young37215

Yesterdays development work was limited to building servo brackets and fixing servos and micro switches to them. After finishing the dozen or so of these I had exhausted my stock of servos which was before I start on the new Dingo brackets. I had had enough of work for the day and reverted to running trains. The operating day is drawing towards its close, first up is 37049 on the 7D20, the 1520 Corpach to Mossend as it passes through Crianlarich. This is followed in Crianlarich by 37081 on 1T52 the 1755 Oban to Glasgow.

It seems that Mallaig is becoming the modern day GWR branchline must have model! Thanks for your pictures, all of your chamfered edges, platform lights and oil storage facility look a decent representation to me. I would not lose too much sleep over worrying about what others think, it is your layout and you should do what works for you. I make no apology for buying in buildings wherever I can because anything I produce from scratch is unlikely to meet the standard I want hence I why I am currently favouring using Bachmann's oil storage. I am still in the research phase for the oil storage and how best to represent it at this time. Pictures of the oil storage facility are limited, it seems to me that the facility only gets captured on the edge of pictures taken of the platform. SwissIrishErnie's Flickr site again provides a good example, I am trying to find a picture of the facility taken from the opposite side, somewhere by the station building looking south. Yesterday I received several new Dingo servo brackets which, once I work out how to put them together, means I now have what I need to motorise the points in Mallaig Junction Yard and Fort William station. This will require lifting several baseboards to access the points which means little opportunity for any running. Not a bad thing because it eans I should be able to concentrate on getting the servo point motors fitted.

Still searching for some 45 degree strip for the Mallaig platform faces; I could'nt find anything on Squires website although it is the sort of product better purchased 'in the flesh' in a shop or at an exhibition where you can see the exact size and judge what works best for your layout. Just another more reason to despise this dam virus. If anyone is aware of where I might find 45 degree strip, I would be grateful. I am a little clearer on the oil storage tanks which looks a fair match for the Bachmann model which also includes the low surrounding wall. I think these will do for me provided they fit in the space I have available. The 1980 picture below shows the tanks and the track layout that I am trying to achieve albeit in a space constrained area. Again I would like to see the Bachmann model in the flesh but as it is an older model which appears in relatively short supply, I might just have to take an Ebay punt if it is the route I take. In between my faffing with the Mallaig platform walls, trains continued to run. Partly the running is just for fun but also because I am learning about how the WTT works best. I have less storage than would be perfect which requires careful timing of shunting manourves at Fort William to avoid filling and therefore blocking Mallaig Junction storage yard as a through line. 37014 departs Crianlarich with 1B10, 0837 Glasgow to Mallaig 37026 arrives with 1T24, 070 Mallaig to Glasgow.

A quick review of my pictures archive reveals that the platform walls at Garelochead are also concrete! Nevermind, I will find a use for the coarse stone somewhere.

Looking good. Are you representing the rising gradient leaving the station? One thing amongst many that I have become focused on with WHL4 is trying to replicate the gradients at stations which has resulted in large quantities of 3mm cork being inserted at various points under baseboards. It is a fiddly, pain in the arse piece of work but I think it makes a huge difference in getting the right 'feel' for a station.

Hi Andy Thanks for the kind words, I had overlooked the point on the concrete faces! Back to the drawing board with plasticard and section it is then. I have used Plastruct for most of my plasticard requirements but I cannot find any 45 degree section in their catalogue. Whose do/will you use? At least I had not started gluing the platform surface. The only positive is that I have been pondering changing Garelochead to coarse stone and can re-use the strips Mallaig strips there. I have not looked for platform lights as yet, if I find something that looks suitable I will let you know. I will lift the Mallaig baseboard onto my workbench for better access to fit point motors when the servos eventually arrive. At the same time I intend adding the little scenery that I have space for. I am aiming for a low relief of the station building and the oil storage area. I am tempted by the Bachmann fuel storage tanks (their reference 44-016) and the Ratio oil tanks kit (reference 530) but having seen neither in the flesh, I am not sure how good a choice they will be. Do you have any views?

I will be interested to hear how you get on. The noisy fan is only on 1 of my 2 PS101's and it has got progressively louder/worse over the last 12 months. I had thought that a small amount of lubricant might help but I have no idea where I should apply it. In between working on several small projects such as the platform for Mallaig station, I like to keep the trains running. 37022 follows the sleeper north with 7B02, the 0606 Sighthill to Fort William Shortly afterwards 97201 brings the tribometer train in to Crianlarich from the Oban line. I am not sure if the trib ever worked over the west highland line but given the various trials to reduce rail wear on the large number of curves on the WHL, it seems plausible that it could have been used. If not then Rule 1 applies! Mallaig platform walls made from strips cut from Wills coarse stone sheets have been glued together. I need to move the station section to my work bench to fit the platform surface which will have to wait until I have the servos I need to install the point motors at the same time.

