Elmdon Heath Light Railway (was EHLR: A small start)

hussra · Post by **hussra** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 8:02 pm

With the Railway Inspector here, time for a little update on this thread. Thought I'd throw in a few photos showing the current extent of the line, especially Hendre station which has been coming together nicely. Ballasting remains to be completed, and the platform still needs to be built. Anyway, here is the current state of play.

First a couple of shots showing just about the whole extent of the line so far.

And then we start on the approach to Hendre in the down direction.

Marquis DeCarabas · Post by **Marquis DeCarabas** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 3:18 am

hussra:73283 wrote:

Iawn, yn wir. Where are the remains of the ballast turntable? Looks fab.

Pendo Pilot · Post by **Pendo Pilot** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 6:21 am

Whilst you may not be advancing as fast as some

I must say the quality is superb. Looking rather excellent there fella.

hussra · Post by **hussra** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 10:03 am

Thanks chaps - progress has indeed been slow (trying to run three churches during the vacancy, on top of day job and family) but pleasing and enjoyable. Once this lot is ballasted, must work out what happens beyond the bridge. More pointwork is under construction for the next station (a junction which should feature a Tooban-style scissors crossing).

SapperAnt · Post by **SapperAnt** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 2:25 pm

Ive got the one church......so yeah know you how you feal. dunno how id cope with three

hussra · Post by **hussra** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 8:41 pm

SapperAnt:73312 wrote:Ive got the one church......so yeah know you how you feal. dunno how id cope with three

Fortunately it wasn't alone, we had great support from others in the parish and from local retired clergy, but a year was quite enough and having a Rector once more is a jolly good thing.

I think it was Teddy Boston who commented that he had found railway modelling quite essential while at theological college; I certainly found garden railwaying essential during the vacancy.

Two steps forward, one step back today - much of Hendre yard has been ballasted, and a wet cut tile saw purchased on eBay to allow us to progress the platform. But a stray garden hose has pulled up the lever on the siding trap points, which will require reworking tomorrow.

SapperAnt · Post by **SapperAnt** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 8:47 pm

Yes I quite agree with Teddy!

It's odd the link between being a parson and railways....Wilfred Audrey, Eric Tracey, Teddy Boston, ....Samuel Weach and Ollie Tearle...

to name but a few....

For my Line I'm waiting til I move and hopefully acquire a garden or a yard of my own allowing me to establish something permanent!

Sir Clothem Cap · Post by **Sir Clothem Cap** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 12:48 pm

Make a portable line set up in church and preach about staying on track with God. I did once and got away with it, the most memorable family service I did.

SapperAnt · Post by **SapperAnt** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:26 am

Ive done one using the steam engine as a metaphor for God: you cant see steam, only experience its heat and see its power moving things. I'll dig out the text later. I was told off for making chapel smell a bit (steam oil.....tsk tsk)

hussra · Post by **hussra** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:03 pm

Interesting thoughts both - thanks! Must be careful though, many of our more family-friendly services are in a wooden building, not sure what Ecclesiastical Insurance would say.

(Remind me how we got to this discussion from the EHLR, again?)

SapperAnt · Post by **SapperAnt** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:14 pm

Not having enough time due to three churches?

DVT Dweller · Post by **DVT Dweller** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:50 am

3 Churches? thats just greedy

. Coming along really well Rich and it looks like youve got a fair run down now. The scenery is looking a lot better than mine too

TommyDodd · Post by **TommyDodd** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 3:47 pm

DVT Dweller:73470 wrote:3 Churches? thats just greedy :lol:

All depends on your choice of prototype. For example, if you were to model THIS....

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/57946877

...nobody would believe you, but there it is.

hussra · Post by **hussra** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 4:44 pm

Now that is a bit unusual, I have to say! Our three are spread over a couple of miles; the parish is rather cut in half by the Land Rover plant.

Coming back to Steve's comment on the scenery - the approach of trying to do at least some basic scenics as I go along seems to be paying dividends in terms of willingness of the rest of the family to see the line extend. (I assume there's an unspoken "so long as the same standard is maintained".) It also works nicely with the rather limited railway-building budget.

The scenic stuff costs very little, the slate for the fencing etc having been removed from one of the church roofs after damage during lead thefts. (The plants come from the garden budget, rather than the railway budget!)

hussra · Post by **hussra** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 4:47 pm

The next move (other than finishing off the current line as per Victor Isle's requirements) is preparing for the eventual start of works on the extension to Llanfair ar y Ffos.

I need 5 RH points, 1 LH and 1 diamond crossing (for the scissors crossing), so far two built and another started today.

I have to say, point building turns out to be great fun - and much cheaper than buying Peco (I make it around £12 each for materials), plus a more sensible radius. The points so far are mostly based on Dave Watkins' 1200mm radius templates (one at Hendre is 1500mm), the diamond used a hand-drawn template to match.

TommyDodd · Post by **TommyDodd** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:33 pm

Now that is what I call S&C! Particularly impressed by the diamond. Wish I'd tried that in my station throat as it would save a lot of space.

Narrow Minded · Post by **Narrow Minded** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:42 pm

Nice work!

Now, knowing that you work to a similar budget to mine - can you tell me where you source your copper-clad strip please?

hussra · Post by **hussra** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:03 pm

Narrow Minded:73666 wrote:Nice work!
Now, knowing that you work to a similar budget to mine - can you tell me where you source your copper-clad strip please?

Thanks both for your comments. This pointwork is going to take just a little while to construct - which suits fine...

It's actually not copper-clad but just brass strip from the model shop (1/4 x 1/32") - the diamond used a lot to hold it all together! On the points the common crossing is similarly built up on a bit of 1/32" brass; all held down with little brass pins melted through the Peco sleepers then bent over underneath. The 1/32" brass nicely matches the height of the Peco rail fastenings used elsewhere in the points. A drop of superglue on each rail fastening holds things together while it is removed from the template.

I reckon a 1200mm radius point uses half a packet of sleepers, a third of a packet of rail clips, about 7 feet of rail, 6 inches of 1/4 x 1/32 brass, and a couple of square inches of 1/32 sheet for the crossing. Oh, and the pins and a couple of rail joiners.

Narrow Minded · Post by **Narrow Minded** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:26 pm

Thanks Richard, I never thought of using brass strip - I'll have to look into it price-wise etc

hussra · Post by **hussra** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:30 pm

Narrow Minded:73668 wrote:Thanks Richard, I never thought of using brass strip - I'll have to look into it price-wise etc

It's a consideration, certainly - rummaging in the garage I find that my current stock came from Albion Alloys at 4x12" for £5.25 (or about 65p for enough for 1 point). Doubtless there's a better price to be had somewhere, this was a quick purchase in Brum on the way home from work.

Probably best not to tot up how much was consumed by the diamond crossing.

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