Waverley West, Princes St Gardens and Haymarket MPD

[meanach]

It’s always great to see photos of your layout. I was through Edinburgh Waverley last week on my way to spend a few days behind 37403. It’s certainly not the place it was .
 

I don’t recall seeing the mainline spoon before , what’s that re worked from? Also I like the weathering on the bashers mk2 roof, how was that done? Ian 

[Waverley West]

On 01/04/2023 at 22:31, ColinK said:

As always such a superb layout.  Any plans to exhibit it?

 

Thanks Colin, I'm afraid not. The layout was never built to be exhibited and it wouldn't stand up to the rigours of the exhibition circuit, I'm afraid. It is portable though, so it could be moved if necessary (house moves in other words).

 

Cheers

Dave

[Waverley West]

On 02/04/2023 at 00:12, St Enodoc said:

Do tell!

 

Will do!

[Waverley West]

On 02/04/2023 at 17:14, meanach said:

It’s always great to see photos of your layout. I was through Edinburgh Waverley last week on my way to spend a few days behind 37403. It’s certainly not the place it was .
 

I don’t recall seeing the mainline spoon before , what’s that re worked from? Also I like the weathering on the bashers mk2 roof, how was that done? Ian 

 

Cheers Ian. You're right about Waverley, I'm afraid. It seems to be packed full of units of various lengths and shapes these days. Hardly a loco in sight.

 

The spoon was reworked from Bachmann 47832 Tamar. It was a fairly straightforward process, apart from the need to replace the battery boxes/fuel tanks with the correct type. The yellow around the cab windscreens had to be painted over, but that was it really, apart from the actual renumbering/naming.

 

The Mk 2 roofs were done by painting the areas a paler colour where the roof was to be peeling. These areas were then painted with Maskol. The roof was then completely resprayed and the Maskol removed to reveal the peeled areas. The entire roof was then covered with weathering powder in a suitable shade of grey.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Hope to be back soon with an update about my (ultimately successful) trials and tribulations with the new Accurascale Deltic.

 

Happy Modelling,

Dave 

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by Waverley West

[Legend]

Hmmm  great pics as always . Another vote to tell us how you cured your Accurascale Deltic from derailing . 

[meanach]

On 11/04/2023 at 15:02, Waverley West said:

 

Cheers Ian. You're right about Waverley, I'm afraid. It seems to be packed full of units of various lengths and shapes these days. Hardly a loco in sight.

 

The spoon was reworked from Bachmann 47832 Tamar. It was a fairly straightforward process, apart from the need to replace the battery boxes/fuel tanks with the correct type. The yellow around the cab windscreens had to be painted over, but that was it really, apart from the actual renumbering/naming.

 

The Mk 2 roofs were done by painting the areas a paler colour where the roof was to be peeling. These areas were then painted with Maskol. The roof was then completely resprayed and the Maskol removed to reveal the peeled areas. The entire roof was then covered with weathering powder in a suitable shade of grey.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Hope to be back soon with an update about my (ultimately successful) trials and tribulations with the new Accurascale Deltic.

 

Happy Modelling,

Dave 

 

Hi . Yes that’s very helpful , especially the roof repaint . Why I have never thought about using Maskol I don’t know ! It’s so obvious really but that’s why we need people like yourself to pass on their techniques! I have a whole load of west highland mk1 to do. I shall give that method a whirl. 
Ian 

Edited April 14, 2023 by meanach
Spelling

[Waverley West]

Re. derailing Accurascale Deltics, here is my explanation (cut-and-pasted from the AC Deltic thread) of the causes and modifications I found solved my issues with my 55018:

 

My Ballymoss kept derailing at two particular points on the layout, both on curves where there was a slight "hump" in the track at two baseboard joints.

 

I eventually realised that, at these points, the trailing bogie was pitching (moving in the plane of the loco) and then pivoting and then "unpitching" and straightening again.

 

As the bogie pivoted around the curve with the front of the trailing bogie pitching upwards and the rear pitching down (i.e. the loco was going over a slight hump in the track), this caused the top of the rear of the bogie to move directly below the coupling block on the chassis. If the bogie remained in this position as the loco came out of the curve and off the hump in the track, it ended up lodged beneath the coupling block. As the loco moved out of the curve, the bogie then became jammed against the coupling block and unable to straighten, causing the derailment.

 

The eventual fix proved to be filing a bevel of a couple of mm's on the top edge of the coupling block and the V in the end of the bogie. This stops the interlocking between the bogie and coupling block and prevents the bogie from becoming lodged on top of the coupling block as the loco comes out of the curve.

 

Not sure how well I've explained that, but I hope it helps someone! There may well be other reasons for these locos derailing, but this has completely eradicated the problems with my Ballymoss and I don't have any derailment issues with it now.

