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young37215

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  1. young37215
    Like buses, you wait for days for a post and then several turn up together! An enjoyable days operations resulted in the following pictures:
     
    Tamper sits in the sidings at Garelochead as 8B05, the 14.55 Mossend to Oban passes

    37039 at Garelochead with 8B05

    37039 departs Garelochead

    Class 20’s sit idly at Mallaig Junction Yard awaiting their next turn of duty

    37085 at Ardlui with 7D12, 12.30 Corpach to Mossend

    37014 arrives at Ardlui with 7B20, 13.50 Mossend to Corpach

    37191 at Bridge of Orchy with 1T45, 12.45 Mallaig to Glasgow

    37264 arrives at Bridge of Orchy and passes 1T45

    37085 departs Garelochead with 7D12

    27105 arrives at Fort William with the ECS for the 16.30 to Mallaig

    20045 draws the ECS of the steam service out of the platform and back to the carriage sidings

  2. young37215

    Stations

    By young37215,

    There are 5 scenic sections on WHL 3, 4 of which are the station areas. The station platforms are simple scratch built representations and not scale sized replicas. As I have learnt and gained more experience each station in chronological order of construction has improved in quality. Fort William and Ardlui were the last two built and are closer in terms of track orientation and visual appearance. Garelochead and Bridge of Orchy are much less so in both respects, essentially they comprise simple, generic island platforms with little resemblance to the real thing.
     
    Compromises are made with the typical Swiss chalet station building found on the West Highland. Nothing that feels or looks chalet like is produced by anyone and at this time I do not feel inclined or sufficiently confident to attempt a scratch build. Therefore I have settled on a compromise for the buildings at Garelochead and Bridge of Orchy where I use the Pola Mortimer station painted in the green and cream colours used on the WHL in the early 80’s. It is a long way from the actual but is the best I can do at this time. Fort William is an even more simple approach with the station building comprising part of the hand painted backscene. Signal boxes are Hornby level crossing signal boxes from the Skaledale range. They are closer to the real thing than the station buildings although there is still a major dollop of artistic licence in using them. Underpasses used to gain access to the island platforms are Peco's.
     
    Garelochead,


    Ardlui,



    Bridge of Orchy



    Fort William.


    Mallaig Junction yard makes up the fifth section.


  3. young37215
    I have now completed Fort William station with the addition of the canopy. It is scratch built using plasticard and plastruct materials. I am rather pleased with the results, doubly so as this is the first serious attempt I have made at scratch building anything.
     
    On the downside, the Fort William station section is suffering with electrical problems on the power BUS and point motor alignment. What is doubly frustrating is that I tested all power and point motors on the workbench before returning the section and re-connecting all cables. Despite my extensive vocabulary of expletives, I am struggling to find words that reflect my thoughts!
     
    Initial canopy before painting

    Progress, the canopy stands up!

    What I want to re-create

    Painted canopies

    Station name boards added

    Station returned to Fort William section with 37049 testing the power and point motors

    Looking good so far

    Loco stall and errant point motor will not budge!

    Given up on electrical problems and started running instead, 37039 crosses 37191 at Ardlui

    Just for 'Healey Mills' Lee. Yes I have an ETHEL for the air con sleeper.

  4. young37215
    There are a host of reasons why I model in general and the west highlands in particular. One of these is an attempt to recreate images in my mind of a period in my past where I have fond memories of sitting in a mark 1 coach watching the world go by in what seemed a timeless and carefree period of my life. Doing so in a 13 foot by 11 foot room carries obvious challenges although reference to videos and pictures found in books and on the internet help jog my memory. Essentially incorporating these pictures into cameos on my model enables me to create an effective illusion of what I recall from my bashing days.
     
    The following selection of pictures reflect some of what I have seen in books and other media. They portray what I consider the quintessential WHL:
     
    37 approaches Ardlui surrounded by greenery and with a backdrop of mountains

    In bright early morning sunlight, freight trains pass each other at the typical WHL island platform of Ardlui

    37 threads its way through the landscape as it begins the climb towards Rannoch moor
    with late afternoon light reflecting off of the coaches, a 37 descends from Rannoch moor towards Bridge of Orchy

    37 approaches Bridge of Orchy in remote terrain

    37 rounds a tight curve through a cutting on the approach to Garelochead

    classical shot from the footbridge at Mallaig Junction yard looking towards Ben Nevis

    Class 27 shunts the typical small WHL yard at Ardlui

  5. young37215
    Although the class 37’s had taken over day to day operations on the West Highland line by the early 1980's, class 27's still put in appearances when there were class 37 shortages. The harsh winter of 1981/2 meant that a number of 37's required extended works attention for a wide range of frost damage resulting in an increase in outings for both 20's and 27's. Below are a series of pictures showing examples of such workings on WHL3. Note 27105’s appearance having been released from its Glasgow to Edinburgh push pull duties by the introduction of 47/7’s but before its further renumbering to 27049.
     
