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West Highland Line V4, a 1980's West Highland Line layout


young37215
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  • RMweb Gold

This is shaping up beautifully.

 

How did you get on with setting up the Megapoints gadget? I intend to use that system for my S&C control, but I'll need in excess of 40 servos............

 

What is the purpose of the block of timber adjacent each of the servos in the picture?

 

EDIT: Ah, is that for mounting the polarity microswitch?

Edited by scottystitch
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  • RMweb Gold

To date my Megapoints experience is positive although I want to see how they perform over the medium term before becoming a total convert. In terms of price I estimate that if all 12 outputs on a servo controller are used, Megapoints can work out 25% cheaper then DCC Concepts Cobalt's which I see as the best alternative option.

 

Positives

 

Megapoints videos on Youtube are very helpful

Setting/adjusting the servos up using the servo controller is straightforward.

Aligning microswitch to the servo horn was very easy. As you noticed I used a block of wood to locate the switch which is glued to the baseboard.

Potential for semaphore control; I have not used this yet but the option was one of my main reasons for choosing Megapoints.

 

Questionmarks

 

I used aluminium channel as recommended by Megapoints to hold the servos, easy to produce but given the servos can move when switched, I am not yet certain this is a perfect solution.

Accessing the servos once installed under baseboards will be difficult hence the previous point is doubly important.

Time to install is probably longer than a Cobalt.

 

 

 

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  • RMweb Gold

To date my Megapoints experience is positive although I want to see how they perform over the medium term before becoming a total convert. In terms of price I estimate that if all 12 outputs on a servo controller are used, Megapoints can work out 25% cheaper then DCC Concepts Cobalt's which I see as the best alternative option.

 

Positives

 

Megapoints videos on Youtube are very helpful

Setting/adjusting the servos up using the servo controller is straightforward.

Aligning microswitch to the servo horn was very easy. As you noticed I used a block of wood to locate the switch which is glued to the baseboard.

Potential for semaphore control; I have not used this yet but the option was one of my main reasons for choosing Megapoints.

 

Questionmarks

 

I used aluminium channel as recommended by Megapoints to hold the servos, easy to produce but given the servos can move when switched, I am not yet certain this is a perfect solution.

Accessing the servos once installed under baseboards will be difficult hence the previous point is doubly important.

Time to install is probably longer than a Cobalt.

Thank you for taking the time to summarise your experience with the Megapoints.

 

I too considered the Cobalt as the most serious alternative, however, having seen a demonstration of the system at Model Rail Scotland, I was attracted to Megapoints by a) the apparent ease of plug-and-play, b) the built-in programmability, particularly for route setting, and c) the semaphore operation possibilities. That said, the demonstration was on OO equipment, whereas I model in N.

 

The advantage, of course, with Cobalt is that it has two built in electrical switches, one for Frog switching and the other, perhaps, for LED rout indicating, or signalling.

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  • RMweb Gold

The advantage, of course, with Cobalt is that it has two built in electrical switches, one for Frog switching and the other, perhaps, for LED rout indicating, or signalling.

 

I am not sure I see this as a unique feature of Cobalts. Megapoints have the functionality to deliver LED route indication from either the servo controller or the multi panel. In my case I have chosen not to use it because I see limited value on my simple layout.   

 

I too considered the Cobalt as the most serious alternative, however, having seen a demonstration of the system at Model Rail Scotland, I was attracted to Megapoints by a) the apparent ease of plug-and-play, b) the built-in programmability, particularly for route setting, and c) the semaphore operation possibilities. That said, the demonstration was on OO equipment, whereas I model in N.

 

Plug and play is a fair description in my experience of Megapoints so far and I would recommend that you give it a go. I cannot see any different problems in using Megapoints to control N guage operations to that of OO. I hope and expect to get quicker with my future installations which I will record on here. The southern end of Crianlarich is next on my workbench where I have one baseboard containing 5 points and two semaphores.   

