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

[03060]

On 14/12/2020 at 06:36, young37215 said:

 

 

 

I knew that I'd seen that brake van somewhere before on the West Highland !  

[Legend]

On 05/02/2021 at 14:21, young37215 said:

Or how about these

 

 Yeah I have the same problem, buying books I’ve already got!  Sometimes it’s not helped by the fact the publishers change the cover , but in other cases it’s just plain forgetfulness . 

[young37215]

19 hours ago, Eddie R v2.0 said:

The layout is really looking the part. Loving these photos which take me back to a time when everything seemed simpler. 
 

What makes it better is that you have a timetable to run and it all has a purpose. 

 

Cheers

 

 

Having a timetable makes playing trains daily operations much easier and simpler. I follow a predetermined set of movements with trains of a designated length with no having to think about 'what do I move next' or 'what coaches/wagons shall I include in train x'. Additional services can be added in although they usually cause operational headaches. I find that there is little need for additionals because the sequence of all WTT movements of a single day takes around 5 hours to complete which is more than enough to keep me entertained. 

 

I have now run the 1985 WTT several times. I dont like it as much as the earlier years, it feels more clunky and more difficult, less smooth to operate. once I have finished the current day I will revert to one of the earlier years. 37081 with 1T34, 1415 to Glasgow, 37033 with 2Y53, 1405 to Mallaig and 37049 allocated to 2Y55, 1605 to Mallaig are all seen at Fort William. As with Mallaig, there is further work required to complete the Fort William section but as it is operationally functional as it currently stands, this can wait. Too many trains to run.....

 

 

 

 

 

[young37215]

Moving through the days operations, newby 37043 is seen again with 1T28 arriving at Garelochead. 

 

[young37215]

A little more of 37043 and 1T28 as it departs Garelochead after being passed by 37011 with 7Y39, 1330 Mossend to Oban.

 

37043 should get a new speaker fitted in the next day or so, at present it only has the as supplied sugar cube which is pretty anemic. I have a Rail Express Boom Box to try as my preferred Zimo Double Dumbo is out of stock at present. The Boom Box looks similar to the Dumbo and friends tell me that it sounds as good, if not slightly better. 

 

 

 

[BoD]

I've got a couple of 37s to improve so I'd be interested to know how and where you fit the boom box (and what you think of the sound, of course).

[young37215]

Regular readers will be aware that I changed my controller a few weeks ago from Guagemaster Prodigy to ESU's Cab Control (CC). The Prodigy had served me well but with Guagemaster/MRC's lack of development and the current shortage of components, I felt it was time to move on. Having looked around for some time I decided that CC offered the best functionality for what I wanted, essentially 3 key points:

• wireless handheld controller with a rotary dial to drive locos
• on screen graphic display of chip functions 
• a higher output of track power 

ESU's ECoS was an option but with a mobile controller this would have cost the best part of £1000. Additionally with its ability to control points and signals, the ECoS was over specified for what I wanted as I run a seperate Megapoints driven network for point and signal control. CC costs less than £400 although it is only marketed in the USA and Australia which seems strange but this did not put me off. I bought mine online from the friendly and helpful Iron Planet Hobbies in the USA and after an initial hiccup, it arrived within a few days of despatch. Set up following the instruction manual was straightforward and once I had resolved CC's refusal to apply track power because it was sensing a non existent short, I was off and running. After a week or two of using CC I felt sufficiently confident to sell my Prodigy.

 

CC comprises 3 main parts, power supply, integrated control unit (ICU) and a wirelesss controller. Only the ICU which is the brains of the system and wifi centre is unique to CC. The power supply is the same as supplied with the ESU ECoS and the wireless controller is the Mobile Control 2 handheld unit available as a standalone item for use with both CC and ECoS. ESU upgraded the MC2 unit in 2020 and I made sure that my CC system came with the upgraded MC2. Simplistically MC2 is a hybrid of a mobile phone with a rotary dial grafted onto it. The display screen works like a smart phone with multi touch capability and, subject to the physical memory constrains, you can download additional software if you choose. Battery life of the MC2 has been reported as an issue and a more powerful battery was one of the 2020 upgrades. I have found that after a 2 or 3 hour session battery life drops to 50% or 60% which seems perfectly acceptable to me. Using an old mobile phone charger I leave the MC2 on charge when I am not running. Operationally the rotary control works much the same way as the Prodigy. Displaying chip functions requires the Railcom and Railcom Plus software contained in most ESU chips enabling  where I have had one or two challenges which I am sure will be easier to resolve with a friends Lokprogrammer once we are able to meet up again.