    My fleet of 3 class 27’s are Heljan models fitted with Loksound soundchips. 2 have Howes sound and the third has Olivias; for me the Howes version is the superior by a distance. The 2 class 20’s are Bachmann offerings also fitted with Loksound soundchips. Sound comes from 1 each of SWD and Howes and are of similar high quality. Both locos are currently going through a renumbering and detailing programme hence their appearance without numbers. When finished they will be numbered 20045 (disc headcode) and 20184 (centre headcode) which were both WHL regulars in the early 1980's. Both have just been fitted with working headcode and tail lights by Jason Edmunds of Stickswipe fame which bring them into line with the rest of my loco fleet.
     
    20184 enters Mallaig Junction yard with the tribometer train. Bit of artistic licence here, I doubt that the trib ever did the west highlands but, since I have the rolling stock, who cares?

    27032 at Ardlui with an engineers ballast train

    20045 at Bridge of Orchy collecting engineers mess coach

    27105 arrives at Ardlui with a short Mossend to Oban freight

    27041 at Garelochead with southbound Oban Glasgow service

    Preparation for the winter, 27041 and 27105 move the snow ploughs at Mallaig Junction yard

  6. young37215
    Significant progress made with Fort William station and the backscene at long last. This finalises the major development of WHL 3 leaving me only with the typical ongoing activity of additional detailing. The pictures below show the various stages of development comprising:
     
    · Track and platform weathered
    · Several additional droppers added to the power BUS
    · Wooden platform edges replaced with Peco ones.
    · Station detailing added, the canopies covering the first part of the platform remain under development
    · Lochaber area backscene finished
     
    Additionally the framework on which Fort William station sits has been adjusted to ensure stability and to avoid fouling locos climbing to Bridge of Orchy on the incline which sits below Fort William. I also had to re-visit the Bridge of Orchy section module where a recurring point motor alignment problem has provided much frustration. Having lifted the section on several occasions, I appear to have finally resolved this.
    The surrounding scenic sections have been restored to their rightful positions, now for some running action….
     
    Old station and lack of backscene

    Station trackwork after weathering and re=ballasting

    Updated station with backscene

    Updated station with trains!

    37191 awaits departure for Glasgow

    37049 crosses Mallaig Junction with the steam service

    37049 arrives at Fort William

    27105 substituting for a failed 37 awaits departure with the 16.30 Mallaig service

  7. young37215
    My next task is to finish the upper section comprising Mallaig junction yard and Fort William station. A major part of this will be creating a backscene running along the three walls that frame the upper section to create an impression of the Nevis mountain range that overlooks Lochaber. In addition I want to complete the scenic part of Mallaig junction including the oil terminal siding and update/improve Fort William station.
    The first step will be the backscene where options appear twofold:
     
    · Visit Fort William and photograph the mountains. I think my Iphone camera panoramic app will be good for this. Manipulate photographs as required using Photoshop and print onto paper for gluing to the wall.
    · Paint the wall sky blue and add the mountain range by hand
     
    I prefer the first option but live 500 miles away from Fort William and am unlikely to visit before April 2016. Therefore option 2 will be tried first which works as the sky blue area will be needed even if I can produce an acceptable photographic backscene. I have already bought large pot of sky blue paint which will be rollered on to the wall. This will be the easy bit (provided I remember to cover the layout first), the greater challenge will be the artwork required to represent the mountains because my artistic skills are negligible. Fortunately I live next door to a professional artist who will provide support and guidance. I want to create a backdrop that creates an impression along the lines of the photo below which comes from Tom Noble’s book ‘The West Highland Extension’.

    As you can see from the following picture of Mallaig Junction yard, I am currently some way away from my aspiration! They show 27041 having just arrived with a trip working from Corpach.
     

     
    The following show the Lochaber area looking ripe for improvement.
     

