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Andrew

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Posts posted by Andrew

  1. Levelling Up

    I was recently assessing what needs to be done on the garden railway site to reinstate the front part of the circuit and refurbish the rear part where the timber base has deteriorated after eleven years service.  One of the key issues is to keep the whole thing as level as possible and avoid any gradients, to ensure best running.

    Although I possess a small laser level, it's not particularly useful in this context as the small size reduces its precision and in daylight you can't see the laser marker light across any significant distance.

    Then I went shopping in Lidl and found this:

     

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    Costing all of £5.99, it seems like an excellent solution to my problem.  Probably easier than trying to use the garden hose (which my friend Philip had found helpful when building his garden railway).

     

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  2. Christmas curiosity

    This rather odd laser-cut plywood kit, possibly around 0 gauge 1:43 scale, was completed over the Christmas period after being received as a gift (so I had to take it seriously!).  It all pressed together well, with interference fits on every joint.  Although it's a bizarre model and has no moving parts, it has been very intricately designed and was straightfoward to assemble although took quite a while.  Quite why the boiler sides aren't continuous is a puzzle.  Now I'm wondering what to do with it.

     

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  3. Another enjoyable FREMO day

     

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    Many thanks to the UK FREMO group for an entertaining time yesterday operating the latest configuration of their German outline modular approach to model railways, complete with fully detailed timetabling which drivers and signalmen have to follow.  Some Anglo-Saxon interlopers appeared on the track during the lunchbreak.

    Altogether an ambitious undertaking, but very rewarding to be able to share in it.

     

     

     

  4. UK FREMO weekend

    Yesterday I was delighted to be able to help out as a volunteer driver at the regular gathering of the UK FREMO gang with their impressive and extensive collection of German outline modules all hooked together in a school hall.

    The aim is to run trains to a prearranged timetable, complete with pausing at passing stations and dropping off or collecting the odd goods wagon to add complication.

    Nowadays, thanks to a certain political event which-cannot-be-named, the UK FREMO lads are prevented from taking their modules to events on the Continent by new customs complications, so they make the most of these weekend gatherings on British (and in this case, Sussex) soil.  Very grateful to them for inviting me along as a non-module contributor!

     

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  5. That roof looks very ambitious, Thomas, and the results must be good, that is, cleaner track.  I'm not sure what material you've used, although looks like it could be a fine mesh netting.  Hope it's OK for high winds.
    Good luck.

  6. Emerging from the backwoods

    A bit of transAtlantic eBay shopping has produced this wonderful beast which turned up today, a Doodlebug from just a century ago in America:

    https://www.trains.com/ctr/railroads/locomotives/emc-delivers-first-doodlebug-motorcar/

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    Haven't had time yet to see if this Bachmann product actually runs, but it looks promising. 

    I really want to acquire a decent interurban model, but they are scarce and pricey and mostly in America.  Of course to be realistic that would need an overhead power wire anyway.  The Doodlebug isn't an interurban but looks like a useful midway option.

    Not having bought anything on eBay from the US before, I was half expecting to have to pay import duty here.  But the bill somehow included 20 per cent VAT and airmail shipping and nothing further, so I'm happy.

  7. Looking better

    Although our decking will be replaced by more-durable Indian sandstone paving, the retaining walls are being done in oak timber which I'm told will last longer than I will (so that's alright).  The landscapers have given me four upright sleepers on which to rebuild the front of the railway.  The bamboos in their pots have been temporarily(?) moved, so we'll have to see if Bamboo Curtain Straight will retain its name or will need to be called something different.  And as befits a railway that sometimes represents parts of the north of England, a modest amount of levelling-up has taken place behind the sleeper retaining wall using the pile of spoil in front of the digger.

    In this photo you can just see the A-frame forming the end of what was the Northern Viaduct, with the bamboo pots still in place.

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    And here is the new work, all ready for me to lay some timber trackbase once the landscapers have departed, hopefully in a few weeks time.

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  8. On 08/06/2023 at 16:16, MarkE said:

    The only down side  is that I may need to paint the sides of the rails to give them that weathered look.

    Definitely worth the effort - but before laying the track!  I did that with my Peco eleven years ago and the rusty-look rails helped to offset the unrealistic sleepers.

  9. On 02/06/2023 at 21:05, MarkE said:

    In the view  below, the track was layed in August 2022 and left out all winter, this photo was taken in April 23. The track has never be cleaned but the rail sides still look untarnished .

    Mark,  that track looks great with its proper sleeper spacing (in the photo with the Terrier "Box Hill").  I've been considering using such track, but it (or at least the Peco and C&L equivalents) have much thinner sleepers so wouldn't be easy to fix by pinning.  Did you glue yours down, perhaps?

  10. Al those soaring bridges and viaducts look really exciting, Thomas.  I hope it won't be too hard to clean all the track before each running session.
    Anyway, I'm looking forward to more pictures of high speed stock operating on your superb railway.

  11. That certainly looks like a fine stretch of curved line now, with good photographic possibilities, Mick. 
    As someone else who hasn't had a running session this year, I suggest you try and clear a couple of days in your diary to remind yourself of the joys of fine weather operating.  Then you'll wonder why it took so long!

  12. Temporary suspension of service

    A sad day yesterday.  After over eleven years of happy DGR running, I had to dismantle half the layout to make way for garden landscapers to remove the rotting decking at the front of the railway (and elsewhere in the garden) before installing replacement paving.  They will also plant some concrete spurs for me to bolt the new section of the layout to, so the future infrastructure should be on more durable foundations.

    So for the moment, no more fun days in the sun like the visiting Q1 and King shown here back in 2015.

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  13. Rehab

    While I do like to have running sessions in the winter months, that doesn't seem to have happened this time, largely because of wet weather.

    So the railway has been suffering from neglect, and yesterday's sunshine prompted a serious effort to excavate it from the leaves and rubbish that had covered the scenic side.  This also revealed a number of problems which need to be dealt with - some easier than others.

    For the first time, the vegetation on both sides of the track has died back during the winter.  This has affected both the ivy above the railway and the mind-your-own-business below it.  Presumably they will both recover in due course.

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    Secondly, moss has flourished on some stretches of track, which would be fine if a scale overgrown look was required - but it's not.

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    Unfortunately, scraping the moss out from between the sleepers often meant that the scraper just disappeared into the rotten wood beneath.  And holes are appearing elsewhere.  Not good, although after 11 years it shouldn't be a surprise.

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    And inevitably there are a few rail-end bonds which need resoldering, usually in the most awkward locations.

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    But having cleared up most of the debris, a new section of retaining wall was planted.

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    So there's still work to be done before trains can run.  And that's only in the short term, because the garden decking replacement project is due in May and will entail dismantling and rebuilding much of the railway.  Hope I can get some running sessions in beforehand...

    • Like 1
  14. Mick,
    Some superb photos there - thanks for sharing them.  The idea of pasteing-in sky and drivers is really promising, as of course one could presumably also paste-out unwanted stuff from any background, indoors or out. 

    I'm wondering if there might be a freeware solution to this which avoids having to go the whole hog on buying Photoshop or similar, as you can't really do that sort of detailed work in MS Paint!

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