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


young37215
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Morning Rob,

 

Love the work on Garelochhead, do you know when the dock siding was removed, please, as I wasn't aware of it's presence until you started modelling it? I was only aware of the 2 sidings (and turntable) at the other side of the platform.

 

Regards,

Ian.

 

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7 hours ago, 03060 said:

Morning Rob,

 

Love the work on Garelochhead, do you know when the dock siding was removed, please, as I wasn't aware of it's presence until you started modelling it? I was only aware of the 2 sidings (and turntable) at the other side of the platform.

 

Regards,

Ian.

 

Thank you for the kind words. The siding was lifted in 1983, there are a fair number of pictures on Flickr of the era showing before and after removal.  

 

Mostly running trains today although a short on one of the points in the Glenfinnan loop tested my construction of an access section which, fortunately, performed faultlessly and allowed me to correct the issue. 37051 and 37085 paired the Alcan hoppers today, seen passing through Garelochead

 

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Crianlarich saw 37264 at the head a Glasgow bound freight from Mallaig Junction Yard

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37081 then blasted north with the 08.37 Glasgow to Mallaig

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Edited by young37215
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16 hours ago, young37215 said:

*snip*

 

Mostly running trains today although a short on one of the points in the Glenfinnan loop tested my construction of an access section which, fortunately, performed faultlessly and allowed me to correct the issue. 37051 and 37085 paired the Alcan hoppers today, seen passing through Garelochead

 

*snip*

 

Rob,

 

Always good practice to enable access to all parts of the model railway. Sods Law soon applies if you omit any areas!

That's one of the reasons I made each of my baseboards removable, and used plug/socket instead of soldering wherever possible.

Mind you, this 'practice' is causing me all manner of trouble designing the final sections of my baseboards ...

 

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Fundamental to my design of WHL4 was that I wanted to be able to run trains with a purpose which is why I babble on about operating to the working timetable. A single journey between Mallaig and Glasgow comprises 8 constituent parts on WHL4. At present 2 of the 6 station sections modelled have scenery which allows me to show pictures of individual trains as they transit the line. Below 37026 heads the 07.00 Mallaig to Glasgow on its journey south.

 

 

Crossing the Glenbruar viaduct at Crianlarich

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Over Crianlarich junction

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Departing Crianlarich

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Arriving at Garelochead

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No playing at present, my time is being spent working in such away that I cannot run trains. First up, the witchcraft. No, just an air brush so why does it terrify me? I filled the paint cup with thinned railmatch sleeper grime and starting filling in gaps. First was the track immediately to the north of Garelochead which was weathered and later ballasted. I also got a coat of weathering over the track at Arrochar.

 

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I finished off installing the post and railing on the south end platform ramp. A fiddly, time consuming job but one that I was determined to complete because this is a unique and defining feature at Garelochead. Once a couple of pieces of fineleaf foliage were added, I was happy with the result.

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Last but not least was the piles of ballast stored at the northern end of the station and a number of old rails were painted rust colour. From the various pictures I have of Garelochead, there was a lot of old rail left lying around so the old off cuts will be spread around the station area. 

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Rob,

 

Here's an old 1981 photo from Modern Railway Pictorial (October 1983) of a train you could include on your layout. You probably have most of the rolling stock already.

2035154790_PagesfromModernRailwaysPictorial-1983-10-Octoberscanned_1.jpg.e321dfe6e175881e08993903c315ddfb.jpg

 

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Thanks Ian. Back in the 1980's the first down and the last up trains on the WHL included sleeping cars which were tripped around Glasgow usually but not always from Mossend where they were split from or joined up to London trains. The sleepers were attached to the WHL train at Glasgow Queen Street and detached at Fort William. Therefore protoptypical WHL operations require sleeping cars and so I have 2 mark 1's just as in your picture being a first class SLF and second class SLSTP. There are several pictures of the sleepers with CCT in to match your picture the post below.

 

The viaduct is of equal interest as I am trying to incorporate something similar between Arrochar and Ardlui. The way in which the line is cut into the mountainside with the curves determined by the geology is classical WHL. I have not got the space for the full sized mountain but I am optimistic about the viaduct. 