  8. young37215

    Plans of WHL 3

    By young37215,

    Although much of the development of WHL has been off the cuff, I did start with a simple track plan designed to achieve my main aims for the layout. Whilst my overriding concept of 4 stations joined by hidden passing points remained intact, the plan evolved as I laid the track and found the myriad of obstacles that represent the challenge of building a model of 160 plus miles of railway line in a room 13' by 11' to what the layout comprises today. I attach copies of the current design in plan form below showing how the layout runs around the edge of the room with the central area as my operating zone. The layout is over two levels with the upper level about 7 inches above the lower which sits inside of the upper level section.
    Blue lines comprise the scenic section areas,
    black lines on the upper level are a partially visible fiddle yard
    dotted lines on the lower level are passing points and sidings hidden below the upper level out of sight.

    Two ramps either side of Bridge of Orchy link the upper and lower sections. The lower section is a continuous loop with the main fiddle yard which sits below Mallaig Junction Yard on the upper level. The main fiddle yard is supplemented on the lower level by what are effectively hidden carriage storage sidings representing Glasgow Queen Street and Oban.

     
    The upper level is a horseshoe running above and outside of the lower section. The climb up the ramp away from Bridge of Orchy on the mezzanine level to Tulloch is a scenic section for most of the run where my sound fitted locos can make a great noise as they pound up the incline. Tulloch is a hidden passing loop behind Mallaig Junction yard where trains wait time for their next scheduled movement.

     
    As with any model of the real thing there are umpteen compromises to make it all fit together and work. Nevertheless I am happy that that I have created some of the ambience and feel of the West Highland Line. I have spent many hours building and operating the layout to date and plan to continue its development as time and money allows.
  9. young37215
    Slow progress of late but several, steady steps taken with the planned developments of Lochaber region as follows:
    walls all painted blue
    first effort at mountainous backscene for Mallaig Junction yard created which has significant room for improvement!
    Mallaig junction yard scenic section largely completed. I am contemplating adding working lights to the yard as the area in general is poorly lit.

    Further work delayed by an impending Xmas holiday to Lapland. All being well I aim to re-start activity after our scheduled return on the day after Boxing Day. Pictures show a before and current state of Mallaig Junction yard.
     

  10. young37215
    I have spent a lot of time planning WHL 4 of late which has whetted my appetite for some operations. Quite literally I dusted off WHL3 and managed to have something of an operating session. The levels of dirt still on the track meant that I had a number of stalls and power disruptions but as the pictures are silent and static, you cannot tell from the following:
     
    37027 at Garelochead with northbound sleeper

    37014 reverses 8D10 out of Mallaig Junction yard to join the main line

    20184 trundles light engine through Mallaig junction yard en route to Corpach

    37191 at Ardlui with northbound freight 7B02

    37192 waits departure from Fort William with 1T24, the first southbound service of the day

    37039 arrives Garelochead with 1B08

    37108 rests at Ardlui with 1T16

    37014 through the trees and bushes north of Bridge of Orchy with 8D10

    37192 passes the oil terminal and crosses Mallaig junction with 1T24

    37191 departs Bridge of Orchy with 7B02

  11. young37215

    The end of the line

    By young37215,

    The lack of updates of late have been due to a number of factors, one of which has been the construction of a usable space in my loft to where I will relocate my modelling. I had intended to do so gradually over the winter months but, upon my return to WHL3, I find that the dust and grime caused by the building work has had a seriously detrimental effect on electrical performance. This means I either spend a sizeable amount of time on cleaning track and rolling stock or I bite the bullet and re-locate now. I have chosen the latter which means this will be the last post for WHL 3.
     
    I feel very sad to be facing the destruction of over 5 years of modelling during which I have re-kindled my interest and developed my skills to a level I never thought I was capable of. Despite their development, my skills have a long way to go before I would consider myself anything other than, to use Railway Modeller vernacular, an average modeller. I look forward to the next step in my development and the evolution of WHL 4 which I will chart on this forum as a new thread rather than a blog.
     
    Nearly 9,500 views of my WHL3 blog suggests that the West Highland Line still commands peoples interests. I hope that the following pictures taken during WHL3's development provide an appropriate epilogue to the hours of entertainment it has given me.
     
