The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

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Trevor Thompson
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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Trevor Thompson » Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:05 pm

The Railway in the Valley of the Mill seems to have survived the winter fairly well. Now that the weather here in SW Wales has improved it seems like it's time to get outside again.

I have some track to re-ballast, but the main thing which is holding back further extension is the task of finishing off what I started last year.

I have had a goods shed and a pile of fencing for TanyBwlch station sitting in the workshop all winter. That complex track layout hadn't quite quite met my expectations - fitting the goods shed means modifying the track to make room for it. So yesterday I lifted most of it. The far road - the "down" line - was fine - it was the convoluted curves to fit the crossover in, and the limited room between the tracks, that was the issue.

I have relaid most of it, and straightened out the "up" line in the station. The goods line now has room for the goods shed:
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The curves in the bottom end of the goods loop are a bit tight - but it really only needs to be able to accommodate 4 wheel wagons, and no locomotive need pass around these curves. So they will suffice. I suppose it's one of the disadvantages of trying to create a model of something with only a third of the real length.
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Of course there are knock on effects as things get changed.

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Peter Butler » Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:32 pm

The weather here in S W Wales has inspired us both to work on our railways, you have achieved much more than I have managed, but it is a start. Good to see you back Trevor.
The best things in life are free.... so why am I doing this?

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Trevor Thompson » Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:36 pm

In having modified the track layout the footbridge needed to be lengthened. Not an issue, new components based on the original components were printed overnight, and fitted into place this morning. Just needs the paint adding tomorrow and it will be ready to go into position:
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The next modification is needed to fit the coal siding and the coal drops in alongside the goods shed.

You might notice from the photographs that last year I completed most of the retaining wall below the track bed. The weather closed progress on that down with just a 5 ft long section to complete. So the structure below the track is now wider at the station, and that was intended to allow the track bed to be widened to take the coal siding. I have a rough model of the coal drops ready to print. It isn't finished yet - as I expect to only be able to fit in part of the coal drops. This is the basic model based on information provided by David John:
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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Trevor Thompson » Wed Mar 30, 2022 9:16 am

Peter Butler wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:32 pm The weather here in S W Wales has inspired us both to work on our railways, you have achieved much more than I have managed, but it is a start. Good to see you back Trevor.
Thanks Peter.

Should have quite a bit done in time for a proper group meeting here in the summer.

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Old Man Aaron » Sat Apr 02, 2022 11:39 am

The new arrangement looks like it'll work much better. Just a shame you're having to rearrange things to work the space. Brilliant work as always!
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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Trevor Thompson » Mon Apr 04, 2022 10:33 pm

I managed to make a small amount of progress before the weather went cold again - concrete to form a base for the coal siding:
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and the track re-laid onto the concrete:
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That includes 2 off 3 D printed wagon turntables to feed the coal drops (as per the prototype). So there is just enough room for the goods-shed.

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Trevor Thompson » Mon Apr 04, 2022 10:36 pm

Old Man Aaron wrote: Sat Apr 02, 2022 11:39 am The new arrangement looks like it'll work much better. Just a shame you're having to rearrange things to work the space. Brilliant work as always!
The big difference is that I now have more information about the prototype - and of course I had to make use of that information. Well better to try it and modify it than to never make it in the first place.

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Scrat » Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:54 am

Great work.

What about leaving the added section of the footbridge as it is or paint it in a slightly different colour to show that it had been repaired at some time?

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Andrew » Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:34 am

That's looking very good. The goods shed is especially nice - it's going to be a challenge to propel wagons through it though!

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Trevor Thompson » Wed Apr 06, 2022 9:32 am

Scrat wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:54 am Great work.

What about leaving the added section of the footbridge as it is or paint it in a slightly different colour to show that it had been repaired at some time?
I will give that some thought!

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Trevor Thompson » Wed Apr 06, 2022 9:33 am

Andrew wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:34 am That's looking very good. The goods shed is especially nice - it's going to be a challenge to propel wagons through it though!
I am fitting ball races to most of my wagons - and they actually go through it under gravity as per the prototype.