 

  

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In between coveting other RMWebber's models, the last few days have been weathering track and ballasting in the Arrochar section. It's not exactly exciting but it is an essential contribution to the overall effect. Now that I have completed the activity I can get back to running some trains which I find an important part of building a layout.  

 

37012 heads the 1254 Glasgow to Oban out of Garelochead

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37022 heads the 1224 Oban to Glasgow in the opposite direction having passed 37012 at Arrochar

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On 08/05/2020 at 07:27, young37215 said:

 

The viaduct is of equal interest as I am trying to incorporate something similar between Arrochar and Ardlui. The way in which the line is cut into the mountainside with the curves determined by the geology is classical WHL. I have not got the space for the full sized mountain but I am optimistic about the viaduct. 

 

 

 

Morning Rob,

 

I was also going to comment on the bridge in the photo as this is currently taking up a lot of my time whilst I try and make this sort feature fit into my new layout. 

 

I've been studying photos to work out how practicable (in my case in N gauge) it is to construct this particular style of curved bridge. The stone pillars shouldn't be too much of a problem (most of the trussed bridges seem to have tiered stonework.) I'm looking at the Plastruct range (suitably modified) as a starting point for the straight, crossed truss sections underneath and also for the handrails but it is the curved trackbed deck that I am unsure of as I haven't yet worked out what it's made of....timber ?

I'm sure that I took some photos of the underneath of the 'Horseshoe Curve' structures many years ago but they are somewhere in boxes and boxes of slides.

 

I'd be very interested to know how (if you've got that far yet) you are thinking of making this type of structure and how you think the trackbed deck is constructed.

 

Regards,

Ian.

Edited by 03060
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3 hours ago, 03060 said:

 

Morning Rob,

 

*snip*

 

I'm sure that I took some photos of the underneath of the 'Horseshoe Curve' structures many years ago but they are somewhere in boxes and boxes of slides.

 

*snip*

 

Regards,

Ian.

Ian,

 

Time to get those slides out and scanned into the computer:declare:. That's where my photo, posted earlier, resulted from. I'm in the process of scanning in ~5,000 slides from ~1977 to ~1992, and have only done about 900 so far:heat:.

 

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7 hours ago, 03060 said:

 

Morning Rob,

 

I was also going to comment on the bridge in the photo as this is currently taking up a lot of my time whilst I try and make this sort feature fit into my new layout. 

 

I've been studying photos to work out how practicable (in my case in N gauge) it is to construct this particular style of curved bridge. The stone pillars shouldn't be too much of a problem (most of the trussed bridges seem to have tiered stonework.) I'm looking at the Plastruct range (suitably modified) as a starting point for the straight, crossed truss sections underneath and also for the handrails but it is the curved trackbed deck that I am unsure of as I haven't yet worked out what it's made of....timber ?

I'm sure that I took some photos of the underneath of the 'Horseshoe Curve' structures many years ago but they are somewhere in boxes and boxes of slides.

 

I'd be very interested to know how (if you've got that far yet) you are thinking of making this type of structure and how you think the trackbed deck is constructed.

 

Regards,

Ian.

 

Hi Ian

 

In terms of the picture above, I do'nt know the name of the viaduct in question but it can be viewed at 1.22.45 on the Cab Ride DVD No 50 Glasgow to Crianlarich. From a quick review of the dvd the viaduct is ballasted meaning I could not be certain of the base. I think you will find the Horseshoe curve bridge decks different to most of the other viaducts, from memory the sleepers of the unballasted track are secured to a grid styled metal base. 

 

For the Glenbruar viaduct at Crianlarich I used Plastruct materials for the hand rails and deck support with plasticard as the base but this was straightforward because it is straight. I would have thought this would work on a shallow curved viaduct albeit everything will be more challenging to keep aligned. Have a look at the Rannoch Moor thread on here, the viaduct is quite spectacular and made from similar materials.

