The Far North Line

Discussion in 'Members Personal Layouts' started by Ben Alder, Apr 17, 2017.

  1. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Thanks, but I can only take limited credit for it all as only the water tank is mine. The rest is an embossed wallpaper type sheet I found on ebay and has proved an invaluable time saver for this type of thing. Link here - highly recommended....

    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-SHEETS-bumpy-EMBOSSED-BRICK-stone-wall-paper-21x28cm-HO-1-87/392313695374?_trkparms=aid=111001&algo=REC.SEED&ao=1&asc=225075&meid=790a570fc71e483186caf0d75c352dd4&pid=100675&rk=5&rkt=15&mehot=none&sd=264190318507&itm=392313695374&pmt=0&noa=1&pg=2380057&brand=Unbranded&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci:d438c563-260e-11eb-acf2-be9ecfd31614|parentrq:c41d82241750aa19c89ee498fffbafa0|iid:1

    Edit I found these sheets to fade to a bilious shade of green very quickly, and tests show that no matter what is sprayed on it continues to do so. Current plan is to scan a sheet and try printing it on to a textured paper to see if that works better.
     
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2024
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  2. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    That maybe so, but you put it all together ! :thumbs:

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  3. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    I've used the same supplier only in 7mm scale and aged brick on my little loco shed scratch build.

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    I really must get my finger out and finish some of these projects I've started :headbanger::facepalm:

    Cheers, Pete.
     
  4. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Further distractions earlier this year were provided by the cut price Heljan GW tanks, which have bee chewed about to give a take on a CR saddle tank and a dock shunter based on the one Peter Drummond did at the GSWR after he left the HR, and an example of which is preserved in the Glasgow Transport Museum. Both the CR and NB had locos of this type so I decided that the Highland built some to service the ports that housed the fleet during the Great War. The saddle tank is a mix of the Heljan body and a Triang Nellie cab and the side tank started off as a pannier tank but has a O2 body with Highlandised cab and a shortened boiler to fit the chassis.Both had disasters in final finishing with a coat of spray varnish - the side tank got covered with flecks of the matting agent from the spray - first time this has ever happened - which were all but invisible to the eye and only showed up on screen after posting. I picked them off with a scalpel and magnifying glass, re photoed them and more showed up, so I stopped at that and resolved to keep this loco at a distance on images - it looks OK to the eye... The saddle tank's spray bloomed, leaving a white residue, but I was going to weather this one anyway, so decided that this was the result of working the exposed branch to Scrabster, which gets the full first landfall blast of northerly gales, so it ended up a bit more woebegone than I had intended... Couple of shots of them pottering around ....

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  5. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    A lot of loco fettling has been going on and my fleet of CR 4-4-0's have been having attention recently. These were widespread over the ScR in latter days and Helmsdale and Wick both had a varying allocation but here are three of the regulars. Nucast kits with T9 chassis which are an almost perfect match, and a real scene setter for any latter days Highland steam era layout.

    IMG_1707.JPG IMG_1708.JPG IMG_1710.JPG IMG_1712.JPG
     
  6. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    One of the Dornoch panniers at the end of the day on shed at Helmsdale.

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  7. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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  8. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    I succumbed to the Rapido pannier - sort of had to, what with two of them shedded here, so at long last there is an authentic GW pannier running - several impostors previously, kept away from the lens...... IMG_1879.JPG IMG_1869.JPG
     
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  9. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    The only good GWR loco's :avatar:

    The model does look good.

    Paul
     
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  10. Chris Doroszenko

    Chris Doroszenko Lost in the spare room Full Member

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    What an incredibly well detailed layout mate. Thanks so much for chucking up all these pics of such a masterpiece. Keep up the great work.
    Thanks for sharing.
     
  11. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Hmm, getting on for two years since the last update....perhaps I should remedy that...
     
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  12. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Quick look at one of the at long last finished Mk11 Small Bens - done to accurate outline this time instead of a T9 hash up. Actually, even more of a one as it is a amalgam of Hornby Radial chassis with 6' drivers, cut back and lowered T9 boiler, T9 or 700 tender, depending what I could get and some Nucast kit parts - the cabsides and splashers , and smokebox in some cases or a T9 one adjusted - I built six in total; it all got a bit out of hand....and various HR or CR boiler fittings from the parts box. The tender cab is based on a pic I found of a Ben sporting one around 1939 so thought it would make an unusual feature.
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  13. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Another of my distractions recently... I got involved with Pop Up Designs and their designer who are doing a range of Scottish railway buildings, something that has been a very neglected, albeit niche, area up to now. They are a social enterprise company, supporting orphans in Guatemala and the designer is doing this as a retirement hobby, so making commercially unviable projects a reality. Their main range are laser cut stand up cards but the expanding railway range is proving popular. Here are a couple of them I have had a hand in, by providing ideas and images along with some modellers input - a model of Dornoch station and a newspaper kiosk that was a common feature of the railway scene for decades.
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  14. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    A good bit of remodelling of trackwork was undertaken at Helmsdale last year as I had over the years acquired two brass built HR locos that had obviously only gone in straight lines before, so the approach roads were eased out. This was achieved by sacrificing a storage siding behind the backscene and moving the backscene rearwards to take its space. This also gave the existing dock siding a useful extension. Here are a before and after of the work done. Shifting track is a painless job thanks to having it on a Tracklay base and so is easily lifted and any cork infill between tracks can be scraped off easily, having used Copydex as an adhesive.
    As it was...
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    Planning the changes 20220819_004811.jpg

