roddy

Cut your blocks gently with a Jigsaw fitted with a long blade. I have cut plenty like that on the buildings. Just take time and let the saw do the work.

I have 2 Hornby B12s in green here. Not sure of the numbers. They both ran perfectly, but have not been used for some years.  Make me an offer. I need to get them out from the back of the shed.

I bought bearing some years ago. They were described as 2mm. No idea what wheelsets I was using, but they all worked perfectly.

6 hours ago, Archie said:

I had that thought, the only problem I see is keeping the block in the gap level whilst its drying. With that said it may save on costs, doing 2 lines of bricks over 15 metres would start to get costly.

Use a 6" block Then add a wooden trackbed and walls. The walls will not then impinge on the width of the block.

I used to see similar wagons in Russia and counted up to 60 in a train. I lived not too far from the track and the noise brought my childhood back because the wagons slammed together uder braking and the other way when moving off, so you gout that clatter and rebound down the train. They were filthy and stinking of spilled oil.

58 minutes ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

A bit of disrepair isn't unrealistic for BR days. Is there a TSR in place?

Replacement Bus Service operating from the nearest bus stops. Tickets will be accepted on all services.

Have you emptied your cache of cookies and history and all the usual stuff that can bung up a computer?

I was working outside the garage this morning. It is full of my stepdaughter's furniture. I can create enough room in there to work, but there is not really so much to do. I think I can create the necessary embankments and fix platforms and still fold things away. The choice really was have the foldable boards nice and compact, or go deeper to house the buildings and have it start to get cumbersome. I will have to put stock out, so what difference half a dozen buildings? I am not looking for any accuracy of operation or setting, and have bought Metcalfe station, goods shed, signal box and engine shed, as well as the platforms. All intended to occupy time more than anything. 

I am quite comfortable in the garage, and temperatures can drop quite low before I start to feel things. It's nice and dry in there, and if push came to shove, those two little boards could come into the house if I behave myself. I have a small campervan, and can make the buildings and some other work in there. 

I have made a start. Today I have made two baseboards, 36" x 15". Those boards have been hinged together and fitted with legs, so that the whole will open up and lock into place as my main station area which I shall then hopefully link with a garden loop. I can equally create a storage come fiddle yard on a third small board if I want to. Legs need adjusting for a little more splay, but let the pics do the talking.

No problems here Mick.

34 minutes ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

I think the fear of people being that bad is greater than the probability of it actually happening. Perhaps exaccerbated by a sensationalist media?

There was a story about the war memorial in Burton being vandalised after armistice day a few years ago with all of the reefs being thrown all over the place. Lots of people were shocked and it was a huge thing with police doing door to door in the area and the local rag leading in condemnation of the vandals and it even made the regional TV news. They eventually found CCTV from the college showing it was the wind overnight that had thrown the reefs and poppys everywhere.

There was another story I remember of complaints about a graveyard being vandalised with headstones being toppled. Turned out the council had surveyed the condition of all of the headstones and laid flat any which they deemed were in danger of falling and could cause injury or greater damage.

The correction stories obviously got a lot less coverage than the original stories.

 

Anyway, good that the driver and fireman get recognised as well as the machine and designer. Just a shame it took 68 years to come about.

It took a lot longer than that for my Dad and thousands of other to be recognised for their time on the Arctic Convoys in WW2

10 minutes ago, mick said:

I've just remembered the time a few years ago when I believe we were still using the old phpbb forum software and I had incorporated advertisements into the forum in the form of Google Ads. That would have been one possible solution to the financing of the forum because they did help but there were a number of members who felt they detracted from the forum itself and so I withdrew them. Some members even delighted in the fact that they used ad blockers to block them anyway. I do too so I can't complain too much there. Weren't most of the ads we saw promoting Asian Brides or something like that?

I've since closed that account anyway and no longer use advertisements anywhere so that's a non-starter. It's a fine line trying to balance the wishes of members and keeping things ticking along.

