PGN Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 As we all know, there never was a railway on the Isle of Skye. But there WAS a proposal (well, two, actually). The Hebridean Light Railway proposal of 1898 was for a narrow gauge line running from Isleornsay on the Sound of Sleat by way of Broadford, Sligachan and Portree to Uig, with a branch to Dunvegan. A while ago I found I just couldn't resist a couple of OO9 kits which just happened to jump into my shopping basket, and I've been wonderign what to do with them ever since. So here's the perfect opportunity to build a little narrow gauge flight of fancy; and nobody can say that the stock of the livery is wrong, because there never WAS any stock or livery. I very much doubt I'll get it finished in time ... but at least the Challenge gives me a reason for getting it started. And it's going to be set in 190FIVE, when the line has been open for FIVE years, and will have HLR locomotive number FIVE pulling a train of FIVE vehicles. Is that enough fives, do you think?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium cornelius Posted November 19, 2009 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2009 Sounds like a good idea - there is rich seam of never-built Scottish highland and island railways to be exploited in narrow gauge. I think the only way you could fit more 5s in would be to model Fivemiletown on the Clogher Valley Railway in Ireland... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted November 19, 2009 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 19, 2009 And it's going to be set in 190FIVE, when the line has been open for FIVE years, and will have HLR locomotive number FIVE pulling a train of FIVE vehicles. Is that enough fives, do you think?? Nah - asssuming the manufacturers of r-t-r are up to their promises for next year I should be way ahead of that few . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 As we all know, there never was a railway on the Isle of Skye. Actually, there was! Try searching for 'Skye marble railway'. It doesn't bring up any articles with the railway as the main subject, but it does get a lot of articles which refer to it in passing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60B Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 And all these mentioned: http://www.isbuc.co.uk/Sights/Rail.php Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 Quality thread title, only matched by RandyWales' "Chapter and Worse" in the blog section. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nortonian Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Actually, there was! Try searching for 'Skye marble railway'. It doesn't bring up any articles with the railway as the main subject, but it does get a lot of articles which refer to it in passing. Photographs from the Isle of Skye Railways can be obtained from the Kidderminster Railway Museum. Kindest Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGN Posted November 20, 2009 Author Share Posted November 20, 2009 As I was saying, as we all know there never was a public railway with the legal staus of a common carrier on the Isle of Skye ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
invercloy Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Actually, there was! Try searching for 'Skye marble railway'. It doesn't bring up any articles with the railway as the main subject, but it does get a lot of articles which refer to it in passing. And the Lealt Valley Diatomite Railway, and the tramway at the Talisker Distillery, but who's counting! I'll be watching this with interest, i'm building a 009 layout heavily inspired by Plockton, thread here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/147-port-na-cailliche/ so will be interested to see how you progress this. What locos do you have in mind? I wrote a little bit about the history of the proposals of the HLR on my blog here: http://portnacailliche.blogspot.com/2009/08/little-more-history.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
invercloy Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Photographs from the Isle of Skye Railways can be obtained from the Kidderminster Railway Museum. Kindest Ian Or from me via PM if anyone wants them! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGN Posted November 22, 2009 Author Share Posted November 22, 2009 OK. Time for some planning ... and a little arithmetic. I'm not a great one for shunting, and Portree would have been a through station in any event, so we're talking roundy-roundy here. So that means something with a backscene, a scenic break at each end, and some sort of fiddle facilities (however rudimentary) behind the backscene. It needs to be at least 2' wide, although a litle wider would give more track plan flexibility, so what do we have? By my reckoning 2' 9 1/2" x 5' = 33.5" x 60" = 2010 square inches so those will be the nominal dimensions (build up to size, guys and gals, build up to size! ) A single board of that size would be a little unwieldy, so I guess it's gotta be a two-board system. Which is a pain, and carpentry ain't my strong point. So maybe I'd better investigate the cost of having them made. Hmmmmmm ... if I'm not careful, this is gonna end up COSTING ??2010! Perhaps I'd better set myself a budget up front. Another 5 feels in order. How about the whole thing to cost no more than five hundred? (Guineas, obviously, to allow for those inevitable little last minute expenses ... ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
invercloy Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Where is the station to be located? Somewhere along Harbour Street, or would the layout focus on another part of Plockton? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGN Posted November 23, 2009 Author Share Posted November 23, 2009 Um .... who said anythign about Plockton? This is Portree ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
invercloy Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Um .... who said anythign about Plockton? This is Portree ... Sorry, confusion! I'm going to be making Port na Cailliche as though it's set on Skye as part of the same proposed line, with some amendments so looking forward to seeing how this develops. Any news? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGN Posted January 30, 2010 Author Share Posted January 30, 2010 News? What's that? I've just had the month from HELL at work. No progress on anything at home, 'cos I've scarcely had time to get home, scoff some supper and go to sleep. Then there's the fact that the cheques I sent to Union Mills to pay for the R class Limited Edition went astray in the post and he never received them, so as there was about to be a post strike I ended up paying him over the phone by credit card. Well, now the cheques have turned up. They'd been stolen in the post, "washed", fraudulently altered, and an attempt was made to defraud me and / or the bank out of the best part of 2K. One of them got through, the other was spotted and refused. Fortunately, that put us straight onto the other, and the bank MAY have been able to freeze teh fraudster's account while the money was still in it, and so not end up out of pocket. But time for modelling?? What's that, then? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
invercloy Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 Oh dear, that's terrible news! Hope everything sorts itself out in your favour! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGN Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 Oh dear, that's terrible news! Hope everything sorts itself out in your favour! Um ... yeah. Two days after I posted that last update, I nearly died in an upside-down car. I'm back up and running now ... but no sight nor sound of Portree, I'm afraid to say. So I guess I'm out of this year's challenge ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
invercloy Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 I hope you were ok! Shame about the layout, but it's worth pursuing. If you're interested I've uncovered some plans for the line on Skye and am building a layout set at Isle Ornsay, I've got a thread on here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/622-isle-ornsay/ and a website about the build which will be updated more regularly: http://hlrco.wordpress.com/ let me know if you want some info on where it was proposed to go at Portree. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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