This Blog describes the ongoing development of a 16mm scale 45mm gauge garden railway situated in the North West of England, UK from 2004 to the present day.
I am constantly surprised by the low prices of tech gadgets on eBay and other online shopping platforms such as AliExpress. I sometimes invest in what I consider to be intriguing cheap items just to explore their potential. One such impulse-buy was a couple of MP3 sound cubes.
Overview
Not only were they ridiculously cheap, they were compact and versatile, including an inbuilt FM radio receiver and, as it turned out, a fairly loud amplifier. A quick experiment revealed that, for garden railway purposes, they could easily be set-up to play sound clip files (both .MP3 and .WAV) as loops.
The unit is quite compact (50x48x52mm) and can presently be bought for less than £10 GBP on eBay (Search for MP3 cube player).
The controls are quite basic and similar to most gadgets of this kind.
The menu button allows you to choose between the radio and the mp3 player, and also to loop the playing each file on the micro SD card. Pressing the last or next buttons allow you to select the required files to be played and holding these down allows you to increase and decrease the volume. The start/stop button, as expected, allows you to play or stop playing a file.
Of course, it also needs a micro SD card but, as it will only be playing a single file, a 2gB card will be sufficient. These can be picked up for around £1.50 on eBay.
PS - I have since discovered a similar cube player on eBay (without the FM radio) for a third of the price - though I haven't tried it and so don't know how it compares.
Triggering effects remotely
I haven't yet taken one of them apart to figure out if it can be triggered remotely through one of my Deltang/Micron RC receivers but, given my previous experience of triggering a similar device (see How I used a cheap MP3 player as a loco soundcard), I would imagine these can be readily adapted.
Sourcing the sounds
I decided that I would use these cubes to provide ambient sound effects around the railway - more specifically, the sound of a sawmill in action for Peckforton timber yard and the sound of cattle lowing for one of my cattle wagons.
The first task was to track down sources for these sounds. I used a couple of sources, a free sound effects website (Freesound.org) for the cattle sounds and YouTube for the sawmill effects.
Freesound.org
A search for "cows" revealed 713 sounds.
Pressing the 'play' button on each file enabled me to hear each sound and so, after identifying three sounds which I felt were appropriate, I downloaded them. This required me to register with the website but, given the sounds are free, this seems to be only a minor inconvenience.
A search for "sawmill" yielded just fourteen files. Only one of them was, I felt, appropriate as it was recorded in a steam powered sawmill, so I downloaded that. I wanted a wider variety of sawmill sounds and so turned to YouTube.
YouTube.com
YouTube generally provides a wide range of files, but it's a lot harder to sift the wheat from the chaff.
A search for "Steam sawmill" revealed many more clips which were suitable.
After selecting a couple of videos which seemed to have a good selection of sounds, the next problem was, of course, how to download them. Rather than signing-up for a YouTube account, I decided to use AnyVideoConverter - a versatile little freebie program which not only enables me to convert a wide range of audio and video clips into different formats, it can download YouTube videos and save them - in this case I wanted them saved as MP3 files
To download the required video and convert it require six fairly straightforward steps:
The format for the file was chosen from the drop-down list - in this case MP3 (it's towards the bottom of the list beside the musical note symbol)
The Add URL tab was clicked
The + sign was clicked to add a new URL
The URL for the video clip was pasted in (using Control V) after having been copied from the YouTube Share tab
Start download was clicked
Once the file had finished downloading, the Convert button was clicked
Editing the sound clips
Although I could have simply just transferred the sound clips to the SD card in each player, I decided to mix them together. This has allowed me to overlay one sound on top of another and provide some variation. To do this, I used Audacity - a well established freebie open-source sound editing package.
The sound effects certainly add a new dimension to the ambiance of the railway. The players are charged up periodically using a bog-standard USB charger and I find the batteries easily last for an operating session of a couple of hours - though I only tend to play the sounds when I am filming in their vicinity. The added bonus is that, if there is something interesting on the radio, I can switch one of the cubes over the Radio 4 while relaxing in a deckchair with a cup of tea.
A while back, I tried to post a new progress report once a month but sometimes, I was struggling to find things to write about. It's now over six months since my last progress report so about time I updated the handful of readers who keep pace with what's been happening on the Peckforton Light Railway.