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  • RMweb Gold

Having sorted the diamond, I am able to start moving forward with the remainder of Crianlarich. Originally I was going to replicate the two bridges that carry the line across Strathfillan. In situ two bridges looked cramped so I decided a longer, single bridge would be a better option. This will be the first bridge heading north from Crianlarich which crosses the A82 and the old C&O line. I extended the bridge deck to enable the inclusion of a fourth column in line with the real thing.

 

Bridge deck before extending

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Extended area

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Extended deck before painting

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Extended deck after painting

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I also inserted a small but potentially important, removable piece of baseboard to enable access to the servos that will motorise the two signals which will slide out under the Fort William line. Sods law being what it is, I am sure that had I not done this I would have encountered difficulty accessing the servos.

 

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Finally and as can be glimpsed from the last picture above, I have started construction of the station platform. Completing the platform and adding the railings to the bridge deck are next on the 'to do' list. I just need my new, extra strong glasses to turn up so that I can see what I am doing with the fine detailing this entails!  

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  • RMweb Gold

Making good progress, and knowing the area reasonably well, it will certainly have a good dollop of the flavour of the real thing.

 

Will you be laying a cosmetic representation of the truncated C&O line under the bridge?

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

Limited work at present, two main areas of focus being Crianlarich platform and erecting the trestles along the opposite side of the room. Both have been completed to test/draft stage.

 

Crianlarich looking south, underpass steps need carving out which will be completed when station building and signal box arrive

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Crianlarich looking north

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New trestles in situ, 14m in length. Ardlui platform is located approximately where it will sit

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Although I have a track plan, I find it best to place track on a temporary basis to guage whether or not it feels right. Experience has taught me that the best outcome is achieved this way. Therefore I have placed track on the sections for Arrochar, Mallaig Junction Yard and Tom na Faire depot. Arrochar will sit on a narrow ledge about 300mm wide and 100mm below the level of the Fort William area. I have to install slightly wider baseboard for Arrochar but first I want to work out where the station will sit best so as not to be to intrusive into the Fort William area.   

 

Tom na Faire, not all sidings will fit in the space available but enough to create the feel.

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Mallaig Junction yard and Arrochar areas

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  • 1 month later...
  • RMweb Gold

A month of faffing around trying to judge (and repeatedly failing) the best height for the upper section has left me frustrated. I decided to try a different approach and go against my first rule for WHL 4 of only starting a new section once I the previous one is complete. I felt that I need to get a better feel for the whole of the lower section comprising 4 stations and the main fiddle yard. I decided to lay the track for the lower section in the hope it would help determine the height of the upper section and because the thought of running trains over an extended line appealed to me!

 

The first station heading north from Glasgow is Garelochead. As with all stations it is my intention to create an impression that reflects real life and not try to achieve a scale sized replica. I hope that I am not infringing any copyrights by attaching the first picture of the real thing. 

 

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My first attempt at creating the same profile 

 

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Southbound passenger service

 

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Overall station view

 

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Encouraged by running trains to Garelochead, I will now extend the line to the next station Arrochar.  

 

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  • RMweb Gold

Managed to extend the running line from Garelochead to Arrochar. Both station platforms require construction but the track laid seems to work and look OK. The lower level section running line now covers about 70% of what I plan with Ardlui station and surrounding area required to complete it. My next major step is to fit the upper section boards. Initially it feels as though the lower level track laying has helped with getting the perspective for the upper level; I just hope this is how it turns out in reality.

 

37 arrives at Arrochar with a southbound train

 

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View of Arrochar station looking south. Upper section baseboards will be trimmed back by about 75mm to create a greater feeling of space on the lower section.

 

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Arrochar yard area. Not happy with this as yet, in reality the sidings are at a lower level which will prove difficult to recreate in a space constrained area.

