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


young37215
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5 hours ago, young37215 said:

Whilst hydraulic buffer stops might be sensible, I am quite happy with my cheap and cheerful Hornby one.

Rob,

 

I was thinking more of a cube of soft foam, installed such that it was above the coupler & buffers where it could be 'snagged'. The idea being that the 'flat' end of the vehicle would contact the foam nice and 'softly'.

 

I'm sure you've got it covered with the 'red button' ...

 

Ian

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22 hours ago, ISW said:

Rob,

 

I was thinking more of a cube of soft foam, installed such that it was above the coupler & buffers where it could be 'snagged'. The idea being that the 'flat' end of the vehicle would contact the foam nice and 'softly'.

 

I'm sure you've got it covered with the 'red button' ...

 

Ian

 

Ian

 

Your suggestion of foam as a safety net is a good one and works well in the space at the end of the sidings. Hopefully this will reduce the need for the red button.

 

At Garelochead I could not get comfortable with using polystyrene to create the scenic effect that I want and so I started the major PIA that cutting the baseboard results in. Lots of wires to shift, a new trestle to build and awkward bits to cut out even before the collateral damage to the existing scenery caused by the electric saw hacking its way throught the baseboard.  By the time I packed in for the evening I had created a lot of sawdust and made even more mess. There is no chance of running trains with all the upheavel and I thought  pictures of an empty Crianlarich taken using early morning natural light create the impression of inactivity that I wanted to portray. 

 

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2 hours ago, young37215 said:

and so I started the major PIA that cutting the baseboard results in. Lots of wires to shift, a new trestle to build and awkward bits to cut out even before the collateral damage to the existing scenery caused by the electric saw hacking its way throught the baseboard. 

Rob,

 

All the best with that 'major project'. I trust you have the Funding in place and the Consultants have approved the Master Programme. :no: Just don't find any newts ....

 

Ian

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Another day of woodwork and making a mess. I have managed to complete the bulk of the baseboard cutting which gives me an idea of the space in which I intend creating a woodland valley. I have installed new trestle legs so that the baseboard does not collapse (crosses fingers and hopes not to be woken by the sound of falling timbers!). The old trestle legs still have to be cut out and the new lower baseboard fitted but that will have to wait for tomorrow. 

 

A happy new year to everyone

 

The area to be cut out

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Sawing creates lots of sawdust, new baseboard will be installed about 100mm below the track level

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Landslide at Garelochead

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Vacum cleaner to the rescue, most of the scenic material will be recycled

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Waiting for the line to reopen

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Happy New Year to you Rob and all of the other followers of WHLv.4; I look forward to seeing the 2021 developments and the 'big shutdown restart !'

 

Cheers, :drink_mini:

Ian.

 

PS Don't forget tonight's program on BBC Alba at 9pm.  :good_mini:

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Too much woodwork of late and a challenge that has taken several days to resolve. Where the baseboard and trestles had been removed was a large hole where the new lower level baseboard is to sit. Problem; there is nothing for the lower level baseboard to attach to. Finally a solution, hang the lower level baseboard off of the upper level. Just need to construct a ladder style frame to attach to the upper level and the problem appears to be solved. The lower level baseboard will be lightweight plywood which the new frames will hold comfortably.

 

About time, this needs finishing because I want to be able to play trains again! 
 

The hole

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New framework attached

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1 hour ago, young37215 said:

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Rob,

 

Now I finally understand your reference to your 'wiring'. I think my OCD just couldn't handle it ...

 

Interesting solution to baseboard support, a bit like sky-hooks. Do you have enough vertical space to do the actual tracklaying, or do you plan to 'insert' completed baseboards onto the supports?

 

Ian

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18 hours ago, ISW said:

Rob,

 

Now I finally understand your reference to your 'wiring'. I think my OCD just couldn't handle it ...

 


Dam, this is one of the neater areas of my wiring. The best I can say is that it all seems to work. 
 

