Trevor

Hi I thought I ought to clarify the name of my layout, It's called the Great Wakering. Flackwell Heath and Whitefield Railway because Whitefield Lancashire was where I was born and lived until I was five we then moved to London Balham but this was not incorporated into the layouts name as it seemed not to fit in. Great Wakering was where my garns parents and eventually my parents lived and where I spent all my school holidays and Flackwell Heath is where we live now. These places are the names of the stations on my layout. I hope that information is helfull Trevor

Hi The final projects on the garden railway have all been moving along in the last 6 months, I have been aiming at a grand opening of the finished projects this summer. The final bridge, which has been a piece of wood since 2005, is almost finished it is a Faller kit of the Bietschtal Viaduct in Switzerland. The concrete track base when constructed in 2005 had been constructed with a gap of 43 1/4 ins ready for this bridge and the kit had been in the loft until January of this year when work started on it of course it had to have re-enforcement built in to it for outside use and for lifting in and out. The full story will appear in Hornby Magazine in due course, most months I have layouts which I have photographed for them in and articles on technical subjects on a regular basis. The engine shed area had the track laid last summer and is now being landscaped and ballasted and last Autumn I completed a street of houses against the outside wall of the Railway shed. Our Garden is now in the Yellow Book The Garden Visitors Handbook 2018 Opening beautiful gardens for charity (National Open Garden Scheme) and open by appointment, the running of the railway depends on the weather. Look in the book for details we are listed under Bucks No 49.

Hi Andrew You are welcome to visit if you will contact me on my email I can discuss possible dates all subject to weather. I try to block off in advance 3 consecrative days, day 1 is cleaning and fettling then 2 days of operation. I at last have finished the engine shed which is situated at a lower level next to Flackwell Heath station and accessed by the curved viaduct over the harbour as soon as I have finished the landscaping pixs will be posted. The main job for next April will be to replace 2 points and a diamond at the entrance to Great Wakering. Currently one point is held together with araldite and the diamond is nearly 30 years old and the plastic guard rails are beginning to dis intricate. I corrected one piece of track last week where it had been damaged I think with someone dropping a garden spade on it, and certain stock derailed. Managed to dig out the ballast and with 3 hands straightened the dip on a yard of track laid in 1981. Now to re-ballast not PVA but SBR (Waterproof PVA with Muscles). Went to Poland a couple of weeks ago to travel on and photograph the last steam computer trains in the world. Thought you might all like this pix a good weathering reference, the boiler is green! Trevor

Hi Modellers At last an update from the GWFH&W garden railway. The work on the last main component the engine is about to start with the hope it will be finished for May 2017. The station at Flackwell has been finished and as it partly under cover I have experimented with some woodland scenic products as part of the landscaping we will see what happens. If you wish to see a train cam journey from the completed Flackwell Heath station to Gt Wakering Harbour this journey is one of the items on this years Hornby DVD given away free with the January 2017 issue. I have attached 3 pixs showing the station and 2 of my loco portraits these form part of my loco record sheets which log maintenance, speed at different voltages and maximum load for the line all to insure perfect reliable running. I will be again on 2017 having open days ( I am afraid subject to weather) any one wishing to be added to a list for inviting, being at short notice, please contact me. Trevor Jones

Hi Tony Yes the pond is real - construction on the engine shed at the end of the curved viaduct to start this Autumn Trev fro Flackwell

News Flash This summer in front of a group OO society members the Rapido APT smashed all speed records. The train lapped the 2.8 scale mile Great Wakering, Flackwell Heath & Whitefield garden railway for 31/2 hours without derailment at speeds of between 165 and 175 MPH. Covering an actual 8.5 miles and in scale travelled beyond Aberdeen from Kings Cross A short video is on You Tube at

A new speed record has been established with the Rapido APT. The train lapped the 2.8 scale mile layout at 175MPH continuously for 31/2 hours without derailment covering approx 9 actual miles and covered a scale journey farther than from Kings Cross to Aberdeen. A video will be posted on U Tube when I am able to. Trevor Jones August 2016

Hi Chris I use a similar technique to indoors with PVA. Spread the ballast I use a propriety ballast spreader and around points very carefully spread by hand and leval with a small brush. The SBr i very slightly dilute and add a dro[ of washing up liquid and use a pipette to to place the liquid. It needs a couple of days of dry weather to set to the point that it is not effected by rain. Trevor

2 pixs one from 2008 when the viaduct was first built and the underside from this year

Hi Firstly please note that in my notification of the open day I mixed up my 2 email addresses the correct one is trevorol4969@gmail.com. The supporting arches are not cross curved they are brass I frame section. I should have cut off the curved end sections to the plastic plate beams attached to sides of the viaduct. I have attached a new photograph from water level to show the underside of the viaduct a few not possible without hanging upside down. Regards Trevor

