The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

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IrishPeter
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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Sat Jul 22, 2017 3:09 am

Well, I keep doing a little bit in the basement. A little measurement; a few repairs; some looking very hard at the space that I have available, and so on and so forth. Tonight's three little jobs were:

1. Repair the end platform on the Norwegian coach
2. Patch up the thriller from the Ziller(talbahn)
3. Repair an open wagon whose underframe had spread whilst being transported.
IMG00095.JPG
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Here is a pic of the LBD and the Norwegian coach on my old line.

Cheers,
+Peter
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Tue Jul 25, 2017 4:53 am

It looks like the Skebawn and Castleknox Tramway will be ending up in the basement as a basically level line for steam locomotives. Skebawn over against the long wall, continuous run, with an intermediate station on a spur on the other side of the central heating boiler, with Castleknox against the other wall, if I can negotiate some extra space with herself. The key bargaining chip in these negotiations being the storage space under the layout which is largely conceded in exchange for the real estate and air rights between 3'6" and 6' above floor level. Hopefully I will have a doodle to share in a few days. The indoor line will get me through the heat of summer and the cold of winter, but won't scratch the outdoor itch.

This is where the Far End Light Railway will come in - a simple end to end with a tip of the hat to the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway - gambolling along the flower beds taking the tourists to the golf course and the far end of the beach. Something on which to operate the little battery electrics, some of my odd/one off passenger vehicles, and the Hudson tippers on a pleasant spring or autumn afternoon.

In the meantime I need to set up a temporary line on the basement floor to keep me amused until serious construction can begin.

Peter in Virginia
Last edited by IrishPeter on Wed Jul 26, 2017 2:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by bazzer42 » Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:02 pm

Good to hear from you again Peter. The basement would be a real bonus in the UK, not a common feature here. Sounds like the best of both worlds and the chance to dabble when the weather is against you. Look forward to some pictures.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:29 pm

Basements are reasonably common along the East Coast, and in the Midwest where the housing stock is for the most part older. Our place was built somewhere between 1890 and 1900, and is in what is called an 'Historic District' so the exterior of the house has to retain its Victorian appearance, but you have some latitude inside. The nice bonus, as you say, is the large partly finished basement, with electricity and lighting in place. I have an L shaped space roughly 27' by 19' to play with, and the S & CLR's smallish stock will work quiet well in such an environment.

The other bonus with what is basically a T shaped house is that there is a rather secret spot in the garden where I can put the small outside line without it attracting too much attention. The lass in the bottom apartment next door will see a lot of it, but it won't be easily visible from either the street or the alley. I still remember Brian's problems with vandalism which eventually forced him to close the Mid-Derbs. Light a few years back.

Cheers,
Peter in Va.
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by bazzer42 » Tue Jul 25, 2017 7:38 pm

Lucky here with regards vandalism potential, back garden is hidden and a large Japonica hides the railway from the road which is a quiet cul de sac.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Thu Jul 27, 2017 10:34 pm

First little steam up on the temporary line today. It is just a loop of pre-formed sections laid on the basement floor with a couple of sidings. Stock involved was Loco No. 1 (an Accucraft Ruby that is waiting for a tram loco body), a cattle wagon, a goods wagon, and the passenger brake van, the former Clogher Valley Light Railway first class coach joined the train for the second half of the run. Trouble free run on the almost flat for the basement floor. :thumbup:

I will give my Millie a try after dinner and Evensong, and see how she goes.

Peter in Va.
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:32 am

Scan_20170728[2501].jpg
Scan_20170728[2501].jpg (42.81 KiB) Viewed 4963 times
Well, one of us managed to resize it... Sorry it is a bit small, but I struggle with computers, and, of course, just when I get used to something the Evil Empire comes out with a new version of windows.

Anyway, there will be some (a lot) of revisions before the final product appears, but here is version 2.0. Skebawn is along the long wall of the basement, and the layour as shown is going to give me a few headaches as the loop points are at the back of the chimney stack. The layout is largely cribbed from Schull. The other possibility is something derived from Castlederg, which is also a long narrow layout.

Peter in Va.
Last edited by IrishPeter on Fri Jul 28, 2017 2:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Fri Jul 28, 2017 2:13 pm

Scan_20170728 (3)[2506].jpg
Scan_20170728 (3)[2506].jpg (339.73 KiB) Viewed 4935 times
This might be a bit bigger...
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by tom_tom_go » Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:36 pm

AnyRail software is great for trying out new ideas as well:

www.anyrail.com

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by jim@NAL » Fri Jul 28, 2017 9:30 pm

great looking drawing

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Sat Jul 29, 2017 4:36 am

tom_tom_go wrote: Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:36 pm AnyRail software is great for trying out new ideas as well:

www.anyrail.com
Not my scene I am afraid, as I was trained by my Dad. Long hours of research, specifications written up in long hand, and sketches prepared for the draughtsmen to work on... at least I only have myself to drive crazy. Some poor sod had to reduce my Dad's sketches to useable form!

Anyway, I had my Millie going on the temporary track this evening, and No.3 trundled around very happily on the almost level basement floor for about 40 minutes. Things went a lot smoother when I had her attached to buffer and chain coupled stock, than when she was coupled the Chopper coupled stock. I think the chains allow a bit more 'slop' for those of us whose track tends to be a bit *cough* industrial.

Peter in Va
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by tom_tom_go » Sat Jul 29, 2017 9:00 am

Fair enough Peter.

