young37215

It might only be a niche market but, like others have said, I am sure that there is a market for someone to produce a model block instrument. I would love to incorporate one into my west highland line layouts operations even if I could not realistically issue individual tokens.

A couple of days spent hacking away at baseboards has resulted in progress although my poor old woodwork teacher would be having a fit if he had seen me in action! An engineers block means no trains have been running because I lifted several metres of track to complete the changes. These are largely completed and track has been relaid for testing. Unlike the other scenic areas, this will be a mythical part of the WHL because trains departing Fort William Yard will run through this area whether heading to Glasgow or Mallaig. I have in mind the line running along the lower edge of a mountaneous range with a summit at the mid point of the section, something like the County March summit just north of Tyndrum. I need some techincal assistance with the building the scenery in this section and will be consulting with fellow WHL conspirator 'Meanach' for guidance. The starting point, baseboards on the upper section were too wide for my liking. I cut the baseboard in half and moved Arrochar 50mm closer to the wall; big improvement Seen from the other end, this will improve the embankment profile to the left of Arrochar as viewed which was previously too steep Off cuts of Celotex to be shaped hopefully into a mountainside Test running, 37192 heads south from Mallaig Junction Yard initially climbing towards the summit 37192 brests the summit and begins the descent

There are a number of ways to choose from. I use Wickes terminal blocks which are located around the layout at places where I need droppers. I reckon I can get 20 or so droppers from a single terminal block. The main BUS is simply fed through the block with the wire bared and screwed into the block so that it makes contact.

On page 38 you make reference to a picture of a Chipmans weedkilling train which you did not use because the picture has deteriorated. Your approach is understandable, however it is a train I am trying to recreate for my west highland line layout where available photos of any condiion are few and far between. I cannot find the picture in any of your galleries, irrespective of its condition, would you make a copy available on here? I doubt I am alone in having an interest.

The last 2 days has seen Gracie walk much further than usual with one of her friends. She bounces around chasing her pals tennis ball before returning home exhausted. Today having eaten her breakfast she has retired to her bed and looks like having a duvet day which should mean I get longer modelling time. I managed to get some running in yesterday although most of my modelling day was spent pondering the upper level scenic section. I have decided that this will work best if I reduce the width of the baseboards so today I shall be cutting them in half, from 610mm wide to 305mm. This will ease the gradient of the embankment alongside Arrochar and on the upper level will enable me to model a typical WHL styled shelf/ledge and cutting on the side of a mountain of about 5m in length. On reflection, I probably should complete the upper sections before I do any more on the lower level because I will be reaching over the lower level to work. 37108 brings the first southbound freight of the day, the 0707 Mallaig Junction to Sighthill, into Crianlarich 37178 arrives and departs Crianlarich with the 0837 Glasgow to Mallaig where it passes 37108

As with Phil, mostly through Ebay where they appear from time to time. I did find a couple at Model Rail Scotland but that was over 10 years ago. I now have copies covering the period from May 1980 to May 1987. As Doug states above, an over running engineers possession mean that there was limited activity yesterday. The following show recently renumbered 37081 on its journey through Crianlarich with an Oban bound train. This loco's time as 37081 will be short because I have acquired a loco with the cantrail divider bars which I will renumber to 081. What this becomes I have yet to decide. If anyone is concerned about the apparent SPAD in picture 4, I hope they will be reassured to know that it was authorised by the signalman because of a problem with the signal.