 

Overall I am pleased with the CC which has integrated itself into my layout very easily. My only gripe at this time is ESU's failure to grant me access to their forum so that I can access any software updates they may issue from time to time. The lack of response after over a month of chasing from their supposed hotline e-mail account is annoying.

  

The box of tricks

 

 

The MC2 handheld unit

 

On screen functions are intuitive and activated by touch

[BoD]

That looks interesting.  I do like the idea of the graphics for functions.  Whilst there is some standardisation of functions there is also a lot of variation too, even within projects by the same person/company.  Recently I have been thinking about how I might easily reference the actual actions of functions whilst operating.

[young37215]

22 hours ago, BoD said:

That looks interesting.  I do like the idea of the graphics for functions.  Whilst there is some standardisation of functions there is also a lot of variation too, even within projects by the same person/company.  Recently I have been thinking about how I might easily reference the actual actions of functions whilst operating.

 

It is simply impractical to operate holding a controller in one hand and the sound producers crib sheet in the other. I rely on memory to determine which F keys to press which in practice means I only use a limited number of the common sound features and therefore fail to exploit the full potential of the sound. I find it strange that so few people seem concerned by this point. 

 

By the end of the day yesterday I completed a 1985 running day and then spent an hour shunting and relocating rolling stock to be able to start a 1981 day. The aluminum bar also arrived and I managed to cut 2 80mm lengths as tests for the slabs that were seen in open wagons. These weigh around 60 grams thus doubling the weight of an open wagon. First impressions are positive although the aluminum cutting using a hacksaw was hard work taking in excess of 10 minutes per bar.    

 

Edited February 12, 2021 by young37215

[03060]

That looks to have cut nice and cleanly and definately looks the part. 

[young37215]

On 12/02/2021 at 08:39, 03060 said:

That looks to have cut nice and cleanly and definately looks the part. 

 

By coincidence rather than design, what you see is the machined end of the bar. My cut is no where near as clean or precise to the extent that I am considering how best to get the remaining bars machine cut. I have no idea who or where would offer this sort of service though; any suggestions gratefully received.

 

I spent a fair amount of time yesterday attempting to sort out my coaching stock. The 4 coach rakes are essentially fixed using the Bachmann fixed coupling bar and had been in their rakes for several years. As part of the recent wheel cleaning I decided to swap some of the rakes around but has proved a mistake to the extent that I have had more derailments in the last month than I have had in 3 years. One of the problems I identified was the bogies had become loose for reasons I have not been able to clarify. My normal approach is the bogie retaining screw is tightened down and then released by a quarter of a turn to allow some flexibility. I can only guess that the wheel cleaning using a multi tool has shaken the screws loose resulting in eratic running. One by one I am testing each rake and attempting to resolve the issues, in a couple of cases I changed the coaches around which seemed to improve things.  

 

From the day befores operations 37039 heads 7D19 , the last of the 3 daily southbound freights into Crianlarich

 

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by young37215

[young37215]

37043 in a wobbly video shot using Iphone with one hand and the Mobile Control 2 unit in the other. Speaker is the sugar cube as supplied without any form of sealing or sound chamber. I am now off to install a Rail Exclusive Boom Box as a repalcement and hope to have a second video for comparison later.

 

 

[ISW]

1 minute ago, young37215 said:

37043 in a wobbly video shot using Iphone

Rob,

 

I recently watched a YouTube video that included 'tupperCam', a camera mounted in the base of a tupperware bowl, so 'WobblyCam' [TM] fits in nicely.

 

Ian

[David Bell]

The comparison should be interesting. To be fair i think the sound as is is pretty good!

 

Cheers

David

[mallaig1983]

This video popped up while I was doing some research on YouTube so was a nice surprise. Scenery looks great too Rob.

[young37215]

1 hour ago, David Bell said:

The comparison should be interesting. To be fair i think the sound as is is pretty good!

 

Cheers

David

 

Having dismantled 37043 I found that I had already installed a Road and Rails small round base speaker, the same one as I have in my class 27's. Undeterred I attempted to fit the Boom Box but found that the extra 1mm of height and slightly different shape meant that more work was required to get it to fit. On the basis that the small base reflex sounds reasonable, I decided to leave things as they were.

 

By way of comparison here is another one handed wobbly  video with 37026 complete with EM2 speaker. Although louder and with more base, I think the small round speaker holds up quite well. When you contrast the price of £7 versus £100 it seems even better value. 

 

 

[mallaig1983]

To be fair it does sound good and an absolute bargain at that price. Really enjoyed the videos.

Thanks for sharing.

Right, back to my research.

[young37215]

15 hours ago, young37215 said:

When you contrast the price of £7 versus £100 it seems even better value. 

