The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

A place for the discussion of garden railways and any garden style/scale portable and/or indoor layouts
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IrishPeter
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Post by IrishPeter » Tue Sep 06, 2016 5:11 pm

The worst thing about this move is that it is clear across country - 2200 miles - which is making our previous move of 350 miles, fourteen years ago, look like moving up the street.  On the other hand, I am looking forward to getting out of an environment that has been driving both of us batty. Reorganisation a few years ago has had me flying across country every 4 to 6 weeks, and that has been making things somewhat difficult, especially as we are two hours from a decent sized airport, whilst the local puddle jumper goes the wrong way - to Los Angeles rather than Dallas or Denver, which would actually be some use to me.

Anyway, the new house has a large, fairly dry, basement, so that is targeted for use for the works and main station provided the railway can make the climb out the basement windows and up into the back yard.  The other possibility is to use the present garden shed for the railway, but that would not be optimal. Of the houses we looked at, this one had the fewest problems, the trouble is that what problems it does have are all on the railway side of the leger, not the house/work side.

Cheers,
Peter in AZ (but not for much longer)
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Post by bazzer42 » Tue Sep 06, 2016 7:13 pm

Good luck with the move Peter, living on a smallish island it is hard to put a 2200 mile move into perspective! 350 miles moves me up into Scotland. Us railway builders can always find a plan to make it work, I'd love a basement as a man cave...

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Post by IrishPeter » Mon Nov 07, 2016 5:26 am

I have pretty much decided that the Skebawn and Castleknox Light will be making a comeback after I move. There will be some changes. Skebawn will be in either the shed or the basement so that I can leave most of the stock on the railway when not in use. Secondly, I am giving it a definite 'Tramway' character. I still have the idea of its starting out Castlederg and Victoria Bridge-ish, and getting a little more "heavyweight" over time.

Most of the original stock is now packed away. There is one project still on the work bench which will be more or less finished before we move finally. I am also entertaining the idea of the two 'Ruby' class locomotives that I own ending up as American style Tram locomotives. No doubt the original acquisition of those wee beasties involved Clan Knox and a bottle or two of the mischief, and a very persuasive catalogue from Messrs Baldwin.

Peter in AZ, soon to be VA
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:15 pm

Well, all of our stuff has made it to Virginia - finally - and I am more or less settled into the new parish, so today was going to be the day I started surveying the new version of the Skebawn and Castleknox - except it started raining at 5am this morning... :| Plan B is to drag out the Dremel and see what mischief I can get up to on the rolling stock front.

Peter in VA.
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by Peter Butler » Mon Jun 05, 2017 7:45 pm

Whatever you decide to do, it is good to hear your move is now complete and that you are back on the Forum to update us with your project. I look forward to hearing, and seeing, the progress on your challenging site.
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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by bazzer42 » Thu Jun 08, 2017 1:17 pm

Welcome back Peter, I can't tell you what you've missed as I have been in 4mm/ho hibernation for the winter. The British summer is here with gales and heavy rain. We call it flaming June... Hope it dries up soon for you.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Tue Jun 20, 2017 3:57 am

One unpleasant surprise was that a couple of the cupboards I placed in the "mainly dry" basement got water into them during the last "rain event." This being Virginia, several items of stock had become affected with mold, so the cupboards will be going up on bricks tomorrow, and the affected items will be getting the vinegar treatment. :oops: I have left the dehumidifier going to try and dry things out a bit, as we now seem to be in a settled pattern of heat, humidity and afternoon thunderstorms. I have found, though, that I deal better with Virginia heat than with Arizona's, though we have not yet had any really challenging days - just 88F or so!

Next job is some serious clearance at the south end of the house to see if there is a viable route out of that end of the basement, which would give me access to a decent sized piece of basement real estate for the terminus. I get the feeling that when it comes to encroaching on the garden, my wiggle room is severely reduced, as the garden is well established and actually grows stuff - unlike in AZ. What happens on this site will be more or less determined by the viability of exiting the basement and climbing into the back garden. If that doesn't work it seems likely that I will either have to build a small, estate railway themed, outdoor layout on the flattest portion of the yard, or a small indoor layout, or both. The geography is certainly a challenge.

Peter in VA
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Wed Jun 21, 2017 4:52 am

Well, it looks like the rise from the basement window to the backyard is about three feet, which will require 100 to 150 feet of running line. Now I am trying to work out how to "pack the spaghetti" down the side of the house. I want to avoid looping back over the mainline if I can.

Peter in VA
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by LNR » Wed Jun 21, 2017 8:49 am

Sounds like you need a Darj. loco and some switchbacks, Peter.
Grant.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by daan » Wed Jun 21, 2017 8:38 pm

If the storage in the basement is not part of your regular railway line, you can use a lift for your trains to get them out of the basement and on the tracks in the backyard. But since you have to manually operate it and it logically isn't connected on both sides at once, it is not an option if you need this part to get round.

Lifts are fairly easy to build, in the garden railway series of Mark Fond there is even one of them shown. It basically is a wooden board with tracks on it, long enough to occupy a complete train and it hangs on ropes, making it possible to move up and down (obviously :roll: ) The second advantage you have with it, is that storage tracks can be build above eachother, so you can store a lot more rolling stock alongside the wall of the basement, keeping them also away from moisture.
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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Thu Jun 22, 2017 3:07 pm

I am more and more leaning towards having the Skebawn and Castleknox in the basement, and a small industrial themed line outside. The reasoning is largely climatic. Virginia is warm bordering hot and humid in a summer (it is 85F and 85% again today!) which makes the basement a good place to be (cooler than outside), whilst the winters are similar to the UK, but with a few more warm days. That leaves spring and autumn/fall as being the pleasant times to play trains. I am also not very happy about the access to/from the basement at either end, which in the case of the north end of the building is only about 7' from the boundary wall, and at the other 5' from the property line. If the lot were flat it would not be a problem, but it slopes upwards at a gradient of about 1 in 12, which would be great for modelling the Manx Electric or Snaefell Mountain Railway, but is not so good for a "kettle" man like me. I may live to regret that remark about the MER.

