Far North Line information

[hoytt]

Hello,

for my first serious attempt at building a route for Railworks I've decided to take a look at the southern part of the Far North Line (Inverness to Wick). Keith's stickied route building post in this forum has been very helpful in getting the information needed. I'm just left with pretty much one thing I still need to get. The Networkrail.co.uk website provided information about tracks and linespeed in the National Electronic Sectional Appendix, but their information on the gradient of the line doesn't seem to be publically available. Keith's post mentions the Ian Allen book which is still relatively easy to get, but before I decide to buy it, I'd like to know if someone can tell me if the line is actually in the book. The title mentions mainlines only and I'm not sure it ever qualified as one.

Regards,
Tjeerd

[malkymackay]

It's in it - I had the book for years, but then lost it I've just ordered a replacement from ebay.
I'm just about to make a start on the Kyle line - got most of my markers done and got DEM data. I'm also lucky to have the Highland Railway Track Plans books which show the stations in the days of steam.
Look forward to seeing your progress as I'm from Wick myself and used to travel up and down the line in the 70's and 80's.

[bigvern]

Yes defintely in there as I used it for my MSTS version and the RS Wick to Thurso "essay". I would certainly encourage you to have a go, I had considered a fresh start at the southern end myself but now firmly engrossed with Berwick to Newcastle. Inverness to Invergordon (about 31 miles) would be a good start, if feeling expansive you could also go out to Garve on the Kyle line.

[DarwinS]

Try on the Am Baile site you can get detailed gradient profiles from the HRS archive there. They have more detail than the gradient profiles book - especially useful for the Kyle line where the gradient is constantly changing.

I recommend you find some way to copy and save them as Am Baile is under threat from the government cuts.

[bigvern]

As it's a year since the "OP" I wonder if this project ever made it out of the planning stage?

[chrisreb]

If not I still hold out the hope Vern that you might extend your route which I have always enjoyed.

[almark]

I think we all hold that hope!

[bigvern]

Sadly the source files (blueprints) are long gone and without those it is virtually impossible to resume work on a route.

I've also got something a little more exotic (and quite spectacular) in mind, which I'm currently building in TS2009 but hoping to replicate in RW later on. However I want to finish the TS version first and in truth I don't think it's worth starting a mountainous route in RW until after the next core update when hopefully we will get the distant mountains and multiple object feature. Parts of this line run through dense forest and in its current iteration, RW does not do that well.