What's in a name?

I've finally worked out a justifiable reason for the name of the layout, although i've been settled on a name for quite some time now i've not come up with a reason for the name to go into the history that will accompany the layout...

Cailliche (or Cailleach in Irish pronunciation) is associated with a mythical goddess who is rumoured to have traversed Ireland and Scotland and dropped rocks from her apron.  These rocks allegedly formed mountains such as Beinn na Caillieach on the Isle of Skye, or the rock that forms the end of the tombolo at Port na Cailliche which is now the site of boat builders yard.

Scenery finalised.

One of the main things I wanted to create with this layout was a feeling of space and open countryside around the line, whilst having good operational potential... somewhat contradicting requirements!

However, i think i've come up with some minor alterations to the scenic side whilst leaving the track plan pretty much alone.  The only areas that will really change are the tidal inlet board, where the road is likely to run around the inlet then next to the line at the front, and follow the back of the yard.  Behind this there will be a road junction with another road climbing away up to the backscene.

The backscene has also been a subject of thought recently, the intention was to replicate a town which had developed on a ledge between the sea and some mountains.  To try and achieve this I will plan to have the rear of the baseboards climbing slightly to give the impression of the ground climbing towards the base of the mountains.  At the extreme rear of the layout there will be a band of trees hiding the joint between the scenery and the backscene, then above it will emerge a scene like this (section above treeline) to give the impression of the mountains...

Source: www.ashaig.co.uk

That scene is the opposite side of the bay to Plockton, so fits in the area that the rest of the layout is based on.  That in conjunction with the alterations to the end of the layout should give a good feeling of space and help create the impression of the town being sat of a ledge at the edge of the land.

I'm going to spend a whole day in Plockton in June taking plenty of pictures so there should be plenty of opportunity to make a panorama for the backscene.

I'll doodle my revised plan soon now that i've got it all sorted out.

Change of plan?

It always happens... i settle on a plan, then i come up with an 'improved' version...

I've been thinking of making PnC feel more like it's on a ledge set between the coast and some mountains.  With this in mind I began thinking of scenes that could be incorporated into the layout.  The trackplan is likely to remain the same, but the scenery will alter around it.

Once i've managed to work out the plan properly rather than scribbles then i'll post it on here.  It's likely to involve making the inlet into an estuary and having the hotel sat at one side of it, then a short road side section, and then into a slightly shortened (only slightly) version of the fiddle yard.  Behind this there would be a road climbing away up a hillside behind the hotel off into the backscene giving the impression of a road cutting through the mountains.  That's all i've got so far, now i need to put pen to paper and work out how to do it...

I don't want to change the trackplan as i think it'll make great fun operationally but we'll have to see...

Something curious

Ted Polet has been a huge influence on my modelling, and his layout the Craigcorrie & Dunalastair Railway is one of the reasons that I model in 009 set in Scotland now.

I often dip into the Dutch group of the 009 society's website, but on a recent visit i noticed on this page adjacent to the 7th picture down on the left hand side of the second block of photos  an interesting name that i'd not noticed before... 'Loch na Cailliche'.  Now I have read LOTS about Ted's layout in the past, and can only remember this area being referred to as Inverlochan Moor, but looking back through a CD I once bought on Ted's layout it has always had this name...

Happy coincidence.  Hopefully I can make my layout worthy of carrying the same name as part of Ted's very inspirational line.

On the planning front, due to the rush to get Dunbracken finished for Tonbridge i'm enjoying some time off modelling, and will be extremely busy with work for a part time degree that i'm studying on day release from work.  This will be over in May so hopefully I can crack on with the baseboard construction after then.  For now I will just stick to the odd bit of stock construction.

Full size planning session!

Here are the results of last night's full size planning session. I had to make some minor alterations to the trackplan to make it fit on the boards, but i'm very pleased with the end result.

The decision was made to reduce the size of the boards to 900x700 mm, this doesn't seem to have impacted on the feeling of space, or the length of trains that can be run on the layout so the added transportability is an added bonus.

The only compromise was the inclusion of a small 300x700 mm board at the end of the station to ensure that the station building across the end of the platform doesn't hover in mid air off the end of the board! The minimum radius on any of the curves is 18" and that is only a short section... the rest are all >24".

The first board off the fiddle yard (left). The building at the rear is Glencloy Lodge, this sits at the end of a tidal inlet which is based on an area of Plockton that looks like this...