 

I have 4 Accurascale Deltics and test runs have indicated that two of the others are fine and one suffers from the same derailment issue, so that one will also have to undergo minor surgery.

 

As regards the infamous rattle, it really is just a question of opening the loco up and checking for possible sources. The main source of the rattle in my Ballymoss was one of the two circuit boards under the loco's roof. This couldn't be tightened using the screws, so I eventually ended up unscrewing it and attaching it to the loco using Bluetac. I also unscrewed the speaker and did the same with that. These two steps seemed to eliminate the rattle completely.

 

Result: a fantastic loco but quite a lot of working out what was wrong and then solving the problem to get there!

 

Fortunately, the other three locos do not seem to suffer from the same rattle.

 

I have now sold all my Bachmann Deltics and am enjoying my Accurascale ones. I came to realise just how far out the nose of the Bachmann Deltic is when I opened the box containing my first Accurascale one. I hadn't really worked out what was wrong with the Bachmann Deltic until that moment. The Accurascale one looks spot on for shape.

 

Hope that helps!

[Waverley West]

Hi folks,

 

Managed a couple of operating sessions over the weekend, alongside working on the fourth and (probably) final 3-car class 101 cut-and-shut project, which has now progressed to the primer stage. Spraying of Strathclyde Orange is the next step, along with painting of the interiors and underframe.

 

Here are some shots taken during the operating sessions:

 

47716 "The Duke" gets into his/her stride on a G-E pushpull service...

 

 

 

An HST arrives from Aberdeen on a Kings Cross service...

 

 

...as another G-E pushpull service departs Platform 14...

 

 

 

There was a headache for the train controllers though when the Highland Chieftain service from Inverness failed on the Highland mainline. Railfreight Distribution 47280 Pedigree was summoned to assist, dragging the set as far as Waverley. 

 

 

 

To be continued...

 

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by Waverley West

[Waverley West]

The miscreant arrives in Waverley...

 

 

 

Another service from Aberdeen passed through Princes St Gardens a little while later...

 

 

 

Happy modelling!

Dave

[hexagon789]

Excellent pictures and staging as ever. 

 

 

[billywhizz]

Great photos particularly “The Duke” at speed!! 

[mallaig1983]

Just oozing atmosphere. Wonderful photos as always. Thanks Dave.

[SHMD]

Where's the Landy gone?

 

Only joking. Great tohave you back posting again.

 

 

Kev.

 

[Waverley West]

11 hours ago, SHMD said:

Where's the Landy gone?

 

Only joking. Great tohave you back posting again.

 

 

Kev.

 

 

Still there, Kev. In fact, there's a Series II version on my workbench which will eventually replace it when I get round to it. There's a livestock trailer on the project list too. 

[Waverley West]

Hi folks,

 

Well, "only" three months since my last update, so here goes...

 

I've been pretty busy over the past few months with various projects.

 

The first project to be finished off was the last of the four 3-car 101 conversion projects, this time in the form of a Strathcylde-liveried unit, 101 304, converted from 2 x 2-car units as a cut-and-shut project. Along with the unavoidable full respray, this also underwent the usual DMU refinements, including drivers, passengers, weather, alteration of the brightness of the lights so that they are only visible in the dark, destination blinds, etc, etc. An unusual feature of 101 304 at one point in this livery was that it had had silver buffers at some time, so they were duly added.

 

Here are some piccies of it in service...

 

 

 

 

 

Another 3-car 101 conversion is also in service, in the shape of Haymarket-based 101 306 with black window surrounds...

 

 

 

 

That's my file size allowance used up already, so onto another post...

 

 

 

 

[Waverley West]

Rest assured though, loco-hauled services continue to dominate, even on local Fife services.

 

Here is 27052 arriving from Dundee...

 

 

 

 

While care-worn 20048 was unusually acting as station pilot...

 

 

Shortly after 47461 Charles Rennie Macintosh passed through with a ScotRail-liveried inspection saloon...

 

 

 

There have been a couple of new arrivals on the wagon front, with an ATO-liveried TUA first up, which has been slotted into one of the Speedlink rakes...

 

 

 

 

 

[Waverley West]

One final shot of the TUA, which is a very nice wagon...

 

 

Another addition on the wagon front is a polybulk from Rails. I normally prefer to do my own weathering, but this one caught my eye and I couldn't resist it. It still needs a dirty wash to finish it off, but for factory weathering it's pretty impressive and certainly a long way from the brown skirts of the early days of factory weathering.

 

 

Another new addition to the loco fleet is 47484, a special from Kernow models. This will replace 47500 Great Western, which will probably be sold off.

 

The young spotter (me!) seems remarkably uninterested in it as it arrives from Carstairs on an inter-regional service.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TT100 Diesels]

The strathclyde orange mat camm unit is stunning.

