mick Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I've not come across Derbigum before. By the sound of it, it's a good deal thicker than the roofing felt we have available in the UK. I've done a quick search on G**gle and it looks a similar product but your description of its characteristics suggests it is very different. There's no need for anything so substantial as to cause you concern over its weight - are there any other products available? From what I've read elsewhere it would seem that bitumen based products, such as the UK roofing felt referred to here, are difficult to obtain outside the UK. I wonder what others think about the need for a felt covering on top of the plywood baseboard or whether a suitable paint/sealant would suffice? Anyone have any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patlecq Posted November 24, 2011 Author Share Posted November 24, 2011 Hi Everybody, I went to the shop this morning and I found a possible solution to cover plywood baseboard. It's a thin rubber sheet which is used to make small garden fish ponds. According to the advertisement it's waterproof and UV resistant and last but not least not too expensive. Any good or bad experience made by members of the forum regarding the use of this material ? By the way, I saw roofing felt (UK style with small stones glued on it) in a DIY shop. It would have been nice to use this type of roofing with my OO garden railway. Unfortunately, it was the coverage of the roof of a garden shed but not available as roofing material according to the employee. Thank You. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drmalesis Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 patlecq said: By the way, I saw roofing felt (UK style with small stones glued on it) in a DIY shop. It would have been nice to use this type of roofing with my OO garden railway. Unfortunately, it was the coverage of the roof of a garden shed but not available as roofing material according to the employee. That's exactly what you need... Duncan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patlecq Posted November 25, 2011 Author Share Posted November 25, 2011 Hi Duncan, Do you know the brandname of this type of roofing felt. If yes, then I will try to find the name of the belgian (or Benelux) importer, if any. Thank You. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanR Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 I don't know of a brand name for roofing felt but I think the main manufacturer here in the UK is probably Marley Roofing. Other manufacturers are Ruberoid and Rose Roofing. Hope this helps, Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patlecq Posted November 25, 2011 Author Share Posted November 25, 2011 Hi, I'm lucky this morning. I went to a garden shed store and found roofing felt with small stones as used for shed roof. I bought one roll and I will start covering works this afternoon according to the weather. Thank You for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 That's good news. I was under the impression that it wasn't readily available outside the UK. How are you going to fix it down - maybe you'll have more difficulty getting hold of bitumen adhesive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patlecq Posted November 25, 2011 Author Share Posted November 25, 2011 Hi Mick, I intend to nail the roofing felt on both sides of the base board. I bought special rustproof nails. If the weather is fine tomorrow (as foreseen by TV weather man), I will lay the roofing on the baseboard and take pictures. Another good news: I received this morning my new Roco Multimaus radio controlled DCC set. I already tried it (indoor) and it works fine. This radio controlled DCC set will be especially dedicated to my garden railway. Tomorrow, I will test the remote controller in the garden and I'm curious to see how far from the central station it still works. If you are interested, the complete set is sold at 300,00 Euro only in Holland (ebay). It's quiet cheap compare to the normal price which is 450,00 and even more (without transformer). Actually, it's a DCC set which used to be sold together with a loco, 3 coaches and rails in a starting box. I suspect that the price was so high for a starting box (850,00 Euro) and so difficult to sell that some retailers preferred to sell the DCC set and the rest of the box apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patlecq Posted November 26, 2011 Author Share Posted November 26, 2011 I Everybody, This afternoon, I laid the roofing felt on the baseboards. It is temporarely nailed. I still think about the best solution to fix it on the baseboard. I installed a test track and made already some trial runs to check my Roco DCC remote controller. It works fine even at a distance of more than 50 meters. At that distance, the locomotive looks so small that you don't recognize it anymore and its speed seems slow even at full speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traingeekboy Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Wow nice work. The felt looks good although green which is a nice grassy touch. This way you can just add ballast on the track. That is a very pretty engine too. What model is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patlecq Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 Hi Traingeekboy, Actually the roofing felt is greener than what we can see on the picture. I guess that the colour looks gray because the picture was taken on a cloudy day and late in the afternoon. With the rest of the roofing felt, I intend to