Most of my recent development on West Highland 3 has been focused on the scenery and associated bits. The level of detail I am trying to achieve is new territory for me and the knowledge I am acquiring from my experiences is both significant and enlightening.

I decided to weather the rails at Garelochead by hand painting it with Railmatch sleeper grime. Having done so I now have the utmost respect for those who have completed the task on a larger layout! What a soul destroying activity hand painting is; it makes ballasting seem like fun. However the mind numbing tedium has been worth the effort with completion of Garelochead making it 3 out of 5 scenic sections with weathered track. Only 2 sections left!

Next up for weathering is Bridge of Orchy. I do not possess an airbrush and so will attempt to paint the already glued and ballasted trackwork using a Railmatch aerosol. Fortunately the scenic section that comprises Bridge of Orchy can be lifted and taken to the garage for the spraying. At the same time I can fine tune some of the other scenery such as the basket liner grass which will benefit from being glued down. I also want to move 2 Peco point motors from above board to below which will be much easier with the section lifted. Finally I need to add a power connection to the BUS.

In the light of the on going Permanent Way activity there have been several engineers and similar train movements in addition to the daily WTT operations which have been captured on film as follows.

37003 collects ballast hoppers from Ardlui

37003 awaits southbound departure from Ardlui

37026 arrives at Ardlui with 0835 Glasgow to Mallaig

37003 arrives at Garelochead with ballast

37003 shunts ballast hoppers into Garelochead sidings

freshly weathered track looks much better than nickel silver although backache is the price

OWB pauses at Garelochead

Ballast hoppers rest in Garelochead sidings

20128 arrives at Garelochead from the north with the tool van

37003 is having a busy day as it heads north on the Alcan hoppers

27041 at Ardlui with inspection train