Garden Railway Forum

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

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.

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.

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.

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



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

A work of art so far, Grant

That's just superb Grant. What material have you used for the post? Will it be operated remotely? I look forward to seeing it in work.

Post made of hardwood (not kiln dried) Andrew.
Remote operation, now there's the thing. I have had a few cups of coffee sitting and looking at the siting and control of this signal, the points are some 9ft. south of the signal, and the platform frame is some 8ft. north. I'd like the lever to be locked, but that means 17ft. of wire or rod. Alternatively locking the signal at it's base is much shorter. Both methods are achievable, still mulling over which is best. It's also why there is a large steel base for the signal, don't know what I might have to mount rigidly to it yet.
Grant.

As the S&T branch had "mislaid" the blueprints, they had to get the other signal to complete new drawings, and build the new one.
After a little bit of maintenance the signal was returned to its place via a flat wagon on an S&T special working requiring full line occupation for the afternoon.


Grant.

Great work and a great photo Grant. I look froward to seeing the final method of operation.

Andrew

Finally got the lenses cut and glued into the spectacle frames, and a chain wheel at the base for the control wire.



Tonight my fingers, hands, and back are aching from hacksawing, milling, and filing the necessary pieces to fabricate the lever frame. Because McKenzie Holland levers have a bend at quadrant plate level to allow the levers to stand vertically when normal, the blanks had to be cut out of a large piece of 1/8th M.S. plate. The lever blanks have the tongue on the front for the release tangs, to be fitted before shaping the final lever. A curved plate will sit between the levers.



Grant.

No wonder everything about you aches Grant, that is great work and clearly labour intensive.
My brain would be included in the list of aches if I was asked to produce something like that, and then I would give up!!!!

Starting to look a little more like signal levers tonight.


Now for the fiddly bits.
Grant.

Excellent work Grant, looking forward to seeing it all in action!

LNR:118507 wrote: Now for the fiddly bits.

Good heavens! I thought the bits you had already done looked fiddly!!!

Wonderful stuff

Rob

Thanks Tom, Rob.
Except for the curved plates between the levers, I think the frame is finished now and ready to paint.




It was to be two reds, and a black lever, but looking into the real thing, and checking it with my own situation, I can see certain shortcomings. If situated at the end of the platform as a starting signal, it will be right in the road of me manually controlling any loco out of the platform and through the points onto the main line. So I think it's back to the idea of a home departure signal out near the footbridge, with the lever interlocked with the junction points. I have an idea of Staff Locking it too. Trouble is being chief of everything, once driving an engine out of Leawarra, I can't be there to do much Signal Box work, as I have to change the points and pull the mainline signal off at the ground frame. Compromises, compromises! Shall mull this over while my fingers get some feeling back.
Grant.

Started knocking up a lower quadrant two position dwarf signal today, still to make up a lamp for it (yes I'm aware the lense colours are incorrect, have run out of green LED's ).


That's two levers in the frame taken care of, maybe one will have to be white for the moment.
Grant.

Beautiful work, Grant. I envy you both the skills and workshop facilities you obviously have.

...................... Gobsmacked! Lost for words.

All right, found some .......
What wonderful pieces of miniature engineering

Trying to find an emoticon for 'envy' - this is the nearest I could find.

:envy:

Rik

Thank you both for the nice comments.
Philip, while I couldn't live without a lathe, the work is mostly hacksawing ,filing drilling, tapping and so on. Basically turning bigger pieces of metal into smaller bits.
It keeps me off the streets
Grant.