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Fort George OO Gauge Scottish Terminus/Junction Layout

Peter C

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Definitely worth giving them a test with a few different trains.
It’s these two buildings:

View attachment 94870
Ah - I've got one of those smaller ones (it's sat on the platform at Oldmoor-on-Sea) and it works alright, but the larger one would be a bit too heavy I guess, so wood would be a better option definitely.

-Peter
 
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Cowley

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@Iskra - If you’ve got an idea for the platforms then give it a go. You’ve probably got an idea in your mind of how you want it to look and once you start doing something you’ll soon get into it.
You could always make a start with the bits you think you can do and then do something else for a bit once you’ve got to a certain point and need to think about the next move.
That’s what I find works best for me.
 

Iskra

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I've got a new wooden platform kit now which I need to assemble and paint, that should be stronger and I can custom paint it into Green & Cream to match my other buildings and weather it too as I build it. Hopefully I can start it later this week and make progress depending on how I feel after work in the evenings :)

Tonight's mini-project has been swapping the couplings on the HST trailers- I now have a passable IC rake, with a further 2 Virgin Mk2 trailers in reserve to mix it up a little in future. This is an amazing model by Hornby;HornbyHST.jpg
In modern times, Fort George does slip away from the highlands theme a little and sees any stock that would appear in Fort William, Inverness or Aberdeen which allows me to run all my favourites :)
 
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Peter C

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I've got a new wooden platform kit now which I need to assemble and paint, that should be stronger and I can custom paint it into Green & Cream to match my other buildings and weather it too as I build it. Hopefully I can start it later this week and make progress depending on how I feel after work in the evenings :)

Tonight's mini-project has been swapping the couplings on the HST trailers- I now have a passable IC rake, with a further 2 Virgin Mk2 trailers in reserve to mix it up a little in future. This is an amazing model by Hornby;View attachment 95138
In modern times, Fort George does slip away from the highlands theme a little and sees any stock that would appear in Fort William, Inverness or Aberdeen which allows me to run all my favourites :)
Sounds good re: platforms. I'd be interested to see how they develop and what they look like when they're finished! :D
That Hornby HST does look brilliant. What have you changed the couplings for? I know they come with European style couplings on the Mk3s and then normal NEM couplings in the box.

-Peter
 

Iskra

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Sounds good re: platforms. I'd be interested to see how they develop and what they look like when they're finished! :D
That Hornby HST does look brilliant. What have you changed the couplings for? I know they come with European style couplings on the Mk3s and then normal NEM couplings in the box.

-Peter
Me too :D Hopefully it works out!

I just switched them so they are all NEM's as all my other stock is and the powercars came with NEM's too. Seems a bit odd that they come with those couplings installed. Unfortunately the bogies and couplings are quite delicate so it was slow and torturous work but I got there :) I also had to add the buffers too. I suppose it's worth it and I'm glad the MK3's are now the correct length these days. I would love it if they did an updated GNER set...
 

Peter C

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I just switched them so they are all NEM's as all my other stock is and the powercars came with NEM's too. Seems a bit odd that they come with those couplings installed. Unfortunately the bogies and couplings are quite delicate so it was slow and torturous work but I got there :) I also had to add the buffers too. I suppose it's worth it and I'm glad the MK3's are now the correct length these days. I would love it if they did an updated GNER set...
Ah OK - makes sense. I did the same with my Ruston 48DS, which came with a plastic bar between the engine and wagon, to standardise on that form of NEM coupling. I think the Mk3s have the European couplings on them as they allow for closer coupling between the coaches, but I'm not sure. They are definitely more suited to rakes of coaches which won't be uncoupled/changed on a regular basis due to the way they connect. The correct-length Mk3s are definitely really nice models - plenty of detail as well! :D

-Peter
 

Kent Dreamer

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I am looking to standardise my couplings to NEM. Could anyone point me in the right direction of where to buy replacement couplings to be able to achieve this?
 