Most of the developments relate to rolling stock - a new loco has joined the fleet and several new coaches and a handful of wagons have been produced. Permanent Way changes are mostly related to maintenance and repair and operations have been restricted by the weather. Whilst the rest of the country has been wondering when or if it will rain again, the North West of England has had what seems like endless weeks of sunshine and showers. Showers are not at all conducive to setting up running sessions!
Permanent Way
Ballasting
After watching a couple of my videos, I noticed there were several places where track ballast was very thin or even non existent. Close-up videos generally reveal quite a few details which otherwise are missed!
An afternoon was spent with what has now become my preferred method of ballasting - a 3:1 mix of horticultural grit and cement applied dry and then doused with water from a mist spray.
In station areas and the copper mine, bald areas were patched with horticultural sharp sand applied dry and fixed in place with a 50:50 mix of SBR and water.
Track levelling
Another issue I identified from watching my videos was a quite alarming tilt to coaches waiting on the bay platform at Beeston Market station.
What was puzzling was that the track appeared to be level, but a small spirit level testified otherwise. By chiselling away at the concrete ballast in that area, I discovered that the board on which three quarters of that track was sitting had rotted away. A lesson learned! I had infilled some of the gaps between the treated fence rails forming the baseboard at Beeston Market with untreated planking rescued from a pallet. Clearly using untreated timber outside is a false economy!
A few wedges of tiles and slate have now corrected the slant. I still need to re-ballast the area and, at some point in the not too distant future, I will crawl under the baseboard and patch up the rotten gaps with sound treated timber.
Rolling stock
In my previous Progress Report, I described how I had drawn and 3D printed Glyn Valley Tramway rolling stock in 7mm scale with the intention of constructing a small 0-16.5 layout in the workshop. However, after producing a loco, coaches, mineral wagons and a brake van, it dawned on me that this project was becoming a distraction from my main interest in running the PLR (hence the six month hiatus since my last progress report). Not wanting to waste the time and effort I'd put into producing the 7mm stock, I spent a couple of weeks rescaling the 3D drawings for 16mm and 15mm scales.
Glyn Valley Rolling Stock
7mm stock
The 7mm stock has now been completed and painted. However, as indicated above I have abandoned the idea of creating an 0-16.5 layout and so the stock will be sold off via eBay
15mm scale loco
As with the other GVT stock, the parts for the Glyn loco have been rescaled and printed out. The re-scaling required a certain amount of tinkering to ensure that the depth of the parts were not only realistic, but the various parts would actually fit together.
While the main body part for the loco printed well in 7mm scale, its vertical orientation together with the rivet detail caused quite a few problems on the 15mm scale version: most notably highly prominent striations on the sides. These required considerable additional work in filling, filing and sanding. Another less learned - where possible arrange parts with flat surfaces to be 3D printed horizontally!
However, I think the end-result was worth the effort.
A few issues have arisen with this loco. Firstly, the skirts foul the platforms at Peckforton which, as they are constructed from cast concrete, will need to be pared back with an angle grinder.
Secondly, the Bachmann motor block which provides the motive power for the loco is under-powered when compared with my other locos. Just like another Bachman motor block with which I have had issues, the worms appear to be over-sized and the worm wheels under-sized. The block was recycled from a Bachmann streetcar (tram) and so, to be fair, was not really expected to draw heavy loads.
I am in the process of designing and 3D printing a replacement motor block to my own design. Hopefully, I will have more news in time for the next Progress Report.
16mm/15mm scale coaches
I rescaled the 3D drawings for the coaches initially to 16mm scale and printed out three before my mate in Australia reminded me that I am currently trying to standardise my stock to 15mm scale (ie 3ft gauge on 45mm track).
These will be sold on via eBay which is why I've painted them in GVT livery rather than PLR Halfords Vauxhall Burgundy Red.
These coaches are steadily being replaced with 15mm versions - I'm becoming very adept at re-scaling 3D drawings!
15mm scale brake van
The brake van has been rescaled to 15mm, printed, constructed and painted in PLR livery (Halford's Grey Primer with black metalwork). It's more compact than the other brake vans on the line, but I think it will look good behind a train of skips or hopper wagons. It first outing on the railway features in the running session videos at the end of the update.
16mm scale mineral wagon
I'm trying to decide whether to leave the GVT mineral wagon as 16mm scale or to replace it with 15mm versions. It looks acceptable in 16mm scale beside my other open wagons. It might well be that I don't actually use these wagons on my railway. I already have a couple of rakes of LGB tipplers (see Modifying LGB tipplers) and a rake of Snailbeach hoppers (see How I constructed a rake of Snailbeach hopper wagons), so I don't really need any more mineral wagons - though the thought of producing a swivelling wagon tipper/inverter for them is quite attractive.
