Progress Report 56

Now we are entering the winter season, there are fewer opportunities to run trains, but supposedly more opportunities for finishing off construction projects. So far, it has turned out to be more difficult than expected to find time for construction and so progress has been limited. However, there are several projects now on the agenda which I can report on.

Acquisitions

Christmas has come and gone and left me with a couple of additions to the stocklist.

IP Engineering Simplex kit

I have been considering for a while making the feeder from the copper mine to the crushers and loading hopper into a 32mm (2') narrow gauge line (see Progress Report 45). At present it is 16.5mm gauge supposedly representing a 15" gauge railway (but nearer to 13") (see How I constructed some Gn15 skips) and as such it will only ever be cosmetic.

 My thinking was that by having a short stretch of 32mm track, I would have some stock which I could run when I visit other people's garden railways. I am also considering building a simple shuttle control system using a Picaxe micro controller. In the meantime, I now have an IP Engineering Simplex locomotive kit sitting in my 'pending' project box awaiting its turn on the to do list.

Guards' / baggage van

  I saw this on a well known online auction website and considered that the price was sufficiently attractive for it to become an addition to the line. At present, I do not have a dedicated guards' van which could be included in passenger trains and thought this might add more operational interest.

 The van itself has been constructed fairly crudely from plywood and mounted on an LGB chassis. This makes it quite heavy when compared to similar stock. The mouldings are mot particularly crisp and the paintwork is far from smooth. I think it will need some remedial work after being rubbed down in preparation for a repaint.

Also, it is taller than the existing rolling stock and I may consider lowering it on its chassis somehow. This is not a high priority on the todo list and so may languish on the shelves for a while before I decide to deal with it.

Nameplates

I've recently taken delivery of another two etched nameplates from Narrow Planet - my preferred supplier. The former Southwold Railway Sharp Stewart 2-4-2T (see How I constructed a Sharp Stewart 2-4-2T) will become Tarporley and the most recently completed former Davington Light Railway Manning Wardle 0-6-0 will become Harthill (see How I constructed a Manning wardle 0-6-0T). I am following the tradition set by the Southwold Railway of naming locomotives after villages and towns served by the railway.

Also included in the order were some works plates. Two sets of Manning Wardle plates for the former Southwold and Davington LR locos and a set of Sharp Stewart plates for Tarporley.

Jackson Sharp coach bashes

I am making slow but steady progress with these builds. One Open coach has been more or less completed, apart from interior detailing, while the modifications to the underframes and body shells for the remaining Open and the Brake are largely done. 

Open Coach based loosely on the Leek & Manifold coaches

 I still need to complete the roofs, windows, lights, underframe detailing and balconies for these two coaches but, by comparison with the work needed to modify the bodywork, progress should now be a lot swifter.

Progress so far on the Brake End L&M inspired coach

 After reading through some postings on the 16mm NGM forum, I have decided to experiment with printing the stained glass window detailing for the opening lights on to self adhesive acrylic sheet from Crafty Computer Papers.

Deltang radio control equipment upgrades

Since the last update I have constructed a new Tx21 transmitter from a kit and taken delivery of two Rx65b receiver/controllers from Deltang.

I decided to invest in a Tx21 so that when I have visitors there's another controller so we can run trains independently. This was certainly an asset when my Australian friend visited in October (see Progress Report 55).

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to construct the transmitter. The main circuit board was included as a completed unit and all that was required was to drill holes in the case, mount the switches and potentiometer and then solder a few wires from the transmitter chip to the various switches. A few resistors needed to be included in some of the connections but these were relatively easy to solder into place. I'd say the drilling was the most difficult aspect of the build - ensuring the holes were in the right places and correct size.

Over the past couple of years, I have accumulated a range of Deltang receiver/controllers as and when they became available. Some of the early receiver/ESCs were rated only at 1amp which proved to be quite adequate for the LGB motor blocks I was using - but now that the Rx65 3amp receiver/controller has become available, I have decided to standardise.

My most recent loco, the Manning Wardle 0-6-0 has been equipped with one of these receivers and I have been very impressed with its performance. (see Manning Wardle load test video). It seems to be far more responsive and consistent in its smooth running, Whether the Piko 0-6-0 mechanism is responsible or whether the output from the receiver is the major contributory factor remains to be seen - but I will keep readers posted as to progress once the receivers have been installed.

