Progress Report 79

It has actually been quite a mild winter so far in this part of the North West of England and so I have actually had time to get out into the garden and do some civil engineering and tracklaying. I have also spent a fair bit of time in the new workshop painting figures and getting the workshop sorted out.

Permanent Way

 The most significant job has been to add a new siding to Bulkeley Station (see How I remodelled the layout at Bulkeley Station).

Bulkeley Station has been in situ for around fifteen years and, apart from adding a new siding last year (see Progress Report 75), it has remained untouched. After adding a half relief brewery building to one of the sidings at Beeston Castle (see Progress Report 76), I decided I would like to do something similar at Bulkeley. The problem was that both sidings at Bulkeley were to the front of the station and there was insufficient room for a building. If I could move one of the sidings to the rear of the station then there would be space for a half relief building.

The half-relief brewery at Beeston Castle Station

 I have now more or less finished re-landscaping the area, having decided the raised bed was now too narrow for the new arrangement of tracks ( see How I re-landscaped Bulkeley Station).

  I am in the process of cladding the new retaining wall with sandstone ....

 .... and trying to decide how best to make use of the newly acquired strip of real estate. All I need is a spell of decent weather to finish off the job but Storm Ciara seems to have intervened!

Lineside

Having recently detailed and painted 30 figures (see Progress Report 78),

 I realised there were a few more figures in my 'spare people' box awaiting similar treatment. These are now in the process of remodelled and painted (see How I prepared and painted some Perfect People metal figures and Where do I get my figures?).

 I think, once these figures are finished, the population of the area served by the railway will be more or less complete - though, of course, there may be an influx of tourists during the summer!

Workshop

I am slowly reorganising the storage spaces in the workshop which I built in the autumn (see How I constructed the workshop). As I am in the process of painting figures, I decided the drawer in which the acrylic paints were stored was in need of a bit of rationalisation and so added some Correx dividers and now store the paint tubes according to colour - which makes finding them a whole lot less frustrating.

The newest addition has been a sink, which I recycled from our caravan. It was much too large for the toilet cubicle in the caravan and so I took it out and replaced it with a much smaller one. However, waste-not-want-not and so the fixture has now been transferred to the workshop.

The water is pumped up from the 25 litre container below via a 12v pump and the waste drains into a soakaway which also serves the guttering for the workshop. At present, the pump is powered via a small lead acid battery housed under the sink, but eventually, I will find a suitable 12v transformer.

I had intended to store rainwater from the gutters in a butt and use this as a naturally replenishing supply, but then decided I would probably want to make hot drinks from the water and so opted for a more potable supply.

Progress Report 78

I have decided (call it a New Year's Resolution), that this year I am going to try posting Progress Reports more frequently. They tend to be quarterly unless I feel I have a number of developments to report but this means I often end up writing quite lengthy reports which I am sure most of you loyal followers will be reluctant to read. So, I'll try shorter, sweeter and more frequent updates to see if that is easier for you to digest (assuming anyone actually does bother to read them.... 😏 ).

My last Progress Report was in October (ie three months ago) which seems to have reported quite a few developments - mainly because the previous report had been 7 months earlier. This is not the best time of year for garden railway modelling, but there do seem to have been a few developments to report.

• The track behind the workshop has been relaid and partly landscaped
• I have written-up how I constructed the Snailbeach hopper wagons
• I have started painting the figures mentioned in the last progress report
• I am working on a Bluetooth version of the 2.4gHz transmitter
• The workshop has now been completed and used for various projects
• I have had another couple of articles published in Garden Rail

Permanent Way

The trackbed behind the old sheds has never been a high priority and so, over the past fifteen years, has been allowed to slowly deteriorate. Despite that, it was never sufficiently neglected that it caused derailments, presumably if it had I would have attended to it sooner. However, the blocks in the middle of the section had sunk over the years and so what should have been perfectly level had developed a couple of undulations.

 Furthermore, the new workshop which replaced the sheds (see How I constructed the Workshop) was lower than its predecessors and so the track was now mounted on top of an embankment which, over time, would probably have led to further deterioration of the trackbed.

The old track was removed, a new retaining wall was constructed from bricks and the blocks replaced. The track was then reinstated.

