young37215

I finally managed to work out how to add text to a picture!

I am currently working on the scenic area of about 2.5m in length between the main fiddle yard and the Southern end of Garelochead station which sits below Mallaig. My original plan was to blend the rocky area to the seaward side of Mallaig down to a rock faced cutting through which the lower level line to Garelochead runs. The idea being that the rock effectively functions as scenery for both sections. Having diverted the line that links between the upper and lower sections I am having to rethink how this works. My intention is to enclose the link line with removable plywood sections covered in moulded rocks that will sit on a frame allowing access to the link line for the inevitable derailments. I also want to cut out some of the flat baseboard and replace it with a baseboard approximately 100mm lower leaving the running line to Garelochead on a ledge creating the impression of running through a narrow gap in the landscape on a mountainside. I think I have an answer but will only find out how it functions once I have built the framework. View looking away from the fiddle yard towards Garelochead View of Southern end of Garelochead with 37033 heading 8B20, 1415 Sighthill to Corpach towards the station. The area to the centre of the picture is the baseboard that will be lowered. 37033 arrives at Garelochead

37081 with 1B10 0837 Glasgow to Mallaig. Seen awaiting departure from Fort William and then arriving at Mallaig before running round and returning south with 1T56 1610 Mallaig to Glasgow which adds London bound sleeping cars at Fort William.

37017 returning to service following repair of the lens on the left hand headcode panel. I damaged the old lens in an effort to clean it because the headcode light was almost invisible. After trying to use alternative panels as a replacement and failing to get one to fit, I tried Glue and Glaze on the damaged lens. This created a far better outcome than I had anticipated and with the addition of a little white paint, I am pleased with the result. The pictures make the light of the repaired panel look much brighter than it appears in reality. I might try a little more weathering on the lens but overall I am delighted with the outcome. I just need to replace the failed headlight now which is less urgent and does not stop the loco being used. Damaged loco 37017 arrives at Garelochead with 1B15, 1823 Glasgow to Oban.

Thanks Ken. That sounds like a lot of work even for an accomplished modeller and still with plenty of compromises. My fleet feels deficient without one of the ex South Wales 3718x/3719x steam heated locos and I keep pondering how I might get one. If it is to come from the Bachmann stable I will have to master an acceptable way to add the cantrail grill dividing bars to one of the recent models. That said, your experience probably confirmed my approach which will be to sit tight for the time being and hope that Accurascale produce an centre headcode RSH model! Some pictures of your work on 37183 will still be of interest though.

It was the mid 80's before Sunday trains first appeared. It seems strange today that this was the case, just another example of how society changes over time. A friend and his then girlfriend did a west highland road tour in the early 80's and had lots of hassle when attempting to book accomodation. Everywhere required them to be married to book a double room so they ended up having to pretend to be married. 40 years later they are still happily married. In hindsight perhaps yesterdays post would have been more appropriate had it been an engineers working because my hazy memories of the 1980's were that most engineering work took place on weekends. 20034 which will get renumbered at some stage to a Scottish loco, probably 20085, arrives at Crianlarich with ballast empties.

Hi Ken I would like to do one of the center headcode RSH 37's for my WHL layout but am limited by the lack of non Vulcan bodyshell styled models. From the little I know of the early Bachmann 37's I was under the impression that the failings of the model were to many to make it worth converting. You appear to think differently? Any chance of some pictures to show us what you are doing to bring the loco up to standard? regards Rob

In my experience the dam nose ends fall off at the first opportunity on most of the Bachmann 37's. This helps if you want to change the ends but otherwise can be a pain when the loco is actually running! On virtually all Bachmann 37's there are 4 lugs located inside the nose end that fit into the main bodyshell which are prone to breaking and need care if you are attempting to remove the nose end from one of the few properly glued locos. If you have a lose nose end, a little glue on the lugs should hold it in place. The issue with fitting lights and the reason I would sub contract the job to someone more skilled than me is the lighting board inside the nose end needs to come out to access the rear side of the nose end. I have never seen how this works and no great desire to find out. I feel confident that someone who has undertaken the task a few times will make a better job of it than I would. I was tempted to post a 'No Sunday Service' on the thread this morning in line with the actual table 227 from 1981. In the end I chose not to, instead 37014 is seen at Crianlarich with 6S56 0712 from Blyth Docks to Fort William carrying bulk alumina for the smelter.

37264 and 7V86 continue their southbound journey through Garelochead

37051 arrives at Mallaig with 1B07. The signal box from Dawson Hall and bracket signal from Stephen Freeman have arrived. Now I can finish the scenic area at the station throat and automate the signals which are the two maim outstanding tasks. This will mean lifting the section back onto the workbench which is a necessary evil, at least allows me the opportunity to replace a servo cable that I sawed through whilst adjusting the size of the baseboard.

Do'nt start looking at Ernie's West Highland pictures, you will never get started on Helmsdale if you do!

I suspect that you are aware of Ernie Brack's Far North Line gallery on Flickr. I can't see any pictures showing the northern point layout but I enjoyed looking.

One of my reference guides is a March 2006 article from Rail Express Modeller entitled a 'Modellers guide to SCR loco hauled trains' which takes a similar view to the timing of the emergence of Eastfield locos with headlights. It would be interesting to learn why Eastfield suddenly started to add headlights, I wonder if if was the transfer of headlight fitted 37017 in early 1983 from Inverness which prompted the wider introduction? Plenty of running at present in between which I managed to ballast the track between the fiddle yard and Garelochead yesterday. 37108 is seen arriving at Crianlarich with 1T24, 07.00 Mallaig to Glasgow.

