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Danes Wood, a 00 railway in the garden.


fungus
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mick said:

Have you come to any conclusion as to which is the better way of affixing ballast?

Apologies Mick, I replied to this yesterday but must have forgotten to save it.

Basically, I have tried both PVA and Kleer. Some applications of each have lasted well and other have not. I am coming to the conclusion that the most important thing is to do it on a warm, dry morning at the beginning of a warm dry spell of at least a few days. It also helps to go over it again with the dilute PVA until it won't soak up any more. For dilution and other aspects, I am using the method described in the DCC Concepts Youtube video describing how to lay track with Powerbase.

I hope this helps. I'd also be interested to hear your experiences on the subject.

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I've just watched the DCC Concepts Powerbase video that you mention and their method of ballasting track. I use similar materials and tools but have to admit that I tend to do my ballasting in one go rather than in sections as they suggest. I too mix N gauge and OO gauge ballast together but generally in 1:1 ratio. Perhaps the meths as a wetting agent would make a difference - will have to try that rather than the drops of washing up liquid I've used previously.

As I've already mentioned, I have tried both Kleer and exterior PVA glue and while some sections of ballast using each individual fixative have remained in good condition for the past 2 years, others have been washed away completely. I have found that the ballast shoulders are most prone to crumbling so perhaps painting on neat PVA as in the afore mentioned video would work better there. I should mention that I use proper stone (granite) ballast. I did expect that the ballast would survive outdoors so I've never really experimented that much with ratios of ballast, wetting agents or fixative. I've even thought of trying exterior varnish - not sure how that would fare.

Having watched the DCC Concepts video I'm keen to give the PVA another try but with much more care than with my previous attempts.

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Wow, that's excellent stuff Ian. I am delighted to see you have achieved a complete loop of the garden. That must be such a great feeling.

I've watched the trip in both directions but are my eyes playing tricks with me or are you? What's the loco stood at the entrance to the shed on the return journey that suddenly disappears before my eyes just as I was anticipating a mighty collision? And how did you do that?

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It's all looking great, Ian - videos and photos. And the disappearing engine could influence a whole new genre of garden railway videos. But are there any pictures to complement the one on 29 April to show the complete viaduct in place please?

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Andrew said:

... are there any pictures to complement the one on 29 April to show the complete viaduct in place please?

I'm half-way through adding the second track on the fixed part of the viaduct, so it's probably worth waiting until that's done. At the moment it's all wires and trackbase.

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mick said:

... What's the loco stood at the entrance to the shed on the return journey that suddenly disappears before my eyes just as I was anticipating a mighty collision? And how did you do that?

I forgot the train in the shed needed to be moved back to allow the camera train back into the shed. I edited out the crash, and me coming out to clear the line and re-run that part of the filming.

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fungus said:

...I edited out the crash, and me coming out to clear the line and re-run that part of the filming.

Oh dear, so there was a coming together.... Nothing too serious I hope.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Last Friday I was at the RHS Malvern show (no sign of a garden railway - an opportunity for someone perhaps?). There were the usual types of sales stands,, including a man selling a "miracle" glue, which he demonstrated holding up incredible weights. I was looking for something like that, so I bought a pot for the £5 special show price.

What I wanted was a Kadee coupling with a joggle in it to fit on the Bachmann BR mk.1 coaches with the NEM pocket set too low. This I made with the front half of a Kadee 05, and the back half of a Bachmann straight (unjoggled) NEM tension-lock coupler. There is about 1 sq. mm of overlap for gluing, so it is challenging for any glue. After 24 hours the coupling was fitted to a mk.1 GUV (see first picture). This was attached to the front of a train of 10 other coaches and 2 Dapol track-cleaners. A loco was attached using the newly-fabricated coupling, and driven up a long 1 in 50 incline with reverse curves, the sharpest being 4' radius. The second picture shows the train. And did the coupling hold? It did, despite a couple of derailments resulting from the lateral force on the GUV due to the heave train weight and the curves. The total weight of the train behind the loco was approximately 1900g, so the pulling force on the coupling on a 1 in 50 gradient is about 38g. If the angular difference between the loco and the GUV on a 4' radius curve is about 5 degrees, so the lateral (sideways) force on the front of the GUV is 38 x sin 5 degrees, or 3.3g. I haven't tried pulling the front end of a vehicle sideways with 3.3g force to see if it derails!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ian,

