Introduction
For most of the time since my last progress report, the weather has been fairly bad - cold, wet and stormy. However, there were three days when it was warm and dry and so I managed to organise a good running session which I filmed, using Bulkeley Station as the focal point.
There have been a few other developments but, because of the weather, most of these have been inside the workshop.
Lineside and Permanent Way
On those few occasions when the weather improved, I have been able to finish off a few outside jobs.Cable operated points at Beeston Market
The points on the far side of Beeston Market Station are just about in reach, if I stretch across the tracks. However, if the siding to the cattle dock is full and/or there are wagons or coaches on the main station loop, then it can be tricky to change the points. The pointwork leading to the 'exchange siding' is used frequently during an operating session and so improving access to the point lever became an increasing priority.
As the points were just over a metre from the edge of the baseboard, I decided to use bowden cable (ie bike brake cable) which I ran beneath the baseboard from each of the two points.
The points are now a lot easier to operate at a distance.
For more information see How I used bike brake cable to operate points remotely
Sound modules
After shooting and editing a couple of videos recently where I added some ambient sounds - the sound of the sawmill in operation (see Lineside business on the PLR) and the sound of cattle in a cattle wagon (see Trainspotting at Bulkeley Station) - I felt it would be more interesting for visitors to the railway to have these sounds played live. So I invested in two small, self-contained MP3 cube players for the modest sum of slightly over £5 (GBP) each.
I downloaded the sounds of a sawmill and cattle lowing from various sources on the internet, edited them in Audacity to focus on the sounds I wanted to use and then saved them as WAV files on a couple of very cheap, low capacity micro SD cards. These were inserted into the MP3 players so the amplified sounds can be played as loops.
As the rechargeable batteries in the players last only a couple of hours, I am now investigating the use of Arduino circuitry to energise them either only when the wagon is in motion (for the cattle sounds) or only when a sensor detects the nearby presence of an observer (for the sawmill sounds).
Boneworks
Plans are now in hand to construct a building for the Boneworks siding at Bulkeley. This will be a half-relief model based on the old Bone and Flint Mill in Stoke on Trent which is now used as a museum.
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| Photograph taken 15 August 2000 © Mr Brian Peach LRPS. Source Historic England Archive ref: 384358 |
I am considering moulding the building in concrete so it can be left outside all year round and am currently experimenting with ways of representing the brickwork. Failing that, I'll revert to my now favoured method using PVC foamboard.
Workshop Test Track
A major development in terms of tracklaying has been the creating of a test track around the inside of the workshop. This was partly prompted by the wet weather and partly by the discovery of some Playmobil plastic track which has lain unused in the loft for the past ten years.
The test track is now available whenever I want to test-run a loco or some rolling stock - and also, I can run trains even when the weather outside is not conducive.
For more information see How I created a test track around the inside of the workshop
Rolling stock
There have been a few developments with rolling stock on the line - a new pair of locomotives have joined the roster, the new railcar has received a more appropriate soundcard, some of the stock has been weathered and I have replaced the last remaining plastic hook and loop couplings on my stock with my own version made from wire.
3D diesel(s)
Having recently bought a budget 3D printer ostensibly to create 14 identical seats for my County Donegal railcar (See How I constructed a railcar from an etched brass kit - pending), I wondered whether it would be capable of printing out something more complicated and so downloaded a freebie kit for a narrow gauge diesel locomotive from the Thingiverse.com website. I also discovered that another modeller had added some enhancements to the basic kit and so I downloaded those as well. In the end, I decided to print out and construct two versions and then couple them together back-to-back in a similar manner to Australian sugar cane locomotives. For more information see How I constructed a double diesel from 3D printed parts - pending
I was very pleased with how the larger pieces turned out, though I needed to make some adjustments to the printer to improve its consistency (see How I improved my budget Anet A8 3D printer - pending)
Railcar soundcard
After constructing a CDR Railcar from a John Campbell bare bones etched brass kit (see How I constructed a railcar from an etched brass kit - pending), I installed a Dallee soundard designed for an American Galloping Goose railcar which I had bought secondhand on eBay. Although the sound quality was quite good, the sounds didn't seem quite right for a Perkins diesel powered former Irish railcar.
After watching the promo video of their latest diesel soundcard on the MyLocoSound website which indicated that one of the digitised sounds was of a Perkins diesel, which made it ideal.
I duly purchased one and installed it. The setup still needs to be tweaked a little but the sounds now seem far more appropriate.
Weathering
Weathering rolling stock is one of those jobs which I often put off. I can't think why as it's not difficult and quite an enjoyable task, but there always seem to be more important things to do! A couple of wagons which I constructed a few months ago were still in need of weathering and so, with the bad weather deterring me from running trains, they made their way into the workshop to be attacked.
One of the former Newqida van modifications (see How I bashed a Newqida closed van) was tackled first, following my usual approach (see How I weather my rolling stock)
This was followed by the open wagon which I had converted from a cheap Echo Toys gondola wagon (see How bashed a couple of cheap gondola wagons into opens)
Couplings
The final four items of stock have now been equipped with my versions of hook and loop couplings (see How I make my own LGB style hook and loop couplings)
I don't often run my Maddison coaches (see How I constructed coaches from Maddison kits) but they do occasionally appear on special trains. For this reason they have been languishing on a shelf in the workshop for far longer they they should. The couplings and buffers are attached to arms so they can swing round tight curves without compromising the couplings.
The R1 curves on the test track (see above) was therefore extremely useful in ensuring I had got the geometry right for the linkages and the coupling lengths - previously, the couplings were a bit too close to the coaches which meant the corners of the coaches touched when taking the curves.
The last loco to be converted to my own style of couplings was my HGLW diesel loco which potters about in the timber yard at Peckforton. I hope you will agree that its appearance has been enhanced by replacing the rather chunky LGB plastic hook and loop couplings .....
.... with my somewhat less obtrusive alternatives.
I appreciate that they are not prototypical but, because I need to do a lot of shunting on my railway, I wanted something which was reliable and also, as I have around 70 items of rolling stock, it needed to be cheap!
Operation
Running sessions
As indicated, the weather has been quite bad over recent weeks. When it hasn't been pouring with continuous rain, it has been very showery - which is bad news for trying to set up and run a garden railway. Very frustrating taking an hour to set up and then have to cover everything up again or return the stock to the storage sidings when the heavens open!
However, there was a three-day spell of very fine weather when I was able to have a full and somewhat leisurely full operating session. I decided to record the session by focusing on Bulkeley Station which has recently been revamped (see How I modified the track layout at Bulkeley). Following suggestions from fellow modellers and YouTube viewers, I replaced my usual on-screen captions with a spoken commentary. I've not quite got the relative sound levels correct, but it seems to have gone down well.
Psion-based freight management system
I am constantly tinkering with the freight management program on my old Psion computer (see How I created a portable freight management system) to improve the goods movements it creates. I was finding, for example, that the Mill Siding was receiving far more items of stock and they seemed to be remaining there longer than would be expected. I've therefore changed the weighting for these movements.
In addition, the computer occasionally ran out of system memory, which caused the program to abort. I've hopefully now cured this by moving the freight management program and its associated database on to an SSD RAM card. I need another spell of decent weather to test how successful these changes have been.
I quite enjoy the challenge of getting old tech to do a job. These days, with seemingly unlimited memory and superfast processors, it can sometimes be too easy to create apps or programs. The challenge of creating a program which uses a limited amount of memory to do a complex job adds an extra layer of complexity to a task which I relish!
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