The DVLR Mark 2

[Keith S]

Somewhere in the recesses of YouTube there is a video of a Bertie with a centrifugal mechanism from an old telephone mounted in a tender, and a two-tone chuff pipe. It works very well indeed. It's not a new idea but it keeps resurfacing and I've always been curious about it.

Is it thisun'?

http://youtu.be/nMV8RUP765M

Actually after reading the comments Im not so sure...

Sorry for interrupting  :oops:

Yes, that's the one. Although, also reading the comments, maybe there isn't a telephone device in that one; maybe it's just expert driving.

In any case it's one of my favourite railway videos. The scenery is beautiful and the Bertie is nicely finished... couldn't get more British (from my North American perspective)... much the same as the DVLR is becoming as it matures. Hopefully next year I shall get started on MY railway... I agree the "make and mend" atmosphere is something I will be trying to emulate!

Also sorry for interrupting!

[invicta280]

I especially liked the 4th picture down- the guard gazing off into the distance, the driver looking attentively up' the road', the trees in the background, the lush growth of MYOB being grazed by the pony- a real bucolic narrow guage scene.

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Thank you all for the lovely comments, bucolic and run down has always been the aim so to hear those words is great!
Here is the momentum wagon on test with River Deben - no more stalling on the corners and flying down the straights!
Several trains where used in the test and this video is a load spliced together. Coincidentally it was also Dom's first firing turn - I think he managed quite well. He even drove the loco to Snape Street after Rene fell off in a drunken stupor. Took me about 5 minutes to find him slumped up against a tree...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtIS5Ev ... e=youtu.be

[Chris Bird]

That is excellent project Zach! As you know, I am a fan of such devices and I love the way you have modified this toy to achieve the effect.

Love the film - Deben Valley has never sounded better
Cheers
Chris

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Thank you!
Mixed news from the Deben Valley:
Woodbridge is finally getting finished. Bricks are a labour of love and are achieved by using exterior filler (the powder, self mix type - its a lot cheaper!), splodged on and then smoothed with a pointing trowel. I then scribed bricks in using the trowel and a straight edge of 5mm thickness to get the horizontal lines. Then a ruler and a flat screwdriver were used for the verticle ones. Each brick is about 10x5mm - not quite scale but they were the easiest size to make and when it comes to this mind numbing task, ease is by far the most important thing. Doors and windows were from Peterborough member to member stand and where 50p

The platform edgeing was also bought at Peterborough and to get it to stick to the morter I used to make the smooth platform top I drilled some holes in the resin castings, screwed some small screws in then wound a twist of wire round the lot to give the cement something to grab.

The bad news is that whilst I was out a dog (not my one) was allowed into the garden during a thunderstorm unattended. It has dug up the corner of the garden, flattened the farm fence. Taken up all the MYOB growth, ruined the sea wall at Aldeburgh and crumbled the walling along the line. There is also mud everywhere. Not terribly happy. Here's the crew of the evening coprolite who discovered it serveying the scene in silence.

[philipy]

Thats terrible about the dog, Zac, just when the railway was looking so good. My commiserations.

[Toby the Tram]

Damnation. Keep your spirits up.

[bazzer42]

Sorry to hear that, some dogs and thunder don't mix. We have one but he hides under the bed, dread to think what the stray would have done inside...
I hope it's simple repairs although the growing season is largely gone.

[Soar Valley Light]

That really is tough Zach. I've been meaning all week to post my congratulations on how well established things were starting to look. I trust the dog and it's owner have been put straight!

The fact is though, what's done is done. What matters now is how you go forwards from here. Is any of the damage recoverable? The growing season may well be coming towards it's close but that doesn't mean there will be no recovery at all. Plants are still growing and if the predicted warm spell in a couple of weeks comes off there will be chance for any replanting or new planting to establish itself before Winter. That will give it a head start come Spring and by then things should be looking as they were B.C. (Before Canine).

It's amazing how resilient some plants can be so I hope you can recover some of the uprooted stock.

Keep smiling, even if it IS in the face of adversity!

Andrew

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Well, not sure what else to do in the circumstances I made a documentary about the clear up operation... Silver linings and all that...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chR3qAM ... e=youtu.be

[Peter Butler]

Zach, that was just brilliant!!! I love the combination of music and narration in that style. It captures the moment perfectly.
Excellent film. Top marks that man.

[Big Al]

Cracking video Zac love the early style, Keep up the good work.

[kandnwlr]

Excellent period piece of work. Good show!

[Lonsdaler]

Well, not sure what else to do in the circumstances I made a documentary about the clear up operation... Silver linings and all that...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chR3qAM ... e=youtu.be

I say. Good show old man. I rather enjoyed that. Top ho!

Phil

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

The MV was again in use in that video and instead of 5 takes for each shot there were only one or two. Just weighed it, it weighs 620 grams for anyone who might be interested.

[invicta280]

Frightfully good film old chap! Enjoyed that

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Bit of things going on in the Deben Valley
More roof felt going on and building work in woodbridge - really trying to get this finished


New station platform fencing.


New bit of tram track at Aldeburgh

The flangeways are a bit large but I'd rather leave them larger and therefore easier to clean

[kandnwlr]

Woodbridge Station´s looking good!

[Andrew]

Woodbridge Station´s looking good!

I agree! I was just thinking ho the brick colour reminded me of Cambridge and Audley End etc, then realised that's your neck of the woods anyway, so I guess they would be that colour... Very nice...

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

A lot of houses around here have buff bricks on the fronts then red bricks for the rest of the structure - the white brick was more expensive so mostly only used for embellishment or for the bits which could be seen. Woodbridge station is meant to be an impressive market town station which really says something of the initial intentions of the railway builders for the little line. A bit of former grandeur perhaps glimpsed on this crumbling dysfunctional line.
Anyway, enough of that.
Roads. The road from aldeburgh leads to a short stretch by the River Alde with a turn off to "Sandlings Farm" then round the corner up and over the line on a bridge (which will be getting sides soon) and off into the distance (The corner of the garden). The back roads here are winding for no aparent reason and take 90 degree corners when you least expect it. Quite a few are little better than sand tracks with plants growing in the middle. I wanted to capture the Suffolk bridleways with this road and so there are gooves from the farm carts, horse shoe marks and, echem, leavings all modeled. All I need are the hedges to over grow a little and a confusing sign post and maybe a horse and cart and this part of the line is sorted.

Sometimes I feel I go a little far with the detail...