Riccarton Junction in N gauge

[fourtytwo]

I started this layout some time ago but when is a layout ever finished! so to me it's still under construction. I have been building N gauge layouts on and off for 30 years so this is the nth incarnation. This layout was designed to fit in half the space of its predecessor so approx 13ft long by 6ft wide. I like a continuous run and at least one station with full engine shed and goods facilities, I model steam era 1930-1950 I guess. The one problem I had with the space compression was no room for return loops as these typically occupy 4ftx4ft so instead the layout is an oval. Given the space constraints there is not enough room for traditional storage loops and there throat pointwork for reasonable length trains so instead I chose to construct a vertical stacker. The following trackplan was developed from a mixture of the prototype where everything is on the wrong side and an ian rice design I found called douneblane!

Trackplan as built

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Squares are inches.
As can be seen from this map the station is in a very remote area so does not need to be surrounded by lots of buildings and industry, an advantage given my poor scenic skills!

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And this picture again gives a feel for the remoteness of the prototype

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And now to the construction, all my layouts feature 2x1 legs and underframe with 6mm ply tops custom built to the trackbed shape, much re-use between layouts saves money and the scraps go on the fire.

station view under construction

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You can clearly see the amount of re-use, not just the track (semi ballasted) but also the baseboard has previous use.
I will pause here so as to not try adding to many pics to one post.

[fourtytwo]

As a follow on about construction this layout ike all my past ones is not DCC, part of the reason for this is I started in N long before DCC and I am steam outline both making it difficult to modify the loco's. IMOP live frogs are essential so the wiring gets a bit busy but then the same would be true of DCC. To simplify things each area has its own relay box for the points in that area, all my points are controlled by spco switches either within a relay or on a control panel so every point has its own capacitor and is powered from a layout wide 34V bus.

Typical "signal box" with point capacitors and relays

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The control panel is a relatively simple mimic, each mainline divided into four sections and several more for the branch and goods yard complex. There are four controllers for up,down,branch and goods/mpd these are a home design i have used for years that are IMOP kind to N gauge while being good for slow running (NOT PWM).

control panel innards

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The vertical storage or stacker that is on the opposite long side of the layout from the station took a considerable effort to design construct and debug but now on the whole is reliable and simply controlled by a digi switch on the control panel to select the level/shelf desired and goodness knows how many lines of code does the rest on a PIC processor.

stacker

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stacker processor

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To be continued

[fourtytwo]

And so now we come to the scenery, I am not an artistically gifted person, I took my ques from as many pictures of old Riccarton as I could find then selected some appropriate Peco backscenes, and added a few buildings from my floating stock. Ballast is real granite using the watered down pva method (ballast applied dry then glue dripped on from dropper). You may notice there are no signals as yet (see what I mean as never finished). I love curved platforms and this layout was designed to incorporate them. Layout lighting is by LED modules powered off the point power buss (that happens to be split into +/-17V unregulated).

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Before anybody asks why that ugly great control panel is stuck at the scenic level I have to tell you there's an access door to the loft under the layout behind it so sadly it could not be put lower out of sight, always some compromise somewhere!

[glencairn]

Hi fourtytwo. It is looking good.
As you know, (but for others reading this) Riccarton Junction was up to 1963 absent of any road access. Therefore all goods (coal, food etc.) for the residents of the 30 or so houses was all brought in by train. This would involve a greater variation of rolling stock than one would imagine.

Glencairn

[Ex-Pat]

Always interested in anything Waverley Route!

That stacker is rather fascinating - never seen one before - trying to get my head round how it works - what moves how far please? (Presumably the whole framework moves up & down?)

[End2end]

Very impressive. That vertical traverser looks amazing!
Funny enough I was talking with Mrs End2end tonight discussing how the story of a layout really explains the whys and wherefores of it and helps to get a greater understanding of the model wether it be fictional or based on a prototype. As in this case the history of no road access.
Thanks for the pictures and history.
End2end

[Spavo]

This was just a wonderful read thanks for posting. It is a really lovely flowing layout, you've done a great job. Well done.

Gavin.

[glencairn]

A little more information on The Waverley Route for those who do not know. The North British Main Line from Edinburgh to Newcastle was to Riccarton Junction, then to Hexham on the Border Counties Railway, (which NBR owned,) joining the Tyne Valley Railway to Newcastle. This was because NBR did not want to pay The North Eastern Railway exorbitant running rights charges from Berwick to Newcastle.

