young37215

Nice one Ian, I will have to do one of the SRPS tours with 403 when they run on the WHL. I was pleased to learn that Hornby are doing a re-run of their BSO in blue and grey. Scheduled for delivery this summer, I will be tempted to add another couple of these to WHL4. I might even start thinking about converting them to BSOT micro buffet. Closer to home operations continue, 20085 has charge of a rake of empty Grampus spoil wagons seen arriving and stabling at Crianlarich.

An eclectic mix of wagons with both vacum and air braked variants in the consist presumably hence the guards van. 37085 departs Garelochead heading south.

Hi Andy There are limited number of 1980's pictures of WHL engineering trains in my experience of my main source, Flickr. When you think about it, the lack of pictures probably reflects the nominal maintenance carried out on the line during this time. The only significant work I can think of on the extension was the rationalisation at Mallaig and move to the 'one train in steam' method of operation in 1982 of which I have never seen any pictures. Other than that I suspect that maintenance was only ad hoc replacement of failed track components, ballast top ups and the occassional tamping. 1985 Mallaig, A Mermaid sneaks into the picture of 37112 37403 Arisaig 1988 1984, engineering consist approaching Glenfinnan 37401 1986

Carrying on the operating day, 37033 having run around the stock of the inbound 0600 from Glasgow, sets back and prepares to return the 164 miles to Glasgow with the 1245 departure from Mallaig. 37017 awaits departure of the passenger train so that it can use the loop to run around its loaded ballast train.

Little activity of late, a 'motivation battery recharge' is ongoing. Yesterdays monsoon restricted my activity outside and so I returned to operations in 1983 which was fun. 37085 was photographed approaching Garelochead with 8D10, 0707 Mallaig Junction Yard to Mossend.

When Doncaster commenced the class 50 refurbishment programme in the late 70's/early 80's, they started returning the ex works locos to the Western Region on the 09.50 Edinburgh Plymouth. Many of the ex works fleet returned this way although other trains were occassionally used. For example I had 50034 returning home on the 12.37 Leeds Cardiff service on 27/10/82. On a positive note, as the locos were ex works you do not need to worry about weathering your models!

The Ardlui picture is undated but shows the RETB stop board and with no visible sign of the old semaphores it dates 1986 onwards. My Mermaids have been around a while, I did a piece on weathering them back in Summer 2018 but last years meltdown wiped all the pictures! Like you I have a number of engineers trains and insufficient sidings in the fiddle yards to store them which means they get shuffled around from station siding to siding. This is probably more prototypical than I appreciate although evidence to support this is thin on the ground, photos of engineering trains were never a great favourite for most people. As ever Ernie Bracke has one There are others if you look hard 1986

Nice work Ian, the Flangeway Mermaid's weather up nicely with a bit of effort. In addition to a similar technique to what you have done, I added ballast dust secured in place with varnish on mine which I think enhances the appearance. Mermaids at Ardlui, mid 1980's. With their side tipping capability only they seems a strange choice for the single track WHL!

This is a new picture for me, the photographer has spelt the viaduct name slightly differently meaning my searches didn’t pick it up. I can get close with a similar view although it’s clear that I need more trees.

The second of Ernie's pictures also shows a modified engineers coach. I can't work out what it is or what the number might be, I am guessing that it might be ADB 975077, a BCK converted as a staff mess coach by the Scottish Region in the early 1980's. Does anyone else know better?

The Rivarossi catelogue indicates that there will be DCC and DCC sound versions of the KLV 53 available during 2023. Personally I can live with HO for these track maintenance vehicles and I shall be tempted, especially given how poorly my OWB performs.

Excellent work Ian, the building really looks the part.

