Archive for March, 2019

Obituary

Posted on March 1, 2019. Filed under: Further Progress |

On the mat when I returned after several weeks in the West Country was the latest issue of Highland Railway Journal No 128 Spring 2019 containing my article “Culrain Dilemmas”. I read that “(Kyle of Sutherland) is now dismantled, though part of it may form a small, working diorama on which to run the occasional train from the Railway Cabinet”. That’s mostly true, but has a different conclusion.

It had certainly been my plan to retain part of the layout as a diorama, but as any seasoned railway modeller will know, this is easier than it sounds. I compromised by saving the tree modules, buildings, and all the small architectural and railway items that contribute to a model railway, for re-cycling. The scenic baseboards are now at the local dump, with the exception of a 3’ by 2’3” framework for a new diorama yet to be made (see “St Donats 1963” on the Blogroll). The photographs in “The First Trees” and “Summer’s Lease” (Further Progress, February 1 and January 1) were taken on the very last piece of scenery to remain intact as Kyle of Sutherland was being dismantled.

The HRJ article was a fitting obituary to this seventeen year project: the layout-to-be was first mentioned in HRJ No 61 Spring 2002.