WIP (AS YET UN-NAMED) - 1970's Far North Terminus

[sulzer71 96]

15 minutes ago, 9C85 said:

Not sure if it's been suggested already,  but how about...

 

Loch Down 

 

I'll get me coat

Amazingly I thought that myself the other day! I believe it would actually be Loch Doun but that's already got a thread on here

[9C85 1,367]

Was/is there still a layout called 'Kyle of Minogue ' ?

[sulzer71 96]

2 minutes ago, 9C85 said:

Was/is there still a layout called 'Kyle of Minogue ' ?

I believe there still is after I used the search function on here but there doesn't seem to be much heard of it nowadays

[sulzer71 96]

No real progress to report today other than getting one of the baseboards painted/sealed last night

[Legend 5,489]

17 hours ago, 9C85 said:

Was/is there still a layout called 'Kyle of Minogue ' ?

 

Yes I always thought that was pretty clever . I think originally constructed by an individual  it has now been taken over by one of the Scottish clubs . I remember seeing it on the Scottish circuit when we could still attend exhibitions , it might even been at the last Model Rail Scotland in Feb 2020. 

 

As its far North how about Kyle of Tongue or something like that? Tongue is to the west of Thurso .  Other possibilities is something ending in "ster". Scrabster and Lybster are around the Thurso/ Wick area . No doubt it means something in Gaelic/ Norse or whatever. 

Edited January 14 by Legend

[sulzer71 96]

7 hours ago, Legend said:

 

Yes I always thought that was pretty clever . I think originally constructed by an individual  it has now been taken over by one of the Scottish clubs . I remember seeing it on the Scottish circuit when we could still attend exhibitions , it might even been at the last Model Rail Scotland in Feb 2020. 

 

As its far North how about Kyle of Tongue or something like that? Tongue is to the west of Thurso .  Other possibilities is something ending in "ster". Scrabster and Lybster are around the Thurso/ Wick area . No doubt it means something in Gaelic/ Norse or whatever. 

It is going to be based on the original Kyle of Tongue but uncertain whether it's acceptable to copy what other's have done , as said , alternatively I could just call it 'Tongue'

[ianathompson 952]

1 hour ago, sulzer71 said:

alternatively I could just call it 'Tongue'

 

I look forward to seeing your rendition of the place.

I spent a night there some years back when I travelled to watch Wick Academy play in the Highland League.

(I took the scenic route from Lairg.)

 

There seemed to be about two dozen houses, a small shop and, being Scotland, there were two pubs.

I spent time in both of them not quite avoidimg the locals' insistence that I should forget the football and try every whisky behind the bar!

I don't think that I would have been alive had I even got even a small way towards meeting this challenge!

 

Ian T

[Ben Alder 11,810]

Nice to see another Far North Layout developing - will follow with great interest. As for points, this seems a very promising development which may well suit your plans -

 

 

[sulzer71 96]

13 hours ago, ianathompson said:

 

I look forward to seeing your rendition of the place.

I spent a night there some years back when I travelled to watch Wick Academy play in the Highland League.

(I took the scenic route from Lairg.)

 

There seemed to be about two dozen houses, a small shop and, being Scotland, there were two pubs.

I spent time in both of them not quite avoidimg the locals' insistence that I should forget the football and try every whisky behind the bar!

I don't think that I would have been alive had I even got even a small way towards meeting this challenge!

 

Ian T

Thanks Ian , I may need to do some research into the area , try find some pictures from the area , all I have to go off at the moment is a couple of magazine articles about Steve Flints Kyle of Tongue

[sulzer71 96]

9 hours ago, Ben Alder said:

Nice to see another Far North Layout developing - will follow with great interest. As for points, this seems a very promising development which may well suit your plans -

 

 

Thanks Ben , yeah , I've been reading that thread on the points whilst doing my research

 

Dave

[sulzer71 96]

Well , this is where were at currently , as I've decided to change to Bullhead track updates may be slow as I need to sell off a few unrequired items to fund buying the track 

[scottystitch 1,181]

A man after my own heart, when it comes to robustness of foundation benchwork...

 

Best

 

Scott.

[sulzer71 96]

Question time people 

 

As I can't really make any progress until I get some track sorted I've been doing a little research and have noticed from looking at pictures of my chosen era and the area it seems that there doesn't appear to be a ballast shoulder in most terminus station areas was this really the case?

[Rivercider 11,432]

14 minutes ago, sulzer71 said:

Question time people 

 

As I can't really make any progress until I get some track sorted I've been doing a little research and have noticed from looking at pictures of my chosen era and the area it seems that there doesn't appear to be a ballast shoulder in most terminus station areas was this really the case?

I am no permanent way engineer but my understanding is that ballast shoulders are important to stop the track moving sideways on curved track, especially on high speed routes. This became more important with the introduction of continually welded rail, which can expand in heat, hence ballast shoulders are higher than in the past.

In a terminus situation there are only low speeds, and quite likely only 60' track sections, so no need for a ballast shoulder.

