The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

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FWLR
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by FWLR » Wed May 22, 2019 9:14 am

Looks to be great project mate and one that will I am sure will be just as brilliant as your modelling... :thumbright:

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sun May 26, 2019 8:53 am

Good morning!

A lovely day yesterday saw a fair bit of progress on the current project in the garden, sorting out Penlan station.

A simple brick trackbed for siding was Postcrete-d into position, and the track assembled on top. In true railway tradition, this unimportant siding was laid using bits and bobs of track that had once been used on the mainline. In all the siding was made up of no fewer than seven separate short lengths (it felt like laying Hornby set track!), some of which has probably given service in multiple locations on three railways over twenty or more years!

Here's a test train resting in the new siding:

Penlan siding 1.jpg
Penlan siding 1.jpg (429.11 KiB) Viewed 6330 times

And a view across the station itself - the building will go just in front of that big plastic bag:

Penlan siding 2.jpg
Penlan siding 2.jpg (427.25 KiB) Viewed 6330 times

Testing went well. I was able to pull and propel trains into and out of the siding and over the point work quite happily, so all should be well...

I've made a start on the landscaping, but I think that'll be the next job, along with ballasting the siding. I need to do that first so that I don't need to tread on everything else in order to get to it - it will also be good to remind myself of my SBR ballasting technique in an area that doesn't matter! Then it'll be the platform, then ballasting the rest of the track, I think, although unfortunately the weather's not looking as good today which may slow things down...

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by FWLR » Sun May 26, 2019 9:02 am

Looking good Andrew, the building when it's in position will really make it a great add to your line.

The weather was light rain yesterday here, but today it's throwing it down.... :x

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by philipy » Sun May 26, 2019 11:42 am

Nice Andrew.
Mind you, with all those short lengths of rail, the cost of the number of rail joiners you used must have pretty much equated to a length of new rail!
Philip

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by steamer68 » Mon May 27, 2019 10:58 am

Looking really good Andrew, I like the ideas of using brick track beds.
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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Mon May 27, 2019 7:51 pm

philipy wrote: Sun May 26, 2019 11:42 am Nice Andrew.
Mind you, with all those short lengths of rail, the cost of the number of rail joiners you used must have pretty much equated to a length of new rail!
Luckily, when I came to look I found that I'd over-ordered last time I purchased fishplates. And, since the siding literally used up every last inch of usable track I've got left, it didn't feel too wasteful!

Cheers,
Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Mon May 27, 2019 7:53 pm

steamer68 wrote: Mon May 27, 2019 10:58 am Looking really good Andrew, I like the ideas of using brick track beds.
Thanks Kevin! The combination of bricks and Postcrete makes for fairly easy ground-level track laying - because this was just a siding I was slightly less careful than I might have been with levels etc, which made things even quicker, but I'll have to ballast carefully to correct anything that's too wonky...

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sat Jun 01, 2019 10:58 am

Hello all,

With a busy weekend ahead I started work early today, before the kids got up, to make sure that there'd be at least some progress on the Penlan station project.

This morning's task was to add the platform. I'd prepared the ground a little earlier in the week, painting the wooden edging with preservative and walling in the hebe at the back of the platform with scraps of slate, so this morning was about spreading the Postcrete that forms the surface, representing the old WHR's simple earth/gravel platforms.

Here it is awaiting a spray with the hose, with the station building wrapped in clingfilm for protection and then nestled into the cement in an attempt to avoid there being a gap:

Penlan platform.jpg
Penlan platform.jpg (319.6 KiB) Viewed 6095 times

You can't see it in the picture, but behind the station the new siding is ballasted and covered in plastic sheet while the SBR dries. Typically for me, I lost the turkey baster I purchased for SBR application before I'd even used it, so it was back to my old syringe, but with the flow controlled by my finger rather than the plunger. Probably not strictly in line with the H&S guidelines on the container, but I seem to have survived unscathed...

Family duties permitting I might be able to get the rest of the ballasting done this weekend, paving the way for running some trains on the next one. We shall see...

Cheers all,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Mitch stack » Sat Jun 01, 2019 1:05 pm

Great progress andrew! looks marvelous, Hope to see some russell action soon!

