Keadue meets Binghampton or reclaiming the office/layout room

[Mayner]

I built a modular N gauge American layout before we left Ireland for New Zealand, the layout has basically been in storage for several years as I concentrated on Large Scale American narrow gauge and Irish broad and narrow gauge modelling. The N gauge was almost forgotten until I announced that I was going to run a last train before storing/getting rid of the layout to make some space for a long planned Irish 21mm gauge layout.

In brief wife and daughter put the pressure on and the N gauge got a reprieve and after a bit of horse trading is now set up in the office with Keadue my Irish 3' narrow gauge layout. 

Anna taking in the view at Keadue, Binghampton set up temproarily overhead.

The basic idea is to replace the N gauge baseboards with something shallower(possibly foam board with softwood trim) so we don't need scaffold to operate the layout and act as a lighting pelmet for Keadue and form a proscenium arch to 

to complete the staging of Keadue.

I will probably scrap the N gauge baseboards and revise the track layout, the module was designed as a junction between two main lines a loco depot an approach trackage to a yard and is a bit spread out for a self contained unit, (the yard modules were dismantled a couple of years ago.

Dinosaur switching cars unfinished bridge on left.

2 L approaching Keadue with an empty coal special from Sligo/Boyle? 

The layout has had a clean up, signals & trees replanted after the cats departure. 2L was built from a Backwoods Miniatures kit around 1994-5 and is due a rebuild with a new gearbox to improve slow running. Coal wagons have one piece cast resin bodies on Backwoods Miniatures chassis. I experimented with different camera settings to maximise depth of field. Coal stage is scratch built from individual wooden sleepers signals are SSM. One of the major jobs left on the layout is to fence the lineside!

 

General view of station buildings and village. The building are scratchbuilt using a combination of Wills Scenic sheets and plasticard. Wagons are fitted with Kadee HOn3 couplers which are more reliable that the N gauge couplers originally used, but I am looking at moving to B&B hook and loop couplers as they appear to be more reliable with 4w stock. These have a delayed magnetic uncoupling similar to Kadee, are unobtrusive and in-expensive  (I have used them with 4mm British outline stock and found them to be very reliable)

Edited September 17, 2018 by Mayner

[popeye]

It's hard to get rid of something you have spent a long time building.

Did they have dinosaurs in the 1950's ?  

[Mayner]

6 hours ago, popeye said:

It's hard to get rid of something you have spent a long time building.

Did they have dinosaurs in the 1950's ?  

Don't remember that far back was only a toddler then . I have a Busch UFO to add to the layout, one of the Aliens has taken up residence in the Diner as the energy beam is gone missing. http://www.busch-model.com/moba/info1010.htm.

[DiveController]

12 hours ago, popeye said:

It's hard to get rid of something you have spent a long time building.

Did they have dinosaurs in the 1950's ?  

No, the Baby boomers in the 50s are dinosaurs now 

2L is a nice little loco. It's an interesting thing that the brass kit can be disassembled and redone 

[Mayner]

Looks like Binghampton & Binghampton will part company. Wife had a look at the new set up decided the N gauge was too high to be seen and suggested moving to a new larger L shaped site on the opposite side of the room, and the display shelves above Keadue becomes a bookshelves. So I thought I would stage some photos of the old order rather than run a last train!

Downtown Binghampton mid 1970s. RS11 5005 leads a pair of RS3 diesels on a freight from Bufalo, while PA1 diesels 16&17 await entry to the yard, meanwhile a pair of Baldwin Shark Nose diesels switch some local industries.

In the 60s & 70s the real Delaware and Hudson was famous for its colourful mainly Alco diesel fleet, downtown Binghampton was famous for the parallel Erie & Delaware Lakawanna & Western main lines surrounded by buildings seemingly straight out of a Walthers catalog. 

Very early 1980s a pair of Alco C424m Century diesels and an RS11 drag a freight out of the D&H Bevior St Yard while a U23B diesel waits at the loco servicing facility.

The C424m were the last Alcos added to the D&H fleet, the real Bevior St yard closed around the same time and traffic transferred to the ex DLWR Yard. There was a real feed mill in much the same location the small silos were used for storing coal not ideal next to a feed/grain store!. While the two modules could be operated as a self contained switching layout, this module acted as the yard throat for a 5 track marshaling yard.

A pair of SD45 and General Electric U23 & U 30 diesels wait in the loco servicing tracks. The Kato U30 were the first N gauge diesels to have low friction drives, the U30 & SD 40-45 argubly the best N gauge chassis of the early-mid 1990s. The U23B is one of a pair with shortened Kato U30c body shells on Atlas U28B chassis. At the time Kato manufactured Atlas HO & N Gauger locos.

Rare colour photo of 3T arriving at Keadue on a laden coal train.

Something radically wrong with the signalling system at Keadue ! Both home and starting signals off  while 6T & 3T approaching on main line with opposing trains! C&L No 4 & No 8 on shed

Shaky photo from van at rear of train, railfan photographers cars pulled over to side of road as 6t leaves roadside section with mixed

New home for the N gauge just need to re-locate everything else!

[Mayner]

Collision avoided !. Porter had cleared up starting signal to call 3T forward to take water, before setting back into the loop to cross the Mixed. The C&L used staff and ticket working with station master or porter operating the ground frame. The likliehood of a head on collision was low with this type of working provided everyone followed the rules. Station Master was responsible for handing the driver the staff or or showing the driver the staff before leaving the station, but the Clogher Valley came close to a "corn-field" meet with two cattle specials near Caldon.  Tynan sent one loco off a double headed fair special back to Aughnacloy on a Ticket to pick up a laden cattle train, while the second loco made up a train for Aughnacloy. Some how or other the laden train left Aughnacloy on the same Ticket while the empty train was already in section from Tynan with the staff. Luckily enough the train crews saw each others smoke and managed to stop in time.

3T waits in the loop as 6T arrives with the mixed.

Busy time of day at Keadue with 2L on shed & 8L running off the turntable. Even in CIE days the Arigna-Sligo section operated more or less as two separate railways with mixed trains from Sligo & Ballinamore terminating and returning to their respective terminals with only coal specials running through from Arigna to Sligo