Inspired by Crianlarich

[young37215]

Thanks Warren. As ever the trade off between time and money is a complex one. I have a few Woodland Scenics armatures to make some of my own trees using similar trechniques and will see how these turn out. Clearly they take some time and effort to turn into decent representations of the real thing; I need to work on this.

[BoD]

Fortunately I have plenty of time so I don’t mind trading it against expense.  Without being disrespectful because everyone’s situation is different, I think there’s a lot of pleasure to be taken from knowing that you made something yourself.  I’m lucky because I can do that, but modelling is a broad church and each of us has their own balance to find.  
 

Having said that the trees needn’t be too time consuming.  If you work in batches armature, bark, foliage, you can get through quite a few quite quickly.  
 

I’m looking forward to seeing how you get on.

[BoD]

Today's little project has been these ground signals...

 

 

 

 

The discs still need those tabs fettling, glazing and fitting.

 

I had hoped to make them as working signals but unfortunately that turned out to be beyond me.   My eyes seem to have deteriorated a bit and my fine motor skills just weren't up to it - so they will have to be dummy signals although I hope that the disc may still be rotated by the 'finger of God'.  Depressing when you can no longer do what you did easily in the past.

[BoD]

I have been up in the loft today to review progress (photos to follow) and after some deep introspection I have decided that I am no longer modelling Crianlarich but something ‘inspired by Crianlarich’.  *

 

 

*copyright Hornby 2022.

[Chris116]

2 minutes ago, BoD said:

I have been up in the loft today to review progress (photos to follow) and after some deep introspection I have decided that I am no longer modelling Crianlarich but something ‘inspired by Crianlarich’.  *

 

 

*copyright Hornby 2022.

I wouldn't bother paying any royalties or even ask for their permission. Defense is you are following their example.

[BoD]

This morning I was at Crianlarich just checking things out and taking photographs, as you do, when it struck me that, whilst progress on the layout has been steady, but slow, I hadn’t updated this thread for a good while.  
 

Watch out, anything can happen in the next half hour few days.

[03060]

37 minutes ago, BoD said:

This morning I was at Crianlarich just checking things out and taking photographs, as you do, when it struck me that, whilst progress on the layout has been steady, but slow, I hadn’t updated this thread for a good while.  
 

Watch out, anything can happen in the next half hour few days.

I'm also in the Western Highlands on my annual pilgrimage, currently sat in the sun on the Isle of Bute, I may well be in the Crianlarich area myself come Thursday as I want to have a good look at Glen Falloch for a bit of inspiration.

 

Regards,

Ian.

[BoD]

Ok, as promised an update on ‘Inspired by Crianlarich’ which is still has no name.

Before the update though, and bearing in mind that many of the photographs previously posted have been ‘lost’,  I thought it might be worthwhile doing a quick update as to how far I had got.

It began a good few years ago with the idea of creating a model of Crianlarich and to that end I started creating items for the model long before the model itself appeared. The first items I built were the signals.  An unusual approach but it gave me something to do as a relief from ‘work’

 

 

 

 

 

As the layout progressed I started working on some of the buildings. As far as possible I worked from plans and photographs.

 

The old engine shed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was when I started the planning, baseboards and trackwork, and constructing the station buildings doubts entered my mind about an exact copy of Crianlarich, hence the change to inspired by Crianlarich.  More of this when I find some more of the photographs that have since disappeared.

 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by BoD

[BoD]

Next was the signal box -  I told you I was doing it in a strange order.

 

 

 

and the old (I believe) station master's house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up - doubts.

[Graham T]

To paraphrase one of my favourite comedians, all the right components - just not necessarily in the right order!

 

 

[BoD]

1 hour ago, Graham T said:

To paraphrase one of my favourite comedians, all the right components - just not necessarily in the right order!

 

 

I do enjoy working on individual aspects and details, trying to create something that is a reasonable representation of the original. Perhaps I should have concentrated on building small dioramas or building micro layouts that could be scrapped when finished and new ones started.

 

Having said that I also like the idea of a completed layout where I can just watch the trains go by with a bit of occasional shunting.

 

Then there’s the building of rolling stock.
 

