young37215

The viaduct has been temporarily installed as built. It is not all glued together yet and it remains possible to change the alignment if I choose to do so. The viaduct comes as 2, 2 arch sections making 4 arches per kit which slot into gaps at the top of the pillars. I have 2 kits making 8 arches in total so at least that is accurate for Craigenarden. The height at 150mm equates to about 35 feet which is about 60% of the real thing so not quite so accurate. However it looks OK and my initial reaction is positive. I am grateful to the 2 Ian’s for identifying and finding the article on introducing curvature to an ‘out of the box’ straight model. The physical constraints of the Auhagen model and the experience of the article author shows that considerable work is required to introduce curvature which is work that I doubt I could do to the standard I want and work I am not inclined to commit the time to. The clincher is that I don’t think I have enough space to create the curved track alignment that a curved viaduct would require. I am still pondering curvature though and will make a final decision over the next few days. First 4 arches emerge. Nearly done All 8 arches constructed, they currently rest in the pillars and will only get glued once I am happy with everything Track laid across the viaduct Track alignment for curvature would be a challenge in the limited space

Yesterday was split between viaduct building and running trains. I slept in this morning which I am not sure whether to attribute to the solvent used in viaduct construction or a couple of pints of Timothy Taylor's Landlord bitter last night. Hopefully I can get the viaduct installed temporarily today to see how it looks and works. I have not discounted the suggestion of introducing curvature into the viaduct although I am uncertain if this is feasible and/or how it would work in the available space. One step at a time, I will review the situation once I have seen how the straight option looks in situ. 37022 had charge of 1B15, 1815 from Oban to Glasgow seen at Crianlarich and Garelochead on its journey south

A slight variation for today’s post where pictures show scenic development between Arrochar and Ardlui where I had been planning the line running on an embankment with a water feature below. Whilst pondering it occurred to me that Craigenarden viaduct is between the two stations and would be an interesting challenge to model. There are’nt many pictures of the viaduct on Flickr but I found enough information to enable the thought to develop. As so often Spannerman's albums are a wonderful source of 1980's WHL material: The RailScot website describes Craigenarden as an 8 arch castellated 396 ft long and 58 ft high viaduct on a gentle curve to the west side of Loch Lomond. It is a well known bridge being on a beautiful section of the Loch Lomondside road with a tight corner and narrow width; perfect for modelling. I don’t have the inclination to scratch build the entire viaduct. Some searching around revealed a 4 arch Auhagen HO viaduct where two joined together look like they will make a pretty good representation of Craigenarden. The Auhagen viaduct is straight compared to the shallow curve of the real thing but otherwise it looks the part. I have adjusted the depth of the baseboard to that required for the model and added a temporary bridge to enable trains to run over. This has been in use for a few days to get a feel for how it works. The Auhagen models arrived yesterday so it is out with the glue today to start construction.

Hi Ian Its difficult to be certain but the window arrangement of the front half of the coach looks like a brake coach. If so then its a BSK as they were the only brake coaches given Sealink livery. Given the front coach of the rake is a BSO, another brake is not essential although my experience is that two or more brake coaches in a single rake were commonplace on the WHL. The Sealink coaches are an extravagence on WHL4 but I do like the colours.

Hi Ian Not enough hours in the day to have done everything yet! I intend making the effort to change the uniformity of the ballasted areas in time although it's not something I have done before. I have inadvertently done this at Fort William as is shown in the pictures below where the dusty ballast led me to spray a second coat of paint after ballasting. This has created a more random effect although it is all sleeper grime. I generally use Railmatch paints and my thinking is to use a mix of frame dirt and weathered black to change/darken the appearance of the 4 foot. 37264 brings 2B18, 1855 from Mallaig into the station 37049 arrives with 1B14, 1636 es Glasgow to Mallaig The green and cream steam rake sit in the siding

37085 heads 8V80, 1605 ex Oban to Glasgow comprised of empty oil tanks into Crianlarich where it passes 37039. A crew change later and 085 departs south

I found a picture of a Sealink coach on a WHL train at Glasgow. As stated in the narrative that accompanies the picture, it is probably late 1986.

In 1981 there was a daily Glasgow to Oban freight service with an offsetting return working. The trains passed at Crianlarich where the crews changed. 37039 is seen arriving at Crianlarich with 8B20, the 1445 departure from Glasgow. The train was booked for a 30 minute stop which allowed me plenty of time to capture it from a number of different angles. The first two pictures serve as a reminder that I need to weather the platform face on the down line!