Iskra

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I am looking to standardise my couplings to NEM. Could anyone point me in the right direction of where to buy replacement couplings to be able to achieve this?
There are some on Hornby’s website in the spares section, but you can probably find them cheaper elsewhere on the internet with some shopping around :)
 

Cowley

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I love that HST @Iskra. Especially with the buffers.
You could easily imagine a summer Saturday service taking an HST to Fort George in the 1990s.
 

Iskra

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I love that HST @Iskra. Especially with the buffers.
You could easily imagine a summer Saturday service taking an HST to Fort George in the 1990s.
Thanks. Is there any scope for a HST appearance on Lapford in the future? I know the Cornish branches have seen them in the summer but has Barnstaple ever had any?
 

Cowley

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Thanks. Is there any scope for a HST appearance on Lapford in the future? I know the Cornish branches have seen them in the summer but has Barnstaple ever had any?

It’s had a couple appear on railtours. No scheduled services though unfortunately.
 

Iskra

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I've been busy recently (or away from home), so not spent much time on the railway. I've built some of the new platform but need to do more, which could include a slight track rearrangement which is planned for Tuesday. I did weather a couple more loco's on Friday however:

On this 47, I've just done the roof, underframe and cabfronts. Unfortunately it's failed here and had to be rescued by a Black 5.

47.jpg

I did this Hornby 4F just as a little project, it won't be staying on the railway. It's a very basic second hand Hornby 4F, I dulled down the wheels/rods, then did the main body, added a bit of rust on the bottom of the tender and made the coal load look real. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

4F Front.jpg
 

Peter C

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I've been busy recently (or away from home), so not spent much time on the railway. I've built some of the new platform but need to do more, which could include a slight track rearrangement which is planned for Tuesday. I did weather a couple more loco's on Friday however:

On this 47, I've just done the roof, underframe and cabfronts. Unfortunately it's failed here and had to be rescued by a Black 5.

View attachment 96821

I did this Hornby 4F just as a little project, it won't be staying on the railway. It's a very basic second hand Hornby 4F, I dulled down the wheels and rods, then did the main body, and made the coal load look real. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

View attachment 96822
The weathering you do on your models @Iskra is really nice. That 47 looks to be just perfect for the era you're modelling, as does the 4F. :)

-Peter
 

Iskra

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Thanks Peter :) I'm slowly getting better at it, but still got some areas I need to work on; carriage roofs in particular.
 

Peter C

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Thanks Peter :) I'm slowly getting better at it, but still got some areas I need to work on; carriage roofs in particular.
You're very welcome. :)
I find it quite interesting seeing your finished weathering projects (or even those still in-progress); it adds so much to a layout.

-Peter
 

Cowley

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I must say that you’ve really got an eye for this @Iskra. That 4F looks excellent.
 

Iskra

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Thanks Gents

The weathering you do on your models @Iskra is really nice. That 47 looks to be just perfect for the era you're modelling, as does the 4F. :)

-Peter

The 4F might be staying after all as doing some research there was a solitary 4F based at Fort William shed 1960-1962 :)
 

Cowley

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Thanks Gents



The 4F might be staying after all as doing some research there was a solitary 4F based at Fort William shed 1960-1962 :)

Blimey they got around didn’t they? They were also to be found on the Somerset and Dorset and many places in between!
 

Iskra

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Blimey they got around didn’t they? They were also to be found on the Somerset and Dorset and many places in between!
They did, but the LMS built masses of them due to the legacy of the Midlands small locomotive policy, ie smaller loco’s but more of them. Being smaller and lighter probably helped them survive longer too, a bit like why class 37’s are still around on the network today.
 

Iskra

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I've not been able to get much done recently on the layout, the new station is still a work in progress and I'm still awaiting gaugemaster trackbed ballast roll (might just do it the old fashioned way soon). So in the meantime I thought I'd recreate some of the Scotrail sleepers and test out the Hornby Mk2 carriage lighting. The Fort William portion ran with a (debranded) Virgin Mk2 Brake for some time in its formation. I think the lighting levels look spot on and I can hardly complain at all considering the relatively inexpensive price of these coaches.

1626380238128.png

1626380309664.png
 

Cowley

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Very nice. The mixture of coaching stock captures that era really well.
How does the lighting work then? Did you have to fit it yourself?
 

