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


young37215
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21 hours ago, Legend said:

Lovely , especially the last picture of train going over underpass at Crianlarich. I feel I'm sitting in the car waiting to pick someone up !

 

Thanks, it is a constant challenge to find angles that produce interesting pictures. That area of Crianlarich is probably my favourite one for pictures and I have to resist showing it too often. However for once a little self indulgence.

 

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Yesterday I finished the wiring at Ardlui, now I need to complete the point motorisation. Ardlui has 5 points, 2 of which are already motorised and simply need the connection to the microswitch fitting. 1 of the other 3 is located on top of a baseboard trestle meaning I cannot use the usual underbaseboard servo mounting and have to be a little more creative. Fortunately it is the point that leads from the main line into the sidings making it adjacent to the platform under which I can hide a motor to switch the point. The weather forecast to day is shocking meaning I am likely to have time on my hands so hopefully I can finish this off and return to operations. 

 

It's been a bit of a 37043 fest the last few days and this continues today with Loch Lomond seen arriving at Garelochead where it passes 1B10, 0837 Glasgow to Mallaig headed by fellow namer, 37012 Loch Rannoch.

 

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I managed to get 4 of the 5 points at Ardlui working correctly by the end of yesterday. My experience is that alignment is key to a successful installation and I struggled to get this right on 2 of the servos. It is not difficult, just time consuming and tedious whilst performing contortions under a baseboard. 

 

37043 departs Garelochead for Glasgow. Although diagrammed to return with 1B11, 1254 Glasgow to Oban, 37043 is due an A exam and will be swapped with another 37. 

 

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9 hours ago, young37215 said:

My experience is that alignment is key to a successful installation and I struggled to get this right on 2 of the servos. It is not difficult, just time consuming and tedious whilst performing contortions under a baseboard.

Rob,

 

Indeed yes. My solution was to use 2-screws for mounting the servo. The first one to hold it in roughly, but at the correct location along the track, and use friction to keep it in place. Then, once rotated about the screw, to the right place for correct normal / reverse operation, I then fixed the second screw. This approach provided a bit of 'latitude' for tweaking before attaching the second screw.

 

Ian

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An irritating and frustrating day yesterday meant I went backwards rather than forwards. 3 of the Ardlui servos are fitted using the last of my Alurailtech brackets which have a self contained microswitch fixing. These all got fitted and secured quickly because I find them well designed and easy to use. The remaining 2 servos are in awkward places being obstructed by the trestles that support the baseboard where even if I had Alurailtech brackets they would not fit. The 2 servos are secured using a different bracket which requires a seperate microswitch fitting and in 1 case the point is actuated through a Peco adapter base. Neither of the 2 would play ball and after several hours of trying I gave up for the day. Hopefully a nights rest will see things fit together more easily today, it will be good to find a solution because these are the last 2 points to motorise on the whole layout. 

 

37178 has charge of 7V86, 0606 Mallaig Junction Yard to Sighthill seen arriving at Crianlarich.

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I finally bought a cheap sugar cube camera which I hoped would provide the means to produce a cab ride experience. I paid £15 for the camera which seems to produce reasonable quality output video although it does not appear to do sound. First efforts at a cab ride see 37085 and 7D19 passing through Crianlarich.   

 

 

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A little heads up .... have just received a copy of British Rail Motive Power 1981-1999 Vol.7 from Videoscene which contains an 8 min West Highland journey section (Crianlarich - Mallaig and back) taken in March 1985. You'll find the shadows frustratingly dark and not helped by the time of year and snow, but it gives a good feel of the period. You'll recognise all of the locos, although some have made into Large Logo by then. Filmed on Super 8 it's not as good as your Sugercube but I think you'll pick out something of interest.

 

Regards,

Ian.

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14 hours ago, 03060 said:

A little heads up .... have just received a copy of British Rail Motive Power 1981-1999 Vol.7 from Videoscene which contains an 8 min West Highland journey section (Crianlarich - Mallaig and back) taken in March 1985. You'll find the shadows frustratingly dark and not helped by the time of year and snow, but it gives a good feel of the period. You'll recognise all of the locos, although some have made into Large Logo by then. Filmed on Super 8 it's not as good as your Sugercube but I think you'll pick out something of interest.

 

Regards,

Ian.

 

Interesting news, thanks. I spent an hour watching my 2 Class 37 Tribute dvd's by TVP yesterday which both have some excellent WHL reference material. The video player on my new laptop will now let me fast forward to the points where I can view just the WHL material whereas my old laptop software would not.   

 

I have added a 4th coach to my Rule 1, Ayrshire coast to the WHL adex rake of Sealink coaches which first appeared in 1983. A pair of 27's arrive at Crianlarich with a train bound for Oban.

