young37215

A short video showing Ardlui with its operational signals filmed from a northbound train. My cheap and cheerful sugar cube camera struggles to capture detail and does not do sound. I can't decide whether I like this because it replicates what by todays standards is the typical low grade 1980's film quality or whether I have become adicted to todays HD standards and want a better camera. For now it is the best I have at my disposal.

Indeed, its been quite a journey through lockdowns and Covid with still a long way to go. I managed to complete the Ardlui signalling earlier today which left me free to start running trains again. Part fun and part further testing before I start on the cutting at Garelochead, 37043 heads the Alcan hoppers at Ardlui with working signals at long last.

Yesterday I managed to complete the bulk of the work on the freight platform at Ardlui. Being on the edge of the baseboard the platform is formed in low relief and made out of Wills coarse stone for the facing and plasticard cut to fit for the platform itself. Initial cut of plasticard to form the low relief platform surface Platform glued down and painted in undercoat. The gauge is not quite right yet and the platform surface will get detailing once the paint is dry Bushes added to fill in the remaining gaps in ground cover Looking south towards Ardlui station, I want to motorise the 2 signals to complete this phase of development

My stiff neck/shoulder has not improved sufficiently to progress the signal motorisation at Ardlui. So far I have only managed to complete the work on one signal; it's frustrating but there is nothing I can do but wait for an improvment. Automating points and signals using a Megapoints network has proved more straightforward than I ever expected and unless shunting is required I can manage the entire layout from the control panel located alongside the fiddle yard. The only tricky part in the servo installation is the accurate location of the servo bracket to the point/signal that is being controlled. Get this right and it is a matter of just a few minutes to set the servo to move the point/signal as required. For signals I use a 0.35mm piano wire connecting the servo to the MSE manufactured hole on the arm of the point. Motorised signal looking south Under baseboard mounted servo which controls the above signal 27105 sits in the sidings at Ardlui, like me, it's awaiting a return to action

There was discussion regarding the most appropriate tankers for 1980's WHL a while ago but I cannot recall where is it was and my searches have not found what I want. Others may have better memories than me! I did come across the thread below which provides a good background to oil tanks, their colours and hazard markings. There are plenty of pictures on the internet (I favour Flickr) showing examples on the WHL in a range of colours. I am not that familiar with how freights containing vacum and air braked wagons were marshalled. I believe that the rules and regulations were quite complicated although I have never looked closely at them. I have seen pictures showing vacum braked wagons to the rear of mixed consists behind the air braked wagons which is what I have always understood to be a partially fitted freight. I use Bachmann TTA's which are not strictly correct because TTV's would have been required for the tanks that were tripped between Fort William and Mallaig as the coaching stock was vacum braked. In contrast the freights on the main WHL were all air braked which means that somewhere along the way there would have been an unfitted element. At this point my eyes begin to glaze over and it gets to complicated hence I just stick to the TTA's and blissful ignorance. Not a great resume but it is the extent of my knowledge.

Another Ernie picture shows the trunking stopping alongside the signal with the mechanical point rodding extending onto the point. At Garelochead a 1950's picture shows no trunking which had been installed by the 1980's

I am confident that all WHL station points apart from at Fort William were mechanical until the signal box closures and changes made on the RETB arrival. Available pictorial evidence indicates that trunking arrived late in the 1960's or early 70's. My current hypothesis on the trunking is that it was most likely to be for electric cables to feed lights which replaced oil lamps in the signals. Several of the JM Boyes pictures from in Ernie Bracke's wonderful collection support this, the one below of Crianlarich dates from the 1960's which shows a lack of trunking. A stiff neck from Friday's gardening limited my activity yesterday, crawling under baseboards connecting servos to signals was not an option. I managed to make a start on the yard platform which will be low relief being right on the baseboard edge and shunted the engineers train into it to test the gauge. Having bought far too many wagons I need to use the sidings at the various stations along the line for storage so it is good to have the 3 at Ardlui back in service.

