Mid Calder Station

Mid Calder Station (now called Kirknewton) is very much to the Caledonian Railway “Locke and Errington” style. The basic concept is of a villa main building with offices on the ground floor and accommodation for the station master on the first. As always with railway buildings the standard was more loose guidance but the core design, embellished with additional gabled extensions, and a variety of canopies could be found across the Caledonian Railway Network. Examples are found: as far South as Shap and Gretna; there is a collection of minor stations between Stirling and Perth; and a number across the central belt of Scotland of which Mid Calder is a fine example. Mid Calder lies on the Glasgow Edinburgh line via Shotts and was opened in 1848 (renamed in 1982).

The kit is in 2 parts to allow the modeller the option to customise the model to meet the variety of the Locke and Errington stations. The “Stage A” part is for the basic building with 3 gables (similar to Ecclefechan and Forteviot) albeit to the Mid Calder design. The addition of Stage B (a separate kit that cannot be used on its own) allows the addition of gabled extension and larger canopy and, as a further option, the extension on Mid Calder with the external staircase.[1] This seems to follow the actual progression of the building as these extensions were added in the 1890s and 1902. With thanks to the Caledonian Railway Association and, in particular, John Paton for their help in the research for this kit.

Mid Calder Station is available in 2 versions :

• “Stage A”: A standard Locke and Errington Station based on Mid Calder station.
• “Stage A & B”:  Extended version. The additional “extensions” to complete the Mid Calder station.

Stage B can ONLY be used in conjunction with stage A (see drawings).

Choose which option you would prefer,  stage A or Stage B (stage B will be sent to you with stage A included) 

The current Kirknewton station has a small additional extension at the top – but that is NOT available with the Stage B kit.

The basic OO kit base is 145 x 125mm in size when made,  with extensions option B 1  201 x 145, or B2 201 x 148mm.

The building requires glue. Choose a glue that allows at least a minute before setting to allow adjustments to be made during the build. Always test the build before using glue.

For finishing, we recommend first priming the surface, then painting with any acrylic or model paint of your choice. The material is etched, so any engraved detail such as brickwork or roof tiles will be visible after painting.

Important information about railway scaling: 

All kits are designed in OO Gauge on 3mm plywood, so there are a few considerations to be made when scaling the digital files to other Gauges. The instructions provided will be the OO version as the build order is the same at different scales.

O Gauge Orders: When scaling to O gauge, there are manual modifications that may need to be made when assembling the kit. This is due to the thickness of the plywood when scaling the kit from the OO gauge material of 3mm to the O gauge 5.25mm material that would be needed. As this thickness of ply does not exist, we undersize the material to the closest thickness we have of 4mm plywood and recommend dry fitting the build first so that any joints that need to be sanded for a flush finish can be noted.

N Gauge Orders: Scaling to N gauge works well and has no extra modifications needed due to material thickness. Some parts will be very fine, so take care when removing them from the frame. If some window pieces are particularly fine, they can be reinforced by soaking them in glue before assembly.

TT Gauge Orders: Scaling to TT requires slightly more modifications of the designs before cutting, so please contact us if you’re interested in a kit, and we can provide you a quote at info@popupdesigns.co.uk.

Any other questions, tips or enquiries please don’t hesitate to contact us via our email address or contact form. 

This kit is designed by Iain Ross and sold by PopUp Designs with his permission.