Southwold Cleminson wagons
As mentioned in the previous Progress Report, I drew two variations on the basic Southwold Cleminson wagon which have now been constructed and finished. Here is the original wagon.
The first variant has extra strapping.....
.... and the other is lettered with MOY - the local Southwold and district coal merchant.
I'm trying to decided how many Cleminson wagons I want running on the PLR. They take up a lot of siding and storage space and so I will probably not construct any more.
Southwold Cleminson coaches
I have finally constructed the third Southwold Cleminson coach to complete the rake. It still needs finishing off, but is nearly ready to join the fleet.
Again, I'm running out of storage for coaches and am having to decide whether I actually need all this coaching stock. Some rationalisation is going to be called-for.
County Donegal Railway luggage van
The original CDR luggage van was drawn to fit on a Hartland Loco Works wagon chassis and. as I didn't have a scale drawing or any dimensions of the actual van, I drew the parts using only photos as a guide. As a consequence, it was quite a bit smaller than it should have been.
Having now developed more skills and confidence in using TinkerCAD, I am no longer reliant on using commercial chassis for my builds and so I contacted the transport museum in Derry, Londonderry asking if they could provide me with the principle dimensions of the luggage van which they have on display. Armed with some basic measurements (length, width and height), I have been able to modify my original drawings and also produce a reasonable representation of the chassis which is now a lot more to scale.
Repairs and maintenance
Inevitably, there are always items of stock sitting in the casualty bay awaiting repair.
My first scratchbuilt loco, a Fowler Diesel Mechanical, has been a stalwart of the line but has also suffered a few mishaps over the years. The cab has long been in need of repair after one particularly traumatic tumble. This has now been completed ......
My hand-made couplings are less obtrusive replacements for LGB hook and loop couplings (see How I make my own hook and loop couplings). Being made from brass and phosphor bronze wire, they are more susceptible to misalignment and accidental damage and so, during operating sessions, I have a soldering iron readily available for spontaneous repairs. I usually find that around half a dozen couplings need to be repaired during an operating session - which isn't bad considering I have around 80 items of rolling stock.
The GVT Glyn loco has been equipped with a Micron MR603 receiver/controller which are ostensibly compatible with Deltang equipment.
Unfortunately, early versions of the chips used in Deltang transmitters are unable to communicate with the MR603 and so have to be replaced. As I was an early-adopter of Deltang equipment, four of my six transmitters proved to be incompatible and so needed to have their transmitter chips replaced. These were acquired from Micron and refitted.
Lineside and infrastructure
I have now received two copies of each of the figures which Dean Punchard of DesignScanPrintscanned in from a session with members of my local Amateur Drama Society wearing interwar costumes. These, by the way, are now available on the DesignScanPrintwebsite. They are presently sitting in a box on my ToDo shelf awaiting painting. With 36 figures to paint, this is probably going to be my next major winter project.
Operations
Despite the weather (see above), I have been able to arrange and film a couple of running sessions.
One was a full operating session with timetabled passenger and computer generated goods trains.....
Part 1
Part 2
.... and the second session focused primarily on the pickup goods to give an overview of how my latest freight management program works on my Psion pocket computer.
As the memory capacity on the Psion is limited to 1Mb, I have had to devise eight categories to determine the possible destinations for wagons rather than having individualised destination weightings for each wagon. For more information see Goods wagon categories
Conclusion
The railway is being mothballed for the winter months. I might run the occasional train and might even be tempted to run a full operating session if I can be assured of at least three days of decent weather. In the meantime, I might be tempted to run a train or two on days when the fancy takes me. Since going over to battery power and radio control, it's a lot easier to run trains in an ad hoc way. It just requires an hour or so clearing debris off the track and grabbing a few items of rolling stock and a loco or two off the shelves or storage sidings.
I am in the process of filming a twelve-month video, charting the progress of a mixed train as it progresses from one end of the line to the other - filming it on twelve sections of the railway month-by-month. It seemed like a good idea when I planned it, but trying to ensure continuity between each scene is a bit of a nightmare. Now I know how Steven Spielberg feels! Mind you, he has a crew of hundreds and a budget of several million!