A week or two ago I set myself a list of work that I wanted to do, as at todays date I am happy that I have done the 50% of it scored out below. Garelochead south end of scenic section. Rocky cutting leading to the main fiddle yard needs completion Ardlui scenery continued development Mallaig section needs lifting onto the workbench for the scenic work to be completed and the extension to the station constructed Mallaig Junction fiddle yard needs lifting onto the workbench for 3 servo controlled point motors to be relocated By the end of yesterday I had 1 of 4 servos that will control the signals at Ardlui working correctly, 1 being a PIA and the other 2 in the first stages of installation. With a few hours work I aim to finish these today and will move to the rocky cutting at Garelochead next. Limited play time as a consequence of the signaling work although 27105 did get to move its engineering train south where it is seen arriving at Ardlui.

Having got to a position where the Ardlui section is usable, albeit still incomplete, I decided to start another days operations. I am sure readers will understand that this is purely to test Ardlui of course, nothing to do with being an 'I want to play trains today' day. If time permits I aim to fix the servos to the signals today as this will complete the automation of Ardlui and leave just further scenic work to complete the section. Scenicly the main outstanding area is the freight platform in the yard which is being delayed because I cannot find the plasticard brickwork I want to use for the platform facing; I know I have some but I just cannot find it in the rather large collection of storage boxes I have accumulated. 37081 has charge of the down sleeper seen as it calls at Ardlui.

WIth the help of others on RMWeb I appear to have found a solution to planting WS trees. A hole created using a suitable size drill bit and a little bit of pressure when inserting the tree creates a friction fit that feels reasonably secure. I have made a start at planting, at this stage I am looking to get a blend of trees and bushes which will take a bit of time to determine. For a first step I am delighted with the effect adding trees has, Ardlui is beginning to look how I want.

Interesting, thank you. Many of my trees are 150mm and taller hence my thinking that I would need some form of additional support over and above drilling a hole and planting the trunk below the surface. I'll give this a go and see if it delivers what I want. I have also ordered some 2mm steel rod and will try this on one or two trees for a comparison.

Out of the box WS trees come with a stand that is made out of plastic to resemble the trees roots. Apart from requiring a flat surface, the stands aren’t very robust and the trees are prone to falling over. Whilst they can be glued in place on a flat surface, this doesn’t solve the challenges of planting the tree on a slope. I am thinking of drilling a hole into the base of the tree trunk and using steel rod which can be sunk into my polystyrene hillsides as a support. I can’t believe that I am the first to think this way but I can’t find anything in an RMWEB search or on YouTube. Does anyone have any suggestions or practical experience?

It’s all Woodland Scenics materials, the ground cover is a mix of blended, fine and coarse turfs. The bushes are a mix of clump foliage and bushes. I have fine leaf foliage to provide more height in addition to the trees. WS are not cheap but I managed to buy a good quantity at a discounted price in the Modelzone fire sale some 10 years ago and it’s nice to finally get around to using it. The fencing has been installed around the underpass entrance and I have started to add bushes although there’s a lot more to do. There is a small rocky outcrop at the north end of the station which is the first time I have actually used the WS rock molds on the layout.

Kind words, thank you. The scenery is what creates the feel of the west highlands which is what I want to achieve. A first layer of scenic material ground cover has been laid at Ardlui, I’ll see how it looks when the glue has dried. Trees and bushes can go down once I am happy with the ground cover.

Clearly I misinterpreted Ian's question. The answer is still 'yes', the gradient change of the rail through Ardlui station is represented although visually it is not quite as pronounced as is the case in reality. To create the effect I added 3mm strips of cork to the trestles under the baseboards at each end of the station which makes the gradient transition evident at the mid point of the station.

Short answer is yes, I am attempting to create the gradient profile surrounding the mountainside on the western side of the station within the constraints of available space. I am not quite happy with it yet but with a little more Sculptamold I think I can get there. The view from the picture below is what I want to create, it needs a lot of trees and bushes. I am happy with the underpass and surrounding area, again lots of bushes and undergrowth needed. The eastern bank to the immediate north of the station where there is a copse of trees is the area I am least happy with.

