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)

Since the initial report was written, a box containing loads of old photos of the old layouts was found in the club but after sorting them out, I found that we only had a small collection of photos but loads of duplicates. The majority of them were taken by our late member Gordon Middleton & a "G Rouke" and are in Black & White with a few in colour. Saying that, I have now digitized them so the I can update the report to include the new pictures, so here it is.

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 a terminal station was situated. I have now been informed that this layout was called "Dundonald".
The layout was basically a standard twin track loop with a incline coming off one side, rising to the centre peninsula where there was a terminal station. Along the other side, there was a large main terminal station and an engine shed. This format allowed a train to leave the main station, go around the main circle a few times then climb up the incline to the upper terminus where it was reversed and sent back down to the main terminus.

The left hand pictures shows the lower main terminal station with one members collection of every streamline A4's in every livery used, you can just see the centre peninsula The right hand picture shows one of the A4s pulling a train up the incline to the upper terminus.

The left hand picture shows some ones collection of un-streamlined Pacific loco's in various liveries again in the main terminus, whilst the right hand one shows the turntable and part of the engine shed.

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 but was soon 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. Some of the photos unearthed show an N gauge layout called "Eglinton" but I have been told the the name may have been "Maxwellton"
The layout was basically a double tracked loop with a large station & engine the in the centre with hills covering the curves at each end, if I remember it correctly, the layout was about 20ft long.

The above pictures show views of the main station, yard and engine shed.
There also appears to be a branch lines at either end, though how it links to the main line
and where they go is unclear.

The other main layout was an "terminal station to turntable" 0 gauge layout called "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)

Just before the track disappeared of the layout proper and on to the fiddle yard turntable, there was a small halt which was called "Clachan" and had a short siding to it.

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 occurred early in '91 rather than a previously stated '88 The left and picture shows the space outside the hall, the day after the main storm and the right hand picture the interior )

We dismantled the layouts and stored them temporary building while we finished off our 'new' premises. By the time we got our new premises usable and moved in the layouts were reasonably dried out. A couple of the pictures of "Ardvolich" (later) appear to show one end of "Dundonald" erected in our current premises so this may have survived for another year or so, but "Invarary" continued on until around 1991-93..

Late in the eighties, the club had obtained 4 boards with '0' gauge station and yard on them from a member which had been in the process of being renovated and rewired prior to the flood and 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 of this layout was fitted to a traverse which was linked to "Invarary" with "Invarary's" turntable moved to the right-hand end of the new board.
(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.)

Eventually,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. This layout was called "Kinglass" and was exhibited at the "Damm Park" show in '92 and '94.

After the damage to the large '00' gauge layout "Dundonald", 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 layout "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.
( we have now had 2 more claimants for the source of the base boards for this layout now, Stevie Cunningham claims that they were new boards and David Pratt claims that they were from an old HO gauge layout of his, so I am sticking to my memories of the source of the boards)
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 mountainous with a canyon coming from the left hand end containing a river which flowed 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 approximately 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? At this show, we were set up as island with viewing on all sides and I remember that we had as many people viewing the fiddle yard where the stock was store as were at the front.
( as an aside, when we took "Ballochmill" to the "Gauge 0 Guild" show at Telford in '06 we had a similar situation with viewing on 3 sides and as many people viewing the fiddle yard.)
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 it ended up as 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-erected in private hands.
( I have now heard that the layout has been put up for sale again as the new owner is having to move and no longer has the space that is required to erect the layout ).
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 "Moffet" station and new buildings were constructed for the small board.
The layout was first exhibited at Dummies 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.

.

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 20 years ago, survived the flood of '91 and many rebuilds and exhibitions since then.

Last Updated:    10 August, 2010