The DVLR Mark 2

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Thank you for the supportive comments!
The bawdsey extention has been started!





A general idea. Big removable section (incorporating a lift bridge for access during running sessions. Can be stored up right out of the way

Just made from spare and recycled pressure treated timbers.
The branch line will need re-awakening!

[hussra]

Good stuff - I get totally confused by the layout of your line and garden, but I take it there's no hope of inserting a further 90 degree curve to the right and having Bawdsey along the other side of the garden?

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

no, along there is all windows and doors. Also, I have severe planning restrictions, everything not in the shed or on the flowerbed has to be removable.

[hussra]

Ah, too bad. The station will need to be quite compact and bijou, then. Dare I suggest a battery loco to help with the shunting? Or a traverser at the extreme end to help with the run-round? Or dare I suggest gaining a little space by having an RH point before the bridge is reached, and double track on the bridge?

[laurence703]

Or instead of taking it through 90 degrees have an S bend out on to a table that folds away to be stored in the shed... so you can have a station with a siding and a traverser plate or a turntable? A pasting table would be ideal

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

I'll bear in mind a traverser but it will have to be a shunting loco which does all the run around work and fills the coprolite wagons. But no, in answer to all your questions, the garden is too small. Its a wonder I have managed to build this last part at all and its all got to be removable so no future extensions likely.
I'm going to finish building this tomorrow and will start on the woodbridge re-developement scheme soon.
Also planned for tomorrow is the construction of a brick works.
Much MUCH smaller than Peter Jones's grand expanse of industrial gubbins this is a small local brickworks at aldeburgh and will be the first proper industry on the DVLR

I'll be including various things in my videos...

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

First today I removed a huge bush/tree which had died. It was this which the branch to Bawdsey had to deviate around resulting in very sharp curves.

The line was reconnected and then all the detritus that had collected on it removed.


Next job on the list was the brick kiln.

This is a diagram of a simple one found in Suffolk and clearly shows how they work. Some were odd shapes rather than rectangular so I chose a nice shape pot to be the top. Under ground the fire tube is an old terracotta wine cooler and the underground chamber under the brick kiln itself is an up turned pot with a section removed. All is concreted together apart from the top one.

To light for some nice smoke a rag is soaked in paraffin and lit inside the bottom chamber, some small sticks are added then garden trimmings are heaped on top to damp the fire.





Ooops, might have over done the smoke a little...

-cough- -cough-
I'll be building up the brick works with some shelters and sheds and bits and bobs
At the other end of the garden the post for the bawdsey branch went in!

I also cleaned out the pond and topped it up and brushed the whole railway free of debris. So quite a productive day really!

[hussra]

You are Peter Jones' reincarnation and I claim my five pounds.

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

That's a whopper of a compliment! Which 5 pounds?

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Today started with lots of sawing and balancing pieces of wood on stacks of wood to try and get an idea of level and where the wall bracket had to go. Nothing in the garden is square of level so it was quite a challenge!


Then I had to fit the wall bracket and also chop off the end of the removable section to make an even more removable section for during running sessions so you don't have to clamber over everything. This part will be a sort of bridge.



Everything is held in place by these sliding bolt locks.


Catchit tunnel will probably have to be temporarily dismantled tomorrow to realign the track. Never really been happy with it. There are big plans!

I also had a piece of marine ply left over which looked spot on in shape. I just had to cut out a bit for the turntable and hey presto! Extra land for Woodbridge and a place where I can built a safety fence to stop run away locos from plunging off the turntable.


Everything was then painted in an cream/white wood preserver by "Qprinol" to make it all last longer and to tie it in with the rest of the garden (to keep the domestic authorities satisfied)

[Narrow Minded]

Very slow catching up on this one, but well done all the same Mr B

All the plantlife is retreating here on teh W&L which can only mean that the "terrra-forming season" is almost upon us again, I'll be following your lead and making some changes myself
Thanks for the inspiration!