And the electrickery and control (more of which soon).

 

They say that railway modelling is a broad church and it seems that I want to be a member of them all.

[PaulRhB]

38 minutes ago, BoD said:

Perhaps I should have concentrated on building small dioramas or building micro layouts that could be scrapped when finished and new ones started.

 

Having said that I also like the idea of a completed layout where I can just watch the trains go by with a bit of occasional shunting.

I think your current approach covers both and you can always just enjoy the individual buildings even if the layout takes longer. 
I’m doing similar while waiting for the laser cut ends for my modular version. There’s boxes of stock, track, point motors etc all poised . . . 😆

[mallaig1983]

3 hours ago, BoD said:

I do enjoy working on individual aspects and details, trying to create something that is a reasonable representation of the original. Perhaps I should have concentrated on building small dioramas or building micro layouts that could be scrapped when finished and new ones started.

 

Having said that I also like the idea of a completed layout where I can just watch the trains go by with a bit of occasional shunting.

 

Then there’s the building of rolling stock.
 

And the electrickery and control (more of which soon).

 

They say that railway modelling is a broad church and it seems that I want to be a member of them all.

What space do you have to work with Warren?

[BoD]

11 hours ago, mallaig1983 said:

What space do you have to work with Warren?

 

A good question and one which I should have given more thought to much earlier in the build. It is this which has caused me to move to a more generic/fictitious layout now

 

The space is in the loft but because the way in which the loft has been done out is quite long 17ft (I don’t know what that is in new money) but only 6ft6in wide.  Given that I was hand building the track work and was aiming for a minimum radius of 36 inches in the scenic area it was going to be difficult to work to that width.  Even early on, severe compromises had to be made.

I had to cut the engineering sidings behind the engine shed and reduce the number of sidings on the other side.  More significant was the crossover at the north end. I remodelled this on the current track layout but still found it difficult to get the two lines leaving the station in a realistic manner and still be able to curve around to the fiddle yard on the other long wall.  Perhaps I should have had a rethink at this point but no, I pressed on regardless.

 

I ended up with the following plan

 

 

 

The track at both ends curving round to the fiddle yard.  It only allows for 5 Mk1 coach trains at the station. Time for a rethink entirely surely . No I continue to press on regardless and build.

 

The fiddle yard and what will become the south end of the station

 

 

You can see how the width is becoming a limiting feature - but more so at what was to become the north end

 

 

The south end trackwork

 

 

And the north end without that scissors crossover and leaving me the headache of getting the two tracks back to the fiddle yard.

 

 

A total compromise now - an unrealistic viaduct for one of the tracks - but not too far fetched -  similarish to the one in Glen Ogle on the Callandar & Oban branch.  I think it was Rob who pointed this out at the time.

 

 

 

The far line will be partially hidden in a typical WHL cutting/ shelf

 

At this point I was seriously thinking this isn't Crianlarich anymore. 

 

It was then I decided to go generic,  but still ending up with a layout that was undoubtedly West Highland in style and that would still be interesting to run in a fairly prototypical way.  This would involve doing something extra and creating a branch terminus rather than both lines just returning to the fiddle yard. 

[young37215]

Your modeling space is much larger than most have but based on my experience, whatever space we have as modellers, it is never enough. I feel constrained by my 45 feet by 10 feet of space because I can not fit in the one extra station that I wanted.  I think that rather than lacking planning, you lack clarity over what it is that you want to achieve with your layout. By that I mean is it an operationally focused one like mine with lots of scenic compromises or an accurate replica of the real thing that you seek. Based upon a number of your comments it is not clear that you have this resolved in your head which, I suspect, is one of the reasons that you have not made the progress you had hoped for. 

 

Looking at your available space I make two suggestions based upon how I have developed my layout which might help you crystalise where you are heading:

 

1. Print out some of the pictures you use as background to show some of your rather fine buildings to create a backscene for Crianlarich.

2. Connect the track that you have and run trains to a timetable for a while to see how it feels.

 

Neither task looks that onerous and I think a combination of the two will get you clearer on where you are heading. Being able to run trains has been a vital part of keeping my motivation on my layouts journey. It does not matter that your station is not built or that there are other gaps in the scenery, if you find that the layout 'works' then I am sure you will find the motivation to build these. Worst case is you find it does not deliver what you want; at least then you are clear on the point.

