The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

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Andrew
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Tue Aug 07, 2018 3:45 pm

tom_tom_go wrote: Tue Aug 07, 2018 3:32 pm I covered all my wood (gravel boards) with roofing felt and it's been fine. No problems with rot although my line is raised.
Yeah, the upper bit was felted after that photo was taken, and that's above ground, so I'm hopeful that'll be OK - you never know, the damage may only be cosmetic...

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Lonsdaler » Tue Aug 07, 2018 5:32 pm

I think your problems are all stemming from the contact between wood and soil. Redo the planters with a waterproof membrane and drainage holes, and they will probably be fine.
Phil

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Tue Aug 14, 2018 4:26 pm

Hello again...

Yesterday evening came the anticipated test running of the full slate train - rather latter than planned, in failing light, so I'm afraid these photos aren't great...

First the wagons were assembled in Penlan's loop - 12 mixed slate wagons, 9 from the FR and 3 WHR examples:

Slate test 1.jpg
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Regner Daisy raised steam at Clarach before trundling all the way down to Trefechan to pick up the MOTTLITS, still living in the tunnel while I work out where else to keep them... For now they were pulled up the hill and left in Penlan's platform road, passing the marigolds on the way...
Slate test 2.jpg
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The real test then began - and, thankfully, the slate wagons ran very well, with just one minor derailment. Here's the train at a dusky Trefechan, with Daisy about to run round:
Slate test 3.jpg
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And waiting time before heading off up the hill again:
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Slate test 5.jpg
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And the full train, climbing Penlan bank.
Slate test 6.jpg
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There's not much scope for the length of the train to grow much, but I'll keep on building wagons so I can vary its consist, and add more WHR wagons into the mix too...

And finally, more exciting (?!!) wildlife news...

On arrival at Clarach, a stowaway was found on the last wagon - a tiny (almost scale sized!) snail. I don't know how he'd got aboard, but even with the Regner chuffing a long at a scale 15mph or so, this must have been as fast as the little chap's ever travelled! He didn't look any the worse for his adventures, although I don't think he had a valid ticket...
Snail 1.jpg
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Snail 2.jpg
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Snail 3.jpg
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Cheers all,

Andrew.

PS Apologies again for the poor quality pics, I'll get out in decent light next time!

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by philipy » Tue Aug 14, 2018 4:51 pm

That train looks as good as I imagined it would, well done. Are you going to load them?
Philip

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Tue Aug 14, 2018 5:42 pm

The last shot of the snail appears if it is posing for the camera!

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:29 am

philipy wrote: Tue Aug 14, 2018 4:51 pm That train looks as good as I imagined it would, well done. Are you going to load them?
Glad you like it, thanks!

I probably will create loads for them, but it's not an immediate priority, partly because there are now so many of them - should've done it as I went along!

My line's end-to-end, with the slate quarry theoretically located just beyond the upper terminus (I plan to add wooden gates at some point, to hint at the quarry, just out of sight), so with or without loads 50% of my slate trains are "wrong". If the current FR can live with that then so can I, but when I do make loads I think they'll be of the "lift out" variety (perhaps with a little hook or hidden magnet in the top) so that trains can run correctly loaded if I feel so inclined. Because my two termini are situated pretty much on top of each other, loads could be removed at the bottom and air-lifted up to the top without any problem, to await re-loading into the empties when they get back there. Utterly pointless, in a Bagpuss Chocolate Biscuit Factory kind of way, but none the worse for that...

I'm not sure how I'll make the loads yet (Don't want to buy 'em, too pricey...) but I might experiment with finely corrugated card or plastic, I've a feeling it might be possible to do something that looks reasonable that way. It's a way of adding extra weight too of course, which - although not essential - would be handy at the lower terminus where they need to be propelled into the unloading siding, a manoeuvre which can be a problem with light wagons...

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by philipy » Wed Aug 15, 2018 10:04 am

I'd have thought that 10thou black plasticard slates glued together and painted, would do the trick, but you would need an awful lot of them!

Somewhere over the years there was somebody who advocated cutting real slate and I have seen it done at an exhibition demo many years ago.
I may be wrong and I apologise profusely if I am, but something in the deep recesses of my memory says it could have been "Mr. Bond of the DVLR" , a former Director on here.
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Big Jim » Wed Aug 15, 2018 5:18 pm

philipy wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 10:04 am I'd have thought that 10thou black plasticard slates glued together and painted, would do the trick, but you would need an awful lot of them!

Somewhere over the years there was somebody who advocated cutting real slate and I have seen it done at an exhibition demo many years ago.
I may be wrong and I apologise profusely if I am, but something in the deep recesses of my memory says it could have been "Mr. Bond of the DVLR" , a former Director on here.
I too have seen it done with real slate, but I cannot recall who did it or how they split them thin enough. You could use an electric tile cutter to cut old roof slates to the correct dimensions and then try and spilt them using a Stanley blade and a small hammer. The possible downside is that you cannot scale nature, slate cut to any size is still 12 inch to the foot scale and I think the weight might be a bit OTT as well.

I have seen a method using a block of polystyrene with plasticard slates glued on, full size for the sides and 5mm strips to represent the ends and tops.
If at first you don't succeed, use a bigger hammer!

