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Worsley Dale Garden Railway


mick
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Do you have a snow plough Mick?

I think the Flangeways ploughs are a little light for actually ploughing. It would be fun to have a working plough.

Edit: I didn't see your post on my thread. Lol.

Maybe a future project for me - Using an old chassis to create a heavy, motored plough. Possibly battery powered since the snow will probably short the track.

Edited by Clay Mills Junction
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There are also the Beilhack snow ploughs (ex-Class 40) from Hattons which look a little bit delicate. https://www.hattons.co.uk/234017/hattons_originals_h4_bh_001_beilhack_snow_plough_ex_class_40_zza_adb965576_in_br_yellow/stockdetail.aspx

Many years ago Liliput UK sold one based on a A4/A3 tender with a continental plough blade on the front and of course there is the old Tri-ang Transcontinental one with fold back blades. Several on eBay currently but most with missing wings. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triang-OO-Gauge-R138-Snow-Plough-Wagon/313329238254?hash=item48f3e0c0ee:g:y3MAAOSwVIZfydIl

Snow may not be an electrical problem as there is a You-tube video of a loco running on 12 volt DC under water

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3 hours ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

Do you have a snow plough Mick?

I think the Flangeways ploughs are a little light for actually ploughing. It would be fun to have a working plough.....

I'm not sure how successful they would be, if at all. Of the few examples I've seen on video where people are actually trying to clear snow from the line, it seems that all it does is push the snow along in front until the load becomes too great. What you really need is scale snow too. Where I have seen some success it's been with vehicles travelling far beyond scale speeds so that it tends to throw the snow more towards the sides.

The snow itself doesn't appear to cause any electrical problems so you should be fine with your standard method of control.

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4 hours ago, Riddles said:

There are also the Beilhack snow ploughs (ex-Class 40) from Hattons which look a little bit delicate.

Those and the Flangeway ones I have are both designed as decorative for indoor use so probably not of much of a starting point. The Beilhack ploughs are for drifts up to 1.8 metres high so the real heavy drifts would need the ploughs like tender derived ones.

 

2 hours ago, mick said:

I'm not sure how successful they would be, if at all. Of the few examples I've seen on video where people are actually trying to clear snow from the line, it seems that all it does is push the snow along in front until the load becomes too great. What you really need is scale snow too. Where I have seen some success it's been with vehicles travelling far beyond scale speeds so that it tends to throw the snow more towards the sides.

Yes. I think you are right, a working one would need to be custom built from metal to force the snow aside and not a detailed replica of a real BR snowplough. That said, the shape of the Flangeways one will probably work if it can be recreated in metal and mounted on something heavy enough. The easiest way to do that would be to re-use an old co-co chassis. Anyone got a spare Heljan 47 chassis that banana'd itself? 🤣

With your viaducts having edges, I think the problem would be lifting the snow high enough with the ramp section before forcing it out to the sides. Not impossible though.
BR used to ram the snowploughs through drifts at a fair old speed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm sure I must say this every year but out in the garden these past couple of weeks makes me wonder how on earth we ever manage to run model trains out there. It can be such a cold, wet and extremely miserable place at this time of year. Those sunny Spring and early Summer days seem such a long way away right now when it seemed everyone and their dog had desires on building a garden railway. Most of them must be looking back at our forum now thinking we're completely mad - and perhaps we must be.

Anyway to those who have been here throughout and to those who may have visited more recently I would like to wish everyone a 'safe' and Merry Christmas. It may not be the type of Christmas we've become accustomed to but I'm sure there's a way to make the best of what it has to offer. Looking forward to seeing you all back here in the New Year when hopefully we can all start to look forward to regaining our freedom from the restrictions forced on us by this lousy virus.

Stay safe everyone!

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I've not been out in the garden for the past few days but fortunately I came across the following obstruction of the line along Buttlebank before any train movements took place.

The snow might be gradually departing but it's left behind some treacherous conditions. I doubt a snowplough could handle this little lot.

20210101_123024.thumb.jpg.8503820656304f0ae2669f96ad482740.jpg

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There's no ballast on that section Dave. At the moment the only ballasted sections are along the two viaducts which this morning were still covered with a thin layer of snow. I'm not about to be running anything anytime soon so I'll just leave it to clear on its own accord.

 

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On 01/01/2021 at 06:08, mick said:

I've not been out in the garden for the past few days but fortunately I came across the following obstruction of the line along Buttlebank before any train movements took place.

The snow might be gradually departing but it's left behind some treacherous conditions. I doubt a snowplough could handle this little lot.

20210101_123024.thumb.jpg.8503820656304f0ae2669f96ad482740.jpg

Perhaps a bit of salt for that? 

Or, maybe a hair dryer?

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19 hours ago, traingeekboy said:

Perhaps a bit of salt for that? 

Or, maybe a hair dryer?

I think it's best to let nature take its course with this one. I've no intentions of running anything just yet so there's plenty of time for it to thaw naturally.

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Perhaps this is a possible candidate for the next series of 'Walking Britain's Lost Railways'....?

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There is a viaduct somewhere beneath all that toppled bamboo!

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I have since cleared the snow from the bamboo allowing it to regain its upright stance and fortunately there's no apparent damage to the viaduct. These are tough times for garden layouts!

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  • 1 month later...

What a glorious day it's been today- a far cry from what has recently gone before. I even considered firing Worsley Dale up and running at least one train but then realised that there was so much other work to do before that would be possible. I hadn't given the Koi pond filters a good clean for a while and with the warmer spell of weather it seemed an opportune time to remove the covers that keep the cold air off the pond surface. I'll probably have to replace them by next week knowing our weather!

