Buchan - An 009 Experiment

[James S]

Hello all. As a newcomer to the forum, I thought I'd say hello add a few posts to show where I've got to with my current layout.

A bit of background. Since an ancient Hornby Dublo railway given to me when I was about 7 I've always modelled in 00. Over the three decades since then I've started and stopped several layouts. The latest, a fairly large loft layout, ground to a halt a number of years ago, due to fatherhood etc. taking up my time. My frustration has always been that I've never got to the stage of actually doing some modelling! So a couple of years ago I decided to build a much smaller 009 layout. This has made some slow but steady progress.

By way of introduction...The layout is entirely fictional. The name is that of a favourite author. The inspiration is unashamedly John Thorne's Bottle Kiln Lane and it's that look that I am aiming for. I'm also learning about narrow gauge and 009 as I go.

Originally I settled for this track plan.



It's been tweaked slightly, but it's where I started. The size initially was 1000mm x 400mm. I hadn't decided what to do for the 'fiddle yard' yet, but was thinking of some sort of cassette system.

With the desire to make rapid progress, I decided to experiment with the baseboard and construct it using 5mm foamboard. The back scene support has been included as part of the structure. Foam board is very easy to work with and cuts cleanly with a sharp scalpel. I glue it together with PVA and also tape up the joints. I did try using a glue gun, but got into a complete mess! I've no idea how robust this will be long term, but I'm not planning on lugging it around too much so hopefully it will be ok - time will tell. It has the great benefit of being lightweight, so easy to move about as needed.



One I had the main 'frame' in place I then constructed cross pieces to support the track bed. These were designed and sized to give the gradients I wanted the track to follow. Again they were glued into place with PVA.





The trackbed was then constructed by laminating two layers of 5mm foamboard together and gluing down to the base structure. Following this I started to fill in the landscape with polystyrene. I wanted a small stream to run through the middle of the scene, but the rest of the scenery was still up for grabs.





To be continued...

[Graeme Dunbar]

Another AnyRail proponent I see! The construction method looks  fascinating. There have been some very successful layouts built using foamboard.

Do you have a setting for the layout? The name suggests Banffshire, but that could just be a coincidence.

[Peter Boulter]

Looks like a good start, I'll look forward to reading part 2.
Like you my 00 loft layout ground to a halt for a whole lot of reasons, being primary carer for both parents being one of them. The loft layout is still just about there, and is now a model of a post Beeching era railway!
I returned to 009 in 2018 after an almost 50 year gap.

[engerth399]

Look forward to hearing more about how the foamboard base is bearing up.  Beats ply in ease of build and lightness.

[Hugh Norwood]

My layout is built on a foamboard base, In my case I used two layers laminated together. The frame itself is wood, however. I had some issues laminating the sheets together at first (hint do NOT use so-called solvent-free contact adhesive!). It has been out and about since its first outing in 2011, so I guess I can say foamboard is fine!

[JulienW]

Looks good so far, but just a couple of thoughts / suggestions if I may, James.

For a little additional strength I'd be tempted to add vertical 'beams' of foamcore under the trackbed pieces but between the front to back 'frames'.  The double layer should be OK but turning the trackbed into a T section will give things a bit more support (and should be fairly easy to add from underneath.

As a suggestion for cassettes I've used plastic trunking sold to cover domestic water pipes - mine came from B&Q - with track (N or 009, it doesn't matter as long as it's 9 mm gauge!) laid in the channel. At the ends of the channel the rails are laid across a bit of copperclad (the stuff they make circuit boards from) araldited to the trunking and soldered down, along with some brass rod & tube to form a locating / alignment system if a short length of trunking is also fixed to the layout as a 'docking station'.  Don't forget to gap the copperclad (to isolate the rails from one another) and the brass tubes & rods will also take power to the cassette rails.

