Connerburn
'498' class 0-6-0T No. 499 crosses the bridge over the Conner burn with a freight bound for Strathlambie.
The buildings are all based on prototype structures, from the Southern Section of the Caledonian Railway, as follows:-
| STATION BUILDING | LESMAHAGOW |
| GOODS SHED | GOUROCK (as designed) |
| WATER TANK | BUSBY |
| SIGNAL CABIN | HAUGHHEAD JUNCTION |
The goods shed is constructed mainly from plywood, while the other buildings are of styrene sheet, the signal cabin having a fully detailed interior (revealed by lifting off the roof).
Details continue to be added, particularly in the goods yard and station areas. Recent additions include the typical 'scotch derrick' crane in the goods yard and the local doctor's pony and trap at the station entrance. (My thanks to those who helped with details of the crane.)
Operator's view of the station building with 1A shunting a 45' brake compo which runs as a through coach to Glasgow.
The scenery is modelled to suggest late spring (say mid-May), and so there are chestnut trees in blossom, a field of corn just coming through the surface, and a similar field of potatoes. A recent storm has felled a tree and brought some debris down the Conner burn.
- THE FICTION -
CONNERBURN is a village in the tiny county of Lambieshire, which is sandwiched between the counties of Lanarkshire and Peeblesshire in the southern uplands of Scotland.
Another shot of 1A and 49
When the Caledonian Railway was building its main line from England to Glasgow and Edinburgh, the population of Strathlambie, the County Town, were much aggrieved at the railway company's refusal to provide a branch connecting them with the line. A group of local businessmen set about raising the capital to construct their own branch line. In order to assist the passage of their bill through Parliament, they sought the patronage of Lord Connerburn of that Ilk, who owned almost half the county and whose eldest son was the local M.P.
His Lordship would only agree to support the venture on condition that the line was continued to the village of Connerburn, close by his estates. The promoters were only too happy to comply with this request when His Lordship informed them that recent geological studies had indicated the presence of considerable coal reserves in the hills beyond the village.
View from the buffer stops with a coal train being shunted in the background.
Thus the Lambieshire Railway was born, connecting with the C.R. main line at Cardrummond Junction, from where a double track line ran to a terminus at Strathlambie. Here the single track branch led off to Connerburn via a triangular junction. Before the line was completed, however, severe geological difficulties led to the abandonment of mining activities and the line was terminated at the village.
Any profits generated by the traffic on the Cardrummond to Strathlambie
section were quickly swallowed up in operating the Connerburn branch, and
the line was never a prosperous one. It was soon taken over by the Caledonian,
who had operated it from the outset, and they saw the prospect of developing
it as a tourist and commuter line, offering reduced rate season tickets
to those who built houses in the area. The buildings were replaced by structures
of standard Caledonian design, and it is in this condition that the line
is modelled.
An overall view of the station with
2-2-2WT No. 1A in the dock and 499 shunting the yard.