I need to have a brew (tea) and brew on this point a little more.

Peter in VA
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by Killian Keane » Thu Jun 22, 2017 8:27 pm

Heres hoping the old Skebawn and Castleknox line makes a triumphant return in its new location, as for the outdoor gradient, I can sympathise-- our garden is just as un-level as one can be also! Then again, the T&D was heavily graded, justifying double heading, but unfortunately no easy solution on the full size either!
Blokes with tea can build anything

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Thu Jun 22, 2017 11:34 pm

I am sort of tired of rebuilding kettles thanks to the wear and tear created by the gradients on my old line. I had a long stretch of 1 in 24 which eventually wore out the drive rods on my Millie, and played heck with the timing on the Accucraft locos. The grade was putting the slip into slip eccentric. So an indoor S&CLR with a whimsical outdoor extension might be on the cards. I have a space about 19' by 11' under the dining room and hallway, and then there is another 13' by 13' under the front parlour. Terminal station, continuous run, and fiddle yard seem a distinct possibility in that space.

For outdoor interest I am wondering about a connecting electric tramway. I knew that MER comment would fester and come back to haunt me! What's even worse is that it has only taken about eight hours!

Peter in AZ
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by Peter Butler » Fri Jun 23, 2017 12:07 am

There are wonderful examples of indoor (basement) railway models and the potential to create realistic scenic adornments; buildings, landscape etc... makes it even more attractive. I wouldn't fight your restrictive height and access problems, rather see it as an opportunity to concentrate on something which you might find more user friendly during a greater part of the year. Just make the most of what you have!
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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Fri Jun 23, 2017 2:14 am

Peter,

I do like the outdoors side of things, but there are some significant limitations here. January through March are on the cold side for outdoor operation, and mid-June to mid-September are on the hot side - of course. Even with electric traction I am going to have to put a lengthy gooseneck into the section between the basement exit, and the back garden, to keep the gradient somewhere around 1 in 20, but at least having steam on a relatively level course in the basement will make life easier there.

The wife has also made it quite clear that she doe not want "Toytown" in the back yard, so minimal structures - MER-style rustic shelters, etc., are more in keeping with that standing order on construction, Not sure how MER tin sheds will go over though! ;)

Time to start doing some sketching...

Peter in VA
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Sat Jul 22, 2017 3:09 am

Well, I keep doing a little bit in the basement. A little measurement; a few repairs; some looking very hard at the space that I have available, and so on and so forth. Tonight's three little jobs were:

1. Repair the end platform on the Norwegian coach
2. Patch up the thriller from the Ziller(talbahn)
3. Repair an open wagon whose underframe had spread whilst being transported.
IMG00095.JPG
IMG00095.JPG (767.15 KiB) Viewed 5179 times
Here is a pic of the LBD and the Norwegian coach on my old line.

Cheers,
+Peter
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Tue Jul 25, 2017 4:53 am

It looks like the Skebawn and Castleknox Tramway will be ending up in the basement as a basically level line for steam locomotives. Skebawn over against the long wall, continuous run, with an intermediate station on a spur on the other side of the central heating boiler, with Castleknox against the other wall, if I can negotiate some extra space with herself. The key bargaining chip in these negotiations being the storage space under the layout which is largely conceded in exchange for the real estate and air rights between 3'6" and 6' above floor level. Hopefully I will have a doodle to share in a few days. The indoor line will get me through the heat of summer and the cold of winter, but won't scratch the outdoor itch.

This is where the Far End Light Railway will come in - a simple end to end with a tip of the hat to the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway - gambolling along the flower beds taking the tourists to the golf course and the far end of the beach. Something on which to operate the little battery electrics, some of my odd/one off passenger vehicles, and the Hudson tippers on a pleasant spring or autumn afternoon.

In the meantime I need to set up a temporary line on the basement floor to keep me amused until serious construction can begin.

Peter in Virginia
Last edited by IrishPeter on Wed Jul 26, 2017 2:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by bazzer42 » Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:02 pm

Good to hear from you again Peter. The basement would be a real bonus in the UK, not a common feature here. Sounds like the best of both worlds and the chance to dabble when the weather is against you. Look forward to some pictures.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by IrishPeter » Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:29 pm

Basements are reasonably common along the East Coast, and in the Midwest where the housing stock is for the most part older. Our place was built somewhere between 1890 and 1900, and is in what is called an 'Historic District' so the exterior of the house has to retain its Victorian appearance, but you have some latitude inside. The nice bonus, as you say, is the large partly finished basement, with electricity and lighting in place. I have an L shaped space roughly 27' by 19' to play with, and the S & CLR's smallish stock will work quiet well in such an environment.

The other bonus with what is basically a T shaped house is that there is a rather secret spot in the garden where I can put the small outside line without it attracting too much attention. The lass in the bottom apartment next door will see a lot of it, but it won't be easily visible from either the street or the alley. I still remember Brian's problems with vandalism which eventually forced him to close the Mid-Derbs. Light a few years back.

Cheers,
Peter in Va.
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: The Skebawn and Castleknox Light Railway and Tramway

Post by bazzer42 » Tue Jul 25, 2017 7:38 pm

Lucky here with regards vandalism potential, back garden is hidden and a large Japonica hides the railway from the road which is a quiet cul de sac.

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