Garden Railway Forum

Andrew wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:13 pm It's great to see some track going down - and doesn't your new stock look fantastic in the sunshine?!

The "I only do this to enjoy it" rule is a good one - and one I often only remember after I've tied myself up in knots over some obscure and irrelevant detail or other!

Cheers,

Andrew.

Being out in the sun was rather nice, but the wind whipping around the back corner of the house was a nuisance! However, it did let me know that I need to ballast these vehicles quite a bit more than I am used to doing. If I remember correctly, the Darj iron vans weigh about 2250kg, so when the conversion and scaling shenanigans are finished that works out to 11 oz. I think they only weight about 4 at present, so no wonder they were trying to blow away!

The irrelevant detail thing is something I can fall victim to also. One reason I do not model the Isle of Man Railway is that I am too familiar with it and would pick up on every single mistake. The Skebawn and Castleknox, and now the Far End Tramway project have their roots in a definite prototype, but they are not intended as scale models but rather homages to a particular type of railway - the Irish roadside tramway, and the Mountain Railway respectively.

Anyway, I am suffering from rain stopped play today, and according to the weather forecast (usually frustratingly accurate) it is in for the day. I had hoped to finish varnishing the front and back doors (about an hour) and get on with some outside work with the railway, but not with water falling out of the sky I'm not! When I have tidied up a few work related things, I suppose I ought to think about some wagon building.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

Great, you have had your line built and up and running so quickly, looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

Julie

The odd thing is that I think I may be back to the drawing board. Somethings work on paper that do not work out of doors. The main thing I need to do now is get the benchwork completed so I can work out how that station throat is going to work. I cannot seem to get it put together in my head. I find I need to get something laid down in order to get construction moving. Otherwise I am inclined to stay in the basement building rolling stock!

Cheers,
Peter in Va

It must be very satisfying to have some track laid at last, Peter. It's going to be fun to see how it develops.

Rik

Dear Rik,

It is satisfying and slightly worrying at this stage. I seem to suffer rather badly from revisions in the early stages of a project, and it has to be said that this one is no exception. It is the main station that is proving to be the bother - getting up the hill is going to be less stressful!

The original design concept was based on the Darjeeling station that existed from the early 1920s to 1947, but it is proving remarkably resistant to being wedged into the 17' by 4' I have available for the main part of the station. I am currently working on a plan B (for Baldrick, or it could be Baldrick's Trousers - it depends) which will revert to what I know of the 1891-c.1914 station which seems to be more readily compressible. Anyway, I was due to order some more point work, so I ordered small radius PECO points this time, which should make the geometry workable, especially as there are no short main-to-main crossovers.

Once we get out of the station area things will be a lot easier. However, the modelling headaches give me something different to think about.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

Would a sector plate or turntable help to save space, or is the problem elsewhere? No space or planning permission for a small extension? I have no doubt your ingenuity and imagination will find a solution.

Rik

Good thought that, Rik, especially as the difficult is with what is effectively the engine release. However, I think - as in, 'I am 99% certain' - that 20" on one end, plus small radius points and a wee bit of compromise will solve the problem. The mediums can then be used further up the line where I have more room to play with.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

I've had to use Peco small radius points at both ends of my line in order to cram things in and still have acceptable length loops, and I think it was a good compromise. Operationally it seems to work fine, largely because at a terminus station speeds are always low, I think. I guess you might have trouble shunting through the reverse curve created by a crossover, but that's not so bad if you can add a straight bit in the middle - and am I right in thinking that much DHR stock is fairly short, which should also help?

Good luck with it,

Andrew.

The penny dropped when I realised that there were no reverse curves involved in the track layout, at which point I felt I could use small radius points with impunity. A scale 'sixty-foot-and-a-bit' radius is not too much of a problem as the DHR mainline originally went down to 59' radius, and even today Agony Point is still only 69' radius! Vehicle lengths are short, but not as short as you might think. The four wheel firsts were 13' long, and the bogies are 24'3" over the body or 26'6" over the buffers. The longest vehicles on the DHR is a 32' timber wagon. They also had some big bogie wagons which I imagine were 24' by 6.' However everything (eventually) had dumb buffers so they could get around those bends!

