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The Hazelnut Railway


AndyR
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After weeks of little progress and despite the grim weather today I managed to make some good progress. Only around two sections of track and the second line will be complete. A few pics below to show the latest.

Although crude in construction, these work to get some stability under the track. Shown before and after covering in roofing felt.

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I have decided to try positioning some of the rocks that are dotted around the back of the garden by the track.My initial thoughts are they work quite well and are a start to the landscaping! I am tempted to make this section that runs over the path into a bridge but not seen anything that I like the look of yet to add as sides. Not sure if bridge edges that are on the market would stand up to the elements or would be easy to attach. I'll revisit that idea at some point.

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Nearly there! Hopefully tomorrow the gap will be missing and I can get two trains running together. One question I do have in my head is if the 2mm wire I have to connect my new controller is sufficient, answers on a postcard please :)

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Completed!

So I finally managed to get the second running line finished today. Despite the soggy start to the day the wind dried things out nicely. I am not 100% happy with all of the track but it will have to do. Main thing is the trains run with no derailments.

The inaugural run was taken by D200 below with a short engineers train.

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A change of motive power saw 73004 The Bluebell Railway take a turn.

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Finally a run out for my old timer, 31164.

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One minor frustration today was the discovery that the controller I bought yesterday only appears to have one direction.. It is possible I am being a bit stupid here but I made the assumption that all controllers can vary the direction of travel. Back to the shop to the it me think to swap for something else!

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Hi Andy

Congratulations on the completion of the second line and many thanks for the photos. That little spot with the rocks as a background is a great place for capturing images.

Sorry to hear about the controller - what make & model is it?

You're right to assume (and to expect) that it should be capable of reversing the direction of travel. At the risk of sounding silly myself, are you sure you've connected the track wires to the 'controlled' 12v DC outputs? Most controllers normally come equipped with various outlets for use with additional accessories such as signals, points etc. These can include 16v AC and perhaps 12v DC 'uncontrolled', both of which will be standard power supplies which cannot be regulated. Only the 12v DC 'controlled' outlet will be operable via the rotary knob or slider, and direction swith (as applicable to your model).

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Awesome. I love the shot Mick commented on. Seeing roofing felt makes me think I may try some on part of my layout; in the close shots it looks like ballast.

I am always amazed at how good trains look on outdoor layouts with all the greens blurred in the background. Looks like you had a relaxing time running some trains.

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Hi Mick,

Thanks for the comments. Below is a photo of the controller. I have not heard of the manufacturer and it is pretty basic. There are just two dials on the front with an off position and no other markings. On the back, as you see there is a terminal block and thats it! The guys in the shop are pretty good and said let them know if there are any problems, so swapping it shouldn't be an issue. Just didn't really have the cash to get something like a guagemaster or similar. Paid £39 for this...

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You could wire up a switch to throw the polarity. If you haven't got a suitable one hanging around then I guess it'll cost you a quid or two.

Dual Pole Dual Throw (DPDT) should do the trick.

Thanks for the suggestion Chris, the lazy option of another controller gets my vote this time though :)

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The power supply for Amblethorpe was a PP3 battery to begin with. I placed it straight on the track, turning it round to change the train's direction. There was a nice little auto stop feature which occurred when the train drove into the battery.

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Given that everyone seems to be settling on names for their railways I guess I should as well! I did mention this name a while ago, suggested by my son. I can't argue with a 3 year old's logic, it does run around a hazel tree ;)

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Nice video Andy!

I've edited the youtube code in your last post so that the video itself is shown rather than a plain text link. The only section of code you need to place between the youtube brackets for the video to display is just the video ID string which is the part that follows v= in the URL. The required code normally consists of 11 characters which in this instance was bvo6f2gtHG4 Some URLs also contain additional characters usually beginning immediately after the video ID string with &feature.... These subsequent characters should be ignored. Hope this helps.

Did you manage to exchange the controller?

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Thanks for fixing that Mick! Not exchanged the controller yet, hope to get back to the shop over the weekend.

Yes Traingeekboy, that is one of my 37s from the other two clips I had put on Youtube. Best I add it here I suppose, plus another early clip before the second line was down :)

BZ17YQfOpAE

uDRxaDj6Phc

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After a day at the national model railway exhibition in Peterborough I returned home with three Lima NSE mark 2s. I obviously had to give them a run out! Here is 50023 'HOWE'

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47581 'GREAT EASTERN' didn't have a great start, this is the first major derailment I have had so far. I'm lucky the train didn't head the other way on to the path. I may have an issue with the track being slightly out of gauge on the top bend, need to see what has happened. Following runs seemed to be ok though, although the wheels seem to be catching slightly.

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47581 passes 50023 a dusk

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47581 and 50023 parked

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Check the wheels on the coaches. All my old lima coaches have wheels that slide on the axles. I may have to gauge them and then put a drop of finger nail polish on the inside to lock them in place.

And yes check the track gauge, but if this is the first derailment check wheels first.

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Derailments can be a cause for frustration (and that looks like it was a major coming off the rails) but like traingeekboy, I'd be inclined to point a finger at the stock rather than the track at this early stage. I don't have any older stock, most of my collection being purchased in recent times, but wheels will perhaps be a cause for concern. I can put the majority of my own derailments down to couplings so that would be worth investigation too, especially if those of adjacent vehicles are of different types/sizes. It's quite easy for them to lock on sharp curves leading to the whole train being thrown sideways as you've experienced here.

You might have to get down close and carefully watch the train rounding curves at a slowish speed in order to determine the actual cause. Thoroughly test the loco first to see if it is the problem and then attach vehicles one at a time until you can recreate the problem. It's all part of getting the best from your layout and ironing out any little niggles.

Nice late evening shots of the 2 locos!

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