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Mallaig and the Road To The Isles


mallaig1983
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On 19/04/2020 at 23:44, Damo666 said:

Did you see Channel 5 tonight (Sunday 19th April)?

Britain's Most Scenic Railway Journey: Minute by Minute.

It was Ben Nevis to Port Mallaig.

https://www.channel5.com/show/britains-most-scenic-railway-journey-minute-by-minute/

 

 

Thanks for that, I really enjoyed it ....although I must confess that I thought as it started that it was a repeat of the 'minute by minute' programme that was shown at Christmas which had a lot of shots of the passengers sat at their seats, which I didn't particularly enjoy; I nearly turned it off after passing Tom-na-Faire depot but thought I would watch on past Loch Eil .....glad that I did as this was a very different version than I'd seen before with some great shots, particularly from the drone, enjoyed it enough to make me look out for it as a DVD which is my preferred viewing medium.

 

Regsrds,

Ian.

Edited by 03060
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On 23/04/2020 at 10:59, 03060 said:

 

Thanks for that, I really enjoyed it ....although I must confess that I thought as it started that it was a repeat of the 'minute by minute' programme that was shown at Christmas which had a lot of shots of the passengers sat at their seats, which I didn't particularly enjoy; I nearly turned it off after passing Tom-na-Faire depot but thought I would watch on past Loch Eil .....glad that I did as this was a very different version than I'd seen before with some great shots, particularly from the drone, enjoyed it enough to make me look out for it as a DVD which is my preferred viewing medium.

 

I watched the Fort William to Malliag one, I loved the programme but, at first, i thought that it would be a documentary like Flying Scotsman: On the Footplate, where the driver/fireman gives us a commentary about what they do. it did get a bit boring at times but the scene when the train was going over Glenfinnan Viaduct was brilliant.  

Edited by 6990WitherslackHall
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  • 2 weeks later...

The last 3 Sundays have seen progress on the layout. Often 2 steps forward and 1 back but always learning and problem solving. Each of the points now has a slow action motor mounted underneath it and tested. The one fitted today was an absolute pig as it sat right above the join of 2 of the kitchen units that the layout sits on. I've been fitting them from below as although the layout is built on 3 boards this is really in case I ever have to move the layout once completed for whatever home maintenance reason that may arise. The rails will only be cut if it's absolutely necessary to have to move the layout. So I had to pull the layout out from the wall so I could work under the point while it was clear of the base unit. Luckily the 3rd board hadn't had the track laid so at least I could seperate that one. 

Having fitted and tested the motor everything was put back as it should be and track laying continued onto the 3rd board which forms the station approach. In real life there is a gradient as the line leaves Mallaig. This was achieved by layering cork strips, an idea borrowed from WHL4 (thread on this forum (thanks Rob)). It works out at 1 in 60. I don't know what it is in real life but to my eye it looks about right. 

Next job will be to wire up the bus wire for the track and wiring the point motors to the panel so time to brush up on my soldering skills. I'm blown away that I have tested the whole layout from just one electrical connection at the buffer stop. A sound fitted loco has traversed the whole layout several times, including the reverse sidings from this one connection. Peco unifrog is pure saucery and witchcraft I tell you. This has simplified testing but I will be doing the time honoured practice of running droppers from every rail length when I wire it up properly.

 

Here are a couple of photos to show where I'm at.

 

 

IMG_20200510_161024.jpg

Edited by mallaig1983
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Seems I can only load one photo at a time so here is the second. I just placed a couple of old Lima Mk1s on the grade to try and show it but the camera phone hasn't really captured it particularly well. It's more obvious to the eye in the flesh so to speak. 

The loop holds six coaches which is one short of reality but I've never seen any evidence that trains of the time were ever any longer than six. This is probably dictated by the length of the loops at Glenfinnan and Arisaig. I know that trains between Glasgow and Fort William were load 8 but I've never seen more than six on service trains on the extension. The scenic area is 14 feet on 3 and a half foot wide boards. I believe I could of done with 15 feet but I wasn't prepared to move house for the privilege and to condense the layout by a foot I have no problem with. The platform is six coaches long as per the prototype.

 

Couple of set backs so far but ultimately I'm happy with progress.

 

Andy

IMG_20200510_173756.jpg

Edited by mallaig1983
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On 28/04/2020 at 09:11, Tim Hall said:

My last interruption, I promise, from onboard The Jacobite:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Tim, I enjoyed that .

