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The Construction of the Far North Line


Ben Alder

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Thanks Ben. I've bought a number of items from Internatonal Models previously - mini Natur grasses and styrofoam arches, so I'll consult the website for their avaiable backscenes.

 

Glad the Thurso is late 50s. I don't think the Dounreay dome would quite fit in with your scene! Btw, has the site been decommisioned? I was offered a job on the fast-reactor programme. Glad I turned it down as the project was cancelled soon afterwards! I did enjoy my weeks' stay in Thurso and Wick, though.

 

Regards,

 

Jeff

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Glad to have been of help. The fast reactor programme was abandoned indeed, and seems now to be another shining example of the British throwing away a lead in future technology, but enough of that here. Actual rail traffic was not a great amount over the years- once the north roads were upgraded much went that way, and shipping was another transport method used. The site is now being taken apart, with various dates being mentioned for final closure, possibly around 2020 or so.

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Thanks for the update. It's 33 years since I've been to the north of Scotland. Friends occasionally holiday on Orkney, so maybe when I retire I will make the trek and head that way again.

 

In the meantime, I will watch your rendition with interest!

 

Jeff

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Another week gone by, and more work done. Most of the activity has been at Helmsdale, where the platforms have been fitted and a start to the groundscape begun. I'll let the photographs tell most of the story, as there is nothing really new in what I've done. Landscape formers were cut from Fomeboard, with access gaps for the point motors, and packing material started off as shredded paper, but quickly resorted to rolled up kitchen rolls due to the mess caused by the strips of paper.

 

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I wanted to try a slightly different method of landscaping this time round, and used the packing pieces dry- previously I had always soaked them in a water/PVA mixture that took ages to dry out. I had progressed from Mod-roc to using ready mix Polyfilla either directly applied to the under layer, or over a skin of newspaper, but this time I used Sculptamould , a readymix of papier mache and plaster. It went on well with far less mess than plaster and one layer about 1/4" thick seems to have set rock hard, and will be what I use from now on. I just mixed up a bowlful at a time, and finished the whole of Helmsdale in half an evenings work; it took a few days to dry off but that is because of the time of year- summer with window left open would speed things up, I'm sure.

 

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A view of the business end of the station, with some roughs to get an idea of what will go where. There were two water towers on the landward platform side, which will be most helpful in blocking the hole in the backscene from most viewing angles. I cannot finish off this area until the turntable is finished and a couple of mess sheds are built, and this is going to be the next task after Thurso is brought up to the same state.

 

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Nothing much was done at the terminus this week beyond a rethink re. the backscene. Although the green sward would have mostly been hidden by buildings and banks, I decided to take an inch or so off the bottom of the backscene as there is plenty sky for photographic composition. It sits better in the overall scene now, I think. Here are a couple of overall views of it.

 

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Finally, trial shots of the work done. I am finding the camera very useful in construction, with the ability to see from another perspective what has been done being very helpful- it is saving a lot of future remedying, I am sure, and also the feedback I am getting from here has also been of value- thank you all.

 

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I intend to get Thurso to the same level of finish as Helmsdale and then retreat to the workbench for a protracted session of building work, which is going to take I don't know how long, but there is nothing involved that I haven't done before, and there are also no distractions such as rolling stock that sidetracked me repeatedly with the last layout, and added years to the project, so the next few months should see it start to take a 3-D appearance. I still have a loco build programme on the backburner, but it is going to wait for a year or two. At least now I know that it can be done, so another burst of work like last years will add another four or so useful locos to the roster. However, that's for the future.....

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Hi Richard,

First time I have posted on your thread, but have been following your progress on this one and your last layout. This one is looking good, you are certainly cracking along at a good pace.

It looks like you have the same backscenes as I have bought, how do you glue yours to the backboard? It's something I haven't done before any tips.

 

Thanks Peter.

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Great progress Richard.

 

I am a great fan of sculptamould too - its very easy to work with and I was pleasantly surprised that it's not that messy either...much easier than papier-mache / polyfilla etc :yes:

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Thanks for the encouragement- its appreciated. The backscenes are spray mounted to mounting board, cut oversize, and trimmed when glued, which gives leeway in sticking them down. Early use of wet glues resulted in bubbles and marks on the surface where glue touched the surfaces, but its heart-in-mouth stuff with Photomount, I find. This lot went on well apart from a crease or two on one of the Helmsdale curves, but I think that was a result of me not waiting long enough before curving the board to fit.

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Splendid stuff, Ben! If you are posting in "real time", you are making very rapid progress. And, as I said before, that backscene is the "bees knees"!!

