The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

[Trevor Thompson]

I have been working on the station building. The printed slate sections are all glued on, and 2mm thick perspex added to the top section. I have started to add printed ridge tiles over the glazed section and at the very back.

I am not sure that I have got the glazing right. I cant remember what I had intended to do when I started it - but I had intended to glaze it like this. It is the black adhesive I am dissatisfied with. Perhaps when I have added all the glazing bars set at 32mm centres along it it will draw the eye away from the black.

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And I have finally got back to extending the railway. The lower side has reached the point where it starts the 5ft radius circle to reverse the direction to link up with the upper section.

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While I have used concrete gravel boards for the "straight" sections I am going to cast the curved parts in situ. When I say straight I am not trying to make them dead straight - more ambling along the contour like the real thing. So the shuttering is in place and the spirit level used to check the rise and the level accross the formation. Just rocks to pile into the bottom and concrete to mix. Then I can make a passing place in the other leg before that also starts to curve over the void.

How to deal with the void? The loop is going to be on part of the garden which is sloping down to the road sharply. I think I am going to make a wooden tresel viaduct for that part. Not very north wales slate railway - but I think it will be the swiftest way and involve the least effort. We will see.

Trevor

[Phil.P]

Trevor,

Station is looking good, and the permanent-way, permanent!

For the station roof-lights:
Perhaps thin horizontal frame-members, before the verticals, to disguise the adhesive?

Just a thought?
Phil.P

[Trevor Thompson]

A valid thought - I will experiment

Trevor

[Old Man Aaron]

I agree with Phil, some horizontals would do the trick. It's all coming together well.

[Trevor Thompson]

Still making slow progress.

The station building is now in place on the line. The black mastic isn't very obvious - at least not unless you are up close to it. I will live with it for now. The vertical glazing bars do tend to draw your attention away from the black edges.

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The extension is moving towards the void:

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So the first part of the curve is in place and the first half of the passing loop is shuttered and poured.

Trevor

[Trevor Thompson]

I am also going back to finish the earlier extension. Some form of finish is required on the vertical bank or wall which is between the railway and the footpath. I had intended to use wooden half posts - but I just happen to have mounds of stone from old buildings (and from the ground) and it seems an obvious way to face the surface - if somewhat time consuming. I have to find a way of keeping the weeds down, and covering the soil with something solid will do that. So I have started at the station end - as much because I want a wider shelf for the railway at the station - so that seems like an incentive to get started.

So half of the station area has a wall under it. When the other half is walled I can make a concrete extension to the shelf and re-lay the siding and nearest passing loop. That will make room for the goods shed which is ready fit.

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This isn't as a result of my making a mistake but having found more information as to how that unusual track layout was actually used, which changes where I want to fit the goods shed. It should be on the nearest loop, beyond the footbridge, not over the siding - in the foreground of the following photo:

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This shows the wall better than the last photo. It looks like the wall makes the steps narrower but actually I have removed soil before building, so it isn't actually narrower - but more vertical. so there is a wider shelf for the station without loosing much width on the steps. You can also see the need to control the growth in the foreground!

Trevor

[philipy]

The station building is now in place on the line. The black mastic isn't very obvious - at least not unless you are up close to it. I will live with it for now. The vertical glazing bars do tend to draw your attention away from the black edges.

Looks fine in the picture, and once your weather has done it's worst, I doubt that even you will notice!

It's all looking really good IMO and it doesn't seem slow progress to me, given how many labour intensive bits you are working on at the same time.

[Peter Butler]

All looking very tidy Trevor. At first I was concerned about narrowing the path, which is already quite tight, but you have addressed that with some excavation work.

[ge_rik]

This isn't as a result of my making a mistake but having found more information as to how that unusual track layout was actually used, which changes where I want to fit the goods shed. It should be on the nearest loop, beyond the footbridge, not over the siding .......
Trevor

I was very intrigued by the use of that diamond crossing beneath the footbridge. Was there a particular reason the tracks needed to cross over like that? I'd have thought that arrangement shortens the length of the passing loops. As you say it is unusual.

