Raasay iron ore railway diorama

[Dunalastair]

 

I am just about keeping up with my diorama-a-day with this work-in-progress 3D printed model.

 

On the very remote Isle of Raasay there was an iron ore mine during WW1, served by a cable-worked narrow gauge railway to a pier. Fortunately for posterity, the Geological Survey took a series of photographs. I have rehosted this image as the original is http and will not embed.

 

http://geoscenic.bgs.ac.uk/asset-bank/action/browseItems?categoryId=1118&categoryTypeId=1

 

And here is a fresh-off-the-printer 1:450 version, using one of the BGS images as a backscene.

 

 

The ship is very loosely based on a somewhat stretched version of the SS Robin, apparently the last surviving steam-powered coaster of this era, now preserved at the Royal Victoria Dock in London. Apologies to any ship modellers who really know how to capture the curvy lines of such vessels.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Robin

Edited July 28, 2023 by Dunalastair

[Dunalastair]

For anybody interested in the Raasay iron mine and its cable-worked NG railway (even though it is about as far from a GWR BLT as you can imagine) I would recommend this book. Last week it was available for pennies - that one must have sold as an extortionate pricetag now appears. Abe currently has a more reasonably priced copy.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Raasay-Iron-Mine-Enemies-Friends/dp/0951487000

 

The mine was worked by Bairds, who also owned the railway at Dalmellington in later years, a celebrated SG and NG industrial railway complex in the Ayrshire hills. David L Smith wrote an inspiring book about that enterprise.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Dunalastair

[Dunalastair]

I have just been spraying the Raasay prints grey, battling a wind rather stronger than ideal in the garden as solvent smells in the house are not popular.

 

Though I have not been to Raasay, I have looked across the channel to the island from the hills on Skye. This is a view in the opposite direction, from the remains of the iron ore installations towards Skye. There cannot have been many railways with a better view.

 

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5761169

 

Although this was a cable worked railway, there were two substantial viaducts, one on the main line and one on the branch to the unproductive No 2 mine - although there was also some opencast working in that area. Though the girders and deck fell victim to the scrapman, the tall stone piers apparently remain. 

 

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2182289

 

[Andy Kirkham]

I was on Raasay in 1976, at the time when the Island's economy was at a low ebb; much of the island was owned by an absentee landlord who blocked development. Raasay House, the laird's mansion, was derelict and it was easy to break in and browse the books in the library. There was also a derelict house near the pier, which had been the mine manager's residence. I made my way inside and went up into the attic. There I found a plan of the mine drawn in coloured ink showing the progress of excavations. I rolled it up and took it with me. Unfortunately I lost it on the way home - probably left on the train when I changed at Birmingham New Street.

[Dunalastair]

On 30/07/2023 at 09:47, Andy Kirkham said:

I was on Raasay in 1976, at the time when the Island's economy was at a low ebb; much of the island was owned by an absentee landlord who blocked development. Raasay House, the laird's mansion, was derelict and it was easy to break in and browse the books in the library. There was also a derelict house near the pier, which had been the mine manager's residence. I made my way inside and went up into the attic. There I found a plan of the mine drawn in coloured ink showing the progress of excavations. I rolled it up and took it with me. Unfortunately I lost it on the way home - probably left on the train when I changed at Birmingham New Street.

 

Interesting story. I wonder where that plan ended up? There is another plan in the book.

 

My model of the Raasay pier and tramway has also seen some coloured ink - and paint - and now looks like this. The ship design has been updated and reprinted, and now has masts.

 

 

The current weather system seems to be making itself felt on Raasay as well as here in the south. 

Edited August 2, 2023 by Dunalastair