Sandpiper

Deleted duplicate post.

27204 at Invergordon in 1984. https://www.flickr.com/photos/37923727@N04/8508998824 An unidentified 27 on an up freight at Clachnaharry in 1977. https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/29/215/

There is something very convincing about the movement of the trains in your videos. I think perhaps it is a combination of the very smooth running, the lovely long sweeping curve and the realistic speeds. They look like real trains and they look like they have the weight and momentum of real trains. This one in particular makes me feel as though I am really there on a bridge watching a real train even though the surrounding landscape is far from finished. Because the movement is so convincing my brain happily adds the missing details including the smoke and steam.

A couple of early morning Charing Cross/Cannon Street services started from Ore and were usually eight coach CEP/CIG formations with a further four coaches being added at Tunbridge Wells. They ran empty from West Marina to Ore.

No actual modelling progress to report as I have been away on my hols in north west Scotland. I stopped off for a morning of mooching around Ullapool and had a good look at the pier. Most of the buildings on or around the pier are very modern although this interesting little building seems to have been around for some time. It is present in this 1930 photo. http://www.historylinksarchive.org.uk/picture/number11785.asp Just over the road is the building once known as the 'Great Store' which dates from around 1789. Old photographs show it as having bare stonework rather than whitewashing. The stonework is still bare round the back but it is very difficult to get a good view due to other buildings being in the way. It's on the left here in this old photo. http://www.ambaile.org.uk/detail/en/40466/1/EN40466-quay-street-and-pier-ullapool.htm This is Shore Street seen from the pier. According to an article in the Highland Railway Journal, none of the buildings along Shore Street would need to have been demolished as the plans involved building new land out into Loch Broom to accommodate the station. And the pier from Shore Street. Calmac's "Loch Seaforth" does tend to dominate the pier when she is present, completely dwarfing the 28 metre "Beryl" in the foreground. Across the other side of the pier were a couple of old timers, the "Azalea" and the "Kildonan", both of which appear to have seen rather better days.

Along with a full size one waiting outside just in case things got a little out of hand.

A real lineside fire caused by a passing steam loco could be quite interesting if someone with a suitable layout fancies trying it. Probably something with a large scenic area would be best.

Presumably the class 37 hauled train mentioned above will have been one of the rail monitoring trains worked by Colas. Both class 37s seem to be Colas locos. I had a Colas driver route refreshing on the branch with me a couple of months back. No idea what WCRC could be doing down there. RTT shows the train as class 5 empty coaching stock.

The visible area is 6' x 2'. There will be short cassettes at both ends. Only the leading two coaches or vans of trains arriving from Inverness will appear through the train shed. At the pier end there is enough room to propel a few wagons off stage with the locomotive also disappearing from view hopefully giving the impression of the movement continuing further along the pier. Most of the action will involve shuttling wagons about. No matter how much I tried I couldn't come up with a more conventional terminus to fiddle yard arrangement which looked satisfactory in the space I have. Passenger trains to Ullapool would probably have been at least four or five coaches, probably with a couple of parcel vans as well. With a more conventional arrangement the most I could fit in would be three coaches which wouldn't really cut it for me.

Another duplicate post. I think my mouse may be to blame.

I have decided to stick with the conventional view looking from the sea onto the land. One issue I had was what to do about a backscene as any view of Ullapool from the sea would be of buildings. i don't like the perspective issues that arise from having buildings in a backscene so I think I will just go with plain white. Various sheds, warehouses and road vehicles will help to add interest at the rear. The Black 5 has been left unattended on the old pier with a couple of vans. Maybe the crew have gone for a cuppa with the skipper of the "Unifrog". Odd name for a fishing boat! Not many boats tie up at the old pier which was very quickly found to be inadequate for the traffic. The new pier will be represented by some short cassettes beyond the sheds allowing wagons to be propelled out of sight. The old pier will only be used for local goods traffic. I think I have spent enough time butchering pieces of cardboard. I guess it is time to get started on trying to build something proper.

Aargh, another post with multiple duplicated bits. Why is it when I edit the post to remove one photo I end up with all the photos including the deleted one and all the text duplicated?

