You’re getting on my Wick…
The lure of Scotland’s ‘Far North’ lines is strong, I’ve longed to model them since childhood, after pouring over photos of Steve Flint’s Kyle of Tongue…
Yet they suffer from the same problem as many of my dreams, lack of space… indeed the scale of the scenery involved would be best served by working in N scale as I’m experimenting with for the Canadian logging railroad.
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| Wick, September 1975 (http://www.eastbank.org.uk/north.htm) |
However, if you’ve not got space how do you capture something of the character of these lines? As I stood on the platform at Wick myself, under the train shed roof with the smell of old oil amd stale diesel it struck me that this environment evoked much of the emotional response and could allow a much more compact slice of the line…
Taking the prototype it is easy to see that in 1:76 it is possible to squeeze the scene into just 2ft… a letter box view with the lighting coming through a fully modelled and detailed interior roof, empty station until the highly detailed sound fitted locomotive arrives with its short ttrain. The scheme allows some full size modelling for those space starved modellers… a Sutton Locomotive Works 24/1 and suitable regauged Mk1 coach would suffice, a short fiddle stick allowing the train to ‘go somewhere’… the lack of point work would allow you to experiment with P4 (or EM at least), aiming for a highly detailed scene and a layout that could be welcome part of your home as an item of 3D artwork.
Finally, apologies for the terrible pun, until next time, more soon…
This is really great, I especially like the lighting through the skylights. With the small size of LEDs and the good chunk of volume back there, I wonder if it's possible to somehow replicate the change of lighting through the day? different coloured lights over different parts of the skylight to represent morning and evening light coming from different directions or somesuch.
ReplyDeleteYes perhaps, there is definitely space for that… even just getting a dimmer for them would allow different moods to be depicted. Add the station lighting inside the canopy for even more variation… perhaps in the office and waiting room. You’d also need something on the outside too…. Above the fiddle stick, to allow the light to shine in from the open end of the train shed.
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