Jump to content

Summer Hampton Railway


ba14eagle
 Share

Recommended Posts

There should be an award for a good thread, this is truly an epic railway build. :)

Really enjoyed revisting it from your first post until where it is now.

 

How is the station holding up? I've had issues with hard plastics, even though my ties/sleepers are all fine.

Edited by traingeekboy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Hi ba14eagle, liked the video clips and your railway has turned out well, with the water feature in the middle, I have to get s move on with  my layout build to get something running,.

Didn't think you have hot summers to cause that problem with your track being broken or buckled, one good way to stop that is having small gaps on every piece of track giving room to expand, I have seen on my train club layout buckled points in the middle of summer, I have made sure I have gaps on my layout even a small piece of track, I don't have any problems, over here to summer temps can reach in the low 40's and I store my modules in a garden shed.

Someone should start a tread on couplers, we all have those issues, I have a lot of wagons and passenger cars to fix.

Looking forward to seeing more video.

Tony from cool wet down under. keeping on moving ahead.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tony

The track problems have come about due to the plastic boards moving / expanding / contracting and the firm pinning down Ive used - if I had large radius curves that didnt need so much pinning, the problem would probably not exist - its a symptom of having tight radius curves unfortunately.

As you can see from this video, the herbs, alpines and succulents, planted in the middle of the circuit, have gone berserk this year and require lots of cutting back, before the inner circuit is useable. Obviously, my impatience in wanting to see this area landscaped has caused me to overplant :) Ive also had some costly plant losses due to ants and slugs, in the lower borders - this has now been addressed!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi ba14eagle, awesome video what is it that makes your plants and grass thrive, is it the sault air. and constant rain fall, the only time our grass go mad after a storm even thought you poor fertilize into the plants, our winters are very dry,, it is our turn , copping heavy rain over the weekend and more coming in.

Ouch you think you wouldn't have that issue with the framing wouldn't buckle with the amount of work you put into your layout, I am yet to cut ply strips  for my curved ply decking to stop them from warping while stored in the garden shed.

Can I ask you are you a fireman with the pic of the fire engine, my dad was fireman for 42 years in Brisbane I was lucky enough to have his brass fireman hat, every now and  I will hit it with brasco takes a few hours hard work  to clean but what a site indeed, I am after a diecast fire truck of that ear he would of driven.

Tony from down under.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Been a while since I posted anything - there has been too much going on as well as the ongoing website problems have deterred me a little. Ive not been that motivated with actually operating the railway this Summer - if you can call it that. There always seems to be niggly little problems to sort, either with trackwork and power or with rolling stock. At one point I was actually thinking of reducing the majority of the railway down to just double track - and that was after much consideration had been given to ripping it all up and going over to O gauge.....  

So, lets start with the bad stuff. During June and July my Father spent a lot of time in hospital, before peacefully passing away. Spending as much time with him as possible obviously curtailed any other freetime activities. He is much missed and as deputy civil & electrical engineer on the railway, ive had to sharpen up my skills in his absence. 

Some of his locomotives and stock have joined my fleet, which has given me a reason to go and buy a load more steam stock :wink: At some point, I will have to add a few photos of the many aquisitions made this year.

Here is an overall picture of the railway, as it is, this year. I have realised that I overplanted the garden last year, as a few plants have gone absolutely crazy once fed!!

DSC_1342.thumb.JPG.52d5ffe0d15eb82fe38dc562385f3fc8.JPG

 

And here is a link to the last running session I had.

Until next time, stay safe and happy modelling!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi ba14eagle, nice pic plants have set the layout off nicely, like the video, 4472 with sound is awesome.

You might be able to tell me what class this loco is, part of my Uncles collection he gave me, she looks close to the steamy pu,lling your freight train in the video, logo on the tender is British Rail.

Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead.

 

IMG_1647  a.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I've just been catching up with your latest video of 1st September showing your recent stock additions and I feel I should apologise for not keeping up with events on the forum recently. It's a great video but I was stunned to see the comment regarding your father and had to revisit your thread for confirmation before posting.

I'm really sorry to learn that your father passed away recently and sincerely apologise once again for not having kept up to date with what's been posted by yourself and by everyone else on here. I've been so engrossed in our own problems and the forum malfunctions that I've just completely overlooked everything. I'm so glad that you managed to share some of the construction of Summer Hampton with your dad and that you've retained some of his treasured loco's to run on it. 

Your latest aerial view of the layout in August shows how the whole area has matured. The gradients and tight curves were always going to present problems but they're barely noticeable in the video. I understand your thoughts regarding ripping up track and reverting to dual track and even contemplating going over to O gauge. OO is never going to be easy outdoors but that just forms part of the attraction for me. I have a small collection of O gauge loco's myself now but haven't yet been tempted to switch codes - mind you, I have only one line to worry about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi ba14eagle,  Deepest symphony  goes out to the loss of your dad  from down under  know what you be going through, I just lost my Uncle in mid August to cancer he was like a father figure to me we were close,he was to only relative that I could talk trains with as he was interested as well in the  hobby and before he died he gave me his collection , one is the  black steamy  I asked you about.