I'm still working on my understanding of the Highland having recently switched allegiance from the North British on the West Highland. Perhaps not so spooky though as I started off with the trackplan from the northern side of Kyle of Lochalsh. I reduced the number of sidings, then tried to work out how I could disguise the exit to the fiddly thing without using an overbridge. No amount of messing with the geography of Ullapool could conjure up an overbridge. The train shed will be a Thurso sort of thing, although a through shed rather than a dead end one. So sort of a cross between Thurso and the original train shed at Strome Ferry. I think there will need to be a local instruction saying, "Locomotives must coast through the train shed without stopping", or it could get a bit claggy in there.

OK, it now looks better apart from the duplicated pic in post 5. That was all deeply unpleasant and stressful!

Thanks for the "Likes" and replies. One thing I was considering was building the layout the opposite way round, so that the view was from the land out to sea, or in the case of Ullapool looking up the length of Loch Broom to the mountainous land beyond. Most models that feature a harbour are viewed from the sea looking onto the land whereas in reality we are usually on the land looking out to sea unless we own a yacht (or in my case a sea kayak). There are a number of things that attract me to building the model this way round. Having rearranged the mock-up buildings I think they fall nicely into two main groups. I like the idea of the land just dropping away out of sight at the edge of the quay. We know it is the edge of the quay because we can just see the tops of the cabins of some fishing boats and their masts. Beyond we can make out the misty outline of some mountains. I'm not so keen on photographic backscenes as I think they often contain too much detail which can detract from the foreground but I like the idea of some rather vague soft watercolour mountainous shapes in the distance just to confirm that we are in the Highlands of Scotland.. For some reason I also have this strong image in my head of walking towards a station building from the road side and seeing a big sign proclaiming "British Railways Ullapool". In front of the building would be some nice period vehicles, fully on display, instead of hidden at the back of the layout. The Black 5 has arrived from Inverness whilst the 26 seems to have been abandoned in the yard. The Black 5 has now drawn forward before running round. The cluster of warehouses and stores here would hopefully suggest that the main pier is just out of sight beyond. To the left we can just see the top of a fishing boat poking above the quay (actually we can't because it is just a flat sketch on paper) and beyond are some misty mountain shapes (so misty in fact that we can't see those either!). Some vans poking out from various hidey-holes suggest lots of busy-ness beyond. Any thoughts on arranging things this way round instead of the more conventional arrangement would be appreciated. I realise that an unfinished baseboard and some very crude cardboard mock-up buildings are not much to look at.

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Deleted duplicate post. Apologies if anyone is trying to decipher this mess. I started off with duplicate posts. After editing I then had duplicate posts with no photos. Now I have duplicate posts with duplicate photos. Normal service may or may not be resumed sometime in the future.

