The Construction of the Far North Line

[Ben Alder]

Well, the signalling has been completed- all two of them- I have been fortunate in that the areas modelled are both signal-lite; Thurso having a bracket home/starter at the platform end and Helmsdale with a single post home and shunting arm on a lattice post near to the engine shed access. All the other usual Highland collection of station signalling are off-scene, so this made life a bit easier.

 

They are a mixture of MSE posts and arms with Ratio lamps and lamp brackets and are usual with myself, non working although the arms can be put in the off or danger position as required, or if I remember, and are built from photographs, to be "close enough" as per usual.

 

A couple of photos of them in place- newly Copydexed in so excuse any misalignments. I have also been populating the near side of Helmsdale with its collection of telegraph poles and yard lamps, and decided on a final position for the yard water column. The prototype was sited near the running lines at the start of the shed pointwork, but as I have taken liberties with the shed layout, I decided that the best place for it would be near the coaling stage, to keep these facilities together.

 

 

 

 

 

Another tidying up job was to put the Thurso yard crane on a proper base to stop it toppling- it being top heavy. This crane was removed when a concrete pan was put in place , during the war, I think, but as I had a model of it I decided to keep the original feature. Once again, you can see Copydex drying in these snatched shots.....

 

 

 

 

 

One or two general pics of the Helmsdale approaches- these will be the last of what I regard as WIP shots, as a start on scenery is planned for the next week if I can keep away from the Bachmann vans I have started to work on. Also a shot or two of the shed with the column put in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, a rather sad specimen of a Highland Castle, picked up recently at a bargain price, which needs some TLC; this is going to be a long term project, and we'll see how well it runs before its future is decided- it might just be a shelf job, but for the moment it is joining the unbuilt lot in their cupboard.

 

[Physicsman]

Great batch of photos Richard. Every photo shows different details and perspectives on the yard. So much authenticity and feeling of being "right" - though you may need a few people on the scene! Lovely work as usual - the signals look well at home (no pun intended!!).

 

Jeff

[Ben Alder]

Cheers,

 

Photography had been a long dormant interest of mine, and putting up pics to here has rekindled this, albeit in this one rather specialised aspect of it. You can get quite adequate shots from an ordinary pocket camera with a bit of tweaking the settings- most shots I take with the exposure stop set half a stop underexposed, and of course- no flash, but am looking forward to unleashing the G12 onto the layout. I started using this camera towards the end of Kylesku, and the improvement in image quality was v. impressive, but I have resisted the temptation to start using it here until I get things a bit more finished- shouldn't be too long now though......

[McRuss]

Hello Richard,

 

your pictures looks very good, as usual.

 

Markus

[artizen]

You must be pleased that you decided to rebuild the layout. The first layout was very very good and I commented often on that but this version is so much better again. Really looking forward to seeing the green and glitter go down. :good: :good:

[Gordini5]

Your photo's really do make the layout come to life and are the main reason I follow this thread. Better than a fish tank to look at.

 

David.

[Oldddudders]

Once again, even a couple of signals make the layout look far more plausible compared to the majority of layouts that never attain such luxury. And for a layout where the audience is remote, as in RMweb, then a bit of deceit over the operation of the signals wil never be detected. You have the knack of doing just what is needed.

[Ben Alder]

First results of some greater depth of scenic cover- a mixture of WS coarse turfs and a selection of smaller static fibres puffed on while the glue is still wet. Any opinions?

 

[lmsforever]

Grass looks good how about a few gorse bushes ,this would add some colour ,the layout looks great.

[Loxborough]

Vegetation on the bank looks grand to me, but I am wondering whether the amount of green on the ballast is appropriate, given the way the PW gangs used to throuw weedkiller around in those days. Doubtless there are prototype images somewhere which will prove me wrong, though...

 

Continuing to be amazed at how quickly this is all coming together.

 

George

[Ben Alder]

Cheers all,

 

Gorse bushes are to follow, and the greenery on the track is merely surplus that hasn't been hoovered up yet- this is just a snatched shot taken at lunch time when I went up to see how much of the coating would come off with a hoover. More has stayed on than I thought, and I think I will leave it more or less as it is. Some longer grasses are planned for the bits around the sleeper fencing section.

[Sam*45110*SVR]

Do you have a track plan for the far north line, or have I managed to miss it skimming through 12 pages !

 

Thanks, sam

[Ben Alder]

No track plan, I'm afraid- my computer "skills" don't run as far as graphics, but I can draw up a crude pen sketch if you want. I'll do something about it in the next day or two.

[Ben Alder]

Helmsdale has had a coating of static grasses and coarse turf, in varying proportions and colours, and now has a less uniform finish. Some shots as it is- quality is a bit iffy in some, so please excuse these. I might add some more grasses on top of these yet, thiugh I'm in two minds about this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jason T]

Looks spot on to me, not too uniform and not too cluttered with a truly believable mixture of colours and shades. In other words, it looks fantastic.

[The Great Bear]

Very realistic and the integration of model and backscene exceptional, especially the 4th photo. I continue to be amazed at the speed and quality of your progress.

[artizen]

Be careful if adding a second layer of grass - you could end up with a matted appearance which is not as realistic. Otherwise (apart from the dodgy PS work in the background of the buffer stops) this is getting better and better each day.

[Mucky Duck]

That image of the signal box on the gentle curve is pure Highlands railway atmosphere… a wonderful pic Richard.