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by philipy » Sat Jun 01, 2019 1:24 pm

Looking good Andrew.
Andrew wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 10:58 am the new siding is ballasted and covered in plastic sheet while the SBR dries.
If your weather is anything like ours ( 26-27deg forecast today) then I'd uncover it pdq and let the warmth dry and set it. I've found that once it has a firmish skin a small amount of rain doesn't harm it even if it's still soft underneath the top layer. It goes white when wet but that goes again as soon as it starts to dry and each time it happens it gets a bit less.
Philip

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sat Jun 01, 2019 4:09 pm

Good advice Philip, thanks!

I needed to cover it earlier while I watered in the Postcrete platform (actually, I think that may have been an idea I pinched from you!) but it's now drying beautifully in the afternoon sunshine...

And thanks Mitch - sorry, no Russell action just yet, but I did get to do a little ballasting this afternoon, so naturally I had to run a ballast train...

Here it is making its way up the garden:

Ballast train 1.jpg
Ballast train 1.jpg (423.51 KiB) Viewed 6072 times
Ballast train 2.jpg
Ballast train 2.jpg (401.21 KiB) Viewed 6072 times


And unloading at Penlan:

Ballast train 3.jpg
Ballast train 3.jpg (367.46 KiB) Viewed 6072 times


It seems that the little chap in the dungarees will have to sort this lot out by himself, no wonder he doesn't look terribly pleased...

Ballast train 4.jpg
Ballast train 4.jpg (239.51 KiB) Viewed 6072 times

Cheers all,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by philipy » Sat Jun 01, 2019 4:33 pm

Those last two are super piccys! :D

The age old question yet again, what is your ballast?
Philip

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sat Jun 01, 2019 4:49 pm

philipy wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 4:33 pm Those last two are super piccys! :D

The age old question yet again, what is your ballast?
Glad you like 'em!

The ballast is "Alpine Green" horticultural grit, which I purchased from B&Q a few years ago. I'm hoping they still sell it, because I've run out and am planning to buy some more tomorrow. I've ballasted but not glued the platform road and loop today, but not the pointwork at each end. Tomorrow, maybe???

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by philipy » Sat Jun 01, 2019 6:02 pm

I only asked because my supply is running low and yours look very similar. I bought 2 x25Kg of https://resinbondedaggregates.com/produ ... ranite-3mm years ago for 10 quid, which I collected.
The trouble is they charge £55 delivery! It would actually be cheaper to drive to Derbyshire and collect it. I was driving all over the country for work last time, so it wasn't a problem back then. I suspect your B&Q stuff comes from the same source, though.
Philip

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by FWLR » Sun Jun 02, 2019 8:41 am

Great to see the station in position Andrew.

Love the little guy having to put the ballast down by himself. Great story... :thumbright:


Weather here is still miserable..Haven't seen the :sunny: for 4 days now.. :(

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sun Jun 02, 2019 11:31 am

FWLR wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 8:41 am Weather here is still miserable..Haven't seen the :sunny: for 4 days now.. :(
Unfortunately it's raining here too - it started the moment I set foot outdoors! I'm hoping I'll get some decent evenings this week so that I can still run some trains next weekend. Fingers crossed...

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:12 pm

The weather in Kent has been lovely this weekend!

I do like all your planting Andrew.

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sun Jun 02, 2019 5:44 pm

tom_tom_go wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:12 pm The weather in Kent has been lovely this weekend!

I do like all your planting Andrew.
It's rained all day here but brightened up beautifully now - can any of the resident SBR gurus remind me if I can apply the stuff to wet chippings?

Glad you like the greenery Tom - it wasn't really planned that way, it looks very different to how it started out, it's just kind of evolved...

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by philipy » Sun Jun 02, 2019 6:42 pm

Andrew wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 5:44 pm - can any of the resident SBR gurus remind me if I can apply the stuff to wet chippings?
Not sure that I qualify as a guru, but I would say damp would be OK but I wouldn't chance it if they are soaking wet. There is too much risk of the SBR being diluted from the tops of the top layer and not having enough coverage to grip. I did once experiment with misting the dry chippings first to allow faster absorption of the SBR, with variable results depending on how much mist was applied.
Philip

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Re: The (Windmill Hill) Welsh Highland Railway

Post by Andrew » Sun Jun 02, 2019 7:12 pm

Thanks Philip!

I think I'll give it a miss this evening, but tomorrow looks dry so I might manage to SBR the un-glued ballast in the evening...

All the best,
Andrew

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