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

[young37215]

I finally sorted my printer out and produced the Crianlarich station signs I have been meaning to do for weeks. Glued in place they look good to me

 

 

[Dougjuk]

Hi Rob,

 

Nice job, need to sort mine out but so much to do its low on list.  Got some scale model scenery boards to try out for home and Marshend.

 

Just viewed that video, looking forward to your interpretation  of it.

 

regards 

 

Doug

[young37215]

Although I have completed less work this week I have not been idle, rather I have been pondering how the area above Arrochar will work so that I can build the framework onto which I will drop the baseboard. Much as the case is in real life, on WHL4 Arrochar is on a ledge comprised of baseboard 300mm wide. My plan is to have Fort William depot on a baseboard 600mm wide on the area above Arrochar.  I started laying out a depot trackplan because I need to be clear on Fort William depot before I commit and fix Arrochar. Having experimented with several track layouts for the depot, I think I have a workable solution.

 

General view looking south from north of Arrochar station, Fort William depot will be on the right  hand side of the picture

Framework for the Fort Wlliam depot baseboard will form part of the hillside on the southern approach to Arrochar

 

Fort William depot track plan looking towards Ben Nevis. There are less sidings than in real life but this is as many as I can fit in the available space. The track underneath the batten will be a hidden line that rises up from the lower section. 

 

Looking from the other end, track on the bottom left will transition into Mallaig Junction yard. 

 

 

 

 

[G-DIMB]

Hi

Just spent an enjoyable couple of hours reading this thread through. Ive always had the temptation to do the WHL in some form around 1987/1988 as the train formations really intrigue me. Only thing that has put me off is having to scratch build the station buildings as i'm not a bad kitbasher but will admit at the moment scratch building i think is a little beyond me. In fact i'm looking at my own layout which i was going to do as a WR BLT but yours and the Meanach thread have made me think otherwise. Only thing is i have already wired up a DC panel but i know if i was to go down the WHL road i would go DCC. I think i just need to perhaps be a little braver and give myself a kick.

 

 

[young37215]

Thank you for the comments. 

 

WHL4 is DCC controlled and I think most people agree that once you have tried DCC you do not want to revert to DC.  Like you I do not have the skills to scratch build station buildings to the standard I require so I 'sub contracted' to an Irish business Dawson Hall, I am delighted with the laser cut card buildings which are such an essential feature of stations on the WHL. 

[BoD]

10 hours ago, young37215 said:

WHL4 is DCC controlled and I think most people agree that once you have tried DCC you do not want to revert to DC. 

..... and once you have driven a 37/4 fitted with sound and a decent speaker ......

[young37215]

For just a few minutes this morning the sun shone! I managed to get some more arty farty pictures of Crianlarich. 

 

 

 

 

[young37215]

There were more pictures from yesterday which for some reason did not upload correctly. Hopefully this time they will load.

 

[young37215]

My friend Doug Johnson called round for a visit the other day bringing with him his Loksound Programmer. We tested a number of different settings for the acceleration and deceleration rates on my class 37's and after deciding on what we thought looked best, Doug was kind enough to set the fleet to the same rates. The difference is really noticeable, looks much more authentic and the uniformity makes driving a lot easier. In theory at least this should also make running double headed trains easier although having tested several combinations, I am not 100% happy with how the locos perform double headed. On the basis I am not a great fan of double heading, it is not a big deal although just occassionally I like to pair up a couple of earth mover sound fitted locos and give them a blast.

 

Below are a few pictures of a pair under trial with the Alcan hopper train, 37022 and 37264 head the loaded train north through Crianlarich.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2019 by young37215

[young37215]

Two Loch named 37's, numbers 12 and 26 return the empty Alcan hoppers south through Crianlarich. For some frustrating reason, 012 refused to keep its headcode lights on when paired with 026. They go for a split second and then go out again. When removed from the consist the lights function normally; very strange....

 

[young37215]

6 hours ago, young37215 said:

For some frustrating reason, 012 refused to keep its headcode lights on when paired with 026. They go for a split second and then go out again. When removed from the consist the lights function normally; very strange....

 

When starting the layout up this morning, 012's headcode light functioned perfectly. The power of re-booting seems to have been the cure, it looks like I could get a job on an IT Help Desktelling everyone 'to switch it off and back on again'!

[young37215]

WHL 4 is built from Peco track, code 75 in the scenic areas and code 100 in the fiddle yards. Generally I have very few derailments which I attribute largely down to the Peco trackwork. I have 2 exceptions, Bachmann TTA's and Kernow's PRA's, which are the most common derailments by a distance. I have checked the back to backs which are all there or thereabouts correct. I think that the fact that these are two of the lightest wagons running is a major factor so I decided to do some comparison. I 'borrowed' the kitchen scales and started weighing wagons with a view to increasing their weight. 

