Starlingford - The End of the Line

[RuffnutThorston]

Hi Gavin...

Good luck with the new layout....

I am now getting into DCC a bit!

[Dad-1]

NOT Another planning to start again !!

Some of those wants are just what I'd like - 4 track main lines, room for
freights on the slow line. I'd be happy to leave the coaches and top-link
locomotives to you and Sarah.
It is a SERIOUS problem what do you do when a layout's finished, or at least
as finished as one can get, isn't building the main reason for being in model
railways ?
Anyway Gav always happy when you post new & more photographs, it always
acts as a spur to get on and do more myself !!

Geoff T.

[Black-Marlin]

NOT Another planning to start again !!

Some of those wants are just what I'd like - 4 track main lines, room for freights on the slow line. I'd be happy to leave the coaches and top-link locomotives to you and Sarah.
It is a SERIOUS problem what do you do when a layout's finished, or at least as finished as one can get, isn't building the main reason for being in model
railways ?
Anyway Gav always happy when you post new & more photographs, it always acts as a spur to get on and do more myself !!

Geoff T.

Hi Geoff

In fairness, I'm not exactly planning to 'start again'; Starlingford, situated in my parents' loft, is receding ever further from view as I build a permanent life in Scotland. To that end, it is destined to become a gift to my father on his retirement. The next step is Starlingford Mk2 (whose current working title is 'Girtby Sea'). I am looking at moving into my own house this year, rather than continuing my life as a perpetual student renting a room, and this will finally give me the space to start building something in this country on which I can run my trains. One continuing background task is buying and furnishing plastic storage boxes in which to house trains - I have learned that a 9L tub can, with judicious use of foamboard and self-adhesive felt, hold a locomotive and 9 coaches (hence the '9-coach' limit on most of my trains) - and I will use these to transport stock back to Aberdeen the next time I go back to Ireland. A surprising number of locomotives are here already - more than 20. So are a number of complete trains - the Queen of Scots, Lady Patricia's weathered mix of portholes and Mk1s, Lion's Hawksworths, the breakdown train - and there's something surprisingly satisfying about being able to put these away in perfect order knowing that the next time I'm ready to run them they will be waiting for me...

Until then, here's a couple of pictures of the Queen of Scots finally completed and assembled on the club layout:










Regards,
Gavin

[Black-Marlin]

Well folks, it's happened at last. Starlingford is retired.

I have given it to my dad, along with a number of trains for him to run on it, so from time to time the odd picture might appear, but I shall work on it no more.

But this is not the end of my railway modelling! I have kept my rolling stock, my vehicles, I have some new structures... There will be a new layout. I have a place for it and I intend to start work shortly. And I finally have plenty of space - the initial dimensions are 15' x 40'

Thanks everyone for all the support and encouragement over the years: I will be back in more regular fashion later in the year when work on the new layout begins in earnest. Look out for a new thread entitled 'Girtby Sea'!

Thanks again, and farewell from Starlingford,
Gavin

[mikem64]

Hi Gavin,

Always a sad day when such a great layout reaches the end of the line. Still as one door closes a new one opens, I'm looking forward to dropping into your next adventure.

Cheers Mike.

[Coopslner]

Good luck with the new layout, I hope you stay with the LNER theme.

Cheers

Coops

[carnehan]

40'! Blimey Charlie! You are going to have magnificent runs for trains. I simply can't wait.

Please make it diesel, please make it diesel!

Paul

[Dad-1]

Sad .... Yes, but as carnehan says 40' !!
That sounds like years of interesting developments.Gavin, I give myself 10 years,
but I doubt that will see Girtby Sea finished.
Was the name plucked from a humourous translation of Great (layout) by the sea ?

Geoff T.

[Black-Marlin]

Was the name plucked from a humourous translation of Great (layout) by the sea ?

Geoff T.

Hi Geoff

The fourth line of the Australian national anthem: "Our home is girt by sea". Girt is an old word meaning 'encircled' (as in a girdle), and this layout is going to have a long (albeit narrow) seafront, along which a branchline will potter...

I have no Australian connection whatsoever, but it struck me as a good name for a layout!

Gavin

P.S. At last count I had a dozen or so diesels, including Lion and Deltic, so there will certainly be some of them seen from time to time...

P.P.S. "Blimey Charlie", Carnehan? Hello to Jason Isaacs?

[carnehan]

P.P.S. "Blimey Charlie", Carnehan? Hello to Jason Isaacs?

Haha. A fellow wittertainee. Gavin, how are you going to build your new layout?

Paul

[Black-Marlin]

P.P.S. "Blimey Charlie", Carnehan? Hello to Jason Isaacs?

Haha. A fellow wittertainee. Gavin, how are you going to build your new layout?

Paul

The plan is to build it in modular sections, transport those sections into... let's call it an erecting shed, since railway terminology is appropriate, and assemble the modules in situ. This offers the comfort of being able to work inside in the warm and then run trains out where there's space!

Tinkety-tonk, old fruit, and down with the Nazis,
Gavin

[carnehan]

Tsk tsk.

Epic fail. The answer is... you just build your new layout!

Paul

[Black-Marlin]

Tsk tsk.

Epic fail. The answer is... you just build your new layout!

Paul

D'oh!

I shall reflect on my sins towards the church as I munch on my Battenburg and wave my flappy hands at my generic fruit-based device (still not funny).

[carnehan]

Brilliant. You have out-thought me. I'm off to speak to Peter from Germany.

Paul

[Black-Marlin]

Probably better Peter from Germany than Werner from Austria - no one needs to know that the rule of the universe is chaos, hostility and murder...