young37215

Photgraphic evidence of how effective Richard's method of de-weathering as detailed in one of his Youtube videos is. I can't tell you what paint it was that was removed but I am delighted with the results. The coaches were left in neat LA cleaning solution for around 20 minutes and cleaned up a treat using cold water and a light brushing with an old tootbrush. The only residual issue comes from my foolish use of a fibreglass pencil to remove the original numbers. Otherwise the coaches look virtually new again. Thanks again Richard Before Part cleaned Finished article, even one of the old numbers remained in place.

Very grateful for your further guidance. I shall be starting off with some heavily weathered coaches later today; fingers crossed!

Bottle duly purchased, before I start please may I clarify a couple of points?. I am assuming that you use the Totally Awesome neat, un-diluted but before I melt some rolling stock, I would appreciate your confirmation. When washing the Totally Awesome off of the locos in your Youtube video you use an old paint brush. What, if any, liquid do you use? just clean water? Thanks again for you advice

Not much happening today, I am stiff in all the wrong places after yesterday's golf. In my old Loco Hauled Travel books the 0700 Mallaig Glasgow was shown as returning to Mallaig with the 1650 ex Glasgow. Given that this then worked the 0700 again the next morning, the loco could only do a few trips before requiring an exam. Therefore I treat the two trains as seperate diagrams with a fresh loco being turned out for the round trip. 37049 was rostered for the 1650 Glasgow to Mallaig today and is seen at Garelochead and Crianlarich on its way north.

I am grateful to the various suggestions about how to get the right gravel outcome. For now I have parked the issue short term although it needs a solution. Most importantly I manged to get on the golf course this morning for only my second round in 8 months. It was quieter than I expected and if the golf was a little rusty, it ws a pleasant way to spend the morning. Back to running trains this afternoon, 37014 headed 8B13, the 1315 Sighthill to Corpach northwards. This was followed by 27105 seen first running light engine southbound into Crianlarich and then returning later with a rare outing on 8B05 the 1449 Sighthill to Oban.

The platform gravel debate is causing me a headache, I cannot see an easy or obvious solution. There is no question that N guage ballast is too large even on a 00 layout and the gravel found on a platform is of a smaller size again. Geoscenics produce a finer product which I used on WHL3 but I was not overly impressed with this either although I suspect that it is the nearest size wise to reality. At Garelochead my initial coverage of the platform using Woodland Scenice iron ore was quite light to the extent that the grey painted plasticard underneath was visible. When viewed from distance this looks acceptable but up close the failings are clear. On the southern platform ramp I applied thicker coverage but whilst this covers the plasticard, it simply accentuates the iron ore's colour and that it is oversize for gravel. The differing appearances are evident in the picture below. I have not tried crushing the n guage Geoscenics ballast because I suspect that even if I can reduce the size, it will look similar to the finer product. Other alternatives that have been suggested such as painting have not been tried as yet. Pets At Home are showing their Gerbil sand as out of stock! My current thinking is that the Geoscenics N guage ballast is the least bad option. It is overscale but it's colour has less vibrancy than the Woodland Scenics iron ore. If I tidy up Arrochar it should look a lot better and tell me whether or not it is the way forward. I will also trial some of the alternatives on some plasticard offcuts so that they cann be viewed side by side. Given that I have 3 platforms that require the coloured gravel, I need to find a practical solution and this seems the best way to make my choice. Watch this space...

Working my way through a days running of the 1981 WTT takes several hours to complete. Yesterday saw the early afternoon trains where 1T24, 1245 Mallaig to Glasgow, was headed by 37192 seen at Crianlarich and Garelochead. I am optimistic that I might be allowed on the golf course this week which will be good for my sanity and bad for WHL4's rate of development. The gravel for Arrochar's platform continues to perplex me, in the various pictures that I have found on Flickr it's apparent that in the early 1980's the platform was part gravel and part tarmac. After several trials, I have decided to use the same gravel as I am using as ballast rather than the Woodland Scenics ore. It is slightly duller in colour but still has the pinky brown appearance and applied thinly it looks acceptable.

Looking good so far, the track layout is unmistakable. In terms of pictures you should be able to load up to 10MB of pictures per post. From my camera this is usually 6 or so, from my phone it is less because they are higher resolution.

