Progress Report 102

 Although it has been six months since my last progress report, there have been only a few developments. The early part of the year is a slack period for garden railways in general as the weather isn't always conducive to getting outside. Once spring comes, there is the annual battle with cutting back the undergrowth and keeping the tracks clear. This year, plant growth has been even more vigorous than usual, with what seems like just the right combination of rain and sunshine. 

However, there have been a few developments. In terms of motive power, another loco has joined the fleet - a 3D printed Manning Wardle 0-4-0T loco. I have converted a few locos from track power to battery powered radio control. Beeston Market station has undergone a makeover and various other cosmetic enhancements have appeared on the railway.

 

Rolling Stock

 Manning Wardle 0-4-0T

 After seeing an illustration of a charming little three-foot gauge Manning Wardle loco in "Stone and Steam in the Black Mountains" by David Tipper .....

..... I tracked down (with help) a couple of photos of the original loco and set to work designing and 3D printing out the parts needed to construct it.

 The gearing on the Bachmann chassis block I hoped to use for it proved unreliable and so I had to resort to my now favoured approach to motorising my locos, using a GA25-370 geared motor and bevel gears.

It has now entered service as loco #29, ENZO.....

..... and seems to be working reliably.

 More information on the design process and construction can be found here:

•  Scaling-down and deconstruction
•  3D drawing the parts using Tinkercad
•  Printing and construction

There seems to be some scepticism among fellow modellers as to the efficacy of using such a simple tool as Tinkercad for 3D model construction but, to be honest, I find it does what I need to do reliably and easily. If it ain't broke .....

 

Battery / RC conversions

 I have also carried out a few battery/RC conversions for other people. 

Most recently, I have converted an 0 gauge Bachmann / EFE Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T loco using three lipo cells and a Micron MR601 receiver controller.

 

(see How I converted a Bachmann/EFE Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T loco to battery/RC)

In addition, I converted three G Scale Bachmann Big Hauler 4-6-0 "ten wheelers" to battery/RC, using Micron MR603c receiver/controllers with Micron MSND01 soundcards and 18650 li-ion 3S battery packs.

 For more information see How I converted Bachmann 4-6-0 Big Haulers to battery/RC

There haven't been any further developments in terms of rolling stock, though over the summer, I might continue to slowly replace some of my older early bashed freelance goods rolling stock with more recent 3D printed models based on actual prototypes from, for example, the Southwold Railway.

 

 Lineside and infrastructure

 Detailing the approach to Beeston Market station

 When I rebuilt Beeston Market station and the Copper Mine last year, (see How I replaced the baseboards at Beeston Market Station), I reorganised the track layout to gain a bit more space in the sidings. Unfortunately, this sacrificed the forecourt of the station where the café stood.

After some quick measurements, I realised I could just squeeze in an extra foot or so of baseboard at the end of the station without interfering with wheelbarrow access to the rear of the garage. And so work commenced.

I found sufficient offcuts of fence rails and heavy-duty roofing felt to complete the job (I have whole heaps of stuff which might one day come in handy). The café has now been re-instated and faces forward, so its facade is much more evident.

 

In addition, 3D printed fencing and gates have been added, together with the goods office.

I feel the changes have now much improved the look of this end of the station.

 Relocating the signal cabin at Beeston Market

At the same time, I rehoused the signal cabin at the other end of the station which too had lost its original location owing to the changes in track formation.

 

Repainting the station buildings 

 I had noticed in various videos of the line I made last year that most of the station buildings around the line were looking decidedly tired and unloved. 

As they were cast in resin, I leave most of my station buildings out all year. The only one I do take in is Beeston Market Station building. It took a good two or three days of painstaking cleaning, rubbing down and repainting before the buildings took on a much fresher and cared-for appearance.

I have now decided to only deploy almost all my station buildings only during running sessions. The exception being Beeston Castle where the station building is bedded in concrete and so is not removable (without the risk of cracking the resin).

 

Operation 

 I have been experimenting with making my own sound cards - but with mixed success. I did manage to create a very basic steam sound card using a ESP32 microprocessor and code created by ChatGPT, however it was extremely rudimentary with an intermittent white noise generated hiss.

Experiments to program a more sophisticated sound system using digitised chuffs from real locomotives has proven to be very elusive. The ChatGPT code simply did not work, despite several tweaks and iterations.

However, I have gone back to very simple sound systems designed for use in greetings cards for some of my smaller diesel locos and have found they are quite satisfactory.

Operating sessions

 The majority of videos I've made and posted on YouTube since my last Progress Report have been to test locos and conversions. However, in March, I did manage to find sufficient dry weather to have a running session which included a special sawmill train.

 In addition, I took the opportunity to give my most recent loco a role in a full operating session (as seen above) and create a retrospective of how freight traffic has been handled over the years on the PLR

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