General West Highland Loco types over the Years

[Lacathedrale]

Good afternoon all,

 

Having just got back from a trip to the West Highlands, I am of course besotted with it. While I have no immediate plans to model a layout based on the WHL I do have much of the carriage and freight stock that would be required for a representative layout and I would like to keep an eye out for relevant motive power that may come up on eBay/etc in the meantime. Based on the sightings and photographs I've reviewed, it would appear that the following maxims ring true:

 

Late 1960's: Class 20, 21/29, 27

1970-1980: Mostly 27's and 20's, some 24's early on

Early-Mid 1980's: Predominantly Class 37/1's with some 20's and 27's

Mid 1985's onward: Almost exclusively Class 37/4's in Large Logo

Post 1990: ???

 

Is this broadly accurate? In terms of other significant events over the WHL in the period 1970-1985:

 

1972: Lifting of Pier tracks at Mallaig TBC

1975-82: Major rationalisation of Mallaig and rebuild of Ft. William

1987-88: Introduction of RETB on the line

1991: Closure of Ft. William paper mill & cessaton of OBA/OCA traffic

- Presumably the fuel oil tanks at Mallaig were removed and TTA traffic ceased around this time too?

 

Edited June 7 by Lacathedrale

[Dunalastair]

Generally not 26s ... rather 27s in BRCW guise ... and 20s already were there in the 1960s. Don't forget the shunter / pilot at the Fort. 

[Mol_PMB]

A search on Flickr for 'Mallaig class' brings up a great selection of images over the years, illustrating the loco, coach, wagon and DMU types in use, and the liveries. Well worth a look.

 

 

[slow8dirty]

Class 08, shunter in the early years at Fort bill

Class 20 occasional visitor from 60s onwards and Fort bill shunter in the 80s appearing every so often on Mallaig passenger runs. (There's a video on YouTube shows a green 20 on an engineers train on the line in the 60s)

21/29 21 in the mid 60s till they mostly died, 29 during the late 60s in to very early 70s

24 very occasional, photographic evidence exists

25 occasional visitor, I have seen photos of green rats on the extension and of course during summer shortages in the blue period.

26 as above an occasional 

27 Ever present until early 80s

37s start to take over early 80s and then the 37/4s rule. 

Then it went horribly wrong😁

 

 

[Lacathedrale]

I seem to have lost a post, but thank you @Dunalastair - I have edited the original post.

 

Thank you also @Mol_PMB - prompt engineering but for flickr, eh? :)

[Mol_PMB]

4 minutes ago, Lacathedrale said:

I seem to have lost a post, but thank you @Dunalastair - I have edited the original post.

 

Thank you also @Mol_PMB - prompt engineering but for flickr, eh? :)

Flickr is an amazing resource for railway photos but there is an art to choosing the right search terms to find them. Many photos on the WHL will have Mallaig somewhere in the caption, but if you just search Mallaig you get a load of fishing boats as well. Add the word 'class' without specifying which class narrows it down to trains quite effectively as most railway photographers will put the class of loco in the caption. So yes, prompt engineering is a good way to summarise it!

 

Don't forget the kettles were around in the 1980s too.

 

[Lacathedrale]

Thank you again @Mol_PMB  and @slow8dirty

[TomJ]

Im not certain about when the rail traffic stopped but the paper mill at Corpach didn’t shut till 2005. Certainly when I first visited in 2001 I still noticed plenty of timber traffic on the line. I’ve also seen photos of EWS livery locos crossing the bridge at Blanavie

[TomJ]

PS - I’m in a similar boat having recently visited Scotland, although I’m thinking steam era. 

[Lacathedrale]

59 minutes ago, TomJ said:

PS - I’m in a similar boat having recently visited Scotland, although I’m thinking steam era. 

 

Very nice - I did look at this for reference for steam, but I'm confining myself to majority blue diesels :) http://shedbashuk.blogspot.com/search?q=FORT+WILLIAM 

[Mol_PMB]

1 hour ago, TomJ said:

PS - I’m in a similar boat having recently visited Scotland, although I’m thinking steam era. 

 

Also available on Flickr ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TomJ]

Those are wonderful photos. Thank you for sharing 

[Covkid]

Not seen a piccie of a class 24 on the WHL but have seen 25s, 

My first visits to the line were in 1979 and I had 27004 southbound.  From then on it was boliered 37s until the 37/4s  took over.  

[slow8dirty]

1 hour ago, Covkid said:

Not seen a piccie of a class 24 on the WHL.......

 

I must admit this is only the second ever photo I have seen of one. Your comment made me doubt myself as I now can't find the photo I was referring to😁, so thanks.

IIRC the pic I have seen somewhere is of one crossing trains at some point on the moor, if that jogs anyone's memory?

[scottystitch]

There's a possibility that this could be another one?:

 

 

This image here from 1975 appears to show some discoloration to the connected door plate, as if had had a repaint?:

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12 by scottystitch

[scottystitch]

This page here seems to list a few WHL 24 operations based on personal observations:

 

https://leightonlists.com/class-24s-in-scotland/

 

Best

Scott.

[slow8dirty]

Curses, that seems to show evidence of them on the extension as well, not good for me 😁.

@Lacathedrale forget what we said earlier, seems the line was riddled with em! 

 

[keefer]

Presumably mainly the 'Highland' cl.24/1 with headcode boxes and boiler vent blanking plates (D5114-32)?

Big old thread here: 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/34123-highland-baby-sulzers/

 

 

[Covkid]

Well this is a really nice thread to evolve. 

The piccie of the "skinhead" 24 is full of interest, looks like possible a Gresley buffet car further down it's train.  And over on the next platform is that a BSO or a BCK with what looks like mailbags against the window.  The 24 is one of the batch which had the gangway door discs and lights repositioned into the centre of the reskinned former gangway area, 

 

Lovely piccie and thanks for sharing.  I'll take back everything I said about 24s on the WHL !!!!!  

[60021 Pen-y-Ghent]

19 hours ago, slow8dirty said:

 

 

I must admit this is only the second ever photo I have seen of one. Your comment made me doubt myself as I now can't find the photo I was referring to😁, so thanks.

IIRC the pic I have seen somewhere is of one crossing trains at some point on the moor, if that jogs anyone's memory?

I too have a memory of seeing a photo of a 24 crossing (at Rannoch I think) but can't think where I saw it and it's not in the book I thought it was. However there's a photo of 24104 in Tom Noble's book "Diesels on the regions (Scottish Region)"  at Gorton on an engineers train dated for July 1975.