West Highland Line V4, a 1980's West Highland Line layout

[37Oban]

12 minutes ago, Alcanman said:

Great photos, which remind me of this photo of 37027 arriving at Crianlarich.

Hi,

cracking photo!

 

I wonder how many modellers would spend time making sure there was no kink in the track and that the signal post was truly vertical!

 

Roja

[young37215]

I like the picture of 37027 arriving at Crianlarich, it's not an angle that I have used for photographing arrivals and I am always looking for inspiration with new angles. 

 

In between chopping and glueing polystyrene for the ongoing landscape work, I finally sorted out the headcode lights on 37111. The problem was the wiring that powers the headcode lighting was fouling the bodyshell which appeared to be in the correct place but moved when the bodyshell was placed on the chassis. The solution was rather than dropping the bodyshell onto the chassis as I would normally do, I dropped the chassis onto the bodyshell which reduced the potential for the wiring to move. Net result is 37111 is now fully functional although it still needs weathering. At least I got to tick one item off of the long list of 'to do's'. Having cleaned some of the weathering off of 37011 and fitted new nose ends with cut down cowling, I used the chassis from 37114 to create 37011 as it was in the mid 1980's prior to its 1987 accident and subsequent withdrawl. I am missing the headlight which the SDEG advise 37011 acquired in 1982 whilst on loan to Inverness; my current thinking is to add another jewel in the same way as I did on 37017. 

 

At last, working headcode lights at both ends

 

 

 

Revised 37011 bodyshell awaits a new chassis

 

 

I added a second driver to the chassis from 37114, I like to see a driver in the cab of a loco.

 

 

37011 on new chassis with working headcode lights 

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by young37215

[Dougjuk]

well done Rob, perseverance pays off.

[Alcanman]

Great work with 37011, a loco that I managed to photograph in both BR Blue and LL Blue.

 

I hope you don't mind me hi-jacking your excellent thread with my prototype photos but it's great seeing the locos that I have fond memories of,  in model form.

 

Here is 37011 arriving at Glasgow QS.

 

Mal

[young37215]

I was a little concerned that the black headcode panels were incorrect for 37011 but managed to find a 1985 picture that reassures me they are fine. I might change them to yellow ones at some stage because 37011 ran for most of the early 1980's as per @Alcanman's picture. Snow ploughs are another longstanding issue, I will find a way to add them along with other bufferbeam detailing at some stage but for now I am content that the revised 37011 is good to go as is. 

 

 

Yesterday was all glueing and cuttting again with some rock mold casting thrown in for good measure. Baseboard starting point, the track on the right is the Alcan Aluminium works siding which will be hidden. 

 

 

Gradient of about 1:100 created using 3mm cork. Track weathered, ballasted and glued.

 

 

The Alcan siding will be hidden but for access purposes I have created a 'removable scenic lid'

 

 

 

[young37215]

 

Whilst most of the train movements on WHL4 correspond with the WTT, one Rule 1 additional service is an early morning Fort William to Mallaig and return trip for the steam stock. Diesel hauled of course, the 08.45 departure returns from Mallaig at 11.00 and neatly avoids having the steam stock sat around doing nothing for most of the day. 37049 is seen at Mallaig with the outbound  2B13 and the return working 2B20.

 

 

 

 

[young37215]

 

Progress with the mountain pass baseboard seems slow but it is a chunky area. By the end of yesterday I had laid around 75% of the plaster cloth and most of the areas requiring filler had been Sculptamolded.  

 

Gradient profile looks fine

 

 

Guaging of the cutting

 

 

Track covered so that plaster cloth and Sculptamold can be laid

 

 

 

[young37215]

By the end of yesterday I had a first coat of paint on the mountain pass baseboard scenery. Once this and the Sculptamold have dried I can start with some detail work, I hope the baseboard will be ready to return to the layout in a day or two.  

 

37012 threads its way north with 1B10, 0837 Glasgow to Mallaig.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by young37215

[Purnu]

Bit of variety and inspiration here.

 

https://flic.kr/p/2hCK5K8

 

[young37215]

The above 1985 picture shows 2 of the class 37's transferred in from the WR for conversion to 37/4. The amount of dirt on the locos shows that heavy weathering was commonplace for anything that ran on the WHL!

 

 

More work on the baseboard sees it close to being completed, the remaining work can be done with it back in situ on the layout. I want to add a few low level bushes to blend in the rocky outcrops and the removable lid needs tweaking but good progress. Once the various paint and glue has dried I should be able to return the baseboard to the layout. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by young37215

[young37215]

A question that I meant to raise in my earlier post. The 50 degree gradient on the mountainside means that it is challenging to get the scenic material to stay in place even though it is laid on a layer of PVA. Woodland Scenics recommend their scenic cement but I find this disturbs the material when being sprayed on because it is not fine enough, I need something that produces a fine mist that setlles on top of the materials and holds them in place. I am thinking about trying a cheap matt varnish to mist over, before I do has anyone found an effective way of securing scenic material on similar gradients?

[BoD]

I bought my own cheap mister bottles example here although there are many other suppliers.

 

Experiment with a pva/water mix until it does job.   I found 50/50 works for me on slopes.  Adding usual drop of washing up liquid helps too.  Don’t forget to clean them and flush through several times after use.