 

I have not started thinking about the construction of further viaducts, these area little way off as I am currently still ballasting and fiddling with the station platform at Arrochar. Fortunately I am just about done, I want to add some more layers of weathering to the platform walls and gravel the platform surface before permanently securing the platform in place with ballast. 

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Guaging is checked in situ, the gaps to the coaches are wider than I would like but a necessity to avoid any contact through the curves.

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Wills coarse stone is not completly accurate for the platform walls but weathered up it will blend in quite nicely.   

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23 hours ago, young37215 said:

In between coveting other RMWebber's models, the last few days have been weathering track and ballasting in the Arrochar section. It's not exactly exciting but it is an essential contribution to the overall effect.

 

632543791_080520042.JPG.31b5bacec76297c37e54c1b6ab36eb54.JPG

 

Rob,

 

I think there was previous discussion regarding the colour of the platform gravel. If it helps, here is one of my photos from May 1979 of Rannock station (according to my records) showing a rather 'grey' looking platform surface.

ScanImage-0767.jpg.b1884528c331b329b71e84f4b2213712.jpg

 

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Todays pictures are of 37264 heading north on 8B13, 1315 Sighthill to Corpach. I am not sure why the train was a class 8, at a guess it was because of the potential for vacum braked wagons such as those used for china clay to be included in the predominantly air braked consist this making it partially unfitted.

 

Arrival at Garelochead

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Passing southbound freight at Crianlarich where the crews changed over

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Departing Crianlarich

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Working my way through a days running of the 1981 WTT takes several hours to complete. Yesterday saw the early afternoon trains where 1T24, 1245 Mallaig to Glasgow, was headed by 37192 seen at Crianlarich and Garelochead. 

 

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I am optimistic that I might be allowed on the golf course this week which will be good for my sanity and bad for WHL4's rate of development. The gravel for Arrochar's platform continues to perplex me, in the various pictures that I have found on Flickr it's apparent that in the early 1980's the platform was part gravel and part tarmac. After several trials, I have decided to use the same gravel as I am using as ballast rather than the Woodland Scenics ore. It is slightly duller in colour but still has the pinky brown appearance and applied thinly it looks acceptable.  

 

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2 hours ago, young37215 said:

*snip*

 

The gravel for Arrochar's platform continues to perplex me, in the various pictures that I have found on Flickr it's apparent that in the early 1980's the platform was part gravel and part tarmac. After several trials, I have decided to use the same gravel as I am using as ballast rather than the Woodland Scenics ore. It is slightly duller in colour but still has the pinky brown appearance and applied thinly it looks acceptable.  

 

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Rob,

 

The gravel looks a little 'large' for a platform surface. Have you tried a pestle and mortar (or a food blender - one that's NOT used for food :stop:) to grind it down to smaller particles?

 

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Duncan on the excellent Shirebrook (N gauge) thread, p.23 and in particular p.24, did some experiments recently between several different mediums (proprietry ballasts, sands, etc) to best represent ballast in some Seacow hopper wagons to which we could vote on.....the 'best' most realistic turned out to be 'Bathing Sand'.....from Pets at Home, for Gerbil cages !

 

Whilst it's the wrong colour for the red / pink type you (we) require, it is nice fine stuff and at approx. £2 for a 1kg tub well worth a look at, I've bought some to experiment with for when the time comes.

 

Regards,

Ian.

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The platform gravel debate is causing me a headache, I cannot see an easy or obvious solution. There is no question that N guage ballast is too large even on a 00 layout and the gravel found on a platform is of a smaller size again. Geoscenics produce a finer product which I used on WHL3 but I was not overly impressed with this either although I suspect that it is the nearest size wise to reality. 

 

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At Garelochead my initial coverage of the platform using Woodland Scenice iron ore was quite light to the extent that the grey painted plasticard underneath was visible. When viewed from distance this looks acceptable but up close the failings are clear. On the southern platform ramp I applied thicker coverage but whilst this covers the plasticard, it simply accentuates the iron ore's colour and that it is oversize for gravel. The differing appearances are evident in the picture below.