Peter C

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I've not been able to get much done recently on the layout, the new station is still a work in progress and I'm still awaiting gaugemaster trackbed ballast roll (might just do it the old fashioned way soon). So in the meantime I thought I'd recreate some of the Scotrail sleepers and test out the Hornby Mk2 carriage lighting. The Fort William portion ran with a (debranded) Virgin Mk2 Brake for some time in its formation. I think the lighting levels look spot on and I can hardly complain at all considering the relatively inexpensive price of these coaches.

View attachment 99744

View attachment 99745
That certainly looks very nice. It's always cool to see people modelling the anomalies of the railway network - particularly early-privatisation when you get older stock in more modern colours and some bizarre formations!
If you do decide to ballast your track instead of using the ballast roll, my main recommendation would be avoid the types of ballast with tiny rocks. Obviously they're going to be small because they're a model but some are so tiny that it makes them impossible to work with!

-Peter
 

Iskra

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Very nice. The mixture of coaching stock captures that era really well.
How does the lighting work then? Did you have to fit it yourself?
It was simply pre-installed from Hornby, but I think the coach only cost £31 including weathering from TMC so it's surprisingly good for that price I feel.

That certainly looks very nice. It's always cool to see people modelling the anomalies of the railway network - particularly early-privatisation when you get older stock in more modern colours and some bizarre formations!
If you do decide to ballast your track instead of using the ballast roll, my main recommendation would be avoid the types of ballast with tiny rocks. Obviously they're going to be small because they're a model but some are so tiny that it makes them impossible to work with!

-Peter
Thanks for the advice, it's going to be interesting when I attempt this :D
 

Peter C

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Thanks for the advice, it's going to be interesting when I attempt this :D
You're very welcome. Ballast roll is certainly easier to use in my experience but can be a bit of a pain with pointwork and curves.

-Peter
 

Iskra

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Thank you for re-opening the thread :)

Well, I've not done one before; so I'm going to do one of the advent things too now that I have enough locomotives... except, I'm going to do 3 weekly updates and then one little one at the end.

A quick recap on Fort George- I run any of: BR Steam, BR Green Diesel, Sectorisation/Privatisation crossover, early privatisation and the branch line on my layout can also run as a preserved railway. Rolling stock can be anything from coastal Scotland from Stranraer to Mallaig or Oban, Inverness and right round to Aberdeen in any of the above era's- so basically it's whatever I want :D There's a loose Fort William theme as the layout track plan resembles it slightly with a mainline terminus and branchline deviating off somewhere.

Day 1(25)

1638825128979.png


My HST is the excellent modern Hornby variety, is DCC fitted and well-weathered by TMC. I've got trailers in IC swallow livery and virgin so it can run with either. It's definitely one of my favourite looking models, but it runs well too. I'm a fan of HST's so that's why it features and some of my favourite journeys have been up to Inverness on the HST. Ideally, I'd like Hornby to do a GNER version with the correct length MK3's in the future...

Day 2(0)

1638825383994.png

The DRS class 20 is DCC fitted and again is weathered by TMC. I've always liked class 20's, but travelling on the DRS Class 20 farewell railtour a couple of years back made me feel like I needed a mini version for posterity. The DRS 20 acts as a station pilot in modern times on the layout, is popular on the preserved branch during diesel gala's and will see future use paired with an upcoming advent locomotive on Nuclear Flask trains.

Day 3(7)

1638825684775.png


This 37 is one of the earliest loco's on the layout and is DCC Sound Fitted which I enjoy a lot. I did the weathering on it, but I will need to revisit it in the future as it doesn't meet my more current standards, although I think it looks okay. It's up in Fort George for testing and evaluation, but word is that they cause excessive track wear so might not be around too long. This loco is however popular with the preservation society so its future is secure.

Day 4(7)

1638825912362.png

The 47 is Bachmann is DC only, but works fine and I keep it isolated when not in use. This was an early attempt at weathering from me and it's not the finest to say the least, but it does look okay from a distance. This locomotive works Virgin Cross Country services with Mk2's.

