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

[ISW]

11 hours ago, young37215 said:

I came across one of numerous threads on track cleaning which provided an explanation as to why crud appears. It is well worth a read if you want an explanation of the science. The upshot is that I have bought a can of WD40 contact cleaner and embarked on another round of track cleaning to see if this works for me.

Rob,

 

Very interesting. It's good that someone actually put some reasons / logic behind their choice of track cleaning fluid. Like you, I've been using IPA till now. As a result of the article, I'll be giving the lighter fluid a try, mostly because I already have some to hand.

 

I do have some 'generic' electrical contact cleaner, but that's in a spray can and I want to try out the cleaning fluid in my track cleaning wagon.

 

I know that track cleaning wagons get 'bad press' but I think of them like our robot vacuum cleaner. Yes, they are not as good as a traditional hand pushed vacuum (eg: Dyson), but because they can get used more often they do just as good a job overall. I'm hoping that a once-a-week (or every 2-weeks?) run of the track cleaning wagon will keep the crap dirt and dust off the rails.

 

Ian

[mallaig1983]

2 hours ago, young37215 said:

I am still working on the class 20 fleet with 20045 having reverted to its original speaker and sealed using blacktack as the double iPhone simply would not fit without distorting the body shell. Seen in the attached video, the sound is an improvment on the original video done a few weeks ago but is still not quite right. 

 

 

 

That’s sounding pretty good to my ears. I’m following this subject with great interest as my factory sound fitted 20 of fifteen years vintage sounds awful. I was hoping to get it reblown but it’s only a 3.5 chip and I feel it would still be disappointing vs a newer sound file on a more modern chip with more functions. That just leaves the small dilemma of the speaker so I’m watching with interest. 
What chip / sound file is in 20045?

[mallaig1983]

1 hour ago, ISW said:

Rob,

 

Very interesting. It's good that someone actually put some reasons / logic behind their choice of track cleaning fluid. Like you, I've been using IPA till now. As a result of the article, I'll be giving the lighter fluid a try, mostly because I already have some to hand.

 

I do have some 'generic' electrical contact cleaner, but that's in a spray can and I want to try out the cleaning fluid in my track cleaning wagon.

 

I know that track cleaning wagons get 'bad press' but I think of them like our robot vacuum cleaner. Yes, they are not as good as a traditional hand pushed vacuum (eg: Dyson), but because they can get used more often they do just as good a job overall. I'm hoping that a once-a-week (or every 2-weeks?) run of the track cleaning wagon will keep the crap dirt and dust off the rails.

 

Ian

Charlie at Chadwick did a really interesting review on his YouTube channel a while ago which coincidentally I rewatched yesterday evening. It’s a good watch if you haven’t seen it already.

 

Andy

[ISW]

4 minutes ago, mallaig1983 said:

Charlie at Chadwick did a really interesting review on his YouTube channel a while ago which coincidentally I rewatched yesterday evening. It’s a good watch if you haven’t seen it already.

 

Andy

Andy,

 

I watch Charlies videos, but that one must have escaped me. I'll look through his videos to find it.

 

Ian

[mallaig1983]

2 hours ago, ISW said:

Andy,

 

I watch Charlies videos, but that one must have escaped me. I'll look through his videos to find it.

 

Ian

It’s titled ‘Ultimate Track Cleaning’ and he finds Inox MX3 to be the product of choice.

 

Andy

[young37215]

The track cleaning issue is one to keep tabs on and I will record my experiences over the coming weeks. I had a brief watch of the Ultimate Track Cleaning which seemed to take a long time to not say a great deal. The Inox solution appears similar to contact cleaner, presumably that makes it a non polar fluid which should work. 

 

All 4 of my class 20’s have been renumbered to ones I have seen pictures of working on the WHL. 20045 and 20085 were the 2 locos fitted with through steam pipes in 1983 to allow them to work with a class 37 where it had been found the 37's were struggling with adhesion on damp rails particularly on a Monday (there were no WHL Sunday trains then). The introduction of the ETH fitted Mk3 sleepers in October 1983 meant that the through piped 20's were no longer required. Interestingly I don’t think the length of the train changed, just the fact that the stock used became ETH rather than steam heated. Logically moving into Autumn would have resulted in an increase in adhesion problems but, as far as I am aware, there were no reported appearances of class 20’s after the Mk3 introduction. Perhhaps BR found that contact cleaner worked for them as well as modellers?

 

All are sound chipped with Loksound V4 except 20184: 

 

20045, vacuum braked, SWD sound  

20085, vacuum braked, Howes sound

20184, dual braked, Howes sound on a V3.5 chip

20228, dual braked, Legoman sound

 

37085 and through steam piped 20085 are seen arriving at Garelochead

 

[ISW]

10 hours ago, mallaig1983 said:

It’s titled ‘Ultimate Track Cleaning’ and he finds Inox MX3 to be the product of choice.

 

Andy

Andy,

 

I watched the video, very interesting. I think his point about 'preventative cleaning' is good one, and I had a track cleaning wagon in mind for that operation. However, he wasn't exactly enamoured with his cleaning wagon!

