Furudal Jernbane

[rebelego]

Looks like a good start.
There are a few laser cut kits available from Proinor:
http://proinor.no/togmodeller-lgb-tilpasset/

[IrishPeter]

Here we are at Lillehavn, which is waiting for me to get a new Roundtuit.  Should eventually consist of a loop, exchange siding of some sort, and the usual station buildings.  Sorry about the slight fuzz.  It was that or a finger in the way!  The wide spot on the left below the rocks is intended for the station building.  However, if I go for a rail to rail, rather than a rail to sea connection, the building will be the other side between the NSB 75mm gauge track, and the IJ's.


Having started out going east the line swings hard left and up the grade to a halt by the middle/hill path down the garden.


The line then turns east again and there is a short downhill stretch until one reaches Hedgehog Bridge.


After that, it is around Whale Rocks on a narrow shelf.  The sign cancelling the 10 km/h limit over the bridge can be seen in this shot.


A sweeping left and right handers then take the line up to Skogby, which is the loop that can be seen in the background.


Leaving Skogby there is a slight left hander and a short straight leading up to the Kink.  The level crossing sign is for the main garden path


A worm's/fireman's eye view of the road ahead.  There is halt planned for the far end of the bridge, which I am sure will be popular with enginemen - NOT!


Then one finally reaches the destination, Hvitkirke.  Main passenger platform and loop to the left of centre, with the concrete block marking where the station building will go.  The siding on the left is for general freight.  The eventual site of timber or ore loading facilities are on the far right against the fence, and then the loco shed will be either closer to the camera on the right of the loop, or in the middle at the far end of the station.


Cheers,
Peter in AZ

[Peter Butler]

Well done Peter, you are making up for having no pictures in the past to show what you have to work with. Plenty of room there for you to develop your line.
Do you open your garden for fundraising events? I'm sure your neighbours and parishioners would be interested to see.

[rebelego]

Steep gradients and lots of curves. Looks familiar.

[IrishPeter]

Some of the curves on the upper part of the line - Skogby to Hvitkirke - exist to lessen the gradient.  However, there was not much I could do about the final pull, but the grades from the Kink up to the terminus are something like 2.5% over the bridge and through the level crossing, followed by 3.3%, 4%, and 3.5% to make the final ascent into Hvitkirke.  'Millie' and Ana' don't mind the gradients too much, but the two 'Rubys' are less enthralled with the mountaineering.

The lower reaches are not quite so savagely graded, but there is still a lot of 2%.  Much of the shelf the line runs on is made up of compacted earth and dry stone walling, though I cheated in one or two places and used plastic lawn edging mainly due to lack of suitable building stone.  This will gradually disappear behind more dry stone walling as my scavenging yields results.

The Co (all third) is coming along.  I got the cladding on one side finished tonight whilst watching old 'Time Team' episodes on YouTube.  As the last batch of coffee stirrers were - to put it politely - rubbish, I have gone with scribing scrap plywood and laying it vertically on the sides in like manner to one placing siding on a house.  I assume I will have to stain and varnish it before I decide it looks OK!  Right now, the jury is undecided and has sent out for pizza.

Not much in terms of running because we are having some renovations done at the church, and I am playing clerk of works in the removal the worst effects of the beige age.  We haven't the money to do anything about the 'Jetson era' pews, but we can at least do something about having a hardwood floor buried under tacky beige carpet, and the schoolroom stage that replace the original communion table and pulpit.  Better still there is no Diocesan Advisory Council to fight, just the requirement to get a faculty from the bishop.

Cheers,
Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

The management have been worried about the cost of running steam on the daily Mail Trains when the mines are not working, so they have decided to buy a small infernal combustion locomotive to tow the line's CDFo when things are quiet. They'll also need to keep quiet about the timetable as the top speed of an O&K MD2 is about 18 km/h in third gear! The locomotive has arrives as a kit of parts from that well known source IP Engineering of New Leake, Lincs..

Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

The basic body went together quickly and easily, which is the reputation for IP kits. I started about 4:15pm and finished two hours later. Just how quickly and easily was actually a bit of a revelation.

Tomorrow will be the chassis and motor assembly, paint, and the white metal bits, though not necessarily in that order.

Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

Managed to get the chassis completed on Tuesday afternoon, and took it for a little test run up and down the line. Cleared leaves and twigs as far as the 'Not Quite Halfway Loop' and switched her on. Very respectably SLOW. Even though she is only 2-wheel drive she managed to push a bogie coach back up the 1 in 25 gradient to the top station, so she is performing as the management had hoped.

The IP 'Dan' kit is an absolute pleasure to build. I think mine is going to end up semi-gloss black with red frames and buffers to reflect the design's origins.

Cheers,
Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

Chopper couplers were added this afternoon, scavenged off a vehicle I am not currently using.  I decided to find out whether it could pull as well as push a single coach up the gradient into Hvitkirke, and I am pleased to report that the little "diesel" did so with every appearance of having a little power in reserve.

I reckon that in real life they would have used a 26hp loco to pull a single coach or a short train of empty wagons; not really enough power for anything else, but would have been what was needed when traffic was slack. I am now wondering whether I should add a 'Tin Turtle' to represent an earlier stage in the flirtation with infernal combustion traction.

Peter in AZ

[MDLR]

If it's any help, the (old) Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway habitually used a 20hp Simplex to haul / propel its Ashover coach - albeit on a dead level railway!

[IrishPeter]

That confirms my memory of what the old LCLR usually managed.  I also have a vague memory of an Ashover, plus the Tub behind a 20hp Simplex when it was busy, but I suspect they may have been putting loonie juice in the tank to get a 20hp shift that lot.

According to 'WDLR Album' by Roy C Link, it was officially reckoned that a 20hp could start 11 tons, and haul 14 tons up a 4% gradient.  However, that was probably on good track, not what the LCLR or the Western Front had to offer.  On that basis I reckon an MD2 with a diesel rather than petrol engine would manage a full loaded small bogie coach on a 1 in 25, with a little in reserve.  The Oldbury-built Nesttun-Osbanen coaches weight about 7 tons and 8cwt, and 32 Norwegians at 12 stone would add another 2 tons 8 cwt, so 9 tons 16 cwt in total which is comfortably below the 11 tons quoted by the Army for the Simplex.

And yes, it took me a while to figure that out, but it is my only leaning towards rivet counting.

Cheers,
Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

Wednesday evening I decided to push my luck and add an open wagon to the load, which proved to be the little loco's undoing.  The overhang on the bogie coach jammed the wagon's wheel flanges against the outer rail, making a very effective brake, and I was treated to the grinding sound of slow-ish wheel spin as things ground (literally) to a halt!  

At least the bearings on the wagon got a little 3in1 applied as a result, so it now runs a little freer.  That may be enough to stop things stopping, as it were.  I was going to give it a test run on Wednesday, but I ran out of light. It is dark a little after 6pm here at this time of year. 'The nights are fair drawing in, etc..'

Cheers,
Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

Well, lubrication improved things a little, put everything still ground to a halt on the short adverse grade before the lower station.  As a result I decided to move the bolsters out a bit (about 10mm at each end) in the hopes that that will improve the geometry to the point where it will not jam a small four-wheeler against the outer rail and stop the job.  I will find out if I have been successful in the morning.

Peter in AZ

P.S. The answer to that would be "more or less." The only problem was on a short section of curved track that is due to disappear when the lower station is relayed. This is tentatively scheduled for this week, but the weather is against me.

[IrishPeter]

The little "diesel" is proving to be a little God-send. I had fun ballasting with it and an end door wagon on Saturday afternoon, and patched about three yards of track that had got the worst of it during the monsoon.

Today's ballasting operation was a bit more serious, as the top terminus needs some serious sorting. The track was lifted, and the old ballast and weed barrier removed. A new weed barrier was laid, and the cleanest of the old ballast was relaid, and levelled so that the new track layout can begin to take shape on top of that.

