West Highland Line V4

[mallaig1983 368]

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 !!

 

 

 

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

[young37215 2,766]

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. 

 

[young37215 2,766]

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.

 

[young37215 2,766]

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.   

 

[03060 336]

31 minutes ago, young37215 said:

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

 

 

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 ?

[young37215 2,766]

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. 

 

 

[young37215 2,766]

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. 

 

 

 

[mallaig1983 368]

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

[young37215 2,766]

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

 

 

[ISW 636]

2 hours ago, young37215 said:

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.

Rob,

 

If it's really bad I tend to use a 'dremel' with a nylon wire brush attachment. That gets the bulk off quite quickly. Then a quick wipe with IPA on a cotton bud.

 

Ian

[young37215 2,766]

21 hours ago, ISW said:

If it's really bad I tend to use a 'dremel' with a nylon wire brush attachment.

 

An excellent idea, I have a cheap and cheerful multi tool to which I attached a fine wire brush attachment. This made short work of the crud and meant that by the end of yesterday I had cleaned all coach wheels and remarshalled the rakes. I have been working on the 1985 WTT which I intend running next; whilst the number of services does not change much there are some notable changes. First class was withdrawn and Glasgow trains all terminated at Fort William. These will remain 4 coaches with a further two rakes of 3 coaches providing Fort William to Mallaig services. The sleeper service became air conditioned Mk 3 sleeping cars and Mk2 D/E coaches with an ETHEL supplying the ETH.

 

27041 had a brief outing with the return of an observation salon seen arriving at Crianlarich from Oban. This will be the last train for a while because my new ESU Cab Control system arrived yesterday to replace my Guagemaster Prodigy. Having disconnected the Prodigy my initial efforts to get the Cab Control connected and working hit an obstacle meaning I am without power at present.

 

 

 

 

[young37215 2,766]

A frustrating day attempting to get the Cab Control system to work eventually ended in failure. For some as yet unidentifiable reason the CC will not apply power to the track despite everything appearing to work as it should. All most irritating and disappointing, I was so optimistic that CC would be a step forward. Hopefully I can get some answers from ESU as to what I am doing wrong but for now it is back to the Prodigy. 

 

In the end having re-attached the Prodigy I commenced running the 1985 WTT for the first time. Only by running the timetable do I find anomalies that mean the WTT does'nt work on WHL4 such as trains that cross at Glen Douglas. I do'nt have a Glen Douglas which means one of the trains has to run late so that it crosses at Garelochead or Arrochar. Not a big deal but one that you only learn through running. 37026 with 1S07, the overnight sleeper from Euston is the first movement of the working day and is seen at Garelochead.

 

 

 

[mallaig1983 368]

Sorry to hear you’re having a frustrating time with the new control Rob. I noticed a very brief clip popped up on YouTube. Hopefully ESU can give you the answer and it’s only something minor. 
 

more great pics again  this morning though.

[young37215 2,766]

After a day spent trying to work out what was causing the Cab Control system to short, a fellow RMWebber advised of a known issue in the US which others had solved by increasing the variable track voltage output. In a matter of seconds this solved the problem and I was able to move a loco up and down a piece of test track. Hopefully today I will get the CC running WHL4.

 

The second train movement of the day for the 1985 WTT is the first Mallaig departure 2Y52, the 0650 to Fort William seen with 37051 and its load of 3 coaches leaving Mallaig. The crooked lamp post is determined not to stand straight, it has been glued several times but still manages to break free!

 

 

[03060 336]

On 07/01/2021 at 10:43, mallaig1983 said:

 Noted on DTV's film 'Class 37 Tribute vol1" there is a BDA sat in the siding at Mallaig station.

Andy

 

Hope that you don't mind Rob but just a quick note regarding the above mentioned DVD ....there are two sets of DVDs with this working title out there and whilst they are both good the DVT version is the one with the excellent footage taken in the 1980's BR blue era, whereas the Globe Video title is set in the late 1990's / 2000's 'multicoloured' era but does at least have some WHL footage .....by the time I get DVT's vol.2 I will have spent £50 this past week learning this lesson, I should have read Andy's post more thoroughly first time around !! 

 

Regards,

Ian.

[David Bell 2,068]

Glad you have solved your power problems. 

 

That shunting sequence you described at Mallaig would make a great wee video sequence

Cheers

David