Many thanks for inviting me over this afternoon to run trains on the Danes Wood Railway. You've made fine progress on the line, and the new viaduct looks stunning as it leaps across the middle of your garden. Although I didn't get round to counting the arches, it must be in the same league as Ribblehead. Completing a continuous run is surely one of the defining milestones of a garden railway.

It was good to be able to run my only chipped loco, the 9F, on a DCC layout for once – it hasn't enjoyed such slow speed running before. Perhaps this is an avenue I need to explore, although chipping all my heritage locos would be a challenge, so perhaps there's scope for having two control systems available. Your remote control by iPhone and tablet is definitely an attractive proposition.

Your wood ants climbing frantically along the moving trains were reminiscent of a Keystone Cops film. All part of the rich tapestry of garden railways – as I suppose was running your Class 20 off a scale 100ft sheer drop when we hadn't noticed the linking section of track wasn't in place. Very slapstick. Hope those buffers cement back alright and there's no worse damage.

It's a pity I didn't bring a proper camera with me, but I've had a go at stringing together the video clips shot on my mobile phone. May not be quite my usual standard, but at least you and others can see the result:

BTW, at one point on one of the reverse curve shots the train wallows in and out of an interesting dip in the track - presumably a result of your falling tree episode.

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I gave the class 20 a quick trial run after you had gone, and it seemed to run ok. Not many engines can fall 150 ft “scale” and survive. It might need surgery to the bogie frame though - the coupling mount and buffers seem to have absorbed most of the shock.

Your videos are very impressive; it may not be a "proper camera", but its wide angle and ease of use from a low viewpoint perhaps make it the best tool for the job.

It was a useful afternoon, and provided a timely reminder of the jobs still to be done. The three short lengths of movable track to complete the double-track through the Barn are now on the workbench under construction!

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I'm curious that you are using Kadees. All my stock is either Hornby style couplers or european hook and loop. I will admit that those tend to fail and uncouple at times. I've used Kadees exclusively on my N scale stock and they never have failed me. Some of the knock off brands have a tendency to explode though. But I am sort of hung up on whether to use them with my european and British stock. I just can't get over the look of an american coupler on my foreign stock. I guess that's my question, how do you feel about having an american prototype coupler on your stock? Or is it just an issue of performance?

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traingeekboy said:

I'm curious that you are using Kadees. ........how do you feel about having an american prototype coupler on your stock? Or is it just an issue of performance?

It is mainly performance. A Kadee looks no more "wrong" on a British prototype than a tension lock, but flops about less and is easier to uncouple manually. I do not usually fit them on freight wagons or the front of locos, and many of my coaches are still fitted with tension lock, a few having a kadee at one end as "interfaces".

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In a week's time, our garden will be open to fifty or more friends and neighbours for our annual garden party. Last year, the railway provided a bit of an attraction in the sidelines, but now there is a viaduct right across the middle of the lawn, on the route from the house to the bar!

I have done a few things to avoid the need for stepping over the viaduct:

The removable section will only be fitted at quiet times and for a demonstration run including two trains crossing on the viaduct.

At the end of the viaduct, where the ground rises, I have raised it a little further to provide a "step-over" crossing.

A couple of well-placed signs will send people in the right direction.

The first picture shows a train with its rear three coaches on the crossing. The grass on either side is new turf laid on top of a pile of soil from elsewhere in the garden. The brown pole above the engine is support for one end of a handrail. The 00 scale fencing is intended to discourage stepping on the rails!

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I really do like how you manage to instill that element of realism in your photographs making the subjects appear much larger than we know they are. Those photos are more great examples of what can be achieved with OO gauge outdoors.

Here's hoping the weather stays fine for your Garden Party and that everyone has a great time. Be sure to let us see the photos!

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