I posted a link to a picture from Flickr in Meanach's thread a while ago. When I click on the link this morning I get an error message; I can only guess that the picture has been removed. The Sealink coach was in a typical WHL rake stood in a platform awaiting departure. Whilst unusual, I had always assumed that with Cowlairs having closed and Polmadie having assumed responsibility for rolling stock, the potential for use of Sealink liveried stock away from the Stranraer line increased.

Most trains on WHL4 accurately reflect the operations of the early 1980's. There are however a few Rule 1 anomalies, one of which is an occassional and mythical Ayrshire coalfields day trip to Oban service utilising Sealink coaches. I have seen a 1987 picture of a WHL train at Glasgow Queen Street with a Sealink coach in the consist but other than this, I am not aware that the Sealink stock traversed the WHL. On todays occassion the usual pair of class 20's have given way to 27105 seen on its outbound journey. The eagle eyed will notice that the home signal protecting the south of Crianlarich is missing because it is undergoing work to improve its reliability.

Yes would be the easiest answer, it is what I have done for my video content on RMWeb. The cap as you state prohibits any reasonable video clip. Youtube is very easy to use although the log in process is a PITA at times.

Not really, the stretch is around 500mm to get the angle for the picture. I like the angle, in real life the photographer would be stood on Station Road but it will be more difficult to take once the area gets scenery on it becasue, at present, the area remains open baseboard. I try to take as many pictures from similar angles to the various pictures I have of the real WHL and I have several taken of Garelochead from Station Road. Back to the trains, a weather beaten 37011 is seen leaving Crianlarich with 8B13, 1315 Sighthill to Corpach. A little later 37012 arrives with 1T45, 1245 Mallaig to Glasgow having passed 8B13 at Bridge of Orchy.

Looking good, the outline of the station is begining to emerge. By the time you have ballasted and weathered the track I doubt you will notice or even think about the fact it is code 100. If I was starting again I would not bother moving to code 75, the difference visually that I see between the two types is negligible.

37081 has charge of 1Z15 0915 Edinburgh to Oban comprised of ETHEL and push pull Mk3 stock seen as it heads north through Garelochead.

Hi Ian Short answer is I have no idea because I do'nt use JMRI. I could re-programme 27041 using my Guagemaster Prodigy but it is easier to use the Lokprogrammer because Doug has a record of the now corrupted settings which he will re-instate. The settings were determined over a period of running to identify what gave the best running characteristics on WHL4, a custom solution if you like. Based on my experience, programming is straightforward using the Prodigy if I choose to use it and I do'nt think you should be reluctant/afraid of programming chips if you decide to go down the DCC route. Personally I would not consider DC now having grown used to DCC which I consider offers far more functionality and opportunities for running. A pair of 20's collected the empty mermaids from Crianlarich and headed south towards Glasgow. The shunt out of the yard was made more convoluted because the 2 locos and full train did not fit onto the headshunt which required the rake splitting and re-joining in the station platform.

On my 'to do' list are a number of longstanding, relatively small tasks that I keep avoiding. I am determined to sort these before moving on to the next scenic project and have managed to tick off the first task. There are currently 3 Heljan class 27's on WHL4 of which 2 are weathered and the third is 'out of the box' or ex works as I prefer to consider it. Heljan models do'nt come with a driver and I like one at each end so that there is always a driver in the leading cab. Finding suitable model drivers proved challenging, several well known ones are over sized in my opinion and also expensive. Fortunately I found Smart Models who produce 5 unpainted 3D drivers for £5.50 where a few minutes with a small paint brush produced what I wanted. 2 of the locos have Loksound V4 sound chips and the 3rd a V3.5. All produce an acceptable representation of the class 27 sound although the speakers are cheap and cheerful, unsealed units offering potential for improvement at relatively low cost. A £7.99 Road and Rails circular speaker fits under the cab roof with just a little bit of filing down of the edges. One has been added to 27041 where on tick over the improvment in sound is clearly evident. Unfortunately when changing the volume I corrupted several of the speed related CV's resulting in an undrivable loco which awaits a visit from Doug's Lokprogrammer to re-set the CV's before returning to service. A driverless 27041 is seen at Crianlarich shunting a Mermaid ballast wagons. This sort of working was typical of how the 27's found employment on the WHL once they had been displaced by the class 37's. Smart Models drivers get a simple coat of paint Loco cabs are removed to fit the drivers 27's with drivers

I am a bit of a jack of all trades at the moment what with planning my next scenic work, sorting out some minor loco upgrades, correcting several self induced semaphore faults on my Megapoints network as well as running trains. Hopefully the variety keeps me interested and motivated as the nights draw in and the temperature falls. 37081 brings 0700 Mallaig to Glasgow into Garelochead. On photographing the loco I realised that the boiler port was still plated over which, for a boiler fitted loco like 081 is incorrect. On a arrival at the fiddle yard 081 was taken out of service and the boiler plate was drilled out. Firstly a 2mm hole was drilled and then increased in 1mm increments up to the final 5mm hole.. A small piece of plasticard was glued to the underside of the bodyshell and painted once the glue had dried. Job done, 081 was returned to the layout.

