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The layout represents the West Coast Main Line (WCML) between Carstairs South Junction and Law Junction, in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Featured are Carstairs and Law Junctions, and also that where the Lanark branch leaves the main line. The line to Edinburgh diverges at Carstairs, where trains used to be split into the Glasgow and Edinburgh portions. Law Junction is where the mainly freight line to Mossend Yard leaves the Glasgow mainline.
Carstairs was originally started many years ago by the now defunct Riverside Railway Society in Essex, as a sequel to their High Gill layout and, on the loss of their clubrooms in Tilbury Riverside Station, the Nottingham (Bulwell) MRS took it over and completed it.
One of the main features of the layout is the near-scale, authentic, working (well, only at 12V dc, in our case !) overhead equipment. This is based on typical WCML equipment in the area. The masts and gantries were scratchbuilt from brass sections using photographs of the actual full-size equipment. The conductor wire itself is 33swg nickel-silver and is held under tension by small coil springs located at intervals.
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The layout can be exhibited in one of several periods from the 1970s, with all the original ac electrics, Classes 81 - 85, to the 1990s, after the demise of the earlier types and the introduction of Classes 87 and 90.
The signalling system uses mainly Eckon signals, but with some of the more complex ones being scratchbuilt. The signals are connected to control panels located around the layout, which are controlled remotely by either a computer or by a central main panel.
The computer/main panel also reads track circuits in the panels to locate the trains, then sets the signals appropriately. The control system is called RPC and full details can be found at www.mergrpc.freeserve.co.uk.
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