 

I should have mentioned that an EM2 installation costing a £100 includes a considerable amount of labour, I think the speaker retails for circa £25?, whereas the £7 Road and Rails option is purely the cost of the speaker which I can fit myself. 

 

Apart from videoing, most of yesterday was spent running test trains to ensure the coaching stock derailments were reduced. I made a number of adjustments to bogie retaining screws and swapped a couple of coaches between rakes. By the end of the day it appeared that derailments were reduced which I will test by starting a new running day next. One of the benefits of running trains around the lower loop is I got to run in several of the newer locos which had not previously had an extended continuous run. 

 

One further video with 20034 which is about to become 20085, seen approaching Garelochead from the south. 

 

 

[ISW]

2 hours ago, young37215 said:

One further video with 20034 which is about to become 20085, seen approaching Garelochead from the south. 

Rob,

 

To my ears that's a strange sounding class 20. When the video started I thought it was a Class 37 coming and that you'd mis-typed 37034 as 20034. I remember Class 20s with a more pronounced 'whistle'. Very odd.

 

Ian

[young37215]

21 hours ago, ISW said:

Rob,

 

To my ears that's a strange sounding class 20. When the video started I thought it was a Class 37 coming and that you'd mis-typed 37034 as 20034. I remember Class 20s with a more pronounced 'whistle'. Very odd.

 

Ian

 

Interesting that several people see it like that, it is the Howes sound file on a V4 sound chip which I consider the best of my 3 class 20's. I suspect it is my poor driving style, the chopping sound is the engine under power hence the class 20 Chopper nickname. The whistling is more evident with the engine at lower speed and I'll see if I can get another video of the loco demonstrating this. I did have a look on Youtube and found a good example of a pair of 20's sounding similar to my video.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf0tQ0LyQU8&t=139s

 

In 1985 there was a 1223 Mossend to Corpach (7Y37) and a 1223 Corpach to Mossend (7D19) which passed and crew changed at Crianlarich. I keep mixing the 2 trains and moving them at the wrong time, the 1223 departure times obviously mess with my head so I wont be sorry to see them go. On my last day running the 1985 WTT, 37085 heads 7Y37 seen arriving at Crianlarich.

 

 

 

[young37215]

37178 has charge of 7D19, 1223 ex Corpach seen passing 37085 on 7Y37

 

 

[young37215]

I have finally got to the bottom of a long standing irritation at Arrochar where occassionally southbound trains would derail when crossing the points on leaving the station. The cause was an irregular gradient profile on the approach to the north of the station which would cause a bogie to raise and put a wheel out. This only showed up as a derailment on departure hence my focus and suspicion has been on the southern pointwork. I spotted the issue as I closely followed the progress of a 4 coach rake that was proving troublesome all the way around the lower loop. Having identified the problem it was relatively straightforward to adjust the gradient and unballasted track since when the issue has disappeared. Fingers crossed ....... 

 

So back to 1981 where the first train of the day is the down sleeper seen passing Garelochead with 37026 in charge.

 

 

[young37215]

37022 brings ECS into the platform at Fort William to form the 0845 to Mallaig steam hauled service which will be hauled by 37049 today. There was no steam hauled service in 1981 so this and the second round trip later in the day are Rule 1 services. They work well in my opinion adding movement on the Mallaig extension and by moving the steam hauled stock around like this I avoid bottlenecks in the fiddle yard.

 

[Alcanman]

I've just been catching up with your superb WHL layout which has rekindled my interest in the WHL.

 

Your last photo brings back happy memories of my trip from Fort William to Mallaig behind 37191. I've attached a photo of 37191 about to depart Fort William and a photo of my model of the loco.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Alcanman

[young37215]

37191 is one of the RSH built, ex South Wales boilered 37's that migrated to Scotland in the early 80's. I will get around to creating one of them when I find a way of creating the cantrail grill dividers that I am happy with. 191 was a regular WHL performer for several years and is tempting but my thinking for some time has been 37188. 

 

I have been wiorking on updating 2 of my class 20's. What was 20034 has been renumbered 20085 and 20045 has been tidied up with new numbers which have been sealed with a coat of matt varnish and will be further weathered to blend the numbers in with the rest of the weathering. I have fitted a double Iphone speaker into 20045 but am not happy with the tight fit of the speaker which is currently creating a visible 1mm gap gap between the bodyshell and chassis. I will have another look at the fitting before deciding how to address the issue. Both locos have had their MU pipes and headcode discs fitted, additional buffer beam detail will have to wait until I have resolved the wire loops that I intend using to replace the tension locks.

 

20034 in original condition

 

renumbered, ED depot transfer applied and MU pipe fitted

 

Headcode discs applied

 

Updated 20045 and 20085 await a return to service

 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by young37215