Black Five Day

1638826076188.png

This Black 5 is Hornby, DCC Sound Fitted, TMC Weathered, has real coal and cab crew fitted. One of my favourite models, seen here on a train to the coast. The loco features on just about anything from passenger workings to rescuing failed diesel locomotives in BR days and can of course feature in preserved mode or even on the Jacobite steam service or a railtour.

Day 6(6)

1638826277361.png

The resident class 66 is seen departing Fort George with an engineers working. This locomotive is Bachmann DCC sound and weathered by me, but will be revisited in the future. The locomotive usually works light freight duties around the area and stables at the station from time to time. What I love about this locomotive is how smooth a runner it is, it's probably the smoothest I own and is really in a league of its own.

Day (6)7

1638826514136.png

I'm a fan of 67's and I've travelled behind 67016 before so it was the loco for me! It's DCC fitted and is a really nice model. Such a versatile locomotive more than earns its keep on the layout featuring on the Caledonian Sleeper, Postal Services, Virgin Cross Country services and railtours.
 

Cowley

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Thank you for re-opening the thread :)

Well, I've not done one before; so I'm going to do one of the advent things too now that I have enough locomotives... except, I'm going to do 3 weekly updates and then one little one at the end.

A quick recap on Fort George- I run any of: BR Steam, BR Green Diesel, Sectorisation/Privatisation crossover, early privatisation and the branch line on my layout can also run as a preserved railway. Rolling stock can be anything from coastal Scotland from Stranraer to Mallaig or Oban, Inverness and right round to Aberdeen in any of the above era's- so basically it's whatever I want :D There's a loose Fort William theme as the layout track plan resembles it slightly with a mainline terminus and branchline deviating off somewhere.

Day 1(25)

View attachment 106571


My HST is the excellent modern Hornby variety, is DCC fitted and well-weathered by TMC. I've got trailers in IC swallow livery and virgin so it can run with either. It's definitely one of my favourite looking models, but it runs well too. I'm a fan of HST's so that's why it features and some of my favourite journeys have been up to Inverness on the HST. Ideally, I'd like Hornby to do a GNER version with the correct length MK3's in the future...

Day 2(0)

View attachment 106574

The DRS class 20 is DCC fitted and again is weathered by TMC. I've always liked class 20's, but travelling on the DRS Class 20 farewell railtour a couple of years back made me feel like I needed a mini version for posterity. The DRS 20 acts as a station pilot in modern times on the layout, is popular on the preserved branch during diesel gala's and will see future use paired with an upcoming advent locomotive on Nuclear Flask trains.

Day 3(7)

View attachment 106575


This 37 is one of the earliest loco's on the layout and is DCC Sound Fitted which I enjoy a lot. I did the weathering on it, but I will need to revisit it in the future as it doesn't meet my more current standards, although I think it looks okay. It's up in Fort George for testing and evaluation, but word is that they cause excessive track wear so might not be around too long. This loco is however popular with the preservation society so its future is secure.

Day 4(7)

View attachment 106576

The 47 is Bachmann is DC only, but works fine and I keep it isolated when not in use. This was an early attempt at weathering from me and it's not the finest to say the least, but it does look okay from a distance. This locomotive works Virgin Cross Country services with Mk2's.

Black Five Day

View attachment 106577

This Black 5 is Hornby, DCC Sound Fitted, TMC Weathered, has real coal and cab crew fitted. One of my favourite models, seen here on a train to the coast. The loco features on just about anything from passenger workings to rescuing failed diesel locomotives in BR days and can of course feature in preserved mode or even on the Jacobite steam service or a railtour.

Day 6(6)

View attachment 106578

The resident class 66 is seen departing Fort George with an engineers working. This locomotive is Bachmann DCC sound and weathered by me, but will be revisited in the future. The locomotive usually works light freight duties around the area and stables at the station from time to time. What I love about this locomotive is how smooth a runner it is, it's probably the smoothest I own and is really in a league of its own.