The erection of the workshop also resulted in the six foot high hedge of conifers being reduced to around two feet. There was no longer a need for the rickety sheds to be hidden and the hedge prevented me having a view from the workshop of my railway and the rest of the garden. It also reduced the amount of light entering the window. With the removal of the hedge, one section of the railway now became more visible, the area around the junction of the copper mine branch (shown above).

This area was landscaped and will eventually be planted with suitable shade-loving foliage.

This area will no doubt feature in future videos and photos of the line in action. For more information see How I improved the trackbed behind the workshop

Rolling stock

 Snailbeach hoppers

As mentioned in the previous progress report, the Snailbeach hopper wagons have entered service and have now all been fitted out with brake gear and weathered. The process has been written up in detail (see How I constructed a rake of Snailbeach-like hopper wagons).

It was interesting to see how I could integrate the additional traffic movements to and from the sand quarry into my usual operating sessions which aim to represent a typical day's running on the railway. I've not perfected it yet, but have decided that, whereas the copper mine usually has three trains Up and Down the line each day (because the spoil is transported as well as the ore), the sand quarry will only require one train in each direction per day. See from 4m 54s onwards....

Infrastructure

 Figures

The figures purchased at the Llanfair Show mentioned in the previous Progress Report are now in the process of being painted, together with others which I have acquired over the past year.

It takes me quite a while to paint figures. I tend to do this job at intervals. I find it very time consuming, particularly as I have had 30 figures to paint. I tend to mix one blend of colours - for example blue and/or black and then paint all the bits of figures which need colours. On another occasion, I might focus on flesh colour, and so on.

Finally, I will add the fine details to the figures such as hair, facial features and shoes.

Operation

 Operating sessions

Interestingly, I have had very few full operating sessions this year. This is partly because when some of the spells of fine weather occurred I was not available and partly because I have been focusing on sorting out the Arduino control systems which has proven to be very time consuming (see How I control locos with Arduino and a phone app). However, a few part-sessions have been run and various individual trains have been run at intervals.

Manning Wardle loco No. 6 departs Beeston Market with the Down pickup goods

No 6 shunting the pickup goods at Bickerton

No. 6 approaching Peckforton with the Up afternoon mixed

Arduino based control systems

As was mentioned in the previous two Progress Reports, I have been investigating Bluetooth phone app and 2.4gHz based radio control systems (see How I control locos with Arduino and a phone app).   I have gained a great deal of satisfaction in getting to grips with Arduino programming and understanding the basics of interconnecting Arduino modules, I have been disappointed with the level of control which the approaches have given. I suppose I have been spoiled by using the Deltang system which is very reliable, easy to use and provides a very good level of control, especially at slow speeds. However, I am generally quite persistent and so am continuing to explore various options to see if I can overcome some of the limitations of Arduino which I have identified so far.

My next line of enquiry is to explore using a Bluetooth module in place of the phone app as a transmitter. I am hoping that the more positive features of Bluetooth can be combined with the advantages of having a handheld transmitter with a knob and switches. It's early days yet, but I will let you know of progress in my next report.

Other

Workshop

I am now beginning to settle into my new workshop and am in the process of making it more homely and have started reorganising the storage. In the past, I have tended to throw things willynilly into drawers and storage boxes, but have now started partitioning the various containers to make life easier when trying to find things.

I have now installed a couple of security measures, the details of which I will not share here for obvious reasons. Needless to say, it is handy having a knowledge of basic electronics and radio control .....

I am now considering installing a sink, using the rainwater supply from the roof as my primary use of water is for watering-down acrylic paints and cleaning paint brushes.

Magazine articles

I have had another couple of magazine articles published in Garden Rail since my last progress report.

Since starting my blog fifteen years ago, I have not sought monetary reward when sharing my thoughts and experiences, so it is now quite gratifying to receive a modest fee for my scribblings which, of course, I will plough into further developments on the railway.

Future plans

There is always plenty to do on the railway but, as always, I have to prioritise jobs. The most immediate are:

• Finishing painting the figures and allocating the railway personnel to particular station related roles;
• Experimenting with Bluetooth modules to make a more reliable handheld Arduino based transmitter;
• Titivating Bulkeley and Bickerton stations
• Applying weathering to the locos and coaching stock;
• Enhancing the detailing on some of the more basically finished wagons.

