Garden Railway Forum

daan wrote: ↑Mon Sep 03, 2018 9:30 am @Rob, to mimic a long stretch of track to proprly run in your engines you can also use a rolling road. That way you can also keep an eye on things and add a bit of extra oil on the rods if it needs some.
Since you also use LGB track on a brick wall, I also had some ditches and high spots, which I sorted by shaving away some height of the sleepers, wich is easy to do with LGB. It's an easy way to get your track level and thus your engines running smoothly.

thanks for the video's and photo's your railway looks great and the video gives a better overview of how it's all connected. Another tip: Youtube also has a stitching tool to combine several short clips to a bigger one.

cheers, Daan.

I've been looking into buying a Rolling Road set, I've used them extensively in OO and 009 Scales and find them to be essential tools. I was looking at them at Llanfair but I'd already spent enough money by the time I found them!
We've managed to fettle out most of the ditches over the years. The Station at Charlwood slopes towards the shed, but once you're out on the mainline the wall is pretty level. The back straight has a nice dip in the middle, which means that locos have a nice little climb, regardless of the direction they're travelling.

I'm new to youtube (I've been a still photographer for over ten years, but never really dabbled in video!) Thanks for looking

So, Despite having a week of annual leave this week, I’ve not had a huge amount of time for running, or completing Top-End station.
The Llanfair show provided all of the required bits for completion (a new station building and some gas lamps), but because of the rain and the 8 week old Cocker Spaniel puppy that arrived in our house yesterday I’ve just not been able to do much.

I did manage a couple of hours of running yesterday (when the pup wasn’t under my feet!), firstly with No.1 ‘Lady May’. I didn’t take any photos during the first run, intending to take some during the second. Sadly she disgraced herself whilst being steamed for the second time with what appeared to be flat receiver batteries. Typically I’ve run out!

So the evening goods train was put into the mostly capable hands of the Railway’s Baguley Drewery diesel, which is seen on its way home, here;





Crossing the king point with the disgraced No.1 cooling down outside the shed;



And a spot of shunting before returning to the shed itself;



Now, the Baguley has been the mainstay of diesel hauled services on the line for a couple of years now. It is the lines only battery powered diesel loco and as such finds itself thrust into use regularly, mostly because I can never be bothered to clean the track for the track powered locos. Unfortunately, whilst it is considerably more sure footed than the Baldwin, it could still do with a little more haulage power in order to rescue out-of-fuel steamers. This is where our latest motive power purchase comes into play;







Ive always liked these 2095s. Despite their boxy shape, they have a fair bit of visual interest once those whizzy cranks start to flail about. They also look quite British, or at least, they do once painted into a suitable livery! There’s been one on the demonstration track at the WLLR gala for the last few years painted in BR Dutch livery which is where I got the idea for this project. This one will be converted to battery RC, and I’d like to fit it with sound too.

I’ve now just got to decide what colour to paint it! Current thoughts are BR Green with white body side stripes and full yellow ends ala late 60s class 31s. I’ve also contemplated BR banger blue, Caledonian Sleeper Blue with black windscreen surrounds and half yellow ends ala their class 73s, keeping the red, adding white body side stripes and a big white number 3 ala Thunderbird 3 and Railfreight grey with red solebar stripe... decisions, decisions!

Interesting loco. How about Metropolitan Railway lined maroon? Or NER loco green?

Hmmm. I'd love to have a go at customising one of those. Black with silver stripes like the LMS twins 10000 and 10001 would be my choice. Would it convert to 32mm gauge?

I'm really enjoying all the photos of your line, and the descriptions of running sessions too, thank you.

Like the new addition too - and the livery suggestions. I considered the prototype Deltic livery but I reckon I'd go for one of the variants of BR green - it looks great on the FfR's Funkey diesel. I like white window surrounds - how about hymek-style two-tone green?




Or Class 33 style, to take in the moulded body stripe?




It's reminded me of a vague plan I had to repaint an old Faller shunter in Class 14-style two-tone green, i may have to revisit that...

Cheers,

Andrew

IanC wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 11:32 pm Hmmm. I'd love to have a go at customising one of those. Black with silver stripes like the LMS twins 10000 and 10001 would be my choice. Would it convert to 32mm gauge?