Megapoints used to recommend a Fusion PS101 regulated 12v power supply which give up to 8 amps and costs about £25. I have used these for about 3 years and apart from a noisy fan on start up, they have done everything asked of them. I am currently powering about 40 servos which will rise to around 70 by the time I am finished. I have 2 PS101's, not because I think I need double the power but because I have 7 servo controllers spread over a 20+m network with each one requiring its own supply, I did not fancy the long cable runs that only having 1 supply would mean. I see that Megapoints are now selling power supplies. I do'nt know anything about them but I doubt that Dave Fenton would sell anything less than a good quality supply. I think he gets enough phone calls from electrical dotards like me already!

Construction continues with the second control panel now fully wired and connected. I use the Megapoints system where the wiring is generally plug and play and have built the control panel so that the switch and LED connections are close enough to their respective expansion boards that a single 280mm cable out of the packet is sufficient. However I have several points which will be controlled from spare connections on more remote servo controllers located further away which require cable of up to 1700 mm. Simple enough you would think, split the wire and blend in additional equipment wire to extend the cable length. Whilst simple, each point translates to 5 wires (2 for the switch and 3 for the LED) where each wire has two soldered joints. One point equals 10 joints and I had 8 to do; 80 joints later I felt the need to play trains! 37051 trundles into Crianlarich with grampus wagons full of spoil 37085 arrives and departs Crianlarich with the down sleeper

Thank you. An upgraded version of 37081 is now running, same chassis and nose end but revised body shell with prototypical cantrail dividing bars.

37051 was a long termer on the WHL arriving in March 1981 on transfer from March. There is a great picture of her at Fort William in Nick Meskell's Scottish Class 37 Volume 1, page 38. She was one of the last WHL locos to lose the buffer skirts, round buffers and glass headcode which were removed in late 1984. I have renumbered what was originally 37034 to 37051 in the largely as built condition. A little more work is required to hide the renumbering and where nameplates were previously located, I hope to get close to the picture below.

I finally managed to confirm that Alurailtech is no longer trading. I have a few of their brackets in stock but nowhere near sufficient for my needs. I have ordered several Dingo brackets but I would like to find something closer to the Alurailtech option which I consider perfect for servos and being much simpler than Dingo, they were half the price. Given I potentially have the best part of 100 servos, the bracket costs are considerable. I have no idea how I could commission the maufacture of a servo bracket or what the minimum size of order would be to get a manufacturers interest; can anyone explain how the market works?

So true, I need to rip up some track so that it stops me running and allows me to get on with other work. You would think that with the current lockdown I would be powering ahead with construction but that is definitely not the case. So long as my outstanding electrical orders arrive in the next few days, I can motorise most of the remaining points and make the second control panel fully functional which will serve as a natural point to move on to other tasks such as painting track and finishing stations. There is no doubt in my mind that I need to get my head around the workload otherwise I am unlikely to move forward as I want.

37081 arrives at Crianlarich on its return from Oban with a Glasgow bound service.

37081 was an early boilered arrival to Eastfield in March 1979. She was one of the 5 Loch named locos which all had their nameplates unveiled at Glasgow Queen Street on 6th October 1981. The Class 37 loco group workings history shows that she received regular WHL employment throughout the steam heat era although she enjoyed a few weeks holiday working on the Far North line in September 1984. From my Flickr review, the trademark Eastfield white stripe was applied June/July 1983 and a headlight was fitted soon after. In early April 1984 large logo livery was applied. 37081 was transferred to Cardiff May 1986 and entered Crewe works in late May for major overhaul and conversion to 37/7. I have chosen to model 37081 as a named loco in original BR blue as carried for the period October 1981 and June 1983 seen below at Fort William on 9th June 1983 37081 V2 on WHL4 is a hybrid of 37049 nose end, 37003 bodyshell and 37401 chassis renumbered using Railtech transfers and Fox brass nameplates added. I intend leaving her in pristine condition with just a light amount of weathering around the chassis.

