Enderslie - Narrow gauge somewhere on the west coast of Scotland.

[Tom Alexander]

Enderslie is a fictional village somewhere on the West Coast of Scotland, served by the Enderslie Valley Railway. The layout is set in the 1990s. Enderslie is an important small port, providing vital links to nearby islands, as well as fishing. It is located at the end of a long and steep valley. Due to the geography of the area the roads are poor and mostly single track, so the railway still provides the main means of transport of goods and people in and out of Enderslie. It also serves a train ferry in Enderslie that provides the vital link to the islands.

That's the story behind my layout. The name Enderslie is derived from my 3D printer. It's an Ender 5 Plus, and I live near the village of Elderslie, near Paisley. So I mashed the 2 together and got Enderslie. My plan is to 3D print as much of the rolling stock and scenery as possible. There are loads of files freely available on sites like Thingiverse, and what I can't find I will design myself.

So here is the track plan, I drew it out full size on some packing paper using some of the buildings I printed and Peco templates (excuse the wobbly edges of the picture, that's an artefact of the iPhone panorama mode. The boards are in fact straight and rectangular). It's 50cm x 300cm overall, not including the fiddle yard which will make and L shape off the back right.

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On the left is the harbour and train ferry. The train ferry will be removable and act as small second fiddle yard. There is a small siding next to the ferry berth that will probably serve a fuel depot. There is another siding along the edge of the other section of harbour and a small provender store. This will serve the fishing boats. The harbour will be about 4cm lower than the rest of the layout, with the water level about 2cm lower again. The track for the harbour runs along the front of the layout and climbs to the middle. Above this slope is the station. It has two platforms, the longer one at the front having a run round loop. Behind the station is a post office with a siding and platform to receive the mail. Next to the post office with the smaller siding is a general store. Goods will come in in wagons, and I'm planing to have some sort of railcar as a shop vehicle that can go off into the hills and islands to deliver supplies.

Moving further right there is the exchange siding for the harbour which joins into the run round loop, and two holding sidings for the harbour. I have since made a slight change to the plan as i wasn't happy with the harbour being directly accessible from the main line. I'm moving the points for the holding sidings and harbour branch to be the other side of the point joining the mainline. This will mean the holding sidings and the harbour branch are only accessible from the head shunt. So trains will come into the exchange siding, then the harbour engine will take the wagons and sort them into the sidings and take them down to the harbour.

Further right, in the middle of the second board, is a turntable and engine shed. Whilst the railway will be diesel worked there is a steam preservation society, and there will be steam specials running regularly. I'm also thinking of making some removable signs for a steam gala as an excuse to run them as well. So this will be the base for the steam engines. Then finally the mainline will run into a tunnel under a hill at the back, and a siding will curve around to the front serving a watermill and barn. The mainline will curve sharply under the hill and I'll add a fiddle yard at the top right. Minimum curve radius on the layout will be 9" and most curves will be that size.

So that's the plan. This is the first layout of this sort I've built. I'm hoping to maybe exhibit it one day in the future. I'm a member of the 009 society and the Scottish group have been having fortnightly zoom meetings. I'm hoping that this will drive me forward so I have progress to show each time, and help me finish the layout.

Next on to making the boards.

[Tom Alexander]

So on to baseboard construction. I'm making the baseboards out of 6mm ply. I've never made boards like this before. I'm hoping they'll be fairly lightweight. I decided on a size of 50cm x 150cm per board, as this will allow the two of them to fit in my car. So a trip to my local wood shop and i have three sheets of ply, each cut into 3 pieces.

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Quick fit test and it looks good.

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I chopped the large boards into strips on my table saw. This will form the ribs.

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I (rather foolishly) decided to make the much more complex left hand board with the harbour first. So i traced out the outline of the harbour from my plan and made a template to cut the board with.

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Then cut them out with my jigsaw.