    Garelochead station basks in the afternoon sun awaiting the next arrival

    37026 awaits departure from Garelochead

    37 approaching Ardlui from the south

    37039 arrives at Ardlui with a northbound freight

    Southbound passenger service at Ardlui

    Passenger trains cross at Bridge of Orchy

    Bridge of Orchy station looking south

    37003 approaches Bridge of Orchy with Alcan hopper empties

    Fort William station activity pauses between services

    Class 37 potters in Mallaig junction yard

  12. young37215

    Scenic splendour

    By young37215,

    Power issues at Fort William resolved. These appear to have been caused by inadequate sized BUS wire where increasing capacity from 16/02 to 32/02 wire cured the problem although it was a painful and time consuming learning experience.
     
    Much has been justifiably written about the scenic splendour of the WHL. Trying to capture this in model form with limited space is an impossible challenge although with a little thought it is possible to create the illusion of the line and the vast open spaces through which it traverses. The following pictures are some of my favourite of the hundreds I have taken of WHL so far:
     
    37022 approaches Garelochead with a southbound service from Oban

    27032 south of Ardlui with a Mossend bound freight

    37108 arrives at Ardlui with an Oban service

    37026 pulls away from Ardlui with a Mallaig Junction to Mossend freight

    37's cross at Ardlui

    37049 and 37003 double head the empty Alcan hoppers as they return to Blyth

    27041 about to depart to Corpach from Mallaig Junction yard with a trip working

    Boarded crossing at Mallaig Junction yard

  13. young37215
    After a number of days spent primarily on development work, some running seemed in order. Apart from reminding myself that running is an important part of what I enjoy about modelling, it enables me to further test and prove the enhanced power BUS. Frustratingly I have found that the more power droppers I install, the more I seem to need! It may be that the lack of running means that both track and loco wheels are in need of a good clean but I am still disappointed by the number of power drops and/or interruptions which adversely affect the sound fitted locos. The locos either stall, shut down or disrupt their sound continuity which is irritating. At the current rate of adding droppers, I will end up with power direct to each length of rail.
     
    On the positive side, the days running provided an interlude and an opportunity to draw breath before I bite the bullet and lift the Fort William station section for refurbishment. After reference to the Class 37 Loco Groups website, I identified that most services on 28/7/82 were hauled by locos in my fleet. I therefore borrowed the space/time displacement machine of Dave from Waverley West fame and programmed it to return to 28th July 1982. With a little artistic licence, the following workings were seen.
     
    20045 shunts the Fort William oil terminal

    37192 runs 1T45 over Mallaig Junction en route to Fort William

    37192 arrives at Fort William station

    37049 replacing failed steam loco on Mallaig service and 37192 on 1T45 both await departure from Fort William. (Time displacement failure noted here as steam service did not start until 1984!)

    37022 brings the midday Oban service from Glasgow 1B11 into Ardlui

    37022 awaits departure from Ardlui with 1B11

    37049 heads the steam service to Mallaig through Mallaig Junction Yard

    37108 arrives at Garelochead with 1T32, the afternoon service to Glasgow from Oban

    37264 on 7B13 arrives at Garelochead and passes 1T32

    37264 departs Gare4lochead with 7B13

    37085 arrives at Mallaig Junction Yard with 7D12, the midday service from Corpach to Mossend

  14. young37215

    Ever onwards

    By young37215,

    Mojo has been low in recent weeks resulting in little time being spent on WHL 3. Consequently only modest progress has been made with developing the remaining Lochaber scenic area. Father in laws recent visit helped me resolve a soldering iron problem, a £60 outlay later means wallet feeling lighter but I do have a new and more powerful iron. This has helped tremendously with the soldering of the droppers to the track for connection to the power BUS and I am seeing the results of the BUS with better electrical continuity and reduced numbers of dropouts.
     
    I am now largely finished with Mallaig Junction scenic section and am about to start work on Fort William station. Lighting for Mallaig Junction remains an issue because the area is furthest from the window and my shadow blocks out the light from both the room light and the window. I have not found any model form yard lighting that looks sufficiently representative of the original and so intend fixing a new light high up on the wall above the area to shine down on the area. The backscene has been developed and whilst not perfect as yet, it now creates much of the ambiance that I seek.
     
    There has been little running of late but I captured the following movements:
     
    20048 rests at Mallaig Junction yard in between trip work

    General view of Mallaig Junction yard

    TTA’s sit in oil terminal siding

    View of Mallaig Junction signal box and crossing

    37264 waits at Ardlui with a short engineers train

  15. young37215
    Hi
     
    I previously blogged developments on my West Highland layout which can be found under my old user name of Young3721. The revised user name harmonises RM Web with my Ebay account so as to reduce the number of user names my aging memory has to contend with! For those that cannot be bothered to look this up or have forgotten, my layout comprises 4 stations on the WHL. The stations are representations of the actuals rather than scale sized models and are linked by a series of hidden sidings and fiddle yards thus allowing me to operate the entire WHL timetable. Each station sits in its own modular scenic section allowing access to all hidden sidings and fiddle yards.
     
