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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.
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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 20 years ago, survived the flood of
'91 and many rebuilds and exhibitions since then.
Last Updated:
10 August, 2010
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