Lost my dad  1976 , step dad four years back.

I aim to get all his locos up and running a lot of work a heard , his son didn't take very good care of them when he and his son came over to play trains .

Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A link to my last running session on the railway.

 

The streamlined "Coronation" coped reasonably well with the load 7 shown in the video, but I would like it pull 1 more - a 12 wheel restaurant car ive got - but it will need a little more weight adding.

Unfortunately, the rebuilt version - 6233 "Duchess of Sutherland" only managed 4 coaches, so has been subject to large amounts of additional weight being shoe-horned in - I hope it works, or it looks like I will be fitting DCC concepts PowerBase to the layout.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Well, where are we?

Oh yes. I was trying to increase the haulage capability of my rebuilt "Coronation" by putting extra weight in it. I managed to get a couple of 10g tyre weights inside, along with a bit of liquid lead. This didnt help much, the loco still onlly managed a meagre 4 coaches. So the decision was taken to retro fit DCC Concepts Powerbase to the gradients on the railway. 

Ive completed the outer line and after much trouble fititng the magnets to the loco, the "Coronation" will, with a bit of slipping, make it up the bank with load 8. So, a success in some ways, but not quite as brilliant as DCC promotional videos :? The product obviously does work, but I must say, the etches that you need to fit the magnets to the larger wheeled locos, are pretty poor quality and incrediby difficult to fit. I think ive got reasonable skills, but these really tried my patience. DCC recommends you superglue the magnets in the etches and suggests "you may wish to solder the folds in the etches" - this is an absolute must from my experience - without the extra strength of this solder, it will takes moments for the tabs on the etches, to be pulled off - youve been warned :wink:  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice video, I realized I made a typing error and couldn't find edit, is that loco a tender drive loco, this is why I came up two powered tenders for in my Flying Scot 4472, she can pull 11 plus coaches now up a grade, can't wait to run her on my layout still hanging in there will get there soon., worth the wait.

Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to the video showing how I got on trying out DCC Concepts Powerbase.

I will be fitting more lines with the Powerbase plates as it does help with increasing haulage capability.

Hi Tony - all of my steam locos are loco drive, as they are all recent releases.

Edited by ba14eagle
update info
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Some bizarre weather over the weekend - kids playing in gardens and people mowing grass (its October folks not July!!) - enticed me out into the garden for a last hurrah in 2017.

Whilst cleaning the track, I plugged the soldering iron in, as I was sure there would be some dodgy bonds somewhere that need remedial work! Lo and behold, there wasnt 9_9

Anyhow, here is the video evidence.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Link to the first running or 2018:

The station lighting, unfortunately, packed up working late last year and Ive not been able to resolve the issue. I think the electronics unit into which everything fed into and out of, got messed up and after I tinkered, it very definitely, wasnt going to work. However, should I want lights on, Ive found out that the lights will work perfectly ok, fed from the aux output on the Elite controller :) - not that i ever play trains in the dark :lol:

And I have decided - I am determined that I am going to have a day or 2 sorting out the track bondings and have a frustration free Summer!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 8/23/2017 at 16:19, aussietmrail said:

Hi ba14eagle, nice pic plants have set the layout off nicely, like the video, 4472 with sound is awesome.

You might be able to tell me what class this loco is, part of my Uncles collection he gave me, she looks close to the steamy pu,lling your freight train in the video, logo on the tender is British Rail.

Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead.

 

IMG_1647  a.jpg

WOTS DAT red an SLIVERY thing? :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

There hasnt been much, so far, this year, but I had a short running session earlier this week.

If you are a fan of "Sulzer" powered traction, this is for you!

Next time, something for those who prefer the sound of English Electric traction.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

No videos today but I had a friend round for a first look at Summer Hampton.

We had a mega running session of over 6 hours, giving a spin out to every diesel loco in the fleet, bar 1. There were a couple that didnt perform for long, due to dirty pick ups and wheels - work for next weeks night turns 😉. Generally, the rolling stock behaved very well too - some of it running around for the whole session, without incident.

What was interesting to see, was how the track changed over the day. The outer circuit has a corner that suffers badly with expansion and contraction of the boards and so this was to prove fatal for a yard of track which had deteriorated over the last year - by the end of the afternoon, the track cutters came out and removed it! Work for another day.

The inner circuit has started to suffer a similar problem, where it travels through 180 degrees, beyond the pond. This will need relaying too, as the only thing that will go around it is the class 128 dpu. 

All in all, we had a great day and throughly enjoyed sitting back watching the trains go round and round - even with the sound off!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...