 

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Panorama of Garelochead and Arrochar section. The area in front of the window will be hidden from view so as to allow trains to pause as they travel between the two stations.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

Nothing further to report because I am now away on holiday for a couple of weeks. However work has not stopped entirely, this morning in a moment of suffering from modelling withdrawl, I extracted a copy of the 1983 working timetable and worked out that for the 6 stations I plan building a days operation of mandatory services will involve 117 separate train movements. Allowing an average of 2 minutes per train movement, an operating day will last nearly 4 hours!

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  • 1 month later...
  • RMweb Gold

In addition to my constant tweaking of station positions, in recent weeks I have added most of the connections to the power BUS for Garelochead and Arrochar, weathered the trackwork at Garelochead and made a start on the trackwork for Ardlui which will be the fourth and final station on the lower circuit. Later today I aim to complete the lower loop baseboard by installing a relatively short 1.2m board which will enable 'roundy roundy' trains to be run.  

 

The difference that weathering track makes is huge and is straightforward to achieve. Previously I have sprayed the track with Railmatch spray cans but is expensive and the nozzles are prone to blockages. Enter an Iwata Neo air brush loaded with thinned Railmatch sleeper grime and hey presto, weathered track at a lower cost. The paint is allowed to dry and the top of the track is cleaned up using a Peco track rubber and vacuumed to remove the debris. A before and after picture speaks volumes 

 

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Garelochead track weathered and all connected to the power BUS. The sleepers of the unconnected piece of track will be glued in situ to mimic where the line to the old turntable and which was lifted in the early 1980's once sat.

 

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Ardlui station track takes shape

 

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There is a long run from Arrochar to Ardlui, I have not decided on whether to break this with a bridge/tunnel/cutting as yet and will wait to see how it blends into the upper section before deciding.

 

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It's all starting to come together rather nicely.

 

One thing I would suggest - when you're airbrushing the trackwork, I would have a cleaning rag/tissue along with some white spirit and wipe the crown of the rails as you go along. It's easy to wipe off when still wet and also it negates the need for using a rubber trackcleaner which relies on abrasive (qualities?) to remove the dried paint. What that does in the long run is score the rail with tiny scratches which then attract more dirt, are harder to remove and require more cleaning!

 

I tend to use cleaning agents such as Isopropyl Alcohol to clean trackwork - it removes grease and dirt without scratching the rail. Any stubborn dirt or paint, a glass fibre bundle would be a better choice.

The other side of using a track rubber is that small debris ( which is electrically conductive ) can accumulate or get trapped in bits of point work etc and can cause some nasty short circuits.

 

cheers

 

Andy

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  • RMweb Gold

It's all starting to come together rather nicely.

 

One thing I would suggest - when you're airbrushing the trackwork, I would have a cleaning rag/tissue along with some white spirit and wipe the crown of the rails as you go along. It's easy to wipe off when still wet and also it negates the need for using a rubber trackcleaner which relies on abrasive (qualities?) to remove the dried paint. What that does in the long run is score the rail with tiny scratches which then attract more dirt, are harder to remove and require more cleaning!

 

I tend to use cleaning agents such as Isopropyl Alcohol to clean trackwork - it removes grease and dirt without scratching the rail. Any stubborn dirt or paint, a glass fibre bundle would be a better choice.

The other side of using a track rubber is that small debris ( which is electrically conductive ) can accumulate or get trapped in bits of point work etc and can cause some nasty short circuits.

 

cheers

 

Andy

Interesting suggestion Andy which makes good sense and probably speeds up the whole process. I will try it next time I am spraying track.  

 

I have seen previous negative comment about abrasive track cleaners and whilst I can understand the rationale, in 30 plus years of using them, they have always delivered what I have asked of them.

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  • RMweb Gold

At last I have a continuous loop over which I can run trains. The trackwork at Ardlui has been laid in full and connected to the power BUS. Trains have been run in both directions and, so far, so good it all seems to work smoothly.

 

Now that I can break up development work with running trains, I intend reverting to the outstanding work at Crianlarich where a number of tasks are outstanding. Hopefully I can keep focused on finishing Crianlarich before starting any other development work.   

