4mm Far North Line

Ben Alder

Western Thunderer
Fish was an important part of the freight traffic of the line, and here a special is coming into Helmsdale behind the Clan.

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As was often the case, the engine was changed, and a Black Five takes over the train and sets off on its journey south.

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I am going to have to invest in some Blu tak to keep that signal arm up......
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
The first shot in that last post had be thinking this was an image of the real thing. It took a few seconds for it to sink in I was looking at a model.

A totally convincing scene. Everything just worked to perfection. :bowdown:
 

Ben Alder

Western Thunderer
Thanks all- I hadn't thought of adding the aroma!, although there is still plenty of it around the town, but nowadays road hauled, but the smell is still the same.....

Here is a 24/1 at Thurso, painfully showing my lack of interest in these things- nothing added or improved to it beyond a Hornby headcode box and some grotty weathering, though it does run very well.

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And a current view of Helmsdale N or S, depending whether you are referring to the prototype or model- for space reasons I have had to operate it the other way round from real life. Still not bedded in , but a bit of shadow and the distractions of rod boxings should help disguise things.....

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Len Cattley

Western Thunderer
Hi Ben, I like your space you have achieved on your layout using (I take it as pictures) as your back-scene, how did you join them together or did you get them printed together?

Len
 

Ben Alder

Western Thunderer
Thanks,- the backscene is Art Printers Hills and Dales, and is as close a match as you are likely to get for Helmsdale. I did think of doing a photo stitch, but I doubt if the topography at Helmsdale would lend itself to that - the valley sides are close, and I suspect it would be difficult to get a workable panorama.

Details of Art Printers here- http://www.art-printers.com/ I used the 15"version with about 3" cut off the bottom.

And here is a link to the real thing. http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/imagelibrary/Client Images/Client00007/00152000/00152987.jpg

The loco depot was on the left where the trees are.
 

Ben Alder

Western Thunderer
Thanks- nothing like a bit of natural light to set things off...
They did steam up (separately)- the first one went so well another was despatched some time later, and I read somewhere about the considerable length of time it took. Must have been the talk of lots of sheds along the way...
 

Ben Alder

Western Thunderer
I had completely forgotten I had been doing some posting here - a bit of life got in the way and distractions were abandoned for a while, so I thought I'd show my face again. Nothing much done on the railway as I get too easily distracted by rolling stock, but last summer I replaced the Roco turntable at Thurso with a LRM 50' kit one - the Roco's continental out line became un liveable with. The kit went together easily enough, although, or because, I followed the instructions with this one. The original TT at Thurso was 42' plus some extra rail added over the years, but I decided on the longer version to handle the CR 4-4-0's that wouldn't fit on the smaller table. Here are a couple of shots of it in place.






And a couple of coaches at Helmsdale - the ex HR TPO and a MR diner that finished its days on the out of Inverness restuarant diagrams.

 

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Ben Alder

Western Thunderer
This is a view of the Roco table that I replaced at Thurso. Its continental appearance eventually persuaded me to replace it. It also was a c60' model and a bit big for the small shed.

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The table in the process of replacement - the smaller footprint is apparent.

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Helmsdale also had a similar Roco table and a Metalsmiths 60' kit was bought with the intention of replacing it as well.However, the undercarriage of this would have meant major baseboard surgery and disruption of the shed area, and I decided for a lesser option of fitting cosmetic sides to the existing table. This has given me at least the semblance of an UK outline table and saved a lot of destructive work.

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And there the matter rests for the moment until something better might appear, unlikely I know, but it is not high on my list of priorities....
 

Ben Alder

Western Thunderer
Some shots from last Sunday, taken in natural light .

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Two departmental vans at Helmsdale -the nearest a MR 6wheel brake, a type that was common in service here after Grouping. The other is a CR breakdown van and is a Silhouette production, courtesy of a fellow RMwebber who did all the hard work, leaving me to underpin and paint it.

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40150 with an incoming train at Thurso.
 

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Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Do not be surprised if the photo-cops have something to say about the pikki with the signal box (@Jordan), my first though was "typical mid 1950s colour shot".
 

Ben Alder

Western Thunderer
Took it on AV with the colour set to vivid. I use this sometimes when the light is fading but probably is a bit intense here. It has been cropped and shadows lightened a bit to bring out detail - I tend to shoot a bit underexposed - but tht's it. The terminus photographs better when the light outside is overcast and the sky was clearing when I was firing away here.
 

Ben Alder

Western Thunderer
I had forgotten I had a thread here :( so a bit of catching up is needed I guess. I'll post a few pics of work of the "missing" time now and then. Something that kept me busy last year was a bit of maintenance on the platform - heat from the sun warped the poly surface and let the hot glue holding its supports break free, creating a mini earthquake effect. This was replaced with a solid base but the task morphed in to some point mods and then in to a general hut and shed building catch up that took months - it was a glorious summer and there was no incentive to stand at a bench with sights like this to be seen...

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Five am sunrise over Dunnet Head...

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Couple of shots of yard work - the provender store is a mix of Ratio and scratch to represent the local shed and the LMS one behind came after a chance mention of drawings on a RMweb topic, which saved me having to guess off photos.
 
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