, even if aul thumby is sore as frig, but the Physio insists... 

Richie.

(P.s big thanks to @warb for the inspiration to get started again, and I missed the deadline for the competition! ) 

[Rob]

Very impressive, attention to detail is amazing.

[popeye]

Lovely building, and great skill. 

[Past-Avenue]

Lovely detailed work its a credit to you 

[David Holman]

Excellent! Proof, if needed, that printed card works just as well as embossed plastic for buildings. The layers of detail lift the flat surfaces and show what could be done with Metcalfe kits (many of attractive subjects) to cover the exposed corners.

 Always nice to see individual, scratch built models and this one is a beauty.

[jhb171achill]

I very much like the idea of different periods of use. That's what I'm trying to do too - a layout that "never changed until closure" and eventually a complete set of locos and coaches to cover the early to late 50s, the 1957-64 period, and mid 60s to mid 70s,.

A model of Sambo would be nice!  An E class, too, perhaps?

[Mike 84C]

Richie, little that I could add to all the previous comments. Its just good to see progress with your layout and its a shame that it has to go on the back burner till next winter.  Maybe thank the physio from all of us for getting you started again.

[TimO]

Great work