A prototype livery would quite suit the idea I have for this Loco. My current backstory for it involves the BTC trialling the Modernisation plan on some of the countries Narrow gauge lines in the late 50s/early 60s. The results were a mixed traffic Bo-Bo diesel Loco and a Railcar. They were trialled on the CWLR and the WLLR, with versions for 2ft Gauge lines also being proposed. A pair of these could be 100 and 101 or 10 & 11....

As for regauging one, I’m not sure. I’ve seen a Stainz done before, but I wouldn’t even know where to start! It uses two of what appear to be standard LGB motor blocks as bogies, so it’s potentially doable.

Andrew wrote: ↑Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:46 am I'm really enjoying all the photos of your line, and the descriptions of running sessions too, thank you.

Like the new addition too - and the livery suggestions. I considered the prototype Deltic livery but I reckon I'd go for one of the variants of BR green - it looks great on the FfR's Funkey diesel. I like white window surrounds - how about hymek-style two-tone green?




Or Class 33 style, to take in the moulded body stripe?




It's reminded me of a vague plan I had to repaint an old Faller shunter in Class 14-style two-tone green, i may have to revisit that...

Cheers,

Andrew

Thanks for the kind comments

I like both of those suggestions. The two tone green was the original plan (the Vale was always a favourite of mine whilst I was volunteering at the FR), but I do like the white stripe variant. It would be much easier to paint too, less to mask off! I do like the white windscreen surrounds too, but again I think a full yellow end would be easier....
It’s amazing when you start researching just how many variants of BR green there was!

invicta280 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 10:40 pm Interesting loco. How about Metropolitan Railway lined maroon? Or NER loco green?

Both are lovely liveries, but probably a little too complicated for my ham fists. Lining it would be a right pain!

RobRossington wrote: ↑Sat Sep 08, 2018 1:02 am
A prototype livery would quite suit the idea I have for this Loco. My current backstory for it involves the BTC trialling the Modernisation plan on some of the countries Narrow gauge lines in the late 50s/early 60s. The results were a mixed traffic Bo-Bo diesel Loco and a Railcar. They were trialled on the CWLR and the WLLR, with versions for 2ft Gauge lines also being proposed. A pair of these could be 100 and 101 or 10 & 11....

If you're after prototype liveries that original Deltic colour scheme would be quite something!

I invented a similar back story for my old West Kent Light Railway's Faller railcar, supposedly originally ordered to trial winter services on the VoR. The idea was that it was built by whatever the German company that built some of BR's SG railbuses was called, and that a misunderstanding over imperial and metric measurements resulted in its somewhat small size...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Anrunning session from a couple of days ago gave me the first chance I’ve had to run two trains using the new layout at Top-End. Previously there was only a single through line with a bay platform/siding. The new layout provides a passing loop as well as a much larger siding, which this time will be dedicated entirely to freight, it won’t be a bay platform. This new passing loop makes running two trains a hell of a lot easier!

The session started with just a single train, the morning goods, which was entrusted to the new big diesel. First it had to put said goods train together;





Before heading out;





Arriving at Top-End. The news station building has been put in place to make sure it looks ok, I’m currently in the process of assembling some roundhouse Gas Lamps which I’m hoping to finish installing later today (if the rain stops!). Once these are in place the platform surface can be finished and I can move onto the finishing the goods yard.





And we’re back on our way;



A little later, back at Charlwood, No.3 has been steamed and is seen on P2 waiting to go and collect it’s short passenger train, the diesel will have to run round first though;



After the diesel has run round, no.3 can complete its shunting;



A short while later, No.3 potters along the back straight on its way to meet the diesel hauled train for the first crossing at Top-End;











And then meeting again at Charlwood;





And a little bit of shunting before retiring back on shed;





Apologies for the picture overload, I hadn’t realised I’d taken that many!

Cheers for looking!

What camera or phone do you use to take pictures?

The new diesel looks good, any videos of it running please?

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:32 am What camera or phone do you use to take pictures?

The new diesel looks good, any videos of it running please?

I’m mostly using my iPhone 7+, which has dual cameras, one wide angle and one telephoto. I find the telephoto is perfect for photos of models and the small size of the phone allows me to get into tight spaces. If I use my cameras then it’s either my Fuji XPro1 and 2 bodies, or my Nikon D810. I think there’s only a couple of Fuji photos in this thread up to now, and no Nikon shots yet.

I haven’t taken any video of it yet, but I am planning to as soon as I have a second per of hands to help with it. Being track powered I have to control it from the Charlwood end which makes videoing difficult.

RobRossington wrote: ↑Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:47 am

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:32 am What camera or phone do you use to take pictures?

