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Amblethorpe


chris
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First train out on yesterdays running session derailed. Nothing uncommon about that. The odd thing was that I couldn't get the train back on the rails. 

On inspection I noticed that the rails were out of gauge, a couple of millimetres narrower than they should have been.

They were narrow gauge for the length of the the viaduct. The sleepers had the look of narrow gauge track, wiggling about under the rails. The heat had got to them, but why this week and not when the temps here reached 39ºc last month?

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Last week, to mitigate the intense sun heating up my conservatory I placed some reflective insulation roll over the windows. This reflected the sun back on to the tracks. They got a double dose of sunlight. Enough to cook the plastic sleepers.

At one point last week, while sat in my temperate conservatory, my mind did wander as to where all the heat that would have been trapped in that room had gone. Now I know.

This only happened to set track, flexi was fine. They use different plastic to make set track and turnouts ridged.

I replaced the set track on the viaduct a few months ago with new track. This was because I'd had enough of soldering track which had been outside for 8 years. I've still got the old lengths. I'll be putting them back into front line service.

The train that discovered the track fault? My Network Rail gauging train. Very appropriate.

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Network Rail and Northern Rail sharing the platforms at the new mini Colwick terminus.

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  • 1 month later...

The green is a grass mat from Lidl. Unfortunately they have changed the design and the one they now (occasionally) stock is more grasslike and thus over scale for OO garden railway use.

I bought two 2 metre by 1 metre rolls. I've about half of the second roll left.

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The sun was out for this weeks running session.

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I finally got round to buying two more JNA Network Rail gondola wagons. I now have a rake of 5 which is prototypical. I gave them a run out with my 5 Auto-ballasters. A formation I have seen go passed the bottom of the garden.

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It was nice to have the Voyager running.

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8 hours ago, chris said:

The green is a grass mat from Lidl. Unfortunately they have changed the design and the one they now (occasionally) stock is more grasslike and thus over scale for OO garden railway use.

I bought two 2 metre by 1 metre rolls. I've about half of the second roll left.

hanks for he info Chris. I will keep my eyes open when around Aldi and Lidl. Yes this weeks sunny weather was a nice surprise. Was able to have a short running session, but had a lattice fence that needed a paint before the bad weather comes. Hoping to get the job completed tomorrow with enough time for another run. Is your Voyager the Dapol one?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just catching up (yes, once again!) with what everyone's been up to and it's great to see you back up and running Chris after all your remedial work this year. The layout's looking as good as ever. It's hard to believe that (just had to double-check) it's been over 12 years!

I take it that everything's settled down and is working fine again?

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Things were working well. The running season is now over. A couple of turnouts need replacing. The big job is to replace the baseboard that remains from the original construction in 2010. I've been putting that job off, because I want to re-roof my shed beforehand. But I'm procrastinating  over the new roof. May be next year.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Chris, once again thank you for your time placing photos here for us to see and pinch ideas from. You are to me very lucky to be able to see ''Real railways'' close by. All we see on our local line are class 150 Arriva Trains Wales single units with occasional two unit express.

Are you aiming to get your shed roof recovered before the bad weather starts or in the spring. I don't envy you that job.

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  • 2 months later...

I was having problems with damp in my shed. The wood is old now and it soaks up the rain. Which then evaporates when the sun warms it. This increases the humidity, which condenses on everything when things cool down. Long term solution is to clad it in steel sheets!

The humidity and condensation was bothering me. I had a tiny fan blowing air out the shed. This wasn't effective. I stripped out a larger fan from a dead video projector. Screwed it to the shed wall, so it blows out through the whole the trains come though. A 12V power "brick" supplies it. It is very effective. 

I tried putting on a timer so it came on an off throughout the day. I found that there was condensation on the window. I decided to leave it running all the time. It's only a few Watts, so I doubt I'll notice my electricity bill going up.

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  • 7 months later...

Very quiet year for Amblethorpe. Only had one running session. On the plus side, there was only one problem with the track. Two bonding wires had failed. Both on the same price of track. Fixed it yesterday when I had my iron out to do similar work on the PR&PR.

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