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Barry's havering


Clay Mills Junction
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Havering is a Scottish word for talking nonsense.

So updates on what is going on in my railway world. I've just got back from a couple of weeks at my parent's so little has happened on my own railways as I've spent evenings fiddling on my Dad's. Doing general maintenance but also laying a bit of new track and starting the base for his new island platform.

I talked with my Dad about my garden railway and about a name. He tended to like my favoured suggestion which is Glen Dollar. Named after a park we liked going to when I was little. That park had a railway line next to it with a semaphore signal visible from the play area.

I've taken the plunge and ordered a 3rd Oxford Rail Mk3a in blue grey to go with my DBSO. I've also ordered some Hunt Couplings for the Oxford Mk3as and the Hornby HST set.
I'm working on the Oxford Rail coaches to rectify the faults and build issues but I want to know if the Hunt couplings are rigid enough when connected to work without fixing them. I've figured out how to fix the coaches now anyway so no real hassle either way.

Decision on the garden railway to be made, do I have them take the right line through the station or the left? Going left is more common on the UK network but going right isn't unheard of, there are a number on the highland lines (or were in the 80's and 90's) eg. Bridge of Orchy.

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I like the idea of using names that mean something to you - most of the named sections on my layouts are place names from the area where I grew up, many of which are now lost in the midst of time.

I've heard and read a lot about Hunt couplings recently but I'm still plodding along with the Kadee's. I prefer having the coupling attached to the coach itself rather than the bogie and so far, touch wood, they've proved pretty reliable in use.

Does the decision regarding left or right through the station imply that you'll be having a form of sprung points? I assume it does otherwise you'd just be able to route either way.

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New Mk3a arrived, couplings at both ends are good and the door steps are all attached. Maybe they've improved quality since the original batches came over.

I'm not so impressed by the hunt couplings. They don't have the rigidity of the fixed bars so not as reliable in a faulty Mk3a coupling. Better in the new and fixed ones. We'll see if they stay together OK when I return to my parent's but the magnets don't feel all that strong. I suspect if you got down to a full length West Coast or greater Anglia set with 7 & DVT then they wouldn't be reliable. But we will see.

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13 hours ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

......I'm not so impressed by the hunt couplings. They don't have the rigidity of the fixed bars so not as reliable in a faulty Mk3a coupling. Better in the new and fixed ones. We'll see if they stay together OK when I return to my parent's but the magnets don't feel all that strong. I suspect if you got down to a full length West Coast or greater Anglia set with 7 & DVT then they wouldn't be reliable. But we will see.

I'm surprised to hear that after the rave reviews they've been getting elsewhere but I suppose you don't really know until you've tried them yourself under the conditions you yourself operate. 

Most couplings work just fine with short trains and little trailing load but it's once you start increasing that load that your problems begin. I didn't really want to start butchering any of my coaches and wagons but it was the only way to achieve reliable and consistent coupling between individual vehicles. Shorter trains was never part of my agenda.

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  • 1 month later...

I hope everyone had an alright Christmas.

Someone mentioned they'd like to see more of my fleet. So while I've been away at my Mum and Dad's I took a few of my trains up (much of my stock lives up there permanently anyway) and put together a video with what I had. I'll do a part two with what is down here when I get a decent day in the garden.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I converted my first two half wagons to No5 Kadees. As much an experiment using a couple of old Lima grain wagons, one an existing one from my fleet and the other newly acquired just because. I'd seen a video of a very dirty pair of them going off up the Far North Line from Inverness in about 1986 and thought they could be heavily weathered and go in a mixed rake behind 37114.
On the newly acquired wagon someone had tried to lower it but made a mess of so I decided to replace the wheelset with a new Bachmann wagon pair. The pin axles are slightly wider on these so I had to hand drill out the mounting holes a little bit to clean them up and fit the new wheels.

With the standard Lima tension-lock couplings the distance between the bodies is 22mm or a scale 5 1/2 feet.
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I wanted them a lot closer but thought I was going to have trouble with the buffers overlapping. So the first thing I did was shorten the shanks on the buffers. Then I cut off the original coupling mounting and glued a 1mm/040" bit of black plasticard under the area to screw the kadee box to.

I haven't bothered about the distance above the rails for mounting this pair as they'll only ever connect to each other but by complete chance they appear to be about correct. I was more interested to see if I can get them working reliably and closer together.

There is a lip on the front edge of the kadee No5 box which means the box just overhangs the end of the wagon so that has set the gap, having realised with the first wagon I took a 1mm slice off the back of the plasticard on the second so that sits where I intended.
Having found a couple of old screws small enough to mount the kadee boxes to the plasticard I have put it all together and in the second photo is the result. The gap, according to the ruler is 14mm or a scale 3 feet 6". I was aiming for a straight 3 feet.
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I've tested it and it will still cope with 2nd radius curves with the shortened (and unfortunately one squint) buffers. Given that my minimum radius is streamline short points at 24" radius it looks like I didn't need to shorten the buffers to have them at this separation, or I could get them much closer with the shortened buffer shanks.

