Jump to content

mick

Members
  • Posts

    5,221
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    323

Posts posted by mick

  1. Yes the years come and go ever more quickly these days it seems but at least you've managed to get outdoors and get something done, unlike some of us! The weather's been okay so hopefully you've been able to get some running in.

    Shame about the warped decking board but it's to be expected after a while. Personally I would avoid such materials in the future as much as I could although for anything above ground level there are few alternatives in a similar price band.

  2. That looks really, really nice Mark. You've made a smashing job with the ballasting. It all looks like a proper railway.

    The realistic sleeper spacing looks much better which reminds me of the time I adapted some of my Peco track by cutting through the sleeper webs. I never got round to ballasting it properly and in the end I got fed up with the sleepers moving about and it was all replaced with standard Peco when I renewed the track base.

    I note that you glue the track down and wondered if you've experienced any problems with the 'no more nails' type adhesive to date? I've used it and similar exterior products extensively outdoors and always find that it's fine for a while but over time it starts to become soft and pliable and the joined parts begin falling apart. I would imagine at track level it's going to be prone to damp conditions but perhaps the SBR will hold everything together?

  3. Thanks Andrew but I've got quite a bit of work to do to get certain parts of the layout back in order. There's nothing major and nothing that would prevent me running trains but I must do something with the viaduct walls before they appear on film again. I wish I knew what was damaging them - might have to install a camera to find the culprit(s)!

  4. Well you said it was coming so I'm pleased to hear that renovation has commenced. I'm sure once the hard work is out of the way (and don't forget you can enjoy that too) it will all have been worthwhile and give you (and us) many more years of interest and enjoyment.

  5. I've still not had a running session this year and nor have I made a start on repairing the damage to the viaduct parapet walls caused by the pigeons. In fact the viaduct walls have sustained further damage since my last post and it's even affected the sections I had cemented in place which makes me think that there's something else causing the damage too - cats perhaps? 

    Yesterday I removed a large 'miniature' conifer from the edge of the track that I had allowed to get out of hand until it was just too large and overhanging the track itself. It also blocked part of the layout from view so in a way it was another reason to remove it. I can now see a good portion of the curve towards the tunnel.

    20230528_152209.thumb.jpg.0922ea701339568d4c19e704e5832cf4.jpg

    I need to plant something else here now behind the stonework that I can keep trimmed and in check and that doesn't entirely block the view as it could be a good spot for video and photographs if I ever get it up and running again!

    • Like 2
  6. Apologies for not updating this more frequently but I'll just give a quick update.

    We still have chicks in the nest though they should be ready for fledging any day now - I was expecting it to be today but it seems they're not quite ready to take that next step.

    Things haven't gone smoothly and we only have 5 remaining chicks out of the original 11. I can't be certain of the reasons why but I checked one morning to discover that 6 of the chicks had all died overnight and it wasn't a cold night. Checking back on the video I noticed that the 'mum' had spent almost the entire night covering the chicks to the rear of the nest, leaving ones near the front exposed. It was the ones at the rear that perished. I questioned whether it was simply accidental and they had overheated or perhaps even intentional and a way of 'thinning' them out. I guess I'll never know.

    The subsequent video showed the mum tearing the dead chicks apart and removing them bit by bit from the nest, and occasionally eating them - somewhat gruesome. There's also an attempt to remove a whole dead chick from the nest via the small entrance hole on the front of the nestbox but it wasn't able to manage it and so I removed that one along with one other that I could get to myself in the hope of keeping the nest clean.

    It's certainly opened our eyes to nature and what goes on out of sight.

    Of the 5 remaining chicks, 3 of them are somewhat bigger, and closer to being ready to fledge, than the other 2. This was them this morning and you can see the diference in size with the little one in the centre. All seem perfectly fine and are feeding well.

    1657637886_Screenshot_20230529-071912_SANNCEHOME.jpg.d22b2c47b6427871da532cd28e2c329b.jpg

  7. On 23/05/2023 at 20:47, kenbrunt said:

    ....Do any of you experience guys know of a fairly easy weather resistant mix that can be used to mould scenic banks etc? 

    I've used strips of old rags soaked in a cement mix and laid over a chicken wire framework. It's lightweight, pretty strong and weather resistant. I'm sure there'll be more suitable methods but it's been okay for my purposes.

  8. I'm pleased to hear that you've considered access to the track, especially alongside the fence at the rear, but do bear in mind that it may well be something you have to do before each and every running session in order to clean the track.

    Other than ensuring track is laid as level as possible, access to all areas of it would probably come a close second in order of importance. Large radius curves would be up there too in my opinion.

    Bridge, raised section, pond and waterfall are certainly going to help make a fascinating layout.

