young37215

Whilst researching for my last BSOT conversion, I came across a July 1986 picture of a 37/4 with BSOT 9007. This is the first steam heat only Mk1 BSOT that I have seen behind an ETH only loco. Being July a lack of train heating should not have been a problem but it does show that the steam heat coaches were still utilised in the ETH era.

It's just too easy to keep running so I decided I had to break things up. Yesterday I broke down the fixed rakes of passenger stock to weather a number of coaches. All 5 of the BSOT conversions need their roof's weathering and the 2 new ones their chassis. Additionally there are several other coaches where more weathering is required and the same for a number of new wagons. All in all enough work to justify the getting the airbrush out and the cleaning that a session with this entails. Most of the service trains on WHL4 are booked for class 37's so it is an effort at times to utilise the 20's and 27's in the fleet. 27105 did get a recent outing for the CMEE department and is seen on its way south at Ardlui with a rake of Grampus loaded with spoil.

Just some running yesterday, I must pull my finger out and get on with the mountaineous section scenery if I am to complete it this winter as I had planned. A pair of 37's were rostered for 8B20, 14.15 Glasgow Sighthill to Corpach where 37039 and 37011 are seen at Garelochead on their journey north.

Nice work, this really looks the part with the point rodding blending in a treat. I'd be interested in a list of the products that you have used to achieve the look.

I have updated the BSOT spreadsheet and added a column describing the length of the red stripe above the windows used to designate the coach as being a buffet. There are several variations on the length of the red stripe which people may wish to factor in to their conversions. I have only identified a handful of red stripes, if anyone can add detail to go on the list I am happy to update it. BSOT summary.xls

So far, so good, the reworked mountaineous section runs well. I will re-start the remaining landscape work in the coming days, there is not a lot to do and I am keen to progress. 37017 is allocated to 1B11, 12.54 Glasgow to Oban seen arriving at Ardlui where it passes a southbound engineering working.

7 roads at each end appears overkill to me, you are unlikely to have 14 trains to run? I am not sure what a typical working day back in the 60's was but I doubt that it involved 14 trains. Fast forward to the 80's and it was a maximum of 5 trains per day including the steam service. Even adding in an engineering train plus a special and 8 roads, 4 at each end, would appear more than sufficent. Smaller baseboard equals less weight and, hopefully, lower cost?

I have done something similar which shows good horizontal alignment and acceptable, but not perfect, vertical alignment. The acid tests are how it looks visually with trains passing over and an absence of derailments. So far, so good. Fingers crossed, testing means that I have a good excuse for playing trains! 37085 and 7D12 again, this time seen departing Garelochead.

Still in use more widely in South Wales, I had the delights of a pair from Swansea to Fishguard and return to Cardiff last week. Pure luxury!

I have used Peco PS320, ash and cinders fine grade. It still looks a bit clean when laid but a few minutes spraying sleeper grime and similar paint soon dirties it up. The 2 sidings in the picture below have been ballasted using a mix of grey ballast and PS320, they will get another coat of grime at some stage.

I agree it is the vertical alignment that is the problem where in an effort to resolve I inserted several 1mm cardboard shims in between layers of glued cork which were opened up using a craft knife. I dont have the necessary rail tools to check the alignment but visually this has reduced the problem and my initial reaction is it appears much improved. I shall run with this for a few days but I am hopeful that I have found the solution without having to rip up the ballasted track. 37085 continues the journey south with 7D12 seen arriving at a very dark Crianlarich. The lights were off to test the various lighting set ups at the station, I rather like the atmosphere created which is a contrast to usual running conditions. The detailing in the illuminated signal box is much more visible, the lever frame and token machines can clearly be seen.

The rotary wheel on the Prodigy hand held unit is prone to getting crud in it which can affect its performance, my old one used to get a frequent spray in an effort to keep it clean. I have similar issues with my ESU replacement and find that Contact Cleaner is very useful with this as well. I advise you to have several more cleaning sessions, I find several attempts yields the best outcome. I dont recall being able to open the hand held unit but if you can, I find on my ESU mobile controller that this is the msot effective way of cleaning the rotary dial. When you consider it is a hand held unit it is no great surprise to find dead skin and general dirt building up, regular cleaning is now part of my maintenance regieme. To add to the Guagemaster debate, I had issues with my Prodigy a few years ago and the Guagemaster chap I spoke to at the Warley show was very constructive in helping me find a solution. He highlighted the challenges they faced as a simple re-seller of the MRC system, a mesaage that more easily and sensitively conveyed verbally than in written form in an e-mail.

Helpful counsel, thanks for the thoughts. Something needs to change on the joint but what and how I am less certain. What is frustrating is that I had the joint alignment spot on before ballasting using 3mm strips of cork. Why it has changed I cannot fathom although my suspicion is the horizontal track alignment has been affected by glueing resulting in the ends of the two rails at the joint no longer being horizontal. I will work through this and find a way forward, if it involves ripping up track then so be it; the current track alignment is likely to cause running issues over time which I will be well advised to avoid. Onwards with more running and 37111 is shown running northwards through the landscape with a train for Oban.

That is the video I was thinking of although it only shows the saloon being shunted into the run round loop and not the siding. Still the concept is evidenced by this, I am also sure that I have seen video of the shunt using the siding but where and what I cannot recall.

