west highland Mallaig and the Road To The Isles

[mallaig1983]

The man with the white paintbrush has swooped at Eastfield and 37012 Loch Rannoch has her first run to Mallaig. This is a renumbered and renamed 37027 Loch Eil. I just had to have a pair of white stripe namers on the layout.

 

 

Running in past the signal box

 

 

 

And standing with classmate 37027

 

 

[mallaig1983]

The signal cabin has almost been completed this weekend. It does contain an interior but it will need a light in there to see it properly. Because of this the roof has not been glued down. I’ve really enjoyed bashing this kit and had fun with the painting. I may well weather it a little bit further but for now I’ll just enjoy it as it is. I have acquired another one for Glenfinnan along with the station building and up line platform shelter. Just in case these ended up being out of stock when I needed them but I have enjoyed this build so much that I will probably have a look at them sooner. In the meantime at Mallaig next I will be back to the scratch building.

 

 

 

[meanach]

That looks superb and is right at home there. It just need a splattering of seagulls poo! 😂

[mallaig1983]

And a seagull on the roof I think. Yes a little more tidying of the paintwork, I hadn’t noticed the splodge of brown on the blue on the steps until I saw the photo once posted. The white does look a little grubbier in the flesh but I feel there is scope to do a little more. It’s had a coat of very very thinned humbrol brown wash. Studying photos of the cabin from the early to mid 80s it would appear that the blue was deteriorating and flaking off at the time and worsening over the years but for 1983 I’m happy to represent it still in a reasonable state but with the white looking a little worse for wear.

[young37215]

The box was in better condition than you might think as this 1981 view shows. It also reminds me that I need to construct the steps used to pass tokens to loco crew. 

 

 

Even after 2 years out of use it was still looking OK in 1984

 

 

 

 

[David Bell]

That really does look the part.

[mallaig1983]

It looks like the steps have had a good lick of paint for the 1984 season while the window frames also look like they may have also had a coat while the boards have been left. Also of interest the shed on the hill has been re-panelled horizontally rather than vertically and the signalman’s cottage has had new windows. Possibly these buildings had been rented out once the signalman had been made redundant? 
Thanks for the links Rob.

Edited August 7, 2023 by mallaig1983

[billywhizz]

Silly question time. What shade blue would have used on the steps, frame and fascia boards? Standard BR blue? 
Regards, 

Bill. 

[mallaig1983]

Good question Bill. I pondered the very same and decided it almost certainly would have been. My paint collection believe it or not does not contain BR blue. Well it does in the form of a rail match rattle can but sledgehammer and nut scenario would be severe overkill. Besides I wanted it to be faded BR blue so I ended up using a French blue and Sky blue that were used for painting the work worn ‘Heather Ann’ on the slip. To my eye it’s a slightly faded BR blue and I think stands up well to photos of the era, indeed the scenes linked by Mr Young earlier today. I have struggled to find a decent 1983 clear photo of the box but the 1984 photo minus the white steps and newly painted window frames makes me feel satisfied I’m close enough. The keen eye will of course notice the blue barge board between the brick base and the matchboarded facia. This is not included in the Peco kit. 

[mallaig1983]

Found this little gem this morning. I hope the link works.
 

https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2F0XtgRx8Lg8A&data=05|01||23bd1e180eb141bd7b8808db9fd86cd4|84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa|1|0|638279524104591610|Unknown|TWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D|3000|||&sdata=2LVG4rfEJx4BcbmpVdniFwsrpv7fbVileUQwCr25eDA%3D&reserved=0

[BoD]

Yes, the link does work.  
 

A great find. I will enjoy watching that later (after more ballasting).

[young37215]

It is wet in Bristol meaning golf does not appeal to me today so I spent some time looking at this new video. In addition to this rather fine video, there is another by the same indvidual entitled the Oban Line 1986 and I am hoping for a third one 'The West Highland' at a later date.

 

The Mallaig Extension is an amalgamation of filming that took place over several years. My best guess is  between 1984 to 1988 given we see 37/0's, ETHEL's and semaphores as well as  37/4's, RETB and Inter City liveried coaching stock. I particularly like the Royal Scotsman material which shows both the first and second iterations of the train. In addition there are a couple of small detail points worth noting; 

 

• Towards the end there is a West Highland liveried coach included in the consist to the rear of a Fort William to Mallaig service. 
• The ground signal at Glenfinnan is shown clearly and from several angles around 13 minutes which might be of assistance to @thegreenhowards.  

