ScR steam in the 50's

Some more shots of the recent work.





Two pics of the main yard sheds - SR design provender store, operated by Sillocks who supplied animal feedstuff and an LMS prefabricated one that served the same purpose although I have not yet found how this one operated. Might just have been a rat secure store for individual customers.. Also an old brake van on a platform. The one at Thurso was an LNWR one but for ease I used a Smallbrook pre group SR resin one as there does not seem to be a kit for the NW one and I couldn't be bothered putting the time in to scratchbuild one . The Sillock store is a couple of Ratio kits with a new roof and a lot of cursing - it is a s*d to put together with all different panel joining spars and far too often I had to take apart ones that I had used the wrong shape for. The LMS one was scratch built and far easier to do and looking back I'd have been quicker and easier doing the provender  body the same way and just using the pillar supports from the kit….







Some of the huts that lived in the place - the yard was full of them, about a dozen that served various purposes, some obvious and others now unknown… I presume the little hut at the cattle siding was related to livestock sales and the converted van was used by the C&W dept for many years.  

Catch up time. The last whiles have been spent fettling various bought in brass kit built locos, getting them to my running standards, which took more time than intended , although done now. I'll look at this later, buy here are two RTR conversions I did a a bit of relaxation along the way during the updating.

First is a proposed HR 0-8-0 which never got beyond a GA drawing, but it managed to tempt me into a model of it. For ease a Bachmann G2 chassis was used and a couple of plastic GBL T9 bodies for the superstructure. HR boiler fittings finished it off.







The second was a 4-4-0T that the Highland acquired as a failed export order and were known as the Yankee tanks. I have a brass kit in the stash, but could not see myself ever getting round to doing it so I made a close copy from a Hornby Radial. Its slightly overlong, mainly in the boiler area, but passes muster as far as I'm concerned. Here it is on the bench nearly done with a photo of the prototype beside it. Then a couple of it on the layout.







More to follow….

That Yankee Tank is a very strange looking loco Richard - I'm not surprised it was a failed order ……………were they short of steel …………..?   

They were built for the Uruguay Railway who could not pay for them so the HR stepped in. Certainly different to most British tanks...

Good stuff Ben and a lot of work involved, the loco looks brush painted? 

Hi Ben,

Nice looking models.

Yankee = American = 4-4-O, the standard wheel arrangement for freight and passenger locomotives here for many years until cars become heavier and trains longer. The name was first used in 1872, although the "Eight Wheeler" dates back to the 1830s. Atlantic, Mogul, Prairie or Pacific were commonly used in the UK, but American seems to have been uncommon. Many classification names came from one named engine.

Nigel

The term Yankee was never really applied here in Blighty to that wheel arrangement, although it was a very common type of loco. In this instance Yankee was an enginemens slang for the tanks that has passed in to a standard description of them. Whether they were aware of the irony of calling an engine destined for S America a Yankee is not known….
The loco was spray painted as per usual - Games Workshop Chaos Black - but as a trial I weathered it with powders rather than a further airbrush working as has been my norm to now. Still a bit undecided about it all…

Ben, not a criticism at all but when I zoomed in on the loco boiler area, that's the picture with the loco and photograph combined it looked brushed, it looks great with the other shots.

Not taken as a criticism at all; I'm more than open to thoughts- that's why I post, plus an attempt to try and encourage folk to do something for themselves, which works better on some forums than others…The photo on the bench with the prototype pic was in its original GW sprayed state  and gained its weathering after all work was done. I quite like the rougher finish as opposed to the smoother airbrushed ones I have done up to now but you do see the difference when two are set side by side. This does not come across in forum photos, but I suppose every engine was in different states of grime. I'm attracted to powder weathering as it is a lot quicker and easier than setting up the airbrush and all the associated cleaning involved.

It's common to find, well, in my experience that sometimes a loco, wagon, building etc can look good viewing by eye, it's not until a picture is taken that we really see what's going on, but that's good because it can then be corrected if need be.
I usually dust on the overall weather grime around the bottom half of loco's with an airbrush, the water stains I add with deluted paint by brush, but I like you like weathering powders also, especially rust and it's so easy to apply. I've found no real need to spray over to seal it in as long as the loco isn't handled a lot.

[user=772]Ben Alder[/user] wrote:

…….but passes muster as far as I'm concerned.

Ben

That’s our hobby right there.  Wonderful approach and a wonderful layout to prove that the rivet-counters are wrong.

More please

Barry

Thanks all - by being  pragmatic in my modelling with regard to locos I  have managed to achieve what I dreamt about as a youth -  HR and CR  engines that run well and were part of the FNL fleet. This seemed  impossible with what was available in 1970 and it was really only with  the quantum step in RTR standards when Hornby and Bachmann started  upping the ante that the combination of good runners and appropriate  engines became available. Fortunately I had the foresight to gather in  the white metal kits that provided the basis for much of the fleet, and  also that the Drummond brothers had spells at several Scottish and  English railways, leaving their mark as they went with a family of  designs that were more or less unchanged where ever they went, and the  surge of RTR releases for the Southern railways provided the basis for  similar Scottish ones.

Here are a couple of shed shots from the other day when I was ostensibly cleaning up the railway room…

Bit of a hiccup back there.. Here are two more - a HR Clan Goods leaving with empties and a CR 4-4-0 anticipating bad weather at Helmsdale shed.

Short freight arriving at Helmsdale


 

Absolutely super photos and great modelling!!

Michael

Some good stuff there Ben. :thumbs

Thanks - I'll post some more up soon, but I feel a call of the workbench for now…

Recent activity has included a new water tower at the terminus - a 3D printed model to HR dimensions - the existing one was a cut down Airfix GW one and the wrong proportions but I had backed off doing anything about it due to the complexities  of scratchbuilding one. Now another  marker feature of a Highland station is in place; I'll take a look at it later. Here it is along with a couple of random recent pics.

Hi Richard.  I keep going back to your Railway Empire , and seeing something “ new “ each time. But I have only just noticed the change of scenery, the snow has gone. Very good job. Best wishes Kevin