jennarivo

Started work on the station building today, I took measurements of the real thing and made some drawings about 18 months ago but for some strange reason I haven't noted any dimensions of the windows or doors - although i quite clearly remember measuring everything, in the pouring rain as it was. Some pics below of the basic structure fabricated from 3mm foam board. The four sides with guess-timated window and door cutouts Assembled structure with added stiffeners pinned and glued together Couldn't resist it - the station building more or less in situ on the layout. You can't really tell from this perspective, but I've misjudged the terrain at the rear of the building, I've brought it in far too close need to dig it back about eight scale feet or so.

Little bit of progress this week, bridge retaining walls fitted and the picture below will hopefully give you a taste of things to come. I don't intend to model the A9 road bridge in it current form, but rather something based upon the lattice sided iron version that preceded it.

Well, another week down and the terraforming is complete. I'm quite impressed with the newspaper/pva method its far less crude than plaster cloth and I'm quite glad I started it over again. When the newspaper goes on at first and is still wet it doesn't look great, but as it dries it shrinks and the finished result is very even and quite solid too. Also managed to get the platforms and station area surfaced in plasticard, still haven't had any trains running though The 'Wick end' board makes its first appearance of the year and shows the lattice card framework that is then covered in dilute PVA soaked newspaper. This side has had the terrain exaggerated a bit in order to hopefully help with the photography and a scenic break further down the line. The station area looking towards Wick with a couple of maroon carriages alongside the loading dock which was lowered by about 1mm during the week as it was just a tad too high. Overview looking from the Wick side, this board has just been painted with emulsion, the bumps will disappear again once it dries. That's all for now. cheers Shaun

Some pictures showing tonight's limited progress, newspaper landscaping now all beneath a layer of Soft Truffle emulsion. One of those tins that you just can't bring yourself to part with after doing a spot of decorating. After one stroke of the burnt umber I had a change of mind, deciding that it was just too dark for a base layer. Now that's done the next task is to sort out the platform tops - can't quite decide between card or plasticard, don't suppose it matters too much. Some of the track work needs attention too a couple of knocks have been sustained in the move but nothing that can't be sorted before ballasting. Might even have a running session at the weekend, I'm sure I've got some Xmas gifts from 2013 still waiting to be run it. cheers Shaun

Some pics of last nights progress, they're fairly self explanatory, have now finished newspapering up to the bridge, glue taking quite a while to dry out completely therefore nothing painted yet.

Hello all and a belated happy new year. I finally managed some progress on the layout this week, all the plaster cloth has gone and on the Thurso / Inverness end it has been replaced with newspaper stuck down with dilute PVA. Prior to doing this I also removed about 25mm from the height of the embankments as it was really far to high and just didn't look right. I'm quite pleased with the way it looks now and tomorrow I intend to make a start on the other two boards in the same fashion and give the landscaping on this first one a coat of burnt umber. some pics to follow..... cheers Shaun

Funnily enough up until this layout I've never really been into BR blue, it's been modern image previously; whatever that actually means now..... Then, one day I started looking at old pictures of Georgemas and decided that that was what I wanted to model, I do remember (albeit barely) the end years of BR blue in the far north. A change of residence last year from Caithness to Edinburgh also forced me to change scale from OO to N. I'm not entirely happy with the plaster cloth terra-forming, it's a bit too crude for 'N' so the 1st task in the new year it to remove and replace with paper-mache.

Hi Kosta, not much progress this year I'm afraid. I bough a flat in February that required extensive renovation and modernisation throughout, only got it finished in the last month or so and haven't had the motivation to look at the layout yet. What this space in the new year though.................... Cheers Shaun

Hi all I've been quite busy over the weekend, landscaping is coming along nicely got a layer of plaster cloth down which seems to have brought the Inverness/Thurso side of the station to life. Need to do another layer or so yet to smooth things out a bit and the Wick side hasn't even been started - It seems that I might have misjudged how many rolls I needed. I've also installed the stone face of the loading dock, platforms are next, I spent this evening trimming down and base coating the standard Peco stone platform sides to make them a more passible Highland Railway height. More to follow soon Cheers Shaun

Thanks for the all encouragement. As it happens I live on the same block as Harburn Hobbies and tend to pop in every Friday on my way home from work cheers Shaun

Finally the rail painting is complete, no pictures yet but rest assured some will follow............ In the past I have mixed my own rust colour but this time I chose to use precision paints "rusty rails" I'm quite happy with the way they have turned out so far, but until the sleepers are painted (which is next weeks task) and ballasting has been completed and weathered it really is difficult to form an opinion one way or the other

Slow progress this week, I have spent the last 4 nights painting the rail sides, I'd forgotten how painfully never ending this can seem. 2 Boards down, 1 to go...................