[E100]

30 minutes ago, young37215 said:

A question that I meant to raise in my earlier post. The 50 degree gradient on the mountainside means that it is challenging to get the scenic material to stay in place even though it is laid on a layer of PVA. Woodland Scenics recommend their scenic cement but I find this disturbs the material when being sprayed on because it is not fine enough, I need something that produces a fine mist that setlles on top of the materials and holds them in place. I am thinking about trying a cheap matt varnish to mist over, before I do has anyone found an effective way of securing scenic material on similar gradients?

 

Is there a way you could turn the board to make the gradient flat(er)?

[Dougjuk]

That grass layering spray you bought might be worth a try

[young37215]

2 hours ago, Dougjuk said:

That grass layering spray you bought might be worth a try

 

Doh, why did'nt I think of that?

 

It appears to do the job, time will tell how effectively once it has set.

 

[03060]

I've used cheap non-perfumed hairspray, sprayed as a mist from a reasonable distance on my 3mm S&DJR layout of Masbury which has some reasonably high embankments on it. This has held the flock in place through many movements up and down out of my loft over the last 20 odd years since we made it down at Leeds MRC. Worth a try, my can only cost a couple of pounds.

 

Regards and seasons greetings to all involved on this thread.

Ian.

[Dunalastair]

I have not used flock for a while, but with static grass, I found that simply painting cheap Poundland PVA glue onto a 45 degree surface with a brush I was able to get reasonable coverage using my flykiller / sieve applicator. Any surplus which ended up at the foot of the bank after the glue had dried was hoovered up with a keyboard vacuum cleaner for re-use.

 

An example :

 

 

 

That said, looking back through more recent diorama photos, I seem to have gone more over to hanging basket liner, at least for 1:76 and larger scales.

[young37215]

Progress after several stressful days spent flapping over how to fit the mountain scenery together in addition to allowing large quantities of glue to set. 4 of 6 of the sections are complete from a landscaping perspective with the remaining two in the middle still under construction. I have returned the upper level sections to the layout and managed to join the track together once more. The track on the middle section has been weathered but is not yet ballasted meaning that apart from a short section of track on the approach to Fort WIlliam, I have now completed all of the planned track weathering on WHL4. In theory I have now broken the back of the current landscape work and should be able to complete this in the coming days. 

 

Looking south from Mallaig Junction fiddle yard, the lower level on the left will be joined to the upper level using plaster cloth once I have cut the insulation to the profile I require.

 

 

Middle upper section removed for track weathering

 

 

Middle section restored and insulation cut roughly to form the base of the landscape

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by young37215

[young37215]

Having reinstated the track it seemed a good idea and a good excuse to do some test running and I am pleased to report that everything still works as it should. I will glue and ballast the remaining track in the mountaneous section later today in the hope it dries out overnight. Elsewhere 37112 was captured arriving at Ardlui with the 07.00 Mallaig to Glasgow service where it passes 37111 and its engineers train.

 

Wishing everyone a happy christmas and a peaceful new year.

 

 

 

 

 

[billywhizz]

Merry Christmas to you and your family Rob. Thank you for sharing your inspirational progress through the year!! 
Looking forward to seeing the layout develop further in 2024. 

[young37215]

I managed a few hours of running over the holidays which was fun. I now want to crack on and finish the landscape work which I find less fun and frequently challenging, so that I can start the more enjoyable creation of scenery. During the summer of 1983 the afternoon was a busy time for freight trains, a rather dirty 37264 was tasked with 7B20, 13.50 Mossend to Corpach seen on departure from Crianlarich.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[meanach]

I like the angle looking up on the 4th pic. 

[young37215]

The PRA wagons have not been doing much of late because they did not respond well to my back to back testing. All of the wheels were tight to gauge and got eased out which resulted in much squealing and grating when subsequently running the wagons. I reamed out the axle boxes with my tyre tuner in an effort to reduce the friction caused by the slight widening of the axle which is a right faff because the PRA is such a delicate model. Any handling invariably results in part coming off and having to be reattached which meant I spent a couple of hours on just the 4 PRA's. Despite my best efforts there was still noticeable resistance on the axles when the wagons were tested after reassembly.

 

Being delicate is not meant as a criticisim, it is a function of the model which as far as I am concerned is an excellent representation although I suppose it is fair to say that the wheels could have been better and built to gauge. I will try the wagons in service and see how they run before deciding if any further work is necessary. In between the PRA remedial work recently updated 37011 got an outing to Oban with 8B05, the daily freight from Mossend seen departing Arrochar and passing through the countryside before crossing the viaduct on the approach to Ardlui.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Dunalastair]

I trust that there have been no Storm Gerrit style landslides on the unconsolidated landscaping or fallen trees on the completed sections ... though I don't think we named storms in the 1980s - we just got on with it.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Dunalastair

[6990WitherslackHall]

On 27/12/2023 at 07:54, young37215 said:

A rather dirty 37264 was tasked with 7B20, 13.50 Mossend to Corpach seen on departure from Crianlarich.

 

It shouldn't be too long before 37264 emerges from Grosmont MPD looking like that again (minus the weathering)