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Peter Butler » Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:06 pm

Try this link.... watch?v=aiDB8gLCEuU&T=54s or in youtube enter.... Slate Splitting Brandon 2009
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:38 pm

Peter Butler wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:06 pm Try this link.... watch?v=aiDB8gLCEuU&T=54s or in youtube enter.... Slate Splitting Brandon 2009

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by bazzer42 » Thu Aug 16, 2018 8:08 am

I recall that whoever did it advocated a soak in water overnight before splitting. Have to say that lucky man on the video seemed to have more than one lifetime! I don't think I have that patience......

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Thu Aug 16, 2018 8:37 am

bazzer42 wrote: Thu Aug 16, 2018 8:08 am Have to say that lucky man on the video seemed to have more than one lifetime! I don't think I have that patience......
I don't think I do either, but thanks or the suggestions and links folks, much appreciated! With 12 loads to build, more wagons to come, and less modelling time than i'd like, I think I'm going to have to find a pragmatic compromise between quantity and quality - your suggestion sounds a possibility Jim. I wasn't planning to build any wagon loads any time soon, but this conversation's inspired me to try making a a prototype to test some ideas...

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by ge_rik » Thu Aug 16, 2018 12:42 pm

Love that fourth photo - looking along the rake towards the loco.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by philipy » Thu Aug 16, 2018 3:08 pm

bazzer42 wrote: Thu Aug 16, 2018 8:08 am I recall that whoever did it advocated a soak in water overnight before splitting.
Presumably the water soaks into the layer lines and lubricates the splitting. I wonder whether, having soaked them, putting them in the freezer for a few hours might actually do the splitting without the need for chisel/blade?
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sun Sep 02, 2018 2:07 pm

As regular readers of this thread will be aware, the (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland has fallen on hard times. Track and stations are in such a poor state of repair that only goods trains are permitted to run - and as photographs here have illustrated, recent attempts to carry slate and coal seem to have resulted only in rakes of empties being trundled pointlessly along the line. Fortunately however, the good weather has seen a bumper plum crop (Snowdonia, of course, being well known for its soft fruit harvest) and the line spent a busy day yesterday bringing home the goods...

Usual suspects Daisy and Margaret were prepared in the siding at Clarach.
Plum trains 1.jpg
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Margaret arranged most of the line's available open wagons into two rakes...
Plum trains 2.jpg
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...before heading down the line with the first. Penlan's new station building can be seen under construction in the background.
Plum trains 3.jpg
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The train was halted on Leach's Curve for the fruit to be loaded - some quirk of perspective makes that picker's hand look awfully large...
Plum trains 4.jpg
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Rolling on down to Trefechan, the the train was shunted into a siding, with the guards van switched to the other end.
Plum trains 5.jpg
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Margaret returned to Clarach to bring the second rake of empties down - the apples will be harvested later in September, if the creepy-crawlies don't eat 'em all first...
Plum trains 6.jpg
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Here's the second rake loaded and heading into Trefechan Tunnel
Plum trains 7.jpg
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Margaret was deemed insufficiently powerful to pull the heavy loaded trains back up the hill, so steam was raised and Daisy sent down to do the job...
Plum trains 8.jpg
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...and soon headed back up with the first train...
Plum trains 9.jpg
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Plum trains 10.jpg
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Here she is again, passing under the now de-nuded plum tree with the second train...
Plum trains 11.jpg
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Naturally, the only disaster occurred with a fully-laden train at the least accessible part of the line, under the deck...
Plum trains 12.jpg
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Back on the track, Daisy and train completed the journey up to Clarach, where the plums were unloaded for onward transportation...
Plum trains 13.jpg
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While down at Trefechan, Margaret rested in the peace and quiet after the busiest day the (WH)WHR has seen in some years...
Plum trains 14.jpg
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The management sincerely hopes to be able to invest the revenue from these services into improvements that will see the line declared fit for passenger traffic in the near future. And in the meantime, there are eight jars of delicious looking plum chutney on the kitchen table...

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Sun Sep 02, 2018 2:22 pm

Great post Andrew, it's nice when a railway performs a function.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by SimonWood » Sun Sep 02, 2018 4:50 pm

I am really enjoying all these soft fruit trains. It is making me think I should build a siding over to the blueberry bushes. Anyway, looks delicious. Plum pie?

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Soar Valley Light » Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:32 pm

Hi Andrew,

You've done well with the plum harvest. There is some lovely fruit there! As Tom says, great to see a working railway. :thumbup:

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Mon Sep 03, 2018 11:07 am

I feel I ought to confess that, although the trains were indeed carrying real, freshly-picked plums, and although those plums travelled the whole length of the line, they ended up only about 12 feet from where they started, and no nearer the house... Still, it must be quicker and more efficient than just carrying them straight up the garden in an old ice-cream tub, mustn't it?! Ignoring the recipe's instruction to leave it to sit for a fortnight, we opened the first jar of chutney yesterday, and it was delicious - I like to think that the secret ingredient was just the faintest hint of steam oil...

Even though the steamer simply made two round trips of the line, the sense of purpose made for a very satisfying operating session, and offers pointers for future running I think. Instead of simply raising steam and trundling a train about until the gas runs out, I like the idea of having a particular purpose in mind beforehand, even if it's just "run one passenger and one pick-up goods train". Maybe I'll crack on with those slate loads, so that a running session can include empty and loaded slate trains...

Plum-flavoured food for thought...

Andrew

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by bazzer42 » Mon Sep 03, 2018 1:39 pm

Lovely pictures and the King of fruits!

Can't help feeling Daisy or Margaret need renaming to Victoria :D

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