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Certainly a splash of colour . These Sealink coaches appeared on the 17.12 Ayrshire commuter express for a while . Bright yellow corridors . The wood veneer had simply been painted over and not very well  . What a waste . 

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4 hours ago, young37215 said:

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Rob,

 

I'm currently 'excited' by ballast (sorry, it's probably a known affliction) as that'll be the next major task on my layout. May I ask what ballast you used for the sidings in the above photo, as it has a 'look' I might be able to use.

 

Ian

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19 hours ago, ISW said:

Rob,

 

I'm currently 'excited' by ballast (sorry, it's probably a known affliction) as that'll be the next major task on my layout. May I ask what ballast you used for the sidings in the above photo, as it has a 'look' I might be able to use.

 

Ian

 

A mix of Geoscenics weathered N gauge and Peco Ash & Cinders fine grade. Whatever you use, make sure that it is N gauge or finer because the 00 gauge stuff is far to large.

 

I managed some more cab rides yesterday, not quite sure I have the lighting right but here is a northbound train arriving at Garelochead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, young37215 said:

 

A mix of Geoscenics weathered N gauge and Peco Ash & Cinders fine grade. Whatever you use, make sure that it is N gauge or finer because the 00 gauge stuff is far to large.

Rob,

 

Thanks for the information. Yes, I'd already decided that N-gauge ballast was more realistically sized.

 

Ian

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My copy of British Rail Motive Power 7 arrived yesterday and I watched the WHL clip with particular interest. The most notable thing for me was the noise that the ETHEL was making, the class 25 engine could clearly be heard chuntering away at what must have been around 50% power. That provides some food for thought when it comes to my operations where I had been thinking I would leave the ETHEL silent.  

 

Todays video is the reverse movement of the first one with a northbond train passing through Crianlarich. 

 

 

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Loving the cab ride journeys, Rob, they really show off how evocative the mountains on the backscene are (I scaled Ben Arthur (The Cobbler) the other day) and also how prototypical the reverse curves are on WHLv.4.

These (the reverse curves) are causing me to rethink my N gauge layout at the moment as luckily I realised during the initial planning stage just how much the VGA vans struggle around these if they are less than 4th radius, being the longest fixed wheelbase vehicles on the WHL. At least I can now plan around them. Do you have the same issue in '00' ?

 

Regarding the Ethel clip on the vol.7 DVD, so far, I've found it impossible to see visually as it is too dark and in the shadows, I'm going to have a play with my TV settings to see if I can improve this, I don't know how you've found it ? Whilst the commentator draws attention to the still present blue sign on Spean Bridge platform in 1985, I thought that I also glimpsed one in the final evening shots passing through Crianlarich.

 

All the best,

Ian.

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11 hours ago, 03060 said:

These (the reverse curves) are causing me to rethink my N gauge layout at the moment as luckily I realised during the initial planning stage just how much the VGA vans struggle around these if they are less than 4th radius, being the longest fixed wheelbase vehicles on the WHL. At least I can now plan around them. Do you have the same issue in '00' ?

 

The approach to Crianlarich is a combination of 2nd and 3rd radius settrack curves which perform well, derailments are no more frequent here than anywhere else. I would have liked a wider radius but it was a question of making things fit which involved compromises. Although rolling stock overhangs the rails on these curves which is unrealistic, I can live with the trade off. 

 

There are now 50 servo controlled points on WHL 4 of which 48 perform well. Over the last week I have been attempting to install the last few servos in the sidings at Ardlui, annoyingly the point off of the mainline into the yard is on top of a baseboard trestle meaning that I cannot install the servo directly under the point as I have elsewhere. I thought I could use a Peco adapter base and install the servo under this which would not be visible sitting underneath the platform. So far the servo has proven reluctant to actuate/move the adapter base as the 0.6mm piano wire simply bends rather than actuate the point. It is not easy doing this from under the baseboard so I mocked up a test board on the workbench and got exactly the same result. My last hope for the adapter base is a thicker piece of piano wire so I have ordered a piece 1mm thick in the hope this will prove sufficiently robust to actuate the adapter base. Of course if somebody cleverer than me can offer a better solution I would be grateful

 

I think I will revert to videoing today, it's much less frustrating than installing point motors!

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test baseboard repeats the problem

 

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platform hide the adapter base

 

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2 hours ago, young37215 said:

My last hope for the adapter base is a thicker piece of piano wire so I have ordered a piece 1mm thick in the hope this will prove sufficiently robust to actuate the adapter base. Of course if somebody cleverer than me can offer a better solution I would be grateful

Rob,

 

Hmmm, cleverer than you; I don't count myself amongst that small population ... So, I'll just suggest something! Does the adapter base also have an overcentre spring, because your photo does imply there might be one. If so, then the poor piano wire has to overcome 2 overcentre springs to operate the turnout. You could try removing the overcentre spring from the adapter base, in the certain knowledge that the process is irreversible, unless you have very good eyes and are good with tweezers.

