stuartp
Active Member
Portwilliam is a pastiche of the Wigtownshire Railway's branch from Newton Stewart to Whithorn in southwest Scotland. I originally built it 30 years ago to fit on a 6' x 1' shelf on my teenage bedroom wall. Since then it's been extended, altered, stored for long periods, altered again and is currently being refurbished with a view to getting it finished by the end of 2013.
Track is Peco code 100 (it was all there was at the time), there is a plan to replace this with something a little more to scale but it's a long way down the list of priorities. First priority is to keep it operational otherwise I'll still be messing about with it in my dotage !
The Real Whithorn Branch.
The Wigtownshire Railway opened in 1875 from Newton Stewart to a field some distance from Garlieston, a harbour on the Wigtownshire coast, eventually reaching Whithorn in 1877 after the local gentry had a whip round. At Newton Stewart the branch joined the Portpatrick Railway (the 'Port Road'), part of a cross country link between Carlisle, Dumfries and Stranraer. A short horse tramway from Millisle (as the station in the field had become) linked the branch with Garlieston harbour, being worked by locomotives from the opening in direct contravention of the authorising Act of Parliament. The company was unable to reach a working agreement with either the Caledonian or Glasgow and South Western Railways (both of whom recognised a pig in a poke when they saw one), so took up an offer from Thomas Wheatley, late of the North British Railway, to work the line as a private contractor. Wheatley worked the line until his death in 1883 using a ramshackle collection of second hand rolling stock and operating on a shoestring. His son took over the lease until 1885 when the Portpatrick Railway and Wigtownshire Railways were amalgamated. The Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railways became what Derek Cross described as the 'jointest of all joint lines', owned by the MR, LNWR, CR and G&SWR and operated by the two Scottish partners.
Over the years extensions were proposed to the harbour at Isle of Whithorn, and to Port William (or Portwilliam, depending which version of the OS map you're looking at), another harbour. Neither proposal came to anything.
The line closed to passengers in 1950, and to goods in 1964. The Port Road followed in 1965.
Fiction.
The model assumes that the extension to Port William was built, and that passenger services survived into the 60s. The period modelled is mid 50s to mid 60s, although rather more stock exists for the later years of that period at the moment. A harbour branch provides an excuse to run additional traffic, some based on real Whithorn branch traffic and some borrowed from elsewhere on the PP&WJR (or just made up). The passenger service is largely based on elements of the Dalmellington and Kirkcudbright branches, both of which remained open to passengers into the 60s.
Enough blether. Photos:
76112 of Stranraer shed arrives with the first service of the morning from Newton Stewart. The loco is Bachmann renumbered, coaches are by Comet. The signals are just placeholders for now until I build some G&SWR lattice posts. The box is based on Crossmichael on the Portpatrick Railway.
Two thirds of the layout is visible in this shot. The water tank is based on that at Sorbie.
76112 has run round, the fireman desperately hoping that the last shovelful of coal will last the 26 miles home ! Provender store is Ratio (there was one at Whauphill), station building from Millisle and the goods shed from Creetown. The rather battered monkey puzzle tree is 30 years old now, there were two at Wigtown station.
The harbour branch connects the cliff top station with the shore by means of a very steep drop behind the cottages on South Street, where it connects with the enigmatic and inaccurately named Hawkshawe Estate Tramway. The HET was built largely for the amusement of its reclusive owner but also provided some employment opportunities between the wars by linking a couple of quarries and forestry operations around Monreith Bay and Glasserton with the big railway. Its major source of traffic now is the Glenn-Campbell shortbread factory, a post-war development just south of Portwilliam. Whatever obscure motive power they've borrowed is clearly playing up as they've had to hire Dumfries's brand new 350 to push a couple of pallet vans of shortbread up the hill to the station.
D3928 swaps the shortbread vans for a couple of wagons in the exchange siding before trundling back down to the harbour to finish another leisurely shift.
More later.
Track is Peco code 100 (it was all there was at the time), there is a plan to replace this with something a little more to scale but it's a long way down the list of priorities. First priority is to keep it operational otherwise I'll still be messing about with it in my dotage !
The Real Whithorn Branch.
The Wigtownshire Railway opened in 1875 from Newton Stewart to a field some distance from Garlieston, a harbour on the Wigtownshire coast, eventually reaching Whithorn in 1877 after the local gentry had a whip round. At Newton Stewart the branch joined the Portpatrick Railway (the 'Port Road'), part of a cross country link between Carlisle, Dumfries and Stranraer. A short horse tramway from Millisle (as the station in the field had become) linked the branch with Garlieston harbour, being worked by locomotives from the opening in direct contravention of the authorising Act of Parliament. The company was unable to reach a working agreement with either the Caledonian or Glasgow and South Western Railways (both of whom recognised a pig in a poke when they saw one), so took up an offer from Thomas Wheatley, late of the North British Railway, to work the line as a private contractor. Wheatley worked the line until his death in 1883 using a ramshackle collection of second hand rolling stock and operating on a shoestring. His son took over the lease until 1885 when the Portpatrick Railway and Wigtownshire Railways were amalgamated. The Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railways became what Derek Cross described as the 'jointest of all joint lines', owned by the MR, LNWR, CR and G&SWR and operated by the two Scottish partners.
Over the years extensions were proposed to the harbour at Isle of Whithorn, and to Port William (or Portwilliam, depending which version of the OS map you're looking at), another harbour. Neither proposal came to anything.
The line closed to passengers in 1950, and to goods in 1964. The Port Road followed in 1965.
Fiction.
The model assumes that the extension to Port William was built, and that passenger services survived into the 60s. The period modelled is mid 50s to mid 60s, although rather more stock exists for the later years of that period at the moment. A harbour branch provides an excuse to run additional traffic, some based on real Whithorn branch traffic and some borrowed from elsewhere on the PP&WJR (or just made up). The passenger service is largely based on elements of the Dalmellington and Kirkcudbright branches, both of which remained open to passengers into the 60s.
Enough blether. Photos:
76112 of Stranraer shed arrives with the first service of the morning from Newton Stewart. The loco is Bachmann renumbered, coaches are by Comet. The signals are just placeholders for now until I build some G&SWR lattice posts. The box is based on Crossmichael on the Portpatrick Railway. Two thirds of the layout is visible in this shot. The water tank is based on that at Sorbie. 76112 has run round, the fireman desperately hoping that the last shovelful of coal will last the 26 miles home ! Provender store is Ratio (there was one at Whauphill), station building from Millisle and the goods shed from Creetown. The rather battered monkey puzzle tree is 30 years old now, there were two at Wigtown station. The harbour branch connects the cliff top station with the shore by means of a very steep drop behind the cottages on South Street, where it connects with the enigmatic and inaccurately named Hawkshawe Estate Tramway. The HET was built largely for the amusement of its reclusive owner but also provided some employment opportunities between the wars by linking a couple of quarries and forestry operations around Monreith Bay and Glasserton with the big railway. Its major source of traffic now is the Glenn-Campbell shortbread factory, a post-war development just south of Portwilliam. Whatever obscure motive power they've borrowed is clearly playing up as they've had to hire Dumfries's brand new 350 to push a couple of pallet vans of shortbread up the hill to the station. D3928 swaps the shortbread vans for a couple of wagons in the exchange siding before trundling back down to the harbour to finish another leisurely shift. More later.