All good clean fun. Pic when I get the camera back home again. I took it down the office the other day.

Cheers,
Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

The third class carriage got a coat of stain yesterday afternoon when I had finished catching up on w*rk email. The roof was made last week and needs the tissue paper treatment which is a job a ^really^ look forward to, so it may be a week or two before the next roundtuit arrives for that project. Floorboards on the platforms and a coat of paint on those and the underframes are the next jobs to be attempted on that project.

The top station relay is going rather well apart from the fact I cannot work out where to put the mine's loading bins. The logical side from a geography p-o-v is behind the station building - i.e. on the left in the photo of the station I posted a while back - on top of the bank, but on the other hand, operationally, on the right, by the fence makes more sense, though it will involve a viaduct/bridge for the mine hutches to reach the ore bins. Oh well! Something to ponder on the walk to work.

Cheers,
Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

The result of the ponder was to flip the whole thing so that the station building is now go on the fence side of the site, and the ore bins will go on the bank side. I now have to work out the relationship of the ore bins to the concentrator, but gravity feed would have made life easier so it is likely to stretched away uphill. However, that might also provide an excuse for a 24mm gauge feeder. It just depends where the concentrator stands in relation to the mine and the loading bins, plus I need to leave some room to hint at a town.

Further development is taking a backseat to Hvitkirke at the moment. Skogby may acquire a small mine of its own, but it is more likely to be a wayside station in a scatter of farmsteads distinguished only by the presence of a loop and siding. It acquired a platform made of brick pavers last week, and I have a definite idea where I am going to put the station building. The bottom station - Lillehavnen - is still decidedly vague apart from the need for a loop, and access to some sort of transfer facility to either ships or standard gauge.

Pics soon!

Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

This is the state of play with Hvitkirke station.  The little diesel (No.6) and a single coach were running some clearance tests.  The cement block indicates the approximate position of the station building when I get around to making it.


The first photo is kind of the wide angle shot.  The loco and coach are in Road 2; R1 on the right will serve the goods shed; R3 serves the longer platform face; and R4 on the left is the loco release.  The points are laid for R5&6 but they have not been laid yet.  

No. 6 and train testing the clearances in road 3.  Nothing to worry about with the old Ashbury coaches, but when I have cut a gauge I am going to give it a try for Central European sized stock, which is quite a bit broader than the Ashbury N.O.B. stock, but the steps are inside the body of the vehicle rather than nailed on this side.

Looking the other way, No. 6 finally draws its coach into road 4.  After this move, the crew said 'Stuff this!' and went inside for a cup of coffee and a warm up. The turnout to the loco area is in the foreground and the camera was set on No.3 road.  The bank in the background will be where the ore loading bins will be located.

Cheers,
Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

I ended up having a rethink on the station layout as being a bit too complex/cramped. The "double loop" survived, but the angle was changed to provide room for the station building and good shed. This also frees up some point work for the bottom station.

Ole and 'Pete' Eliassen have been seen out with the diesel and a couple of wagons dealing with track faults, spot ballasting, and clearing away the winter detritus. Next job is straightening up some of the line side signage before the inspector calls.

Cheers,
Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

The Bachmann flatcar that I have had for years got clobbered with the grey spray paint yesterday, and I briefly contemplated carving off 3 of the seven stake pockets to conform to the usual specification for a Timber Bogie ("To" Car.) Then I remembered what a b*****d old Bachmann plastic is to cut, and chickened out. The grey paint is enough to rub some of the "American-ness" of it. The To will eventually acquire chopper couplings to run with various other Norwegian bits and pieces, when Accy has them in stock again, and those extra stake pockets may still get the chop.

Right now I am giving a 255mm underframe the evil eye and trying to decide toast rack car for the S&CT or van for the FJ. It seems that Holy Week is about when I get back to modelling seriously.

Peter in AZ

[IrishPeter]

The 255mm underframe ended up the basis of a little two plank wagon. Just need to paint it and add the strap work, and scrounge a set of couplings off something else, as Accy is out of choppers again.

Peter in AZ