Few points if I may:
  • How do trains return to the station without reversing from the main line?
  • The headshunt for the goods platform is small compared to the size of the siding which means you again go onto the main line for any stock movements
They are not criticisms. I just find these days that this stuff matters to me when building a railway as it needs to have logic like the real thing :mrgreen:

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by Dwayne » Sat Jul 29, 2017 2:01 pm

Peter, could you post photos of the layout's location for a more clear picture of what space you're working with?

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Sat Jul 29, 2017 2:21 pm

tom_tom_go wrote: Sat Jul 29, 2017 9:00 am Fair enough Peter.

Few points if I may:
  • How do trains return to the station without reversing from the main line?
  • The headshunt for the goods platform is small compared to the size of the siding which means you again go onto the main line for any stock movements
They are not criticisms. I just find these days that this stuff matters to me when building a railway as it needs to have logic like the real thing :mrgreen:
Eventually, the Castleknox end of the line will appear somewhere, but I have not quite decided where yet. In the meantime it is run round at Aussolas after so many laps, and head back to Skebawn. As I use chopper couplers, with choppers at one end only, I do not like to turn stock around. Mind you, if I trace many more derailments to centring springs being too stiff, they may get replaced with buffer and bog chain anyway.

The logic is simply that the line connects Castleknox with Skebawn, which is why, ultimately I want to show both ends of the line, though the Irish Broad Gauge side of Castleknox will be vestigial. Skebawn has the usual small market town activities with rail traffic being mainly mixed goods, coal for the gas works, and cattle to market. Aussolas serves an estate and a small village/failed town, so provides a little cattle traffic, and the odd load of coal for the big house. This being Ireland, most folks burn turf at home.

The headshunt is a problem. I had three goes at making it fit, and was not happy with any of them, because they involved making the loop around the back of the chimney tighter than 3'6." The blue line is a vague indication of where it should go, if I decide I can made it fit there. In any case, I would imagine that on a quiet Irish Tramway running three round trips a day, shunting out onto the Main would not be too much of a problem.

Dwayne - I'll see if I can borrow the wife's camera.

Peter in Va.
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Fri Sep 01, 2017 4:13 pm

Went to the big box store yesterday for lumber; namely an 8' X 4' lump of roofing ply; 8 X 8' X 3" X 1" and a 5 X 8' X 3" x 2" and got them to cut it on their big saw "bench." The latter part of the process pleased the wife greatly as me with a circular saw is not a sight she wishes to see often. Got the resulting components into the car, unloaded them, and wrestled them down into the basement. I guess it is a case of "benchwork, some assembly required."

The scuttlebutt in the 'Buffer and Hook' last night was that trains might be running again before Christmas, but then they have heard that one before. However, this time Misery Mahon has been down from Cork, Chippy Norton is back on the railway payroll (much to his wife's relief) and has been busy mending some goods stock, and Finnbar O'Toole has been fooling around in the workshops mending locomotives. There has also been a bunch of fellers wandering around in Donkey Jackets, but they did not attract a lot of attention until someone realised that the donkey jackets did not say Clugston, Costain or MacAlpine, but "Munster Mining Co." at which point folk started asking questions. However, the fellows in the donkey jackets were not saying much!

Cheers,
+Peter in Va.
Last edited by IrishPeter on Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by Big Jim » Fri Sep 01, 2017 4:51 pm

Sound like things are moving on apace Peter.
I like the sound of the little line down to the Sands. It sounds very Rye and Camber to me.
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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Fri Sep 01, 2017 6:14 pm

I have built a few things to 16mm scale, and I have a little IP engineering MD2 "diesel" I like to mess around with when I have only a little time to play trains *cough* run a railway; hence the Far End Tramway, as a change of pace from the S&CT. Trouble with our house is that it is on a corner, so finding somewhere relatively secret in the yard is difficult. There is a "useless patio" (Herself's description) on the south side of the kitchen, and I am thinking of putting the outdoor line there. The other possibility (though more exposed) is along the side of the big flower bed, but that might cause problems with the Planning Authority.

Another possibility being explored is an outdoor branch of the indoor line to serve the Munster Mining Company operation at Curranhilty, but I reckon I have most of the winter to think over the merits of those two ideas. The other possibility is to pursue the Norwegian insanity outside, and the Irish inside.

Cheers,
Peter in Va
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Fri Sep 15, 2017 1:31 am

More plywood disappeared into the basement yesterday, and the art of very crude joinery continues. Chippy Norton occasionally appears to take a disgusted look at my efforts, but he says that if it gets trains moving again he is all for it. Ferret Sweeney has been seen around making comments about the management trying to make a quart fit in a pint pot, but he expects to have the gang out soon. The official loco report from Spanner O'Toole is that Numbers 1 (The Yank Tank), 3 (Millie), and 4 (Anna aka The Hun) are available, but if you have any sense, use No 3, and if three needs a washout take No. 4.

More realistically, the bench-work is coming along nicely, and I expect to have station area operational by the end of October.

Cheers,
Peter in Va
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by tom_tom_go » Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:17 am

It would be good to see some pictures of the basement Peter.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Sat Sep 16, 2017 5:40 am

I attempted to take some general shots down there tonight but the flash battery was dead, and it is a dark hole down there, so only the best lit area would photograph. More photos over on the Projects board. Here is a taster...
General view towards work bench, and turntable end of main station
General view towards work bench, and turntable end of main station
Railway 1.jpg (420.88 KiB) Viewed 6953 times
Looking into the void... this is the area into which the terminus leads from the back left hand corner of the shot.
Looking into the void... this is the area into which the terminus leads from the back left hand corner of the shot.
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Peter in Va
Last edited by IrishPeter on Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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