My interest was re-awakened when I was given a Flying Scotsman trainset as a Christmas gift from my then girlfriend, now wife. Like most men I had a trainset when I was young which passed through phases of enthusiastic play and expansion followed by a change towards Airfix type models.
Since returning to this hobby I have been frustrated by a lack of space and time to create my "dream" layout but this hasn't stopped me from building up an extensive collection of locomotives, rolling stock and buildings - in fact everything to complete a layout but the time and electrical skills to do so.
For many years I was a member of RAF Kinloss MRC and it was from this club that I bought an unfinished stored layout measuring 14' by 6' in an oval design and built as an exhibition layout. The boards and track were all laid and about 60% wired up for DC operation. I had had my beady eye on this layout for ages and had been going through in my imagination how I could develop it into something realistic and workable.
My taste in railways is strongly influenced, like many others, by the period that I grew up in and the region most associated with that. But as an Army family we moved around a lot spending time in Germany and Hampshire so it would be sensible to assume that I have an interest in one or the other of these areas. Well, not really. I am originally from Glasgow and have vivid memories of train journies "home" from Hampshire to Glasgow Central via Waterloo and Euston.
I don't recall too well the train ride to Waterloo but one of the exciting parts about the whole journey was getting onto the platform at Euston and seeing if the loco' had a name and then cracking open our packed lunches and eating oor pieces on the train and playing cards or eyespy with mum and dad on the long haul North after taking in as many of the sights of London from th carraige window as possible.
Crossing the Border was also another highlight and then counting down the stations to Glasgow. Seeing the huge Ravenscraig steelworks at Motherwell was our cue to start packing up and getting ready for arrival at, what is for me, one of the finest train stations in the world - Glasgow Central.
I have and always will be fascinated by this place. In the seventies it always seemed to be busy and the enormous train information boards were always a source of wonderment. Usually Grandad would come and collect us in his works van (MK1 Transit) or we would take a taxi to Cathcart. Later though when we wanted to go back into town we would take the train from Cathcart to Central on what I now know were class 303 EMU's.
During the summers we would visit the Moray Firth (in the back of Grandad's works van), not a very pleasant trip when the A9 was nowhere near as quick as it is now. Killiecrankie was a regular stop. I remember getting the fright of my life when I climbed up the embankment next to where the tunnel opened out onto the viaduct just as a big diesel (Class 37 or 47) thundered out of the tunnel just a few yards from where I was standing.
So that is how my interest in Scottish Railways came about and this has been the theme of my collection and plans for the layout I bought.
Glasgow St.Mungo's will be a representation of the south side of
There will be a wide mix of freight and passenger traffic running including block tanker trains, cement, engineers, military, sand and freight vans. There will also be commuter trains, sleepers, express passenger, 125 High Speed Trains and parcels traffic.
At one end there is an over station with through and terminating platforms. Moving away from the station is a signal box, refuelling point and possibly a loco shed. The running lines go through the scenic break under a bridge. The road above has the remains of an old tram line and features a low relief disused tram/bus shed along the full length of the road. Arches underneath feature a garage and a painter & decorators lock up opposite a factory complex.
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