Four Masters Bridge, Glengarriff & other former Irish models/layouts

[Irishswissernie]

In late 2016 my wife er sorry I mean my wife and I decided to move house from Haltwhistle (Centre of Britain) to be nearer to our 5 children and their families. As they live in Didcot, Nottingham, Southport, Brandon, Co Durham & Salt Lake City I am still not sure how she plans to achieve this, however this meant the immediate demise of my Model Railway with everything packed away back up in the loft room. 16 months further down the line we have had 2 people view the house and I am not hopeful that this rate of potential buyers will improve.

I have accordingly decided to build a new layout but capable of being dismantled and at 10' by 5ft- 3ins easily installed (famous last words) in a new property.

I have built numerous layouts over the years and back in the 1980's;90's exhibited 15 different ones at North East England Shows. I also have several different prototype interests Irish, North Eastern Steam, Scottish steam, Swiss and USA short line. I want a layout with shunting interest, fairly long trains (20 wagons) and continous running. The layout would also need extensive storage sidings to hold approx 7-8 complete trains. Storage sidings can be used with any of the particular area/company/country being modelled so only the actual station/yard will need to be inter-changeable. 

The baseboards are built and I have been checking that the trackwork actually fits the space available.

 

[Noel]

20 minutes ago, Irishswissernie said:

. . . I want a layout with shunting interest, fairly long trains (20 wagons) and continuous running. The layout would also need extensive storage sidings to hold approx 7-8 complete trains. . . .

Hi Ernie. Like the look of that.  I too like long trains, but just wondering if long model trains with 20 two axle wagons might restrict the trackwork space available for interesting shunting operations. 12-15 wagons may more easily fit when shunted into sidings, yet look realistically long enough and snake across point work when shunting. Just another thought about wagon weights, you may need two locos double headed to manage 20+ wagons depending on the weight. I have arranged my IRM cement wagons into two trains, one uniform with 15 wagons and another mixed traffic with other wagons. Anyway looking forward to watching your layout evolve. As a matter of interest what material is the baseboard? Noel

[Garfield]

5 minutes ago, Noel said:

Hi Ernie. Like the look of that.  I too like long trains, but just wondering if long model trains with 20 two axle wagons might restrict the trackwork space available for interesting shunting operations. 12-15 wagons may more easily fit when shunted into sidings, yet look realistically long enough and snake across point work when shunting. Just another thought about wagon weights, you may need two locos double headed to manage 20+ wagons depending on the weight. I have arranged my IRM cement wagons into two trains, one uniform with 15 wagons and another mixed traffic with other wagons. Anyway looking forward to watching your layout evolve. As a matter of interest what material is the baseboard? Noel

I reckon with all his experience, Ernie has taken this into account...

Quote

I have built numerous layouts over the years and back in the 1980's;90's exhibited 15 different ones at North East England Shows...

 

[Irishswissernie]

The station area has 4 goods sidings plus a second loop (apart from the passing loop), the loop is to recess the local passenger as at Claremorris where the Ballina set used to wait between connections at Manulla. The cement silo siding is a loop; it is the curved innner siding leading back to the main fiddle yard and can take 20 wagons. Whilst the bubbles worked mainly as block trains on the prototype, when they reached the terminals they were often split and wagons shunted and re-arranged. At Waterford I videoe-d a set during the day having wagons removed/ and or shunted by 3 different 071 class which in the interim visited the fuelling point. The other sidings in the station are for Guinness, fertiliser or bagged cement.

One operation I noticed is that 4 wheel wagons were always worked behind bogie wagons on a train ; noted especially on a mix of Guinness wagons at Claremorris and Waterford and on Containers/Guinness at Limerick Junction.

At Claremorris the Ballina branch set and loco shunted Guinness wagons at times with the coaches on one end of the loco and wagons on the other. This was probably to cut down on shunting moves and noise in the middle of the night when the fulls arrived from Dublin.