You are so right about Ads. I use an Adblocker. Others really don't see them. As I recall, it is something that doesn't actually generate anything, but you have to pay to not have them. As I have just rambled about Mick, you need your team to decide, rather than expect a total agreement from members. I am damned sure that we are all well behind you and the Forum, and I can't see anybody taking the huff and walking off in umbrage at a change or a charge.

Hi Mick,

Hope everyone is well. I am struggling to think of a solution to keep the Forum going. I suspect that we are all pretty much in the same boat. SO let's just write down my thoughts which are probably useless, but may help trigger something else.

1--- We need to know how many contributing members we have that are willing to subscribe. 

2--- We can hardly deny an existing member, so they would have to be given Grandfather's rights.

3--- What is the cost per month or year or however it must be met?

4--- Regarding the Sales page. Yes why not? A percentage commission could be payable as per an Auction House fee. How would that be collectable? What would the commission % be? 10%? payable by both buyer and seller? My £100 loco would give the Forum £20 I think.

5--- Donate button, just for odd impromptu payments as and when we may feel generous, or like now, to honour a passed member such as Tony.

I am just kicking random thoughts around with my hands in my pockets.

6--- I feel sure that Mick would remain in the Admin Team, to train and pass on his technical knowledge to shall we say two further members of that team?

7--- The Admin Team needs to be installed really, to make the decisions with Mick, before moving forward.

8 We will get there. The Forum will not die.

I have been lurking for some years. Not contributing very much I am afraid. I started a garden railway back in 2013 or thereabouts. It worked fine but was ill thought out really, and my small garden needed too many crossing points of any construction. I have not left the Forum though, nor lost the interest. I have been following progress quietly.

Now, with the news of poor Tony, and Mick's own plans for his future, I need to step up to show that I still support everything that this Forum stands for. 

One of my biggest problems was the small size of my garden. It occurred to me that N gauge effectively doubles the available size. More than 6 months ago, I bought an Autocoach that seems ok for my arthritic hands. I then bought an 060 tank engine, and have accumulated 5 small locos, another coach, more than 30 wagons and vans and some track. It's all a mix of Southern, GWR, LMS, and even BR, but who cares? I am building on the borders of several railway companies, and in the early BR period before the painters have finished!

My intention is to build a Branch Terminus/Junction based on Bodmin, and it will all fit on a board measuring 6ft x15" (1800 mm x 380mm) I can fiddle with that to my hearts content over winter, and next year perhaps create a loop that my board can slot onto.

I have the buildings in kit form, and I even have a new eye after a cataract operation on Monday of this week. What an immediate difference that has made!

You can see that there are two single track branch lines that can be sent off to a loop and or sidings, and or the rest of the world. Station, goods yard, Engine shed, shunting, it's all there and is why this track plan has been created so often. Nothing complicated, and why should it be?  I do really think that is a huge problem for a new modeller. Get as much in as possible, and it doesn't work somehow. Simplicity is the key and is an important lesson to learn.

Will N work in the garden?  OO does, and the only difference is that my rails are closer together.

Wish me luck while I quietly carry on with my own plans. 

What name for my layout is the big problem just now. Rodmin? haha.

Take care folks. Stay safe and well. 

Roddy

14 minutes ago, Riddles said:

This website/forum whatever, was a real find when I came upon it nearly 10 years ago and I did wonder how one man, i.e. Mick, could find the time and money to have created it. I would be very happy to contribute towards the costs involved but I am too old to learn new computer skills, besides which I already have 2/3 almost full time voluntary jobs which have prevented me making progress on my own garden railway. I have hesitated to suggest this, and I know there would be negative issues, but has the time come to offer the domain to a commercial organisation such as a magazine publisher?

At one time Pat Hammond ran an online discussion forum, called Model Rail Express I think, and this was much less formal than RMWeb but appeared most days. There was a brave attempt to put this on a commercial footing when Pat decided it was time for him to retire but I don't think it ever really took off.

