young37215

Ordered Thursday, arrived Saturday. Excellent. An early breakdown has seen the coach required at Crianlarich.

Whilst it looks interesting, I think you will find that this is the stock used for training which has been in South Wales for a month or so but will not be used for passenger services. A second set similar to the one now in use is scheduled to arrive at some stage in the near future.

Looks nice and fits my timeline very neatly. I see Kernow have some of these for sale, can you advise which other retailers will be stocking them?

Correct, trains would usually reverse into Mallaig Junction Yard for marshalling and tripping to their end destination Rarely other than the oil supplies to Mallaig in the 1980's which were attached to a service train from Fort William. Also later in the 90's the Alcan aluminium ingots train did use the station to run around which is shown in the excellent DVD Heavy Metal.

Freight trains to Oban have always been few and far between even in steam days. For example the 1980 WTT shows a single daily Cadder Yard to Oban departing Cadder 03.47. It was vacum braked running as 8B05 with a return working departing Oban 01.05 running as 8C69. There was also a path on Saturday mornings for a light engine return from Oban to Eastfield running as 0C00 using the same timings as 8C69. The 3 daily passenger trains between Oban and Glasgow Queen Street were all vacum braked, steam heated coaching stock of up to load 6 and comprised of a range of Mark 1's and Mark 2a BFK's. In 1980 2B01, 0100 Glasgow Oban also still ran comprising up to load 5 vehicles of parcels, mail and passenger traffic. It has always interested me that there was no return working, I think that the passenger coaches returned with the first train from Oban in the morning. Unsurprisingly I have never seen any pictures of this service. As others have stated, you will find plenty of pictures and video on the Internet and a number of books that provide great reference material. You will also find a number of threads on RMWeb relating to a varity of WHL based layouts.

Richard of Everard Junction fame also uses Scultpamould extensively and speaks well of it. His latest Youtube video contains a chunk of time in the middle given over to using Scultpamould

Their website shows further slippage in delivery, now expected in Q2 2019.

One of my top priorities for WHL 4 are working signals. My choice of Megapoints controller was largely down to Dave Fenton's assertion that this was a routine function for the controllers and having automated several signals, I am happy to vouch for Dave's claim. What is less straighforward is alignment of the servo such that the signal control wire moves in a linear fashion to actuate the signals, doubly so when you are trying to achieve this led on your back under a baseboard! However once correct alignment is achieved, signal control is, to quote the man, a breeze. I have managed to complete the automation of the 4 single bracket signals at Crianlarich and have been running trains to test them out. I am pleased with the results and when I get around to working out Youtube I will post some video of them in operation. Until then the following pictures show the passing of trains at Crianlarich. 37022 is held to the north of the station with 8D10 37022 gets the road arrival at Crianlarich, the signal is off for 1B10 37049 arrives from the south with 1B10 trains cross 37049 awaiting departure 37022 departs

Derails are still showing stock of the FO at RRP discounted price

Just read the Model Rail article and am blown away by the pictures which show off Meanach in a superb light.

By way of an update I now have signals for Crianlarich sorted thanks to Stephen Freemen. The 2 at the southern end of the station are in situ awaiting the attachment of servos to automate them Next step is to source signals for Garelochead which leads me back to one of my original questions regarding the height of signals. To the south of Garelochead the 2 signals appear what I call normal height for which I will use 2 of my existing 26' MSE. The 2 signals at the northern end were taller; precisely what height I am not sure but probably requiring the larger 45' MSE lattice etch. I believe that signal post height can be estimated from a picture by using measuring the signal arm which were a standard size and using this to determine the height of the signal post. Can anyone explain this in more detail or provide me a simple equation for achieving this? TIA Rob

Not much done of late but hopefully the arrival of 3 custom built signals for Crianlarich will spur me back to life. The signals will be electronially operated once I work out how to connect the servos to control them and have been built by fellow RM Webber Stephen Freeman. I also received drills this morning that will enable me to create the size holes necessary for to fit the working station lights. Signals to the southern end of Crianlarich in situ Gas store is completed Southern starter signal Broad view of southern end of Crianlarich

Nice work and a great name for the layout! Some more details about the bracket that you are using to hold, presumably, servos to control the signals would be appreciated

I have done something similar with the stations on my layout. Page 2 of the link shows pictures of how I achieved this by joining the 2 platform edges together with a series of plasticard strips. Once the plasticard platform surface was glued on top, the structure become sufficiently robust to be lifted and moved around. It is over a year since I built these and I am still able to lift any of the staions without problem. When/if you get to the stage of securing the track and platform, you will probably need to do some fettling to ensure that you are within guage and do not get rolling stock making contact with the platform. Using plasticard makes this a simple enough job with just a file.