So it was a case of trimming back overgrown shrubs and vacuuming along the rail tops to remove debris. The track looks to be in good condition so I'm hopeful it won't be too long before there's some movement along them.

One concern was the aerated block that I had cut to fit over the top of the old point motor housing at the end of Low Shott viaduct. It had cracked into 3 pieces, obviously by the freezing conditions. Maybe it was just because it's such a large flat surface and I'm now wondering if I protected it with the water seal. I'm sure I did at least once but either way it has succumbed. Luckily the viaducts have survived apparently unscathed but I've not yet had a real close look at them though I'm not too concerned - in fact I'm pretty confident they'll be fine.

Watch this space!

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Worsley Dale is officially open for 2021!

Tracks were cleaned and cleared early today and power was applied shortly afterwards. I was immediately greeted with a short circuit! There's nothing really complicated on Worsley Dale, it's little more than a circle of track so what could possibly be the problem? I checked from one end to the other and found nothing amiss so it wasn't something just across the rails so that leaves just the two sprung points which each have frog juicers fitted. I should really have removed them before winter set in but they are housed within plastic boxes, cushioned with foam, and then placed within another structure but the one near Low Shott viaduct, a Tam Valley frog juicer, had failed. That's the third one I've bu**ered up! The Gaugemaster ones are fine.

This may be partly to blame as I mentioned yesterday. The frost and ice has obviously got to this though the interior where the frog juicer is located within its plastic box was completely dry.

20210226_124439.thumb.jpg.22f5016064e4990316fbd46594fe1cd4.jpg

While the damp conditions may have cost me a juicer they've created a wonderful garden of colour on some of my stonework which appears to be thriving...

20210226_153147.thumb.jpg.3495443e91cdfc4e9757ef9fd5ecc7bb.jpg

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And it's even spreading along the lineside on Stack Gill viaduct. Who needs static grass!

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So here's a short video of 37425 hauling a short rake of coaches around today. It's the only train running just now - the sun may be shining but it's still a bit cool out there.

 

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22 hours ago, ThomasI said:

I had also some losses with aerated blocks over the winter....

It's been a tough winter Thomas! 

What's happened to yours? Are they sections cut from a full block or is it a whole block that has split?

Mine have been fine apart from the one I pictured that had it's wider side exposed and where the snow/ice had chance to settle and do it's worst.

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7 hours ago, mick said:

It's been a tough winter Thomas! 

What's happened to yours? Are they sections cut from a full block or is it a whole block that has split?

Mine have been fine apart from the one I pictured that had it's wider side exposed and where the snow/ice had chance to settle and do it's worst.

My aerated blocks are rather badly weathered.

Some of them are simply crumbled.

Others, however, show no damage.

My impression is that the better the water and snow drained off the blocks, the better they hold.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've just had Worsley Dale powered up for the first time in 3 weeks or so and had a very brief running session. I'd hoped to get away with just going round with the track rubber and then IPA in the track cleaner but found it necessary to get the garden vacuum out too as there was so much debris and fallen leaves along the tracks.

It wasn't until I'd started that I remembered I have still to replace the auto frog on the spring points just off Low Shott viaduct. I didn't fancy getting tools and soldering irons out just yet as they are all up in the attic so I left it as it was for now and it didn't cause any problems. I'd already been up in the attic once for the track cleaner and trusty 26024. There's also the cliff face to complete along Buttlebank at the bottom of the garden. We haven't had the weather to even thing about restarting work there just yet so that's something else that will have to wait a bit longer.

I'm also determined to get the double track section ballasted this year and as @ba14eaglehas had good results using SBR as a ballast fixative I'm inclined to give that a try rather than the exterior varnish I've used previously along the viaducts. The exterior varnish has however worked fine for me during the 3 years or so it's been down - it's just that it can get a bit messy. Hopefully we 'll get a sufficiently long dry spell so that I can get that done.  It should make the layout look a bit more realistic.

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  • 6 months later...

Wow.....nothing since March and none of the plans I had back then have even been started let alone accomplished. It's probably too late in the year for ballasting now.

Apologies for the lack of any progress on Worsley Dale this year, it's all down to me meandering off course once again and becoming totally engrossed in another of my long-held interests.

The only thing I have to share are images of my viaducts which have sustained slight damage due to the amorous advances of a certain pigeon to another of it's kind.

The parapet walls have always been susceptible to damage and have been repaired several times already. I've obtained yet another type of exterior adhesive, this time it's 'Gorilla Heavy Duty Grab Adhesive' which is stated to be '5x stronger' and 'extra tough' so pigeons beware! It also dries 'crystal clear'.

20210929_101821.thumb.jpg.48c9af68c9acfcf4a2cd0e3683f78119.jpg

So this is Low Shott viaduct, the smaller of the two viaducts with a length of walling having been dislodged.

20210929_095351.thumb.jpg.ce856d73bd2d89dd9f0087fee27c8f13.jpg

And here is Stack Gill viaduct with two areas having been damaged, one not quite as badly as the other. Those pigeons do get about a bit!

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One day soon I will be getting round to repairing them, though it's not likely to be today despite the welcome bit of sunshine.

Fortunately the rest of the layout appears to be in great condition considering the lack of attention it has received this year. It just goes to show that there's nothing wrong planning OO gauge out in the garden.

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