Yesterday was wet all day, Gracie the greyhound showed no interest in walking. To be fair, she has never shown any interest in walking in the rain and will generally only go outside for bathroom visits. The rest of the day she alternates between eating and sleeping. This all meant that I had time to get on with some of the infrastructure work on WHL4. I swapped the track from code 100 to code 75 in what I have started calling the Glenfinnan loop because I have more code 75 spare than I do my old code 100 and I wanted 1 of the 2 points for the main fiddle yard which is all old code 100. This course of action causes me to motorise the code 75 electrofrogs and I require the servo that changes the points to additionally drive a microswitch for polarity changes. I also finished off the new loops in the main fiddle yard. Having lifted track I did not to run any trains, the following are from the end of the previous days operations. 37039 with approaches Crianlarich with 7D13, 1520 Corpach to Mossend 37012 crosses the viaduct and arrives at Crianlarich with the up sleeper

Yesterday morning was a fine one and for once I managed to persuade my elderly greyhound to walk more than a couple of hundered meters. It was a pleasant change to get some fresh air and enjoy a good walk before the rain set in again. After this I spent a few hours adding droppers, motorising points and general tidying up. All tedious and time consuming essential work to ensure WHL4 runs the best that I can make it. A few more pictures from the previous days running. 37178 departs Crianlarich with 1245 Mallaig to Glasgow 37022 arrives Crianlarich with a Sighthill to Oban freight 27041 passes 37022 at Crianlarich with the return Oban to Sighthill 37033 awaits departure from Crianlarich with the 1636 Glasgow to Mallaig 37033 departs Crianlarich

Impressive. Can we have a little more detail about your process please?

37191 looks good in both pictures. One question where I have the same issue with my version of 37178. In your picture at Mallaig the loco has 2 brackets of some description on the top of her nose. Neither of our models do; can anyone confirm what they are, (lamp brackets? ) and who makes model ones that we could fit if we chose to do so?

My copy arrived this morning and provided an enjoyable read which stirred a few memories of time spent in Scotland. The era covered is spot on for my modelling and the book will prove a useful adition to my collection. More to prove that I have read the book carefully than to be a complaint, the caption on page 38 relating to the lower picture of the class 37 is wrong. It is Glen Douglas, not Garelochead.

There is also video around showing the Royal Scotsman. For example Class 37 Hauled Volume 10 at 17 minutes 30 has a 30 second clip of 37033 hauling the original rake through the County March.

There cannot be much positive about the coronavirus situation but it does mean lots of time for modelling. I finished off a days running of the WTT yesterday along with making progress with 2 additional loops in the main fiddle yard. I have finally used the last of my 30 year old Peco points on WHL4, it's amazing that they have lasted so well with only a few having failed. The Oban area of the fiddle yard, the 2 loops to the right are new. 97201 and tribometer train occupies one of the new loops, the other requires a left hand point to complete it. 37017 arrives at Crianlarich with a Glasgow bound train from Oban

Details of the 2 green and cream rakes are contained in the West Highland Coaching Stock early 1980's thread on page 2. Both rakes have been produced by Bachmann as limited editions and crop up as second hand regularly on Ebay albeit usually with silly asking prices. Harburn Hobbies have also produced various Bachmann and Lima green and cream limied edition packs. The special I want to re-create is the Royal Scotsman in its first iteration from 1985. There are some great pictures of this kicking around but very little by way of proprietary rolling stock. There is a thread for this as well, it makes interesting reading. Nick Meskell's volumes 2 and 3 of Scottish Class 37's contain a number of pictures of this train.

There are a variety of ways you could segment the WHL in the 1980's. Personally I think you should keep it simple and divide the decade in 2, the steam heat era (sempahores, BR blue with occassional Eastfield variants, Mk1's and predominantly, but not exclusively air braked freight) and the ETH era (RETB signalling, large logo and sectorised locos, MK1's, 2's and 3's with air braked freight). I am of course ignoring the post January 1989 sprinterisation! It is not a perfect split and one or two overlaps arise however you segment but it is how I think of the period.

Not a lot of visible progress but I have been working hard. Mallaig Junction Yard has been increased to 5 roads, the holes for the point motor servos drilled and droppers have been soldered and connected to the main BUS. As a fiddle yard this does nothing for the aesthetics of the layout but it will make operation much easier. I have one compromise that I have yet to reconcile in my mind. The scenic section marked TBA will need to carry trains to and from Fort William heading for both Glasgow and Mallaig. Not prototypical but I have not yet found a better solution. The track plan below below shows what is likely to be the final outcome. The coloured areas are fiddle yards and storage, the rest will be scenic.

