young37215

The signs look good Alain, they would make an interesting video showing them working. Personally I would have expected Father Christmas to be on the ground frame pulling the signal levers rather than in the cess. I hope that his PTS (personal tack safety) is up to date!

For some variety I have updated and reprinted the 1981 WTT, the first year of full 37 operation on the WHL which although similar in many respects to 1983, has a number of subtle differences that will hopefully keep me on my toes when running. Elsewhere I continue to scour Ebay in the hope of finding a suitable donor coach for Hornby Commonwealth bogies that I require for another BSOT conversion but they are in short supply. It seems that there is a general shortage of supply of blue and grey coaching stock full stop at present judging by the price at which some of the Bachmann coaches are selling for. The last of the current crop of pictures, 37085 arriving at Crianlarich with a heavily laden 7D13, 15.20 Corpach to Mossend.

Hi Alain A happy new year to you. Ed Hall keeps a low key profile and has no online presence that I am aware of. As far as I know he is still in business although it it is a couple of years since I spoke to him. I believe that Andy @thegreenhowards had some work done by Ed for him recently and he may be better placed than me to update you on what Ed is up to. I have a contact telephone number for Ed which I will send to you in a PM because I don't consider it appropriate to post it on an open forum. My brain is working overtime on the mountaineous section and the potential for a loch of some description. Until I reach a conclusion I will keep running trains. Below 37049 is seen again heading south with 6E46 alongside Loch Lomond as it heads towards Arrochar.

Being a passing point, 1B23 was booked to cross 8D09 at Garelochead. 37022 has charge of the freight from Oban to Mossend. I would like to get lower to the baseboard when taking pictures from south of Garelochead but there simply is not enough room to get my Iphone lower with all of the landscape, trees and shrubbery.

Having slept on it I am pleased with the outcome on the lower level landscape around Arrochar but less satisfied with the upper section. I'll continue to ponder what I need to do to improve the upper section and until I get this clear in my mind, will focus on the numerous other outstanding tasks. At least the re-opened line allowed me to operate, 37112 heads to Oban with 1B23, 18.15 from Glasgow, captured slowing for its stop at Garelochead.

By and large the landscape work is complete, there are still a number af areas where further effort is required but the substance of it is done. I usually wait after I have completed a piece of work to digest how it looks and feels before deciding on how to move on. In this instance my initial reaction is an increase in the height of the landscape above Arrochar station will blend the upper and lower sections together better. I am also considering the potential of adding a small loch in the area below the mountaineous section line. The loch possibility only became clear when looking at my pictures and I would love to add some water to WHL4 if I can make it fit in. I am not happy with the mountainside rising up against the wall and need to give thought to ways of improving it. Better news is by removing the masking tape from the trackbed I can play trains again whilst I ponder. Plaster cloth applied to remaining sections Looking down shows that I still have to join the baseboards together and complete the landscape in the foreground South of Arrochar station, I will take 100mm of length off of the sidings which I think looks more prototypical The potential loch area in the centre of the picture Looking north up the 1 in 60 something gradient towards Arrochar

I managed to get a large amount of plaster cloth laid yesterday, 4 rolls in total which covered substantially all of the remaining 2 sections that were outstanding. I covered the track on both lower and upper levels to avoid contamination which means I cannot run any trains until this is finished. Hopefully this will act as a motivator to get the plaster cloth work finished and meet my year end deadline. 37081 and the empty Alcan hoppers, 6E46 Fort William to Blyth seen getting the road and departing Ardlui.

No damage fortunately, perhaps the big railway should try using PVA and layering glue! There is a lot of PVA on WHL4, in recent days I have used the last of a 5L container that I bought back in 2016 when I started the layout. The only building I have built is the low relief one at Mallaig, all of the others are custom made from card by the excellent Ed Hall. If I were starting my build now, I would use the Peco West Highland kits which would leave only Crianlarich as needing something custom made. Moving on through the day into early evening and 37017 arrives at Crianlarich with 1T52, 17.55 from Oban to Glasgow.