Rik

[Andrew]

I was very intrigued by the use of that diamond crossing beneath the footbridge. Was there a particular reason the tracks needed to cross over like that?

I'd be interested to know that too, most intriguing... Love the curved three-way point what a beast!

The whole layout's looking very good indeed, like the new Corris-esque station very much. Something like that's on my list if I ever return to freelance modelling...

All the best,

Andrew.

[Trevor Thompson]

That track layout is specific to the way the Festiniog Railway marshalled its trains in the 1870's.

You need to know that goods wagons were placed next to the loco. Between the loco and the coaches. They were also in the habit of adding long rakes of empty slate wagons on the end of trains. Forget slate wagons for now. You also need to be reminded that this railway is at a constant gradient (1 in 80 if I remember correctly). That leads to this layout and the way Tan-y-Bwlch was operated.

So looking at the last photo with the footbridge in the middle and the station house beyond it. The far track next to the mock wall up to the garden is the down line. The middle line closest to the viewpoint is the up-line, which crosses under the bridge and becomes the near outside line by the station building. So up trains drove into this up-line and the coaches remain below the crossover. The goods wagons inevitably are above the bridge and on the crossing. The train is split at the junction between goods and coaches, and the loco then draws the goods wagons forward over the top point, the point is changed, and the goods wagons are shunted into the middle road above the footbridge. There is a "scotch" locked in the rail which prevents the goods wagons rolling back down the slope and fouling the crossing. The goods wagons to be left at this station are the last goods wagons in the rake, and are uncoupled, and left here. The loco rejoins its coaches, and the goods wagons for higher up the line, and the coaches continue on their way. When the train has gone the scotch is unlocked, removed, and the goods wagons descend under gravity into the outer loop below the footbridge - which is where the goods shed is located. The goods shed has two doors, one uphill, and one downhill, so the goods wagons descend into the goods shed through the uphill door. When unloaded (or perhaps loaded with produce from the Estate which was very active in this period) they are ready to join a down train. So a down train is on the far track which does not go through the crossover. The loco is detached from the train, runs forward beyond the point and stops. The goods wagons descend under gravity, through the point, until they meet the loco. The loco and wagons are then backed onto the train, recouped, and sent away to Porthmadog.


That is my understanding of how this was worked and as such "explains" the track layout. Although I can't see why the same could not be achieved without the crossover - just using 3 parallel roads.

The reference for that peculiar layout is in "The "Festiniog Railway The Spooner Era and After" by Peter Johnson. It is also mentioned in Boydes book on the Festiniog - but the goods shed is in the wrong place in his diagram. That is what fooled me for a while.

Anyway I think you will understand why I had to build it like this - I look forward to seeing if I can actually shunt goods wagons in to the goods shed under gravity!

Trevor

[Trevor Thompson]

I have now laid the track bed all the way to the void. The last section involved a stone embankment which I plan to cover with soil and eventually grass. It is getting high enough, as the ground falls away to make me think about changing my technique for making the trackbed.

So here is the latest with both ends drawing up to the remaining half circle to be constructed over a fairly steep slope:

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It looks like it is crying out to have an North American style wooden trestle viaduct. Not my first choice. The research I carried out looking at prototypes in the UK led me to Brunels Cornish viaducts, the Welsh river crossing viaducts at Barmouth and Loughor, and the slate mine one at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
The ones that are high and long are all wooden structures mounted on top of stone piers. The wooden supports radiate out from the stonework, to support the top deck.

I really don't want to have to cast concrete piers here. Providing a foundation which would stabilise a tall pier has put me off. Each pier would be different - some short and some tall - but no two the same. Making this accurately, on a curve, with a 1 in 80 slope, seems too difficult. I also want to have a result sooner than later, and I think casting piers would take a long time - and use a lot of wood for shuttering. I have worked out a way that I can set out the curve and slope and actually make fit if I do it this way:

So, much against my instincts it will be an North American style trestle viaduct.

How to set this out and make it accurately?