 

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by young37215

[mallaig1983]

Yes indeed, there is quite a lot in there of interest. I thought it was definitely worth sharing. It was a quickly fired off post due to it taking longer than hoped to copy the link for some reason. 
I will have a look for the Oban line video and let’s keep our collective fingers crossed for one on the WHL mainline.

[thegreenhowards]

A great find. It’s a shame the picture quality is so poor that some of the details are difficult to make out. That said, the photo of the ground frame at Glenfinnan is excellent and I liked the close up of the concrete overbridge between Morar and Mallaig - that could make a useful scenic break!

 

The chronological consistency has been sacrificed for geographic continuity which makes it hard to draw too many lessons from the stock formations. But the green and cream mk1 on a service train was interesting as Rob said. I didn’t think there were any spares of these, so would it have been just pre or post the steam season?

 

In terms of time frame, there’s one photo of a split box 37 with valences and round buffers (leaving Fort William towards the beginning), so I would have thought slightly earlier than 1984? When did the last valence fitted loco get ‘chopped’?

 

Andy

[03060]

18 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

A great find. It’s a shame the picture quality is so poor that some of the details are difficult to make out. That said, the photo of the ground frame at Glenfinnan is excellent and I liked the close up of the concrete overbridge between Morar and Mallaig - that could make a useful scenic break!

 

The chronological consistency has been sacrificed for geographic continuity which makes it hard to draw too many lessons from the stock formations. But the green and cream mk1 on a service train was interesting as Rob said. I didn’t think there were any spares of these, so would it have been just pre or post the steam season?

 

In terms of time frame, there’s one photo of a split box 37 with valences and round buffers (leaving Fort William towards the beginning), so I would have thought slightly earlier than 1984? When did the last valence fitted loco get ‘chopped’?

 

Andy

 

Hello Andy and all,

 

Having worked some very silly hours this week I've only just managed to watch the full video ... a really great find !

 

By it's markings the green and cream coach is one of the first 6 TSOs (and one BSO) introduced for the 1985 season which were withdrawn and replaced at the end of the 1987 season (ref Tom Noble's book) and photos from this period seem to show 5 or 6 coach G&C coloured trains so maybe this was the 'spare' being utilised for extra room on a service train. There are one or two other photos on Flickr showing these coaches being used in other service trains to Glasgow.

 

The 1987 replacements had different markings and 6 or 7 coach trains can be found from this period, again 1 BCK and 7 TSOs suggest that there was always a 'spare' available.

 

Also seen in G&C livery during the 1980s were the saloon Loch Eil and another BCK without markings and a light grey roof that I believe belonged to the McAlpine family.

 

Regarding the split box 37 with valance, 37039 was still active on the WHL in the summer of 1985 before failing and being called into works for refurb. It had black headcode boxes in 1985 but they were yellow (as seen in the film) prior to this. (It became 37504 but returned to the WHL as 37603 in a later guise to work the aluminium ingot trains for Freightliner and is the star of the 'Heavy Metal' DVD.)

 

As regards the splendid rail, road and river bridges across the River Morar I agree totally as to it's use for a superb scenic break in what (for me) was the most romantic and beautiful place that I had (have) ever come across .... until some **** built a by pass right across the front of it in a crime against nature .... IMHO !!! .... (sorry, I may have mentioned this before, LoL.)

 

I shall now calm myself by watching the 12 min Oban film mentioned above which I've just found.

 

Hope this is useful,

Regards,

Ian.

 

(1986 Oban film now watched, better quality filming and timber loading at Oban station itself depicted which I was unaware of before ... so also V. Good.)

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by 03060
Self moderated ! LoL

[meanach]

Wow , now I feel old ! 😂 Some amazing historic footage there . I’ve seen a mk2F on the extension before (c1987) but never that early (1984?). Thanks for sharing. 