Another day, a few more movements around WHL4 as I combine working through a days timetable with some outstanding little items around the layout. At the end of the day I turned off the lights in the loft before the power and saw Fort William station lit up solely by its platform lights. I could'nt resist a picture. The lights will get straightened out before being glued in place. 37051 was on the Alcan hoppers again, I must change its diagram for the next days running.

Short answer is 12 for the 1981 period I am currently running according to Loco Hauled Travel and WTT's split equally between 6 passenger and freight. I have added 2 extra diagrams for the steam service which did'nt start until 1984 and the Alcan hoppers which started as a standalone train again in 1984. I have a fleet of 20 locos comprised of class 20 (2) 27 (3) and 37 (15) to cover diagrams, failures and engineers trains. 37175 is seen heading light engine south into Crianlarich where stabled for a while before collecting a rake of spoil loaded Grampus and returning north. I am not sure that this is prototypical because I do'nt know where it would discharge the spoil up the line. I suspect that in reality any WHL spoil would have been sent south for disposal around the Glasgow area.

I had several similar experiences with stereo class 40's on my Scottish Rover, one on the front and one on the rear banking. It was an awesome sound and smell thrashing up the bank out of Queen Street with 2 new engines for the price of one. At the time the BR blue era was derided as having no character but I look back at it with great affection for the variety of traction and loco hauled trains. Back on WHL4, 37011 and 7V86 is seen again, this time further south at Garelochead.

I was lucky to travel round most of Scotland on 26 and 27's including the push pulls between Edinburgh and Glasgow but never got far along the WHL with one. In 1979 on my first Scottish Rover I recall taking the evening Glasgow Oban train from Glasgow to Garelochead for the afternoon Mallaig back but that was as far as I got. Back in those days I was more interested in new engines which could be had in abundance in the central belt. I agree with Ian's observation above that the North York Moors is about as good as you can get these days for baby sulzer thrash, I had 26038 up and down the line several times in the hot summer of 2018 which made a lot of noise. Back to trains and its only class 37's again today; 37178 passed 37011 at Crianlarich with the 0837 Glasgow to Mallaig before heading north.

No Sunday running yesterday, much the same as was the case on the WHL in the early 1980's where it was'nt until 1984 that a timetabled service first ran. From the previous days operations 37011 is seen on its journey through Crianlarich with 7V86, 0707 Mallaig Junction Yard to SIghthill.

Hi Ian Whilst my planning may not be as extensive as yours, I do try and anticipate where problems might ocur. I have made provision to access all servos used for signal control because I wanted to avoid sods law if I did not. I was hoping that having made the provision, problems would not arise! Creating the removable section was simple enough, the area was marked up and cut out with a combination of drill and electric saw at the time I was building up the scenery. The track was laid and ballasted but not the cess so it was fairly routine to create the opening. A piece of chipboard was cut to size which slots into the gap and sits on two offcuts screwed to the underside of the baseboard to provide support. The cutting is not as neat as you might think but once I was happy that the signals worked, the area was ballasted which hid any imperfections with my handywork. The signal will get tested over the next few days and once I am happy all is well, I shall fill in the ballast gaps once again. After Friday's work, the bracket signal was simply dropped back into place

Andy A 1985 picture which shows the horizontal tanks and the brickwork bases on which they were seated

Thanks. Its been several years since I last managed a trip to Scotland, hopefully the world will be a better place in 2021 and make a trip possible. S&T had a busy day yesterday. The Oban doll on the bracket signal at Crianlarich decided to play up. It had not been extending properly when the signal was pulled off for a while, yesterday if simply refused to budge. Fortunately I built the signal bracket on a small removable piece of baseboard in anticipation of problems. The baseboard was removed and the problem identified; the piano wire from the servo arm to the signal counterweight was bowing when the servo moved resulting in the signal not moving. I fabricated a small piece of wire to form a guide and restraint which solved the problem. 37017 was then able to depart. 37017 is delayed by the signal failure Removable section is gently prised out of the ballasted area, the Oban signal servo is the lower one Guide glued in place signal tested before being replaced all seems good, 37017 gets the road for Oban 37017 departs