The new diesel looks good, any videos of it running please?

I’m mostly using my iPhone 7+, which has dual cameras, one wide angle and one telephoto. I find the telephoto is perfect for photos of models and the small size of the phone allows me to get into tight spaces. If I use my cameras then it’s either my Fuji XPro1 and 2 bodies, or my Nikon D810. I think there’s only a couple of Fuji photos in this thread up to now, and no Nikon shots yet.

I haven’t taken any video of it yet, but I am planning to as soon as I have a second per of hands to help with it. Being track powered I have to control it from the Charlwood end which makes videoing difficult.

Not a single photo is showing when I view your post, just an icon of a broken image, and the word image.

Edited to add that it's the same with your post of 6th September, but I'm sure it was okay before

Lonsdaler wrote: ↑Fri Sep 14, 2018 12:40 pm
Not a single photo is showing when I view your post, just an icon of a broken image, and the word image.

Edited to add that it's the same with your post of 6th September, but I'm sure it was okay before

I must admit that I've not seen most of the pics in this thread, the two exceptions being the two diesel livery pictures. The others are there but incredibly slow to download one line of each at a time!

The images are not hosted on the forum server, they are with imgur.com

Lonsdaler wrote: ↑Fri Sep 14, 2018 12:40 pm

RobRossington wrote: ↑Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:47 am

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:32 am What camera or phone do you use to take pictures?

The new diesel looks good, any videos of it running please?

I’m mostly using my iPhone 7+, which has dual cameras, one wide angle and one telephoto. I find the telephoto is perfect for photos of models and the small size of the phone allows me to get into tight spaces. If I use my cameras then it’s either my Fuji XPro1 and 2 bodies, or my Nikon D810. I think there’s only a couple of Fuji photos in this thread up to now, and no Nikon shots yet.

I haven’t taken any video of it yet, but I am planning to as soon as I have a second per of hands to help with it. Being track powered I have to control it from the Charlwood end which makes videoing difficult.

Not a single photo is showing when I view your post, just an icon of a broken image, and the word image.

Edited to add that it's the same with your post of 6th September, but I'm sure it was okay before

Hmm. That’s strange. As Tom says, the images are hosted by Imgur, who I’ve only been using since the great photobucket scandal. I’ve not had any issues before!

Aw, it's a shame folk can't see the pictures, they're excellent!

I've got an end-to-end single line with passing loop set-up too, and I also really like running with two trains, not that I do it very often. There's something very "railway-like" about the business of passing trains...

Your new diesel's looking great, very much at home in your eclectic but effective mix of stock - I love the little clerestory carriage, I once had one of those in 009...

The new station's coming on nicely too, you must be very pleased with how that's turning out...

All the best,

Andrew.

I think an email to Imgur support might be in order! I’m wondering if the images that are in albums that I have hidden from normal Imgur viewers are the culprits though. I’ve changed the settings on those albums, if somebody could let me know if it has improved the situation I’d be grateful

RobRossington wrote: ↑Fri Sep 14, 2018 6:19 pm I’ve changed the settings on those albums, if somebody could let me know if it has improved the situation I’d be grateful

Rob, I can't speak for anyone else, but whatever you've done seems to have fixed things for me at least, thanks, and the pics were worth waiting for, so thanks again.

philipy wrote: ↑Fri Sep 14, 2018 8:28 pm

RobRossington wrote: ↑Fri Sep 14, 2018 6:19 pm I’ve changed the settings on those albums, if somebody could let me know if it has improved the situation I’d be grateful

Rob, I can't speak for anyone else, but whatever you've done seems to have fixed things for me at least, thanks, and the pics were worth waiting for, so thanks again.

Good to know, thank you!

A short running session with No.1 gave me the opportunity to deploy the new diesel in its primary role as Thunderbird...

The Loco (which I really need to think of a name for!) has been admitted into the section and is on its way to rescue the train....



Coupled up, ready to go;

Now unfortunately the rails were a little greasy, so the diesel couldn’t quite manage to drag the whole train back to the shed. It did manage to drag the Loco on its own, and then return for the train. I took some video of the rescue of the train, which I’ll post later.

As always, things didn’t go entirely to plan though....



Oops!

The more I see of the diesel, the more I like it. (As a die hard steam man it's a good job none of my OO railway friends read this! ). I'm seriously thinking of getting one and seeing if it will convert to 32mm gauge. Has anyone managed to change the gauge before I spend my cash?