Hi all, it's update time Didn't get nearly as much done over the holidays as I would have liked, family, food and wine seemed to take up most of my time. I did however finally decide how I was going to tackle the Thurso branch. Originally I had thought that I would need a fourth scenic board, however after loosely laying some track I decided that a small extension to one of the boards was all that would be required - and hey presto as can be seen from the progress pics below the board has been extended and the branch track work laid/wired/tested/glued. Another milestone that was completed over the holidays was the installation of the point control bit and bobs - point control is via GEM wire in tube method. This week has seen some more basic terraforming taking place, the A9 road bed and embankments are in place and to the west of this a (hopefully) familiar shape is starting to emerge. The embankment foam has been stuck to the baseboard foam using a hot glue gun. I've found this method to be quite handy as the glue sets within minutes and the joints are absolutely rock solid. Shaping was with a mixture of coarse hacksaw blade and scalpel. I must apologise for the poor quality of the photos, the lighting in this room is very poor, I keep telling myself to take the pictures during the daylight hours but unfortunately once again I have chosen not to listen............ That's all for now. Cheers Shaun

The pictures - a bit later than promised - and another small update. Work has been pretty slow this week - mainly as I've been on a course all week and haven't been getting home to after 1900 - however Board 1 (Wick side) & Board 2 (middle) has both had their point control wires & tubes fitted and tested. Board 1 has also had some basic terraforming carried out. As mentioned previously in order to provide a easier scenic break and to take away the (almost unrealistic on a model) flatness I intend to (un-prototypically) create a gentle incline of the land surrounding the trackwork towards wick. The last picture probably gives a better explanation. Also I have finally made a decision on the radius of the Thurso branch and a start has now been made laying the trackwork for this too, the books you can see in one of the pics are weighing down the foam underlay for this trackwork Time for the pics A few more locos making an appearance too - 27032 crosses from the branch to the up line with the Thurso portion of an Inverness service, 26026 is already waiting on the up line with the Wick portion. 26040 is at the head of a very short mixed freight sitting in the loading dock line. 27032 reversing the Thurso portion onto the Wick portion. Both portions now joined, 27032 has unattached and sits idle as 26026 heads south towards Inverness. A bit later in the day 27032 heading away from Georgemas towards Wick with a short rake of mk1s. As you can see this the start of how I intend to 'force' some shape into the landscape on this side of the station. That's all for now cheers Shaun

Very quick update - no photos All trackwork has been stuck down to the 3 existing boards and tested - so far so good,a couple of little snags but nothing that can't be ironed out. Any sleepers missing from track joint areas have been replaced and tonight I'll trialled my intended method of point control. Not sure if I have mentioned it previously or not, but as the intention is to keep wiring to an absolute minimum I have decided to go back to basics and use the 'wire in tube' method. A few weeks ago I purchased some GEM components and tonight I finally got to try them out. It turns out that it's quite a satisfying method of switching points. At some point over the weekend I'll get some pictures up. cheers Shaun

What an interesting period to model the station that will be. I have plenty of pictures of the station building from summer 2011, I also have lots of other pics that may be of interest, including a few from HR times. pm me an email address and I will send them. I also have some measurements of the station building if they would be of any use cheers Shaun

Thanks for all the encouragement. Tonight has seen the trackwork glued down on the centre board, and a couple more locos ( a 26 & 27) purchased from Ebay.

It's quite funny as up until now she hasn't been in the least bit interested in what I've been doing. But now that trains are actually moving the layout has captured her full attention.

