4mm Far North Line

[Ben Alder]

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



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






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

 

[Simon]

Wonderful pictures, I'm there smelling the fish

Thank you for sharing them

Simon

 

[Heather Kay]

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.

 

[TheSnapper]

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.

Ditto! Great stuff Ben

Tim

 

[Ben Alder]

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.



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.....

 

[Len Cattley]

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]

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]

Thought this might appeal to those of a Western bent- pannier far from home....

 

[oldravendale]

Thought this might appeal to those of a Western bent- pannier far from home....

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View attachment 37848

Wonderful pictures! Totally convincing (again).

I've just had a thought - how did they get the Pannier up there? I assume under it's own power, which must have taken w e e e e e e k s.

Brian

 

[Ben Alder]

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]

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.

 

[Ben Alder]

Hmm, images should have been full size. I'll try again.

 

[Ben Alder]

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.



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



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.



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]

Some shots from last Sunday, taken in natural light .


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.





40150 with an incoming train at Thurso.

 

[Dog Star]

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]

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]

Thurso shed yard.

 

[Ben Alder]

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...



Five am sunrise over Dunnet Head...





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.

 

[Peter Little]

Hi Richard

Nice to see your work on here.

Regards

Peter

 

[Ben Alder]

Thanks all - some random ones from last year here.

View attachment 101270

Couple of the newish Peco bullhead points in the yard replacing a Code 75 3 way one.




And facing the other way.


Daytime shed.

Station approach


Shunting at Helmsdale