 

Or, you could mock up an adapter base 'clone' with bits of plasticard, or even stiff card, (but no spring) to see if that works.

 

Ian

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20 hours ago, ISW said:

Does the adapter base also have an overcentre spring, because your photo does imply there might be one. If so, then the poor piano wire has to overcome 2 overcentre springs to operate the turnout.

 

Good spot, I had missed the spring on the adapter. I duly removed it and there was noticeably less bending of the 0.6mm wire when the servo moved but the point would still not change. It just about manages a change in one direction but not the other which is progress. Hopefully the thicker 1mm wire will be the key to unlocking this....

 

On 15/05/2021 at 20:47, 03060 said:

Regarding the Ethel clip on the vol.7 DVD, so far, I've found it impossible to see visually as it is too dark and in the shadows, I'm going to have a play with my TV settings to see if I can improve this, I don't know how you've found it ?

 

I have only watched the video on my laptop where the picture quality is better than many I have seen by 1980's standards. I have not adjusted any settings to watch, I simply placed the DVD in the laptops DVD player and pressed start. My laptop runs Power Media Player which came with the laptop. The ETHEL is only shown on arrival at Fort William but I am pretty certain that you can hear it throughout the journey, particularly when the train is stationary. 

 

Another cab ride, this time a southbound train at Garelochead. It appears that Railway Modeller has an article on small cameras this month, I shall buy a copy to see what they have to say.    

 

 

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Since the start of 2021 I have been paying attention to the amounts of dirt that build up on the track and whether the use of non polar cleaners makes any difference. Yesterday I found that 27032 was struggling for power and looked at the wheels which were cleaned just a few months ago. They were dreadful, coated in dirt which was fairly obviously why there were power issues. I was surprised, I have read that Heljan wheels can be prone to collecting dirt but this was staggering for wheels that were cleaned in early 2021 and it took 6 cotton wool buds soaked in contact cleaner to get them clean again. 

 

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27032 restored to power

 

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The camera wagon used for videoing had a rest yesterday. The camera sits on a Peco track rubber which I found creates the height that I wanted to shoot video. 

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26 minutes ago, young37215 said:

Since the start of 2021 I have been paying attention to the amounts of dirt that build up on the track and whether the use of non polar cleaners makes any difference. Yesterday I found that 27032 was struggling for power and looked at the wheels which were cleaned just a few months ago. They were dreadful, coated in dirt which was fairly obviously why there were power issues. I was surprised, I have read that Heljan wheels can be prone to collecting dirt but this was staggering for wheels that were cleaned in early 2021 and it took 6 cotton wool buds soaked in contact cleaner to get them clean again.


Does it have the ‘bronze’ coloured wheels.  They are particularly bad for dirt and for some reason especially the rear where the pickups make contact.  I have replaced the wheels on all my 27s with spares available from Howes Models.  It does make a difference. 
 

https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/oo-general-spares/

 

Out of stock at the moment - but worth keeping an eye out for when they come back in.

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3 hours ago, BoD said:


Does it have the ‘bronze’ coloured wheels.  They are particularly bad for dirt and for some reason especially the rear where the pickups make contact.  I have replaced the wheels on all my 27s with spares available from Howes Models.  It does make a difference. 
 

https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/oo-general-spares/

 

Out of stock at the moment - but worth keeping an eye out for when they come back in.

I've a pair of Heljan Class 47s, and they are the same for picking up detritus from the railhead. I recently had to remove the wheels in their entirety to clean the tread & back of the wheels, and to 'reshape' the pickups, which were not always in full contact with the back of the wheel.

 

I'll be keeping an eye out for the 'spares' to replace them, me thinks.

 

Ian

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4 hours ago, young37215 said:

The camera wagon used for videoing had a rest yesterday. The camera sits on a Peco track rubber which I found creates the height that I wanted to shoot video. 

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Rob,

 

With my layout being 'vertically constrained', by which I mean there is very little clearance under some of the baseboard structures, I had to be a little more creative in creating a 'video wagon':

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Only with the wagon bed removed was the height 'within limits'. The masking tape is sort of temporary. An elastic band might have been better, but I couldn't find one.

 

One of the better 'features' of this cube-cam is that the recording is actually done on the phone through an App (although the cube-cam can do dashcam type recording as well), the phone and the cube-cam are connected via wifi. The upshot being that you get to view the footage in real time, as would the 'driver'. In theory, then, you could drive a train without actually seeing the layout (assuming the controller has a long enough cable, or is also wireless). I can see that idea being really 'fun' on your layout.

 

Ian

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