Hi This years spring development has been the construction of Flackwell Heath harbour, it resides under the viaduct (constructed 9 years ago) which will lead to the engine shed. The intention had been just to have a pier made from brass section bit the introduction by Bachmann of its Scenecraft harbour walls and fishingman's lofts changed my plans. Over 2 months the harbour was constructed whilst balancing on a plank across the pond, the Hard to find Farm at the top of the hill was renovated and turned into a Smokery. The complete story of this can be read in the July issue of Hornby Magazine which is about to appear in the shops. The layout (subject to weather) will have an open day again this year and anyone interested should e mail me at trevorjonesol4969@gmail.com leaving there contact telephone number and a best time to ring them. The layout is located near High Wycombe. Trevor Jones

Hi The method used on the Great Wakering layout which has proved the test of time (35 years) for th oldest section is lay the track in medium temp conditions allow approx 1/4 mm gap on each joint use fishplates replace the end sleeper of each yard of track with a soldiered paxilon one. Split main line into sections of approx scale 1/4 mile with feeder cable, I isolate both rails. I have then found no problem with using telephone cable to bond accross rail joints which is easy to soldier. On sections of this length I have found no voltage drop and no problems even when double heading and even with running at 1/2 amp consumption with old type motors. All control panels have Volt and Amp meters in circuit and I use feed back type ECM this reduces the extremes of up hill and down hill speed differences. All locos have a maximum Voltage setting appropiate to the type of train and loco with a line maximum of 75 - 80 mph scale speed. Even with the large radius's uses in the garden this is far in excess then the prototype. My layout will be open again this year so please contact me if you wish to visit. Trevor Jones

Happy New Year to all Garden Railway Modellers During the late Autumn I have been spending my time on repainting and reorganising my railway shed, a 35 year old building of rendered block work construction. My next project is to weather super detail and shorten couplings on all new stock.; hopefully finding time to finish some kits. One project is to modify tank locos that shunt the yard at Gt Wakering which is across the pond and some 12 -15ft from the controller. In 2012 I wrote an article for Hornby magazine on improvements I made to the Model Rail Sentinel shunter and with the Hornby industrial Peckett due this year I thought reproducing the bones of the article may be of help. The pickups on the Sentinel are from the pinpoint bearings on the axles. This method I have used in the past when constructing kits but only for secondary pickups on bogies and found that occasionally this method gave intermittent electrical conductivity. To help the Y3 to have the best of electrical conductivity I decided firstly to introduce a secondary pickup sprung downwards on the top running surface of the wheels; this and additional weight did make a considerable improvement but stalling still occurred occasionally. A higher voltage on the track does slightly improve the running but this of course would amount higher running speeds so I introduced a 47 ohms ½ watt resistor into the cab of the Sentinel, thus reducing its speed whilst keeping the track pick up voltage higher. In fact its top speed on 15 V is now 35 mph, closely matching the original. The Y3 had a low gear and a high gear giving a top speed of 13.MPH for shunting and 36.5MPH for travelling between locations; one delivered in 1931 had a different sprocket ratio giving a low gear top speed of 10.5 MPH and in high gear 28.5MPH. On test a remarkable slow running speed of 0.2 mph was achieved over 1056 mm, a 20th of a scale mile, this included transversing over 2 Peco curved points set back to back as a junction, 1 being insul frog and 1 electro frog. The Y3 with the additional weights came in at 160 gms and slipped to a stop with a load of 25 gms on the drawbar, a very high output for such a small locomotive and roughly equal to pulling approx 20 wagons up a 1in 80 gradient. The loco ran perfectly down the steep gradient to the dockside on the 1 in11 gradient. Many locomotives hunt when preceding downhill but the Sentinel is perfect, be it that it still stalled occasionally, not surprising seeing that any 0-4-0 loco running outside can easily be upset by minor dirt particles or an unevenness in the track; this of course would apply to many industrial settings where track levels tended to be irregular. The final improvement I made to its running was to permanently attach a shunting truck with pickups wired to the Sentinel, at last perfection. The Sentinel has now become my pride and joy as a slow running shunting loco; it will pull in addition to its shunters wagon 3 wagons up the 1in11 or one full length baggage car, just what I required. I have attached a photograph. With the thought of repainting locos I also offer this humours pix from a Steam & Girls calendar that I produce in 2003.

Hi All Some news to bring you up to date. Various problems occurred this year to slow down railway developments, firstly a second replacement hip for Janet my wife and my accident resulting in a fracture in a vertebrate. Work however completed a make over to a section of line and adjacent garden This was featured in Hornby Magazine and will be in the 2016 DVD given away with the January issue, also in the new loco reviews are several tested and shot on the layout. Work commenced on the station platforms in the loops at the bottom of the garden this area still incomplete has rarely featured in photographs, as it is semi uncover hopefully the station area will be completed this winter and feature in Hornby magazine next year showing platform construction installation of an additional sleep uncoupling ramp and station lighting. This only remains for the engine shed to be installed although the base was constructed years ago and wiring installed and connected to the control panel. Despite medical problems I had 3 good days of running in October no more now until April. Attached is shot of the Met Bo-Bo runs like a dream but with the usual Heljan low couplings to be sorted. Trevor

Hi All my rock is real Limestone a concrete foundation is used and the rock is mortared in place using rendering sand at 1 -3 the colour matches the limestone. If I want moss to grow on joints or to hide cables I plaster on a mix using peat rendering sand and cement at 2 1 1, this is softer and can be chilsed away without damaging whats underneath. Regards Trevor