I thought I would give a background to the terminus of my new build, which is based on, and called,Thurso- furthest north station in the UK. Using an actual name is of course a hostage to fortune, and some alterations to the layout have been made, but I have endeavoured to retain a degree of fidelity, albeit in the usual,for me, cramped site. The track layout is as it was in steam days, with the exception of the engine shed, which has been placed 180o to the original,and is a two road shed, as opposed to the single prototype. A photo of the model will show the general set up- the goods sidings have been reduced in length to try and keep a sense of proportion and to make shunting more practical.

Some of the historical reasons for the station- a mix of actual and 4mm I'm afraid.....

I have supposed that the construction of the line north of Helmsdale took a different route from reality, and carried on up the coast to Wick, providing a service to the scattered coastal communities- the interior of Caithness and Sutherland being either farmland or empty, to all practical purposes. From there it proceeded to Thurso along the actual route, with a station at Georgemas or nearby- Hoy maybe, to serve Halkirk, the only village along the way apart from Watten, also a mile or so from the railway. Once at Thurso, and over the years, a branch was put in, as was planned, to Scrabster, a port two miles from the town, and very important during the wars. This is still, on the model, rail served and a daily shunt is carried out there.

There were also proposals for a line to Gills Bay, an historical crossing point to Orkney, which would have probably struggled to justify its existence, but an airfield was built at Castletown, a village that had large flagstone works, during the war, and it is interesting to imagine that this was retained as a civil aerodrome post-war, for Thurso, giving an excuse for a passenger service and scope for freight as well.

The other option is to look west, to Melvich, some dozen miles away and head of the Strath that has Forsinard half way down-where large sheep sales take place each August, and once an important traffic for the railways, and the subject of a planned branch from Forsinard .As, in my world, the railway didn't venture through the emptiness of Sutherland, it would have been logical to put a line from Thurso along the north coast, where there are some small settlements, to Melvich, which could have become the mart site and a railhead for transportation of sale beasts. The building of Dounreay in the fifties along side a Fleet Air Arm airfield could also be a source of rail traffic, so with a stretch of the imagination, there is a lot of operating potential here. I have roughly sketched out where these lines would have gone here.

As Thurso outgrew Wick, and generated far more traffic, I am planning having main line trains departing the station with Black Fives and a half train of coaches- to join up at Wick, along the lines of what happened at Georgemas Junction,rather than have the branch engine do the connection as actually happened, with the "proposed" branch passenger work in the hands of older engines, such as a Caley 0-4-4T or a Stanier 2-6-2T, both of which were in service at Thurso over the years. In this part of the world some Highland stock lingered on later than reality, so Small Ben's and Barney 0-6-0's can be seen, alongside some of their Caley replacements such as Pickersgill 4-4-0's and 812 class 0-6-0's. The shed at Thurso would look after their engines on a day to day basis, but Wick would remain as, historically, the larger shed with more facilities and attend to coaling and most engine servicing.The sparse main line passenger services will be added to with some local Thurso/Wick workings, with some of the 4-4-0's as motive power.Rather more intensive workings than the real thing, but IMMR after all! (and I have far too much stock....)

Edit

The layout thread was so compromised by the forum image loss that I closed it and might do something about it if I find the time, but a parallel thread was posted on Your Model Railway, with the same details as here, so the whole story can be found there, if in an attenuated form. Also on Western Thunder from about seven years past, again from now and again. with the same titles.