 

I can't wait to retire so I can get cracking with all the things I want to do - particularly when I watch the Far North line grow and grow.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jeff

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The build is at a stage just now when a little work shows a lot of result, and soon progress will appear to slow down when I start the various buildings needed. It is good though to see it start to come together- the weeks tweaking track and checking running did seem to be going nowhere fast, but was obviously essential for the layout.This weekend's work has started on the banking at the terminus, and this is the state of play as of tonight. The fomeboard formers have mostly been cut and are waiting for the hot glue gun to be plugged in, but it is beginning to look the way I wanted. The PW shed has been transferred to the other side from the original as there is more room here and the signal box will have a cutting in the bank as well. I am going to use the one from The Mound, at least for now, to save time. The actual signal box at Thurso was hardly ever photographed, so I think I can get away with this ;) ......

 

 

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I'm afraid the greenery is some way off- the next step is a spell on the workbench and a collection of buildings. Firstly will be the Helmsdale shed area, with the shed itself, a messroom and two water towers, as I can't finish off the landscaping here until these are in place. I tend to work in phases, and plan and acquire for the next series of construction while working on the previous one. Thus, as the landscaping was being put down I have been getting various kits and materials organised so that I can start on them without waiting for things to arrive in the post and possibly lose momentum as well- I do not want to start to start butterflying about as I know how much time can be wasted in such matters.

 

I have been thinking about final surface details though and am going to try out different embossed cards and some of the photographic papers to gauge overall effects- the aim is to get a consistency of finish between the various buildings and their settings, so once again, time spent on this will be worthwhile. One of the reasons I started on the new layout was to get away from the protacted build and add-ons of the previous set-up that often didn't tie in with what went before, at least to my eye, and there is much available now that wasn't around even ten years ago that I am chewing over ATM.

 

Anyway, this week has seen the basic landscaping done at the terminus, and is going to be the last time for a while that much visible progress will be seen. I have finished off the goods platforms and tried to capture the essence of their arrangements, but the old bugbear of lack of space has simplified some of the flowing surfaces of the approach to the goods yard road end, but once the various sheds and clutter is put in this will be less obvious to the eye. So, an overview of the terminus as it stands-the goods platforms look compact in this shot, but it is the camera foreshorting things- the sidings hold eight wagons, about half the number of the real thing, and look in proportion to the eye.

 

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And one of the two goods platforms. The nearer one was cobbled and presumably used as a cattle siding- the current one at the rear of the station was put in during the war according to a HRS track plan, to provide extra goods capacity- Thurso was extremely busy then due to the Fleet being based at Scapa Flow.

 

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A view of the approach, showing the signal cabin and PW niches. The white is a bit overpowering just now, but once some covering is applied it will calm down.

 

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A shot of the covering process, using Sculptamould. I have tweaked the image to show the consistency of this a bit more clearly- it works very cleanly compared to plaster and I daresay I could have coloured it, but I have fond that a good base layer of acrylic paint once dry, with scatter applied to it while wet gives total coverage, and as the layout never moves, is sufficient. If it was an exhibition one then perhaps I might have tinted the "plaster", but little in the way of knocks or damage is done normally to it.

 

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And lastly, me playing with a couple of wagons that I was using as clearance gauges. It will be good when I start adding details here as I think it is a far better use of the space than I made of it with Kylesku. Mustn't rush though....

 

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Change of focus this week- I have made a start on the various buildings required, and Helmsdale shed has been knocked together. It is fairly obvious where its origins lie, but is a passable interpretation of the prototype, which was something else entirely, and a real one-off as far as Highland sheds went- forget stone bastions here, corrugated iron and timber cladding were the materials of choice for some reason. I will post up a couple of shots of the build later, but here are two of it just after priming, about half an hour ago.

 

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Helmsdale shed was, like much of the farther reaches of the HR, an elusive creature as far as photographers were concerned, and does not feature greatly in images, usually only being part of the background, but this is something that is not unique to this area, but a product of the time, when colour film was expensive and shots had to be, if not rationed then carefully considered, and the engine tended to be the centre of attention. Fortunately, I have managed over the years to gather enough glimpses of the shed to provide me with the means of making my take on it.

 

As I said, it was a rather ramshackle affair of wood and corrugated iron, and as such suffered over the years- one version blowing down and there are images showing vents with varying degrees of fire/wind damage, and the woodwork was patched up now and again as needed.Here are a couple of links that show the shed area- here- and -here-. One is the local website that I have referred to earlier and the other is Ernie's treasure trove of Scottish lines that are required viewing for anyone modelling either late steam or early diesel locations in the rural outposts.

 

The shed had a clerestory roof that I chose to ignore, and the window patterns on the platform side- a train spotters dream :) - defied all explanation in their randomness, with the wooden planking running horizontally as opposed to the usual Highland vertical board and battens, so I decided to go freelance in my approach to this shed, and settled on the Ratio carriage shed as the core of the model. It is not entirely a cop out to use this as this shed was a spin-off from their coal shelter kit, which was based on a design that popped up in several places in Scotland, including Nairn, so it does have a tenuous Highland connection. I used Evergreen board and batten for the sides, being more typical of the company's builds and made the windows in a more regular spacing, and I think it survives a passing glance as it turned out. Certainly use of the kit has saved a lot of time and other buildings at the station will be more accurate copies of the originals, but I don't feel too guilty of re-assessing this one-off building. It is a bit narrow,TBH, but as the length is much less as well it might keep it more in proportion. The prototype had extra space at the right hand side for stores/messes but there is not enough space for that on the layout, so some form of hut will have to be squeezed in somewhere for the staff to do their "shed" thing in. I don't know about elsewhere, but the number of sheds that these stations had was something else- every dept. or specific activity seemed to spawn some form of hut tucked away in one corner or another.