I used a Micromark truck tuner to achieve the same effect on a rake of Lima grain wagons. It was a fiddly, repetitive process but ultimately delivered a good result. Also you should note that the tool will likely cost you in excess of £20 I suggest that if you already possess replacement wheels then a reaming tool is the way to go, otherwise DCC kits replacement wheels are likely to be the quickest solution

Fabulous videos, they show off WW in all its glory. There is something about using video that adds the overall effect of a layout; I cannot put my finger on it but for me video really works; especially on something as good as WW.

Presumably bi-di explains why there is a junction home signal on the down approach to the station?

The up starter at Bridge of Orchy was a weird tubular affair, it was a single signal on what appeared to be a junction bracket. Other than this vagary all of the signals that I require for my layout are NBR lattice posts. Signal heights are still causing me some confusion. I have a MSE 45' etch where the bracket measures 180 mm, a precise scale 45'. Yesterday I measured my existing MSE signals where the bracket measures 92mm, a 23'5" scale equivalent which I am surprised at because they were sold as 27'. With the finial they are 112 mm, a scale equivalent 27'5". It's not big deal, my signals look the part for the WHL and all work well. The reason I want to understand heights better is because I still need additional signals and I would like to get these as close to the real thing as I can. Whilst I understand there would be deviations for reasons of sighting and other operational issues, was there a common starting point? MSE sell 2 options, S002 as a 27' and S0023 as a 45'. Are these simply two sizes chosen by MSE allowing the modeller to cut to their required size as they see fit or do they reflect some sort of standard size? Thanks to everyone for their contributions so far.

The sleeper was the ECS return of a single sleeper vehicle that ran from Glasgow to Aberdeen. It was part of the consist of the Glasgow Inverness train and was detached at Perth to run forward to Aberdeen. There was no return working hence the ECS movement.

Fantastic pictures; thank you. I have never seen the outer home before, the others are more familiar. The 2 at the southern end of the station highlight my point on differing heights, the up starter is smaller than most and the down home is considerably taller. Can anyone explain the variations; is it purely down to sighting at the particular location?

Thanks for the clarification; given the token operations on the WHL it seems reasonable to conclude that diamonds were not considered necessary. This is backed up by my finding where I can find the only signals with diamonds in the Fort William region. Can anyone shed any light on the variety of heights of the WHL signals. Was there such a thing as a standard height signal?

I have no idea why I was under the impression that the diamond was AWS related. In that sense the thread is achieving its aim in that I am now better informed. Given that most signals on the WHL did not have a diamond, does this mean that track circuits were not in place at WHL stations?

I have linked a Bachmann DBSO with an OR Mk 3 using Bachmann's standard bar which runs over 2 nd radius curves without problem. I do'nt operate them in push mode so cannot comment. Go back a couple of pages in this thread for a video example of close coupling using Roco. All seems to work fine although I am not sure what sort of curvature exists http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/107460-oxford-rail-announces-oo-gauge-mk3-coaches/?p=3410488

I am seeking help with information and a source of reference about the semaphores that controlled the WHL in the 1970's and 80's. Whilst there are many pictures around the internet that include semaphores, actual signal specific information and/or pictures is proving difficult to find. Can anyone give me some pointers? By way of background, I require around 20 signals for my WHL4 layout http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/119560-west-highland-line-v4/page6#entry3432083 Many of the 20 will be MSE 26' lattice post upper quadrant home signals which I acquired several years ago. I aim to motorise the signals using servos and control them via an existing Megapoints network. I need additional signals to complete my requirements, particularly a number of home signals on 45' posts and 2 junction home signals. I think MSE make the components required, at worst they are a very acceptable representation. Ideally I would like to clarify what was in use on the WHL in more detail if I possibly can before I commit to buying additional signals. Base signal, diamond needs removing for most locations Lower arm with hole where 0.25mm piano wire can be linked to a servo 0.5mm brass base plate which does not like my efforts to drill through it!

A frustrating week spent mostly getting over an unpleasant virus which has meant little work on WHL4. I did manage a bit of running and preparatory work for the scenic area at the northern end of Crianlarich. I have spent time thinking about signalling but will make a separate thread about this. 37012 brings the down sleeper into Crianlarich 37012 awaits departure from Crianlarich 37108 rounds the curve on the southern approach with a Fort William Junction bound freight. The code 100 curved set track used blends easily and unobtrusively alongside the code 75 used on the headshunt. 37108 enters Crianlarich 37026 arrives at Crianlarich with the first train of the day from Oban to Glasgow Polystyrene is cut and glued to form the base of the scenic area to the north and west of the station. I need to figure out the ramp that leads down from the road to the underpass entrance to the platform.