Cheers,
Peter in Va

IrishPeter wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:47 pm However everything (eventually) had dumb buffers so they could get around those bends!

Ah, those big semi-circular type buffers? Not attractive to look at, but I kinda wish the NWNGR had gone down that route for its carriages, would've sorted my buffer-locking problems!

Cheers,

Andrew.

My builds for my 45mm line so far have used either Accucraft Choppers, or Binney's Caernarfon couplers which have a nice wide head on them. Both of these seem to prevent them doing the buffer interlock tango.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

I was on another spurt of construction today, feeling it was about time to wrap up the woodworking side of the project. The last section of raised bench work was framed and about half the boards put on. Before I put the rest into position, I need to let the concrete cure for about 48 hours before replacing the soil around the foundation and creating a brick edging so boards and ground do not come into contact with one another. I have laid some spare composite roof shingles under the ends of the joists to make sure that they do not make soil contact. There will need to be a short culvert type structure to separate the station area from the gravelly trench that will carry the ground level tracks.

Small radius points are on order, and I am expecting them to arrive Monday or Tuesday. A big track laying effort middle of next week seems likely, but not inevitable. I am supposed to have a quiet Holy Week this year, but someone could still go off sick. I need to run amok with the camera again so that you have some idea what I am blethering on about, and to record the evolution of the line.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

So much for my hopes of a quiet week, as we have had a major visit from the 'foul-up fairy' at work. The district is purchasing some property, which is under contract, and the present owners decided to pick this week to tell the trustees they would not be vacating the premises on time. So having listened to various folks vent, and deciding that we need to kick it across to the professionals, I disappeared into the back garden for a play.

Anyway, last Thursday I had mounted the uphill end of the stringers to hold the remaining section of the station area on two steel brackets of the type used to secure wall studs. In turn these are concreted into a couple of old concrete blocks I was able to recycle from the garden 'this'll come in useful' pile. Friday I managed to attach a few decking boards before making a quick trip out of town for an ordination on Saturday. It persisted it down all day Sunday, and everything was too wet still yesterday to do much. I finally got out there this morning and attached the remainder of the deck boards. I used bricks to edge the top end of the station 'base board' so hopefully there will be enough air circulating to keep rot at bay. I also came across a land drain I only half knew was there, so I am going to have to modify the entry into the station slightly to avoid that. Otherwise it was one of my better sessions outside.

Tomorrow it will get a coat or two of paint, then maybe some track laying on Thursday. A day behind the plan for this week, but not bad under the circumstances.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

And of course, I have a clear day and it is raining... not forecasted, naturally.

Peter in Va

I finally got the terminus of the Far End Tramway put together on Wednesday. I had a little potter about with the little black diesel, a wagon, and a coach, and took a few photographs.
There is going to be a certain amount of trimming down in the back corner of the layout where the loop road comes back into the mainline, but I am going to wait until I have some of the mainline laid before faffing about with that.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

Yes, it was nice to have something pottering about out there, but the satisfaction was slightly dented by the fact the last two weeks have been absolutely bananas with no chance of getting anything done. I haven't even been on here since the 27th! More soon, I hope!

Cheers,
Peter in VA

I am hoping to get back to working on the railway in a week or so. This summer has been absolutely crazy with moving into the church, teaching, dealing with miscellaneous problems related to the property purchase, not to mention various family/health distractions.

The station area, as completed at the end of April has survived the summer OK, and I did keep up with maintenance as far as blitzing the weeds was concerned. The area around the path that I reclaimed from ivy has gradually become grass, and the weeds in the former patio are beginning to conclude that they are fighting a loosing battle considering that they have been mown flat every 7 to 10 days all summer.

The disappointing part about this summer has been that I have not even been able to get down to the basement to build rolling stock. The first class vehicle I was building at the beginning of May is still awaiting the completion of its roof!

That's it for now.
Peter in VA

Life does rather get in the way sometimes but at least if you are keeping the weeds down and cutting the grass you are not going backswards.

Don

I am still waiting to get back to the railway. It is getting frustrating. I think I may have to just go and do something out of sheer cussedness just to get the ball rolling again! Work and life in general keep interfering!

Peter in VA

It must be frustrating - it was all coming along so well! I hope you can get back to it soon...

All the best,

Andrew