 

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I have not tried crushing the n guage Geoscenics ballast because I suspect that even if I can reduce the size, it will look similar to the finer product. Other alternatives that have been suggested such as painting have not been tried as yet. Pets At Home are showing their Gerbil sand as out of stock! My current thinking is that the Geoscenics N guage ballast is the least bad option. It is overscale but it's colour has less vibrancy than the Woodland Scenics iron ore. If I tidy up Arrochar it should look a lot better and tell me whether or not it is the way forward.

 

1395003099_100520033.JPG.66de2f6f7738d64a4e6917a5f6f72c5e.JPG 

I will also trial some of the alternatives on some plasticard offcuts so that they cann be viewed side by side. Given that I have 3 platforms that require the coloured gravel, I need to find a practical solution and this seems the best way to make my choice. 

 

Watch this space...

 

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I wonder if sandpaper might not be the better option. The colour you are looking for seems to me to be the sort of colour some sandpaper comes in and the range of grades to choose from is extensive, right down  to very fine.Just a thought.

 

Great work though

Cheers

David

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I suspect that the redness of the real ballast / gravel used on the WHL varies greatly with both age and current weather conditions, ie it will look fairly light pink after a bright sunny dry period yet one of those sudden highland showers that we've all been caught in will really bring that deeper red shade to the fore....and lets face it ....if it's sunny in Arrochar ....it can be lashing it down in Garelochhead ! :D

 

At the end of the day if it looks right to you .....then it is right. (IMO.)

 

PS - I've stopped worrying too much about the bridge trackbed as when I took your advice and rewatched one of my Cab Ride DVDs it became apparrent the majority of the bridges south of Rannoch have fully ballasted track running over them and if it wasn't for the side handrails you could almost miss them all together, Rannoch though is a bit different.

 

Regards,

Ian.

Edited by 03060
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Hi Rob

 

It maybe worthwhile contacting Mark Darragh who is on this forum with his layout 'Rannoch Moor' He has done the red ballast on his station and it looks excellent. 

 

Regards

 

Stephen 

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I am grateful to the various suggestions about how to get the right gravel outcome. For now I have parked the issue short term although it needs a solution. 

 

Most importantly I manged to get on the golf course this morning for only my second round in 8 months. It was quieter than I expected and if the golf was a little rusty, it ws a pleasant way to spend the morning. Back to running trains this afternoon, 37014 headed 8B13, the 1315 Sighthill to Corpach northwards. This was followed by 27105 seen first running light engine southbound into Crianlarich and then returning later with a rare outing on 8B05 the 1449 Sighthill to Oban.

 

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Not much happening today, I am stiff in all the wrong places after yesterday's golf. In my old Loco Hauled Travel books the 0700 Mallaig Glasgow was shown as returning to Mallaig with the 1650 ex Glasgow. Given that this then worked the 0700 again the next morning, the loco could only do a few trips before requiring an exam. Therefore I treat the two trains as seperate diagrams with a fresh loco being turned out for the round trip. 37049 was rostered for the 1650 Glasgow to Mallaig today and is seen at Garelochead and Crianlarich on its way north.

 

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Several years ago I had a number of coaches weathered professionally and for variety I chose 3 different levels of weathering. The light and medium still look fine but the heavy weathering is over done. I compounded this on some of the coaches when the weathering was disturbed whilst renumbering a year or two back and I have not been able to find a solution that works. I recently picked up a potential way to deal with the problem on Everard Junction's Youtube site. He had found a way to remove weathering usually without damaging the original paint using a cleaning fluid. I duly bought some of the LA Totally Awesome and plonked the two sides of one of the worst coaches in the neat solution. 20 minutes later, a light brushing under cold water with an old toothbrush and wow, what a fantastic outcome. The sides look virtually new again. I will need to re-number the coach again but otherwise it is restored to how I want. Once re-assembled it will have a dirty chassis and roof with clean, carriage washed sides just as it should look for my 1980's era.  

 

Before, the mess and my embarrassing efforts at covering them up. Yuch

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Might as well add some passengers whilst the coach is dissassembled

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 The 'after' view, even one of the Railtech numbers survived. A couple of windows need re-glueing

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The cleaner, costs around £10 on Ebay

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Edited by young37215
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