Exhibition and Excursion Reports

Due to a lack of exhibition reports I thought that I would fill this page with an article called

"Layouts gone bye-bye".

Over the years, the club has built numerous layouts which have now been dumped, sold, "wrecked" or otherwise disposed off.

Since mid 1991, I have videoed most of the club & AMRSS shows and initially transferred the recordings to DVD's. I have now transferred these files to a large hard disk where I can view them at anytime. This has meant that I could retrieve photos of them, which I thought might bring back memories to some people, so the following is subject to being corrected by anyone who knows better. (updates are in italics and blue text)

When I joined the club, back in the '88, the club lived in the old British Legion hall in Saltcoats, where we had a large '00' gauge which was basically, a loop around the outside of the layout with a peninsula down the center where the main station was, unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it
( I have now been informed that this layout was called "Dundonald" and that some pictures of it exist and if they can be found will be added to this page. I am also led to believe that this layout was to be exhibited at the AMRSS show in Glasgow in February '91 but due to the "great flood of '91 this had to be cancelled. I can remember the club having to do a lot of stewarding one year without a layout so this must be the year. ) This layout was later re-erected after we moved from the Saltcoats premises to our present premises and attempts were made to dry it out but most of it had to be scrapped with the exception of the "central peninsula", more of which later. 

There was a relatively long narrow N gauge which being designed and built primarily by "Jeff" & the late "Jimmy McGregor" and "Willie Maxwell" and had a town & station in the center with "hills" at each end if I remember it correctly. I don't remember the layout getting finished or exhibited.
( I have now been informed that this layout was called "Maxwellton" and that some pictures of it exist and if they can be found will be added to this page ) 

The other main layout was an "terminal station to turntable" 0 gauge layout "Invarary" which had been going for some years. This was a terminal station at the end of a single track branch line with a small engine shed and yard feed from a single track turntable. The station was "loosely" based on "Kyle of Lochalsh".
As you can from the photo's, this was quite a compact layout which was generally operated from both sides with a 3rd operator at the turntable at the other end. These pictures were taken at our show in '91

( click on any picture to see a larger version, sorry for the funny colours,
the "Damm" Park lighting. always gave me funny colours on my video camera)

Unfortunately, most of these layouts were damaged in the "great flood of '91" ( I stand corrected that the "great flood" of our premises in Saltcoats actually occured early in '91 rather than a previously stated '88 ) but were dried out and re-erected in our current premises.
The '00' gauge layout did not last long before it had to be scrapped due to the water damage, however, "Invarary" continued on until around 1991-2.
Late in the eighties, the club had obtained 4 boards with '0' gauge station and yard on them from a member which were in the process of being renovated and rewired prior to the flood and but were unaffected by the flood. The track layout on them was basically a double track station and yard with the track at both ends of the station merging to single tracks.
Initially the left-hand end was fitted to a traverser which replaced the turntable of "Invarary" and "Invarary's" turntable moved to the right-hand end of the new boards.
( Since I initially wrote this article, I have been informed that this hybrid was exhibited at our show in the "Damm Park" at its full 65 foot length but I have no pictures of it in this format. However I can remember that it was fun to watch as the entrances to the traverser from the 2 sections were offset so one train would enter from "Invarary" but a different one would emerge onto the new section.)

Eventualy,due the damage to the boards in the flood, "Invarary" had to be scrapped and a new turntable was built to replace the traverser and fitted to the left-hand end of the station. I believe this layout was called "Kinglass" and was exhibited at the "Damm Park" show in '92 and '94.

After the large '00' gauge layout was scrapped, a more compact layout was built based on the "Crianlarich" station with a single tracks feeding into a double sided platform. This was called "Ardvorlich" and was also displayed in the '92 show.

Returning to the "central peninsula" referred to earlier. When the large '00' gauge layou"Dundonald" was scrapped, two of our "younger" members, who were students at the time, bought the 2 boards that formed the peninsula with the intention of building an 'HO' layout.
The boards were slightly too narrow to take a loop of '00' track so they had extra boards fixed onto the sides at one end making a sort of dumbbell shape to take the track. The front of the layout had a passing loop plus siding and 3 loops were fitted at the rear for a fiddle yard.

The scenery was hilly with a canyon coming from the left hand end and flowing along the front with "mountains at either end. The layout was named "Lackamoullah" and was borrowed to be exhibited at the AMRSS '95 show. After that the layout went back into private hands but I have seen the baseboards several times since then at various AMRSS shows with different clubs.

During '93, new N gauge layout was designed which was to be modular with a common fiddle yard and corners but replaceable"front" modules. I will only mention 3 of the 6 modules built for this layout as the others are still in regular use. Out of all the "fronts" only 2 have been dismantled over that last 15 years that the layout has been available.
The late "Willie Maxwell" devised a "yard" style layout which, if I remember correctly, had a main line with a large marshaling yard at the rear. This "front" never really got operational and was never recorded.
However "Jeff" along with the late "Jimmy" built a "front" which was basically a large through station with 4 platforms on each track with a centre through road between the platforms. This "front" was exhibited as "Hillcrest" at our show at the Citadel in September '00' but not used much after that and eventually dismantled.