Sound cards

My Australian friend, Greg, came bearing gifts, among which included a few 20 second sound recording chips.

Previously, I have been accumulating the necessary electronic bits and pieces needed to construct my own sound card using a Picaxe chip and a small amplifier. I am intending to follow the guidance given by my Ozzie visitor on his railway's website - http://www.trainweb.org/SaTR/Picaxe%20tutes.htm.

I have also invested in a small sound recording chip similar to those used in greetings cards.

 I am hoping that this will prove small enough to fit inside the Lollypop railcar (see How I Constructed an IP Engineering Railcar)

I still have four locomotives without sound (two steam and two internal combustion) and so, during the coming Spring I intend to construct my own sound systems using a combination of these components. Watch this space for more details.

Track cleaning

One of the great joys I have now is being able to run trains with the minimum of track cleaning and maintenance, compared with that required for operating track-powered locomotives. Recently, after a few weeks with no trains, I decided to have a short running session and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I could have something up and running compared with the days when I ran only track-powered locos.

Then

Track cleaning preceding a running session used to take a minimum of an hour and on average would take two hours. Once the track had been cleared of debris and encroaching vegetation, I would previously have had to scrub the rail surfaces with an abrasive block and then check for electrical continuity by running a light loco around the track. (see Cleaning the track) If I was lucky, it would manage an entire circuit without stalling. Often, however, there would be a dead spot on the track. This might be caused by the breakdown of the bonding between two lengths of rail (see How I bonded the rails) or could be because the bonding between the rails in the pointwork had deteriorated (see How I improved the electrical continuity of pointwork).

Now

My track cleaning is now a lot more efficient. Clearly, I have to remove debris and overhanging vegetation from the track as before, but that's it. To keep the trackbed reasonably clear, I have taken to sweeping it with a stiff handbrush, which not only removes leaves and branches, it clears away excess moss and encroachment from Mind Your Own Business.

I am hoping for some light snowfall before the end of the winter. Probably because of the hassle associated with using track power, I have, up to now, never taken photos of trains when snow was on the ground. Maybe a light dusting of snow will provide some photo opportunities.

Progress Report 25 - Detailing

With the bulk of the track now laid and the platforms in place, time is now being taken to focus on adding more detail.

Rolling Stock
Gradually I am creating a set of rolling stock more suited to this three foot gauge UK-based railway, using the Southwold and Welshpool & Llanfair railways as my inspiration.

The ex-W&L Pickering coaches will be the mainstay of the passenger stock though I am intending to supplement these with another rake of passenger coaches.

I'm just wondering whether I dare to repaint them in the Peckforton Railways livery or, as I haven't yet decided what will be the PR livery, whether chocolate and cream will become the livery for coaching stock.

The open wagons and guards' van have now been supplemented with a tank wagon (see How I Anglicised a tank wagon),

two further guards' vans (see Progress Report 22 for more detail),


a closed van (see Progress Report 22 for more info)

and a couple of semi-scratch-built cattle wagons (see How I made two cattle wagons).

I've now plenty of guards' vans (maybe too many), probably sufficient closed vans but need plenty more open wagons, some flat wagons, some anglicised timber wagons and a gunpowder van. I'm considering also making some sheep wagons and maybe adding another tank wagon to the fleet.

Station buildings
Over the past three years I have slowly been accumulating kits for the station buildings from TM Models, which is locally based. I chose these resin kits as I imagined the railway would have invested in a series of basic wooden buildings of similar design. These kits provided a reasonably priced set of buildings which seemed quite appropriate.

The station building at Beeston Market

Signal cabin at Beeston Market

Ticket office at Beeston Castle

Station building at Peckforton

Station building at Bickerton

Now, all but Bulkeley have a station building of a size to suit the relative importance of the the station. The colour scheme of green and cream harks back to my East Anglian roots. See 'How I assembled the station buildings' for more information on putting the kits together.