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[Tom Alexander]

I decided to make the ends of the boards out of 18mm ply. This will offer some protection in transit and help keep the boards square during construction. I also had a pair of baseboard alignment dowels that I'm using to make the boards line up nicely. There will be 3 bolts holding it tight.

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I drilled out lots of large holes in the beams to remove some weight and to allow the cables to run through. I also cut slots in the beams so they will fit together in a tab and slot design. So here is my kit of parts, ready for assembly.

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This is the frame assembled. I decided on an integral backscene. The tab and slots worked pretty well and I glued and nailed it all together. Hopefully it will be strong and resist warping.

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Attached the piece that will form the water of the harbour. The harbour will sit on top of this on small risers. I trimmed off a corner to allow room for the point motors.

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Then I added the main layer of board. The gap at the front is where the line will descend to the harbour. The front piece is actually cut on an angle to allow this.

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Finally I added the harbour section on risers, and the slope down to the it. I'm pretty pleased how it turned out. I do wish I'd started with the right hand board though, which is just a flat surface. There was a lot of learning process for me, and I coupled that with having to make a much more complex board with different height ribs and a sloping front.

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I have since decided that the backscene is way too high. I was struggling to get my arms over it and reach the main station area when on those trestles. So I'll be slicing 15cm off the backscene later.

[clayliner]

This is already looking good, Tom.

That baseboard is quite a work of art in itself and looks more like an aircraft wing than a model railway baseboard (you may need to weigh it down on windy days!) I'm just wondering where those cross-braces come in relation to the points above and whether any of them will be in the way for point control installations - hopefully not.

The train ferry sounds different and fun. Will the trains load onboard, I wonder? As you say, there will need to be oil tanks for bunkering the ferry, so something else to bring in by train once or twice a week.

What type of locos are you planning to run - both diesel and steam? Maybe the tourists will be able to buy an inclusive ticket for the train journey and a visit to a working mill? (or even - in that part of the world - a distillery, which would generate more traffic for the railway).

I'll follow this with interest.

David.

P.S. A quick plug for the 009 online Sales shop (via the Society website) where you'll find some useful vintage steam locos and probably lots of other useful items bedsides!

[Tom Alexander]

This is already looking good, Tom.

That baseboard is quite a work of art in itself and looks more like an aircraft wing than a model railway baseboard (you may need to weigh it down on windy days!) I'm just wondering where those cross-braces come in relation to the points above and whether any of them will be in the way for point control installations - hopefully not.

Hopefully the cross members won't be in the way! I haven't actually measured on my plan, but there is scope for tweaking them generally.

The train ferry sounds different and fun. Will the trains load onboard, I wonder? As you say, there will need to be oil tanks for bunkering the ferry, so something else to bring in by train once or twice a week.

I hope the trains will load, that's how I'm designing it. The ferry deck won't be much lower than the harbour side and there will be a linkspan to connect them. I'll incorporate some sort of sprung contacts to give power to the ferry when docked so trains can run on and off, and for lights. I've found a model of the Wittow ferry from Thingiverse I've printed and have been using for design. I probably won't use it long term, but the basic shape and size will be used in a future design.

What type of locos are you planning to run - both diesel and steam? Maybe the tourists will be able to buy an inclusive ticket for the train journey and a visit to a working mill? (or even - in that part of the world - a distillery, which would generate more traffic for the railway).

The railway will be diesel in the main, with steam specials. I have a Liliput 2095 class and am trying to get one or two more. They'll be the main motive power. I'm also designing and printing some DMUs for the passenger service. For the harbour I have a Liliput O&K and am planing to get a second. The harbour will be electrically separate from the mainline so i can shunt around the harbour whilst trains come and go in the station.
For the steam fleet I have a Bachmann Double Fairlie, and a Peco Small England on order. I also have a Liliput U class 0-6-2T which i will repaint and Anglicize a bit. And there's also a freelance scratch built 0-6-0 with tender i bought many moons ago off eBay. So I'm very well off for steam engines!
I'm thinking I might invent a distillery on the islands. That would need some grain wagons travelling out, and then wagons with finished product coming back. There will be fish traffic from the harbour, and traffic too and from the mill.

