The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
- Peter Butler
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- Location: West Wales
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
I'm so sorry to see the deterioration of your line and the work involved to restore it. The lolly fencing is sobering yet some still insist on using it... even varnish can't protect it.
The best things in life are free.... so why am I doing this?
- tom_tom_go
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
You will get there Andrew.
When your Russell comes home and you experience the slow running it will give you the motivation to rebuild.
I would of pulled my little line long ago if it wasn't for the Slomo.
When your Russell comes home and you experience the slow running it will give you the motivation to rebuild.
I would of pulled my little line long ago if it wasn't for the Slomo.
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Thanks chaps...
Strangely, I'm not down-hearted, it feels like an opportunity in many ways.
And yes, I think a revived Russell will really help. It's one of the reasons I'm delaying making a decision on how to proceed - my main motivation in getting a Slomo is to aid realistic end-to-end running, but one of the options if I rebuild that section is to lose the upper terminus and have a continuous run...
I'll keep you posted, but in the meantime there are test trains to run!
Cheers,
Andrew.
Strangely, I'm not down-hearted, it feels like an opportunity in many ways.
And yes, I think a revived Russell will really help. It's one of the reasons I'm delaying making a decision on how to proceed - my main motivation in getting a Slomo is to aid realistic end-to-end running, but one of the options if I rebuild that section is to lose the upper terminus and have a continuous run...
I'll keep you posted, but in the meantime there are test trains to run!
Cheers,
Andrew.
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Sorry to see/hear about your problems, Andrew, although I have to confess to wondering about the effects of weather when you were detailing the build.
As you say it's created opportunities, but it would be a shame to lose the upper station I think, personally I loved the way it looked.
As you say it's created opportunities, but it would be a shame to lose the upper station I think, personally I loved the way it looked.
Philip
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Peter Jones used to swear by scorching ply and then applying waterproof pva to the still warm charred surface, and for wood just the pva, before applying paint.
My personal preference has been to avoid wood at all costs, but having re-read his book on model buildings, I'm almost tempted to give it another go.
My personal preference has been to avoid wood at all costs, but having re-read his book on model buildings, I'm almost tempted to give it another go.
Phil
Sporadic Garden Railer who's inconsistencies know no bounds
My Line - https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11077
Sporadic Garden Railer who's inconsistencies know no bounds
My Line - https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11077
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Glad to hear you're seeing it as an opportunity rather than a threat - but a bit of a blow nonetheless. Probably about time I crawled under my raised wooden section to see what delights await me .....
Rik
Rik
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Glad to hear you're never say die. When I have to rebuild bits there are often things I would do different. Catch 22 garden railways, wood should be relatively simple to remove if moving house but my breeze block track base
I have gone into the wooden building thing knowing they won't last forever. This dry summer hasn't been much of a test and whilst I plan to bring things in over winter I realise they have a finite life span.....but how long?
Keep us posted on your rebuilding, love Windmill Hill.
I have gone into the wooden building thing knowing they won't last forever. This dry summer hasn't been much of a test and whilst I plan to bring things in over winter I realise they have a finite life span.....but how long?
Keep us posted on your rebuilding, love Windmill Hill.
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
I haven't any experience of using wood in my garden, except for the shed! (That gets a coat of preservative every now and again). If I were to use wood it would be with the expectation that It will be replaced at some point in the future. The timescale would probably depend on the quality of the wood, preventative measures taken and how much moisture it gets exposed to.
I have contemplated making a temporary railway using wood for speed and then gradually upgrading over time to something more durable (breeze blocks?).
Glad to see that the setback has been used to improve the railway.
Ian
I have contemplated making a temporary railway using wood for speed and then gradually upgrading over time to something more durable (breeze blocks?).
Glad to see that the setback has been used to improve the railway.
Ian
Ian
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Funny you should mention Peter Jones, his work and writing has been on my mind in recent days, and in particular his preference for massive works of civil engineering in concrete! I clearly need to do something a little more permanent than decking board, but I think whatever charm the line possesses might be lost if I went for anything on quite that scale - there never seemed to be much greenery in Compton Down...
I've been looking back at old pictures, like this one, to remind myself of the construction technique:
The upper baseboard seems to be holding up OK, and it looks like I made a much more solid job of that than I did of other bits. I'm wondering whether I can leave that for now and cobble together new "planters" for the hillside at the front out of hollow concrete blocks and bits of cheap patio slab - it needn't look great because it'll be covered in cladding, and the slate should stick to masonry better than it did to wood... The top, baseboard, bit will fail eventually, but if the sides are solid I could potentially use those to construct something more solid on... Worth further thought perhaps - but all ideas are welcome!
Cheers,
Andrew.
I've been looking back at old pictures, like this one, to remind myself of the construction technique:
The upper baseboard seems to be holding up OK, and it looks like I made a much more solid job of that than I did of other bits. I'm wondering whether I can leave that for now and cobble together new "planters" for the hillside at the front out of hollow concrete blocks and bits of cheap patio slab - it needn't look great because it'll be covered in cladding, and the slate should stick to masonry better than it did to wood... The top, baseboard, bit will fail eventually, but if the sides are solid I could potentially use those to construct something more solid on... Worth further thought perhaps - but all ideas are welcome!
Cheers,
Andrew.
- tom_tom_go
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
I covered all my wood (gravel boards) with roofing felt and it's been fine. No problems with rot although my line is raised.
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
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...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.
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
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
Sporadic Garden Railer who's inconsistencies know no bounds
My Line - https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11077
Sporadic Garden Railer who's inconsistencies know no bounds
My Line - https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11077
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
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:
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...
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:
And waiting time before heading off up the hill again:
And the full train, climbing Penlan bank.
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...
Cheers all,
Andrew.
PS Apologies again for the poor quality pics, I'll get out in decent light next time!
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:
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...
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:
And waiting time before heading off up the hill again:
And the full train, climbing Penlan bank.
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...
Cheers all,
Andrew.
PS Apologies again for the poor quality pics, I'll get out in decent light next time!
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
That train looks as good as I imagined it would, well done. Are you going to load them?
Philip
- tom_tom_go
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
The last shot of the snail appears if it is posing for the camera!
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
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.
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
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.
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.
Philip
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
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.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 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!
- Peter Butler
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- Posts: 5244
- Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2012 10:33 pm
- Location: West Wales
Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
Try this link.... watch?v=aiDB8gLCEuU&T=54s or in youtube enter.... Slate Splitting Brandon 2009
The best things in life are free.... so why am I doing this?
- tom_tom_go
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- Posts: 4824
- Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:08 am
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway
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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