In addition to Arrochar I also want to finish the rocky cutting to the north of the viaduct. This is largely complete but a few small pieces of detail need finalising where in my haste to get the layout operational, I left a few loose ends. Immediately next to the viaduct the removable section still requires infilling with one or two more rock castings and in both cases the floors of the plywood bases need more paint to deepen their colour. Once this is complete I can fill in the ballast shoulders which are currently inadequate and do not hide/disguise the plywood bases. Easier to explain with some pictures, none of the work is complicated and should be completed with another few hours of attention.

My productivity has been reduced because I keep sitting and watching trains move between Arrochar and Adlui. Trains transit the scenic section appearing and dissappearing into the landscape in true West Highland fashion. Sat at the far end of the loft this is the view from Ardlui looking towards Arrochar which can just be made out in the far left of the picture. It's not quite the scale 8 miles it should be but it does take well over a minute for the journey at low speed. To move further forwards I have decided to do some of the work required to create the scenery aound the platform at Arrochar. This is despite having originally been of the view that this should wait until the upper section scenery gets sorted. However I am still pondering on the upper level and am hoping that the work at Arrochar will inspire a decision about how to do the upper level. The embankment at the front of the station will not prevent me accessing the upper level and the same can be said of installing the mountainside up to the heght of the upper level. I will not fix anything breakable down at this time and risk damaging it when I get around to creating the scenery on the upper level baseboards. To start it was out with the polystyrene and cutter to shape an embankment to the front of the station. A few more pieces of insulation were chopped about to create the mountainside and because it is hard to see how I can do any damage to the mountains which can be fixed in place albeit at lower height than they will ultimately become. Once glued in place I will cover in plaster cloth and use Sculptamold to create and fine tune the landscape in the hope that this will make it clearer how the upper level should look.

My Background on my PC is this one, an equally spectacular view and a heavily foliage covered rock face to boot. I don't think I'll go for quite that heavy a covering on my rocks, I am not sure I could afford all of the materials required! Finishing off the running day yesterday, 37112 is pictured heading south with the 15.30 from Corpach to Mossend on departure from Ardlui. I have added a lot more foliage to the mountain side above Ardlui and Arrochar but it is not obvious to see until I compare an up to date picture against some taken a few days ago. It is also a pleasant surprise that 3 boxes of fine leaf foliage are only half empty after this activity.

I have been experimenting with Woodland Scenics Polyfibre and some aincient Noch ground cover material as I attempt to make the cuttings appear greener. A small piece pulled away from the large ball of fibre sits quite nicely on top of the rocks when glued in place with superglue. It is a fiddly process that takes a little time to get right but the outcome is rewarding. An example of an overgrown cutting rockface on the WHL My efforts so far

No evidence to support the dog, it is an error on my part. My version was created 10 years ago when I paid less attention to this sort of detail. Having discovered Flickr it is now easier to get a reference photograph and avoid inaccuracies like this. I want to change the nose end appearance on 264, mine has the pair of old WR name board brackets which are also incorrect; it should have a single and slightly larger bracket from its Stratford days. When I do this I will remove the dogs at the same time. Several hours of running yesterday was enjoyable, even so I only managed to complete about a third of the days activity. I have probably commented on this before but I estimate that to complete a single days operations must take between 6 and 8 hours. An issue with a servo at Crianlarich had me crawling around underneath the baseboard for a few minutes which created an interesting angle to view the new scenic areas. The panoramas below give a good view of recent work.

Several inches of snow appears to have put paid to volunteering today, a 100 mile round trip in these conditions is not a good idea. Looks like more modelling then! In between the trains more bushes were added to the new scenic section which although still incomplete, is beginning to look the part. 37014 heads north with 7B13, 1250 Mossend to Corpach.

After several days of building and development activity I need some R&R to recharge the batteries. A little running helps, a new day from the 1983 WTT gave me several hours of enjoyment yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised by how much the new scenic section has changed the feel of the line between Arrochar and Ardlui which has caused me to think I should press on with the scenery that surrounds Arrochar. 37264 had charge of 8D19 and is seen arriving at Crianlarich.