Todays pictures are of 37264 heading north on 8B13, 1315 Sighthill to Corpach. I am not sure why the train was a class 8, at a guess it was because of the potential for vacum braked wagons such as those used for china clay to be included in the predominantly air braked consist this making it partially unfitted. Arrival at Garelochead Passing southbound freight at Crianlarich where the crews changed over Departing Crianlarich

Top drawer stuff, your Youtube videos are a wonderful reference source and the standard of your modelling is first class. I have several weathered locos where I want to try out your re-weathering technique. I am not completly certain that the fluid in the link below is the LA Totally Awesome you used. Please would you have a look and confirm. If I am wrong, could you suggest a place to get my hands on some. I would hate to just plonk one of my locos in the wrong stuff and see it melt or something similar! Much obliged. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LA-s-Totally-Awesome-Cleaner-Stain-Remover-Degreaser-Spray-32oz/184136956139?hash=item2adf6af8eb:g:AhwAAOSwoKFa~KYG

Hi Ian In terms of the picture above, I do'nt know the name of the viaduct in question but it can be viewed at 1.22.45 on the Cab Ride DVD No 50 Glasgow to Crianlarich. From a quick review of the dvd the viaduct is ballasted meaning I could not be certain of the base. I think you will find the Horseshoe curve bridge decks different to most of the other viaducts, from memory the sleepers of the unballasted track are secured to a grid styled metal base. For the Glenbruar viaduct at Crianlarich I used Plastruct materials for the hand rails and deck support with plasticard as the base but this was straightforward because it is straight. I would have thought this would work on a shallow curved viaduct albeit everything will be more challenging to keep aligned. Have a look at the Rannoch Moor thread on here, the viaduct is quite spectacular and made from similar materials. I have not started thinking about the construction of further viaducts, these area little way off as I am currently still ballasting and fiddling with the station platform at Arrochar. Fortunately I am just about done, I want to add some more layers of weathering to the platform walls and gravel the platform surface before permanently securing the platform in place with ballast. Guaging is checked in situ, the gaps to the coaches are wider than I would like but a necessity to avoid any contact through the curves. Wills coarse stone is not completly accurate for the platform walls but weathered up it will blend in quite nicely.

In between coveting other RMWebber's models, the last few days have been weathering track and ballasting in the Arrochar section. It's not exactly exciting but it is an essential contribution to the overall effect. Now that I have completed the activity I can get back to running some trains which I find an important part of building a layout. 37012 heads the 1254 Glasgow to Oban out of Garelochead 37022 heads the 1224 Oban to Glasgow in the opposite direction having passed 37012 at Arrochar

I can always find a home for the building if you decide it is not up to your standards! It trumps my feeble efforts by a distance.

Thanks Ian. Back in the 1980's the first down and the last up trains on the WHL included sleeping cars which were tripped around Glasgow usually but not always from Mossend where they were split from or joined up to London trains. The sleepers were attached to the WHL train at Glasgow Queen Street and detached at Fort William. Therefore protoptypical WHL operations require sleeping cars and so I have 2 mark 1's just as in your picture being a first class SLF and second class SLSTP. There are several pictures of the sleepers with CCT in to match your picture the post below. The viaduct is of equal interest as I am trying to incorporate something similar between Arrochar and Ardlui. The way in which the line is cut into the mountainside with the curves determined by the geology is classical WHL. I have not got the space for the full sized mountain but I am optimistic about the viaduct.

No playing at present, my time is being spent working in such away that I cannot run trains. First up, the witchcraft. No, just an air brush so why does it terrify me? I filled the paint cup with thinned railmatch sleeper grime and starting filling in gaps. First was the track immediately to the north of Garelochead which was weathered and later ballasted. I also got a coat of weathering over the track at Arrochar. I finished off installing the post and railing on the south end platform ramp. A fiddly, time consuming job but one that I was determined to complete because this is a unique and defining feature at Garelochead. Once a couple of pieces of fineleaf foliage were added, I was happy with the result. Last but not least was the piles of ballast stored at the northern end of the station and a number of old rails were painted rust colour. From the various pictures I have of Garelochead, there was a lot of old rail left lying around so the old off cuts will be spread around the station area.