This is bugging me, I am pretty sure the loco is 37081 and it might just be the shunt necessary to release an observation salon. If I could find the dam video I could answer the question! I have been through my Youtube history for the last 4 years and cannot find what I am looking for, it must be on a DVD somewhere. One of the videos I spotted originally found by @03060 is linked below showing a chunk of Glenfinnan footage in addition to the Mallaig arrival.

I am still faffing over the mountaineous section which is slowing progress with the scenic work. The issue remains the summit of the gradient as shown in the third picture of 37085 and 7D12 where I dont like the rail joint. Trains pass happily over this but it looks wrong to me and until I am happy with the visual effect I wont be finishing off the scenery. In hindsight I should have used a different base for the gradient trackwork and am seriously considering ripping it up and starting again.

I also did the 2016 Pathfinder tour which was load 11 top and tailed between Fort William and Mallaig. My picture taking was limited and I dont recall any shunt at Mallaig because my wife and I spent most of the time walking around Mallaig trying to walk off the large quantities of food that had been served on the train over the weekend. I cannot find any pictures of the return leg, my best guess is the train returned in top and tail mode. @Mallaig1983 description of how long trains were run around at Mallaig is consistent with what I have seen, somewhere there is a video clip showing this in action but I am dammed if I can find it at this early hour of the morning.

No airbrushing yesterday, just pure unadulterated playing trains. 30 minutes after 7B02's departure, 37017 clatters into Crianlarich with 1T16, 07.40 Oban to Glasgow.

I managed to complete most of the painting of the Queen Mary yesterday, only the chassis remains unpainted. I have made a list of the various rolling stock I intend weathering which I will round up to face the airbrush. An airbushing session will make any running impractical so I made the most of the opportunity before disrupting everything and started a new day of 1981 operations . The first northbound freight was 7B02, 06.06 Sighthill to Mallaig Junction Yard seen on departure from Crianlarich headed by 37026 which is on the weathering list for a light dusting of grime on the loco chassis. My aim is to recreate the loco as it appeared in late 1981, early 1982 following a works visit in summer 1981 followed by naming in October.

The Bachmann Queen Mary breaks down quite easily with 4 screws enabling the constituent parts to be separated. I decided to hand paint thinking that might create a more worn appearance. Using an old tin of a Humbrol grey paint, two light coats produced a pleasing effect. I need to add the yellow band to the body side and a third coat of grey. A single coat of roof dirt will get another coat to deepen the colour but overall I’m happy with progress.

I am doing a little preparation for a day or two of airbrushing with several BSOT's needing varnishing and weathering in addition to a number of wagons requiring their framework weathering. As ever I have been distracted by another task on the long list of 'to do's', the Queen Mary brake van DS56292 that usually sat in a siding at Crianlarich. It did move around on occassion, in 1986 it got to Fort William as in the first picture below. I acquired an olive green Queen Mary a while ago and am looking for the colours I need to do a repaint. I am not sure if the livery was a very faded variation of engineers grey and the consequences of sitting in the damp for several years or something else. Given how faded the paint is I am not sure that identfying the original colour is necessary but if anyone can clarify it would be helpful. In 1986 it also had a trip to Bridge of Orchy There are 2 more pictures in the attached thread showing the Queen Mary in her more usual position at Crianlarich together with a brief comment on the reasons for her being outposted there.

Doug Copley's videos are well worth a watch by fans of the 1980's, his Oban line dates slightly later than my era but still a useful reference source. The Royal Scotsman material is some of the best that I have seen. I think I have said before that I hope that somewhere in the archives is some more WHL specific material. The epoxy resin arrived yesterday. I need to create the base for the small Lochan to try it out and have ordered several different shades of the Woodland Scenics water undercoats for the base. As Bod says, much trial and no doubt error to come!

Having read about as much as I can about resins, watched numerous Youtube videos and after doing a cost comparison, I decided on buying 1L of an epoxy resin. This costs 3.6p per ml which works out about a quarter of the Woodland Scenics Deep Pour water cost. I will trial this on the smaller of the two lochans and see what I can achieve. 37111 departs Ardlui and continues it journey south through the mountaineous section of line towards Arrochar.

As if by magic 6 Bachmann SO's in blue and grey appeared on Ebay yesterday with each listing comprising an individual coach. Early this morning they had been bid up to just over £20, it will be interesting to see what they end up selling for. On the basis that the new Bachmann SO's are not due until mid summer I suspect that the Ebay 6 will sell for a high price. I have been working through an ongoing issue with my Megapoints system where since I added their DCC module I have faced an increasing number of 'network freeze ups' requiring a re-boot. Dave Fenton attributes the problem to Megapoints being sensitive to shorts on the DCC BUS which is now linked to the Megapoints network by the DCC module. On the basis of his advice I have installed 2 CAN's electronically isolated from the rest of the Megapoints network. There has been a small improvment following the CAN installation but the issue is still frustrating me. I ran trains for several hours yesterday with the DCC module disconnected and Megapoints behaved perfectly as it usually does. I like having control of the Megapoints network through the DCC controller, however if it keeps freezing then the DCC module will be disabled. 37111 has seen quite a bit of activity since its recent respray although it still needs a light weathering to tone down the new paint look. Today 111 had charge of 12.45 Mallaig to Glasgow seen at Ardlui on its journey south.

Nice work with the lever frame. On the basis that there are 2 FPL's on the frame as shown on the signal box track diagram, I am guessing that the 2 point rodding runs will have been for the FPL and the point.