I have been busy preparing my Megapoints network for its final increase in size which will see it controlling nearly 90 servos once they are all connected. A few logistical issues have prevented me from completing the network because I am waiting on deliveries of servos from HobbyKing and additional wire from Megapoints and Brimal. I also need to find a new supplier of metal servo brackets. Despite these outstanding items I am 75% done with creating and installing my second control panel. This is a copy of the existing panel which was built 2 years ago and has served me well. The second panel will sit next to the original controlling the upper level. The last 2 servo controllers have been connected to the network and tested. All of my remaining servos will be connected to these over the next few days which will see the pointwork at Mallaig Junction Yard and Fort William station automated. Mallaig and most of the semaphores await the outstanding items before they can be completed. Track diagrams prepared and proved before scribing onto the plywood base Fort William station track diagram Control panel rear with the usual mass of wires, albeit the panel is only 50% wired at the time of the photo. Control panel 2 installed Fort William station track diagram scribed onto the plywood. In normal light the diagram is much clearer than the photo suggests. The LEDS to the right are waiting for wire and are not yet connected hence are not illuminated.

A question regarding the origins of the Mallaig signal box shown below in 1984 with a photo from Flickr. It is not typical West Highland design, can anyone advise whose design it is and, most importantly to save me hours of scratch building heartache, does anyone make a model based on or close to this design?

where do we place our orders?

I try and model the locos on WHL4 as close to prototypical as I can and have been tweaking a few of the fleet in recent days to get them closer to what I seek. I recently acquired 37033 from a fellow RMwebber in mid 1980’s BR blue. To back date the loco a couple of years to my early 80’s era I removed the headlight as this was not fitted until July 1984. I am considering changing the black painted headcode boxes to match the photo below because these were not painted black until 1985. I did a little research on 37033 learning that it moved to Scotland in January 1981 with dual brakes but otherwise in as built condition. A classified repair in 1982 saw the buffer beam valances removed and plated headcode boxes installed. Pictures from Flickr and workings shown on the Class 37 Loco Group’s website indicate that she was a regular, hard working performer on the WHL during the steam heat era. Her boiler was isolated in 1986 and she moved to Inverness in February 1987 after 6 years hard graft. As acquired, 37033 crosses the Glenbruar Viaduct with a Mallaig bound train Headlight removed, the holes have been filled and painted but need a little more work before a light weathering to blend in Hole is now well covered but the weathering is a too heavy and needs reducing. A few minutes with thinners on a cotton bud should create a more sympathetic covering Much the same for the opposite end, I am sure this can be cleaned up. Bufferbean details need adding but otherwise for my purposes, 37033 is largely complete

There is a general call out from NR to early retirees and others who are qualified to provide temporary cover in safety critical roles such as signalmen for potential staff absences arising from the epidemic.

All running smoothly on WHL4 at present, my confidence to start securing track and motorising the remaining points is growing. The trouble is that I am enjoying operating the layout too much at the moment and the thought of disruption does not appeal. As a compromise I have started some minor work on several locos where I intend renumbering and other minor detailing tweaks. 37014 heads for Glasgow with 7D12, 1324 Mallaig Junction Yard to Sighthill.

During my early 1980's timescale, freight trains ran in the daytime with 3 mandatory trains in each direction between Fort William and Glasgow plus a single Glasgow to Oban and return working. Until 1984 I believe that the Alcan hoppers were actually conveyed as part the Glasgow to Fort William trains with the block train only appearing as its own working from the May 1984 WTT. I exercise Rule 1 and operate the hoppers as a seperate train no matter which years timetable I am running. Seen below at Crianlarich are 37108 on 1315 Sighthill to Fort WIlliam and 37039 on 1415 SIghthill to Corpach workings. Annoyingly 37108's headcode light works only at the other end whilst the rear lights work at both ends!

Hi Lee Please may I enquire as to what you have used for the cantrail dividing bars. I have had several attempts but have not found anything that I like as yet and your look closer than others I have seen Thanks Rob

37017 is the odd class 37 out on WHL4 being vacum braked and boiler fitted whereas all of the other 37's are dual braked and boiler fitted. Consequently 017 spent much of its time on the WHL working Oban services because the Fort William diagrams mostly included an element of freight work which was mostly air braked. A Loksound V5 chip with Coastal sounds and a Zimo double dumbo speaker have been fitted. A little more work to finish 017 off is required with a replacement trademark headlight where the old one has failed and swapping the headcode boxes around with some of my spares so that the lights are more visible. In its short while on WHL4 and true to real life 017 has been a regular Oban performer. Pictures show 017 arriving at Crianlarich with the midday Oban to Glasgow train.

For the first time in 6 months the weather this morning looked great for golf.... more modelling it is then. Seriously though, I am fully onside with the Governments actions and complied with them today as I only left the house to take Gracie out for a walk. Following the work on the upper section, I reconnected the track and decided that I would run some trains to continue testing that the WTT works in practice. No nasty surprises occurred, infact everything ran very smoothly. 37011 had charge of the Blyth to Fort William bulk alumina train again today and is seen at various stages of its journey through Crianlarich.