    And the finished, more or less job.
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  15. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    As a follow on from this, a few months later I remodelled the engine shed layout. It was originally reached from a point just after the platform crossover, followed by a Peco 3 way point. Unfortunately both of these had sporadic electrical contact problems, which I tolerated for years mainly because of the faff of relifting them, but after the approach realigning I decided to sort it out. The other factor was that the three way point was very prominent in shed photos and to my mind screamed train set every time I saw it on screen, so a change began. The nearest two tracks in the above photo were storage sidings, and another reason for the first alterations as the access curves were tight, and longer wheelbase stock had trouble traversing the inner siding so I decided to use one of the two sidings as the shed access and create a more realistic prototypical arrangement. Peco bullhead points were used as Unifrogs, and have proved completely reliable. Here is a shot of the old set up.
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    And the new one which gives a more open feeling.
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    And a shot of the real thing - I had to site the turntable beyond the shed because of baseboard problems but all the facilities are modelled - the storage sidings are just to the right of the turntable out of shot.

    HelmsdaleShed from signaldddarss.jpgieuluyjjrklgirjrcrop.jpg
     
  16. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Not a lot of photography of layout stuff this last year but much benchwork, of which more to follow, but a couple of shots to act as a placeholder. Small Ben at Helmsdale and a look at the Thurso shed. IMG_2317.JPG IMG_2319crop.JPG
     
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  17. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Couple of fallen graces here - two ex Pullmans on their last duties. A restaurant car that serviced passenger services till the end of steam. It was changed over between trains at Helmsdale, and is an almost copy of the real one, as far as Hornby could offer as a donor. The second one is now a ScR camping coach and is another Hornby, cut down to get a fairly close replica. IMG_2179.JPG IMG_2184 adj DPI.JPG
     
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  18. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Couple of PW coaches here - the further one is a Silhouette cut model of a CR breakdown coach that was allocated to Helmsdale while the nearer is a Slaters 6wheel clerestory brake. There were quite a few of these transferred north by the LMS for branch line work, and this model is one of two I picked up on ebay some time ago as built models. Neither were particularly well put together but I managed to get one buffed up to go in to the passenger fleet but this one had serious problems in the finish so I decided to make it a departmental coach, which is a bit of a whimsy as they had been withdrawn by my modelling period, but I like the look of them! IMG_2135adj.JPG IMG_2153.JPG
     
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  19. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Another essential scene setter - the gas tank for refilling the restaurant cars - next to nothing is recorded about these vehicles , which varied greatly in appearance and were rarely photographed beyond popping up in backgrounds now and then, but I managed to find a clear shot of one at The Mound, and based the model on that. Two Oxford tankers provided the body, cut down a bit and melded together, along with a Chivers six wheel chassis. The original appeared to be unlettered so I have left it as that until any further info turns up, which, TBH, is unlikely. The loco is a J72, which supposedly was transferred to work the Dornoch branch, a scenario not impossible, as there were several around on the ScR and certainly had the capacity to do so. It is a bit of nostalgia, being the original Mainline release I have had since 1978 or so, and has been on every layout since. I built a compensated chassis along the way for it, and latterly has been lying in a box for some decades, but took it out on a whim and remembered how well it ran at slow speed, so decided to refurbish it and put it back to work. IMG_1007.JPG 20230521_135225.jpg 20230604_142405.jpg
     
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  20. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Another long unfinished job- the magazine sponsored LMS six wheel passenger brake van. I had hankered for one of these since Hornby Dublo days, and bought this version on release, but it was a disaster to run - a real design horror - so it lay around for years. However, a Chivers chassis came to the rescue so I built that and transferred all the original undergubbins to it, and it now behaves impeccably. IMG_0423.JPG
    Loco is a Hornby Radial cut back and altered to an ex HR Yankee tank. another time stretched survivor, it is close enough for me. The general outline is more or less exact, the only variant being the boiler length which is afoot or so overlong, but as it runs perfectly, I'm happy enough with it, and saves having to do the brass kit I've had lying for years now.
     
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