I do hope oogardenrailway continues.

Another way to do it if nobody wants to subscribe would be to use a free forum portal such as Proboards. I have created a motor car forum on there with help from a friend with the intention of having a reserve in case a much larger forum folded. My forum has never been properly launched. How would it all be moved from one portal to another though? I have no idea as I am barely computer literate either. Here is an idea of what can be set up though.   https://mx5smilers.proboards.com Whatever happens, this forum will not fold. We owe it to Mick to keep it going somehow. In a funny way, we owe it to Tony as well.

Yes it has. From both of me to both of you, keep on causing the confusion regarding what you are doing!

1 hour ago, mick said:

That's the way I tend to go about things Barry, it's usually all or nothing with me. I'm currently going through the 'photography' craze, walking round with a camera dangling round my neck all the time! Just don't seem to be able to put it down.

Yes we're a minority group here but I think it's great that most of our regular contributors have been here very much throughout the forums existence. Even some of the less regular contributors pop back in now and again and it's always good to welcome them back. Alas, there are those who can now never return to us but at least their work, all their modelling efforts and ambitions, are preserved here for others to view and gain inspiration from. We just need to find a suitable way to ensure we keep it all going!

Because there's very few of us there is actually very little forum moderation to be done. Everyone's pretty well behaved here!!

What's most important is that if anything should happen to me (and there are no immediate concerns that I'm aware of) then where does the forum go? Who is going to be able to access the forum itself, the hosting company, the software company, the domain registration company....? It's not just a simple case of logging in to the forum as an administrator. All the separate areas require someone's financial details in order to make the necessary payments. I'm not sure just yet how we do that.

That is very sensible thinking Mick. Not nice, but we all need to go through the process. I was on a popular and fact packed forum some years ago. Years and years of archive material in there. The only Admin and owner of the site sadly passed on, and even a year later, the forum remained inaccessible, and faded away. We may be a small group, and as I have said, I am not a good contributor, but I and the others seem solid enough to come together and keep it up and running. It needs just one to take the reins and the rest of us, I am sure, will back them wholeheartedly, and a moderator can be found to help out. As you say, we are a pretty well behaved bunch. No need for Politics, or Sport, or arguments here. If anybody did join, I feel that they would soon be given the bum's rush, even if not by you. 

I am a bit of a flitter myself. I blame being a Gemini. What's your excuse?

Truly very sad. Sorry, but I cannot write epitaphs very well. Miss you Tony.

As I see it, you can either persevere and build with a known expansion problem, or change your plan and follow the proven methods on the forum.

Hi Tony, long time no speak. Great that you are finally going home. You will need to rest up and slowly get back into the routine. I haven't done any modelling for a long time, but am playing just now with N gauge. The question will be, do I stay on a small baseboard, or dare I go into the garden, or even do I keep my small baseboard, but hook it onto a long garden loop so that the trains have somewhere to go? I have the same problems that you suffer. Big plans that never really get anywhere. Are you a Gemini by any chance? Anyway, take care old pal. Get your tracks running before mucking about with boats and other things.

Exactly correct Thomas. Staging and Stabling yards are purely storage of complete trains. Fiddle yard is for making and breaking etc. Does Geigenhof, cover the term properly?

Could they be carriage sidings?

2 hours ago, mick said:

I can now visualise how it might look with a low rocky area to the front of the board creating a cutting for the trains to pass through but still undecided whether to add the passing loop or not. Would I ever make use of it? 

You may not use it as a passing loop, but would you ever have need of another rake available during a running session, in which case it is a storage siding. 

You should look back through Micks posts about weathering. 

24 minutes ago, surf said:

Thanks ever so much for getting back to me  Have you done it all the way round the garden like that or have you mixed it up a bit. Are you happy with a single track and what the radius of the curve as it goes round. Sorry about all the question. Thanks a million Steve

I'm sure Mick will be back, but I theink he arranged his curves merely to look right. Have you read his posts about his layout? You will get the full story there.