 

A couple of shots of the kit going together- nothing worth writing about here, but the prototype can be seen in the background, giving an idea of what I was aiming towards. The base of the smoke vents came off a Hornby sprue of a chimney from one of their older buildings that I got as a spare, again to make my life a bit easier. Next step is two water tanks that were part of the shed site.

 

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A view of the platform side of the shed- the background will need some attention here, but it is not going to be a normal viewing angle- just the place to cop your last Pannier tank from :)

 

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Edit- removed duplicate pic.

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That low level shot of Helmsdale looking alongside the goods shed at the rails curving away shows this will be another winner even though the landscaping hadn't been done then. I am enjoying seeing this progress.

Don

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Just noticed that the last pic uploaded was a duplicate from the previous post- this is the one I meant to use. It's all a bit barren yet, but once the Helmsdale buildings are done I think ground cover will be next, giving me a break before tackling the terminus ones.

 

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Hi Richard, well I have just had another read through to get some ideas for my next we project, and also on the scenic side for our club layout that we are building. Love that sky backscene a wonderful blustery day by the looks of it. Brilliant mate, keep them there shots comming. All the best Andy.

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Well, work continues on the infrastructure, and the outlines of Helmsdale are beginning to take shape. The original had two water towers and a wooden platform shelter on the near platform and these have been built. The main buildings on the other side consisted of a two storey house and booking office and a seperate block consisting of toilets, waiting room and store, and this has also been put together this week. The larger building has had to be omitted due to lack of space, but this should not be too obvious if I am careful with camera angles B) , and here is a shot showing them more or less in place-

 

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It's starting to look like a station now- I have done the groundwork of the slope behind the near platform and the tank bases are bedded in, and thanks to a Dunsinane type movement of some of The Mound's trees the problem of hiding the unwanted background scenery has been solved. There are actually a row of trees in this position on the prototype, although the main building should be in front of them, but that's a detail omitted in my case :rolleyes: . Acting as a scenic break is the old Hornby footbridge, which apart from the lack of latticing on the step railings is dimensionally quite accurate for the HR built ones that are so characteristic of their stations, and to my mind set the scene as being firmly in that company's domain. The excess height of the original was reduced- not a simple task as it is made of a mixture of polystyrene and some soft flexible plastic that does not take adhesives well, and it was finally joined by a potentially toxic mix of superglue and welded plastic courtesy of the soldering iron.

There is a good etched brass kit available of this item, but putting this together took one evening, wheras the brass one would have stretched into weeks at the least, and this is something I might replace in due course- we'll see....

 

Anyway, a couple more pics of the platform area, and its back to the bench- a brick built mess hut is half finished, and its either the goods sheds or signal boxes next- I'll do them in two's, as the Helmsdale boxes are more or less mirrors of each other, albeit with different outers, and I have decided to do a hipped goods shed for Thurso rather than the existing gable ended model, so it will be as easy to do the Helmsdale and Thurso ones together.

 

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Hi Richard (apologies for referring to you as Ben previously. hope I've now got it right!!).

 

What radius curve have you used through the station? It looks very effective - must be around 3 feet (90cm)?

 

As we all keep saying - excellent progress.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jeff

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Hi Richard (apologies for referring to you as Ben previously. hope I've now got it right!!).

 

What radius curve have you used through the station? It looks very effective - must be around 3 feet (90cm)?

 

As we all keep saying - excellent progress.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jeff

 

Call me what you want- I don't care :) - it all dates back to my joining and following the herd in using a nom de plume, which I immediately abrogated by signing postings with my own name :huh: , and its too late to do anything about now- I'll happily answer to either.

 

The curves are of a radius sufficient to get round the bends (!), and are no less than 24" at the tightest bits, but the rest were free-formed, and are I imagine, around the 30" mark although I haven't checked them with the Tracksettas- trains run through them and that's my criteria- another example of my rather broad-brush approach to details, I'm afraid. The curves at the points are not photographically visible and by going as small a radius as I can there I have managed a gentler curve where it shows.

 

As an aside, these working images are usually taken with my trusty Kodak 6mp pocket camera, but I have recently thanks to E-Bay, got hold of a newer version of the same with a 10mp option, and it does seem to give a clearer picture, esp. on full screen viewing, and once there is less of the snowfields to look at,should give a better image than before. It's also a lot quicker to use than the Canon if all I want is a W-I-P type shot.

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