The goods yard board. The small building at the end of the two mineral sidings is just a yard office. The good shed is sat at the back of the yard with a small shed next to it which will house a small inspection railcar. To the right of the goods shed is the platform with cattle docks. The track with dotted lines along it at the rear is supposed to represent a dirt track that will lead off into the backscene supposedly to a croft. The area either side of this will be sparsely covered with crofts and rusty corrugated sheds.

This is the 'Plockton' board. The curve at the rear will represent the main road in Plockton which looks like this.... I may retain the palm tree, might be something different to have on the layout... The buildings will be more like the ones in the link, more tightly packed. The signal box is on the left of the shot, and the boat builder's is sat on the tombolo/spit.

The station board and the 300x700 mm scenic board. The station building will be removable and sit over the join of the two boards. At the front of the station will be a stone retaining wall leading down to water level. From this there is a wooden jetty leading out to the steamer. Behind the station the building is a white washed church. On the end of the platform sit the water tower (weird torpedo shape - i do have a prototype :wink: ) and the coal stage.

View across the 'bay' towards the Plockton scene.

View over the tombolo with the boat builders at the front of the layout, the area between this and the seawall will be submerged at high tide, so will give me a good chance to experiment with more types of seaweed and grime than on Dunbracken... It's all based on the same sort of scene at Plockton (again) a mini version of this...

View along the entire length of the layout. The edges of the boards will be tidied up to make them more flowing curves...

Final Developments?

I've just returned home from Narrow Gauge South West, I used to go every year when I lived in the Westcountry, but have missed it for the last few years so it was nice to return.

While there I met up with two friends who are planning to build layouts that will join onto PnC.  We had a planning session and have come up with a scheme that should prove quite interesting to watch and operate.  

The junction has disappeared from the trackplan on PnC, but the rest of it will remain the same (just have to finalise how much of a curve it will sit on).  This was done to allow more free space on the layout, having that extra line was just that bit 'too far'.   So, the intention now is for PnC to act as the end of the layout, coupled to this will be an 8' wide, 6' deep glen scene which the line will travel up one side of and down the other.  On this module (if you can call it a module being that big!) will be a passing loop and stabling siding for a banking loco.  The banker will be needed to assist locos climbing the 3" from one side of the glen to the other, a challenge if we run long trains!  Finally the last module before the fiddle yard looks like it will be a contractors yard and staging point for a major construction scheme.  This is heavily inspired by Fersit from the Lochaber Railway.  The intention of this site is to represent something major being constructed (like a pipeline) and spoil being removed from this site, taken to the dock at PnC and tipped into the puffer.

So, these additions to the layout should make it very interesting to operate, and allow someone at an exhibition to follow a train along around 20-30' of layout!

I don't anticipate any changes to the trackplan from now on, so now i've just got to decide construction methods for the baseboard and plan that... then I can begin! It's looking likely to be either a ply frame with blue foam centre, or a ply frame with chicken wire over formers... both will be light, but i'll have to work out shapes etc. to check which is best suited to the trackplan.

Super Power

The release of the Graham Farish 08 chassis has made me think about uses for it, and then seeing how John de Frayssinet has used them in his mallet River Brue and to remotor his Backwoods Miniatures Manning Wardle really got me thinking.

I came up with a design for a tank loco to be based on a Roco 0-6-0 tender loco chassis.  This ran really well initially, but developed a slight case of the wobbles as the chassis block wore slightly.  There is a solution to this, to add some bushes to eliminate play on the rear axle.  However the advent of the Graham Farish 08 diesel chassis should provide another solution to outside framed chassis...

Source: Kernow Model Centre

The plan I came up with was very much inspired by the compound locos that ran on the Ballycastle Railway in Ireland.  The wheel arrangement would be changed from 2-4-2T to 2-6-2T, and the whole loco would have a longer and slightly lower appearance.  I'd like at least two of these, and will make a start on them after the rush of getting Dunbracken ready for exhibition is over.  Frames will be plasticard i think, and valve gear is likely to be either Backwoods Miniatures or Roco transplanted onto the chassis.  The chassis seems easier than other Farish models to fit DCC decoders to and one feature that i'm pleased i've managed to incorporate into the design is a bunker which will be large enough to house a Soundtraxx speaker, and form a small box to amplify the sound as much as possible.

I'll upload a copy of the plan once i've managed to revise it to fit on the 08 chassis.

If this one goes well then I expect i'll construct a couple more on the same design, and possibly venture into the area of larger stock if all goes well.