From 1907, most principal services were worked by the 4-4-2 Atlantics designed by William Reid and built by the North British Locomotive Company. The Atlantics were intended to put an end to costly double-heading on the Waverley Route but suffered from teething problems which endured nearly two years, after which the class proved to be excellent performers, particularly after they were superheated in 1915. The Atlantics are considered as the finest performing engines associated with the Waverley Route until the introduction in the late 1920s of Sir Nigel Gresley's A3 Pacifics. The first A3 to visit the line was No. 2580 Shotover on 26 February 1928. The Pacifics were at times supplemented by A4s and it was No. 4490 Empire of India which hauled the Royal Train in the early 1940s when George VI inspected the troops at Stobs Camp. In later years, B1s, V2s and Britannia Class locomotives worked Waverley Route trains, with the last steam-hauled service being Britannia No. 70022 Tornado on the 7:44 pm Carlisle-Edinburgh train on 14 November 1967. Diesels became important on the line from c. 1960, with the expresses worked by Class 45 and Class 46 Peaks and Class 47s and Deltics appearing on the farewell specials. Local trains were mainly worked by Class 26s supplemented by Class 25s and Class 37s, while freight services were hauled by a variety of classes including Clayton Class 17s.

Glencairn

[fourtytwo]

Wowww thank you all for your very kind comments, it gladdens my heart and I hope to find your layouts here too so I can return the compliments Also thank you so much for the historical context, I have read as much as I could find but there are always extra nuances to be discovered and indeed I did realize it was not served by road being basically a forestry/railway community that sprang up around the necessity of a junction within the topological constraints of the area and Waverly route, I actually found it on some extra large route maps given to me by my late father that adorn the railway room door! I could write endlessly about this railway and bore you all I am sure as I mentioned development is continuous, for example the loco cleaning area sporting the bottle of alcohol next to the MPD has now been moved ofscene to improve the vista, as mentioned elsewhere I have found regular wheel cleaning a necessity in N and this is done using IPA and cotton buds in a bubble-wrap lined cradle under a powerful spotlamp.
As for the stacker again thank you for your compliments, I took some more pics to try and explain it, the shelves are made from 12mm marine ply for stability and are attached by metal angle brackets to ubiquitous bits of 2x1 (3) that form a moving frame along with a large piece of the same ply that forms a sort of hanger that provides twisting stability at the top. The outer two pieces of 2x1 are attached to fixed 2x2 posts that run from floor to ceiling by the longest ball race slides I could lay my hands on, thus the whole unit containing all 10 shelves slides up and down. Attached to the top of this moving unit are nylon cords, one each side and these pass over free pulley's attached to the ceiling and terminate at a counterweight that slides up and down the other side of the fixed posts. Each of these cords also takes a turn around a drive motor providing the motive power, I hope this exhaustive explanation makes sense in conjunction with the pictures below.....

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ball bearing slide can be seen sandwiched

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Once again many thanks for your kind and informative posts (that I cannot read as I write this so please excuse anything I have missed).
Roger

PS and thank you Glencairn for the excellent service info although I must confess the line also runs GWR halls and railcars due to a continuing infatuation with all things GWR

[Ex-Pat]

Thanks for the further info - even more ingenious than I thought, what with the counterweights etc..

Did you know that one of the buildings on the platform was the "Riccarton Grocery Branch Hawick Co-op Society"?

[glencairn]

PS and thank you Glencairn for the excellent service info although I must confess the line also runs GWR halls and railcars due to a continuing infatuation with all things GWR

As a member of The Waverley Route Heritage Association and in the process of laying track from Whitrope Summit to Riccarton Junction, it is great to see what we have to do when we get there.

As for seeing GWR Halls and Railcars? Who knows in the future? At the moment amongst the Stocklist is a Prototype BRE-Leyland Railbus RB004 1984 In service. See Waverley Route Heritage Association.

Keep up the good work!

Glencairn

[fourtytwo]

Just to add some low level scenic pictures

Branch end of station towards carriage sidings

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Busy scene from branch end, push pull in branch plat

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Lots of people about for the middle of nowhere, stretching there legs!

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Busy yard, new arrival in the headshunt

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Junk around the shed and cattle on the line with no fences!

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Ahh seems there's a limit of 5 pics, to be contd

[fourtytwo]

More pics

The TT is to big n flat (Atlas) but WORKS!

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Lonely outpost for platelayers, branch end scenic break

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OMG sheep and pigs on the lines, where is the fencing!

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Station approach branch end

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Shunters view into the yard from goods loop

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Up to 5 again!

[fourtytwo]

And finally

view into platforms non-branch end

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[VerdevaleRailway]

Thanks for sharing your photos, your curved platforms look great. I remain envious of the sense of space that N modelers are able to exploit.

V.R.