Vale of White Horse Railway

A place for the discussion of garden railways and any garden style/scale portable and/or indoor layouts
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LNR
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by LNR » Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:06 am

"Must have been hard to have felt obliged to run a loco" ;) :lol:. No stopping you now.
Grant.

JonPotter
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by JonPotter » Thu Jun 29, 2017 9:30 pm

Indeed, we now have some actual track down!

A fair bit of work yesterday and today has now seen the track laid for the first section. The track is a mixture of old and second hand & some of it is very golden... will weather down. Mostly LGB throughout. Overscale but durable - will be ballasted in due course.

The steaming bay, looking back into the shed. Note the hatch added where the track goes in (needs painting), and the custom curved point. I need a RH point to lay the second track - have two LH's over but not a RH annoyingly. Lack of planning!

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Looking out of the other side of the shed, back towards the garden. Track layout in the shed is a loop and two 6' sidings.

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Looking over the temporary bridge to the gravel boards.

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General overview, my dad at the controls!

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Hope to landscape and plant a bit over the weekend.

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Gralyn
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by Gralyn » Fri Jun 30, 2017 11:01 am

Looking good. Your hard work is being rewarded with some Train running time.
Regards Graham.

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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by jim@NAL » Fri Jun 30, 2017 8:47 pm

all looking brilliant

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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by ge_rik » Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:19 am

Great progress in such a short space of time. Looks like plenty of operational potential.

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daan
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by daan » Sat Jul 01, 2017 4:19 pm

The build of your railway went fairly quick! Nice running length as well and on a comfortable height. Nice!
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Soar Valley Light
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by Soar Valley Light » Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:25 pm

Great Progress Jon. Keep up the good work.

I'm always slightly in awe and slightly envious of those of you who manage to create almost instant railway. It took me most of the day (between a load of other jobs) just to bend up the wing rails and file and solder the point and splice rails for a single crossing nose - it's not even assembled yet! :oops:

Andrew
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by JonPotter » Sun Jul 02, 2017 8:41 pm

Thanks very much for the kind comments - it means a lot :)

Anyway, another busy weekend! Yesterday was spent levelling (ish) in front of the shed, adding a rough border, laying a few slabs & filling with slate. We have some more slate to build up the thickness a bit too.

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Today has been spent making a rock cutting & planting some flowers in the triangle area, plus ballasting the sides of the triangle.

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And then, onto some trains! First, a quick test...

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And then this evening some steam...

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Unfortunately a number of issues came up during the evening running. The L&B coaches hit the wall into the shed (whoops!) and there are issues with track level on the timber section - no surprise, we knew it would need fettling. Another issue is the height of the chopper on the back of the Billy - fitted by the previous owner, its is miles high compared with anything else. It's all superglued up so not the easiest job to just whip it off & replace.

The only way to check is to test with lots of different locos & stock. Oh, what a shame!

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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by Soar Valley Light » Sun Jul 02, 2017 8:50 pm

Great photos Jon. The planting looks really good, the line is already settling into the landscape, the whole garden is beginning to look neat and tidy. You really do get a move on when you set your mind to it!

Andrew
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"'cause I can't manage on three gaffer!"

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Peter Butler
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by Peter Butler » Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:14 pm

Incredible progress and great result.... well done to you both. From a bare patch of ground a garden railway has emerged in record time.
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Dwayne
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by Dwayne » Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:38 pm

Amazing progress! Just wow... :thumbup:

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LNR
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by LNR » Mon Jul 03, 2017 1:05 am

As others have said, astonishing progress. Terrible about the testing, but someone has to do it ;)
Grant.

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markoteal
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by markoteal » Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:23 am

Brilliant progress and for how much you've done in a short time, you don't seem to have much fettling to do - well done
Where did I put that uncoupler?

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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by ge_rik » Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:48 am

Blimey! You don't hang about, do you? Have you thought about putting in a bid for the SE Rail franchise? I'm sure you'd soon get that sorted out!

Great to see trains chuffing through foliage already and relatively few snags to sort out.

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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by JonPotter » Sun Jul 09, 2017 4:11 pm

Once again, thanks all! You're too kind. Not much progress track wise this week, mainly a bit of fettling, but I thought you might like some more photos!

On Tuesday I fettled the track a fair bit more & steamed up 'Auric' to test. The two main derailing points have now been packed sufficiently, meaning running is a bit more enjoyable!

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One of my favourite locos in the fleet is my Leek & Manifold tank. I fitted a DJB whistle to it last week but hadn't yet tested it, so rectified it on Saturday. It needs a bit more track to really stretch its legs, but it is a joy to drive!

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Also on Saturday, I fixed the coupling height issue on 'Brockhurst' and steamed that up - seen here leaving Kingston Lisle. Note the shortened VOR coach in the rake, which was featured previously in this thread. I'm happy to report that it runs very well - I was a little concerned about it to be honest but no catastrophes yet!

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Today I steamed up the newest member of the fleet - a Roundhouse Darjeeling. Completely out for 2'6", so I'll have to bend the history a fair bit - maybe some rich guy built a replica in 2'6".... believable enough maybe! Anyway, here it is on shed with two recently completed, also having their first run:

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And here descending the grade into Kingston Lisle.

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For anyone interested in some more photos, I have set up a Flickr - https://www.flickr.c.../149366894@N08/

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LNR
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by LNR » Mon Jul 10, 2017 3:00 am

I am not jealous of your Darj loco, :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Been trying to justify a reason to have one on my railway for years.
Grant.

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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Tue Jul 11, 2017 1:37 pm

I like the Roundhouse Darjeeling 'B' class as well. Especially as Riverdale do a coal fired version and you can get a slomo to fit too!

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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by Big Jim » Fri Jul 14, 2017 10:27 am

I would sell the wife for a coal fired B class.
If at first you don't succeed, use a bigger hammer!

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Peter Butler
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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by Peter Butler » Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:59 pm

Big Jim wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2017 10:27 am I would sell the wife for a coal fired B class.
But Jim, what about the tenth commandment? I feel a flagellation coming on.... but don't enjoy it too much!
The best things in life are free.... so why am I doing this?

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Re: Vale of White Horse Railway

Post by Big Jim » Fri Jul 14, 2017 10:30 pm

Moses hadn't heard of the DHR.
Commandment 10 (a)
And the Lord did sayeth "excepting steam locomotives"
If at first you don't succeed, use a bigger hammer!

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