Hi Ian This is a good approach and one I hope others will add to. I have one suggestion which from experience I recommend you and anyone else creating WHL related threads adopt which is use 'West Highland Line' in your heading, not 'WHL' or similar abbreviation. The search engine on RMWeb can return strange data! A couple of early 80's workings were "West Highlands Tour" Sunday 23rd August 1981. Loco 55021 in BR Blue "ARGYLL & SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDER" 1Z19 09:15 Edinburgh to Oban 1Z19 1500 Oban to Edinburgh Vehicles Blue and grey MK3 SO's 12018+12007+12051+12015+MK1RMB?1857+SO12025+FO11008+DBSO 9703 The West Highland early 1980's coaching stock thread has more examples, typical of the era is 6/7/85 Loco 37 049 in BR Blue, Vehicles all BR Blue and grey 35451 (BSK), 4915 (TSO), 18384 (SK), 9012 (BSOT), 18260 (SK) Finally a resource that I find helpful is the Rolling Stock Observer. You have to work your way through to find WHL related trains but there a number of WHL services including coach numbers recorded in there. http://www.britishrailways.net/rs/index.html

how have you arrived at your carriage formations, please, as in is it observational or have you used a source of information I have used a combination of sources: WTT’s which include the booked number of coaches along with their heating and braking characteristics Platform 5 Coaching Stock books which show coaches allocated to Glasgow Cowlairs, the base for WHL rolling stock and detail their heating and braking capability as well as the bogie type Reference to numerous photographs and books For the 1980 to 1985 period I model, WHL trains were usually made up of Mk1’s in blue and grey livery. Summer trains were usually load 6 with SO/TSO’s outnumbering SK’s plus the odd CK. One or two from any of BSK’s, BCK’s, BSO’s and BSOT’s and early Mk2 BFK’s provided the required brake coach. First class accommodation was provided by CK’s and BFK’s. Buffet cars were downgraded around 1980/1 to micro buffets (BSOT’s) converted from BSO’s. WHL4 is effectively a two thirds scale model, therefore I run 4 coach trains. Running the complete WHL WTT requires 6 rakes of stock, 3 Glasgow Mallaig, 2 Glasgow Oban and 1 Fort William Mallaig. I re-numbered various Bachmann and Hornby coches to ones allocated to Cowlairs using a combination of Railtec’s off the shelf SCR numbers and a custom order that I made up from coaches seen on the WHL in pictures. Other regions coaches frequently appeared on the WHL but I chose to stick with SCR numbered ones. There are threads that discuss various aspects of the rolling stock seen on the WHL in the 1980’s. The one below is more relevant to the mid to late 80’s in my opinion. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/28679-west-highland-coaching-stock-early-1980s/ There is also a thread about the BSOT’s. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/148048-mk1-bsot-scotrail-branding-question/ Good luck with your enforced modelling, I hope that you do'nt have the virus.

A days running draws to a close which has shown that the WHL WTT movements can be replicated in operationally on WHL4. Thanks are due to Doug Johnson for his help yesterday in testing my attempts at creating the WTT, fortunately he only managed to find a few minor mistakes which were straightforward to correct. Mallaig gets a big tick, it works really well and delivers precisely what I wanted. In terms of the one remaining area where I am undecided on what to do, operating the layout leads both Doug and me towards an extended scenic section rather than an additional station between Fort William and Crianlarich (Bridge of Orchy was the likely choice) or Fort William depot because in both cases the limited available space would mean making to many compromises. I will complete a little more running before I commit to the scenic section although I am pretty clear in my mind what I will do. I am still a little short of siding space in the main fiddle yard but this is not insurmountable. Mallaig Junction Yard will be increased from 4 to 5 loops as and when I wire in the droppers which will make operations easier. Otherwise I am pleased with how well trains have run with few derailments other than those caused by Operator stupidity. 37012 brings the London bound sleeper into Crianlarich The last southbound train of the day on WHL4 is the empty Alcan hoppers returning to Blyth seen here also arriving at Crianlarich with 37022 and 37264