    As the summer draws to a close and the weather cools, I have returned to my modelling. However I was not entirely idle during the summer having spent some time on Bridge of Orchy. Travelling north, this is the third station on WHL 3 which sits as a removable section above a hidden passing point on the mezzanine level in front of the window. The initial station was a an interim one to complete and test the layout where I have now fine tuned the station and associated sidings as well as completing most of the scenery. Net result looks much improved to me so I thought I would share the development as I recorded them on camera.
     
    The first photo shows the original footprint with newly extended sidings sat on my workbench. The remainder show the revised footprint with ballast completed, track weathered, station in situ and surrounding scenery base. Apart from teething problems with one of the point motors, the upgraded Bridge of Orchy is now back in its rightful place working well.
     
    Next up on the long list of developments is the semaphore signalling where I have recently invested in 12 MSE signals. Photos to follow once these are installed.
  16. young37215
    The short circuit has finally cured itself. I may have had some influence in this because I decided to switch each of my 35 motorised points to see if one was causing the problem. It appears it was because after this the short circuit disappeared although I have no idea which point caused the problem!
     
    Having researched the various gurus views on RM Web, I decided to follow (to some extent at least) what appears to be best practice for improved power stability. I duly purchased four 10m reels of new wire, two in 6amp multi strand 32/2 size for the BUS and two in 3amp 16/2 size for droppers in the rather garish colours of orange and yellow. The bright colours will clearly differentiate the BUS from point motor cabling which is essential given I am totally and dangerously colour blind. I replaced existing power connections with 12 new ones distributed as equally as possible around the layout using a series of earth blocks. If I find any dead spots I will add connections as necessary to resolve them. Most of the power connections are on non-scenic areas which was straightforward to do, a few connections on scenic meant digging up ballast and drilling holes to enable access for the wiring. I have also divided up the layout into three independent power sections so that if further short circuits arise, it should be easier to narrow down where about they are. Finally I lifted and re-laid the curved section heading north at Mallaig junction and oil terminal siding because they appeared to have warped.
     
    At least the problems have vindicated my use of modular scenery. I designed it this way because of the number of hidden sections and sidings on the layout which need to be accessible. Removing the modules also enabled track cleaning and vacuuming of the hidden areas. Net result is that I am close to having cleaned all hidden track work and have been able to secure it with double sided tape whilst re-setting a couple of areas where the track had moved slightly out of alignment. Given some tight clearances with boards above, I have to be precise in where parts of the hidden areas track runs.
     
    Everything is now back together which should, fingers crossed, allow a few days of operations. I took a few pictures which show:
    the hidden sidings behind Garelochead used as Oban and the ramp that links the fiddle yard to the mezzanine scenic section of Bridge of Orchy.
    examples of the modular scenic sections
    the re-worked track and siding at Mallaig junction
    Garelochead section put back together

  17. young37215

    Famous last words!

    By young37215,

    Bl**dy short circuit is proving difficult to find. I have ripped up several areas of unballasted track and disconnected virtually all power; still it prevails. Net result is I will take the opportunity to start from scratch with the power BUS in the hope that this addresses both the short circuit and dead/low power areas. Consequence is little immediate likelihood of further operations; the title of my post yesterday obviously tempted fate too much. In an effort to calm my temper I have made exited the model room and drafted this further post which, given the on going problems, might be the last one for a little while!
     
    Progress arrives on WHL 3 in the form of a (Hornby) mark 3 sleeper and (converted Hornby 25) ETHEL. In line with BR's plans for the complete replacement of steam heating and the sleeper renewal programme, mark 3 sleepers will commence operation in the near future. Partly correct, I have sufficient timetable information to run any year between 1980 and 1985 that I choose. This means that I can run any option of mark 1 sleeper plus mark 1 coaches, mark 3 sleeper with ETHEL plus mark 1 coaches or mark 3 sleeper, ETHEL and mark 2D coaches as a separate train depending on my chosen year of operation.
     