  9. Well she sure knew exactly what she was doing and just before 7:20am this morning there was the first chick emerging from it's shell.

    Screenshot_20230510-072709.jpg.550678ef3d68b5213ea8d50274fff500.jpg

    Within a few minutes there was another, and another, and by the time we had been out walking with George and returned home there were 7 or 8 chicks on view.

    Screenshot_20230510-161435.jpg.d16e35abd3a8f696523aec94d6d59bf7.jpg

    Exactly how many have now hatched I'm not entirely sure. It does appear that beneath the mass of little bare bodies there are probably 2 eggs remaining. I'll have to see if I can get a better view at some point.

  10. Hi Robin and welcome to the forum.

    Are you intending the railway to be OO gauge? The primary consideration with OO gauge is to ensure that whatever you decide to use for the track base is ideally perfectly level. You will probably get away with uneven track for a while but you'll very quickly become tired of constant derailments.

    Looking at the photos, if you are intending to locate the railway round the perimeter of the pond, running on top of the slabs, then you are going to have very sharp curves in the corners. I'm also not sure how you would access the rear section running alongside the fence for track laying or indeed for access in case of any derailments.

    I suppose I've been fortunate in that the 2 layouts I've built outdoors have both been done from a blank canvas, an open space without any restrictions. I'm not sure if you have any alternative space for a layout? Building around the perimeter of the pond looks like it could potentially be problematic though I suppose any type of outdoor layout is going to require a good deal of work. It all depends on what lengths you are prepared to go to.

  11. Hi John

    It's good to hear from you again though it sounds like you've been on quite some journey since your initial post. I'm sorry to hear that things haven't worked out as you had intended but I certainly admire you and your wife for attempting to start a new life, especially in another country. I'm sure that at a certain point in our lives we all entertain similar ideas though perhaps only a very few are brave enough to take the plunge.  My particular interest would have been to have a narrowboat and just cruise the rivers and canals but after watching YouTube videos of those who have already done so I'm not so sure anymore! I think it's far better to have the security of your own home with all its conveniences and just go walking along the towpaths.

    Anyway, I hope your circumstances improve quickly and you are able to find a home that's suitable for you both. Looking forward to hearing that the railway is a goer!

    • Thanks 1
  12. On 29/04/2023 at 02:02, Clay Mills Junction said:

    That seems a good call on the front wagon. I've browsed Paul Bartlett's photo site but not found an exact match. If containerised then it could be something like a 4 wheel freightliner chassis FBA/ FBB with tanker on top?

    It's understandable I suppose but it's a pity that the main focus with any type of media is almost always on the locomotive rather than the stock following behind. There are several occasions that I've come across where it would be great to be able to identify individual items of stock. I know nothing about 4-wheel Freightliner chassis but it sounds probable to me. Most of my containerised loads are on 4 wheel PFA wagons.

     

    • Like 1
  13. Last week we decided at short notice to book a few days away in Gargrave so we could revisit our walks along the Leeds & Liverpool canal. Fortunately we picked a decent week weatherwise and had an enjoyable time, though there was no sign of the Barn Owls we discovered last year. I think vacation-wise that will be it for a while now as I really want to get some things done at home.

    Next month will be George's first birthday and I've not really mentioned him that much recently so I'll include a recent photo taken a couple of days ago while we were out on a walk along the river Dearne. The river bank was covered in Dandelions so I just waited for him to settle among them.

    1PN42556.thumb.jpg.e4aee23a9629865dc5dd10957955b761.jpg

     

    • Like 2
  14. Things have moved on somewhat in the Bluetit box since my last post and we now have a clutch of 11 eggs

    1275778573_Screenshot_20230427-071716_SANNCEHOME.jpg.b4d1c5277a1fcd2fd1b443fc5fa77426.jpg

    As this is the first time we've actually experienced this at first hand I'm not really sure what we should expect but it does appear as if the female has started incubating the eggs. There have been no new eggs for 3 days and she has started sitting on them for long periods but she also disappears on a morning for up to three hours at a time, occasionally popping back briefly to check on everything. She'll return to the nest mid-afternoon and stay there until the following morning but I expected her to spend more time on the nest and her morning routine comes as something of a surprise. It's fascinating to see and learn.

  15. On 23/04/2023 at 21:18, Clay Mills Junction said:

    ....If anybody can identify the tanker wagons in the rake it would be useful. I have a speedlink VBA but the tanker at the front and the tankers at the rear (TTA?)

    I'm sure the rear ones are TTA's, at least they look very similar to the TTA wagons I have. The front wagon looks to be some type of 'tanktainer' and I have to admit that it's the first time I've come across, or at least noticed one, on a Scottish rake. I'll have to have a closer look through some of my books and see if I've got any photos as it could be a useful model for me too.

