young37215

In 1980 the FW portion comprised of both sleeping cars and seating coaches was hung on the back of the Royal Highlander, 2150 Ex Euston Inverness and detached at Mossend. For 1983 the portion had transferred to the 2100 Ex Euston which divided at Carlisle with portions for Inverness/FW and Stranraer. Again the FW portion was detached at Mossend and tripped to Glasgow Queen Street where it formed part of the first Glasgow to Mallaig service. Mark 1 sleepers were replaced by Mark 3's in October 1983.

Hi Ian I was vaguely aware of Revolutions new range but due to my limited knowledge of historic engineering of the WHL I had not given them too much thought or consideration for WHL4. Engineering wagons on the WHL is an interesting but little covered subject and other than those of ballast carrying wagons I have seen very few pictures of engineering vehicles that might have been used for carrying rail. Upstream on this thread there is a picture of an OBA in use for carrying rail, beyond this I have only seen a couple of pictures of Salmon wagons in sidings. A quick search of Flickr returned the picture below, I am not sure what the wagon is? The wider subject of track and track replacement on the WHL is equally unknown to me and an area I would like to develop more knowledge of. I think that the WHL was mostly jointed flat bottom rail on wooden sleepers during my 1980 -85 time window. It appears that concrete sleepers began to appear in the 1980's but I have no idea when CWR started to appear.The June 1983 picture below clearly shows jointed rail on wooden sleepers at Crianlarich. A few concrete sleepers started to appear in the mid 1980's presumably as a result of replacement of life expired wooden ones. Bridge of Orchy 1985 for example Ardlui 1985

Whilst the chemicals were undoubtedly more toxic that those used to day, the changes of livery reflected the various changes of ownership that took place over time. There is an excellent piece on weedkilling trains in the 70's and 80's on the RCTS website

Having removed the lugs from 3 more grain wagons, a 7 wagon consist comprised respectively of 1 'out of the box' wagon then 1 with lugs removed ran successfully ran for 20 minutes around the lower loop without problems. The lower loop includes the reverse curve at Crianlarich indicating that my derailment issue has been resolved. The route of the problem appears to have been a combination of the non pivoting couplings and the lightweight model (Bachmann's grain wagon weighs 57g compared with a 90g VDA or the 77g Lima grain wagon) which meant that the radius of reverse 3rd radius curves could not be traversed without the couplings either lifting the wagon off of the track or locking as described by 37Oban above. The larger Bachmann couplings did not make any difference because the tension lock hook remains in a fixed position despite having a larger area in which it could move. My thanks to those who have suggested potential solutions, had one of the grain wagons not previously had its lugs removed I would have not been quite so keen to start hacking at the lugs. As it was I had a 'test' wagon which showed that removing the lugs was one effective way to solve the problem. I know the Bachmann grain wagon is an old design but its failings are disappointing for something with a £35 rrp and when most modern wagons have NEM couplings attached to bogies which pivot. I have bought a couple of 'ready to run' models of late (Heljan's ETHEL, Bachmann's grain wagon) that were not 'ready to run'. An indication that manufacturers have taken their eye off of the ball perhaps? Consist pictured at the same point as yesterdays, the pivot of the couplings means the buffers no longer contact each other Bachmann coupling with 2 end lugs removed now pivots 37012 with load 8 consist on test passes through the reverse curve at Crianlarich and heads north

The larger Bachmann couplings arrived for the alumina wagons but did’nt resolve the buffer lock problem. The non pivoting couplings continue to cause the buffers to lock when transitioning into curves causing derailments. Whilst chaging couplings I discovered that one of the wagons already had the couplings end lugs cut off; the previous owner appears to have encountered similar problems to me. Under trial with the pivoting coupling wagon as the middle of a 3 wagon consist, all 3 wagons passed through the curves without derailing. I repeated the test on several occasions and am satisfied that this scenario works. I need to create a consist where every 2nd wagon has the couplings lugs removed which means removing the lugs from 3 more wagons: not ideal but if it works then so be it. At least I can use the original factory fitted, weathered couplings. Larger Bachmann couplings compared against the factory fitted ones Buffers still lock even on large radius curves and with larger couplings fitted

Another thumbs up for this bookazine. The series is a great source of reference material and the modelling content is very informative.

It is of interest, I have wanted to add one of the Flangeway Salmon's to the WHL4 fleet for a while and whilst in was fairly inevitable that Salmon's had been up the WHL, this provides hard evidence and the cranes are an added bonus. Key's latest bookazine arrived yesterday. I have not had much of a read as yet but it looks very good. I am particularly interested in the section on Cranes and Relayers which has some stuff about Cowans Sheldon cranes which are the only ones I have seen on the WHL. Although the era covered is at the end of my 1980-85 window it looks like another excellent piece of reference material. I will have a more extensive read of the whole bookazine over the next few days. I managed to find my copy although the article on ballast is silent on where the pink/brown comes from. I have in my mind that this was contained in an article somewhere but I cannot recall where or when this was. I have a large container filled with WHL articles covering many years, this looks like an opportunity to review some of these in the hope that I can find the ballast origins information.