    Testing of both coach and ETHEL is currently taking place; below both are seen at Fort William yard during a layover. Also photographed during the same day were:
     
    37003 on 6S56, aluminium hoppers from Blyth to Alcan Aluminium at Fort William seen at Garelochead x 3
    37191 on 1B10, at Ardlui on the summer dated Glasgow - Mallaig service x 5
    37085 on 1T13, also at Ardlui with the first service of the day from Oban x 5
    West Highland branded stock waits at Fort William for a loco. (it should be steam but until Hornby do a green version of their K1, I am sticking to diesel haulage!)
    37014 on 1T24 at Bridge of Orchy, the first down train from Mallaig x 2
  18. young37215

    Operations resumed

    By young37215,

    After a summer lay off and an initial burst of activity on locomotive detailing, my day to day operation of WHL 3 is picking up. It is at this time of year that all of the summer gremlins appear, spiders webs get noticed and the amount of dirt that accumulates on the track as it lays idle becomes evident. Therefore I have the usual track cleaning to look forward to which is currently in progress. Historically I have employed the time old Peco abrasive rubber but having read numerous posts on RMWeb, I am trialling both Dapol's track cleaner with their fluid and IPA. No clear winners yet but it will be interesting to compare how each provide longer term protection against dirt.
     
    I have also noticed a deterioration in the electrical continuity meaning that loco stalls and momentary drops in power resulting in a frustrating loss or interruption of sound are more evident. I am not sure why, when building the trackwork which totals about 150 foot from end to end, I connected power at several points along the line. Not a text book power BUS but it seemed to work well at first; now I can only think that I will have to create more connections. This is not the end of the world but a pain in the arse I could do without. I intend dusting off an old multimeter that I was given in an effort to check track voltages in an effort to identify the various weak points. This will be fun as I am clueless when it comes to power related tasks! Hopefully I can master the meter as it should enable me to confirm that the problem is power related rather than some form of track distortion.
     
    Despite all of the niggles and before an as yet undiagnosed short circuit which curtailed operations, I managed to run a half a days WHL operations as shown in the following pictures.
     
    37026 at Garelochead on the first down freight of the day 7B02 x 2
    37022 at Bridge of Orchy on the down sleeper 1B07
    37014 arrives, runs around and awaits departure from Fort Wiliam on the days first up train 1T24 x 4
    37027 departs Garelochead on the first down Oban 1B08 x 4
    37192 on the approach to and at Bridge of Orchy on the first up freight of the day 8D10 x 5
    27041 arrives at Fort William yard with empties from Corpach paper mill x 3
    37192 arrives at Ardlui with 8D10 x 2
  19. young37215
    Hi
     
    37108 (originally Bachmann 37049) and 37191 (originally Bachmann 37254) have been detailed. Both are fitted with Bachmann sound in V3.5 Loksound chips which is blasted out through base reflex speakers hidden in the fuel tanks. In my view the Bachmann sound is the weakest around especially in terms of driveability where, despite my having tweaked the CV's in an effort to improve matters, a loco regularly takes 10 seconds to rev down despite the loco having drawn to a halt!
     
    Work completed comprises:
    37191 has had the roof boiler port opened up
    37191 pipework is a combination of 0.5 mm and 0.8 mm brass wire
    37108 pipework is from a Hornby class 50 detailing kit.
    0.8 mm brass wire also makes up the hoop coupling on both locos which replace the tension locks.
    Bachmann MU cable and 3 link couplings have been added to both locos.

    Given that the brass is much cheaper, I will be interested to see how it holds up compared to the Hornby purpose made plastic stuff. I am optimistic because at first glance it is difficult to see much of a visual difference. 37108 also has Hornby oval buffers fitted in line with most 37's who had lost their bufferbeam skirts.
     
    I would have liked to add snowploughs but have not yet found a satisfactory solution. Bachmann's ploughs foul the detailing and cause derailments because they are fixed to the wheel base and not the bufferbeam as is the case in real life. Heljan class 47 ploughs look promising but need bufferbeam skirts to hide the join to the bufferbeam behind. I have several of these waiting to be detailed and will include the Heljan ploughs on the first these when I get around to it. I do not feel sufficiently confident or inclined to try and fit any of the brass ploughs on the market; net result is no ploughs at this time.
     
    Both locos require a little more weathering to tone everything down and make it all blend together. Nevertheless both look much improved from their un-detailed former selves and are back in service earning living on the WHL as can be seen from the pictures below.
     