 

cheers

 

[sulzer71 96]

2 minutes ago, Rivercider said:

I am no permanent way engineer but my understanding is that ballast shoulders are important to stop the track moving sideways on curved track, especially on high speed routes. This became more important with the introduction of continually welded rail, which can expand in heat, hence ballast shoulders are higher than in the past.

In a terminus situation there are only low speeds, and quite likely only 60' track sections, so no need for a ballast shoulder.

 

cheers

 

Thanks , I've looked at many pictures of Wick and Thurso stations the last couple of days and definitely no visible ballast shoulder , glad I picked up on this before laying track again

[Ben Alder 11,810]

That is certainly the case in both stations. Here are a couple of shots taken in 1989 of Thurso. I have plenty more if needed.

 

[David Bell 2,110]

Thoughts on a name. I would be tempted to call it Caisteal Bharraich/ Castle Varrich. It is in the locality and has a fair ring to it I think. You might even be able to incorporate the ruin on to the backscene.

 

Cheers

David

[ianathompson 952]

1 hour ago, David Bell said:

Thoughts on a name. I would be tempted to call it Caisteal Bharraich/ Castle Varrich. It is in the locality and has a fair ring to it I think. You might even be able to incorporate the ruin on to the backscene.

 

 

I would be a little wary of using names derived from the Gaelic tongue in this locality.

I am not saying that it is not spoken because I can personally attest that it is.

However I suspect that the language has made a comeback in this area during the late twentieth century. 

 

I had initially thought about naming Inverness Citadel as Inbhir Nis Broch before remembering that Broch is a Doric word!

Casteal Inbhir Nis then came to mind but I was a little suspicious so I raised the question of Gaelic naming, or lack of it, on my own GNoSR thread.

 

I was informed by Scots that, as I suspected, English was the only language used by the Highland Railway, to the total exclusion of Gaelic.

Gaelic seems to have suffered a decline during the twentieth century outside its traditional Western Isles sphere of influence.

It has only recently been revived in many paces.

The dual language station signs were not there as I remember it during the 1980s and 1990s.

 

One time when I was in the Far North the Press & Journal noted that locals had been taking pot shots with air rifles at signs in Gaelic.

Most of them regarded Doric as the local tongue/dialect and were very much against the use of Gaelic.

 

Having an interest in Banffshire, as that is where Auchintoul is set, (and Deveronvale play) I have realised that they are actually wrong in assuming that Gaelic was not spoken there

but its usage had severely declined before the railways were built.

 

 Hope that this is of interest.

 

Ian T

Edited Wednesday at 19:21 by ianathompson
additional info

[sulzer71 96]

1 hour ago, Ben Alder said:

That is certainly the case in both stations. Here are a couple of shots taken in 1989 of Thurso. I have plenty more if needed.

 

Thanks Ben , glad I did a bit of research before commencing track laying for the second time as I no longer need to buy another box of the Woodland Scenics track bed , any pictures are always helpful , I'm gonna need to pick brains with regards to line side furniture/signalling etc over the coming weeks as well

 

Regards

 

Dave

[37Oban 545]

Hi,

 

re naming your layout, a lot of the place names in the north and west of Scotland, as well as the western Isles are derived from old Norse, not Gaelic.  People forget that for several centuries these areas were a Norse stronghold.  Nsmes such as Wick, Dingwall, Ullapool are of Norse origins.  It's well worth looking into the history of the Vikings (or Norsemen) in Scotland.  You'd be surprised how far south they ventured down the west coast!  If you can, read about the exploits of the Vikings, including the Treaty of Perth and the Battle of Largs.

 

Roja

[CameronL 1,924]

15 hours ago, 37Oban said:

Hi,

 

re naming your layout, a lot of the place names in the north and west of Scotland, as well as the western Isles are derived from old Norse, not Gaelic.  People forget that for several centuries these areas were a Norse stronghold.  Nsmes such as Wick, Dingwall, Ullapool are of Norse origins.  It's well worth looking into the history of the Vikings (or Norsemen) in Scotland.  You'd be surprised how far south they ventured down the west coast!  If you can, read about the exploits of the Vikings, including the Treaty of Perth and the Battle of Largs.

 

Roja

 

Very true. This website is a really useful source of Old Norse words which could be used for a place name. Remember that the Vikings were an unimaginative bunch and a lot of their place names were just descriptions of a local geographic feature. For instance, Dingwall comes from the ON "thingvollr" which simply means "the meeting place of the local assembly" or "council field" (the Manx Tynwald has the same origins) and Whitehaven in Cumbria comes from "hvit hofud" or "white headland". 

 

So, all you really need to do is pick a suitable adjective / noun combination for the local geography, find its ON equivalent, mangle it a bit like it's been in use for several hundred years and there you go.  

 

Sounding like a total anorak here, but I'm in the planning stages of a layout which will use a lot of place names derived from Old Norse sources. 

 

Best wishes

 

Cam

 

PS - I thought the Battle of Largs was fought every Saturday night when the pubs turn out.

Edited Thursday at 14:01 by CameronL
Added a bit