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West Highland Line and Kyle of Lochalsh

trisonic

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trisonic

trisonic

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My brother died two weeks ago - he was a prolific railway modeler in Wales and had two layouts in existence at his death, one was a large N gauge Rio Grande, the other was an outdoor G gauge which zig-zagged up his steep garden.

The last time I went to see him he asked me to do a layout on either the West Highland Line or the Kyle of Lochalsh line. I know next to nothing about Scottish railway lines (I know most about Wilsontown, ha).

I'm in the 'States and and cannot wander down to a decent book store on this subject so need a couple of book recommendations (and websites if possible) that are reasonably accurate. Think BR diesel period (exact time scale undecided) with station layouts included (or depots) this will not be huge and I'm thinking whilst doing this to have a go at P4.

 

Please let me know of anything good!

 

Cheers, Pete.

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Russ (mines a pint)

Russ (mines a pint)

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Firstly sorry to hear about your brother.

 

All my books are still in boxes as a result of a recent long distance house move so havent got exact titles but try looking up W.J. Verden Anderson and Derek Cross as authors?

 

Many of my favourite railway books are out of print, but you can still find plenty on Amazon, and possibly Ebay, prices may be keener than specialist booksellers, but hardback books and postage is going to be fun with your location.

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trisonic

trisonic

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Russ,

The odd thing is I thought to obtain a couple of current books on these two subjects would be easy - considering their popularity. Amazon USA had nothing! I'm not paying for a secondhand book unless it is highly recommended.

 

If you think of any or any websites do let me know.

 

In the meantime mine's a pint of heavy........

 

Best, Pete.

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Russ (mines a pint)

Russ (mines a pint)

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Amazon USA had nothing
just been looking at UK amazon and there is a decent amount of stuff on there.

2nd hand books?

 

Bradford Bartons Diesels in the Highlands is very good if you see it secondhand, and can sometimes be cheap, watch the dodgy captions tho' 24/25/26 and 27 locos are all interchangeable!!!

 

OPC profile of Class 26 & 27 is very good too but very expensive these days.

 

I know you are specifically looking for books but what about internet research? - try googling

Ernies Scottish Archive- that could waste many happy hours

- try also geograph for specific locations ie depots etc- you;d be suprised how much older material is on there

- also the Eastbank model railway club site

- Railscot and Subrit sites for historical info pics and sometimes trackplans of places

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Ben Alder

Ben Alder

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Google Street View(hardly appropriate in the Highlands :rolleyes: gives a good feel to the area- esp. for Kyle. Oakwood Press did a detailed volume on this line, and Ian Allen's collection of colour albums cover the timescale and places well. You Tube is also a good source of location shots, albeit usually later than the loco hauled era- I have seen some good "out of the window" videos that will help get an impression of the lines in question. Depots are a thing of the past,I'm afraid, although Fort William in the summer can be the busiest BR steam depot of them all :blink:

HTH,

Richard

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bcnPete

bcnPete

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Pete - I am very sorry to hear about your brother - your layout will be a nice tribute as per his request.

 

When I built my Boxfile layout of Kyle earlier this year I obtained and used the following:

 

Diesels in the Highlands - Andrew Vines - Ian Allan Publishing ISBN 0-7110-3118-5

 

Scottish Diesels - David Cross ISBN - Ian Allan Publishing 0-7110-3082-0

 

Rails to Kyle of Lochalsh - David McConnell - The Oakwood Press ISBN 0-85361-513-6

 

The first two books are both all colour pictures and a wonderful source of reference for the area.

 

I live in Spain, so I found most of these on Ebay/Amazon. I also found a lot of photos on Google and some of the websites listed above.

 

Andy (Backwater of this Parish) was also very very helpful in providing/locating information.

 

HTH,

 

Best, Pete

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black and decker boy

black and decker boy

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There are also some good videos -

Video 125 (www.video125.co.uk) do 'the skyetrain' , 'west highland line' , 'the far north' and 'steam to mallaig'

Videoscene (www.train-crazy.co.uk) stock a variety of videos \ dvds - some recommended ones are 'Glory Days Of Diesel 7: Scotland by Unique Productions' , 'British Rail Remembered - Part 4 and Class 37s in Scotland Parts 1 and 2 by Train Crazy'

 

A good book store with online search and a good selection of 2nd hand books is www.billhudsontransportbooks.co.uk

 

Good luck with the project

Graham

 

 

 

 

 

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Ben Alder

Ben Alder

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Pete, the RCAHMS site is ideal for a large number of scottish stations - type in the station name followed by 'station' i.e. Kyle Station as in this search ; http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/search/?image_only_chk=1&keyword=kyle+station&submit=search and tick the online box and all the available "online@ photo collections for that station will appear.... Providing of course they've been put online!

 

Strewth, the things you learn on here :blink: - this site completely passed me by. Many thanks for this link- I can see much time being absorbed by this one.

Richard

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Revolution Mike

Revolution Mike

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Pete

 

Some other books that may interest you:

 

Scottish Class 37s (various volumes) by N J Meskell

The West Highland Railway : The History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands, Vol 1 by John Thomas and Alan Paterson (there is a similar book on the Kyle line). This is much more about the history of the building of the line.

 

HTH,

 

Mike

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45156

45156

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Pete

 

If you check through the back issues of Railway Modeller, Ian Futers has published a number of articles on the stations of the West Highland - as I've got a broken hip, I can't get to them at present - you've already been pointed at his two books in an earlier post.

 

You might find some photos among the published material of Derek Cross and WJV Anderson, but they did tend to stay a bit further South in Scotland.

 

Sorry to hear of your brother's passing - hope you are able to create a suitable layout based tribute to him.

 

Kindest regards

Stewart

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trisonic

trisonic

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Pete

 

If you check through the back issues of Railway Modeller, Ian Futers has published a number of articles on the stations of the West Highland - as I've got a broken hip, I can't get to them at present - you've already been pointed at his two books in an earlier post.

 

You might find some photos among the published material of Derek Cross and WJV Anderson, but they did tend to stay a bit further South in Scotland.

 

Sorry to hear of your brother's passing - hope you are able to create a suitable layout based tribute to him.

 

Kindest regards

Stewart

 

Thank you. I'm sorry to hear about your hip. Get well soon!

 

Unfortunately Railway Modeller is almost impossible to obtain where I am in the New York area - I see "Model Rail" and "Hornby" regularly and that's about it for English railway mags! Still it could be worse - neither of those used to be carried a couple of years ago...

Everyone has been very kind and I have a lot of tips to follow up on.

 

Best, Pete.

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D9020 Nimbus

D9020 Nimbus

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I'd just add that Ian Futers' Scottish Layout Projects includes a lot of information on Fort William (old) station including scale drawings. For Railway Modeller, you are looking at past issues which in most cases can be obtained from Peco, but you will need to know which issues--perhaps there is an online index which may be of use?

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emac

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A must for the WHR is the LNER The Story of the West Highland by George Dow not the reprints but the 1st or 2nd editions great photos and in the apendix a plan of west highland stations and plans for a first and third class carriages for west highland The 2nd edition (1947)takes in the war years.

I know its not your intended era but a great read and found online in second hand bookshops for under a tenner

I have reprinted editions of this book and find the photo's lack definition and do not have the origional appendices.

As others have said Ian Futers has published a number of articles and books on the The West Highland.

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