The Candleford Green Light Railway

[Paul_G]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for commenting. Beddgelert is brand new & is a little tight a the moment. I think it just needs a decent bit of running in to sort out a tight spot. If that doesn't fix it I'll have to wait for Roundhouse to reopen. As I said though it is a bit of a beast with a long overhang & although it happily runs round 38" radius curves the lurch as it comes into a bend isn't pretty! When the world reopens I'm sure it will be much happier running on the much longer & more generous radius curves of the Echills Wood Railway.

[Andrew]

Very nice! I really like the "continuous run plus triangular junction to terminus" track plan, and the carriages look excellent - the new-ish IP Pickering brake composite would finish it off beautifully... Hope you get Beddgelert running well to pull them, although they look surprisingly good behind your Bulldog!

All the best

Andrew.

[Paul_G]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for commenting & funny you mention the Pickering Brake, it is in the assembly shop at the moment :-)
Technically it shouldn't run with Beddgelert as it was delivered to the NWNGR the year after Beddgelert was broken up, but I think a little modellers license is allowable
The current challenge is working out what colour to paint it. I've heard the replica currently under construction will be maroon so may paint it the same as coaches 12 & 13 even though they look scarlet in the sun on the video!

[FWLR]

Great seeing you line in the video Paul. It's looking great by the way. The continuous junction is brilliant. The Giant Tortoise is looking bemused though.... Are you going to have a Jurassic park Theme in that area.... You could have train outings for visitors...

[Paul_G]

Thanks Rob,

The giant tortoise is probably looking bemused because he can't work out why he's stuck in a pen with only slate to eat whereas there is a big lawn full of juicy grass the other side of the railway There aren't any plans for dinosaurs to roam Candleford Green though. At the moment......

Glaslyn had a run out with a short rake of slate wagons the other day. It's possible that the CGLR has hit hard times & has withdrawn passenger services as the station has been demolished

[FWLR]

"Thanks Rob,

The giant tortoise is probably looking bemused because he can't work out why he's stuck in a pen with only slate to eat whereas there is a big lawn full of juicy grass the other side of the railway "

....................................


ROD..

[Paul_G]

Oops, sorry Rod

[Paul_G]

Huge thumbs up to Wickes

Placed a click & collect order yesterday afternoon & got the confirmation email just before 4pm. Popped down this morning to find no queue & a really helpful young employee who even offered to load everything in the car for me although I was happy to do that myself.

Beddgelert will still have to wait for a smoother track to run on though because it's now pouring with rain & is set to do so for the foreseeable future

[Paul_G]

One image from a sunny day's running at the weekend. More coaches not really suited to 38" curves

As with the NWNGR stock there was never any real intention to run these Stuart coaches on the CGLR. They were bought S/H at a recent G scale show to run with Bulldog on The Echills Wood Railway in Kngsbury Water Park. A few of us are happy to let kids play trains after they've been on the 7 1/4" & I thought that Bulldogs not exactly sparkling top speed combined with the weight & strength of metal coaches would be a good combination. Generally the kids are at home with the 'car type' RC transmitter & always love the opportunity to drive the trains rather than just watching & most parents are happy to put donations into the fund-raising box so its all good :-)

For now though this rake is boosting the CGLR's passenger fleet

IMG_0058.jpg (302.34 KiB) Viewed 7353 times

[FWLR]

They do look nice coaches Paul.

[Paul_G]

Thanks Rod, I must admit the coaches are growing on me considering they were a completely unplanned impulse buy as a friend of mine said they were a bit of a bargain price :-)

They are quite scary to watch though in any breeze as the metal roof makes them quite top heavy & they do sway alarmingly exacerbated by my being on 32mm track

[Paul_G]

Dodgy driving but still a run out for Beddgelert

Everything ended up a bit rushed as I spent a considerable amount of time trying to work out why Beddgelert would only go in reverse. Having fiddled with everything connected to the reversing lever the penny finally dropped that the batteries were going flat & not allowing the servo to throw fully By which time I was due elsewhere.....

[FWLR]

Great video of a very nice loco pulling those nice coaches Paul. Have you tried putting some strips of lead under the bodies, either one strip, or two or three even. That would help with the rocking and help with the top heaviness, which would help with running the coaches even more of a joy.

[Andrew]

That's a lovely combination of loco and carriages...

How's the Pickering coming on - it'll look even more impressive as a four coach rake? Looking back over the thread I realised I'd missed your reply on that - I didn't know there wasn't an overlap between those and Beddgelert. The Ashbury brakes that preceded the Pickerings were very nice too, I'm sure someone will make a kit before too long.

The garden's looking good too - that tree trunk on the first curve makes a great backdrop.

All the best,

Andrew.

[FWLR]

Where's the tortoise gone Paul.

I missed it on the first view, how I did I don't know.

[IanC]

They are quite scary to watch though in any breeze as the metal roof makes them quite top heavy & they do sway alarmingly exacerbated by my being on 32mm track

Paul,

One way to cure swaying coaches is to leave one bogie to pivot normally and to have two bolts either side of the other bogie pivot just bearing down on the bogie stretcher. They can be screwed up or down to virtually eliminate movement. It's the principle of triangulation. I used to do this with OO coaches that had a wobble.

[Paul_G]

Hhmm, where did the last few months go?
The Candleford Green Light Railway has had a busy summer hosting lots of socially distanced garden parties with the correct number of visitors until the season ended with Sutton Coldfield getting dragged into the Birmingham Lockdown :-(
Having time on my hands quite a lot has happened in the garden around the railway with a fair bit of planting taking place & a new patio which has opened the whole garden up.
Railway wise some track work has been done to take out some of the lumps & bumps which made driving RC engines fun but proved more problematic for my newly found interest in manual locos. Loco wise my Lady Anne has had the full bling treatment at Locoworks & a quarry hunslet has joined the roster. The Railway also now has a junior section with an Accucraft Mortimor providing the motive power (this is a probably short lived distraction for my son who I'm sure will migrate back to his xbox!) Stock wise the pickering brake finally got finished & Beddgelert & the NWNGR rake now run on the 16mm association layout at Echills Wood Railway where they are, as expected, much happier than on the tight curves of the CGLR.
In other news tinkering with the bushes & fixings of the Stuart coaches has reduced their tendency to sway considerably, thanks for the suggestions & the tortoise is still in residence Rod, being made of plastic he doesn't wander far :-)

[FWLR]

Mightily impressive line now Paul. Your hard work as really paid off..

Glad tortoise is still around.... ..We can't keep calling him/her tortoise Paul, we need to find a name....

[philipy]

All very nice Paul, well done.

[ge_rik]

Clever use of artificial grass on the raised section. Looks really good (and low maintenance).

Rik