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Looking good so far, the track layout is unmistakable.

 

In terms of pictures you should be able to load up to 10MB of pictures per post. From my camera this is usually 6 or so, from my phone it is less because they are higher resolution. 

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3 hours ago, young37215 said:

Looking good so far, the track layout is unmistakable.

 

In terms of pictures you should be able to load up to 10MB of pictures per post. From my camera this is usually 6 or so, from my phone it is less because they are higher resolution. 

Thanks Rob.

 

I'm loading direct from my phone and if I try and load two at once it does say about the 10mb. In order to load the second I had to come right out of the site and log back in. 

 

Andy

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  • 3 weeks later...

As I have a week off work I've had a couple of days working on the layout. Well wiring the point motors to the panel to be precise. It hasn't always gone well and I have made mistakes but I'm happy to report that the job is complete. Well I have to cosmetically hide the wires that go from behind the panel to the back of the layout. I wanted the panel mounted above the layout but would of used a lot less cable if I'd of mounted it at layout level. Chuffed to bits with getting this job out of the way obviously I had to test everything (play) and all works well. The only connection from the controller to the track is at the buffer stop end of the layout. As I've mentioned before the unifrog points are pure witchcraft. However tomorrow I will be making a start on wiring the layout properly with droppers and a power bus as today I had a timely delivery from the good folks at Gaugemaster. 

A photo of the panel with the point motor switches all fitted in their respective place. The harness behind it is wired to a male/female terminal block. The cables can be seen making their way along the sloping ceiling to the rear of the layout. These will be covered.

Andy

 

IMG_20200526_142145.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Today I have finished wiring the layout and I'm happy to report that under test conditions all works well. I'm pretty chuffed about that. For me it isn't half as exciting as tracklaying and my soldering skills are not the best. Note to any other new modellers LOOk for the soldering iron, don't dabble for it! I have a war wound on my finger this afternoon. The bus is wired to a gaugemaster prodigy which is now located central to the layout directly below the panel.

Next job is to fit and wire the electronagnets to activate the kadee couplings. I'm not sure whether to have another panel for these or to fit the switches on the edge of the layout in line with the magnets. This is probably my favoured route as when operating them I can actually see that they are doing the job they're tasked with. 

After that I'll build the platform. Now on the MK1 version this caused me some grief as it is an island platform on a curve. I think what I'm going to do is lay brown paper out, do the coach and pencil trick, cut it out and use as a template. The top third of Mallaig's platform face chamfers out so I plan on making a ply base with a chamfered ply top. That's my current thinking. I'm sure there will be trial and error. If anyone has a better idea I'd be happy to hear from you.

 

Here is a photo of the test train stabled in what will be platform 1.

IMG_20200615_150427.jpg

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Your panel looks really neat.

 

I’m not sure how easy it will be to chamfer ply without it splintering.  I quite like the way the platform was created on Glenluig although some chamfering was needed.  It looks effective.

 

 

 

Edited by BoD
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26 minutes ago, David Bell said:

Looking good Andy, really looking forward to seeing this develop

Cheers

David

Thank you David. My first serious attempt so slow progress but it is progress. Today was two steps forward and none back lol. 

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The coach and pencil method over the brown paper method did the trick. At first the Bachman MK1 kept derailing so I substituted it for an ancient Hornby one (from the I'm keeping this to practice my weathering skills box). This had much deeper flanges and pushed down into the paper very easily. This in turn pushed the paper into the track pins which I left slightly raised in order to get the pliers on to to pull out once the ballast/glue solution holds the track in place this by accident this held the paper in place. It worked out much better than I expected. 

IMG_20200615_163616.jpg

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Tomorrow I will get some drawing pins and pin the paper into place. I'll think of a means to make the coach slightly wider and repeat the coach and pencil combo to which should then give me the markings for the bottom part of the platform face. 

Rob do you know what height the platform should be? 

Fingers crossed this will work.

 

Andy

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1 hour ago, BoD said:

Your panel looks really neat.

 

I’m not sure how easy it will be to chamfer ply without it splintering.  I quite like the way the platform was created on Glenluig although some chamfering was needed.  It looks effective.

 

 

 

Thanks BoD. I have seen the Glenuig thread and Gary has proven that this works well and is very effective. It's just that I have had the idea of running a 45 degree edge with a router. If it doesn't work then I will go with the Glenuig method but nothing ventured and all that. I will keep you posted. Thanks.

Andy

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