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The Great Wakering Flackwell Heath & Whitefield Railway


Trevor
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On your railway Trevor is a lot of rock. Is it real rock or artificial. I have a lot of rock where I live and it's all sandstone. Is your rock used to keep the garden soil from falling onto the track and do the rocks also provide a windbreak.

If some of your rock is artificial how do you make it and if you have photos perhaps an article on the making of artificial rocks.

I've had a look on you tube and Beckonscot uses a lot of rock on their gauge 1 garden railway and it seems to form a windbreak and keep the soil from their numerous flowerbeds at bay.

Roy.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Hi

All my rock is real Limestone a concrete foundation is used and the rock is mortared in place using rendering sand at 1 -3 the colour matches the limestone. If I want moss to grow on joints or to hide cables I plaster on a mix using peat rendering sand and cement at 2 1 1, this is softer and can be chilsed away without damaging whats underneath.

Regards

Trevor

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  • 2 months later...

Hi All

Some news to bring you up to date. Various problems occurred this year to slow down railway developments, firstly a second replacement hip for Janet my wife and my accident resulting in a fracture in a vertebrate. Work however completed a make over to a section of line and adjacent garden This was featured in Hornby Magazine and will be in the 2016 DVD given away with the January issue, also in the new loco reviews are several tested and shot on the layout. Work commenced on the station platforms in the loops at the bottom of the garden this area still incomplete has rarely featured in photographs, as it is semi uncover hopefully the station area will be completed this winter and feature in Hornby magazine next year showing platform construction installation of an additional sleep uncoupling ramp and station lighting. This only remains for the engine shed to be installed although the base was constructed years ago and wiring installed and connected to the control panel. Despite medical problems I had 3 good days of running in October no more now until April. Attached is shot of the Met Bo-Bo runs like a dream but with the usual Heljan low couplings to be sorted.

Trevor

587a48dac5efe_MetBo-BoexitingWindmillTunnel.jpg.e21aa3188c31d08f80f422374d963f9e.jpg

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Hi Trevor. Your railway is amazing!!! I'm still a newbie to trains/layouts but mine and my 5 year old interest spawned from a visit to the NRM at York. We decided on a layout after our visit and it soon turned out to be too large to do indoors. I saw your videos on YouTube and was instantly hooked on the idea of a garden railway after seeing your fantastic railway. You've shown what is possible and although mine is coming along, ableit slowly, if one day it ends up even a fraction as good as yours I will be Overjoyed. It's great to have 'famous' layout amongst us ( although our esteemed leaders layout is going to raise the benchmark somewhat). Great work Trevor. Regards. Mark

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Sorry to learn that you broke a vertebra. Presumably that was due to the broken ladder when you were being a Good Samaritan. You must have been in considerable pain during the Hornby Magazine Competition Winners Day and it was brave of you not to have called it off. Glad we were able to help in a very small way. Looking forward to the 2016 DVD and hope that you and Janet are soon fighting fit. Best wishes .

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  • 1 month later...

 

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This was featured in Hornby Magazine and will be in the 2016 DVD given away with the January issue, also in the new loco reviews are several tested and shot on the layout

Hi Trevor, glad to hear you and your wife are both doing well with her surgery and your accident,how did you fracture your vertebrate.

I will ring my news agent and ask them to put aside when it comes in the Hornby's January issue I mainly want the DVD in it.

Do you know much about the flying Scotsman duel tenders, I want to put in a permanent draw bar between the two tenders as they are both powered, can handle a 2 percent grade on a spiral with ease pulling 11 coaches plan to pull 16.

Tony from down under

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The January 2016 Hornby Magazine has been in the shops for a few days now and the 50 minute DVD which is on the cover is well worth the £4.20 price. As well as a feature showing some reconstruction work on the G W F H & W Railway, several of the loco reviews (including of course the Metropolitan Bo-Bo shown above) were also shot on the railway.

Trevor, all the best for 2016 to you and Janet.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Happy New Year to all Garden Railway Modellers

During the late Autumn I have been spending my time on repainting and reorganising my railway shed, a 35 year old building of rendered block work construction. My next project is to weather super detail and shorten couplings on all new stock.; hopefully finding time to finish some kits. One project is to modify tank locos that shunt the yard at Gt Wakering which is across the pond and some 12 -15ft from the controller. In 2012 I wrote an article for Hornby magazine on improvements I made to the Model Rail Sentinel shunter and with the Hornby industrial Peckett due this year I thought reproducing the bones of the article may be of help.

The pickups on the Sentinel are from the pinpoint bearings on the axles. This method I have used in the past when constructing kits but only for secondary pickups on bogies and found that occasionally this method gave intermittent electrical conductivity. To help the Y3 to have the best of electrical conductivity I decided firstly to introduce a secondary pickup sprung downwards on the top running surface of the wheels; this and additional weight did make a considerable improvement but stalling still occurred occasionally. A higher voltage on the track does slightly improve the running but this of course would amount higher running speeds so I introduced a 47 ohms ½ watt resistor into the cab of the Sentinel, thus reducing its speed whilst keeping the track pick up voltage higher. In fact its top speed on 15 V is now 35 mph, closely matching the original. The Y3 had a low gear and a high gear giving a top speed of 13.MPH for shunting and 36.5MPH for travelling between locations; one delivered in 1931 had a different sprocket ratio giving a low gear top speed of 10.5 MPH and in high gear 28.5MPH.