The theme behind the model is that back in the 19th century ore was discovered west of Macroom in County Cork and a port was built between Glengarriff and Castletown Bearhaven on Bantry Bay by the company for exporting the mineral. At the same time the Mining company wanted better transportation by rail to the rest of Ireland and to overcome the problems caused by the Cork & Macroom Company and the CB&SC not being on speaking terms which had resulted in the connection between the 2 companies at Cork being taken out (It was re-instated in WW1 for troop movements at the insistence of the government) Plus of course at the time the Cork City railway had not been built so there was no connection at the time to the rest of the country. The GS&WR wanted a piece of the action so it financed a connection from Kilbarry south west via the cattle markets and Cork North station and then westwards to Ballincolling on the CM&DR. From their terminus at Macroom the line returned to the valley of the River Lee as far as the mine at Ballingeary and then via a tunnel under the Pass of Keimaneigh down to the shores of Bantry Bay , thence via Glengarriff to Castletown Bearhaven. All rather implausible given the gradients involved but I have amended the topography, geology, industry and population where needed to make the line a busy freight network ca2000. The 'Tara' wagons when they come will cover the ore trains from the mine to the port at Seal. Closure of the CB&SC system in the early 1960's resulted in an increase in freight via Glengarriff for the Bantry area and points south plus freight for the Oil industry installations in Bantry Bay.

OOPs! Forgot your query Noel. Baseboards and legs etc are 2" x 1" (my usual size used for over 30 years with no problems) and the baseboard tops are Sundeala board. This is relatively soft and can be cut with a sharp carpet Knife. It is braced underneath every 12" The station boards are 1/8th inch lower than the others as they will be ballasted with Gaugemaster ballast (one or two of the points in the photos have this attached still. They are from a previous layout.  

Well that's enough of tonight's bed-time reading. Lights out everybody!

Edited April 10, 2018 by Irishswissernie
added gen

[Irishswissernie]

Its throwing it down and there's only me and the dogs at home tonight so I have done a bit more 'feasibility studying' plus adding the back boards to the station section. I can't make the back drop boards full height as if something derails in the back storage loops I need to reach over to get it. A mirror mounted on the wall will help me check that nothing is blocking the loops such as uncoupled wagon, dead mouse or secreted chocolate (All confirmed past causes!) The 2 x 1 stretchers will screw the 2 boards together like a box when interchanged thereby protecting the layout.

First photo shows station boards removed . Layout can still be operated as a continous run for testing or just playing trains.

Second photo shows 16 bubbles in the 'storage part' of the silo siding.

Third photo. Checking out train lengths etc.

Fourth photo. The passenger section is at the far end and will feature an Overall roof to disguise the exit. Only the platform ends will be modelled as I don't think anyone has replicated passengers alighting and boarding so basically nothing appears to happen when the train comes in.

 

Edited April 10, 2018 by Irishswissernie

[Noel]

Very nice.

[Irishswissernie]

Glengarriff is now up and running or at least the fiddle yards and continous run are working. I have tested various trains/formations and so far so good! A single 141 will handle 21 'bubbles' easily. Work has now started on the station trackwork with some modification to the track plan to provide a locomotive siding. Trackwork here will take longer to lay as I need to incorporate Gaugemaster ballast roll and also Wire & Tube to work the points. The ballast has to be cut and shaped to fit the points.

Ernie

[Noel]

Nice progress. Enjoying seeing this layout evolve.

[Irishrailwayman]

Any plans to show all your hard work at Exhibitions?

[Irishswissernie]

2 hours ago, Irishrailwayman said:

Any plans to show all your hard work at Exhibitions?

Sorry, I gave up on Exhibiting back in the late 1980's although I continued attending Shows but working on various friend's Trade stands for many years thereafter and also looked after a local model shop when the owners were doing shows, having holidays etc. I have a flickr album in Ernie's Railway Archive of some of the layouts. Thankfully not many photos were taken and those that were are mostly of the same quality as the layouts!

 hhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/albums/72157690426038844/page1

I have now reached my '3 score + 10' and being retired have discovered that I don't have any free time any more. Apparently this is a common problem!

Ernie

Edited April 26, 2018 by Irishswissernie

[Mike 84C]

Free time whats that? totally agree Ernie, how did we ever find time to earn a living.

