Garden Railway Forum

Peter,
I confess to having looked this up, despite being in the Marine game and tapping my barometer every morning. On an average monthly basis we run from a low around 58% in January, to mid 70% June, July. That said this summer just passed has had some very humid days with rain on top of the heat. We don't get anything sub zero temp. wise but we get just about everything else, as the saying goes "That's Melbourne weather!"
Grant.

Gorilla currently sell four products here in Oz, more in the US.

The first one was just called Gorilla Glue originally, but as they added other products it is now labelled 'Original Gorilla Glue'. One wonders how many liquid lunches it took the marketing dept. to come up with that one.

The one Grant uses is the 'Original' and is a polyurethane glue, translucent brown in colour. The bond cure is initiated by moisture on the surfaces to be glued. As it cures it gives off carbon dioxide and heat. Too much moisture and it foams. Hence the instructions to clamp joints while the glue cures.

They also make 'Gorilla Wood Glue' which is an aliphatic PVA and cream in colour. This is my preferred woodworking glue now that Triton wood glue has disappeared, as the cured joint is stronger than the wood and it gives a water resistant joint.

There is also a 'Gorilla Super Glue' which is one of the newer cyanoacrylate formulations, so the joint is reasonably shock resistant. This is now my preferred brand of super glue. Unlike early super glues, the model doesn't convert back to a kit if knocked.

Regards,
Graeme

Just to clarify, the glue I use is white, dries clear, and is non foaming. It's called Gorilla Wood Glue. I guess I was wrong to say it was polyurethane based.(did say I wasn't a Chemist) It has certainly proved to be waterproof as I use it on my RC boats as well.
Grant.

Hello again,

Yesterday saw an unusual amount of progress on the (WH)WHR, focussing on the previously rather neglected Trefechan station area. I cleared an area behind the station which had served as a spoil heap during construction, held in place by a retaining wall of loose bricks. Various bits of broken slate were used to define the area, held in place with Postfix, which was also used to secure some broken slabs into a solid base for he station building. With that sorted more Postfix, mixed with a little sieved earth, was used to create a platform surface - it sets so quickly that it all got done in a morning. Some golden marjoram donated by a neighbour and my old "Koala Brothers" station building completed the scene - for now at least...






The afternoon sun has been kind and hidden the station's peeling paintwork, which will need some touching up. It has previously served at Windmill Hill, on my old line, as well as Penlan on this one, so it's not doing too badly...

At some point it will be replaced by a model of a NWNGR brick and slate building, with a matching signal box. This weekend I read that - once it was no longer required for its intended purpose - the box at Tryfan Junction was taken over by the station master who used it as an aviary for his canaries! Now that just has to be modelled...

The track through the station still needs to be ballasted, but before I do that I plan to sort of the longer of he station's sidings. It's on a concrete block wall which needs facing with slate before I realign the track a little. I got the slate cut yesterday, see below - later this week I'll be busy with the Gorilla Glue again...



No progress to report today, but I did get along to the open day at St Philip's Marsh, which was fun. Of the advertised steam locos only "Royal Scot" actually turned up, but I was surprised how pleased I was to see a bunch of heritage diesel locos. Three blue class 50s looked lovely together, and a 35, 40, 45 were also a pleasing sight. The whole event was to celebrate 40 years of 125s, and there was a line-up of 6 power cars, plus the prototype power car and one unveiled in original blue and grey livery. As well as all that I managed to purchase books on the Manx Northern and East Kent railways, plus one on the Irish narrow gauge, for just £2 each. I'd like to read them but they're currently hidden because I had to sneak them into the house...

Cheers all,

Andrew.

Nice work Andrew. I look forward to the days when I am working on track not brickwork! Reading posts like this always give me a boost to crack on.

Was the class 40 a green one? There was a very nice shiny one on the Tech Centre at Derby at the start of last week but it shuffled off somewhere on Friday.

Andrew

Soar Valley Light:117816 wrote:
Was the class 40 a green one? There was a very nice shiny one on the Tech Centre at Derby at the start of last week but it shuffled off somewhere on Friday.

Andrew

Yes, it looked lovely. The 45 was in an unusual version of blue. Unless I've got them muddled up, which is a possibility... I can just remember seeing 45s on the sea wall at Dawlish, I guess the'd have been on the services that Voyagers work now...

The station and platform are looking good Andrew. I do love that station building, got quite an Australian look to it.
Grant.

Progress is looking good Andrew. Those Koala Brothers buildings are just ripe for being bashed aren't they? It was probably you I pinched the idea from......



Rik

Evening all,

As mentioned previously, recent work on the line has involved tidying it up a little, particularly around Trefechan, which has always been rather neglected.

The long siding has been relaid, the slate wall/ledge it sits upon glued and grouted into place, and the whole station site has been ballasted.

Here's a couple of grotty trucks basking in the evening sun:



It seems like an appropriate photo to sign off with for now. Playing with and writing about trains needs to take a back seat for a while, so for the time being at least I'll say farewell. Thanks for the company, have a great summer and keep on enjoying the trains...

With very best wishes,

Andrew.

Hello all!

It's been an awfully long time since I've been here, but it's good to see lots of familiar faces (well, names...) and some new ones too - I hope this finds you all well...