I have always liked Ullapool and have been visiting the far north west of Scotland for over thirty years. It is my favourite part of the Scottish Highlands. Various proposals for a railway to Ullapool were put forward following the construction of the line from Dingwall to Strome Ferry and the later extension to Kyle of Lochalsh. It seems to me to be one of the few lines in the remoter parts of the Highlands that actually stood a chance of being built although it never was of course. My proposed line runs from a junction at Garve on the Kyle line and follows the Black Water and Glascarnoch River on a long steady climb to its highest point at Dirrie More. There is a small halt at the remote Aultguish Inn and a passing loop. The descent down to sea level beside Loch Broom is rather steeper. One of the proposed routes took the line on a long detour up Gleann Mor to help ease the gradients. My route instead follows the eastern side of Strath More, steadily descending the slopes of what is now the Lael Forest. There is another small halt high above the Corrieshalloch Gorge with a steep path leading down to the gorge for tourists. The line continues to descend to a station with a passing loop above Inverlael which serves as a railhead for the communities strung out along the west shore of Loch Broom. A horseshoe curve and viaduct takes the line across Gleann na Sguaib before it continues its contouring descent, with several tunnels and viaducts, to finally arrive at sea level just a couple of miles before Ullapool. The average gradient from Dirrie More is about 1 in 95. Approaching the village the line curves sharply round to terminate at the passenger station on a new pier built out into the sea in front of Shore Street, running parallel to the shore. Unfortunately for the residents of the eastern end of Shore Street, the land on which their houses stood was sold to the Ullapool and Garve Railway Company. I think the only realistic place where the terminus could have been built was along the site of Shore Street. It certainly wouldn't have been a picturesque little station surrounded by Scots Pines and craggy mountains but would probably have been equally attractive with its lochshore site. New land would probably have been created in front of Shore Street to accommodate the railway. The seaward edge of the new land formed the fish pier. Later, the pier was found to be inadequate for the amount of traffic and was also too exposed to southerly winds funnelling down the loch. A new pier and breakwater was therefore built slightly further west and two lines from the station were extended onto the new pier. Some boats still tie up at the old pier beside the station but it mostly handles just local goods now rather than fish. Passenger and freight traffic all runs through to and from Inverness. The period represented will initially be right at the end of steam north of Inverness. Black Fives are still working many of the services with new class 24 and 26 diesels beginning to appear. It is assumed that the Stornoway ferry traffic was moved to Ullapool in the 1950s, rather earlier than it was in reality so there is plenty of passenger and goods traffic to and from the Western Isles. The pier was extended again at this time to cater for the ferry traffic. I originally intended to build a larger version of this plan based on the West Highland Line but I didn't get very far with it. I felt overwhelmed by the amount of work required so I spent some time doodling smaller versions until I came up with something that would fit on a scenic section six feet long. I felt this would be more manageable and I might stand a chance of finishing it. At the same time it moved a long way north. I was also waiting for the new bullhead points from Peco to appear. The plan doesn't require any complex pointwork and I think the new points and track look pretty good. I really am one of those ham-fisted people who struggles to do anything practical so decided against trying to build my own track. I intend to introduce a very subtle bend into some of the points just to get away from everything looking too straight and regimented. The station and piers look something like this (not to scale). I don't have anything like enough room to model the entire station and pier area so only a small part of it will be modelled as shown by the dotted lines. There will be cassettes for fiddling about at both ends. Various buildings will help to disguise the lines leading off stage. The Black Five here has just arrived from Inverness. Only the first two coaches (or vans) of arriving trains will appear beyond the train shed. The locomotive will run round and remove the coaching stock to the (not modelled) bay platform freeing up the station for more important things. The class 26 is taking a breather between shunting movements. Although I only have a very small space I intend to use various buildings to break the area up into a number of smaller scenes like this..... .....which will hopefully make it seem larger than it actually is. The class 26 is trundling away light engine to the new pier off to the left to collect some vans. Operationally it is just a shunting layout with most of the passenger operations taking place off stage. I think it would work quite well as a cameo layout although I am not sure if I would want to go for the full cameo treatment. Maybe just a tall plain backscene but without the proscenium arch. But I am getting ahead of myself. I have never managed to make a decent model building and this plan requires quite a few, nor have I ever actually managed to finish a layout so I have a lot of hard work ahead. If you have made it to the end of this rather long introductory post, thank you.

Just to expand on a few points that have come up. The Windermere line is one train working with a train staff kept in a locked cabinet at Oxenholme when not in the possession of the driver. Whilst the branch train is merely shuttling up and down the branch the system requires no input from the signaller. The driver clears the signal protecting the branch by following the correct procedure for passing the staff through the staff instrument. A couple of years ago, Network Rail spent what was probably a considerable amount of money remodeling the south end of Oxenholme station to reduce the amount of time taken for through trains to access and leave the branch. Down through trains can now clear the down WCML much earlier than before and although Up through trains still have to cross the Down WCML they can do so much more quickly. The class 195 units which should be working the line from December are 100mph capable units so from an operational point of view through services should not cause any significant timetabling issues. I haven't seen any figures for actual usage but based on interactions with many passengers over the years I personally believe there is sufficient demand for through services to Manchester Airport to make it worthwhile reintroducing them instead of making the line an entirely self contained operation. The Airport services were introduced by BR in the final few years before privatisation but the through services were gradually cut back during the TPE era as TPE took on additional routes and needed to use more of their class 185 units elsewhere. The units that currently work on the branch are serviced at either Barrow or Blackpool depots as there are no nearer facilities. Empty stock movements are kept to minimum by utilising the units for passenger services en route. The line is simply a ten mile long siding with no loops or other sidings. On the face of it, it sounds like a really simple route to electrify. It would however require some track realignment work at three or possibly four locations. The line was originally double track. Most of the overbridges are arched designs. At three of them the single line goes through one side of the arch where there is insufficient clearance for overhead wires. At a fourth bridge the line is slightly off centre so may not have adequate clearance for the wires but I do not know for sure. So electrification is not quite as simple as just putting up the wires although I do not know how significant a part of the overall cost the necessary track realignment would be. Regarding toilet facilities, Oxenholme only has toilets on platform one which are inconvenient for Windermere passengers. Windermere has one toilet. Given the number of people crammed onto the service sometimes on weekends in the summer that probably isn't adequate without on board toilets. The three intermediate stations have no toilets. The journey time is around twenty minutes. Many of the people arriving at Windermere by train immediately join bus services outside the station for onward travel and the reverse applies to many southbound passengers. I personally think it appropriate to run trains with toilets on the line. There seems to be an increasing view by some train operating companies that toilets on trains are a luxury rather than a necessity. I personally disagree with that view.