[mallaig1983]

As my attention has turned to the signal box area of Mallaig I decided that the next building that really needed to happen was the signalman’s cottage. Working by guessing dimensions as I have no measurements (a practice that I have been forced to use for most of my buildings) a card mock-up was first made and offered to the scene. I was content that I’d established what the footprint and height of the walls were roughly I was a little disappointed to find it didn’t fit. The depth I had allowed was to narrow and I had a hill and a rock face in the way. Now Street View has been a good friend to me while I’ve been building Mallaig but I’m pretty sure this area today is changed from how it was in 1983. Sure the cottage is still there but the car park for the health centre appears to have had some development of the landform in order to allow it to be flat. Steam To Mallaig dvd has been a big help and resulted in the big knife attacking my landform to accommodate the cottage with something similar now sitting behind it. However once passed the cottage there is a shed and this shed blocks a decent view of the landform that the garage above the signal box looks like. Trawling through Flickr and YouTube I came across the little gem linked below. Filmed in 1988 the shed has gone so a very helpful view can be seen. I haven’t linked the video so you can all enjoy my newfound view behind the box but because I think you’ll enjoy a rather nice run up the West Highland Line in the snow. The WHL section kicks in around 5:25 mins in. It’s been on YouTube a year now so you may have already seen it but if you haven’t, enjoy 😀
 

 

[thegreenhowards]

Great video Andy,

 

I particularly liked the photo of the Turbots loaded with (I think) concrete sleepers in the headshunt at Glenfinnan. I now have an excuse!

 

the detail on the ‘ugly’ concrete building on the platform at Glenfinnan is also very useful to me.

 

Andy

 

 

[mallaig1983]

Yes it is another useful video full of details and warrants a few viewings. With very little freight on the Mallaig extension I too have been planning on a couple of engineers wagons at Glenfinnan so that clip made me smile too. The small warehouse building will also have to be scratch built so that was very useful too.

[Glencoe Model Railway]

Just spent an enjoyable morning looking through your thread. Really like how the layout has developed so far. 
There can never be enough WHL layouts!

 

 

Cheers

[meanach]

It’s quite exciting to come across footage I’ve never seen before of the WHL. It makes me wonder just how many other historically interesting footage is sat in peoples homes. 
 

A fair few interesting bits in there. The camping ? Coach at Tulloch . The engineering carriage of Gresley design on Fort William yard plus the Turbots at Glenfinnan. I didn’t even realise round speed signs were installed that early either . Thanks very much for sharing. Ian 

[mallaig1983]

Not a great deal of modelling to report of late but I am pottering with the signalman’s bungalow and more sheds. Progress is slow but it had been summer (apparently) and other events have taken priority with my time. I have been making sure that my amazing grandkids get time at the beach whenever possible because the joy on their faces outweighs any joy I derive from modelling on a day we could have been at the beach.

 

However, the seasons are a changing and the perfectly timed SLW mini exhibition at Crewe this weekend has kickstarted the modelling season. After I rewired the layout some weeks ago I emptied the swear box which to be fair did Brimmeth over. I had used language I wouldn’t normally use especially in front of Mother! So I decided I had waited long enough and been a patient boy  24/0 although a lovely SLW model was not needed so I was excited when they announced the class 25. Sadly nothing in the first tranche for me, patiently waiting and praying for 25228 in a future project. Scottish 24/1s are then announced, Oo we’re getting closer. Slight regrets of not following my Georgemass Junction, Dingwall or Achnashean daydreams. At the time of the swear box decanting 25083 and 086 were announced and that’s it, I’m spending money. 083 was an Eastfield loco from 76 to 78 and fits perfectly for when I go all late 70s Babysulzer. Recently announced 25244 was also at Eastfield at this time and is an example of the earlier body style (my absolute favourite loco) and before I knew it Phil had guided me to a chair and Jennie was taking an order. So there will definitely be two time periods for the layout now.

 

Anyway it was a really good event at Crewe this weekend with not only a wonderful display of SLW 24s and 25s but two of my favourite exhibition layouts, Mostyn and Portcuillen were in attendance so I lost myself viewing these with no crowds or backpacks.

 

Brian from Braeside @brylonscamel was there and I enjoyed a a good long chat, some very useful pointers, a chance of a way to move the ‘Railway Buildings’ forward and a general chewing of the cud with a very nice gent. Really nice to meet you Brian.

 

So, fully enthused and back in the modelling season we push on with renewed vigour and enthusiasm.

 

Thanks to Philip and Jennie for putting on such a wonderful event and for the invitation to attend.

Edited October 1, 2023 by mallaig1983

[BoD]

Our grandson is taking up far too much of my time at the moment….

… but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

The layout can wait while I enjoy the moment.