 

Good luck

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by young37215

[mallaig1983]

I agree entirely with Rob’s words above. You have a very nice amount of space and quite clearly the talent to make a very nice model railway in it. I have 16’x 10’ in my attic so Mallaig uses just under 15’. I could have done with an extra couple of feet but I don’t have it so there is a compromise. I’ve got in all the features I want on that section and to my eyes at least it’s a decent representation. The loop is a coach short, the platform is half a coach short and the area from the crossover to where the train goes off scene i shorter than it should be (I don’t know by how much as it doesn’t really matter) but it feels right. Glenfinnan will have to have compromises which I’ll discover soon when I lay the boards out and Fort William certainly will. I accept this in order to have it as the other option is to not have it. I just want to be able to run the timetable and have fun with my toy trains.
Robs space is something that we’d all love and he still wants more. It’s just the nature of the railway modeller. We all would like a bit more to do that little extra. I think once built and scenic’d you’ll appreciate what you have got rather than what you wish you had. 
Is a condensed Crianlarich such a bad thing? Could Arrochar and Tarbert not have a branch in a fictitious world? What ever you decide to build I’m confident it will look fantastic and I’m really looking forward to coming along with you as you document the journey for us.

 

 

Good Luck and enjoy the build.

Edited May 21, 2023 by mallaig1983
Extra rambling added

[BoD]

Thanks for the responses.

 

I know that I am lucky and have more space that many but then yuo start hand building points and talking about minimum radii the space soon gets eaten up.  At one point I was seriously thinking about punching a couple of holes into the dividing wall so that the fiddle yard could be in the second room that is up there.  Or even running a track through the door space.  I have decided against these options (for the time being at least but who knows?).

 

Anyway as you suggested Rob, tracks have been connected, trains have run and shunting has been carried out. I have really enjoyed it and  so am now content in what I have - even if it is is only now a layout inspired by Crianlarich and the West Highland Line. 

 

Rule 1 rules Ok.

Edited May 29, 2023 by BoD

[BoD]

On 21/05/2023 at 10:53, mallaig1983 said:

Is a condensed Crianlarich such a bad thing? Could Arrochar and Tarbert not have a branch in a fictitious world?

 

Strangely enough I was looking for a possible fictitious back story and a reason for a branch line.  I hadn't considered Arrochar and Loch Long but thought about further up the line.  A station similar to Crianlarch just north of Rannoch station (perhaps even replacing it) with a branch along Blackwater Reservoir to Kinlochleven, which had its own aluminium smelter and small narrow gauge railway. 

 

 

 

 

Impossible terrain?  But wasn't Rannoch Moor itself unlikely.

 

Getting really silly now aren't I?

Edited May 29, 2023 by BoD

[37Oban]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

 

Strangely enough I was looking for a possible fictitious back story and a reason for a branch line.  I hadn't considered Arrochar and Loch Long but thought about further up the line.  A station similar to Crianlarch just north of Rannoch station (perhaps even replacing it) with a branch along Blackwater Reservoir to Kinlochleven, which had its own aluminium smelter and small narrow gauge railway. 

 

 

 

 

Impossible terrain?  But wasn't Rannoch Moor itself unlikely.

 

Getting really silly now aren't I?

Hi,

 

I like tge way your thinking, however a branch along the blackwater to Kinlochleven would probably been a non-starter even if had been proposed.  A nearer railhead to Kinlochleven was Ballachulish and a branch along Loch Leven would have been a cheaper, and easier, proposal.  Until the branch from Connel to Ballachulish closed to freigh in 1965, and passengers a year later, regular trains of alumina were sent to Ballachulish for forwarding by road to the smelter at Kinlochleven.  

 

The Blackwater reservoir was completed in 1909 specfically to provide hydroelectric power for the smelter at Kinlochleven.  The wee electric railway was the first in Scotland, using ecxess power from the hydrogenerating station, as did Kinlochleven town itself.  It wasn't a particularly long line, and never carried passengers, but was used to carry alumina from a quay to the smelter and aluminium in the other direction.  It closed in 1960.