Evening all, A bit more progress has been made, slowly though as I started a new job earlier this month. This month has seen 5mm thick foam cut and copydex’d to baseboards to form the trackbed. Wire droppers have been soldered to track (a least 1 pair per section of track), bus wires have been connected to droppers and all track has been tested for continuity – successfully I carried out some test runs today with 26040 at the helm pulling a very mixed rake of MK1’s, Dutch 37035 can be seen lurking around in the pics also. These are the only 2 of my locos that so far have DCC decoders fitted. 26040 arriving at Georgemas from Wick. I intend to slightly exaggerate the curves and contours on each approach to the station to provide visually acceptable scenic breaks, as trees were few and far between (pretty much non-existent) in this part of the country for the period being modelled – c1960-1980 The same train from Wick awaiting arrival of the Thurso portion from the (not quite there yet) branch line A couple of other general shots Next tasks are to glue down track and test some more. Then a start on the surrounding contours. Cheers Shaun

Unfortunately progress has been rather slow as of late, mainly due to a constant flow of family visits and general ‘couldn’t be botheredness’ Yesterday I did finally managed some progress and got all the track cut and roughly placed for the main part of the layout. The 4th scenic board which will accommodate the Thurso branch has not been constructed yet, as at the moment there is nowhere to store it when not in use. This project is being completely funded from the disposal of all my OO Gauge stock and accessories and slowly but surely the stockpile is being reduced. I only have about 4 (very large) boxes of items left to sell and once this has gone storage space will be available and I can construct the missing boards. One area where progress has not been so slow is the rapid expansion of my N Gauge collection, in particular Class 26 and 37 locos and MK1 coaches – maybe one day they will actually run on this layout Anyhow some progress pics, this is track very roughly laid, 5mm foam is yet to be laid beneath the track and station areas – this is next weeks task. Looking towards Wick Looking towards Inverness/Thurso Some of the afore mentioned MK1s making an appearance That's all for now, Shaun

Ok, it’s been a few months since the last update and in that time we have moved flat and as luck would have it there is enough space to actually start building this layout. As I wanted the baseboards to be as light as possible I decided to use the Styrofoam/ply technique. So far 3 boards have been constructed using a 1200x500x60mm Styrofoam board, faced with 12mm ply at each adjoining end and 4mm ply along the sides. The ply was fixed to the foam using solvent free gripfill and 90mm coarse woodscrews every 150mm or so. I’m quite happy the way they have turned out, they seem to be very rigid and only weigh about 2.5kg each. These 3 boards will form most of the scenic section of the layout, a fourth scenic board will be required to accommodate the Thurso branch line but I haven’t quite decided what dimensions this board will be at the moment. Trackwork is Peco code 55 with large radius points and here are some pics showing it very roughly in position. This first one is taken from the Inverness end looking towards wick, roughly from where the timber snow deflectors are located. The lone structure is the Junction Box, the larger of the two signal boxes that once stood at the station. Just past the signal box you can just about see the points for the Thurso branch and its loop. This next pic is taken from the Wick end looking towards Inverness/Thurso. The structure closest is the stations other signal box (albeit more a hut) the North Box Cheers Shaun

Everytime I order from hattons it seems to take about a week before they dispatch, even though everything I buy is from stock

Finally got the junction box painted.............. except that the green I mixed is dreadful and I have used completely the wrong shade of red. I'm sure that these things aside you will still get the jist (gist, not really sure) of what I'm trying to achieve Stonework will be attended to later on after I've tackled the station building This is the progress to date. Won't be anything happening for the next wee while as my girlfriend and I are going wild camping. No idea where we're heading for, just somewhere on the West of Scotland. cheers Shaun

Morning all, Flashing and guttering now fitted to Junction box, hand rails will be added after painting. I did intend to add the stove pipe, however I don't have any suitable rod so will add this at a later date. Was going to start drawing out the station building today but I seem to have lost the dimensions that I took when I was there last. Does anybody happen to know what the footprint of the station building is? - I make it about 11m x 7m from the pictures???? cheers Shaun

Not much progress was made over the weekend, partly due to the tropical weather but probably more to do with the vast amount of alcohol I seem to have consumed. Back to work today though, Junction box is coming on nicely, just some minor bits and pieces to be added yet, then its off to the paint shop. The rear or the box, which looks out over the Thurso branch The front, with its little brother alongside for comparison Hope to make a start on the station building tomorrow, in between painting the junction box. cheers