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.
This blog describes ongoing progress in the development of a G gauge Garden Railway from its inception to the present day.
NEW (29 June 2024)
NEWS
The blog has now had well over a million visitors. Many thanks to all those who have provided me with support, suggestions and feedback over the years.
When I became interested in building my own garden railway I spent a considerable amount of time (and money) on books, videos, DVDs and scouring the internet for information, ideas and inspiration. When I eventually started construction, I used some of the ideas I had discovered, but also experimented with my own approaches. This blog outlines how I have gone about constructing my own garden railway. My aim is to provide the sort of information I was looking for when I was getting started, and also to share what I've learned (or 'borrowed' from others). I've tried to include a few 'How I ........' postings interspersed with occasional 'Progress Reports'. I do not profess to be any kind of expert - what I offer here is an opportunity for you to metaphorically look over my shoulder to see how I have gone (and am going) about this fascinating hobby.
As this is a blog, the various posts are presented in reverse chronological order (ie the most recent first). To see a categorised list of contents, go to the Blog Contents Page.
If you are thinking about building your own garden railway, then why not join the 16mm Association or the G Scale Society - you'll get plenty more advice and opportunities to visit other peoples' garden railways. Alternatively, browse through theG Scale Central website - there's plenty more guidance here and an opportunity to sound out the views of others through the G Scale Central discussion forum.
The Blog
The advantages of blogging are that it is immediate and uncomplicated when creating and uploading information. The other, of course, is that with Blogger it is free. The major disadvantage is that I have minimal control over how the postings are presented. The blogging system adds the most recent information to the start of the blog, hence the postings appear in reverse chronological order (most recent first, oldest last). Whilst there is a list of postings on the right hand side, it's not particularly easy to see what is there. This introduction is an attempt to provide you with a contents list of the postings organised into categories so, hopefully, you see if what you are looking for is presented in this blog. To ensure that it always appears at the start of the blog, I update its content and set its presentation date into the future each time I add a new posting.
Having acquired a
Houston Gate Locomotive Works (HGLW) Deluxe chassis kit, I hunted around for a loco which might be suitable for it. I quite like
the Ruston locos and so searched the internet for an example on which I could
base my build.
I was unable to find a three-foot gauge version, so decided to take the
generic design and modify it slightly to fit the HGLW chassis.
The HGLW chassis kit includes everything needed, including some basic
electrics.
The instructions (downloadable from the HGLW website) are detailed and easy to
follow, and so I worked my way progressively through them. However, before
applying any glue, I did a dry-run to familiarise myself with the parts and
their relative locations.
The first step was to attach the motor supports to the cross-member. Rather
than the recommended PVA, I used Ever Build High Viscosity Superglue,
obtained from the
Tool Station. I'm impatient and so prefer the almost instantaneous fix provided by
superglue with an activator spray.
The brake gear was then glued-on.
Next, one of the side frames was glued to the running plate, .....
..... followed by the cross-member and its attachments and the second side
frame.
The ends were then glue on.
With the main frame now completed, attention was turned to the running gear.
Two washers and a top-hat bearing were placed on the ends of the axles.
The parts for the axle boxes were then removed from the fret .....
..... and the second section of the axle box, glued to the first.
The spring hangers were then glued-on, ......
..... followed by the axle-box cover.
The same process was followed for the other three axle boxes.
At this stage, I decided to add half-round nail-art gems to the axle boxes to
represent rivet heads. Nail-Art gems can be bought by the thousand from eBay
and come in a range of sizes. For the spring hangers, I used 1mm diameter
half-round gems.
For the axle boxes, I used 2mm half-round gems. To fix them in place, I used a
cocktail stick to apply a small blog of HV superglue to the intended location
for the rivet-heads - shown by the circles burnt into the parts.
The gems were then picked-up on the end of the cocktail stick, using the
residue of glue left on the stick. The gem was then positioned; the larger
blob of glue being sufficient to detach the gem from the stick. The gem could
then be nudged into place with the end of the stick.
The process was repeated until all the rivet heads were glued on, ......
.... and all the axle boxes finished in the same way.
The O-ring was then threaded loosely on the axles ......
.... and the bearings on the end of the axles made ready for the axle
boxes.
The axle boxes were then glued in place, taking care not to spread any glue
inside the bearings.
Once all the axle boxes were glued. .....
..... the O-ring was slipped over the pulleys.
The wooden rings were slipped over the motor ....
.... and then the motor was slotted into place. Two screws and washers were
screwed into place to hold it firmly in position.
Before the screws were tightened, the worm was meshed with the worm-wheel,
ensuring there was a fine gap between them about the thickness of a sheet of
tissue paper (it used to be fag-paper!)
The loco body
The parts for the loco body were printed-out.
I started by gluing the cab into place. This is because I made tabs on the
base of the front and rear of the cab which can be slotted into holes in the
running plate.
The rear of the cab was glued first (using
Ever Build High Viscosity Superglue)
This was followed by the left side of the cab, ......
.... and then the right side.
Last of all, came the front of the cab.
Next, came the base of the fuel tank, .......
..... followed by the tank itself.
The end of the main bonnet was attached to the bonnet. I printed the majority
of the bonnet in one piece using my resin printer, as I was disappointed by
the quality of finish my FDM printer produced on this part :BTW - I have now
also provided separate parts for the sides, top and ends of the bonnet so they
can be printed individually, if you have only an FDM printer and have similar
problems getting a decent finish.
The bonnet assembly was then glued into place.
The arched cover to the bonnet was then attached.
The main part of the radiator was glued on next, ......
..... followed by the two side sections.
Finally, the radiator water tank was glued in place on top of the
radiator.
The transmission cowl and driver's seat were then added to the inside of the
cab and the cab roof temporarily put in place.
Some filing and sanding was then done to tidy-up the appearance of the loco.
and a 3D printed driver (from DesignScanPrint3D) was squeezed into the cab.
It was now ready to enter the paint-shop. However, when it emerged, it just
didn't look right - the Ruston body perched precariously on top of the HGLW
chassis. I have nothing against the HGLW chassis - it's a great product, but
it just didn't look right with the Ruston. So, I had a rethink.
After a fair amount of thinking, 3D drawing, tinkering, tweaking, re-designing
and experimentation, I came up with my own design of chassis. It uses a 12v
GA25-370 gearmotor (170RPM) and brass bevel gears all obtainable via
AliExpress. The wheels are from Bachmann 24.5mm metal wheelsets
mounted on 3mm steel axles.(for more information see
How I designed and built my own 3D printed powered chassis -
pending)
The body and chassis now looked, to my mind, far more compatible.
A further trip to the paintshop and the loco emerged in my default
Halford's rattle-can Rover Brooklands Green livery (now ,annoyingly, no
longer available!!).
Equipped with a Micron MR603 receiver, three 14500 (AA sized)
li-ion cells and a cheap recordable (AliExpress) soundcard on which I
uploaded the sound of a Ruston diesel, the loco has now entered service and can
sometimes be seen pottering around the copper mine, sawmill or sand quarry
sidings or occasionally out one the open road.
(see 1:15 into video)
Although it is not an accurate scale representation of Ruston (it's too wide - in an attempt to make it fit the HGLW chassis), I feel it does evoke the spirit of these remarkably successful little locos. Now I have gained the confidence to design and make my own viable powered chassis, one day I might get around to making a more accurate scale model of a three foot re-gauged version.