[Ben Alder]

Thanks all, for the feedback- I think I'll leave it as it is except perhaps for an occasional bit of longer grasses at the sleeper fence bottoms- some trials before I do anything drastic. The scrubby parts, at the approaches to Helmsdale in the seperate first pic and beyond the perimeter fences were a mix of short lengths and coarse turf, the static ones being put on with a puffer bottle, then a balloon was charged by wiping it on my jumper and passed over the mix, which caused the grass bits to rise up. I also used this on the other parts put on with the Grassmaster as another charge, and it did make a difference to the final effect.

 

Longer asst. pieces were mixed for the ungrazed greenery within the fencing- a random selection of WS and some of the more subdued Noch ones, with a good helping of yellow/fawn lengths to allow for dead growth to be apparent- I have found that 6mm is about the max that will stand successfully, and only used a small proportion of these. An occasional puff of the original shorter mix was also added now and then.

 

Be careful if adding a second layer of grass - you could end up with a matted appearance which is not as realistic. Otherwise (apart from the dodgy PS work in the background of the buffer stops) this is getting better and better each day.

 

That is something I found out the hard way on the old layout, and the decision today after looking at it in daylight to leave as is. The messy background is a mix of not yet sorted out tree line, and the result of me changing where I put the mess shed. It was originally planned to be before the coaling stage, so this part of the shed would have no reason to be closely examined; I'm going to have to try to sort out a more seamless join- ATM, it's a bit of freestanding backscene that's held in place for a shoot- and it shows

 

However, that can wait- next step is Thurso, which will need a bit more thought as parts of it have considerably lusher growth than this station.

[P.C.M]

Hi Richard,

I haven't posted here for a while but I am still following your progress. The layout is really looking superb, I love those semaphores.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Ben Alder]

I was asked about the station lamps used, so this is how I did them. They are based on those used at the two stations, and are, I presume, some form of LMS standard type. They have a pole for an upright, and several of those at Thurso carry wires on insulators- a mixture of telegraph and electric perhaps- one of the many questions I should have asked when there were those around who could have answered such queries- so I used the Ratio telegraph pole as a basis, and folded 0.7mm brass wire to shape as the lamp arm and superglued 20thou wire as a support. This was fixed into the pole into a predrilled hole set at a suitable angle, and bending it until it touched the thicker arm. I am not a great user of superglue as a structural adhesive, but have found Zap-a-Gap good for such things, and they all seem to be quite secure.

 

Lampshades and globes come from the Ratio swan necked lamp set, and again are held together with a drilled hole in the shade and the superglue to bind together. A coat of grey paint for the electric bits and a brush of Games Workshop black wash finishes them off.The poles are given a coat of umber to simulate creosote, then a rough drybrush cover of an earth brown, almost khaki, shade to give an impression of aging wood. This is followed by a dry brush of very pale grey for that silvery tone that appears on weathered timber. Examples of these can be seen in some of the recent pics- its all a bit rough and ready, but looks OK as part of the overall vista.

 

Here are a couple of workbench shots showing the assembly of the lamps- it took longer to write this up than it did to put the three in the picture together- and the two signals can be seen in primer, with the Ratio lamps and brackets fitted.

 

 

 

 

Edit- to change colour of basecoat of poles to umber.

[coachmann]

Love the spacious air about the station approaches and the signals. I'm wondering where you get those hilly cloudy scenic backgrounds from.

[Ben Alder]

Thanks, Larry, - the backscene is the Hills and Dales, 15" version with about 3" of the verdant greenery cut off from the bottom. It can be got from various sources- International Models for one- or if you deal direct, he can supply seperate sheets, and, I think he said once that he was doing some form of customising of the set of sheets for a customer.

 

HTH

[Physicsman]

My first look-in for over a week. Re. post 289. The angle of picture 3 - which you've shown previously at an earlier stage - with the track curving away, is just about my favourite. As for the static grass, well photo 4 of that post just shows it to be "right". Agree with Jason - fantastic. Fencing, backscene... So many things to enjoy. I must seem like a parrot as I'm always trotting out the same stuff!

 

What's the fencing on that pic, Richard? Is it Ratio stuff (the post and wire bit).

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

[Ben Alder]

Track plan as requested- very rough and ready, but should show the general set-up. There is a continuous run behind the backscene- shown as hatched lines- with some loops, and Helmsdale N end runs off one of these. The other end, with the double track, runs onto a loop line that also feeds the terminus, and this loop acts as a headshunt for both stations. Obviously only one can be worked at a time, but as I am solo this is not a problem. This was the only way I could fathom out how to fit the two stations into the space available and still get a degree of spaciousness to the layout.

 

The crude sketch, with it flipped to show the terminus plan the right way up. Both stations layouts are based on the prototype, with the obvious compromises, but the turntable at Helmsdale has been moved over a bit and the shed tracks shifted accordingly, but it is still similar to the facilities originally there.

Thurso's tracks are as per, apart from the shed, which had to be moved 180 degrees because of the curved approach and the desire for a turntable. The original was removed in the early Fifties, but I decided that it would be useful to have one. The layout planning and squeezing in would have been simpler without it,but more fun with it! The other change is a two road shed, as I had it built already, but also because once I start operating the layout, I am going to assume that some of the planned branches from Thurso actually happened, and some extra motive power was needed here.

 

 

 

 

I don't bother with a fiddle yard- waste of space- but have two access areas at the throats of the stations for stock changes. To clarify this, here are shots of them. The larger one, with a small bench for running repairs is in the usual tip state that I work in, and soon wil be getting a clear up as work on the layout reaches the stage where minor detailing is all that needs done.