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Watnall Springs Branch


Dubmatix
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I have posted on other threads about my cobbled together (not TGB's :) ) Currently just wanting to get something to run on as i took up my loft layout to reconfigure and haven't had chance to rebuild it yet. I've ended up with a 7.5 metre out and back single track strip...for now at least. There's scope to expand to make a complete circuit but i'd need to rebuild the back door step to incorporate a tunnel i think or run it close up to the step...

I did disturb a hedgehog whilst clearing leaves and twigs and i fear he won't come back :( He wasn't last time i looked but i don't want to keep disturbing the area. Hopefully if he is still there, he won't mind the sound of a 37 running past every now and again.

I couldn't resist a resin signalbox for a bit of scale atmoshpere in the rasberries, broad beans and garlic! Note ballast spillage!

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Looking down towards the far end of the line.

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It was a misty morning with wet rails this so took a couple of runs down and back before clear runs with no sound restarts! 37693 (with std sound) on the ballast train during the PW posession.

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Thanks to Traingeekboy for the inspiration to just get on and put stuff together!

I'm looking at painting my CLS bases and they are standing on stone abutments to stop them soaking up water. May top them with felt with sloping sides excess to look like an embankment...we'll see.

My current DCC on long extended leads works but is a bit messy. But when it gets very cold, I can wash up at the kitchen sink and control trains at the same time (my wife will be wondering why i start to wash up more?) though i did get distracted at one point and ended up with 37693 lying wheels up in the border and a loss of ballast! :o No breakages though as she had a soft landing! 8-) must get some buffer stops!

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What's all this then....? It's supposed to go quiet on the garden railway front during the colder months and yet here we have another new layout to follow! Brilliant stuff!!

For a layout to work consistently well outdoors I'm sure we'll all agree that there's a good deal of groundwork and preparation to be done before any track laying begins. However, there's certainly nothing wrong with getting straight down to it, laying some track and running some trains as soon as possible if that's the way that suits you. Whether you've got a circular route or an end-to-end set-up, the thrill of seeing your trains running through a natural landscape illuminated by natural daylight is hard to match and certainly can't be equalled by any indoor layout. What's more, I have that same sound-fitted class 37 in my collection and I can hear it growling now on that short ballast train as it passes the signal box. Hopefully you managed to stop it in time on this occasion!

I'm longing to get back outdoors and get some trains running again. Perhaps I should follow your lead and get at least a few lengths of track down in an end-to-end fashion. That's how I began on the Selby layout so I don't see why I shouldn't do the same here. If I'm honest then I'm worried I might not do it right again and it's holding me back somewhat.

Sorry to hear about the hedgehog. I made the same mistake some weeks ago, or at least my little dog upset the old fella, and he never returned (the hedgehog that is, not the dog). Must have spooked it.

Anyway, thanks for the introduction and the photos - look forward to seeing more in due course.

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Hi Dubmatix - welcome to the forum.

The track you've laid certainly has feeling of great fun and spontaneity about it.

Can't wait to see the real thing when its started.

Are you planning an end to end layout or a loop ?

Don't forget the obligatory photos and construction details...:D

Duncan

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Thanks all for the welcome and encouragement. Yes this is all about getting running quickly. We have a one year old so time is scarce though i know he will benefit from these works! We also plan to move within a couple of years so i don't want large time consuming works in garden so a more fluid, removeable and lightweight build is the way for me. I know i have wiggly track and i have a few more track joints to bond and some wood treatments to do, but they are pre treated (for what it's worth) but I like the simplicity of the beam on stone and running through the border plants, it works for this section nicely. (Though i do like the idea of a small channel with a dry mix of cement/sand for a naturalish blend of track into the border....may have to try a bit of that...but i suspect rainsplash will make it unworkable)

It's going to be tricky to keep clean though, i had brushed this down in the morning but lots of tree debris had found its way onto the track area by the mid afternoon when i took the pictures for here. I have dropped some hints about the Dapol track cleaner (with vac action) with Christmas and birthday coming up :)

oh and Mick just go for it. It'll be a quick running area to usr whilst you plan your full layout. It is all about the fun of running trains after all...

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...We also plan to move within a couple of years...

We went through a period where one minute we were considering moving, the next we had decided to stay, and the uncertainty doesn't help when making important decisions for the future. In my particular case, we finally decided that we would stay put and so I went ahead with everything, built the layout, got a greenhouse etc.. and then we changed our minds, upped sticks and more or less left everything behind.

With a young family your reasons for a planned house move will doubtless be different from mine but what I will say is that once you are settled and where you want to be, everything will feel so much better, you'll be much more content and able to look forward. In the meantime just do what you can to enjoy this hobby with your young son and make sure that when the time comes you can dismantle everything easily or are able to take it with you.

Leaves from nearby trees/bushes are a nightmare, especially during the autumn, though depending on the type of tree/bush you could expperience problems during early spring too. I used to go round clearing them all away only to see them slowly returning as I worked. Thankfully, there are no such problems at the new home.