    • Thanks 1
  16. Between the 13th and 15th April it was business as usual with the female rising almost exactly at 6am each day and returning to the nest to sleep around 19:30pm. During the day there have been several brief visits with nothing really of note to mention.

    This morning, 16th April, after rising at 6am the female spent a little longer on the nest and we eventually caught a glimpse of the first egg.

    108217141_Screenshot_20230416-075811_SANNCEHOME.jpg.624c9de53bbedbb5c96dd6f14d19b192.jpg

    As Bluetits don't start incubating the eggs until all have been laid I wondered what she would do tonight but it appears she's spending the night on the nest as in previous days. In fact this evening the male has also visited the nestbox and appears at one point to have brought her some food.

  17. Yesterday evening our Bluetit didn't return to the nest until 19:25 and within a short time she was huddled up and asleep for the night. It was 06:01 when she woke and after a few brief stretches she was out of the box and away.

    709655827_Screenshot_20230412-150314_SANNCEHOME.jpg.f404a828b7fb858a5575b543f1e51fb2.jpg

    She entered the box again a couple of times between 08:00 and 10:00, only for brief periods and without actually doing anything, and since then there's been no evidence of any further visits.

  18. 15 hours ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

    ...Though, in all honesty, had I been starting completely from scratch now, I'd go with O scale.

    I'm not sure I would, although I can fully appreciate why that might be an attractive proposition to others.

    In the case of my attic layout, there's no way I could do the same in O gauge. I simply couldn't fit it into the space available. I could certainly fit O gauge into the garden but would then lose the sense of space which first attracted me out there. I'd also not have the same variety of stock available to me as I currently have in OO gauge. In all honesty I have few operational problems in the garden so it's never been something I've ever considered.

    While I enjoy running trains the main attraction for me is taking photos and videos and at the end of the day there is very little discernible difference between the various scales when viewing them back. I've seen N gauge before where the only tell-tale sign has been the front coupling.

  19. It's been 7 or 8 years since we purchased a couple of garden nestboxes complete with miniature cameras in the hope that we'd attract some nesting birds and be able to watch them building a nest, laying eggs and rearing young. Over that time we've watched intently each Spring but never succeeded in attracting anything other than the occasional over-wintering bumble bee. But this year has been different.

    Several weeks ago we noticed a pair of Bluetits entering one of the nestboxes located on the side of my shed. I'd cleaned the boxes out shortly before their visit, though to be honest there was nothing really inside other than some dead flies. For a few days the bluetits entered the box and appeared to be giving it a thorough examination so we were hopeful that this might be the year. In an effort to tempt them further, I placed some soft dried material on the base of both boxes which caught their attention and led to increased visits. And then slowly but surely the nesting material I had placed in the boxes began to disappear as the bluetits came back and forth until both boxes were once again completely bare. We assumed they had stolen the material for a nest elsewhere because for the next few days there were no further sightings.

    And then 3-4 weeks ago we noticed a smal amount of dried material on the base of the other nest box, located on the side of Pam's shed. Over the next few days it gradually increased in density until there was the obvious sign of a nest being constructed. Doing some research online it appears that only the female bluetit is involved in nest building and it's a process that can take her a matter of a few days or as long as a couple of weeks. Well it's been almost 4 weeks now and although we now have a well constructed nest there's still no sign of any eggs. Further research tells us that egg-laying generally begins in early May for Bluetits, timed so that the hatching of the eggs coincides with the emergence of the tiny caterpillars necessary to feed the young.

    Over the past few days the female bluetit has started sleeping in the box overnight, arriving there just after 19:00 and departing shortly after 06:00am. During the day there are few sightings of her so perhaps she's out feeding and building up reserves of energy.

    Out of interest, some days ago we clipped George's hair and placed the clippings on top of a shrub in sight of the nest box. Within an hour or so the Bluetit had gathered up the fur and lined the nest with it.

    The image below, taken on 31st March, gives an idea of the quality of the internal camera, although this is a 'screen grab' so actual video is slightly better. I'm sure that technology has moved on since we bought these cameras.

    20230331_094012.thumb.jpg.7bb5a82bf877507c1310298b397827ea.jpg

    And this photo below is the current state of the nest lined with some of George's hair clippings.

    992376643_Screenshot_20230411-144347_SANNCEHOME.jpg.139dfc75b2de9b4284b641b95de4bcdd.jpg

    And a performance wouldn't be complete without actors so this is a photo, presumably of the 'female' Bluetit, although I'm not sure how you tell the difference between the sexes. It's the one visiting the nest so I assume it to be the female.

    1PN41122-Edit.thumb.jpg.3bea9dd18ae395529c7516ce90368645.jpg

    I'll update further as things progress.