 

Ian

[young37215]

22 hours ago, ISW said:

Andy,

 

I watched the video, very interesting. I think his point about 'preventative cleaning' is good one, and I had a track cleaning wagon in mind for that operation. However, he wasn't exactly enamoured with his cleaning wagon!

 

Ian

 

A proactive cleaning regime can only be a good thing but, like so many tasks, I am sure it just drops down peoples priority list. I can vouch for the fact that cleaning track is not exactly rewarding or stimulating, it is just something that needs doing. I shall be giving my Dapol track cleaning car an outing today in the hope that the vacum cleaner can pick up some the debris and muck that I have built up using the contact cleaner.

 

1T56 departs Garelochead 

 

[ISW]

1 hour ago, young37215 said:

A proactive cleaning regime can only be a good thing but, like so many tasks, I am sure it just drops down peoples priority list. I can vouch for the fact that cleaning track is not exactly rewarding or stimulating, it is just something that needs doing. 

Rob,

 

A while back you had embarked on a 'wheel cleaning' exercise. How did it go, and are are any 'pitfalls' I should know about?

 

The reason for asking is that I'm on a mission to clean all my loco / coach / wagon wheels as I put them back on the layout.

 

Ian

[young37215]

My wheel cleaning project was a success in that the wheels of most of my rolling stock are now far cleaner than they have been since new. However cleaning wheels is tedious, repetitive and down right boring although I did feel a sense of achievement and smugness when I finished.

 

I started out using Dapol track cleaning fluid soaked on rags which were then placed on track (IPA replaced the track cleaner when it ran out). Rolling stock was pushed backwards and forwards over damp and dry areas of the rags with the dry, clean area acting as a towel to clean off anything left on the wheels. This was circa 70% effective, wheels were much cleaner after treatment but not spotless. The 30% of really dirty wheels largely comprising coaching stock were improved by this method but there was still a lot of rubbish left on the wheels. I think it was you who suggested using a rotary tool to grind away the dirt. Here I have the perfect tool, a low voltage and cheap mini grinder equipped with a cleaning/buffing tool. I went through several of the cleaning/buffing tools but these are cheap and readily available on Ebay. The mini grinder does a fantastic job of clearing dirt from wheels as I hope you can see from the pictures below. I would have thought you wise to clean the wheels of your older stock prior to use. If you consider that I had not previously cleaned any rolling stock wheels hence why they were so dirty and that much of it was 10 years old, I probably got off quite lightly.

 

Going forward I aim to be more proactive in cleaning track and so long as the non polar contact cleaner reduces the dirt production rate, I hope that the need to clean wheels will be lower going forward which will be important if I am to achieve my ambition of fitting lights to the coaching stock. My next step in my new found cleaning regime will be to work out a way to better clean loco wheels and pick ups where I have picked up some tips which I want to test.

 

Typical wheels before any attention

Part cleaned wheel shows the difference cleaning makes

Edited March 10, 2021 by young37215

[young37215]

Completed wheel clean

 

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by young37215

[03060]

For those still interested in owning a loco like Rob's 37 026 'Loch Awe' I thought that you might be interested in this development posted yesterday.

 

https://railsofsheffield.com/news/articles/3804--loch-awe-class-37026

Edited March 11, 2021 by 03060
Extra info added.

[young37215]

2 hours ago, 03060 said:

For those still interested in owning a loco like Rob's 37 026 'Loch Awe' I thought that you might be interested in this development posted yesterday.

 

https://railsofsheffield.com/news/articles/3804--loch-awe-class-37026

 

37026 is one of the best of the Bachmann class 37 models I have seen, there are 3 on WHL4 with 2 renumbered as 37033 and 37043. That said with Accurascale's announcement soon after delivery of 37026, MMRG's timing was unfortunate. Copies of 37026 appear on Ebay from time to time and still seem to command a hefty price. 

 

The Dapol track cleaning coach got an outing yesterday, as others have said it is not the best track cleaner but the vacum is quite effective resulting in me having to empty the dirt chamber on several occassions. I cleaned the track with contact cleaner in two more stations and in the spirt of engineering work, ran a few engineers trains. One of which with 27032 and empty Grampus wagons is seens arriving at Crianlarich.

 

 

 

 

[ISW]

13 hours ago, young37215 said:

I think it was you who suggested using a rotary tool to grind away the dirt. Here I have the perfect tool, a low voltage and cheap mini grinder equipped with a cleaning/buffing tool. I went through several of the cleaning/buffing tools but these are cheap and readily available on Ebay. The mini grinder does a fantastic job of clearing dirt from wheels as I hope you can see from the pictures below. I would have thought you wise to clean the wheels of your older stock prior to use.

 

13 hours ago, young37215 said:

 

Rob,

 

Yes, I was me with the 'Dremel' suggestion. I'm using the same method, although I have a flexishaft extension on my 'nearly dremel' that makes it a little easier. I have quite a wide variety of wheel types and materials, so I'm using the steel (?) brush on the metal wheels with the nylon (?) brush on the plastic wheels. It sure gets the dirt off quickly, but it also wears the brushes out! I'm hardly using any IPA to clean the wheels, only on those few where the brushes 'smear' the dirt and refuse to remove it. I did manage to damage one plastic wheel by being too aggressive in one spot. The nylon (?) brush was very worn and I think the metal centre made contact with the plastic wheel. Lesson learnt. I'll get that wheelset replaced from my 'stash'.