Glad you like the idea so far. Thanks for the kind comments.
Tom

[JulienW]

Certainly making better progress than I am with layout building Tom.

A couple of observations about the track plan though, if I may:

If you can ease the curves so that 9"is the minimum rather than the standard radius it may improve the 'flow' of the track through the scene (full sized railways generally built the line where it needed to go rather than sticking to 'set' geometry) and make it easier to run a wider variety of stock.

I'd be tempted to loose the lower of the two harbour sidings in the bottom middle of the layout, and maybe extend the remaining one (and shift it down slightly) to give a second long loop.

I'd also be tempted to move the point for the post office siding so that it doesn't spur off (what looks to be) the bay platform. I was going to suggest that it be across the road so that it spurs off the General Store (?) siding but that might need the point to that being moved across the baseboard joint and the line crossing the road at a shallower angle.

Ultimately though, rule one (it's your railway) applies, so you can tell me to take a running jump! :laugh:

[Ian McAulay]

Hi Tom

Progress is looking good! Very impressed with the baseboard construction, especially the multi-level one.

Ian

[clayliner]

Re the ferry, if you/the railway used barrier wagons or some sort of extension link the loco wouldn't actually need to run onto the ferry at all - just push the train from the land. Might make the electrics a bit more straighforward!

David.

[Graeme Dunbar]

Re the ferry, if you/the railway used barrier wagons or some sort of extension link the loco wouldn't actually need to run onto the ferry at all - just push the train from the land. Might make the electrics a bit more straighforward!

David.

That's a good point and could add to the operational interest. If the ferry is small, which I guess it might be, the weight of a loco might be too much and sink, or at least make it ride too low in the water.

[Tom Alexander]

Re the ferry, if you/the railway used barrier wagons or some sort of extension link the loco wouldn't actually need to run onto the ferry at all - just push the train from the land. Might make the electrics a bit more straighforward!

David.

I did think of this but it's not the route I'm going down. Two reasons. First I'd need a longer headshunt to accommodate the reach wagon, which I'm not sure I have room for. Second, and more importantly, I want to run DMUs out to the islands for passengers. I'm also planing that the store will have some sort of railcar that will take supplies out to the islands.

[clayliner]

Second, and more importantly, I want to run DMUs out to the islands for passengers.

Why stop at DMUs? How about sleeping cars as well?!  🙃

David.

[Tom Alexander]

Second, and more importantly, I want to run DMUs out to the islands for passengers.

Why stop at DMUs? How about sleeping cars as well?!  🙃

David.

Make a couple of transporter wagons and have a Mk3 sleeper as a portion off the Fort William one.  ;D

[Tom Alexander]

Well it's been an awfully long time since I did any work on this. House renovations and the general chaos of owning a pair of children have been getting in the way. I have since completed the second board and have now finally made a start on track laying.

First four points fixed down. The far point is the crucial one and sets the position of the whole layout up. Station building roughly plonked in position. Made of three sections here, I realised I had room to add another section for the finished article.



After a few evenings work the whole town section has been finished. The station building has been glued together and painted. I'm going for a BR Scottish region look. The end of the runround loop on the left needs finishing. I've decided I'm going to add a bit of board back in here and the end of the loop will curve back to a right angle to the backscene and go to a goods shed. Also need the exchange loop at the front and mainline putting in. But they span both boards so I'll put them in when the other board is attached with some alignment pieces to ensure they work well when the boards are taken apart and put back together.



Close up of the station. Really pleased with how it's come out. It's from Thingiverse by Mike's Railway.  https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4727163

[Graeme Dunbar]

Very good!

(One small thing though - it may be debatable who owns who when it comes to offspring.  ;D )

[Paul Alliet]

This is really shaping up nicely.