The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

[Andrew]

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.

[philipy]

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.

[Big Jim]

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.

[Peter Butler]

Try this link.... watch?v=aiDB8gLCEuU&T=54s or in youtube enter.... Slate Splitting Brandon 2009

[tom_tom_go]

Try this link.... watch?v=aiDB8gLCEuU&T=54s or in youtube enter.... Slate Splitting Brandon 2009

[bazzer42]

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......

[Andrew]

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.

[ge_rik]

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

Rik

[philipy]

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?

[Andrew]

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.

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Margaret arranged most of the line's available open wagons into two rakes...

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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.

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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...

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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.

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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...

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Here's the second rake loaded and heading into Trefechan Tunnel

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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...

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...and soon headed back up with the first train...

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Here she is again, passing under the now de-nuded plum tree with the second train...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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.

[tom_tom_go]

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

[SimonWood]

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?

[Soar Valley Light]

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.

Andrew

[Andrew]

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

[bazzer42]

Lovely pictures and the King of fruits!

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

[Andrew]

Morning all,

Yesterday I braved the rain and the gloom to clear the line and give Russell a run to test out the Slomo that Tom has recently fitted for me. The first run was not a success, other than to highlight just how in need of maintenance so of my track is, but the second was better - and I'd promised Tom I'd make a film. It isn't a great film, by any means - the garden and railway were in a mess, I wasn't familiar with either the iPad I was using or running with a Slomo, and I don't have three hands. It times I was trying to control my loco with my knee, so this doesn't really show the "Slo" bit of the Slomo to its best advantage. There is some "mo" though, so let's get on with it...



Anyway, it's an update on the railway of sorts. It's not necessarily apparent in the video for the reasons mentioned above, but running with the Slomo was something of a revelation in terms of slow, smooth, controllable operation, better than electric models I reckon. I'm looking forward to spending more time getting used to the new set-up - more videos to follow in the summer... Thanks Tom!

As I said, the runs (and in particular Russell's pony trucks and the buffet cars foot boards...) did demonstrate where my line needs some work. The bit immediately above the middle station needs relaying I think, but it's the least accessible bit of the line (it runs beneath the deck and the swing sofa), so I think that will need to wait until the weather's better. not to worry, there's plenty to be getting on with in the meantime...

Cheers,

Andrew

[SimonWood]

Great video. The thing I really love about seeing a slomo loco is not so much the slowness of speed as the gentleness of acceleration. The way Russell pulls away, and the starting and stopping in the run-round sequence is just superb.

To make the video tag work you have to use the 'share' version of the link from the Youtube page, i.e. https://youtu.be/mvbfe4HrCs0 rather than https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvbfe4HrCs0, then it should work:

[tom_tom_go]

Glad you are happy with it Andrew.

Posting videos how to here:

https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=9208

[Andrew]

Great video. The thing I really love about seeing a slomo loco is not so much the slowness of speed as the gentleness of acceleration. The way Russell pulls away, and the starting and stopping in the run-round sequence is just superb.

Thank you! The camera-work was pretty shaky, some of the starting a bit abrupt (even with a Slomo) and some of the stopping not very, err, "stoppy" while I get used to the Slomo, but there's lots of potential there. I was particularly pleased with how it helps drive round the curve under the apple tree - coming up the hill there's a steep climb, an abrupt change to being level, then a sharp curve, then another climb. Driving that smoothly is very hard to achieve, even my Konrad runs away a little on the downhill run, but the Slomo seems to iron it all out...

[IrishPeter]

I thought the video was terrific. Slo-mo really seems to take the jerkiness out of the running and make the whole thing look as though it has the heft which our small locos and trains necessarily lack.

I do rather like your railway, even in its winter state. It seems to be so much part of the garden rather than an alien imposition.

Peter in Va