Progress yesterday was considerably greater than in some time. I added the lower baseboard to the new supports and started layering the polystyrene that I will use to create the mountainside. The idea is that the line from the fiddle yard runs through a cutting and along a ledge on the mountainside to arrive at Garelochead.
 

The section of baseboard has 3 distinct purposes, from right to left the approach to Garelochead, the gradient between upper and lower levels and Mallaig on the upper level. Trying to keep them separate whilst blending the scenery is a challenge. 
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The approach to Garelochead seen from what will be the cutting. The area to the left falls away to the lower base down the steeply graded mountainside. 

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With the South Garelochead area cleaned up a new day of operations can begin. 37022 has charge of 7B02, 0606 Glasgow Sighthill to Mallaig Junction Yard seen passing through the section under development. 

 

I am hesitating about fixing the rock moulds in place because I want to re-weather the rails as the initial coat of paint has worn thin. Accessing the narrow site with an air brush looks like being a challenge; in a perfect world I would make removable modular scenic sections to make the task easier. However the shape of the rock moulds means they will need to be seated in a bed of plaster/sculptamould. This  makes getting their position correct an important, one chance only task because once the bed sets it will not be easy to move the mould. No pressure then! 

 

Into the cutting

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6 hours ago, young37215 said:

in a perfect world I would make removable modular scenic sections to make the task easier. However the shape of the rock moulds means they will need to be seated in a bed of plaster/sculptamould. This  makes getting their position correct an important, one chance only task because once the bed sets it will not be easy to move the mould. No pressure then! 

Rob,

 

Can't you use some thin plywood [1] as backing and then build the rock face against it? Then you can easily (?) attach the plywood to the sides of your cutting with screws (to be hidden by carefully sited trees / bushes). At least then it is removeable ...

 

[1] or even just a sheet of aluminium foil placed over the fully height of the cutting sides. Then you can get a perfect fitting, but the foil will stop it adhering so that you can remove it 

 

Ian

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14 hours ago, Dougjuk said:

Thats is looking really great Rob, I think it was worth the effort for the effect that will result.

 

Doug

 

Thanks Doug. The work has taken up far more time than I had intended, everything seems to. That said, given the current circumstances, there is not a lot else to be doing on these cold and dark days. I spent a few hours running yesterday constantly looking at the area and trying to visualise how best to move forward. One of the two side to the cutting needs to be removable and Ian's suggestion of using tin foil to create a base structure mould for the cutting seems to be the way to go. I intend making a start on this later today.

 

37022 continues north seen arriving at Crianlarich. The consist includes 2 BDA's loaded with steel for Mallaig which will form part of the new A 830 road construction project. I am not sure what colour the steel girders should be, they are currently in grey primer. Can anyone confirm what the colour of these would typically be?   

 

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1 hour ago, young37215 said:

 

37022 continues north seen arriving at Crianlarich. The consist includes 2 BDA's loaded with steel for Mallaig which will form part of the new A 830 road construction project.

 

 

I hope that steel is not for building that monstrosity of a bridge across the white sands of Morar bay !!

 :stop:

 

 

Edited by 03060
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21 hours ago, 03060 said:

 

I hope that steel is not for building that monstrosity of a bridge across the white sands of Morar bay !!

 :stop:

 

 

 

I fear that is exactly what the steel was used for. There are pictures around showing the BDA's on the Mallaig extension during 1985 in a mixed consist where they were attached to the rear of passenger trains much as the fuel tanks used to be attached to the tea time train.

 

Yesterday's efforts were focused on S&T as I spent several hours automating the signals at Garelochead. By the end of the day I had 1 working and a revsed fitting method that should speed up the installation of the other 3 today. A few trains ran, 37 022 is seen leaving Crianlarich and making its way along the re-routed link to the upper section en route to Fort William.

 

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On 06/01/2021 at 09:49, 03060 said:

 

I hope that steel is not for building that monstrosity of a bridge across the white sands of Morar bay !!

 :stop:

 

 

Also there was considerable work being done to Mallaig harbour at this time, rebuilding parts of what was there already and the construction of a new outer harbour wall so this probably accounted for much of the traffic although I'm sure a significant amount would of come in by ship. Noted on DTV's film 'Class 37 Tribute vol1" there is a BDA sat in the siding at Mallaig station.