 

[class26]

1 hour ago, mallaig1983 said:

Not a great deal of modelling to report of late but I am pottering with the signalman’s bungalow and more sheds. Progress is slow but it had been summer (apparently) and other events have taken priority with my time. I have been making sure that my amazing grandkids get time at the beach whenever possible because the joy on their faces outweighs any joy I derive from modelling on a day we could have been at the beach.

 

However, the seasons are a changing and the perfectly timed SLW mini exhibition at Crewe this weekend has kickstarted the modelling season. After I rewired the layout some weeks ago I emptied the swear box which to be fair did Brimmeth over. I had used language I wouldn’t normally use especially in front of Mother! So I decided I had waited long enough and been a patient boy  24/0 although a lovely SLW model was not needed so I was excited when they announced the class 25. Sadly nothing in the first tranche for me, patiently waiting and praying for 25228 in a future project. Scottish 24/1s are then announced, Oo we’re getting closer. Slight regrets of not following my Georgemass Junction, Dingwall or Achnashean daydreams. At the time of the swear box decanting 25083 and 086 were announced and that’s it, I’m spending money. 083 was an Eastfield loco from 76 to 78 and fits perfectly for when I go all late 70s Babysulzer. Recently announced 25244 was also at Eastfield at this time and is an example of the earlier body style (my absolute favourite loco) and before I knew it Phil had guided me to a chair and Jennie was taking an order. So there will definitely be two time periods for the layout now.

 

Anyway it was a really good event at Crewe this weekend with not only a wonderful display of SLW 24s and 25s but two of my favourite exhibition layouts, Mostyn and Portcuillen were in attendance so I lost myself viewing these with no crowds or backpacks.

 

Brian from Braeside @brylonscamel was there and I enjoyed a a good long chat, some very useful pointers, a chance of a way to move the ‘Railway Buildings’ forward and a general chewing of the cud with a very nice gent. Really nice to meet you Brian.

 

So, fully enthused and back in the modelling season we push on with renewed vigour and enthusiasm.

 

Thanks to Philip and Jennie for putting on such a wonderful event and for the invitation to attend.

Also went to Crewe yesterday and judging by the quality of the 25`s on display the Highland 24/1`s are going to be worth the wait. I have 3 on order !

 

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

12 hours ago, mallaig1983 said:

Not a great deal of modelling to report of late but I am pottering with the signalman’s bungalow and more sheds. Progress is slow but it had been summer (apparently) and other events have taken priority with my time. I have been making sure that my amazing grandkids get time at the beach whenever possible because the joy on their faces outweighs any joy I derive from modelling on a day we could have been at the beach.

 

However, the seasons are a changing and the perfectly timed SLW mini exhibition at Crewe this weekend has kickstarted the modelling season. After I rewired the layout some weeks ago I emptied the swear box which to be fair did Brimmeth over. I had used language I wouldn’t normally use especially in front of Mother! So I decided I had waited long enough and been a patient boy  24/0 although a lovely SLW model was not needed so I was excited when they announced the class 25. Sadly nothing in the first tranche for me, patiently waiting and praying for 25228 in a future project. Scottish 24/1s are then announced, Oo we’re getting closer. Slight regrets of not following my Georgemass Junction, Dingwall or Achnashean daydreams. At the time of the swear box decanting 25083 and 086 were announced and that’s it, I’m spending money. 083 was an Eastfield loco from 76 to 78 and fits perfectly for when I go all late 70s Babysulzer. Recently announced 25244 was also at Eastfield at this time and is an example of the earlier body style (my absolute favourite loco) and before I knew it Phil had guided me to a chair and Jennie was taking an order. So there will definitely be two time periods for the layout now.

 

Anyway it was a really good event at Crewe this weekend with not only a wonderful display of SLW 24s and 25s but two of my favourite exhibition layouts, Mostyn and Portcuillen were in attendance so I lost myself viewing these with no crowds or backpacks.

 

Brian from Braeside @brylonscamel was there and I enjoyed a a good long chat, some very useful pointers, a chance of a way to move the ‘Railway Buildings’ forward and a general chewing of the cud with a very nice gent. Really nice to meet you Brian.

 

So, fully enthused and back in the modelling season we push on with renewed vigour and enthusiasm.

 

Thanks to Philip and Jennie for putting on such a wonderful event and for the invitation to attend.

How common were 25s on the WH extension? I’ve only seen one or two pictures.