  20. 56 minutes ago, ba14eagle said:

    As i'm slowly losing some of my enthusiasm for OO....

    Sorry to hear that Iain but when things aren't going well I can fully appreciate how you must be feeling. Perhaps it would be better to concentrate solely on O gauge and put all your efforts into that? 

    I have to say I've enjoyed following along with your OO gauge exploits and it would be sad to see it come to an end, should that be a decision you eventually make, but just do whichever gives you the most satisfaction. 

  21. Since January, when I last posted in this thread, I've taken literally hundreds, if not thousands, of bird photographs so I'm only able to show a small number here.

    If you've been following along then you'll probably be aware that I have a soft spot for Stonechat's and although we no longer have our caravan in the Dales where I had a favourite location for these little birds, I was fortunate to come across one, a lone female, much closer to home and be able to photograph it over a number of weeks before it eventually moved on.

    The following two images were taken on 22 January with a bit of snow on the ground

    1PN28947.thumb.jpg.421339476efaed105671168276893383.jpg

    1PN28914.thumb.jpg.b040a17d6275fc6f7fb6f73d536e6aa5.jpg

    And this one was taken just a couple of days later

    1PN29192.thumb.jpg.8b1943da3d3c962c39ab2c97e7d7524e.jpg

    I took hundreds of photos of this one single bird over a period of 5-6 weeks.

    A bird I had never photographed before, this is a Scaup, again a lone bird but mixed in with a number of quite similar looking Tufted Ducks

    1PN29599-Edit.thumb.jpg.5442de9db61255ab21f9e442a8f3c547.jpg

    This one below is a close up of a male Tufted Duck

    1PN39854.thumb.jpg.415a45bff75d29d9dfa343464378ba16.jpg

    Lapwings are always great to photograph and it's another bird that I've photographed many, many times in the past

    1PN29608.thumb.jpg.f69f37243cec42ef5b2497f6e0147899.jpg

    I was lucky to come across this pair of Great Crested Grebes performing their 'reed dance' which was great to see

    1MN75213.thumb.jpg.0b2566dbf357579039a78ec00fa703fb.jpg

    And I also managed to capture a single Great Crested Grebe stretching out its wings

    1PN40030.thumb.jpg.95b9670efaafb27e46737e275e492704.jpg

  22. It's that time of the year again (or thereabouts) where I finally get round to reporting on how the railway has fared over the winter months and come up with plans for the coming year that I'll doubtless not adhere to.

    At first glance there doesn't appear to be any major damage or deterioration to the track but I'll know more once I get the chance to power up and run something round. There's the usual overgrown vegetation to cut back around the circuit, such as here on Stack Gill viaduct where this Peony has sprung into life.

    20230408_143122.thumb.jpg.9a9390408c02f4b515ef8ff365fd063a.jpg

    However, as in previous years it's not the plants that are giving me problems but the bloody pigeons who have again chosen to nest in the tall shrub at the bottom of the garden, accessing it by leaping up from the top of Stack Gill viaduct. In the process they have dislodged a fair section of parapet wall that I only repaired last year after they had done exactly the same.

    20230408_143109.thumb.jpg.fcf9920d6608cc9c838633a4167c01c7.jpg

    I couldn't say for certain how many different adhesives I have used on the parapet walls over the years but even though most of them set rock hard initially, it isn't long before the adhesive becomes pliable and the structure weakens until it's eventually dislodged. As soon as I can get round to it I'll be using the same sand and cement mixture I resorted to last year to replace all the parapet wall that is still held in place by adhesive.

    Plans for the coming year? Well I don't really have anything in mind other than the aforementioned repairs to the viaduct. I'd like to get certain areas ballasted, especially the ones where I tend to take most of my photos but that's something that may or may not happen this year, we'll just have to see.

     

    • Like 4
  23. 23 hours ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

    I wonder if you could get some more course wheels in there to be a bit more forgiving?....

    If they're anything like my log wagons I doubt there would be room for wheels with deeper flanges. Everything is just so 'to scale' these days. The only solution, in my opinion, is to ensure your track is as perfect as can be. Mine wasn't, still isn't in places, but the more time I spent remedying it the better the wagons performed.

  24. You've got some work on your hands there Andrew although remedial work is something I always find enjoyable. However, you can't complain about getting 11 years out of the wooden base but as has been mentioned elsewhere, I think we've all come to realise that timber isn't the most suitable material to use as a base for track laying, especially when it's situated at or close to ground level. Replacing all my ground level timber baseboards with aerated blocks was a pain but I'm so glad I did it. Now I only have timber baseboards at raised level.

    Shame about that moss because it looks great along the lineside.

    Are you intent on using decking again as replacements for the rotten sections?

     

×
×
  • Create New...