ScR steam in the 50's

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

All those shots could easily be the real thing - I do like the long shot with the vans parked in the station.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Wonderful railway, beautifully photographed.

Just when I think you can't possibly produce any more stunning pictures Richard, you go and do it again.

As I posted a while back, it's like being there.


Ed

Couple of shots of a cattle working. Some wagons are taken from the Helmsdale dock and added to a through train from the north. It is then seen leaving the station. Workings such as this were very important at certain times of year, usually involving sheep rather than cattle- 30-40000 lambs despatched from Thurso over three days in August, and the same number in one day at Lairg, which put a great strain on resources at these small stations…

Beautiful, Richard.  :thumbs

Photoshop in some smoke and you'd trick anyone.

Terrific photos Richard.
Is the smaller, lower signal a shunt ahead signal?
cheers
Marty

Thanks, afraid smoke has to be in the imagination- that sort of thing is beyond me, and besides,  isn't an aspect I'm interested in. Try to do as little as possible to images- nothing beyond cropping, straightening and an occasional fiddle with the light balance is my normal routine. Any more and I usually scrap it and try again another day….

Here's one I took a week ago in afternoon light- its good to start to emerge from the winter gloom,might encourage me to pick up the camera again…

Nice.  :thumbs

Sorry-forgot about the signal. Yes, as far as my limited knowledge of such things goes- I just copied it from a photo of the real thing…..

Here is a bit of shunting at Thurso…

Not a lot to show or done  recently, but a lucky meeting resulted in me gaining access to some colour shots taken at Thurso in 1959, including one of the elusive original cattle dock that perched on one of the raised goods platforms, and this was enough for me to get going with a representation of it- another gap filled… There are also one or two more little gems that I haven't got around to yet, but will over the coming months. Here are a couple of the installed pens. A prototype pic will follow in a day or two.

I thought that was the prototype pic Richard.
Fantastic shots.

Lovely photos Richard, very atmospheric well done! :thumbs.
Cheers Pete.

Thanks guys, here is a poor copy of the original slide showing the prototype at Thurso. Not much to show considering the vast amounts of livestock shipped out of here annually… They must have been pleased when the mart siding was put in during the war…




Recent work involved replacing two faulty Peco switches  at the station throat- the plastic ones attached to the point motor to change polarity- these were changed to micro switches acting on the lever of the motor and are now far more reliable. Photo showing it in place- a mix of screws and hot glue should ensure nothing moves to where it shouldn't….



t…

One of which needed another PW hut to hide things- the gang weren't complaining- you can't have enough shelters around here… seriously, they were everywhere - I should really have another three or four around, but just don't have room for them.

Latest addition to the layout has been an ex HR TPO- kindly given to me built but unpainted by a fellow modeller frustrated, I suspect, by my inability to start/finish the kit I have tucked away. Here it is on running trials- not finished yet, and better images to follow, but almost there.

Little modelling has been done of late, although there are a couple of currently stalled projects on the bench that should appear soonish. What I have been doing is getting reacquainted with the Canon G12, which lay in a drawer while the current layout was built, but I have taken to using it again, and am pleased with the results from it. Here are one or two from it…. a couple of shots of a freight being shunted at Helmsdale by an ex HR 0-6-0….

Those shots really look the business Richard.
Well done with the cattle dock and the micro switch as well.:thumbs:thumbs:thumbs:thumbs

:cheers  Gormo

Thanks, - a couple more recent shots- Ben Wyvis doing some shunting….



And Ben Dearg on shed at Helmsdale….

Latest from the bench has been a serious hack around of the new Hornby 700 into a close  Caledonian cousin - the Drummond brothers shared a lot of their work and although they served various railway companies, the basic design was broadly similar, fortunately for modellers. This engine is finished as one that lived here throughout the latter stages of its long life.








Here is a shot of the conversion alongside the Hornby model for those unfamiliar with this class.

That's quite a nose job Ben… Nice to be able to compare the two. Did you remove, replace, re-position the dome too?
cheers
Marty

Thanks- all the boiler fittings were removed and replaced with appropriate CR versions- from the stockpile; one of the advantages of building  a lot of kits is that spares tend to pile up- handy for jobs like this one. The cab cutout was a mix of filing away at the bottom and patching in an extra piece at the top and then filing to shape. Must say I prefer the loco in its new guise- the Hornby model represents it after rebuilding, which destroyed the classic Drummond outline of the engine.

Been busy on the workbench recently and the results should be seen in a week or so, but here are one or two taken recently on the layout. A train with some newly built horseboxes at its head is passing through Helmsdale. The first three vans are conversions of the Parkside BR fruit van into a late LMS build general merchandise one. Actually, conversion is a bit elaborate a description for it as it merely involved omitting body vents and scraping away some plastic moulding, but it does give another variant on a theme.




I took the opportunity of some sunlight reflected off the Velux striking part of the layout direct light doesn't reach to catch this view of the rear of the shed and platforms. Its a bit cramped, composition wise, bur a few moments later the sun had shifted and the moment had gone….

Just a couple more then that's me out of anything new to show until more benchwork is finished… A view of the terminus shed with the Stanier tank resting over.




And some shunting going on in the yard while a branch passenger leaves in the background.There were plans for branches from Thurso that never came to anything, but here they were built and still run…