Day (6)7

View attachment 106579

I'm a fan of 67's and I've travelled behind 67016 before so it was the loco for me! It's DCC fitted and is a really nice model. Such a versatile locomotive more than earns its keep on the layout featuring on the Caledonian Sleeper, Postal Services, Virgin Cross Country services and railtours.

That’s like all the chocolates at once!
I really like all of those models but the HST with the buffers is really special.
 

Iskra

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That’s like all the chocolates at once!
I really like all of those models but the HST with the buffers is really special.

I always end up getting behind and eating loads at once! At least I’m consistent :)

Yeah, I think it looks extra special in the IC livery too!
 

Peter C

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Thank you for re-opening the thread :)

Well, I've not done one before; so I'm going to do one of the advent things too now that I have enough locomotives... except, I'm going to do 3 weekly updates and then one little one at the end.

A quick recap on Fort George- I run any of: BR Steam, BR Green Diesel, Sectorisation/Privatisation crossover, early privatisation and the branch line on my layout can also run as a preserved railway. Rolling stock can be anything from coastal Scotland from Stranraer to Mallaig or Oban, Inverness and right round to Aberdeen in any of the above era's- so basically it's whatever I want :D There's a loose Fort William theme as the layout track plan resembles it slightly with a mainline terminus and branchline deviating off somewhere.

Day 1(25)

View attachment 106571


My HST is the excellent modern Hornby variety, is DCC fitted and well-weathered by TMC. I've got trailers in IC swallow livery and virgin so it can run with either. It's definitely one of my favourite looking models, but it runs well too. I'm a fan of HST's so that's why it features and some of my favourite journeys have been up to Inverness on the HST. Ideally, I'd like Hornby to do a GNER version with the correct length MK3's in the future...

Day 2(0)

View attachment 106574

The DRS class 20 is DCC fitted and again is weathered by TMC. I've always liked class 20's, but travelling on the DRS Class 20 farewell railtour a couple of years back made me feel like I needed a mini version for posterity. The DRS 20 acts as a station pilot in modern times on the layout, is popular on the preserved branch during diesel gala's and will see future use paired with an upcoming advent locomotive on Nuclear Flask trains.

Day 3(7)

View attachment 106575


This 37 is one of the earliest loco's on the layout and is DCC Sound Fitted which I enjoy a lot. I did the weathering on it, but I will need to revisit it in the future as it doesn't meet my more current standards, although I think it looks okay. It's up in Fort George for testing and evaluation, but word is that they cause excessive track wear so might not be around too long. This loco is however popular with the preservation society so its future is secure.

Day 4(7)

View attachment 106576

The 47 is Bachmann is DC only, but works fine and I keep it isolated when not in use. This was an early attempt at weathering from me and it's not the finest to say the least, but it does look okay from a distance. This locomotive works Virgin Cross Country services with Mk2's.

Black Five Day

View attachment 106577

This Black 5 is Hornby, DCC Sound Fitted, TMC Weathered, has real coal and cab crew fitted. One of my favourite models, seen here on a train to the coast. The loco features on just about anything from passenger workings to rescuing failed diesel locomotives in BR days and can of course feature in preserved mode or even on the Jacobite steam service or a railtour.

Day 6(6)

View attachment 106578

The resident class 66 is seen departing Fort George with an engineers working. This locomotive is Bachmann DCC sound and weathered by me, but will be revisited in the future. The locomotive usually works light freight duties around the area and stables at the station from time to time. What I love about this locomotive is how smooth a runner it is, it's probably the smoothest I own and is really in a league of its own.

Day (6)7

View attachment 106579

I'm a fan of 67's and I've travelled behind 67016 before so it was the loco for me! It's DCC fitted and is a really nice model. Such a versatile locomotive more than earns its keep on the layout featuring on the Caledonian Sleeper, Postal Services, Virgin Cross Country services and railtours.
Thanks for sharing these @Iskra - it's really cool to see the variety of stock you've got. Like the touch with the day numbering too ;)
It's interesting to see how many different uses one engine can have and still be realistic, all depending on what era you're modelling (or how you're feeling I suppose) at a particular time. Really lovely!

-Peter
 

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