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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)
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.
.
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
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