The Leawarra Nayook Railway

[Keith S]

PROOF!
Just for you Keith, blowing a bit of a gale but I steamed up the loco again today. Lighter train, but once again no mess. Don't know
if this shows it "no mess Charlie"


                                                 Like I said, black thing in a black hole.


After running bunker first back to Leawarra, the smokebox and frontplate would usually be spattered with fine oil and water.  :lol:

Ha ha, Sorry, I just saw your response!

I'm pleased that I managed to get you to show us more photos of that lovely engine!

[LNR]

Sounds like a cue, to me.



Grant.

[tom_tom_go]

Did you build the loco yourself Grant?  I can only make out a Roundhouse chassis in there somewhere

Whatever it is, it's excellent...

[LNR]

Hi Tom and thank you,
The loco is a home build, but using a Roundhouse Katy boiler and cylinders, axles and some motion, with my own frames, rods, body, wheels, trucks etc. I bought a Katy frame and boiler kit, used the frames wheels and axles to make my petrol/mechanical loco, and the boiler cylinders and gear for this loco.



I wanted to build one of the 2ft. gauge Bagnalls from the Sth. African Avontuur line, but found outside frames on a leading four wheel truck at 45mm gauge would'nt negotiate my points, so the loco is a freelance 2-6-2, with I'd like to think a hint of the said Bagnalls.



The smokebox is quite long as it actually extends back to nearly the first boiler band, so it's a good echo chamber. It steams well even on 42mm wheels, and is quite heavy so has plenty of momentum.
Grant.

[tom_tom_go]

Thanks for sharing the pics Grant, it is a great looking loco.

[Maple]

looks simply brilliant, stunning job

[LNR]

When I built an interlocked signal and ground-frame on the mainline of the LNR, it started me thinking about a platform mounted ground frame operating a couple of signals, and maybe a set of points. Somehow the thought of a set of levers, maybe three minimum, open to the operating side intrigued me, and I have re-visited the thought repeatedly.
Firstly, let me say I don't profess to know much about signalling, but I have worked out that Leawarra could support a home signal on the main, with perhaps a dwarf signal on number three road, and maybe some point control. Now whether these become inter-locked only time will tell, but to start things off I am building another home signal.



Being able to make an exact copy of the previous one I thought this would be easy. Silly me! You don't have to be far out to totally change the angles that the signal arm and spectacle assume when moved by the control rodding. I should have known better.
So when I finish the signal, and if I have any hair left, we shall think about interlocking and the dwarf signal.
One step at a time, this is definitely a work in progress and to quote a bard on this forum, "this is what keeps us awake at nights".
Grant.

[LNR]

Got the stops, lamp bracket and lamp made today. A tidy up, and it's ready for paint and spectacle glasses.



Then, a timber post, finial for the top, and the operating lever and bracket.
Grant.

[ge_rik]

Wow, Grant. You've got infinitely more patience (and skill) than me. That somersault signal looks fantastic. My modelling tends to work on the 10yd (with eyes half closed) rule.

Rik

[LNR]

Well Rik, that patience was surely tried today. Made the finial (brass this time) and the operating lever bracket, then the lever itself. Easy!
 


Then the horror job, Worrying (engineering term) a slot 1/16thx7/32" through a piece of 3/4" M.S. bar for the lever weight. My longest 1/16th  end mill was about 1/4" long, so three 1/16th holes in a line, join them up with the end mill to 1/4" deep then the rest of the afternoon wearing away the bit in the middle till I could finally get a needle file through and really get to work.Ugh!
 This signal will be on quite a short post as it is to go close to the footbridge that provides a photographic end to pics. of Leawarra yard.



I know possums run through here, and I'm not sure if they go over the bridge or under it. A pointy finial sticking up higher than the footbridge could be asking for trouble. It's also got to be in line with the gap under the bridge so that the interlocking (if we go there) can come through from the set of points further up the line.
Grant.

[Peter Butler]

A classy piece of work there Grant... beyond my engineering capacity I think!
I love the idea of Possums using your railway footbridge, a tiny Vole joined me yesterday as I was working on my track, at least they are good company in the absence of real people.

[Soar Valley Light]

My 'Inspector of works' is a Robin! He's easily distracted from shoddy workmanship by brown envelopes (well, glass dishes actually!) filled with mealworms

Those signal fittings would be the envy of any S&T department in any scale Grant. I just know that you will have fitted the counterbalance weight with a working clamping screw! I look forward to seeing the finished signal in operation. I'd be simply delighted if I had manufacturing skills and facilities only a tenth as good as yours.  :oops:

Andrew

[GTB]

I love the idea of Possums using your railway footbridge,

Grant doesn't.......

The possums in question are 'Brushies', the Common Brushtail Possum. Nocturnal, agile, about the size of a large house cat and devourers of fruits, vegies and garden plants.

They also bulldoze their way through any obstructions in their regular travel paths and are strong enough to lift roof tiles to take up residence in your roof space.

Just what every garden railway needs in residence.

Graeme

[Peter Butler]

Oops!!!!!! Dame Edna makes them sound so sweet!
Perhaps I'll stick to our common (or garden) local wildlife which seems to be far less destructive.

[LNR]

[Oops!!!!!!  Dame Edna makes them sound so sweet!]

They might be, diced with some vegetables and a nice stock, simmered slowly for a couple of hours!!!!

Seriously, I respect all animals, though they frustrate me at times. The blackbirds though smaller create far greater damage, then repeat it next day after you've repaired it.
Grant.

[Soar Valley Light]

At the risk of turning Grants topic into 'Pets corner'.....

One thing I'm a little cautious of is the potential for damage from my avian friends. Our garden is the centre of the universe for a colony of Jackdaws. I've seen the strength they have when they have attemtped to break into feeders adapted to allow only the smaller birds to gain entry (to give them half a chance against the wily Jackdaws peabrained pigeons.

I guess only time will tell - I have to build the railway first!

Andrew

[philipy]

Andrew,
To further highjack the thread (sorry!), we have a big group of semi-resident Jackdaws and from my experience they don't create a hazard for the railway, they just grab visible food and go, but the brainless pigeons are a pain in the neck. They just blunder around and barge into, over, and through anything in their way. They even walk through the tunnel rather than going round or flying over! I've lost count of the times I've had to replace station nameboards and fenceposts/rails.
We have about 20 assorted species visiting our garden and only the pigeons are a nuisance.

[LNR]

I've used a straight mortar mix of cement in area's, and the blackbirds have broken it up with their beaks. What it must do to their sculls while there doing it I don't know.
Grant.

[Dwayne]

My biggest challenge is curtailing my two dogs from highballing it through the layout at the sighting of a squirrel. I've had to erect a two-foot tall mesh fence along their preferred route to funnel them around the layout. With half a dozen pecan trees and several oaks, the tree rats are a fixture in the backyard.

The second challenge comes from the occasional pocket gopher that burrows from the property next door to mine. The gophers don't do any real harm even when they work their way beneath the layout... it is my eldest dog Maggie who picks up their scent and goes into tunnel boring mode in an attempt to catch the rodent. I've had to repair a couple of sections where the rail was shifted out of place or bent by her. Fortunately aluminum rail bends easily and the fix doesn't take long. Admittedly, when a telltale mound of fresh dirt appears I set a gopher trap to eradicate the problem before things go south.

[LNR]

Got the post, base, and control rod finalised today. Started painting various items yesterday.



Spectacle lenses, and some more paint to come.
Grant.