I can't recall where the idea came from and I don't claim any originality for it but the results were better then my first attempt using cassettes made from aluminium angles gauged to 9 mm, I think mainly because I had issues keeping the angles to the right gauge, and found it impossible to solder anything to the angles to aid alignment / electrical connections (though drilling and tapping allowed me to fit brass strips that did the job with screws).

[MickT]

I think the idea of using plastic trunking has been around for a long time, but in our part of the swamp I think it fair to credit Michael Johnson of the Sussex Downs Group for promoting it in his postings on here (I think?), in NGRM-Online and in both the commercial model railway press and 009 News in his writings about his compact layout Awngate.

I've tried it out myself and found that the idea suits me as it is relatively cheap, is simple in concept and fairly easy to construct.

However as a little note of caution, I believe I remember Michael writing that after a while he found it operationally simpler to use the sector plate or train turntable fiddle yard method to be preferable over cassettes. I'm sure somebody with better access to reference materiel than I have at the moment may be able to add to this conversation.

Mick

[John Thorne]

James - they say imitation is most sincere form of flattery so I am most flattered you are basing your new layout Buchan on Bottle Kiln lane. If I can offer you any help please feel free to contact me, Good luck with the layout
John

[James S]

Thanks for all your interest, comments and suggestions.

Do you have a setting for the layout? The name suggests Banffshire, but that could just be a coincidence.

No, not really! The backscene i'm using has a northern England feel with stone buildings etc, but the layout is certainly not based on anywhere specific in the real world. I imagine it will end up being a real mixture.

It has been out and about since its first outing in 2011, so I guess I can say foamboard is fine!

Good to know!

As a suggestion for cassettes I've used plastic trunking sold to cover domestic water pipes -

However as a little note of caution, I believe I remember Michael writing that after a while he found it operationally simpler to use the sector plate or train turntable fiddle yard method to be preferable over cassettes.

Regarding cassettes, I was considering both the trunking method and the metal angle method. However, as you will see from my next post, the layout has moved on a fair bit from the original plan. One aspect that has changed is the fiddle yard. I do still have a 'cassette', but it's just a bit of track laid on some ply. I've also got two storage sidings. To be honest, this layout is not really about the operation and more about the build, so the compromise I have gone for off-scene will hopefully suffice

James - they say imitation is most sincere form of flattery so I am most flattered you are basing your new layout Buchan on Bottle Kiln lane. If I can offer you any help please feel free to contact me, Good luck with the layout
John

Thanks John, I saw Bottle Kiln Lane in Railway Modeller and then at the Woking (I think!) show 3 or 4 years ago right when I was considering moving into 009 and it really caught my imagination. As to imitation...time will tell if my attempts come anywhere close!!

[James S]

Continuing the summary of progress...

At this stage I started to think more about the off-scene fiddle section and decided that I needed to extend the board a bit. The beauty of foamboard...I cut off the 'back scene' at the left hand end and built a 300mm extension which is scenic at the front and fiddle yard behind. An angled backscene joins this with the full depth scenic part. This extension takes the overall length of the layout to 1300mm with this slightly amended track plan.



The fiddle yard has a 'cassette' to enable trains to be turned and two fixed storage sidings. The fiddle yard section is formed of 2 layer of 3mm ply laminated together with the exception of the cassette bit which remains loose and can be lifted out and turned around. Tne usual method with copper clad board is used either end. Don't look to closely at the soldering - not my neatest work!



The next step was to add the visual element of the backscene. I experimented with a couple before settling on one from id backscenes. This was fixed to the foamboard with double sided tape. With hindsight this was an error as it has warped a bit where there is no tape, seemingly shrinking in some places and expanding in others.



Once the backscene was in place I finished the basic landscape with polystyrene, covered it with plaster cloth and gave it a coat or two of brown paint as a base for the scenery. At this stage I also added the casting for the culvert at the back of the layout and the bridge at the front. The bridge is a Wills kit.









To be continued...