Andy

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The signals at Garelochead were working by the end of the day. As ever ironing out the bugs and fine tuning them took time but I got there in the end. Everything feels such hard work at present with short, damp dark days and a hermits existence; oh for the light and warmth of the sun. I hope to find the energy and enthusiasm to crack on with the Garelochead South scenic section today. 

 

A few trains ran in between the S&T work, 37012 arrives at Crianlarich with 1T32, 1226 Oban to Glasgow. 

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An hour or so of enjoyable running but no work on the layout yesterday because my new laptop arrived and I spent the day setting it up. My 10 year old, Windows 7 laptop will be moved to the loft for possible use with the layout. The most notable thing on the new laptop so far is a considerable improvement in the picture quality which meant I spent quite a while trawling through my old pictures of the layout. 

 

37012 arrives at Garelochead where the eagle eyed will notice the missing signals at the northern end of the station. These were on the workbench at the time of the photographs.

 

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Yesterday was all about running trains where I ran most of a days WTT and made a start on cleaning carriage wheels in between trains. 37039 had charge of the daily Oban to Glasgow freight which passes the reverse working headed by 37014 at Crianlarich where crews change over to return to their home depots. Wagons are picked up and set down at Crianlarich as required.   

 

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31 minutes ago, young37215 said:

Wagons are picked up and set down at Crianlarich as required.   

 

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Now that could get complicated if both trains had wagons to shunt, would one train be held outside of the station whilst the other completed it's work ?

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On 10/01/2021 at 08:13, 03060 said:

 

Now that could get complicated if both trains had wagons to shunt, would one train be held outside of the station whilst the other completed it's work ?

 

I have no idea is the short answer although the suggestion makes sense. There was a 40 minute pathing stop at Crianlarich so it was not as if there was any need for great urgency and I doubt that wagons were dropped off of both trains very often. I have seen pictures of trains dividing south of the station allowing the wagons for Crianlarich marshalled to the front of the consist to be dropped off before the loco returns to the remaining wagons. On WHL 4 northbound wagons for intermediate stations are marshalled to the rear of the consist. On arrival at their destination the loco detaches, runs around and shunts the wagons to the siding. The loco then returns to the train and departs on its journey; 37014 is seen doing this after 37039 has departed south. 

 

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37033 seen at Mallaig depositing TTA's from 2B12 1630 from Fort William into the oil siding and then returning to head the 2B18, 1855 return working to Fort William. The shunt required for a load 4 train with TTA's on WHL4 is more complicated because the length of the train exceeds that of the run round loop. The train has to reverse onto the main line where it leaves the TTA's, return to the platform and run round in the usual manner. The coaches are then shunted to platform 2 before the TTA's are collected, returned to the platform where a second run round is performed. Only then can the TTA's be shunted to the oil siding. 

 

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This kind of move is what has fascinated me about Mallaig since I first saw a series of photographs of it in 83. Your photos this morning are just oozing atmosphere. It's a move that so far I have been unable to replicate myself as I'm using Kaydee couplings and the NEM pocket on the Bachmann TTAs sit to high and won't couple to my locos. Modification is on the 'to do' list. I have however had lots of fun with the observation saloon. A move which if done at prototypical speed takes 15 minutes, obviously time has to be allowed for the second man/shunter to operate the groundframe, rejoin the loco to catch a lift down the loop, unlock and the operate the signal box etc. 

Lovely photos and thanks for posting.

 

Andy

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Cleaning of coach wheels continues. It is a thankless task compounded by the fact that I never paid enough attention to this in the past which means the condition of several wheels sets are thick with rubbish that requires clearing with a blade. So far I have gone through about 50 cotton buds and half a dozen rags which have all been consigned to the bin in a filthy state and I am only half way through the fleet. At least breaking up the work with running deflects attention from the tedious, mundane task.

 

37 081 with 1T45, 1245 Mallaig to Glasgow is seen at Garelochead

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