FAULCONWOOD AND SPRINGBRIDGE RAILWAY.

[grockle]

I'm unclean, ringing bell to warn others, as I still smoke, probably too many a day for my own good, but its one of my few vices state I have and still enjoy. Seeing that I don't drink, now been teetotal for about 20 years but keep a pot handy for putting the money into when I say that I could murder a pint. That way I can afford to buy my stock for the GGR. I only spend £10 a week on hand rolling tabacco, having gave up the 'taylor mades' years ago as they were just getting too exspensive.

Ian

[cleanerg6e]

mick said:

I don't smoke any more Roy and haven't done so for almost five years. My reply in another thread about me smoking my pipe was meant as a bit of humour but obviously not put in a very convincing manner Pam wielding the axe was absolutely true

Pity you can't get a Sherlock Holmes type pipe Mick and you could dress in the silly outfit too. As for Pam wielding the axe I thought that sort of thing only happened at the Tower of London. Although as a tour guide girl said 'you had to be pretty well connected to be disconnected at the Tower of London'.

[cleanerg6e]

Here's two photos for you of the work I've been doing during a sunny spell of weather. The first shows concrete having just been laid and still in it's shuttering. The other shows the completed foundations with all concrete work finished. Where the railway boards finish you can see a white Hebel AAC block cemented in position.

Roy.

[cleanerg6e]

It's been a lovely 24 degrees although the air has been a bit smokey due to the Rural Fire Service doing hazard reduction burns in the local area. Block laying has commenced and it is my first time in doing any sort of block work. Using the white Hebel blocks and an ordinary wood saw to cut them which I found quite easy. I did try to use a bow or bush saw which is used for cutting tree branches and found it was too hard to control with the result of crooked cut. The builder who was renovating my late uncles place in the UK said to use the cheapest wood saw you can buy, as it doesn't matter because a cheap or expensive wood saw will go blunt at the same rate in cutting the blocks.

I don't know whether I should up load some photos of the small amount of block laying I've done. It's a little up and down and I will probably use a surform plane to even it out to level.

Roy.

[traingeekboy]

This is quite an undertaking. It thought digging post holes 18 inches deep was a hassle, this is serious construction. Does your building style require a lot of planning so that everything lines up?

[mick]

cleanerg6e said:

...I don't know whether I should up load some photos of the small amount of block laying I've done. It's a little up and down and I will probably use a surform plane to even it out to level...

If the blocks you're using are the same as the ones I've used for my viaduct then it shouldn't be too difficult to plane them level. It does of course make things much easier if you lay them level in the first place as I found out myself. Did you mix all that concrete footing yourself by hand? I've got a fair bit of concrete mixing to do in the near future and I really should think about ordering a batch of readymix delivered to the garden but I always like to 'have a go' whenever possible.

[cleanerg6e]

traingeekboy said:

This is quite an undertaking. It thought digging post holes 18 inches deep was a hassle, this is serious construction. Does your building style require a lot of planning so that everything lines up?

Well Griff I did plan it but as you can see from the photos I'm a novice concreter and pouring the concrete was the easy bit but making it level was much harder and in places I didn't succeed.

Roy.

[cleanerg6e]

The blocks are not the same as the ones you used Mick which I think were thermalite. Our Hebel blocks do exist in the UK and are marketed buy Xella which includes Silca, Ytong and Hebel. I have been unable to get the blocks precisely level which is frustrating

Yes I did mix all the concrete by hand insofar as I bought the concrete in 20kg bags premixed and then just added water doing two bags at a time in the wheelbarrow. I carried the bags home from the super hardware store in the car. Mine being a large car I can carry 700kgs internally. I got the bags 16 at a time and put the rear seats down and put the bags on there. That way the weight was on all four wheels rather than just two if carried in the boot.

Roy.

[cleanerg6e]

Here are some photos of block construction underway.

The first photo shows some basic hand tools. The wood saw is an old one no longer able to cut wood. It's nearly blunt now from cutting the blocks.

The second photo shows the Hebel blocks I'm using which measure 600mmL x 200mmW x 125mmD

The third photo shows 14 blocks cemented in position and another 7 ready to be cemented. I'm using an ordinary sand/cement mix which I was a little concerned about but need not have worried as in order to remove the blocks I'd need to belt them with a sledge hammer.

I didn't cement in the next seven blocks due to the weather becoming much colder (15 degrees down from 25 degrees in 5 minutes) and loads of cloud cover. I need not have worried as this morning the cloud had cleared away over night and it didn't rain after all.

Roy.

[cleanerg6e]

One further thing is that I had intended to buy 20 blocks and I thought I had loaded 20 blocks into the car. The bloke at the yard insisted on counting the number of blocks I had loaded and said "yes there are 20 blocks as you said mate". On getting home and unloading them I found I'd loaded 22 blocks and not 20. Which shows that I can't count and neither can the hardware man .