 Mick

[Irishswissernie]

Some progress has been made. The station area track, laid and ballasted and the track painted. There has been some adjustment to the track plan. The run round for the bubbles has been lengthened so that  a long former cattle bank can be created but now utilised as a Guinness compound and siding, whilst still be long enough for releasing the 'bubbles ' loco and odd wagons. The passing loop at the station has been shortened with a new connection to the running line and the former 'off scene' point now will serve a loco siding/stabling point.

Basic shell of the station train shed has been built so that I can check the aesthetics.

The sky backdrop has also been cut and glued onto the back boards as this is an almost impossible job once one starts on the scenics in front of it.

 

Its half term next week and the Missus is off from school so little chance of getting anything done for a few days!

Ernie

 

[JasonB]

Progressing nicely, really like the rust on the rails it looks great. 

[leslie10646]

I have now reached my '3 score + 10' and being retired have discovered that I don't have any free time any more. Apparently this is a common problem!

Yep, it's bugger, isn't it? My birthday's coming up and people ask me what I want as a present. 

The answer is always the same - MORE TIME!

You've made impressive strides with your line in a very short time. Makes me look like an even slower snail than I thought I was! I applaud another man who follows the principle - "First paint the baseboards grey" …….

[Irishswissernie]

3 hours ago, leslie10646 said:

I applaud another man who follows the principle - "First paint the baseboards grey" …….

Well er! actually the Sundeala boards are grey to start with!

 

ERnie

[leslie10646]

1 hour ago, Irishswissernie said:

Well er! actually the Sundeala boards are grey to start with!

 

ERnie

Well, well!

I do see, that like me, you've covered your boards in cork underlay, but mine hasn't got a cubic centimetre of ballast on it yet!

[Irishswissernie]

Hurray! Half term is over and the Missus has returned to school therefore work has resumed on the station buildings etc.

The Goods shed will be portrayed as having been modernised with a canopy over a widened entrance. Were these rebuilt to form garages for road vehicles does anyone know?

 

Ernie

[Irishswissernie]

The station overall roof and goods shed complex are now basically done and painted today which is why they have the "wet look"

 

Its about 10 years since I have done any serious modelling but putting it on here is a great incentive to get on with it. A bit like 30 years ago when if I promised to build a layout for a Show then I just had to stick in and get it built. This often meant getting up at 6am and doing an hours modelling before going off to work but at least it got me out of walking the dogs/feeding the kids etc.

Ernie

 

[GNRi1959]

IrishSwissErnie, this really looks great - I over the colours you achieved on the Wills Scenic sheet. Never easy but you cracked it.

[Mayner]

I like the way you are modelling the station and overall roof off scene, saves more room to model the yard and approach tracks.

Several goods sheds including Tuam, Gort, Claremorris were converted to cement stores with access for forklifts when the pallet cement wagons were introduced around 1978. 

Goods sheds were no longer required for sundries/general goods traffic with the introduction of the 10' & 20' Uniload Containers & Bedford trucks with tail lifts for local deliveries.

H vans were retained for a while for trainload movements of empty kegs to Guinness breweries for example Dundalk to Kilkenny

[merlinxlili]

Ernie, what about inserting a large mirror on the wall behind your train shed &  goods shed? That would double the visual depth of those sheds. You would see trains coming and going at both ends of course, but the mind's eye should sort that out.

[Irishswissernie]

I'm not really a fan of mirrors for this purpose. One tends to get reflections of bits of the layout room or from the lights. When I'm 'playing' trains i.e. just letting them run around slowly I tend to sit down and get a much lower eye level view as per the prototype so the cut off nature of the buildings isn't evident. When I'm standing to shunt in the yard I'm concentrating on the yard action so the the layout in the background isn't so obvious. I am also partially sighted with some tunnel vision (one of its few or possibly only advantage's!)

 

ERnie

[Irishswissernie]

Not Glengarriff, not much progress there at the moment because the heat in the loft is somewhat oppressive. Roll on the school holidays as in Haltwhistle they normally start the Halti Monsoon season which lasts for precisely the same time as the holidays!