 

It is rather boring to do, but I did manage ~50 4-wheel wagons in a day or so. I could have been quicker, but I'm also adding the details of them to an Excel spreadsheet as I go. An easy process when you have the original box, but a real pain when you have to Google the maker and wagon number to find the actual model number. And, yes, this is the first time these wagons have ever had their wheels cleaned.

 

Ian

[young37215]

A combination of another day of lockdown and wet weather meant I spent time yesterday between cleaning track and attempting to sort out 3 class 37's where the directional lighting was not working. I was 66% successful with the lights, 2 of the 3 are now working but 37108 stubbornly refuses to play ball for reasons I do not yet understand. What was also evident and surprised me having removed the loco bodies from their chassis was the amount of rubbish that has built up on the chassis and bogies. With most of the loco fleet between 5 and 10 years of age I don't suppose this should have come as a surprise but it did and it has got me thinking about implementing a more robust cleaning and servicing regeme. Another task for the 'to do' list.

 

In between the work I managed a few ad hoc train movements testing out the class 20 fleet. With several 37's out of service, 20184 got the job of the teatime mixed train, the 1630 Fort William to Mallaig. 20184 arrives at Fort William with the ECS and runs around before an on time departure.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by young37215

[young37215]

For the first day in several months I did not do anything on WHL4 yesterday. A combination of the winter weather and the lockdown have meant that my loft has been something of a sanctuary of late but yesterday I had no interest or inclination to do anything. Maybe a day or two away will recharge the motivational batteries; only time will tell. 

 

A couple of pictures from the previous running session sees 20184 arriving at Mallaig with 2B12. Having arrived, 20184 runs around and shunts the TTA's to the oil storage terminal siding.

 

 

[Alcanman]

I love the way Mallaig is progressing. Great photos. 

 

Your third photo reminded me of this one I took on my second visit to Mallaig when 37/4s had taken over passenger services. 37423 'Sir Murray Morrison' can just be seen behind the TTAs

[03060]

Yet another marvellous photo @Alcanman thanks for posting.

[young37215]

Sunday engineering sees 20045 at Garelochead with an empty S&T train. 20045 was recently renumbered from 20035 with the new numbers varnished and lightly weathered to blend in with the existing weathering. 

 

Edited March 14, 2021 by young37215

[SHerr]

Could I ask whether the WHL and Mallaig Signal cabins are scratch built or kits please? I am trying to figure out which option to go for on my layout. 

 

Many Thanks

[ISW]

On 13/03/2021 at 08:50, young37215 said:

A couple of pictures from the previous running session sees 20184 arriving at Mallaig with 2B12.

Rob,

 

Isn't 20184 a Toton machine? I'd be surprised if it made it that far up t' North.

 

Ian

[young37215]

18 hours ago, SHerr said:

Could I ask whether the WHL and Mallaig Signal cabins are scratch built or kits please? I am trying to figure out which option to go for on my layout. 

 

Many Thanks

 

All of the station buildings and signal boxes on WHL4 are custom made out of cardboard by Ed Hall who is based in Northern Ireland and formerly one half of the Dawson Hall partnership. You may recall seeing their version of Glenfinnan station and signal box in ModelRail a few years back.  

[young37215]

12 hours ago, ISW said:

Rob,

 

Isn't 20184 a Toton machine? I'd be surprised if it made it that far up t' North.

 

Ian

 

Panic not Ian. According to my Platform 5 books, dual braked and slow speed control fitted 20184 was Eastfield based in the early 80's before moving to Toton in the mid 80's. I am sure I have a picture of it on the WHL somewhere, I just can't put my finger on it at the moment. When researching the Scottish 20's most suitable I was surprised at the rate of turnover between Scottish and English depots, there were few that spent the 5 years of my 1980 to 1985 modelling window in Scotland for the entire period. Both 20045 and 20085 were stored out of service vacum braked locos before being resurrected and having the through steam pipe fitted in 1983. In 1984 following the Mk 3 sleepr introduction on the WHL they both moved south of the border.

 

Having deposited the TTA's in the oil siding, 20184 readies 2B18, 1855 to Fort William before departing

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by young37215

[ISW]

2 hours ago, young37215 said:

Panic not Ian. According to my Platform 5 books, dual braked and slow speed control fitted 20184 was Eastfield based in the early 80's before moving to Toton in the mid 80's.

Rob,

 

I was remembering the 1970s when it would have been Toton based, working coal trains around Burton-on-Trent and probably to Drakelow Power Station on the Leicester Line.

 

Ian

[Neils WRX]

20184 was an ED machine from May 81 to July 83 when it went to Toton, before returning to Scotland in March 85 when it was based at Motherwell before being withdrawn in 86 and cut up at Vic Berry's.

 

Stay safe,

 

Neil

 

PS Great layout