Roy.

[traingeekboy]

Well I am thoroughly impressed by the process. Looks like some real hard work.

It all averages out. I've bought too much or the wrong thing often enough.

[cleanerg6e]

traingeekboy said:

Well I am thoroughly impressed by the process. Looks like some real hard work.

It all averages out. I've bought too much or the wrong thing often enough.

Thanks Griff, Although I didn't buy too many blocks as I'll need more at a later stage. I had also planned to do loads more today, but I had to go and get a new work car, an Isuzu D Max. It's set up differently to the last one in that everything is under cover. I'll have to post some photos on my Personal Journal thread. One thing about it is that everything inside is removable so it would make an ideal N gauge shed as it's totally water tight.

Roy.

[cleanerg6e]

I have now finished cutting the blocks and all told it took 34 Hebel blocks.

One tip I've discovered is that if you use a handsaw with small teeth it quickly goes blunt. But if you modify a handsaw with small teeth it can cut through the blocks just as fast as a large toothed saw.

All you have to do is buy the cheapest handsaw you can and then using a pair of pointed nose pliers bend the teeth of the saw just a little bit more. You'll notice that the teeth on the saw are at opposite angles and all you doing is just increasing that angle.

In the photo below are a two handsaws, the one on the left is the "el cheapo" modified saw and the one on the right is a good handsaw.

Another tip is for those of you in damp climates is to coat your handsaw in oil after use. Just smear on used engine oil or 3 in 1 to stop the saw from rusting.

Roy.

[cleanerg6e]

I've also found that the way the face your cutting appears on the block will tell you if your saw is blunt or sharp.

The first photo shows a block with a smooth face to the cut indicating a nearly blunt handsaw. Even this small cut took a lot of effort with the unmodified cheap handsaw.

The second photo shows a much rougher face on the block which was cut in seconds by my modified cheap handsaw. As you are cutting through a type of concrete the modifications to the handsaw are needed.

For the record the cheap handsaw cost $8.50 in Australian Dollars or approx 4 British Pounds

Roy.

[cleanerg6e]

IanR said:

I was thinking about getting one of those wheel cleaning machines. Is it the Bachrus Wheel Doctor? I'd be very interested to hear what you think about it Roy.

Way back in May 2011 in post 128 on page 13 of my thread I showed a photo of my then new Bachrus wheel cleaner. I've been doing a little experimentation late at night after I get home from work and have found that if I soak the wheels of coaches, wagons, tender and bogie/pony wheels in Isopropol Alcohol then the soaking softens the 'muck' on the wheels and the Bachrus wheel cleaner is then able to easily clean the wheels. You can often see when unpowered rollingstock needs to have it's wheels cleaned by the fact that they wobble when running meaning that there is a small amount of muck stuck to the wheel tread.

If the vehicle wobbled when you bought it then wheelsets are out of alignment and the Bachrus won't do much for you.

Roy.

[cleanerg6e]

It also says in the instructions to soak the right hand sponge in your chosen cleaning fluid. However as the wheels only touch the sponge close to the revolving cylinder in the middle it seems a bit of a waste of cleaning fluid to soak the entire sponge. The Bachrus wheel cleaner does require a 12 volt power source so I use this ancient H&M Clipper. Yes we did have these along with the Duette too.

They don't make 'em like this anymore.

The photos show,

1. The controller

2.Dapol track cleaner

3.Isocol Alcohol cleaner (available from supermarkets $9.00 or a similar product from model shops $30.00. This is my preferred cleaner but you can use what ever you like from mild to aggressive.

4. The Bachrus wheel cleaner. You can see that the dirt on the sponge is only just near the roller so why saturate the entire right hand sponge and when you've finished you'd have to ring the sponge out of excess fluid and tip the remaining fluid from under the sponge down the drain. A hell of a waste of fluid.

Roy.

[cleanerg6e]

I've been doing some stone work on my railway and some of the stones have been split. As it's sandstone that's the easy part. You just need to find the "veins" of the stone and then cut parallel to it. Some of the stones need to have a slight alteration to the shape with the aid of a bolster chisel and hammer. They need a fairly flat top and a flattish bottom so it's easy to build the height. This will be especially important when I do the tunnel sides.

Roy.

[traingeekboy]

Whao dude! What a nice long run. And a grade for the coal trains to struggle up. hee hee

[mick]

traingeekboy said:

....And a grade for the coal trains to struggle up. hee hee

Now what a sight that would be!

You've got more blocks there Roy than I used in my entire pond build.

[cleanerg6e]

traingeekboy said:

Whao dude! What a nice long run. And a grade for the coal trains to struggle up. hee hee

Yes and if it's too steep Griff I'll have to use a banker (helper)

Roy.