Right, I have to go and play trains now, if there are any for me to play with.

That's a tempting idea but a potentially difficult one to manage. The IOW line is a completely self contained system with everything it needs to run the service. The Windermere line is a long siding with no facilities other than the stations. Trains still need to return to a suitable maintenance depot each day for fuel, emptying of toilet retention tanks and any other necessary servicing. That's not to say it couldn't be done but I think the long term plan that Northern have for the line should see the service improved considerably compared to what was left behind by TPE. Whilst that's of no help to passengers at the moment, there is actually a plan for the line's future and from what I have seen of it, it is a decent looking plan. I think everyone involved working hard to ensure the plan is actually delivered would be a better option than just starting from scratch again.

Once the current mess is sorted out Windermere should have some services through to Manchester Airport again. This is due to happen in December of this year. However the plans for enhanced services to Windermere and Barrow are to a large extent reliant on the new class 195 units being delivered on time. These timetables changes should effectively reverse most of the cuts that have happened to the Barrow and Windermere service group in the last ten years. Most of the cuts were actually made whilst TPE was running the services but again they weren't entirely down to TPE themselves and there was a fair amount of politics involved.

When the TPE franchise was originally set up in 2004 it included services from Manchester Airport to Barrow and Windermere. Manchester to Blackpool services were added later, and later still Manchester to Glasgow and Edinburgh services. That original TPE franchise finally came up for renewal in 2016 after having been extended a couple of times. The DfT felt that the services from Manchester to Blackpool, Barrow and Windermere didn't really fit within the TPE franchise so moved those service groups to the new Northern franchise. Both the Northern and TPE franchises were renewed at the same time in April 2016 to make the exchange relatively straightforward. Note that the services weren't moved from one company to another, they were moved from one franchise to another and when that decision was made it was not known which company would win the bid to run the franchise. Sometimes it is important to separate the franchises from the companies that run the franchises. They are not the same thing which is a bit confusing. With regard to the number of units, only one would be required for a self contained service and the unit could be worked empty to and from either Barrow or Blackpool for servicing. However there would be no one available to crew it as Northern have decided to utilise the crews elsewhere as a temporary measure. The Windermere branch can be run relatively easily in the short term by replacement buses as it more a less a self contained service making it easier to manage the alternative resources. The problems within the Northern franchise at present are a result of a number of complicated factors involving government policy, the DfT, Network Rail and Northern. The situation is undoubtedly a mess and needs resolving as soon as possible. The temporary loss of rail services to Windermere is a consequence of that mess rather than an isolated issue, but laying all the blame at the door of one individual player is not entirely fair. All the participants need to work hard to get it sorted, not just on the Windermere line but right across the Northern network.

Sorry, I didn't make that quite clear. Network Rail determined the minimum time each driver must spend on route learning the Blackpool line based on the degree of changes to the route. Individual drivers are free to request extra time if they feel they need it. Some mischievous people elsewhere on the internet have been suggesting that the time allowance was in fact far too generous and unnecessary because the changes were minimal. The suggestion has been that drivers have been spending an unnecessarily long time learning the route due to demands by ASLEF and that this is exasperating the problem of driver shortages. This is not the case. The changes to the route are considerable from a driver's perspective and the minimum time was set accordingly. The minimum time set was five return trips which included learning potential shunt moves at both Kirkham and Blackpool. Personally I would have been happy with four trips and using the rest of the time to look through the route maps in more detail which I did anyway in my own time. Other people have maybe requested more time but however much time any individuals took it was not due to demands made by ASLEF.