Looking forward to an operating session tomorrow, lets give that timetable a good run. That is the plan. Trains have been running over the last few days, first up 37026 heads north from Crianlarich with a Mallaig bound train A few minutes later 37081 arrives with a train from Oban to Glasgow New comer 37017 at Crianlarich with an Oban bound train

Hi Andy I used 3mm cork as an underlay on WHL 3 but did not notice any benefit so I have not used it on WHL4. Perhaps the fact that I use 12mm chipboard means that cork offers less benefit? I have no real idea and on the basis that it's expensive, I have chosen not to use it this time. I do use the cork that I have to create small gradient changes and to pack areas where I need to. For example I used it in strips on the southern approach to Crianlarich to raise the line by 15mm to create the falling gradient into the station. Now that I am effectively running the whole of the WHL my needs for siding space has changed. In the main fiddle yard I have created 4 new sidings underneath Mallaig where rolling stock not in everday use will live. I think I will have to reduce this to 3 when I motorise the Mallaig points because the servo brackets have a 70mm drop which will obstruct the sidings. I can also fit a further 2 loops in the Oban area which I prefer to sidings because I find avoiding shunting reduces derailments. This just about gives me sufficient sidings for my current amount of rolling stock but little headroom should I buy anything more..... The new sidings Sidings neatly hidden by the Mallaig section Space in the Oban area

Mallaig, this is Mallaig. All change please. Mallaig is now operational with the track pinned and power connected. 37033 had the honour of being the first powered arrival bringing the 1636 from Glasgow into Mallaig on time at 22.32. It is early days but Mallaig seems to fit in to what I am trying to achieve, I do'nt intend doing much scenically until I have proved the timetable but I will make up a temporary platform at the very least. For those who are interested, the rocks at the station throat are recycled from my greyhound's drinking water bowl and have been dutifully saved over several years.

I think so although I will only know for sure by running the timetable to see if it works. Mallaig brings the number of station up to 6 with potentially one more to come. I like the theory behind running to a timetable but I still want to create credible replicas of the stations I model and have some distance between the stations to enjoy running trains. I keep reminding my self that the worst that can happen is that if I have built to many stations then I will simply have to remove one or two of them. In between the construction of the Mallaig baseboards I have been continuing to run trains. Below are a few pictures of 37049 and 37085 as they pass each otherat Crianlarich with offsetting Glasgow and Corpach originated freights.

I am working on finding the best solution I can for a station on the Mallaig extension and for a run round at the end of the line. Initially I favoured Glenfinnan where trains regularly passed each other but this means that trains also need somewhere to run round, a Mallaig fiddle yard as such. I am now favouring Mallaig itself because this delivers both of my aims in one go and uses less space. Mallaig will sit above Garelochead and to the side of the main fiddle yard. I aim to blend the scenic elements of Garelochead and Mallaig so that each station effectively uses the same scenery thus, I hope, creating a greater feeling of space. The track layout will be based on the pre 1982 design with semaphores still in use and a working signal box. I have laid some track to get a feel for what can be done in the space available and I think a station approximately two thirds scale size can be made to work. There will be limited scope for scenery but I think that I can create the flavour of Mallaig with what I have to work with. The scaling down does not concern me, most stations on WHL4 are similarly scaled down as are most of my trains. I now need to wire droppers and pin the track down and connect it to the rest of the layout and see how it works with running the WTT.

Nice to see the lights fully functional! More importantly, did you get your new backscenes painted?