37039 has always been a favourite of mine being one of the first split box 37's I had for haulage. On Monday 30th July 1979 as a March based loco I had 039 from Edinburgh Waverley to Carstairs on the 1835 to Birmingham comprised of air conditioned stock. This was my first day haulage bashing in Scotland on an amazing 7 day Freedom of Scotland rover. 37 039 transferred to Eastfield in June 1981 in original condition with buffer beam skirts and cross eyed domino headcodes. The headcode boxes were plated over sometime in early 1982 with headlight and white stripe added in Spring 1983. The white stripe lasted just over 12 months and was gone by May 1984. By November 1984 the headcode plates were painted black. As far as I can see 039's last works visit prior to transfer to Scotland was late 1978 at Doncaster which may well explain why she retained the skirts for as long as she did. She caught fire at Ardlui whilst on a freight in June 1985 where the damage repair required a works visit. Off to Crewe, she was refurbished as 37504 and reallocated away from Eastfield. My version on WHL4 was an Ebay purchase from several years ago where the attraction of getting a version of 039 was enhanced by the fact that the previous owner had added a headlight. It should have the domino headcodes swapped for plated ones but I have never got around to making the change, maybe I will one day. Ian's version of the loco covers a period of the best part of 12 months which is about as long a period without a change as 039 had during its spell as an Eastfield loco.

No which is irritating because I have a loco that I want to add a headlight to. There is a thread with examples and some helpful information but no outright answer to who or where lights can be acquired. 37264 complete with incorrect WR name boards had charge of 7V86, 0707 Mallaig Junction Yard to Sighthill which is seen at Crianlarich as it crosses 37081 on 1B10.

I am liking the pictures which remind me of my long gone youth. Temple Meads was my base as a haulage basher from the late 70's. Based on the 31/4's in the second picture I reckon this is early rather than mid 80's because the 31/4's migrated away from Bristol 1982/3 following their being superceded by the 33's on the Cardiff Portsmouth services.

I have spent many hours renumbering and re- renumbering my fleet as I learn of the idiosyncrasies of individual locos. I have built a collection of pictures from books and the internet to guide me on these. As for the differences between Vulcan and RSH builds I have had several versions of 37081 before I finally got one with the correct cant rail dividing bars. I have managed to get most of my split headcode fleet into reasonable representations of the real thing as they were seen during my 1980 to 1985 time horizon. My 3 centre headcode locos 175, 178 and 264 all need further work but I am not losing sleep over if and when I get around to it. Lockdown or not life is still too short to become a rivet counter1 Ex Western Region 37175 at Eastfield early 1983 has the additional irons to the side of the headcode and WR name boards. My model has no WR name boards or additional irons Ex Western Region 37178 at Crianlarich May 1985 has the additional irons to the side of the headcode and WR name boards as well as a headlight. My model has no WR name boards, headlight or additional irons Ex Easter Region 37264 at Eastfield March 1983 has a single lamp bracket above the headcode. My model has WR name boards but no lamp bracket At some stage when I am feeling brave I will use a sharp knife to remove the name board brackets from my 37264 and add them to one of 175 or 178. If someone finds an easy solution to the additional irons that sit adjacent the headcode panel I might add these but I am certainly not losing sleep over them.

Sorry, the picturewas taken a couple of days ago making the timing with your dilemna a coincidence. My version is the out of the box Mickleover limited edition which I want to give a light weathering. I am sure you are aware that the MMRG are still selling this and currently at a lower price than I paid!. Another Loch followed 37026 out of Glasgow with 37081 hauling 1B10, the 0837 to Mallaig. I still find it fascinating that back in 1981 1B10 was a summer only service, during the rest of the year there were only 2 trains a day north of Crianlarich on the WHL. 37081 crosses 37178 at Garelochead 37081 at Crianlarich

It is one of 4 crackers on the dvd available from the link below https://www.panamint.co.uk/west-highland-dvd

There are several working timetables covering the area and era of this thread currently up for sale on Ebay. I bought a copy of the 1980 offering for section PD which is essentially everything to the west of Swindon excluding the west of England services south of Bristol. It is a fascinating read, the number of long gone freight services is staggering. The WTT also shows the booked load (the number of coaches) making it fairly easy to identify the loco hauled services which match those quoted in Loco Hauled Travel.

37026 on 1B08 0806 Glasgow to Oban seen at Crianlarich

They get everywhere don’t they? In addition to the headlight, 178 needs a pair of brackets located above the head code panel which I believe were WR fitted for name boards. Not sure how I will model this yet. There are several people on RMWEB who supply and fit headlights but I haven’t used any of them so can’t comment on their quality.

37175 arrives at Mallaig and runs around 2B13, the 0845 from Fort William which returns at 11.00. This is a Rule 1 additional service using the green and cream steam hauled stock created partly for operational efficiency and partly because I wanted an extra train to run on the Mallaig extension.

Done it! After much huffing, puffing and headscratching I have managed to get the body off of the chassis and add weight to the PRA's. I used a slight variation on the technique for releasing the bodyshell, I found it easier to lever at the end of the wagon rather than the side. Net effect was the same, after some gentle persuasion the two parts come apart quite easily. There are a couple of pictures on my thread showing my technique in action. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/119560-west-highland-line-v4/&do=findComment&comment=4224486

37178 continues its southbound journey seen first departing Crianlarich and a little later passsing 1B10 at Garelochead. The picture taken from the road looking over the subway is one of my favourite angles. The final picture shows the residual space between the upper level Mallaig and lower level Garelochead where I am plotting how to create the scenery so that it blends in with both stations.