The final module has had a chequered history. This was built by our member"Bill Eastwood" and for some "unknown" reason was called "Eastwood West" and was displayed at our show at the "Damm Park" in '96.

However I have no record of it being displayed again however during '01, the 2 boards were fixed together to form one 8ft board to allow high speed Japanese stock to be run. This version was re-named "Kelninjo" and was first shown at the AMRSS show in February '02 and is still being used today (Nov '09). It has also been called "Redwood Junction" when used to run American stock.

In order to provide a larger '00' gauge layout, during '95, a new layout was designed which had a 4 road through station at the front with a engine shed at the left hand end and a small yard at the other end. The corner boards were "designed" in wedge shape to follow the track round rather that leave an odd corner to be filled with scenery. This layout was called "Ravenspark" and was exhibited for quite a few years at our own and other shows until late '04'. when it was eventually sold off to a private owner.

Even though each of the main tracks merged to 2 tracks just before entering the fiddle yards, it was possible to have a "slow" train running through the centre roads and bring a "fast" train through the platforms or vice-versa which make the station a very busy place at times.

Around the same time , a new large circular '0' gauge layout was built. This was called "Inch'nabit" and had a large fiddle yard at the rear with a small double track station and simple yard at the front. The right hand end had an loop line at which was feed from the fiddle yard. The name "Inch'nabit" came about from the spacing between '0' gauge rails which is approx 1.3in, hence "inch and a bit". This layout was about 40ft by 16ft which allowed the larger locomotive and trains that the 0 gauge section were accumulating to have continuous running.
The right hand end had a row of terraced houses on an embankment overlooking the tracks. These depicted the style of houses generally found backing onto many a railway line around the country. The other end, however, contrasted this with having a large church featuring a wedding party. If you look carefully, you will see the engine shed from "Invarary" in the station yard.

If the station building also looks somewhat familiar, it first appeared on Kinglass", waste not won't not.
This layout was first shown in Sept '96 and ran for a few more years, being shown at the AMRSS show in February '99 ? As the fiddle yard boards had been used before, they were getting worm out and were replaced with a new set but in the middle of '02 a new set of boards were built to replace the original front boards as some of them were over 12 years old. These along with the fiddle yard boards now form our present '0' gauge layout "Ballochmill".

During 2000, some of our members convinced the committee to build an new 'HO' layout as they had no American 'HO' layout to run their stock on, so "Jefferson Junction" was born. Again this was started using some surplus boards to form the main boards at the front of the layout with new boards at each end. Initially the track layout was to be a dumbbell but this was changed several times until ended up a a folded figure of 8. The layout was eventually "finished" in '04 and exhibited at our own shown with mixed results. For some totally unknown reason, the inner circuit developed at short circuit on the 1st day which was never traced and on return to the club house, the track worked OK

The right hand end was laid out as a large quarry whilst the left hand end depicted a engine shed with a turntable that could accommodate a "Big Boy" steam loco

The 6 track station along the front also served as a fiddle yard as there was only a narrow storage track at the rear where the tracks climbed up and crossed over.
The scenery was then improved and expanded and the layout exhibited at the AMRSS show in '06 where it worked reasonably well.
After this, station area and the upper track behind it was expanded and the "quarry" was replaced with a lake and more buildings. This was how the layout was exhibited at our show in '08 where the inner circuit short reappeared. When the layout was returned to the clubhouse after the show, no short was ever found again. The layout was exhibited at Greenock MRC's show in November '08 and was sold to one of the traders as a private layout.

The last layout I have now to include is our old '0' gauge layout "Garnock" which has only recently been retired, sold and is now re-eracted in private hands.
During 2002, it was noted that there were no '0' gauge layouts at the AMRSS show so it was decided to resurrect the old station boards from "Inch'nabit" as an end-to-end layout. The old turntables from "Kinglass" had been stored and these were restored for use while the main boards were completely rewired. A small board was built to fit a dual track turntable to the left hand end and the right hand engine shed board was modified to be a single track to the other turntable. The station building was replaced with a model of "Moffat" station and new buildings were constructed for the small board.
The layout was first exhibited at Dumfries in '03 and has been exhibited somewhere nearly every year since. During the last couple of years, the layout just removed from storage, erected, exhibited and returned to storage each time and gave very little trouble and has been at the AMRSS show at least 3 times.

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You may have noticed that three of the four '0' gauge layouts mentioned "Kinglass", "Inch'nabit" and "Garnock" all featured a 2 track station and small yard at the right hand end of the station. Yes,they were based on the same base boards that had been bought from our late member Roland Gill about 20years ago, survived the flood of '90 and many rebuilds and exhibitions since then.

Last Updated:    2 January, 2010