However today I was watching some of my old video's now on DVD when I came across a short extract of a layout my son and I started some 20 years ago based on a narrow gauge Sligo & Donegal junction railway in On30 scale I hadn't realised we had progressed so far with the layout until now.

Here are some stills, I don't possess the technology or more likely the skills to upload the video!

ERnie

[Mike 84C]

Love the narrow gauge photos, so much atmosphere thanks for sharing.  Summer,the bad thing about loft layouts! and I thought my garage was warm. 

[jhb171achill]

A fantastic layout, really captures the atmosphere of the 1950s on the narrow gauge. Any more photos?

[Irishswissernie]

41 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

A fantastic layout, really captures the atmosphere of the 1950s on the narrow gauge. Any more photos?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/albums/72157690426038844

There are a few more in this flickr album which also includes some of the Irish O gauge locos I had at one time. A fair number of the layouts appear to have escaped the camera!

Ernie

[David Holman]

Super NG stock and models, plus I guess the 0 gauge is (slightly) narrow too, but then I would say that! Lovely stuff, either way. Would I be right in thinking the SLNCR 'small tank' is the same a certain Mr Sullivan of this parish, brought to Cultra when Arigna Town was there two years ago? Or, is it the fifth such model I've now seen (my two, Richard Chown's, Des's, plus one more)?

Or indeed 6th, as there are two of them. Nice 0-6-0 and 4-4-0 too. Where are they now I wonder?

[Irishswissernie]

Thanks for the kind comments!

The O Gauge locos have all moved on , the 2 SLNC tanks via this forum in 2014, Des now has one of them. I also had 2 North Star PP's but they went elsewhere plus an unmotorised SG3 built to the correct gauge 37mm? , a JT and also a Class S 4-4-0, these moved on a bit earlier, probably via my mate Geof Poulter at Contikits.

The 4  North Star locos were built for me by a friend of Ian Young (Sans Pareil Models). Ian still has memories of helping to knock out the rivet detail on the 0-6-4t's. I think Ian is doing the detail castings for the forthcoming 00 Works loco but I may be wrong.

The NG stock was mainly plasticard bodies with Bachmann 00 gauge chassis for the locos and best described as a pastiche of Irish narrow gauge practice. I like to think they captured the 'ambience' of the Irish narrow gauge rather than an exact copy. I am probably more of an artist (some would say add Pxxx artist) than a modeller. 

Ernie

[jhb171achill]

That is a truly amazing set of layouts, Ernie, excellent stuff and from what you say WAY ahead of its time....

[Irishswissernie]

With the temperature in the loft now down to bearable level and even more importantly Mrs B , No. 5 offspring and son-in-law in London for the week and therefore only me and the dogs in residence; work has re-started.

I wanted a long cattle/sheep loading bank ,one of the main features of many Irish stations but now invariably overgrown with the demise of livestock traffic. Mine runs along the front of the right hand baseboard and will be used as the Guinness storage facility.

The tracks in the yard have had the ground level built up to rail height where the bogie Guinness flats can be unloaded by Fork Lift; the 4 wheel flats can be unloaded direct from the loading bank by fork lift as the wagon 'bed' is higher.

I have been converting the Bachmann signal box to look a little more Irish with the removal of the balcony and re-positioning of the steps. The end barge-boards have also been amended.

Only 2 more weeks of the school holidays to go and then I should be able to crack on in earnest!

Ernie 

[Irishswissernie]

Managed to do a bit more 'ground' work this week. Flocking and foliage to follow. The signal box has been re-built and awaits the paint brush.

 

Ernie

[banntry]

looking good

[GNRi1959]

Love the ground cover in the yard, what did you paint the rails with - very authentic!

[Irishswissernie]

Rails are painted with Phoenix Precision P950 Light Rust.

I use oils, acrylics and poster/water  colour somewhat randomly for ground cover, stonework etc .

The next big job is grass, foliage etc.

[GNRi1959]

Did you apply the paint before ballasting and was it handprinted with brush?

A tedious job but with great results.