The PRA wagons have not been doing much of late because they did not respond well to my back to back testing. All of the wheels were tight to gauge and got eased out which resulted in much squealing and grating when subsequently running the wagons. I reamed out the axle boxes with my tyre tuner in an effort to reduce the friction caused by the slight widening of the axle which is a right faff because the PRA is such a delicate model. Any handling invariably results in part coming off and having to be reattached which meant I spent a couple of hours on just the 4 PRA's. Despite my best efforts there was still noticeable resistance on the axles when the wagons were tested after reassembly. Being delicate is not meant as a criticisim, it is a function of the model which as far as I am concerned is an excellent representation although I suppose it is fair to say that the wheels could have been better and built to gauge. I will try the wagons in service and see how they run before deciding if any further work is necessary. In between the PRA remedial work recently updated 37011 got an outing to Oban with 8B05, the daily freight from Mossend seen departing Arrochar and passing through the countryside before crossing the viaduct on the approach to Ardlui.

I managed a few hours of running over the holidays which was fun. I now want to crack on and finish the landscape work which I find less fun and frequently challenging, so that I can start the more enjoyable creation of scenery. During the summer of 1983 the afternoon was a busy time for freight trains, a rather dirty 37264 was tasked with 7B20, 13.50 Mossend to Corpach seen on departure from Crianlarich.

Having reinstated the track it seemed a good idea and a good excuse to do some test running and I am pleased to report that everything still works as it should. I will glue and ballast the remaining track in the mountaneous section later today in the hope it dries out overnight. Elsewhere 37112 was captured arriving at Ardlui with the 07.00 Mallaig to Glasgow service where it passes 37111 and its engineers train. Wishing everyone a happy christmas and a peaceful new year.

You are assuming that the yellow is painted on top of green. If it is then using cotton buds gently apply IPA or enamel paint thinners on to the yellow area which with repeated rubbing should result in the yellow slowly come away. You will go through a number of buds to remove the paint and need to be careful so as to avoid removing the green as well. With patience and care you should be able to remove the yellow paint.

Progress after several stressful days spent flapping over how to fit the mountain scenery together in addition to allowing large quantities of glue to set. 4 of 6 of the sections are complete from a landscaping perspective with the remaining two in the middle still under construction. I have returned the upper level sections to the layout and managed to join the track together once more. The track on the middle section has been weathered but is not yet ballasted meaning that apart from a short section of track on the approach to Fort WIlliam, I have now completed all of the planned track weathering on WHL4. In theory I have now broken the back of the current landscape work and should be able to complete this in the coming days. Looking south from Mallaig Junction fiddle yard, the lower level on the left will be joined to the upper level using plaster cloth once I have cut the insulation to the profile I require. Middle upper section removed for track weathering Middle section restored and insulation cut roughly to form the base of the landscape

Doh, why did'nt I think of that? It appears to do the job, time will tell how effectively once it has set.

A question that I meant to raise in my earlier post. The 50 degree gradient on the mountainside means that it is challenging to get the scenic material to stay in place even though it is laid on a layer of PVA. Woodland Scenics recommend their scenic cement but I find this disturbs the material when being sprayed on because it is not fine enough, I need something that produces a fine mist that setlles on top of the materials and holds them in place. I am thinking about trying a cheap matt varnish to mist over, before I do has anyone found an effective way of securing scenic material on similar gradients?

The above 1985 picture shows 2 of the class 37's transferred in from the WR for conversion to 37/4. The amount of dirt on the locos shows that heavy weathering was commonplace for anything that ran on the WHL! More work on the baseboard sees it close to being completed, the remaining work can be done with it back in situ on the layout. I want to add a few low level bushes to blend in the rocky outcrops and the removable lid needs tweaking but good progress. Once the various paint and glue has dried I should be able to return the baseboard to the layout.

By the end of yesterday I had a first coat of paint on the mountain pass baseboard scenery. Once this and the Sculptamold have dried I can start with some detail work, I hope the baseboard will be ready to return to the layout in a day or two. 37012 threads its way north with 1B10, 0837 Glasgow to Mallaig.

Progress with the mountain pass baseboard seems slow but it is a chunky area. By the end of yesterday I had laid around 75% of the plaster cloth and most of the areas requiring filler had been Sculptamolded. Gradient profile looks fine Guaging of the cutting Track covered so that plaster cloth and Sculptamold can be laid

Nice video Alain. A minor technical point that you might want to consider is for your 1980's era of liveries I do not think you need a brake van on most of your freight trains. If the wagons are all braked, by the 1980's no brake van was usually required with the Guard normally travelling in the rear cab of the loco. Others will no doubt be able add to this and explain the situation in more detail. On WHL4 I only have brake vans on trains where they include wagons that might not have brakes such as engineering trains.