Most interesting, I have the excellent bookazine but had not noticed the Trout at Crianlarich. This has cheered me up no end as I have a Trout in my rake of Heljan Dogfish and had always believed that ths was out of place on the WHL. Now I know better and can justify keeping the Trout. My order for engineers wagons vol 2 direct from Key was placed at the weekend; their recent spate of publications are all first class information and the reference material is very useful. I dont think the reference to Irvine on the Trout sheds any more on the orgins of the WHL ballast, I suspect this was just the depot/base for the wagon. Several years ago ModelRail did an article on WHL ballast to coincide with the ModelRail Scotland. Try as I might, I cannot find the copy of the magazine which I am fairly sure included reference to a quarry where the pink/brown ballast came from. I shall keep looking for this in my pile of old magazines.

I am aware that it is possible to replace the Lima couplings and install NEM styled ones although I have no experience of doing this. A friend gave me some of the NEM replacements to try a while back but I have not got around to fitting them. The Lima grain wagons have served me well and with a little work I am sure they can be further improved, Railtec do transfers that would add detail and the couplings can be upgraded as people have identified. There is no one specific reason for my change to the Bachmann grain wagons, it was a combination of factors that led me to the decision to upgrade. The more I am thinking about it, the more I coming to the conclusion that I will run 2 rakes, 1 Lima and 1 Bachmann which will enable the running of up and down trains passing on the WHL as per the 1984 WTT. I just have to figure out if I have the siding capacity to store another 8 wagons!

Hi Ian The large Lima couplings are one of the main reasons for my 'upgrade' to Bachmann's grain wagons as I find them obtrusive so thank you but no thank you to your kind offer. I am hopeful that the larger Bachmann 36-009 couplings will not be as big and lumpy as the Lima's. I want to find a local shop with them in stock so that I can see them in the flesh before buying the 2 sets I need to complete the job. Rob

I wonder why Fort William had a need for a steam heating van? Back in 1981 the only thing I could think of would be a pre heat of the Mk1 sleeping cars which were attached to the afternoon Mallaig to Glasgow service. Does anyone know different or for how long this vehicle lived in the west highlands? Whatever the reasons, the picture shows an interesting vehicle to model.

A good idea, filing down the edge of the coupling would increase the width and allow wider pivoting. Looks an even better option, the Bachmann large coupling 36-009 is a possibiility. I need to find out what the dimensions are of these and which the existing couplings are. I had not considered swapping the coupling which would be the simplest way of resolving the issue although it would not address the suspension/chassis dilemna. That said I can live with the chassis if the wagons will run without derailing.

Paul Bartlett's website states that the grain wagons were built in the 1960's in 4 lots with vacum brakes and UIC suspension. Under TOPS they were allocated the PAV coding which became PAF in the 1980's. During the 1970's many of the wagons had air brakes and pedestal suspension added becoming PAA. Some wagons retained through vacum pipe and became PAB's. Most of the wagons converted to carry bulk alumina on the WHL were PAA/PAB although the odd vacum brake wagon with UIC suspension existed, Bartlett's site shows as built 7624 in aluminum livery. At a guess the arrival of the air braked Procor lime wagons would have replaced the vacum braked wagons so that consists became fully air braked.

I had a read of the Larkin article on aluminium which is of limited use to me as it misses out on my time window and the use of grain wagons. I have added details of my continued investigations/research on the Alcan traffic thread. In my search I have only found 1 PAV/F with UIC suspension converted for alumina use on Paul Bartlett's website. Of course there may be more but, like 03060, the bulk of pictures I have seen show WHL alumina consists exclusively made up of wagons with pedestal suspension. The suggestion regarding my swapping bodies and chassis is a logical one but, even in the event it was doable, does not work for me as the old Lima chassis is rather cride by modern standards and the large couplings were one of the main drivers behind my change. I would like to have the correct chassis with pedestal suspension; is there a Bachmann wagon that could serve as a donor I wonder? I shall have a look, who knows this might be the solution to the coupling issue at the same time!