 

The post above, first pic of 27052 from behind is obviously a real shot of the real loco and train. It can't be a model.......

 

All the latest stuff is mega though.

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

[Waverley West]

A quiet moment between trains out in the countryside...

 

 

I'm thinking of repainting this bridge to bring out the stonework and textures a bit more. Not the easiest of jobs with it being in situ though!

 

Another major project has been another push-pull rake, this time of Mk2z's + DBSO. This rake was often used on the Perth shuttle service. 

 

Here are some shots of it undergoing proving trials. As an experiment, I have fitted magnetic couplings from West Hill Wagon Works. They work well in both push and pull mode and look less intrusive than tension locks, so I may well expand my experiments to other stock and from stock to loco.

 

The coaches have been renumbered to four of the five ScotRail Mk2z's and fitted with lights and passengers and the outer vestibules have been painted yellow, along with the usual weathering.

 

Here is 47715 Haymarket, appropriately enough, arriving from Perth, passing through Princes St Gardens...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2023 by Waverley West

[Waverley West]

For comparison, here is my normal coupling arrangement for coaching stock, with a corridor connection and tension locks...

 

 

This looks OK to me, as the tension locks are not very visible. The coaches are a little too far apart though, so that was one of the main reasons for experimenting with magnetic couplings.

 

The main thing of course is that passengers must be able to pass through the train!

 

Over the past year or so, I have also been building up a small fleet of electric locos to run during "happy hour" sessions when anything goes 😀. These sessions make a nice change from trying to run everything exactly as it was at Waverley in the 80s.

 

The most recent addition is an InterCity Mainline-liveried Hornby 87, renumbered as 87024 Lord of the Isles. I loved the names of those 87s, Black Douglas, Hall o' the wynd, Lord of the Isles, The Black Prince, John O' Gaunt, Knight of the Thistle and so on. So evocative, not that I had much inkling of their origins though. These days, thanks to Google, I can find out!

 

Here she is, sound-fitted with a Legomanbiffo chip and 2 x sugar cub speakers just behind the cabs, which put out a very nice sound!

 

 

 

Another fairly recent addition to this fleet is 90037 in Railfreight Distribution colours...

 

 

 

 

Anyway, don't tell anyone, will you?

 

Well, that's about it as far as this update goes. Currently on the workbench is one of Bachmann's new 47/7s. As Bachmann have modelled 47712 in its current livery, I have had to respray the upper dark grey. I was hoping to avoid doing this, but it is (correctly) just too dark and different from the upper dark grey on all my other sector stock. 

 

I've made good progress with it though, so hopefully it won't be too long before it is put into service on WW. I do like the latest Bachmann 47s and have now replaced several of my old fleet, although I have no intention of replacing them wholesale and many of them have many years of service left in them, I'm sure. There just isn't enough of a difference to justify replacing them like that, especially taking the crazy cost that would entail anyway.

 

Cheers for now and happy modelling everyone!

 

Dave

 

PS A sneaky final shot that didn't make the cut above...

 

Edited July 15, 2023 by Waverley West

[mallaig1983]

An absolute feast of inspiration and motivation in there Dave. Wonderful photos as always. Thanks for sharing and giving us the update.

Right, lunch break over, I’m back to Mallaig 

[billywhizz]

Hi Dave, great updates! The 101’s look fantastic. Re the ScotRail MK2z’s have you corrected the brake issue. The coaches were originally part of the Class 27 era push pull fleet and retained the disc brakes. I have removed the clasp brake shoes on mine and fitted Will’s Workbench CC02W disc brake inserts to the wheel sets.
I also added CC07W brake disc inserts to my fleet of DBSO’s 

Cheers. 
Bill. 

[Waverley West]

Hi Bill,

 

What a useful post! No, I haven't corrected the brake issue as yet. The rake is still a work in progress. I just wanted to test the lights and the magnetic couplings on the layout, so they were heading back to the workbench again anyway.

 

Those upgrades look great and make a big difference, so I will definitely have to investigate.

Thanks!

 

Cheers

Dave

[billywhizz]

Hi Dave. I also have added bogie footsteps (can be seen on the previous posted photos) and the single body mounted footstep on the opposing ends which the Bachmann MK2F’s come with ready fitted. Apologies for the rubbish photo, you can just about make it out. 

Cheers,

Bill. 

[meanach]

I’ve been missing seeing posts on this layout and now suddenly we are spoilt . Great photos as usual and boy have you been productive! The 101 looks fantastic.
 

Is 20048 modelled from the newest tooling ? I’ve been wondering if there is any space for a better speaker in the new tool 20s . In the old ones I cut the nose of the chassis off and stuck a Rail Express exclusive or Zimo dumbo speaker sat vertically . I bet the new lighting circuit will curtail this mod. I’ve not seen a ‘naked’ one yet ! Ian