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Keeping out the elements


Rossi
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A few of you may know that the Rossi railway is situated in the Canary Islands and hence lots of sunshine. This brings massive problems with direct sunlight (obviously), but one of the problems I've tried to overcome is that of rain. Yes we do get it...albeit rarely. Yet, when it arrives it comes with a vengeance. Its not unusual to have days in the winter of torrential thudding rain known as tropical thunderstorms. Combined with howling winds it creates havoc over here. Cars overturned, roads washed away and power cables down. So you can understand the trepidation I feel when watching Mother Nature unleash this fury onto the railway, especially as I sit in the kitchen watching it all unveil and wondering how the station, wiring and the track will survive.

So, this season I thought I'd try and maybe lesson the impact. At the local DIY store I'd come across a plastic sheet cover which we'd strewn across the BBQ to stop leaves and bird droppings from cascading onto it. It worked perfectly. So I thought I'd buy a bigger sheet and somehow try to give a little protection to the railway.

The Station area has a little bit of cover because of the bar area roof. Not fully, but enough to ward off a little of the rain. The top end is covered over by Yuka Trees. Again not fully waterproof, but most of the track is in a tunnel. So that leaves the middle portion.

Here's a few photos of the latest operation.

This shot taken from the station area.

PIC_0052.jpg

PIC_0053.jpg

PIC_0051.jpg

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That has given me an idea for the GGR when not in operation, just going to have a look at what is knocking around the shed and caravan doing nothing and can be re-employed elsewhere. I know somehwere that I have a very large tarpauline 20ft by 12ft, might have to cut it down in size but that then should do the job, completely covering what has been layed so far outside on the GGR, will SWMBO like it, not sure but the garden is my area.......... :D

Ian

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Yippee found the tarp, and its as long as I thought it was now just do some butchery to make it look a proper job before sorting out some timber to secure it to. Will be using the concrete posts that are keeping next doors fence up for fixtures when rolled up out of use, but got to buy the timber as I have non going spare of the size that I require some 2 x 1 inch tanalised is going to be needed and about 50 ft of it. Should be able to get at least 3 lengths of 20ft by 3ft when the tarp finally meets the scissors. Not going to do it at present as its far too cold and windy and SWMBO won't let me do it in the house either.

After digging the tarp out spent about 2 hours in the shed running a 9F (Hornby circa 1998) with a rake of 25 vent vans, 8F (Hornby circa 1998) with a rake of 22 vent vans, Ivatt (Hornby circa 1980) with a rake of 15 vent vans, Jinty (Hornby circa 2002) with a rake of 16 conflats with containers, 45xx (Lima circa late 1970's) with another rake of 18 vent vans and finally N2 (Wrenn circa 1960) with a small rake of 12 Fish vans. Not all at the same time, just a couple at a time incase of de-railments normally when going over or through pointwork.

Vents vans supplied by the following makers; Hornby, Wrenn, Bachmann, Lima, Ratio, Graham Farish, Airfix, Dapol and Hornby Dublo

Ian

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That looks good. It will also help with reducing sun damage.

he he he I can see kitty down there in the last shot. He must love this new pay tunnel.

I'm letting my layout go as is. Discovered one spot where i was worried about ply, lies right under a drip line off the eaves of the house. i may cut the shelf off so the drips don't land on it.

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  • 2 years later...

When making bmx jumps it has become common practice to keep them under tarps/covers when not in use. So for an outdoor train set its a good idea.

http://i.imgur.com/CAyhRFU.jpg

I was thinking if weather started to effect my layout (still in planning process at the moment) I could cut some covers to cover the track areas. I hope its not needed but I expect for big storms and winter months it might be a good idea.

One bad side, the lack of light would effect the live plants if left on for too long.

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Hi PPPP, great you are planning a garden railway, have a look on the 00 scale garden railway post , where all the action is.

I am building a HO scale module garden railway, so I wont have that issue in having to cover the layout up all time but if I going to be running trains for a few days I could leave most of the layout set up, one down fall is it does take longer to build, modelling the Tehachapi loop as the main feature of the layout, wiring will be plug and play set up,

Some cool days coming up now will out side working on finishing the Tehachapi loop module tunnel, had some pretty out days this week and its not summer yet, Monday peaked 41 degrees, you can check out my post on the bottom of this page.

Tony

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  • 2 months later...

As most would know I have hinged wooden covers on the raised part and I now have polystyrene on the near to the ground part to protect the railway from the intense heat we get in summer and to prevent wildlife (parrot birds) from damaging the track work. If we get high winds I place paver type bricks on the covers to prevent them blowing open, but only the covers which open to the east as our high winds blow hard from the west.

Roy.

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  • 3 months later...

http://i.imgur.com/iv2lpOe.jpg

Here is a photo from the covers I quickly made up, not the final version. The idea is to protect the track from the sun and leaves as well as the track base from some of the rain and the sun. The covers only cover the track so the plants on each side are free to grow.

It's a water proof material (old pool) with wooden poles holding it in place.

I know my trackbase will not last for very long but hopefully with covers being used it will last a little longer.

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