make long bands of 4,5 cm wide to represent the ballast. I would like to paint the bands in matt gray colour similar to ballast stones. I will make a test this morning. This locomotive ( type 201) is the first Diesel locomotive built in Belgium early in the fifties. The design is belgian (Cockerill) but the engine was built under Baldwin Hamilton USA licence, the steam heater (to heat old passenger coaches) was a Vapor Clarkson USA machine and the electrical equipment was built by ACEC Belgium under Westinghouse USA licence. There were more than fifty locomotives of this type built and some of them were still in operation in the years 2000. Now, there are still three or four locomotives preserved by the belgian railways or by private museum companies. As far as I know they are all able to run. The model shows the locomotive with its livery from 1955 up to approx. 1965. It's a DC Trix/Marklin Model. It's one of the last model produced 100% metal. It runs fine but not very smoothly and the noise is very loud. Anyway, it's not a big problem outdoor ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 You seem to be making excellent progress! It is good to see. Keep it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patlecq Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 Hi Dave, Weather is not too bad here, so I continue to work outdoor. Monday, I temporarely installed the first points, double slip and track to find a suitable way to fix them and also to determine where to drill holes for wiring and switch motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 That's looking good. It seems you have a track plan in mind? How do you intend to fix the point motors and keep them protected from the elements? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patlecq Posted December 2, 2011 Author Share Posted December 2, 2011 Hi Mick, As much as possible I try to stick on the 1/1000 real track drawing of the railway station. Of course, points and evenmore double slips are too short compare to the reality but the track lengths will be to scale (1/87). Here is a picture of the northern side of the station. This is roughly what will be installed on the first module (see previous picture). The point motors are Peco PL10 (I still got about 20 pieces of them which I already used in the past for my former indoor railway model) . The motors will be installed under table and offset by about 50mm. I intend to glue the point motors (as I did it already indoor with satisfaction) and to couple the throwing pin to a micro switch for frog polarization (still to be experimented). Offset is choosen to avoid water ingress through the pin hole (as much as possible). I expect to make the first trial outdoor this week-end. I will post pictures of the system if satisfactory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traingeekboy Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Nice shot of the sun off the rail heads. Seems like you are making good progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Sorry, I hadn't realised that you were modelling a prototype location - looks very interesting. In fact those photos you've posted of the actual railway look remarkably British if you don't mind me saying. The double headed passenger could easily be a British prototype pairing, much like the soon to be released LMS Twins. Are those loco's available in model form? It would be great to be able to recreate that particular scene. Any more info regarding this little section of line/station? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patlecq Posted December 3, 2011 Author Share Posted December 3, 2011 Hi Mick, The double headed passenger train shown at Vonêche station is unusual. Actually, there were no international trains running on this line in the Ardennes. There was a railway strike in Belgium on that day and all trains were stopped, except this pilgrims' train heading to Lourdes in France and exceptionnaly allowed to reach France as soon as possible for sanitarian reasons. This is why there is a trade union red flag installed on the head of the leading locomotive. There are many HO scale models (Märklin and Roco) of this type of locomotive. These "europeanized" US GM/EMD locomotives were built in Belgium under licence by Anglo Franco Belge company in the mid fifties. They were used by SNCB until 2007 and are now used for trackworks trains and operated by a private company. I hope to take pictures of these locomotives running on my garden railway very soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanR Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Hi Patrick, It's looking very good but... I can't help thinking that you will end up having trouble with the double slips. I take it that you will be relying on the point blades for electrical contact?? The operating bar in the Peco point motors will definitely rust even though they are out of direct contact with the weather. You could try keeping them working by spraying them occasionally with silicone grease. Good luck with it all! Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patlecq Posted December 4, 2011 Author Share Posted December 4, 2011 Hi Ian, Thank You for the warning. I know that maintenance will be big part of the game with outdoor railway. Do you know any improvement that can be made on Peco Electrofrog Doubleslip to avoid electrical continuity problems ? I already modified the Peco Electrofrog points as described previously in this post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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