Embankment leading down to the A82 and the station underpass at Ardlui largely completed today using plaster cloth and Sculptamold. The underpass brickwork is not yet fixed in place hence the gap around it. Sculptamold and paint needs to dry before I can start on dressing the area.

It probably will not surprise readers that playing trains won the day. There was a serious part to this, testing that Mallaig Junction fiddle yard all works and the continued learning from having 2 Alcan rakes of hoppers. The former all performed well, the latter is proving more challenging. The Alcan hoppers first ran as a block train in 1984 when it replaced 1 of the 3 daily trains between Glasgow and Lochaber running in a similar path. I am running the Alcan's as an additional service which means I have to work out extra paths and find a way to stable the hoppers whilst they are at Mallaig Junction fiddle yard which are proving more challenging that I had anticipated. On a more positive note I have received the materials to enable me to crack on with the front of the station at Ardlui where 37039 on 8B05 crosses 37012 with 1B14.

By the end of yesterday Mallaig Junction fiddle yard was back in its rightful place on the layout with the 3 servos tested and fully functional. A little more work is required on the control panel to reflect the revised track layout and I may choose to add another couple of droppers but to all intents and purposes I can tick this off as 'done' on my list. Todays unresolved question is play trains or work on the 2 scenic items on the 'to do'list. 37081 heads the 1245 Mallaig to Glasgow seen as it transits Garelochead and crosses 37049 on the northbound Alcans.

Not a problem, not everyone eats, sleeps and dreams WHL4! It is irrittating that the dam servos are not being a little more cooperative. Slowly things move forward and I hope to complete the activity today so that running can be restored. 37039 and 37264 from a couple of days ago seen with the daily freight services between Mossend and Oban which pass at Crianlarich.

The relocated servos reflect the changes to the pointwork in the fiddle yard that I outlined above. I also intend adding more droppers to optimise the track power continuity. I spent time working on this yesterday but am nowhere near finished. An empty ballast train of mermaids headed by 20045 departs the sidings at Crianlarich and heads for the quarry on the Oban line for a refill.

Spent a few minutes planning work for the coming weeks. 4 main areas to focus on: Garelochead south end of scenic section. Rocky cutting leading to the main fiddle yard needs completion Ardlui scenery continued development Mallaig section needs lifting onto the workbench for the scenic work to be completed and the extension to the station constructed Mallaig Junction fiddle yard needs lifting onto the workbench for 3 servo controlled point motors to be relocated In reality each task is modest in terms of work but because it is the fine tuning that makes or breaks the appearance I feel under pressure to do the best job I can. As ever breaking the tasks down into parts makes it look more manageable and I feel more motivated to crack on. Moving the 3 point motors should not take long so I will focus on this first because it always feels good to tick a job off of the outstanding list. On the back of that I continued to run trains, 37014 is pictured arriving at Mallaig with the teatime train 1630 ex Fort William which it runs around and awaits its return departure at 1840.

More playing trains at present, partly to test out how having two sets of Alcan hoppers works in practice and partly because I did'nt feel like doing anymore work at Ardlui. Having watched the latest Everard Junction video and seeing his landscaping techiques in action I feel more confident abut my plans for Ardlui. Whether this new found confidence leads to anything tangible only time will tell! 37049 arrives at Garelochead with the new rake of Alcan's comprised of Bachmann grain wagons.

A couple more pictures from Thursday's operating session with freight trains crossing at Crianlarich. 37011 heads south whilst 37051 heads north.

A few more pictures of Ardlui, the more I look at these the happier I am about the shape and feel of the new scenery. A rather careworn 37011 is pictured heading south with an afternoon freight from Corpach to Mossend where it crosses 37022 heading north with a freight bound for Corpach. As well as having fun playing trains, I am deliberating how to dress the new scenery. Traditionally I have used Woodland Scenics turfs, usually a mix of coarse and fine which has worked well. At Ardlui I am attempting to create the impression of the mountains towering over the station and the way the sunlight picks out the various levels and angles requires different colours and textures to achieve this which is one of the reasons for the light green paint. My current thinking is to use lighter and fine turf for the higher levels with coarser turf lower down and underneath the trees and bushes.