    I have now completed 4 of the 12 37's that make up my fleet. I think I will focus on other work for the immediate future so that I can see how the detailed locos perform. This should ensure that any gremlins are ironed out rather than be replicated on the entire fleet.
  20. young37215
    Hi
     
    The second of my class 37 fleet, 37014 is now detailed:
    Loco originally Bachmann's 37034, further re-numbered from 37039 to 37014
    Bachmann MU and Vacum pipes added
    Hornby class 50 air pipes added
    0.8 mm loop coupling replaces tension locks
    Dummy Smiths chain link coupling added
    Base reflex speaker added by Merlin DCC

    The photos show that a little weathering to match the loco will blend in the pipes which I had missed with my naked eye. Nevertheless the net result sounds fantastic and looks pretty good too:
     
    Original
  21. young37215
    Hi
     
    I have just completed the detailing on the first of my class 37 fleet. Changes applied comprise:
    Originally 37251 as produced by Bachmann, loco further renumbered from 37190 to 37192
    Bachmann MU cable, 3 link coupling and vacuum brake applied
    Hornby class 50 air brake pipes applied
    0.8 mm brass loop coupling
    applied
    Blanked off boiler plate on the roof drilled out to reflect 192 when steam heat boiler was operational.

    The process was relatively straightforward although the thought of drilling holes in the bufferbeam caused several sleepless nights. However the reality was much less painful than anticipated and after gluing the parts in place with a combination of superglue and expoxy resin, 37192 now looks more like the 1985 photograph I have been using as a reference guide (page 8 of Scottish Class 37's Volume 2) albeit minus the headlight. I am contemplating adding Craftsman steam heat boiler pipework because there appears to be sufficient space. The jury is still out on this as I don't want to overly clutter the bufferbeam. Only 11 more to go! nevertheless the net result of the first one looks good to me. See for yourselves below for a before and after comparison.
  22. young37215

    Meet the fleet

    By young37215,

    Hi
     
    The fleet of locos currently operating on WHL 3 comprises:
     
    2 Bachmann class 20
    3 Heljan class 27
    11 Bachmann class 37's
    Bachmann OWB and Plasser
     
    The fleet enables me to run the entire WHL WTT plus one or two additional services as required. All have DCC sound except the OWB and Plasser which are DCC fitted. The sound comprises a range from the usual suspects all on Loksound decoders. Most of the fleet is weathered although a couple of 'ex works' locos can be seen. Locos have been renumbered in line with those allocated to Eastfield and active on the WHL in the early 80's.
     
    In to the future I plan:
    to have base reflex speakers installed in the 37's to increase the 'growl' factor. I already have a couple of base reflex's completed by Merlin DCC, the Biffo affiliate which sound monstrous.
    renumbering 37190 to 37192 and both of the 20's to represent those fitted with through steam pipes for use on the sleeper service.
    to detail buffer beams and replace tension lock couplings with brass hoops.

    However that is all to the future, the following photos show the fleet as it was in early 2015. I aim to make a further post showing the refined and updated fleet in the coming months.
     
    I hope these are of interest.
  23. young37215
    Hi
     
    Ever since I started building West Highland line based layouts, I have been determined to install semaphore signalling. I am not sufficiently confident or competent to build signal kits and so on previous versions I used a handful of old Hornby standard signals on the basis that something was better than nothing. However I always lusted after more realistic signals but have always been reluctant to buy the MSE kits that do this because I could not do them justice. My efforts with the Ratio plastic, lattice LNER signals confirmed my fears and these have been consigned to my scrap and spares bin with the emphasis on the 'scrap'!
     
    Therefore I was delighted to find that MSE had a batch of completed lattice LNER signals for sale. Not a perfect representation of those found on the WHL either in terms of the latticing or the height but close enough for my purposes. The bank account was duly scrapped and the following photos show the acquisitions in their provisional positions prior to fixing. I still need to find a junction signal for Mallaig Junction and a southbound starter for Bridge of Orchy. I am also pondering whether (more like how) to automate them, so at this stage they remain hand operated. Despite this I am delighted with them and consider them a great enhancement to WHL 3.
     
    The following photos show:
     
    Garelochead facing south 2 & 22
    Garelochead facing north 4, 5 & 6
    Ardlui facing south 15, 26 & 27
    Ardlui facing north 14 & 17
    Bridge of Orchy facing south 13 & 14
    Mallaig Juinction 20, 24 & 25
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