 

TTA weighs 40g

PRA weighs 44g

 

OBA weighs 54g

 

A combination of the fact that the OBA's run well and my desire to get all wagons to a similar weight, meant that I decided that I would increase the weights of the TTA and PRA to 53g. As a test I drilled a 2mm hole in the base of TTA (which will be filled in once the liquid lead is added) and attempted to fill the TTA with lead. As can be seen from the amount of lead lieing on the board, it was not easy to fill the TTA. I do'nt want to increase the size of the hole but cannot see any other way of getting the additional weight into the wagon. Any suggestions please?

 

 

   

[Scott B]

Make a small funnel out of aluminium foil.

 

HTH

 

Scott

 

[Dougjuk]

On 22/12/2019 at 13:54, young37215 said:

 

When starting the layout up this morning, 012's headcode light functioned perfectly. The power of re-booting seems to have been the cure, it looks like I could get a job on an IT Help Desktelling everyone 'to switch it off and back on again'!

 

 

Hi Rob,

 

This is a common problem, I have had it with pairs of 20's.  It is something to do with the consist mode, Bif once told me there are some options to cover this but I have never stopped it.  Mind you it does not happen all the time.  Its a very strange behaviour.

 

Doug

[young37215]

Yesterday was a running day. I had become frustrated at my lack of progress with adding weight to wagons and the upper level trestles to support Fort William depot. I wanted a stress free, positive day and got one with everything working well which has hopefully recharged my motivational batteries. I want to get the baseboards for Fort William in place so that I can get on with Arrochar. 

 

I finally managed to get a picture that reflects the feel I want of the gradient from the southern approach to Arrochar

 

There is a lot of wiring on WHL4, this is just the southern end of Arrochar station

37012 heads the down sleeper into Crianlarich

37012 awaits departure from Crianlariich

37085 follows 37012 north with 7B02

 

 

 

[young37215]

9 hours ago, Dougjuk said:

 

 

Hi Rob,

 

This is a common problem, I have had it with pairs of 20's.  It is something to do with the consist mode, Bif once told me there are some options to cover this but I have never stopped it.  Mind you it does not happen all the time.  Its a very strange behaviour.

 

Doug

 

One more item for the list of 'requires sorting' to do's ! I had the same issue when joining 20184 and 37011 yesterday. It does not seem to affect the consist but it is an annoyance.

 

 

[ISW]

On 23/12/2019 at 08:10, young37215 said:

A combination of the fact that the OBA's run well and my desire to get all wagons to a similar weight, meant that I decided that I would increase the weights of the TTA and PRA to 53g. As a test I drilled a 2mm hole in the base of TTA (which will be filled in once the liquid lead is added) and attempted to fill the TTA with lead. As can be seen from the amount of lead lieing on the board, it was not easy to fill the TTA. I do'nt want to increase the size of the hole but cannot see any other way of getting the additional weight into the wagon. Any suggestions please?

 

 

   

It is possible to glue a nut under the axles (so hidden by the wheelsets). Wilko do cheap M6 square nuts of a suitable thinness. It can be further disguised by painting black.

 

 

[Dougjuk]

HI Rob,

 

I need to do some of mine, so I will look to make some sort of funnel for the task.

 

Doug

[young37215]

11 hours ago, Dougjuk said:

HI Rob,

 

I need to do some of mine, so I will look to make some sort of funnel for the task.

 

Doug

Thanks Doug, I have tried to make a funnel using foil but without sucess so far. Not sure that I would have been very good on the Krypton Factor!

 

Back to running trains then, the first Oban trains of the day seen as they pass through Crianlarich. First 37039 with the 0740 Oban to Glasgow.

 

 

37027 with the 0806 Glasgow to Oban

 

 

 

[young37215]

I want to publish video of WHL4. As a test I have uploaded an old video from WHL3 to Youtube. If it all works then I will add more content showing WHL4

 

 

[young37215]

Youtube can be most frustrating and my camera work is unlikely to see the BBC make me any offers of employment! Nevertheless the first WHL4 video shows 37264 with a Mossend bound freight from Oban departing Arrochar. Lots of work is required to complete Arrochar, I want to fix the area to the right before starting on this so as to avoid disturbances.

 

 

[young37215]

My second and final WHL4 upload of the day, the football beckons. 37039 arrives at Crianlarich with the evening Oban to Glasgow service. Driving a train and videoing at the same time is not easy, combined with being a bloke and therefore unable to multitask, I need assistance if I am to improve the quality of video.

 

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by young37215

[young37215]

Videoing is still work in progress, here is the best of todays efforts; 37026 arriving at Crianlarich with the up sleeper

 

 

[young37215]

37192 departs Crianlarich for Oban. Apologies for the finger creeping into the picture at the end, I managed to to edit the video to remove this but Youtube did'nt like the amended video!

 

 

[young37215]

I need to improve my video technique so back to pictures. 37011 heads 0707 Mallaig Junction to Mossend freight into Crianlarich where it is passed by 37026 on the 0836 Glasgow to Mallaig, 20184 then joins 37011 to make a double header south of Crianlarich.