I am going to make it in stages, 3 trestles at a time, so I have made four sections of mock top deck and cut the ends at the correct angle to make them follow a 4ft 6inch curve when joined together. An extra length at the left allows it to be cantilevered of the last bit of concrete track bed. It can be seen in place in the photo. Two uprights clamped onto it allow me to set it at the correct slope and level it across the deck. So that lets me look down and see where the concrete foundations should be made. I made three sets of shuttering for the foundations and set then below the deck joints. The small concrete bases to support the bottom of each trestle can be seen in their shuttering on the right hand side of the photograph.

On the basis that each trestle will have the same profile, with the outer legs protruding at the same angle, and the longer it is the wider the base, I have made a template to create the trestles:

So while it is raining, and the concrete curing I can make three trestles. Since my temporary top deck is defining where the trestles will go I can measure their height from the concrete to the level of the trackbed. Just have to remember to take off the height of the real top deck and I know how long the trestle has to be.

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The outline is in pencil. By marking the length of each trestle on the template I think I can then make each trestle to fit the specific place it is intended to fit into.

So off to make trestles!

Trevor

[Trevor Thompson]

The first three trestles have been made:

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and this morning they have been fitted into position:

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The template which defines the track bed is really useful. It allowed me to place the shuttering in roughly the right place, and when fitting the trestles allowed me to identify if they were the correct length, and in the correct position. One of them was too long - so I had to modify it but at least it was too long not too short.

I have the same amount of packing between the top of each trestle and the template so they must be the correct length. I am slowly adding the cross bracing between the trestles, limited by the number of small clamps that I have. Each trestle is glued onto the concrete using an expanding polyurethane glue. That should not only hold it in place but form a water proof layer between concrete and wood.

I think this is going to provide a strong lightweight method of getting around the loop. I know the wood will have a limited lifespan - but if the wooden sleepers I use are anything to go by it might last for quite a while. We will see! At least I can claim that it is a prototypical method of solving this problem, a temporary solution which can be replaced with something more permanent later.

The interesting part is going to be trying to make the two ends meet without a kink and without an abrupt difference in height. So far the plan is to add extra sections to the template when the ends get near enough for a template to span the gap.

Trevor

[ge_rik]

That's going to be one heck of a big structure, Trevor. All the more complicated by being laid on a slope and on a curve. Very impressed with what you've done so far. Brunel would be proud of you ......

Rik

[gregh]

Thanks for the nicely detail description of your construction methods. I know how hard it is to lay out a 'circle in the air' - your method seems a very 'easy' method which should give a great result. I think your selection of a trestle was really the only way. Brunel's timber bridges, while looking beautiful, were for longer, straight spans

[Trevor Thompson]

The plan is working so far. It is going to be a large structure as Rick said. Thanks for the kind comments Gregh, I agree that there is no other way of tackling this.

I have laid out the next section this morning and prepared the ground. It is fitting into the available space, and it hasn't disappeared down into the buildings. What I have built seems really strong and stable. I think it will take about another 12 trestles to complete it. Just hope it lines up in 3 dimensions with the track bed at the other end, but looks as though its going to.

This mornings progress:

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Trevor

[Jimmyb]

The plan is working so far. It is going to be a large structure as Rick said. Thanks for the kind comments Gregh, I agree that there is no other way of tackling this.

I have laid out the next section this morning and prepared the ground. It is fitting into the available space, and it hasn't disappeared down into the buildings. What I have built seems really strong and stable. I think it will take about another 12 trestles to complete it. Just hope it lines up in 3 dimensions with the track bed at the other end, but looks as though its going to.

This mornings progress:

IMG_1731.jpg

Trevor

Very nice

[Old Man Aaron]

Gonna be a hell of a run, when the line's done. Beautiful.

[ge_rik]

. ..... Thanks for the kind comments Gregh, I agree that there is no other way of tackling this.

Trevor

Have you seen Greg's curved trestle? It is indeed a sight to behold!

Rik

[Andrew]

That's going to look lovely when it's done - and with a superb natural backdrop too...

I love how in the most recent picture you can't see the lower end on the line, so it just looks as though the trestle's striking out on its own and could go on forever...