Deltech

Looking forward to seeing the progress. Likewise Glenfinnan. AND ESPECIALLY Fort William..............

Bruce & Mrs Watt..... Back in the 80s, a lot of Mallaig kids used to attend Lochaber High School in Fort William (before the NEW Mallaig High School was built), and lodge all week. The Watts’ older Daughter (Pamela) was in my year, and I really fancied her. Everybody did. She was absolutely film star/glamour model stunning. Wind on a few years and I married another Mallaig girl who hated her lol. Anyway, I’m beginning to turn this into my very own “This is your life”...... Any updates (and photos/videos) of the layout?

I’ve certainly enjoyed myself, made a lot of friends, driven a wide variety of Trains, and over a wide variety of routes. But I realised on my Daughter's 16th birthday that this was the 8th house she’d lived in, so decided enough was enough, and I’ve been with Heavy Haul 13 years now.

I heard that, but don’t know whether it’s true, though I do hope so.......

They used to have old MOT-exempt Fodens that only ran between Station and pier, but now they have to do 2 x return trips to Inverness daily with an articulated tanker, to fill the tanks now situated on the pier (I think they still have a few old wrecks to fuel boats that can’t get close enough to the pier tanks). Mafia? Johnston Bros.? God no. There ARE a few “mafia-like” characters in Mallaig but not the Johnstons. They’re still running the ship chandlers, and petrol station, and have a big industrial building where they do net repairs. They also used to have a “Wrangler”(jeans) branded clothes shop, right next door to the chandlery, which the Wife of one of the Sons of the Brothers (my former Sister-in-Law) used to manage, but they closed that maybe 20 years ago now. I wasn’t quoting any “official” maximum Train length; just what was “typical”, in response to another poster suggesting shorter Trains would look more realistic. I’ve been away from Tom-an-Faire since 1993, working for Central Trains, Valley Lines, Northern Spirit (subsequently Arriva Trains Northern), Great Western, Great Western Link, absorbed back into Great(er) Western, and now Heavy Haul, so I can’t comment on whether anything has been lengthened at Mallaig, but my family are still in Fort Bill so I’m up there regularly and aware that the Jacobite exceeds what I as accustomed to on the Royal Scot. I’m a diesel man so know hee-haw about steam, but do remember that we had a “Black 5” and a “K 2” when I worked there.

I’m not convinced it’s Callum. I’m more inclined to think it’s Peter “Uncle Peter” Cameron (not my Uncle; just his Depot name). Hopefully any other ex-Tom-na-Faire men can clarify?

When I as based at Tom-na-Faire, the “typical max” at Mallaig was 5. We used to stable the Royal Scot (9 as best I remember) at Spean Bridge on a Tuesday night, fetch it into the Fort on Wednesday morning with a 37, and the steamy would take 5 to Mallaig, as that was the max that they could run round. As an aside, the oil at Mallaig was for Johnston Bros., the local Ship Chandlers (who also owned the only petrol station), a family business run by my Brother-in-Law’s family, now owned by Denholm, but still trading as Johnston Bros. They stopped getting oil by rail when B.R. put the transportation costs up by 60% in one hit in (I think) about 1992/3. A deliberate act, one might consider, to get rid of “unwanted” freight.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread. Very informative, and I enjoyed yer "warts and all” honestly by including yer mistakes. Well done.

Bigger pedant hat on. 3/8 being 9.525mm is more 10mm than 9mm. Sorry, but my OCD’s kicking in.

teaky, did ye use this on top or below the baseboard?

How thick is “a thick baseboard”?

New layout planned. Never ballasted before. Been reading a lot about ballasting nullifying the sound reduction benefits of using cork underlay, and wondered if it would be possible to use the “rubber crumb” they use on artificial football pitches for combined ballast/noise reduction?

Batteries are a no go. Too much hassle (for me) changing them when required, and switching them on and off every day. I want to take DCC track power, and won't be using a decoder as I'll only have the lights o-f-f when the layout is off.

I recently bought an OLD Hornby “Virgin Trains 125” DC (R1023) on Gumtree, boxed, complete with track and controller, to add to what we currently have. To be honest, if I’d bought second-hand track alone on eBay, I’d’ve paid what I paid for this whole set, so basically we’ve got a 2+2 HST for free. All mint and running like new, using the supplied DC controller, AND, also on our DCC layout. Having watched (listened to) loads of videos on YouTube, we like the idea of installing a pair of sound decoders (Paxman, obviously) in this set. I rang a reputable supplier/installer of sound decoders today, and he told me not to bother, telling me:~ a) “that set is rubbish”; and, b) I’d be “disappointed with the result”. Now, this guy could easily have took my money, but didn’t, so what I’d like to know is:~ 1) has anybody fitted sound to this old R1023 set; and, 2) was it any good? Thanks.

John, appreciate the link, but I really don't want to use batteries, thanks.