4mm Far North Line

[Ben Alder]

I have just finished a bit of a one off - extra tender fittings to a Barney for snowplough duties, based on a 1945 pic I found - wooden extended sides, cab back and tarpaulin rail for covering the coal to keep snow off and out of the cab. here it is on a freight and on shed at Thurso.

 

[Ben Alder]

Cheers all. Here is a look at another once everyday FNL working - a passenger hauled by a Hiker watering at Helmsdale and attaching a pilot to assist the climb to County March north.

 

[Ian@StEnochs]

Lovely modelling capturing the essence of the Great North in BR day’s perfectly. Your locomotives have that look of used, but cared for, without the filth and rust so common in the Central belt.
However I always understood the the ‘hikers’ were the B12s from the Great Eastern with the feedwater tanks on the boiler top.
Ian

 

[Ben Alder]

Thats what the GNOSR called the B12's - the LMS called the Black Fives the same Caused no end of confusion to me as a youngster talking to locomen from the two companies and never found out why they both did so. I know the Inverness men were insistent that theirs was the original use of the term!

 

[Ian@StEnochs]

Thats what the GNOSR called the B12's - the LMS called the Black Fives the same Caused no end of confusion to me as a youngster talking to locomen from the two companies and never found out why they both did so. I know the Inverness men were insistent that theirs was the original use of the term!

Thank you. That explains it. Confusion rules!

Ian.

 

[Andy P]

Hi Richard, Thanks for the push I needed, and your pics are now even more stunning.

Cheers,
Andy.

 

[Ben Alder]

Passenger arrival behind a Clan Goods - it runs round, shunts the stock to the buffers and drifts off to the shed for servicing.

 

[Ben Alder]

Second half.

 

[D6356]

Lovely pics - thanks, looks a just fit on the turntable - bet it made for a hard push!
Robert

 

[Ben Alder]

Thanks - if you think that was hard, the real one at Thurso was a 42' one with added on rail extensions and removed in the mid Fifties - presumably worn out. I use a 50' LRM one to give a bit of leeway in engine use here.

 

[Ben Alder]

Couple of Brian Monaghan type shots of the two stations to break any illusions of semi reality!

 

[LarryG]

The backscene sets the scene, as indeed it should do, but yours is particularly effective at Helmsdale. It delivers a sense of remoteness. 'The Far North Line' is unique in my view, as it cannot be mistaken wherever images of it appear.

I wondered if you are toying with the idea of a new layout?

 

[D6356]

I guess the overhead shots taken from the local clubs tiger moth ? Very fine aerial photography from such a small aircraft- that low most people had run for cover. I am sure the Station masters will be on the phone to the club secretary.
Robert

 

[Andy P]

Hi Richard, Please forgive me, but I've had a very quick look at the first couple of pages on here, and also on R M Web, and I cant see any Track Plan / Room / Loft / Shed size, I would be grateful for just some rough dimensions etc.

Thanks.
Andy.

 

[Ben Alder]

Hi Richard, Please forgive me, but I've had a very quick look at the first couple of pages on here, and also on R M Web, and I cant see any Track Plan / Room / Loft / Shed size, I would be grateful for just some rough dimensions etc.

Thanks.
Andy.

That's because there isn't one...I never got round to doing one. No Templot for me - the layout was designed round the need to keep the track as near the prototype as possible and to fit in the space available, using battered yards of Peco Code 100 from layouts long gone laid out with Peco paper point templates to work out dimensions. I do have a sketched out plan that I posted on RMweb a long time ago and I'll rummage through files to find it. I was asked much the same question on a FB page the other day, and I am going to do a couple of warts and all layout shots to show how it all fits together, so I'll get back to you on this one.

 

[Ben Alder]

The backscene sets the scene, as indeed it should do, but yours is particularly effective at Helmsdale. It delivers a sense of remoteness. 'The Far North Line' is unique in my view, as it cannot be mistaken wherever images of it appear.

I wondered if you are toying with the idea of a new layout?

It does capture the essence of the place even though it is of Strathmore and the ex CR main line. I have just been wandering through the days FB gatherings, among which was some pics taken from the train of a trip north through Rogart and Helmsdale, and was once again struck by how well the ID scene suits what is actually there. I find FB very useful for this sort of thing - don't do the "social" side of it at all but for local and interest groups it can bring forth gems - I signed up to every local history group in the north and lots of photos relating to railway matters surface in them - the Kyle of Lochalsh group is particularly rich in these.
Usually when I decide to start again it is because I have exhausted interest in operating a station or have become dissatisfied with what I have built, and the combination of both of these saw off Kylesku and The Mound, but I am a long way from that with these two, also perhaps because I have planned, and started twice, doing them for over forty years now. The plethora of information and images that has surfaced digitally has provided enough ideas to keep me occupied for a long time yet with them, although my mind does wander creatively from time to time - I wouldn't mind another go at The Mound, but its operational potential is limited compared to Helmsdale, and I quite like the idea of Strome ferry as a terminus, as it was at first, with a pier and some spectacular scenery about. A couple of smaller projects are bubbling away, Banff being one that has had a lot gathered for - my take on it being as it was but with a street scene behind it on a rising slope featuring various cottages and buildings from the NE coast. Again there is limited play value in it and would be an architectural project more than a railway one. Time is going to scupper that one, I suspect as a great deal of scratchbuilding would be needed, not to mention somewhere to house it. The recent focus on industrial tanks and narrow gauge has also given rise to thoughts of a distillery and this could be a small affair and may one day come to pass, as might a narrow gauge flagstone yard one with a Bachmann quarry engine - I dabbled with 009 as a youth, and Thurso had a tramway that ran from a quarry to cutting yards at the harbour at one time. It was horse drawn but the thought of a steam shunted one is tempting....

So many ideas, too little time.....

 

[Ben Alder]

OK, here is what passes as a track plan. The layout lives in an attic 11' x 9' and the two stations take up all the visible space. They are joined to a continuous run behind the backscene by a loop that feeds in to it, and both stations can directly access each other (Helmsdale only at one end, the other joins the main line) There are also some holding loops at one end of the layout that take sufficient stock for an operating session, which due to the relatively sparse traffic here is not excessive.


The hatched lines are the backscene and the running line and loops are solid. Some pics taken last week when the backscene was down for an overdue track cleaning session show the hidden tracks.

The loops behind Helmsdale - they have breaks in them so each loop can hold two trains.



In this view the points on the nearer track are the branch on the right and the two on the left are the platform ones at Helmsdale. The loop joins the main line behind once it curves to the other side of the room.





All point motors are on the surface and worked via wire in tube for actual blade switching - my back refuses to tolerate crawling under base boards much any more...
And lastly, two of the boards in place showing the access points to the hidden lines. Most stock shuffling is done at the bench end - small running repairs only here, main work is in another room.




Stock storage can be seen to an extent - locos on the end wall, with wagons, of which there are far too many, in a cabinet and cupboard under the layout, while coaches have a set of shelves under Thurso.

 

[Andy P]

Thank you Richard, for that detailed explanation and pics showing the warts and all areas. I always imagined it was in a much larger Room or Shed, your compression and yet still retaining the look of reality has been superbly executed.
The Track plan is more than good enough to understand the Layout too.
Thanks.
Andy.

 

[Ben Alder]

Short freight arriving at Helmsdale...

 

[Ben Alder]

Some more Helmsdale activity here - a Clan turning and a PW train heading off on some duty. This spate of pics is not going to last as I have to get back to the workbench, and this is just about the last of the current bunch. One more small selection of Thurso stuff to follow, and then a Sibellian period of silence for a while....