I have no idea what the actual distance between these wagons would have been. Does anyone know the correct distance?

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8 hours ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

...I have no idea what the actual distance between these wagons would have been. Does anyone know the correct distance?

Perhaps that's something I should know but I was never really all that interested in the classroom. 

It's a difficult one to answer because when stabled the wagon buffers would generally be touching as the force of the sprung buffer would set them apart. There wouldn't be more than a couple of inches between the face of the buffers when the wagons were in motion so in 4mm scale it would probably be unworkable. Certainly in your lower photo the gap between wagon buffers would appear to me to be too large for an instanter coupling in the normal running (short) position. However, the important thing for us is that the gap between individual wagons looks okay and I would be quite happy with what you've achieved. It's certainly an improvement over the original.

From a standing start or if being hauled uphill then the gap between buffers would increase due to the sprung couplings. Likewise if the instanter coupling was set in the long position which we would do for shunting purposes. But generally the buffers would be close together for the smoothest possible journey.

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Thanks Mick. I'm estimating from videos that the real gap in normal running is probably under 3ft and I'd agree I'm not going to try getting them that close in 4mm even limiting them to the main running line with its minimum 36" radius. The images on Paul Bartlett's site suggest there was a fair gap between them ~3ft but maybe that is with the instanter coupling in the long position.

I have discovered on the yellow ones that arrived today that the blue plastic of the chassis is incredibly brittle and will be impossible to alter the buffers so I'm going to test a pair of the others with the original buffers in place and a 12mm (scale 3 foot) gap. If that works at 24" radius then I'll do the lot like that.

I used a couple of screws from a bachmann 159 coach I bought for spares to mount the first two kadees, but as I only had two and I've used them I'm rather stuck. A trawl of the usual modelling outlets came up blank and the auction site wasn't any help either. I eventually found some in stock at a model aeroplane supplier so that is 3 packs of 10 ordered (I won't be running out for a while). Who thought No0x6.25mm countersunk phillips screws would be so hard to find, but I guess it is the times. Anyway that project will have a little break until the screws arrive.

I might even get out into the garden this weekend, weather is looking alright.

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7 hours ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

..I might even get out into the garden this weekend, weather is looking alright.

You are a braver man than me, though it is now above freezing in this part of the world - but only just!

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  • 2 months later...

Another meet the fleet video. This is the rest of my modern fleet so you can see I don't have a lot. Everything else is old Hornby or Lima and isn't DCC or running very well.
Unfortunately one of the Oxford Rail Mk3a couplings broke when I tried to put a Bachmann coupling bar in it to connect it to the blue/grey DBSO so that meant I couldn't include them. I've thought of a different way of repairing them so I'm going to try and fix it before the next running day.

The Loksound v5.0 for 37114 arrived today so hopefully the next video will not be silent, though you can hear my next door neighbour's dog in this one.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

I've had to take a bit of a break from contruction for a few reasons, hopefully I'll have a couple of weekends that I am able to restart work in some small way. I haven't been doing nothing though, I built two Ratio concrete footbridges into one structure crossing three platforms. I didn't think it was very realistic to have a drop in the middle so the upper deck of the bridge goes right across on the level and the staircase from the centre level goes right up with a "rest" area half way up.

There is still a bit to do to finish the bridge: a few gaps in the kit need filled with modelling filler, the concrete ribbing on the extended flat section needs to be added and then some weathering to hide the kit bashing and make it look more realistic.

The second thing was lighting the station platform. I had one platform light from an exhibition I had added to the platform before and purchased 10 more direct from china (under £15 so no import duty). The ones from China being warmer white than the one I had before so I've removed the one from before. I've only fitted 4 along Platform 1 but it already looks a really nice night scene. I'll get 10 more one sided (rather than double sided) lights the same design to go along the longer platform 4 against the back wall and will finish off the island platform with the remaining lamps next time I am there. It should make quite a decent station when finished.
On the other side of the layout I've added all of the yard lamps for the diesel depot, I bought them in two packs of three and unfortunately the later pack was dimmer than the first. Some experimenting with my limited supply of resistors I've managed to get the original three down to only a little dimmer than the newer three, best I can do though. Hopefully once the depot building is lit inside and out it will even up the lighting. Once all of that is done it should make a very nice night scene.

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  • 1 month later...

Another quick update, I just realised that nowhere in my last update did I mention that all of the above work was on my Dad's layout.

Anyway, no progress on my own garden railway since the last update on 6th September. My Dad fell in his garden and broke his collarbone so I've been away at my parents for a couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll get a little more done this weekend out the back.