I recently acquired a second hand rake of Bachmann grain wagons in the weathered aluminium livery as an intended replacement for my old Lima grain wagon rake. Although the Lima wagons have done me proud since I respayed them over 30 years ago and re-wheeled them with Hornby replacements when I started using code 75 track about 5 years ago, the fact is the newer Bachmann model is visually superior. I was hoping to recover some of my outlay be selling the Lima wagons on Ebay. Yesterday on their first outing I found that the Bachmann wagons all derailed on the 3rd radius reverse curve approaching Crianlarich. On investigation I found that the tension lock coupling is fixed in place and has very little range of movement which is why they de-rail. The fixed coupling is out of keeping with most modern wagon models being fixed in place with a screw and 2 lugs. I think if I remove the lugs the coupling should be able to pivot on the screw but whether this will resolve the derailment problem I dont know. The question is whether I am brave enough to start hacking my new wagons around in this manner. The issue is frustrating and irritating, the old Lima wagons dont have this issue although the couplings are rather large and until I find an acceptable solution with the Bachmann's I shall be keeping the Lima wagons. Bachmann converted grain wagon Fixed tension lock coupling arrangement Bachmann and Lima side by side, the Lima wagon is too tall and less detailed. Lima couplings are secured on a single point which has a small range of movement meaning the couplings can pivot

An attempted running day was fraught with operating issues which rather spoilt things. The biggest problem was at the Fort William station throat where I recently ballasted the 750mm piece of track between the station and fiddle yard. Annoyingly I created a slope on the code 75 to code 100 transition rail which causes wheels to lift and short out on the point immediately after the transition rail. The only solution was to rip the track up and relay it. Despite the frustrations we still managed to get further through a day’s operations using the 1983 WTT.

Like many WHL stations, Ardlui sits on a shelf cut into the mountainside rising above Loch Lomond. Below the station is the A82 which provides access to the station via an underpass. I want to replicate a small part of this which means I need to cut out part of the flat baseboard and create a lower level for the road. I am not sure that I am happy with the depth of the lower level yet but as a first step I have cut out a piece of baseboard and created a lower level that sits about 40mm below the running line.

The running line at Ardlui is protected from the small yard by a catch point. This is an old point rather than the traditional catch point which I am attempting to replicate. I was nervous about taking a razor saw to the point but it all went rather easily and allowed the remaining trunking to be ballasted into place. I also added some signs and other detail to the platform.

Bog standard Wills cable concrete trunking which is easy to lay and gets secured in place when the ballast is glued. I add trunking and point rodding because there are relatively few man made features at most of the stations. The big feature I want to add but have yet to find an acceptable solution are platform lights. The lights appear to be generic at most of the WHL stations and I hope to persuade one of the small manufacturers to do a custom run of 10 or so for me. Platform lights and trees will help create a sense of height at Ardlui which I hope will feel enclosed by the surrounding mountains and Loch Lomond by the time I am finished. The station platform has been planted and glued in place. There is still plenty of detailing required on the platform but with it installed, next I want to start cutting and gluing the polystyrene to create the surrounding mountainside. I also need to cut out a piece of baseboard at the front to create a lower level where the road and station entrance sit.

Signals are all hand built from MSE kits and operational being servo controlled by a Megapoints network. I was determined to have working signals when I set out and am delighted with what I have, you can see several signals in operation on my cab ride videos. The signals are all bought in, some custom built by from Stephen Freeman (an RMWeb member) and some from MSE direct when they produced a batch of their own kits several years ago. I have not attempted to build any of them, I dont have the confidence or competence to produce the standard that I seek and am quite happy to sub contract the activity. Further progress at Ardlui, point rodding has been added and more ballasting completed. The station platform is being covered in a layer of Woodland Scenics iron ore which is the best gravel I have found so far. It does need a little toning down but overall it creates a fair impression of the real thing.

Ballasting underway and cable trunking being installed at Ardlui. I am intrigued as to why there would be any need for trunking, as far as I am aware there were few track circuited areas on the WHL. I have looked at a couple of old steam era books and cannot see the trunking, my best guess is that the semaphores had electric lights installed as replacements for the original oil lamps. Anyone more knowledgeable than me?

Less activity of late with the summer weather making it easier to spend time outside and recharge my batteries. A little progress has been made at Ardlui with points motorised and tested the track has been glued down, painted with Railmatch sleeper grime and ballasting has commenced. It is a simple project at this stage making it easy to do small bite size chunks of work which suits my current low key activity.

Absolutely random although upon review I probably added too many people for prototypical west highland train loadings! Its also worth looking at the colour of tables in addition to the work you have done on interiors. The different colours I have used create an interesting contrast between trains.

Well worth the modest effort in my opinion, I am very much aware of the handful of coaches that dont have passengers in them.

The only oddity I could see in the video is the buffet runs slightly higher than the rest of the coaches. Other than that I would have to work hard to identify the differing brands that make up the consist as they blend together quite happily. The one thing I did notice was a lack of passengers; unless you are figuring on running ECS movements only it should not be to much of a challenge to add passengers. Ebay sells plenty of Chinese produced figures for a modest cost, 200 should cost less than £20. The figures are a bit cheap and cheerful but hidden away in a coach it is hard work to notice, e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224365029862?hash=item343d32a9e6:g:CX8AAOSw4XRgN5yo&var=523151905837