The Railway in the Valley of the Mill

[Phil.P]

That must be a 'scale' 5.6mm.

Damn those pesky decimal-places!


Phil.P

[Trevor Thompson]

That must be a 'scale' 5.6mm.

Damn those pesky decimal-places!


Phil.P

Yes I see what you mean!

I have corrected the decimal place errors.

Trevor

[Trevor Thompson]

It has been a while since I posted an update. However things have been progressing. The bank has been excavated further, and I am now working on the last 5 foot to the concrete steps by the greenhouse. The retaining wall and the all important shelf for the track have also moved on, and there is "only" 12 foot of it left to make. Track has been laid along the completed wall, and the passing loop has been ballasted:

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IMG_3759.jpeg (4.13 MiB) Viewed 557 times

It has been so wet here that Dinah has only got 2 of her beds ready to plant, and one planted up.

Trevor

[philipy]

It has been so wet here that Dinah has only got 2 of her beds ready to plant, and one planted up.

Much the same everywhere I think,Trevor. We certainly haven't been able to get out and do anything more than a bit of pruning of last years die back.

Still, it's good to see the railway is still making progress.

[ge_rik]

I don't want to brag, but we've actually got sunshine here today.....
But more rain (and Storm Kathleen) is in the forecast

Rik

[drewzero1]

It all looks so green! I've been hoping to get a start on my gardening soon but we just got 6 inches of snow this week. At least I can't see the weeds.

[Old Man Aaron]

A lot of rain down my way too, for a long time. Nice to see things pushing forward.

[Trevor Thompson]

A lot of rain down my way too, for a long time. Nice to see things pushing forward.

Interesting that you are getting lots of rain as well!

Trevor

[Trevor Thompson]

I have managed to actually run a train today!

Link to the Video:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t77i5sx3 ... rbkm3&dl=0

The locomotive is the one I have just fitted the "Cheapo Chinese Sound Card" to. I have also fitted a geared motor and metal bevel gears, which explains the smooth slow running.

Trevor

[-steves-]

I have managed to actually run a train today!

Link to the Video:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t77i5sx3 ... rbkm3&dl=0

The locomotive is the one I have just fitted the "Cheapo Chinese Sound Card" to. I have also fitted a geared motor and metal bevel gears, which explains the smooth slow running.

Trevor

Sounds great and lovely slow speed running

[LNR]

Fabulous video, of a fabulous line. You really get a sense of covering distance.
Grant.

[Peter Butler]

Wonderful video Trevor, proper train in natural surroundings. I was a little anxious as it crossed the trestle though.

[gilfachphil]

Splendid stuff Trevor,

I could almost be tempted to try some sound! I really like seeing the motion on the loco.

Peter,

I'm always frightened the first time I drive a train across the trestle bridge, it's a very long way down if something goes wrong, and carefully follow it round the whole way. It's always been fine to date!

Phil

[ge_rik]

Wonderful video Trevor, proper train in natural surroundings. I was a little anxious as it crossed the trestle, though.

Me too, it sounded quite blustery at that point- I was expecting any moment for the brake van to take a short-cut .....

Rik

[philipy]

I'll echo what the others have said, it is lovely to see a train going somewhere!

[Trevor Thompson]

Wonderful video Trevor, proper train in natural surroundings. I was a little anxious as it crossed the trestle though.

Yes you are not the only one who worries about trains crossing the trestle viaduct! however I have no qualms about it - I have never had any issues with it. It seems quite prototypical to me - in that the tallest dry stone viaduct is on the Ffestiniog railway, with no railings, and they don't seem to have had anything fall off it.

So the next time you come to run trains here just run over it slowly - nothing will come off!

Trevor

[Peter Butler]

Thanks for the reassurance Trevor, comforting to know.
The sound of the wind, and experiencing the force of the wind here not far away from you, had me worried.
At our next meeting I will run my trains there without hesitation, but slowly!

[Trevor Thompson]

The digging continues!

I have now reached the steps, and laid the gravel board track bed in place. So I just have to build the last 12 feet of retaining wall:

IMG_3807.jpeg (4.6 MiB) Viewed 364 times

I can now see where the tunnel has to go - as in exactly where it has to go - and how it is to fit in with the existing steps:

IMG_3808.jpeg (3.67 MiB) Viewed 364 times

I wondered if I could get away with just digging the soil out below the highest step in this photo. Thinking through how to actually do that, and how to line the tunnel (so that soil does not fall onto the tunnel track) makes me think that isn't the easy way to do it (if there is an "easy way" to do it). So I think I will use my large grinder to cut slots across the step, then use my SDS drill with a chisel, to break up that step. With the soil below the step exposed I can dig it out from above. Then lay the last piece of gravel board as a track bed, shutter and pour the concrete sides of the tunnel. Cover the tunnel with sections of concrete slab before shuttering and pouring a replacement step.

Of course before doing that I will need to cut away some of the bank behind the greenhouse, but then I have a gardener lined up for next week - so guess what he is going to be doing. The clue is I hope he likes digging!

Trevor

[Old Man Aaron]

Nothing better than hard work and good progress.

[Trevor Thompson]

It's stopped raining!

So now for some maintenance:

Firstly the viaduct needs some attention. The foundations have moved slightly ( I didn't make them properly). So I have reinforced them:

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The first section cast and the shuttering in place for the second section.

Secondly the concrete foundation in the centre of the next photo has dropped slightly over the last 2 years or so, leaving some odd lumps in the track which long coaches struggle with. The last section of the viaduct took a decidedly downward dip to meet the concrete. So I have lifted the track and reset the last section of the viaduct so that it was in line with the rest of the viaduct. The track has been refitted into the gap and supported on spacers:

IMG_3836a.jpg (3.21 MiB) Viewed 201 times

and re-ballasted:

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Some lengths of fencing at Tan-y-bwlch had fallen down, so they have been glued back into place:

IMG_3838.jpeg (4.99 MiB) Viewed 201 times

Lastly some of my early points are not working properly. These two have always caused the occasional derailment. So I have decided to rebuild them using my latest techniques ( which are still evolving after making 14 of them!). The points in question before being lifted:

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More on the points later!

Trevor