[clayliner]

Looking good. There are some strong diagonals which I think always helps to create a feeling of space and breadth, plus the three dimensionality of the scheme.

David.

[James S]

The third and final instalment of my progress summary...

With the basic landscape complete, I moved onto track laying and wiring - this has probably taken me the best part of 18 months...!

The trackwork is all Peco Code 80, with electrofrog points. The track is laid onto a thin layer of cork to smooth things out a bit. The track sides were painted Tamiya Hull Red.







The layout is DC, controlled by a Gaugemaster W handheld controller. Each individual section of track is wired into a central power bus so there is no reliance on fishplates - with hindsight this might have been over the top. The points are powered by a variety of DCC Concept Cobalt motors. Frog polarity is switched from the built-in SPDT switch in the Cobalts. Push buttons for the motors and switches for the various isolating sections are mounted on the back of the layout. Initially I had visions of wonderfully neat wiring - not a great success on that front ??? !





About this stage in the 12":1' world we completed a loft conversion and I've now moved the layout in from the shed. Much nicer for making progress over the winter - although I don't think it was my wife's original plan for the new room! It's also easier to access for my 4-year and 2-year-old boys which has positives and negatives. In the shed the layout was sitting on a built-in workbench, so I have built a basic timber frame with legs for it in the loft. You can see this in the last photo above.

And that is about where I have got to.

I'm currently going through a troubleshooting phase with the wiring. All the track works fine as do the point motors. However, some of the pushbuttons for the Cobalts are either very temperamental or completely useless. I wonder whether I fried them whilst soldering the connecting wires. Anyone else have this problem?

Finally, a few photos of a small, partially complete diorama I have been working on to practice various scenic bits and pieces that will appear on Buchan. The stock is all Minitrains.









The next stage is to get stuck into the scenery on the main layout. That will also involve buildings which for some reason I find much harder to model than the natural world. We'll see how it goes.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Fantastic scenery on the diorama. What materials did you use for the road?

Jeff S.

[James S]

Fantastic scenery on the diorama. What materials did you use for the road?

Thanks Jeff. The road is Woodland Scenics Buff Fine Gravel. I spread a fairly thick layer onto a bed of glue, then wetted with IPA and fixed with the usual watered down PVA from a dropper just like ballasting. The edge and middle were weathered a bit to add some colour variations. Down the middle I added a few bits of dried leaves from the garden that had gone through the blender, some fine dirt (also from the garden) and a very small amount of static grass.

The majority of my scenery techniques were copied from Luke Towan - really instructive scenery tutorials on youtube - well worth a look if you've not come across him before. A search for Luke Towan or Boulder Creek Railroad should find him.

[James S]

Evening all. It's been a couple of months since I posted an update. In that time I've made a bit of progress with the scenery. A couple of photos giving an overall view of the layout and where I have got to.





The house is a Scalescenes downloaded and print card kit - the lock keepers cottage minus the lock! I've not built one of these before, but was very impressed with how it went together. Interesting to see card kits mentioned a bit in a recent News. The Scalescenes kits are both cleverly designed and also attractive (esp. with a bit of extra detailing and weathering). The mistake I have made is to have a red brick house when my backscene features all stone buildings, but there we go. A few photos from different angles.







The fences are from Scale Model Scenery. They are laser cut card kits that assemble quickly and easily, giving pretty good results. I'm still trying to decide whether to paint them. I've since got one or two other bits from them, 5 barred gates you can see below and notice boards which will hopefully feature before too long.

The water tank is kit-bashed from a Wills n gauge kit and a few bits and pieces I had lying around. The tower frame is scratch built. Still need to add some coal and other details.





The tin chapel is the classic Wills kit.



I've made a load of hedges - rubberised horsehair teased out, static grass added for finer branches, sprayed brown, then a variety of scatters added. Static grass and scatter fixed with spray adhesive. These hedges still need to be fixed in place, but I need to add a bit more details around them first.