A little more work has taken place on my Dad's layout. The next row of lights along the centre platform have been fitted and I've created the wiring loom for them. I only managed to solder a couple of lights on as I need some adhesive cable clamps to hold up the wiring as the leader wires off the lamp posts would be too thin to take the weight of the hanging wires. So they will have to wait until I go back up. If anyone has any suggestions for where to source those then let me know.

Other than that, I've ordered and am waiting on a MIG welder being delivered. It is a gas/gasless/stick welder. So the stick welder will enable me to weld the aluminium structure for the curved bridge section over the path. Just got to learn to use the thing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Progress for the garden railway today, but not on. I removed the row of big, thick, coarse paving slabs from the side of the garage, that is now all of them gone. I'm replacing them with some lighter slabs that were in the front garden. The previous owner of the house put them in when his sons had their own cars and needed more driveway space, I'm removing them to put it back to grass. I've got more work to lay them properly but they are roughly in place.
For the turf to go down next year I need to build up the level of the soil, luckily I need to remove more soil from the corner of the garden to accomodate the blocks for the curved viaduct, so that solves the problem of where the spoil goes.

Back up to Mum and Dad's on Sunday. I'm hoping that I can get a video of my lit HST set going through the lit up station area that I can share.

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So, just to prove that the work I've been doing at on my Dad's layout is real. Here are a couple of photos with the main lights in the garage off and just the lights on the railway on.

First is a view of the Western end of the station, both pictures were taken on my phone which makes the scene brighter than it looks to the naked eye, I think that the real light intensity is more natural than it shows in the pictures. The transformer for the lights is set at 9v rather than the 12v the lights are intended to run at so even with higher value resistors they are still coming across bright in the pictures. I've posted pictures of the 158 in Platform 1 before and behind it is my blue-grey HST set.

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Second picture is a view from the Eastern end and shows more of the platform lights and the concrete footbridge built from two ratio kits and some odd bits and bobs. There is still some detailing and lighting to be put on the bridge and it will need weathered. A retaining wall needs to go behind Platform 4 along the back wall and a backscene behind that. I'm encouraging my Dad to do the retaining wall soon so I can finish the station lighting with a row of single lights along it the same design as the doubles I've used on Platform 1 around the station building and between platforms 2 and 3 in the centre.

 

DSC_0662.JPG

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The lighting looks really good Barry, it gives the layout a whole new perspective.

I know you keep referring to this as your Dad's layout but it's clearly something you spend a lot of time on yourself too. How did the layout come about? Was it a mutual interest? We've also seen a lot of your stock running on the layout - does your Dad have similar interests or does he quickly remove your stock once you've left!?

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10 hours ago, mick said:

The lighting looks really good Barry, it gives the layout a whole new perspective.

I know you keep referring to this as your Dad's layout but it's clearly something you spend a lot of time on yourself too. How did the layout come about? Was it a mutual interest? We've also seen a lot of your stock running on the layout - does your Dad have similar interests or does he quickly remove your stock once you've left!?

The lighting does give it an atmosphere, lots more lighting needed though. To a certain extent it hides the unfinsihed bits too 😂.

My Dad had his original 3-rail Hornby layout from when he was a boy, we had an 8x4' layout when I was a boy and I had presents of various trains and locos during my childhood which I still have. Dad worked for BREL through my childhood, first at Springburn Works in Glasgow and then moved to BREL's Head Office in Derby before a spell at York Works. He moved on from ABB as it was then when it was rapidly contracting out of the rail industry.

I call it Dad's layout because it is in his garage and I'm not there much of the time. Most of my current fleet stays at Dad's until I have somewhere to run it properly at home. Home has mostly been a workshop up until now. The two fleets mostly overlap, I have a bit more blue-grey stuff where Dad sticks to sectorisation era. The blue-grey stuff tends to come home with me though.

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  • 2 months later...

No real update on Glen Dollar. I did a little video of work I'm going to do, mostly for no other reason than to try the video editor in Windows. My laptop has updated to Windows 11. I was using a free editor called Openshot and I think I'll go back to that as it is a little more flexible.

I haven't bought anything in ages railway wise, so when I found a couple of OTA wagons unused on ebay I had a punt, to take my collection to 6. I now need to collect twigs to replace the standard plastic loads, dry them, clean them and glue them together with bands of something to represent the ratchet straps. The plastic loads are fine but because they all look identical I think they'll look odd as a train. I'm also trying to find out if Speedlink livery was seen alongside Kronospan blue OTAs in period as I see Paul Bartlett's site showing them together in Inverness and Mossend yards, not seen them together on a train yet though.

I think next winter might be time to start trying out airbrushing and weathering. I'm really hoping Model Rail Scotland goes ahead in February as I really need an exhibition to restock on little things.

 

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