Glen Dollar Garden Railway

[kenbrunt]

Wow its looking very good you should be very pleased how its all turning out and trains running. I still have covers on outside , however running short trains in the shed. Hoping to take the covers off in the coming weeks. Need to redo the track in short tunnel that fits in the cat flap. Me been heavy handed knocked the lined up track out during a tidy up during the winter. Many thanks for sharing.

[Clay Mills Junction]

It has been so wet this year I've hardly managed to get out into the garden to keep the place tidy, never mind getting anything running.

Some spare time this evening I managed to get the HST and APT sets out. I bought the final two Mk3 coaches for the HST set so I now have a 2+7 set and I wanted to see how it fitted into the passing loop station, my calculation was that it would fit but by how much.

Also I wanted to see if the APT set would fit in the inner loop and whether it could take another coach. Here it is in 4-PC-2 formation.

Unfortunately, the extra coaches come in packs of two and I think that 9 cars will be too much. So perhaps I will buy a pair of TRBS (restaurant buffets) and try to sell one on. Latterly, they ran in shorter form (6-PC-PC-2) with only one TRBS in the formation, I may be lucky and find someone who wants to do the same.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Clay Mills Junction
Inserting pics from phone

[Clay Mills Junction]

On 5/2/2023 at 8:21 PM, kenbrunt said:

It looks very smart and the length certainly adds to overall look. You should be very pleased. I am saving for a couple of coaches as they are as expensive as the locos were a few years ago. I feel that the hobby is for the collectors these days not the model railways runners. The seasons been a wash out this year.

We had a run up to Chester to see Making Tracks 3. Very impressive and like you running full length sets. Had a great day there talking to Pete Waterman and sitting by the river with an ice-cream 

Yes, its becoming a very expensive hobby. I'm going to be thinning my stock out by selling a few things on ebay I think.

The HST is older coaches (c.2014) with lights. They are currently going for big money on ebay but I picked a couple up that had their lights removed for lots less. It won't cost me as much to install lighting back again as I saved. There are cheaper ways if you are prepared to accept less detail and/or do some work.

Making Tracks is something I'd like to see, current thinking is to go and see it at the Great Electric Train Show. Good you had a good time watching it.

[Andrew]

Always nice to see full-length trains being run.

From the photos I can't quite see if the HST set fits into the loop, but here's hoping.

[Clay Mills Junction]

On 9/1/2023 at 4:53 PM, Andrew said:

Always nice to see full-length trains being run.

From the photos I can't quite see if the HST set fits into the loop, but here's hoping.

Yep, it fits between the points with enough space not to impede the other line. There will be enough space for a platform that accomodates all 7 coaches, if not the class 43's.

 

[Clay Mills Junction]

I didn't expect the viaduct to cross an actual water feature.

[Clay Mills Junction]

Since there is a recent picture of the viaduct, there will have to be some maintenance happening here in spring to clean the stones and bottoms of the viaduct supports. I'll also have to tone down the white of the glue somehow.

The viaduct does need some walls either side of the track and I have looked at the possibility of making them from the off-cuts of concrete block. However, given the trouble Mick has had with pigeons and the difficulty in making them, I'm more inclined to use my favoured 15mm L section aluminium bent to shape. So I think the plan will be to wait for warmer weather and use the blow-torch to bend the aluminium to shape, glue it to the block with a slight overhang and then use paint to get it to a similar shade to the block.

[kenbrunt]

Nice to hear how things are going from you. This very damp winter must have been a problem for your viaduct. I will have to wait to see how my track and buildings have survived under tarpaulins once the winter weather ends. I have spent a little time relaying the tracks inside the shed. Some of the curves were tight and causing running problems.