I have had a search on Flickr and managed to find a 1986 picture of an Oban bound freight at Crianlarich with what appears a ferrywagon. That will do for me, I will be adding one or two to my shopping list.

I probably should have bought shares in them given my outlay on their products! At least I bought much of what I am using 10 years ago in the Modelzone firesale when prices were somewhat lower. Tree and bush planting has commenced, as ever it is a balancing act to get the tallest trees for impact and still allow access to the upper level. I have a few larger trees left, it is smaller ones around 75mm in height that I am short of. It just so happens that every box of Woodland Scenics fine leaf foliage comes with a 75mm armature onto which I should be able to glue foliage to make my own trees. That said I have not had much success with making my own trees to date, clearly more practice is required. Whilst I am keen to get planting, my experience is that when it is done in a controlled fashion it usually delivers better results. This is the view I am trying to recreate, there is a lot of foliage required. Planting so far Bigger trees look the part but can restrict access to the upper level hence the need for smaller trees higher up the landscape

PVA glue applied to the landscape and scatter scattered with the usual transformative impact. The scatter is a mixture of Woodland Scenics coarse turf with a small amount of fine turf added. I try to lighten the colour the higher I go up the mountainside because, to be prototypical, it is wetter lower down and underneath the trees and bushes. Talking of trees and bushes, these will get added next once the glue has set and the scatter is held in place although some of the scatter and glue has already found its way onto the rocks by accident which has created a small impression of what I want to create. I am planning on adding Woodland Scenics polyfibre at the top of the rock faces to create a green over hang because most of the rock that I have seen is covered in greenery of various description. 37108 and its short rake of Grampus is seen making its way through the new landscape.

The rock faces are painted with Woodland Scenics earth colour paints suitably diluted so that they run through the cracks and crevices to cover everywhere. Essentially I follow the leopard spotting technique from one of the their Youtube videos, it seems to work well and is easy to undertake. In this instance the rock molds were created and painted several months ago, once they were fixed into the landscape and the Sculptamold infill mostly dried, more paint was added in an effort to create the appearance. It takes several coats of the dilute paint because it dries lighter than when applied but overall is a very simple process. It took a while to brush the new ballast into its desired position before gluing it in place. There are a few shoulders where additional ballast is required but overall it looks fine. Having spent Wednesday as part of a Permanent Way gang moving a large part of 400 tonnes of full sized ballast on the GWSR (it should have been moved mechanically but the booked tamper failed hence the manual effort), an hour or two with a paint brush was considerably easier. Hopefully I will ache less today than I did on Thursday. It should be transformation day today as I intend dressing the landscape with scenic material.

Nice work Ian, the weathering softens the 'out of the box' appearance. You mention a picture of a Ferrywagon on the WHL, can you share it wherabouts please?, I would love to see it and better still find out what it was doing, where it was going.

Having got clearer in my head about what I want in respect of Arrochar I returned to the 2M scenic section to the north of Arrochar which needs finishing. The 1 in 60 drop away from the station required infill on ether side of a ramp leading down to the baseboard at viaduct height. A rather messy and frantic 20 minutes trying to fill the gaps with Sculptamold before it started to set worked well and after a day or so, the Sculptamold was dry enough to paint. After viewing a number of video clips of the WHL and trains passing through cuttings, I wanted to create a 'floor' that looked similar. Where cuttings were blasted out and as one might expect, the floor remains clearly as rock. Therefore I used the same mix of Woodland Scenics paint as applied to the rock molds to colour the Sculptamold; the results look fine to me. Sculptamolded infill First coat of paint is applied on the far side of the track, the match and effect is pretty good although one or two areas will need a second coat. All Sculptamold has had a coat of paint. Ballasting can start once it is all dry. There was a fair amount of contamination of the track which will need cleaning off or painting over. Note to self; cover the track next time! With track and sleepers cleaned, ballast was finally dropped. It needs tidying up before glueing.