Further detail will be added to the stations, including nameboards, fencing, figures and general paraphernalia such as packing cases, porters' trolleys and seats. In addition, I will need to add more sidings, cattle docks/ramps, coal staithes (or coal sheds as per the Southwold) and engine sheds at Beeston Market, Bickerton and the Copper Mine. I shall also have to consider making some semblence of mine related buildings at the Copper Mine, including ore hoppers and a conveyor. Plenty to keep me off the streets here!

Swing bridge
There's no real need for a swing bridge in the imagined prototype. Although two significant rivers (the Gowy and the Weaver) originate in the vicinity of the hypothetical line, they are little more than small streams (even that's being very generous!). However, the design to the garden railway necessitates a swing bridge between Peckforton and Bulkeley to provide access to the trailer tent shelter and the shed. Until now, this has been little more than a a plank. However, as this plank is around ten feet in length which more or less coincides with the scale length of the swing bridge on the Southwold Railway, it was decided to build a representation of this to bridge this gap. See 'How I made the swing bridge'.

Summer's more or less over and work beckons ................. So, apart from some tweaking and fiddling, the railway will have to take a back seat for a while. Who knows, though, we may get some sunshine before the first forsts - maybe!

Progress Report 22 - Platform & Goods stock

Peckforton platform
I finally got around to giving Peckforton station a platform. Owing to limited space, I decided to put the platform on the inside of the curve. This meant I could experiment with a different approach to forming a curved platform. This time, I used concrete platform edging formed using a JigStones mould.

I have only one platform edging mould and hence I had to produce the 19 sections over a period of three days (see How I made structures using JigStones [to come]). Fortunately, rapid-set cement takes only 20 minutes or so to set sufficiently well for the sections to be removed from the moulds so the turn-round time is quite quick.

The first job was to prepare the intended location for the edging blocks. These were bedded on a layer of cement, and then the space behind was back-filled with more cement with wooden shuttering to contain the cement on the back edge of the platform.

The platform surface was initially smoothed down with a trowel. However, I then decided to roughen up the surface with a paintbrush using a mix of brushing and stippling.

There are a few anomalies - as I progressed I realised I needed to use the running surface of the rail as a datum when settling the edging blocks in place and I needed to clean out wet cement from the mortar lines on the mouldings.

However, overall I am pleased with this approach to creating curved platforms. It is relatively straightforward and provides a pleasing result.

Goods stock update
Four wagons have been modified to become more appropriate for the railway.

Tank wagon
A standard LGB tank wagon has been modified, using an anglicising kit from Garden Railway Services (see How I Anglicised a tank wagon)

Guard's van 1 The kit-built guard's van (I think it's an IP Engineering model) which I bought on eBay (see Progress Report 19) has been given a repaint and had a few extra details added. Plasti-kote grey primer is used as standard for all goods stock (it's a lighter shade than Halfords) with the underframe and handles picked out in black. Footboards removed from an LGB closed van (see below) were added and LGB couplings have been installed (which seems like a travesty - one day I will pluck up the courage to change over to centre buffers on all my stock).

Guard's van 2
A half completed GRS conversion bought as part of a job-lot from eBay has been finished off. The basis for the conversion is the ubiquitous LGB closed van which includes a balcony at one end. The previous owner had decided to add another balcony and use plastic mouldings from GRS for the duckets. The conversion was missing one end to the cabin. The door-end of another LGB van (see below) was removed and added to fill the gap, a missing ducket from GRS was fixed in place and roof modified to fit. Various gaps were filled and smoothed down and the whole thing was given a coat of Plasti-kote primer (after masking out the underframe and windows). Various features were picked out in black acrylic.


Closed van
The 'donor' LGB van pillaged for parts for the above two conversions was given a new plain end made from plasticard to replace what was the balcony. The curious side windows were filled in with plasticard and filler which was then smoothed down and scribed. The body was then grey Plasti-koted with details picked out in black acrylic.

Stock update

To complement the open wagon, a guards van has been added to the goods stock. Like the open wagon, it uses a Hartland flat wagon chassis. The superstructure was constructed from wooden lollypop sticks. It was inspired by the Welshpool & Llanfair prototypes.

As can be seen, it has yet to be weathered and needs detailing with handrails and the all-important brake-gear.