On test a remarkable slow running speed of 0.2 mph was achieved over 1056 mm, a 20th of a scale mile, this included transversing over 2 Peco curved points set back to back as a junction, 1 being insul frog and 1 electro frog. The Y3 with the additional weights came in at 160 gms and slipped to a stop with a load of 25 gms on the drawbar, a very high output for such a small locomotive and roughly equal to pulling approx 20 wagons up a 1in 80 gradient.

The loco ran perfectly down the steep gradient to the dockside on the 1 in11 gradient. Many locomotives hunt when preceding downhill but the Sentinel is perfect, be it that it still stalled occasionally, not surprising seeing that any 0-4-0 loco running outside can easily be upset by minor dirt particles or an unevenness in the track; this of course would apply to many industrial settings where track levels tended to be irregular. The final improvement I made to its running was to permanently attach a shunting truck with pickups wired to the Sentinel, at last perfection. The Sentinel has now become my pride and joy as a slow running shunting loco; it will pull in addition to its shunters wagon 3 wagons up the 1in11 or one full length baggage car, just what I required. I have attached a photograph. With the thought of repainting locos I also offer this humours pix from a Steam & Girls calendar that I produce in 2003.

Gt Wakering Harbour with sentenel.jpg

Loco re-painting in Poland with annoyed driver..jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Trevor Hornby make a coupling which I found great for the close couplings on Bachmann MK1's but it makes no difference on Hornby Stanier period 3's. It is designed for the NEM coupling pocket and I think it's origins are from Roco but I maybe mistaken. It would mean that you coaches would have to be in fixed rakes with a tension lock coupling on either end. I don't know if you use your block rendered shed in which to run you trains into or through.

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Hi Trevor and Roy, I'm not sure on those Hornby couplers, I am replacing my British coaches will close up NEM kadees which is pretty expensive, my clubs train show is coming up in May saving some money to buy 4 UP86ft Auto spare parts wagon and a set of 5 container well cars plus those NEM couplers

Trevor my news agent got me the wrong month they have reordered the Hornby January, they had a yearly Hornby mag was tempted to buy it, only buying it for the DVD, is the DVD region 2.

Roy what is the Blue Mountains like humidity wise stinging up here, layout is at a stand still, I hope to be getting some help soon , make the bloke do most of the heavy work, will see what the afternoon is like .

Happy new year to both of you, Tony. ;);)

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  • 4 months later...

Hi

This years spring development has been the construction of Flackwell Heath harbour, it resides under the viaduct (constructed 9 years ago) which will lead to the engine shed. The intention had been just to have a pier made from brass section bit the introduction by Bachmann of its Scenecraft harbour walls and fishingman's lofts changed my plans. Over 2 months the harbour was constructed whilst balancing on a plank across the pond, the Hard to find Farm at the top of the hill was renovated and turned into a Smokery. The complete story of this can be read in the July issue of Hornby Magazine which is about to appear in the shops. The layout (subject to weather) will have an open day again this year and anyone interested should e mail me at trevorjonesol4969@gmail.com leaving there contact telephone number and a best time to ring them. The layout is located near High Wycombe.

Trevor Jones

Flackwell Harbour.jpg

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Caught a brief glimpse of the article in Hornby magazine this morning Trevor but decided to leave further reading until this evening in order to get some work done first.

Your layout looks excellent as always so I'm looking forward to reading all about it.

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Hi Trevor, like the curve viaduct arches are they curved or straight arches, gives me ideas for the arches on the spiral closer to the ground, want to put in a small sea side village there with working light house, is the arch a round pipe arch.

Going by the Hornby mag in our news agent be waiting a while we are only up to April, bloody three month wait, hopefully the train club will have that one earlier.

Tony from down under

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Hi

Firstly please note that in my notification of the open day I mixed up my 2 email addresses the correct one is trevorol4969@gmail.com.

The supporting arches are not cross curved they are brass I frame section. I should have cut off the curved end sections to the plastic plate beams attached to sides of the viaduct. I have attached a new photograph from water level to show the underside of the viaduct a few not possible without hanging upside down.

Regards

Trevor

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Trevor,

In your Hornby Mag article, the thing that grabbed my attention was your use of SBR Adhesive for ballasting. Is there any particular technique you use when applying this to the ballast?

I only saw the Bachmann Quays for the fist time last week and I liked the look of them. I am very impressed with the scene you have created with them.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Chris

I use a similar technique to indoors with PVA. Spread the ballast I use a propriety ballast spreader and around points very carefully spread by hand and leval with a small brush. The SBr i very slightly dilute and add a dro[ of washing up liquid and use a pipette to to place the liquid. It needs a couple of days of dry weather to set to the point that it is not effected by rain.

Trevor

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  • 1 month later...

A new speed record has been established with the Rapido APT. The train lapped the 2.8 scale mile layout at 175MPH continuously for 31/2 hours without derailment covering approx 9 actual miles and covered a scale journey farther than from Kings Cross to Aberdeen. A video will be posted on U Tube when I am able to.

Trevor Jones August 2016

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Hi Trevor, love your curved viaduct, is the water real water, we are three months behind in magazines from the UK still haven't the July issue of the Hornby in the news agents yet.

Can't wait to see the video on the record breaking APT train run do you have some circuit board that measures the scale speed can get them.

Got to get a move on my layout construction.

Tony from down under

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