Another Covid victim. He of the massive swelling organ. Thanks for the memories, No More Heroes blasting away

I had not appreciated that Queen Street had been through several guises over the last 60 years until I saw your plans. My own memories stem from the 1980's when I spent many happy hours using the station as a base for some desperate haulage moves to Stirling on the express trains and places like Bishopbriggs, Lenzie and Croy on the loco hauled locals. If I wanted a single book that provided a history of Queen Street over the last 60 or so years, could you make any recommendations?

Fundamental to my design of WHL4 was that I wanted to be able to run trains with a purpose which is why I babble on about operating to the working timetable. A single journey between Mallaig and Glasgow comprises 8 constituent parts on WHL4. At present 2 of the 6 station sections modelled have scenery which allows me to show pictures of individual trains as they transit the line. Below 37026 heads the 07.00 Mallaig to Glasgow on its journey south. Crossing the Glenbruar viaduct at Crianlarich Over Crianlarich junction Departing Crianlarich Arriving at Garelochead

Thank you for the kind words. The siding was lifted in 1983, there are a fair number of pictures on Flickr of the era showing before and after removal. Mostly running trains today although a short on one of the points in the Glenfinnan loop tested my construction of an access section which, fortunately, performed faultlessly and allowed me to correct the issue. 37051 and 37085 paired the Alcan hoppers today, seen passing through Garelochead Crianlarich saw 37264 at the head a Glasgow bound freight from Mallaig Junction Yard 37081 then blasted north with the 08.37 Glasgow to Mallaig

I have 7 new, left hand medium radius code 75 that I am looking to get rid of. pm me if you are interested

A good point, it is very easy to lose sight of how something is moving forward. Of course it helps that we are all housebound at present and there are only so many times you can mow a lawn. Two photos taken from similar positions reinforce the progress. The second photo shows that I have cut the basket liner used for the rough ground in very straight and unrealistic lines. I will change this and attempt to introduce greater randomness. Gracie anxiously waiting for her pal so she can go out for her walk.

Several boxes of fine leaf foliage later and I have done as much as I can for now at Garelochead . The rails immediately north of the points need weathering and ballasting ( the auto correct wanted to use ‘balls stinging’, to replace 'ballasting'!) when I usually call it ball ache. I digress, the next task is fixing and automating the signals which require servos that I don’t have yet. Logically I shall have to focus on something else and return to finish Garelochead at a later date. 37264 arrives with a freight bound for Glasgow the disused freight dock siding has taken a while to create

A little more time spent on Garelochead which is now down to detailing and today I have been adding trees, bushes etc. In between work, trains are running. 37022 draws a Glasgow to Oban service into the platform Additional fencing installed, railing is made from 1mm Plastruct bar and the posts are 2mm. The fencing would not pass muster with todays safety standards but the single bar was all that existed to seperate the running line from the car park in the 1980's. 37012 arrives with the offsetting Oban to Glasgow, I have spent quite a bit of time on the disused siding. The surface has only just been painted hence the lack of greenery and other railway junk. Woodland Scenics fine leaf foliage added to the embankment 37012 draws to a halt, I have just realised that the signal has not been replaced! The signals will get secured and motorised once I have completed the scenic work. 37012 awaits departure, must get the stanchions and railing fitted to the ramp.

A wet day spent mostly modeling with the focus continuing on Garelochead. Having largely completed the area at the south end of the station, I was keen to get on with the rest of the station surrounds. In between I managed to run some trains, first train of the day is the down sleeper seen with 37192 arriving at Garelochead. 37033 follows the sleeper north with a Sighthill to Mallaig Junction Yard freight It was a good growing day, before long some bushes had grown on the embankment. 37081 arrives with the first Glasgow to Oban train of the day The boundary fence to Station Road begins to take shape Rapid vegetation growth at the northern end of the station

I am short, reasonably flexible and not very forward thinking! My plans were not as comprehensive as yours, a contrast in your professional background and mine. The underpass is a key feature at Garelochead and despite not being connected to the platform steps I am pleased with how it looks. I managed to add fencing yesterday and paint the visible tarmac. The viewing angle of the underpass, all other views come from pictures. The addition of railings on the platform ramp will further create the image of the real thing.