 

The first train to Ardlui on WHL4, 37026 arrives with a Glasgow bound rake of empty TTA's.post-24755-0-58381300-1509202031_thumb.jpg

 

37026 departs Ardlui

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37027 arrives at Arrochar with the sleeper service for Fort William

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Trains cross at Arrochar

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Trains now everywhere, 37191 rests in the sidings at Ardlui having brought in an engineers train

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  • RMweb Gold

The timing of my last post was prophetic, the following day the station building for Crianlarich arrived in the post. This is another bespoke card construction from Dawson Hall which is just as good as the others they have made for me. In situ it really looks the part, I need to get on and finish the platform now.

 

In between running trains, I spent some time tidying up the Crianlarich section and took the decision to replace the code 75 flexi track to the south of the station with some old code 100 set track 3rd radius curves. Despite having used the 3rd radius curves to set a line for the flexi track to follow, I was not happy with the running where derailments were common. Operationally the set track is a big improvement with derailments eradicated so far and visually the higher profile rails are not that obvious. With ballasting I hope that it will all blend in seamlessly. 

 

Station viewed from the east

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Station buildings looking north

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Station from the A82

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Replacement set track curves

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Edited by young37215
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

After a few hours of running trains I could not resist starting the construction of the platforms for Ardlui and Arrochar. Even with the platforms only in basic outline condition there is a much greater feeling of reality when running. I intend doing the same with Garelochead when some more plasticard arrives. 

 

Ardlui platform is complete, detailing now required

 

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Arrochar waits for a delivery of more plasticard to complete the platform walls

 

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37022 at Crianlarich with the 08.37 Glasgow to Mallaig service

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  • RMweb Gold

A little more work on Arrochar has completed the platform although it requires a little fine tuning to enable trains to pass without grazing the platform edge and painting. In time I will add coping stones to the platform edge and the pink/brown gravel which is so much a feature of the line to the rest of the platform surface. Although still rudimentary, with the station buildings in place Arrochar increasingly looks and feels like part of the west highland line.

 

In addition to Arrochar, Ardlui and Crianlarich have also had their underpass steps installed.  

 

Oban trains pass at Arrochar

 

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Crianlarich underpass. The steps from the platform are aligned to the tunnel under the track.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

It has been a frustrating few weeks with the motorisation of the pointwork at the southern end of Crianlarich. There are a total of 9 points and I intend motorising all of them. I designed the southern end around two baseboards, 5 points on one and 4 on the other so that I could install the motors on the workbench and simply drop the board into place. Given that each point comprises 4 wires plus servo cable, I wanted to secure everything to avoid the undignified scramble of trying to do this from underneath the boards. Board 1 went pretty smoothly taking only a few hours of work and is working well. Pictured on the workbench before addition of all wiring gives some idea of the amount of wiring involved. 

 

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Pictured in situ from underneath with all wires in place and power BUS attached.

 

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Board 2 has been a right basket case due largely to several schoolboy errors and remains work in progress. I hope that I have identified all of the problems and that I can get this installed during the week ahead.  

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

Finally all of the pointwork at Crianlarich has been motorised and electrofrogs duly wired up. It has been a beast of a job, 9 points at the southern end have taken what seems like forever: in reality it is about 3 months. My first experience with electrofrog points and servo driven point motors has had many 'learning opportunities' along the way and it would be fair to say that if there is an error that can be made, I have made it in the past 3 months!

 

I can now start on the scenic work at Crianlarich but first, by way of some light relief, I intend a few days running to prove that everything works and for a little light relief.

 

In the meantime a happy modelling new year to everyone.

 

37085 awaits departure from Crianlarich with southbound alumina empties

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20 and 37 at Crianlarich

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37022 approaches Crianlarich with the southbound sleeper service

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37022 arrives at Crianlarich

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A new purchase leaves Arrochar with empty ballast wagons, I need to decide on a WHL loco to re-number this to 

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