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Been a while!
Whole railway looks muddy and unkept at the moment
Been out with River Butley in the cold.
Dropping down through the woods outside of Aldeburgh

In the same location, taking a mixed train through

One of the cows appears to have been taken ill!
Photo taken by accident, by the lineside

At the end of the running sessions, on shed at Aldeburgh

Video to follow,
I need some advice though on what to do with a another corner of the railway.
Its the corner behind Woodbridge Station. I want to disguise it so it looks like the railway doesn't run through woodbridge at all
(The branch line deviates and runs along the other side of the river to Woodbridge so I shouldn't really have the model branch line going through the wrong town! At the moment there are the remnants of "Catchit" tunnel



The whole area

You can see the line snaking along behind the station at the front. I'd like to be able to set a camera on the train and for the camera to believe it is going to Bawdsey, not through Woodbridge but I would like to develop the scenery for the buildings of Woodbridge.
My ideas so far consist of having a well disguised tunnel THROUGH the buildings with well disguised ends. My other thoughts were just for more trees or I could build a row of 2D houses infront of the track and a row of roof tops behind the track but have the track running through a cutting. Any thoughts?

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

And heres the video I promised. Its probably the worst video I've made for a long time with Roaring gas burners and a loco running too fast (both things I hate) But it was a bit of fun and it was the only way she would run in the garden in these temperatures!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OatjWJOzlGY

I can only apologies.

[Narrow Minded]

The 2D (low relief) buildings would be favourite to give the impression of "Woodbridge proper" and hide the line, but at the cost of making that section unsuitable itself for photography / video.
Unless of course you went for low relief buildings at the front which themselves were "disguised" on their backs - maybe as a rock cutting? add a few trees/shrubs and MYOB??

I wouldn't re-instate the tunnel on the grounds of access and again, photo/video opportunities

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Like the idea of a scenic break, town on one side, rock ontother
Shame theres no local rock good enough for cuttings - only Red Crag. Still I've got away with it with Terracotta cutting made from "Brickstone" my made up rock so what the hell, in for a penny...

[Narrow Minded]

Nice vid, and you're excused the "gas roar" in this weather (the chuff mostly disguised it anyhow!).
Good to see the new section in a video too

[hussra]

The 2D (low relief) buildings would be favourite to give the impression of "Woodbridge proper" and hide the line, but at the cost of making that section unsuitable itself for photography / video.
Unless of course you went for low relief buildings at the front which themselves were "disguised" on their backs - maybe as a rock cutting? add a few trees/shrubs and MYOB??

This sounds like a bit of a plan to me - the issue I suppose is the depth of the flower bed (and I'm guessing it can't be surreptitiously widened under cover of darkness). What would it take - a building between mill and station and just possibly one behind the station building itself? (How much space is there?)

There's also the bit beyond the turntable - could do another building there, but the question would be how you treat the visible end of that one. Or more trees might work quite nicely there.

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

True, I am planning on adding a removable (I think now 30% of my line is removable so why not carry on?) Scenic board so I can have the other platform at Woodbridge and so I can stop the "Cliff Hanger" look. There will be a board that snuggles around the turntable to make that look a little less precarious... I think some low releife, some 2D, cleverly placed trees and retaining walls, maybe even some roof tops painted on the back wall, MYOB and it could look quite good. I will also develope the scenary on the removable Bawdsey sidings. I want a crane and some sort of loading equiptment for loading up coprolight. I also want to ballast it with a red/orange colour as the spoil from the quarry is red crag. Any ideas how to ballast onto wood (needs to glue on as it is stored up right)
Thanks for the ideas, keep them coming!

[Chris Cairns]

Nice video Zach.

It was amazing to see what effect your out of scale leaf had on your locomotive.

Chris Cairns.

[Narrow Minded]

Any ideas how to ballast onto wood (needs to glue on as it is stored up right)
Thanks for the ideas, keep them coming!

You've answered your own question You'll have to glue it.
Apply the ballast dry (I would maybe go for something "light" cork/sawdust??), brush into the sleepers and balast shoulder, then flood in a 50:50 PVA water mix - just like the indoor guys do