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Andrew » Wed Apr 06, 2022 10:01 am

Trevor Thompson wrote: Wed Apr 06, 2022 9:33 am
Andrew wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:34 am That's looking very good. The goods shed is especially nice - it's going to be a challenge to propel wagons through it though!
I am fitting ball races to most of my wagons - and they actually go through it under gravity as per the prototype.

Trevor
Brilliant!

A couple of my wagons have roller bearings and it is amazing how free running they are...

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by SimonWood » Fri Apr 08, 2022 5:30 pm

This is looking great Trevor. I'm really looking forward to seeing the coal drops in situ.

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Trevor Thompson » Thu Apr 21, 2022 3:24 pm

It has taken a while to actually do it, but I have installed the fencing and all the buildings in a semi permanent way, and re-ballasted everything:
IMG_2180.JPG
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The coal drops are almost ready to print, well as much of them as I can actually get into the space available:
Screenshot 2022-04-21 at 15.23.02.png
Screenshot 2022-04-21 at 15.23.02.png (117.37 KiB) Viewed 2977 times
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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by ge_rik » Thu Apr 21, 2022 5:24 pm

That ballasting looks very effective, Trevor. Can't wait to see what the coal drops look like.

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by SimonWood » Tue May 17, 2022 8:29 am

A couple of weeks ago I was delighted to be invited back to the Railway in the Valley of the Mill. I brought the Moel Rhos Railway's loco No. 2 Chough - which, despite being a manual RH Millie, is actually great fun to run on this end-to-end line. I also go to see Linda in steam for the first time since painting (I'd seen her painted before and in steam before but never both at the same time!)

I took quite a lot of photos...here's one and the rest are in the full album.

Image

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by philipy » Tue May 17, 2022 8:49 am

That is an absolutely superb picture, well done to both of you.
It actually looks like a real narrow gauge train in a real narrow gauge station.
Philip

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Andrew » Tue May 17, 2022 12:28 pm

Wonderful photos of a lovely line, thank you!

I like them all very much, but my particular favourite is the one of "Chough" alongside the bank of wild flowers.

You're a brave man to run manual live steam on a steeply graded, sharply curving, end-to-end line AND take photos!!! Trevor's permanent way must be excellent...

All the best,

Andrew.

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by Trevor Thompson » Sat May 21, 2022 10:20 am

Andrew wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 12:28 pm Wonderful photos of a lovely line, thank you!

I like them all very much, but my particular favourite is the one of "Chough" alongside the bank of wild flowers.

You're a brave man to run manual live steam on a steeply graded, sharply curving, end-to-end line AND take photos!!! Trevor's permanent way must be excellent...

All the best,

Andrew.
The really impressive thing is how "Chough" runs so slowly and predictably. Simon was able to just set the regulator and away she goes - really slowly and strongly leaving him free to take photos.

I do like the photos though! Especially the ones with Linda in them.

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Re: The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

Post by SimonWood » Wed May 25, 2022 7:54 pm

Thanks all for your kind words about the photos!
Trevor Thompson wrote: Sat May 21, 2022 10:20 am
Andrew wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 12:28 pm You're a brave man to run manual live steam on a steeply graded, sharply curving, end-to-end line AND take photos!!! Trevor's permanent way must be excellent...
The really impressive thing is how "Chough" runs so slowly and predictably. Simon was able to just set the regulator and away she goes - really slowly and strongly leaving him free to take photos.
Trevor is too modest about the track work - it is very solid and even - the construction is detailed further up but the effect is that you really don't need to worry about letting trains do their thing unattended, even on the viaduct with its sizeable drop! So I can think about the camera rather than the loco. It is also true that Chough performs very well - that superb Roundhouse Engineering - and with a near silent burner and steaming for ages on single fill, always enjoyable to run.

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