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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/30/2017 in all areas

  1. Just a note to remind you our show is next Saturday, sadly Harnsers Loke has been withdrawn another layout has been sought.
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  2. Hi Steve, A year on, and I'm still checking for updates on your "temporary" layout. Do you have anything to report? Having just re-read some of your posts, a thought occurred to me. In your post of 19th January, 2015, 8:19 pm (couldn't find a post number), you wrote about reaching a point where you had to excavate below ground level. I'm really looking forward to reading about an underground extension to your project!! Cheers, Brian
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  3. (This started out as a response to recent remarks, but it grew into a random blend of stream-of-consciousness and discussion document. Ah well, it can stay. Maybe someone will be dedicated enough to read it. No pictures in this one, unfortunately.) I hadn't heard of the Forest of Boland Light Railway before. Might have to try & find a copy. I have to say that there seem to be remarkable parallels between the Weekend Railway and the Driving Creek Railway which Roy mentioned under 'Real Railways' some time ago http://www.oogardenrailway.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=894" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. The railway's website http://www.drivingcreekrailway.co.nz/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is well worth a look, especially the 'train ride' page. Click the start button and watch the pictures above. Very Weekendish. A drawback of all the WR's zigzags is that they're only really suitable (and long enough) for push-pull trains. The Dean Goods 'works' train was a good excuse to bend the rules a bit, but the fact remains that it's a very specialised branch, and there's no real solution to that - there just isn't space for more spiral curves. OSB & longer-term thinking? Hmm. As those who've read the early pages will know, the initial build was done entirely with materials that were already to hand - the only new purchase was the track, everything else was leftovers from other projects, mainly the Shed and Fence, and the stock of random timber left here by the previous owner. Most of those timbers were long and straight (ish), the only flat bits we had were the OSB leftovers, so that’s what we used where a bit more width was needed. Didn't really think about longevity, as the WR was only supposed to be a short-term project. The original 'express' circuit was only in place for a fortnight, and I think the rest wouldn't (shouldn't) have lasted a lot longer, except that I found it unexpectedly useful to have a legislatively-unburdened but immersive outdoor project that Summer. So it grew. And then we had a mild Winter, so it survived, and by then I'd thought of some other silly things to try, so it grew some more, and now we've had another mild Winter (so far) and thus it still survives. And I keep thinking of more things I could try. The speed at which the OSB has degraded, compared to the (very!) ordinary timber used for most of the original trackbed, is a pain though. If the whole lot had fallen apart equally quickly it would be less of a problem, but manky old offcuts that have been laying outside for over 20 years seem remarkably resilient. Which is why recently, when a larger flat piece has been needed, ply has been used. Secondhand scrap ply, of course, but ply nonetheless. Unlike the OSB and most of the other timber, it's not pressure-treated, so it's been given a coat or two of something creosotey to delay fungus growth at least until after the tracks have been laid. But I don't ever intend the WR to become a 'permanent' installation. It'll stay where it is until it's in the way (as the express circuit was), or it falls down. That of course begs the question, how much of it needs to fall down? One or two mild depredations might as well be fixed (as they were at the start of last year), but if significant parts were lost, I can't imagine they'd ever be replaced like-with-like. That's part of the reason for not introducing masonry, scenery, complex wiring and so on: the more effort that's gone in, the more damage it's likely to be 'worth' repairing. I've already got enough cars in that category, the railway doesn't need to join them. Until then, I suspect it will continue to evolve, but that depends how much time is available. Maintenance demands elsewhere were relatively light last year, but at the moment I've already got an experimental gearbox rebuild and a couple of reasonably challenging welding jobs on the list, and since an inactive car is still wearing out its MoT, tax disc and insurance policy just sitting there, those will take priority. That doesn't stop me having ideas for further developments, unfortunately. At the moment, the zigzag branch ends part-way along 'level J.' With one further reverse, I think I could get a line into the air intake under Grumpy's front bumper. Don't ask why, or where it'd go next though, and yes it would need another lifting bridge underneath the first one. Or maybe that line could stay by the trees and reverse again (or more) until it approaches ground level - but again, there's no plan after that. A very low level might permit a Dorking-style contour-following line on the slope in front of the lower-numbered trees, but it still won't go anywhere. The 'flat' part of the garden isn't level enough for a ground-level express circuit, and in any case it would be a hazard to vehicle movements. If there's to be an express circuit again, it might as well be at eye height, as the original was - you get a more realistic view of the trains that way. The 'missing link' across the middle of the garden would have to be recreated as an easily-removable section, but that's not impossible. Twin-tracking would be good, trains always look good passing each other on sweeping curves at realistic track centres. When the stub fence was rebuilt last year as a multi-folding gate, the height of the 'castle door bar' that locks it extended was specifically chosen so that it could support the (lift-off) trackbed of part of a new express circuit. Building such a circuit in such a way that large sections were removable but trains would run reliably would be a challenge, and as you might have noticed, interesting challenges seem to motivate most developments here. So it’s got that in its favour! The other obvious challenge would be replacing the OSB bases of the return curves at each end of the two tree circuits. The OSB was originally 18mm, so a stepped lamination of two layers of 9mm ply would keep down the size of the boards required, whilst still fitting in with the existing supporting structure and approach gradients. I reckon the radius of Upper Grumpy Curve could be eased slightly, which would help with the gradients there, and the associated reversing triangle could be revised - as it would need to be, if it was to form part of a new express circuit (though there’s another idea associated with that, which would require some hand-built pointwork. ChrisC reckons he can do that sort of thing...). A reconstituted express circuit would need new shed door drawbridges too of course, but the one on the big Shed is on the point of collapse now anyway, the main timber is rotting. Or maybe something else will come up. Way back in post 52 Brian (sykarost) suggested a wind-driven alternator to charge a battery to power the trains; I fear a windmill big enough to drive the alternator fast enough might be a challenge, but if it could be made to work, I've got an old slightly leaky 12V waterpump, so perhaps we could have a wind-driven water feature.... All suggestions gratefully received. I won't promise to do anything about any of them, but it's always interesting to hear them. As Griff notes, it's all just a bit of fun, so you never know what might happen next. I don't.
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