Not so sure that a Dapol track cleaner will help clearing the accumulated leaves but if you've got a small portable vacuum cleaner (one of the 12v types similar to that used in a car) they can be very useful for clearing away dirt when used in addition to the normal track rubbers etc..

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  • 6 months later...

Quite a late reply, but i have now a similar track cleaning device on a hook in my shed. I already had plenty of them and it works well!

Had a few operating sessions over the spring in the gaps between the rain! My son loves it, especially now i have a blue and a green tank engine....Thomas and Ivor to run between my blue diesels :lol:

Broadbean Junction signal box is getting pretty overgrown with onions and broad beans with the rain last week causing the onions to grow to the extent that i had to weave it a bit like hedging to clear the running line.

Took a few pics as i was wrapping up with 25034 after i added the bufferbeam detail...no sound on this model but i do like the name detail. It's just arrived and Broadbean Junction with a test train from Derby RTC.

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I've also added a set of points as part of a future run round loop at the far end (where the 37 is standing in the previous post) and realigned the track so it no longer deviates into the flower bed but the run round loop will do that.

It runs under evergreens mainly but there is one plant that seems to leave sap dots on the track for about a foot or so, that's the worst bit for cleaning.

Still not fixed anything down or put any more track joint jumper wires on though that is my next job...but I am (we are) enjoying it!

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There's also Rhubarb tunnel (formed entirely of Rhubarb arching over the line) and Rhodedndron Junction...(which now actually does have the start of a junction) :lol:

Need to make a nameplate for the signal box. Has anyone had any joy with weatherproofing inkjet printed stuff? Else i'll have to print it on a colour laser printer onto card then paint it in clear laquer? That might work.

Also would like to add some interior detail and (solar) light to the box as i have a few spare solar lights the a guy at work was throwing away. Probably just the glow from a pot bellied stove and a few instrument lights is all you would have had normally....and a small desk light i guess? (I have some optical fibre so one LED could do a few different things).

John

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Need to make a nameplate for the signal box. Has anyone had any joy with weatherproofing inkjet printed stuff? Else i'll have to print it on a colour laser printer onto card then paint it in clear laquer? That might work

I used a Brother label printer (from LIDL) It makes very good labels which are waterproof. I'll make you one and send it to you if you PM me. :)

Ian

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I just spent a couple minutes reviewing your photos. (also known as staring and drooling.) your pics look great. Those night shots of the train with the tower really spur on the imagination.

Seems a couple points would instantly turn this into a great shunting line.

love that 37. I'm still seeking a deal on one of those.

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Cheers TGB. Yes, i imagine the Broadbeab junction box as controlling the (non existant currently) small freight yard at this end of the line which seldom sees much traffic. Maybe the driver stopped to get the token or key for the ground frame...or a quick cup of tea!

My ideal would be to make this a a little two or three track yard with a few yard lights made workable from my surplus bag of solar lights hanging in the shed! :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

What a warm evening! My son wanted ot play out, and so did I so we got the railway working! After he had gone to bed i was left to clear up and shunt all the stock back up to the "works" which meant breaking out the class 24 (no pics of that sorry) with Howes sound and my pair of permalinked class 20's. The Sulzer and the 20s are my fave sound equipped locos as the set ups are perfect straight from the box (with the exception of the class 20 volume which now i have a PowerCab, i can finally adjust!). The reason they are permalinked is that i have the speaker in one (and motor removed, reversibly) and with the twin startup sounds it's the perfect backdrop to pottering in the garden, doing a bit of weeding! (and messing with the beetle!)

So here's the lineside shot taken by an enthusiast before he went off home on his bike. I think the 20s were running around to take the wagons back off the branch.

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This reminds me of the great view of the tracks in front of Trent Junction power box...when i used to cycle up there :)

Note to Ian R : that's my first effort at an inkjet print in sellotape. Will be installing your updates next! 8-)

I don't know about Broadbean in this shot...it should be Raspberry Junction!

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  • 2 months later...

Yes i prefer the blue ones Mick...they are from the era of my youth so there wasn't an option for me :D Although i do sometimes stray into green...i have a green Deltic and wouldn't mind a green 25.

The vegetation around Broadbean Junction has died right back. I dug up the garlics bulbs that had grown...not many, i think the lack of sun didn't help. Looking for a container and my ballast wagons at the end of the siding "weathering" caught my eye (it really does the wire handrails well on the Seacows...authentic rusting just don't leave out for more than a year!!) so i dropped them into those temporarily.

Had to bring the 24 out to pose in the sunshine....on a rare visit, borrowed from RTC Derby to assist with some....erm large root removal trackside :lol:

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Down from here the track is VERY overgrown....the rain has caused the rhubarb to go mad and it's blocking the track completely for abour 2 feet. Thing is, i think my winter visitor is back in his hidey hole and is thinking about hibernating so i think that i might not clear that area until the spring.

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Need to add bufferbeam detail to one end of this loco. She has sound (howes) too and is one of my faves. I think the white handles are a bit coarse though.

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