I've done very little in the way of modelling or running trains over the last 18 months, so there's not much to report I'm afraid. I finally finished a little inspection railcar, fashioned from an HGLW chassis and a Peppa Pig camper van and had planned to share a couple of snaps of that running a month or two ago, but it seems Photobucket have decided to stop hosting photos on third party sites without charging, so that's not worked. I'll have to work out another way, perhaps by dusting down the old website - I seem to have lost all the images on this thread too. Oh well...

Apart from that, I've got a couple of NWNGR coal wagons partially finished, and I've started building a plate frame Simplex on another HGLW chassis, but that's almost it I think. The railway is under-used and over-grown, but I hope for better things next year - I'll let you know!

What I have been doing, railway-wise, is to join the Avon Valley Railway fundraising team - it's my local line and it was help I could offer without needing to commit to the time involved in conventional railway volunteering. Anyway, that was one reason for getting in touch now - to ask you a favour, if you feel so inclined...

The AVR's little Sentinel locomotive should return to steam next year - it used to shunt the sidings at the Fry's Somerdale chocolate factory, which is only a mile or two away and visible from the end of the line at Avon Riverside. It's a lovely loco but too small to pull regular trains, so we've applied to the Aviva Community Fund for £5k to restore a BR brake van to give rides behind it. To get through to the next round we need to succeed in a public vote - we're doing well but need all the support we can get, so if you fancy it do please visit https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voti ... ew/17-3937 and do the necessary... You need to register I'm afraid (which can be tricky, the site seems rather unreliable!) but that doesn't seem to result in any spam... Thanks in advance for any help in boosting our vote!

OK, plug over. I'll be back in touch sometime with updates on the garden line - or possibly a little indoor line I'm mulling over, inspired by the chocolate factory theme...

With very best wishes,

Andrew.

Ah Andrew, I was hoping you would return!

You can easily add pictures to the updated forum and if you download all your old photos from Photobucket I can change their location to the new forum (as long as you do not rename any of the files).

PM me if you want to do this and hope to see some railway action from you soon.

Tom

Hello Andrew,
Nice to hear from you again.
The Chocolate factory layout sounds wonderful but please be aware that The Dept. of the Environment have declared Oompa Lumpas a non-native, invasive species and are looking into a cull starting next year.

Good to hear from you again Andrew, hope you retrieve your line from the undergrowth. I enjoy retrieving mine after winter, I find you can make it look decrepit or nicely trimmed either way.
Grant.

Ah, it's good to be back! I've been having a look round and there's so much inspirational stuff going on - I'll participate properly again once I've got a little more modelling time...

In the meantime,that chocolate factory microlayout idea keeps bubbling away... I had a bit of a brainwave this morning when it came to me that I could construct it using one of these as a "baseboard":



It could live outdoors (vertically, minus legs, behind our raised deck) then be worked on, operated or even exhibited indoors or out, with or without legs... It looks like a Flagg Fluorspar/ Pigsty Brewery type layout using Faller track could fit relatively happily. I'm thinking of modifying Big Big tippers to deliver Maltesers and "scaling" (eeek!) the Fry's Sentinel to sit on an HGLW chassis. If it happens it'll be a bit of fun - and not to any known scale! That said, both loco and factory are pretty distinctive, so I should be able to capture something of the flavour (chocolate, of course) of the original:



I'll post on here if I ever turn these idle thoughts into reality...

Thanks to everyone who's registered and added their votes for the (real) "Chocolate Train" - if you'd like to join in you've got until Tuesday lunchtime. We've just crept over the 3,000 votes mark which should see us through to the next round, where a panel of judges make the final decision - but their criteria includes popularity, so every vote counts! https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voti ... ew/17-3937

All the best,

Andrew.

PS Thanks for the offer re the photos Tom, much appreciated, I'll drop you a line over the weekend...

Votes cast.

An old family friend (Bill B) was a fireman on steamers and brought my dad up to see my railway last month. He was based at Philips Marsh in Bristol and one of his regular trips was to the chocolate factory. He was telling us how, on cold days, the girls would give him bars of chocolate for a warm in the cab, nothing more he said!

Thanks for the votes - and for the fantastic story! I believe there was a "transfer" to Somerdale twice a day, usually pannier hauled - although apparently the rule book allowed anything except a railcar, so it could theoretically have been a King...

Perhaps the chocolate girls were unaware that there was another way to keep warm - one of the Sentinel's driver kept a bathtub at the end of its shed! There were only ever two drivers, the two chaps in the photo...

Cheers all,
Andrew.

Hello again!

Thanks again to those that voted for the Avon Valley Railway's "Chocolate Train" - we got the money! The wagon restoration team can now order the timber they need to rebuild a BR brake van to run with the old Frys factory Sentinel when it returns to steam later this year - thank you!

The chocolate factory layout has moved on too, from a vague idea to a baseboard, some track, and the beginnings of a building. The pressure's on though - I've agreed to exhibit it at the AVR model railway exhibition at the end of April! Watch this space...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Good news Andrew, let's have some updates of the layout from you then

I second what Tom said, good to hear from you again.
Grant.

Excellent news and explains the Aviva email I had this week. Keep us posted on the exhibition as you're not too far away.