 

One wee interesting fact is that until 1920's Kinlochleven had no road access!  All the materials for the reservoir dam, the smelter and the railway had to be brought in by ship the loaded into carts and manhandled where needed!  German prisoners of war "helped" in construction of the road!

 

Roja

[BoD]

4 hours ago, 37Oban said:

I like tge way your thinking, however a branch along the blackwater to Kinlochleven would probably been a non-starter even if had been proposed.  A nearer railhead to Kinlochleven was Ballachulish and a branch along Loch Leven would have been a cheaper, and easier, proposal.

 

Ah, but one of the local Lairds wouldn't allow the railway to pass over his land so we had to go the long way round.

[young37215]

17 hours ago, BoD said:

Anyway as you suggested Rob, tracks have been connected, trains have run and shunting has been carried out. I have really enjoyed it and  so am now content in what I have - even if it is is only now a layout inspired by Crianlarich and the West Highland Line. 

 

 

Excellent news, if this helps you move forward then I am pleased to hear it. Life has enough challenges without our hobbies getting in the way. 

[PeterBB]

20 hours ago, BoD said:

 

Strangely enough I was looking for a possible fictitious back story and a reason for a branch line.  I hadn't considered Arrochar and Loch Long but thought about further up the line.  A station similar to Crianlarch just north of Rannoch station (perhaps even replacing it) with a branch along Blackwater Reservoir to Kinlochleven, which had its own aluminium smelter and small narrow gauge railway. 

 

 

 

 

Impossible terrain?  But wasn't Rannoch Moor itself unlikely.

 

Getting really silly now aren't I?

All those bridges to cross the streams ... 

[BoD]

Ok, to move things on a little and remembering this section started out as a bit of a retrospective as most of the earlier photos have been lost ....

 

Having decided  (for now, but permanently I hope) that I am happy with the idea of a layout based on a west highland station similar to Crianlarich with a fictitious branch to a small port on a sea loch I made a start on that branch line.  I make no apologies for pinching some ideas from Glenuig, a wonderful layout.

 

Firstly I built a station based roughly on those on the Mallaig branch...

 

 

 

With it being a port I needed some boaty type things  - courtesy of Scalescenes downloadable kits...

 

 

A version of a Clyde puffer, more detailed now,  and of course a dockside to put it on...

 

 

 

This whole branch terminus sits in front of the fiddle yard and will have a removable backscene for access.  Which is on a a long and ever growing to-do list.

 

Today was spent creating the foundations of a  'coastline' along from the quay ready  to attempt modelling the  water.  I'm busy researching the best way to do that.

 

 

[mallaig1983]

25 minutes ago, BoD said:

Ok, to move things on a little and remembering this section started out as a bit of a retrospective as most of the earlier photos have been lost ....

 

Having decided  (for now, but permanently I hope) that I am happy with the idea of a layout based on a west highland station similar to Crianlarich with a fictitious branch to a small port on a sea loch I made a start on that branch line.  I make no apologies for pinching some ideas from Glenuig, a wonderful layout.

 

Firstly I built a station based roughly on those on the Mallaig branch...

 

 

 

With it being a port I needed some boaty type things  - courtesy of Scalescenes downloadable kits...

 

 

A version of a Clyde puffer, more detailed now,  and of course a dockside to put it on...

 

 

 

This whole branch terminus sits in front of the fiddle yard and will have a removable backscene for access.  Which is on a a long and ever growing to-do list.

 

Today was spent creating the foundations of a  'coastline' along from the quay ready  to attempt modelling the  water.  I'm busy researching the best way to do that.

 

 

Oo I’m very much liking the look of this. Very much indeed. Keep us posted 😀👍

[03060]

I also thought that Glenuig was a super layout when I saw it at Wigan a few years back, I must have gone back for another viewing at least twice and even considered trying to do an '0' Gauge version, bought a Heljan Class 26 to try out but didn't have the space in the end, so I can definitely understand your thinking.

 

I think from what I can see that this will bring both you and us a lot of pleasure. Looking forward to watching it develop.

 

Best wishes,

Ian.