Unit allocation and staffing arrangements on the Windermere line in the last few years have tended to cause some confusion about who actually operates the line. Prior to April 2016 the line was operated exclusively by TPE with TPE staff. Since April 2016 the line has been operated exclusively by Northern with Northern staff. At the changeover of franchises in April 2016 all of the TPE staff involved were compulsorily transferred to Northern so the same drivers and guards have continued to work the service throughout. There was no need at the franchise change for Northern to train a whole new group of staff. They already had a fully trained workforce as far as the Windermere line was concerned. Some staff training has been needed recently due to the temporary introduction of class 158 units on some of the services but this is not something that is related exclusively to the Windermere line. Regardless of the type of trains used on the line, all services prior to April 2016 were TPE services, and all services since April 2016 have been Northern services. However due to some unit shortages a certain amount of subleasing of train fleets has been going on between both the present and previous TPE and Northern franchises. Changes to service patterns within the pre 2016 TPE franchise led to a shortage of class 185 units and some Windermere services were then covered by Northern class 153 and 156 units. These were still TPE services operated by TPE staff. Since the 2016 franchise change, ongoing unit shortages within the new Northern franchise have resulted in four class 185s being subleased to Northern by TPE. These units work some of the Windermere services alongside Northern's own units but are still Northern services operated by Northern staff. In May this year the number of 185s subleased to Northern was reduced to two. These two units are primarily for working those Barrow/Blackpool - Manchester Airport services that combine at Preston. One of the units may continue to work evening services on the Windermere line once the full service is restored. This arrangement is due to last until the December timetable change I believe when the 185s are all needed by TPE. Windermere line services should then be operated by Northern's new class 195s assuming they are delivered on time and the current plans are not changed. Presumably Northern have decided that the traincrews who currently work the line can be more effectively used elsewhere during the current crisis leaving the relatively self contained Windermere line to be temporarily worked by buses. Whilst a single unit could no doubt be found to run a shuttle service there would be no one available to staff it. Giving the line to another operator would not really help. Any new operator would have to train their own staff or the current Northern staff would have to be transferred. Since the Northern staff involved work a number of other routes and don't work exclusively on the Windermere line this would simply create further problems elsewhere. In any case there aren't really any other operators who could realistically work the line. The only other passenger train operators in the area are TPE and Virgin. Virgin aren't really in the business of running minor branch lines and TPE would have no staff or trains to do it. Any new local niche operator would still need to source trains and staff and spend time training them. The current crisis should ease once the backlog of training at Northern has been dealt with. Much of this in the north west is related to class 158 and 319 traction training, and route learning between Preston and Blackpool following electrification of the Blackpool line. I have seen it suggested elsewhere that the latter is totally unnecessary as it is just a matter of a few signals being moved a couple of feet. It is however rather more complicated than that. The route has been completely resignalled, permitted speeds have been altered, Kirkham and Blackpool North stations have been completely remodelled along with the carriage sidings and shunt moves at Blackpool are now completely different than the previous arrangements. The amount of time allocated to each driver for route learning was determined by Network Rail and not, as I have also seen claimed elsewhere, by ASLEF. A further issue related to driver availability has been the end to rest day working within Northern. This is not industrial action as some people claim. There is no contractual requirement for any Northern drivers to work on their rest days. Until earlier this year there was an agreement between ASLEF and Northern whereby drivers could chose to work their rest days if they wished. This agreement had an expiry date agreed by both Northern and ASLEF and was not withdrawn by ASLEF as has been claimed. The agreement was not renewed when it expired. It is pretty much impossible to pick apart the politics surrounding this and this is all I know for a fact about this particular issue. There are lots of rumours doing the rounds about the politics of the situation but they are mostly just rumours. Please note that I am not trying to defend Northern's handling of the situation nor am I criticising it. I am a Northern employee so cannot share my opinion either way on social media. The above are just the facts that I am aware of. Of course there may be other facts that I am not aware of. The staffing and unit allocation arrangements sound overly complicated but are really just a consequence of the fragmented nature of the industry and the fact that it is in a constant state of change due to the short term nature of the franchises. The industry really needs a long spell of stability regardless of who actually operates the various bits but I cannot see that ever happening with the current arrangements.