Whilst most of the train movements on WHL4 correspond with the WTT, one Rule 1 additional service is an early morning Fort William to Mallaig and return trip for the steam stock. Diesel hauled of course, the 08.45 departure returns from Mallaig at 11.00 and neatly avoids having the steam stock sat around doing nothing for most of the day. 37049 is seen at Mallaig with the outbound 2B13 and the return working 2B20.

I was a little concerned that the black headcode panels were incorrect for 37011 but managed to find a 1985 picture that reassures me they are fine. I might change them to yellow ones at some stage because 37011 ran for most of the early 1980's as per @Alcanman's picture. Snow ploughs are another longstanding issue, I will find a way to add them along with other bufferbeam detailing at some stage but for now I am content that the revised 37011 is good to go as is. Yesterday was all glueing and cuttting again with some rock mold casting thrown in for good measure. Baseboard starting point, the track on the right is the Alcan Aluminium works siding which will be hidden. Gradient of about 1:100 created using 3mm cork. Track weathered, ballasted and glued. The Alcan siding will be hidden but for access purposes I have created a 'removable scenic lid'

I like the picture of 37027 arriving at Crianlarich, it's not an angle that I have used for photographing arrivals and I am always looking for inspiration with new angles. In between chopping and glueing polystyrene for the ongoing landscape work, I finally sorted out the headcode lights on 37111. The problem was the wiring that powers the headcode lighting was fouling the bodyshell which appeared to be in the correct place but moved when the bodyshell was placed on the chassis. The solution was rather than dropping the bodyshell onto the chassis as I would normally do, I dropped the chassis onto the bodyshell which reduced the potential for the wiring to move. Net result is 37111 is now fully functional although it still needs weathering. At least I got to tick one item off of the long list of 'to do's'. Having cleaned some of the weathering off of 37011 and fitted new nose ends with cut down cowling, I used the chassis from 37114 to create 37011 as it was in the mid 1980's prior to its 1987 accident and subsequent withdrawl. I am missing the headlight which the SDEG advise 37011 acquired in 1982 whilst on loan to Inverness; my current thinking is to add another jewel in the same way as I did on 37017. At last, working headcode lights at both ends Revised 37011 bodyshell awaits a new chassis I added a second driver to the chassis from 37114, I like to see a driver in the cab of a loco. 37011 on new chassis with working headcode lights

With the addition of 4 OAA's I am now struggling for siding/storage space, the last thing I need is to add to the wagon fleet! I have lifted 1 of the 2, 6' upper level baseboards onto my workbench to start on the scenery which again severs the running line. This is the board that links directly to the Mallaig Junction fiddle yard, the top right one in the diagram above. I managed to weather the track and start ballasting yesterday, the mountaneous landscape is causing me a few issues and progress was slow as a result. A few last minute movements were recorded before the line was closed, 37027 is pictured arriving at Crianlarich en route to Oban with 1T32.

37039 was one of my better Ebay purchases coming ready weathered and with the working headlamp. The weathering is excellent but questionable on the WHL where faded locos are rare in my experience of scrolling through Flickr. Filthy dirty, battered or rusty paintwork yes, faded paintwork no. Someone suggested this was due to a lack of washing facilities at Eastfield which makes sense as my understanding of fading is that it is a function of regular washing of old paintwork. Whatever the reasons I like 37039 as it is and it will not be changing anytime soon. Having got into operations once again I continued with running trains yesterday. 37111 was called into action to move some rail up the line for the engineering department and is seen arriving at Garelochead.

The area under development is the last of the 'open space' on WHL4. It is a sizeable area hence my splitting it into 6 for the purposes of my working on it, if I can complete the landscape by the end of the month/year I will be happy and greatly relieved. Having spent time without the ability to use the layout, it seemed about time to run some trains. 37039 has been battered back to life by fitters and is seen heading north with 7B02 at Ardlui. Included in the consist is one of Rapidos rather nice and new OAA's; for now I have left this in pristine condition under the premise that it has recently been released from works following overhaul and repainting into Speedlink red and grey.