There are clearly plenty of jobs which need to be done, but these are probably the most urgent.

As mentioned earlier, this is the quietest time in terms of running sessions. However, it is probably the busiest in terms of construction and maintenance. I am looking forward to an improvement in the weather and am already planning my next video productions. 

As they say, watch this space!

How I weather my wagons

I've been asked on a few occasions how I go about weathering my rolling stock. As always, I don't profess to be an expert in this field - there are some whose use of weathering powders and the like reaches the realms of artistry, but here's how I go about it. Each wagon takes about an hour to weather.

First, I take a wagon. This is the crane wagon which I converted from a Hartland Loco Works (HLW) flat car (see How I made a crane wagon).

In this case, I've partially dismantled the wagon for ease. My next job is to mix up some mucky acrylic paint - I tend to tone down black with some brown, otherwise it looks a bit too stark. This is mixed to a creamy consistency and smeared over the wagon in stages.

Before it has time to dry, I wipe it off with a paper towel. With planking such as this I wipe diagonally across the planking to ensure the paint stays in the cracks and crevices.

This action is repeated until the whole wagon is treated.

Where surfaces are flatter, I dab the wet paint with the paper towel, making sure the paint stays in the corners. This process is repeated several times until I feel content with the amount of paint which has been deposited. For lighter weathering, the paint is thinned with water.

A muddy red is mixed to represent rust, and this is daubed over the chassis.

This is then dabbed with a paper towel to leave clusters in the crevices.

The next stage is to dry-brush areas of rust or heavy wear. In the case of the crane which would have been largely constructed from steel, rust was dry-brushed on to some of the mechanism. Dry-brushing, by the way, involves depositing a small amount of paint on the tip of a brush, then wiping most of this off on a paper towel and lightly applying what is left of the paint on to the raised parts of the model.

The final process is to give a very light dusting of light brown or sand colour from an aerosol. I tend to invert the model and spray from a distance of at least two feet with a passing movement.

How I assembled a corrugated van from a Swift Sixteen kit

For a while I had been considering making a van suitable for transporting explosives to the copper mine. Although I had found some suitable prototypes running on 2' narrow gauge railways I had not found anything for a 3 foot narrow gauge railway. And then Swift Sixteen produced their corrugated van kit for both 32mm and 45mm gauges. A kit was purchased at the annual show for the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers.

The kit is probably the best resin kit I have encountered - the mouldings are extremely crisp. There are very few component parts to the kit.

The wheels were tapped on to the axles with a small hammer, with the brass bearing tube positioned between the wheels.

The axle mounts were then superglued to the base between the moulded guides..........

...... and the wheel assemblies were superglued to the mountings.

The beautifully moulded axle boxes and w-irons were then superglued to the base.......

...... using the moulded guides to ensure correct positioning.

As I was intending to use LGB hook and loop couplers, I marked-out a 12mm wide slot in the buffer-beams ......

and cut these out with a razor-saw and a craft-knife.

Five 1.5mm thick packing-pieces of plasticard were then glued in place to which the LGB coupling was screwed with a self-tapping screw.

In hindsight, I would not have cut the slot so deep into the buffer beam but I was unsure of the height needed to mount the couplings which I had to determine by trial and error.

A recess was carved out behind each of the dumb buffers to accommodate the LGB coupling ....

........ and these were then superglued into place.

In essence, the model was now complete, apart from a paint-job.

The wheels were masked with tape before the two component parts were spray-painted with Citadel Chaos Black in my patent spray-booth (a cardboard carton on its side).

I decided to depart from my default Halford's grey primer livery as the van would need to be distinctive.

The wagon was then added to the stock roster.

However, I intend to design and apply white lettering to the side of the van ('Explosives') and give the wagon my customary weathering.

UPDATE (15/8/12) - The wheels originally supplied with the kit had the same profile as those provided by IP Engineering which proved incompatible with LGB R1 points. I solved the problem by fixing plasticard washers behind each wheel (see How I made IP Engineering wheels compatible with LGB pointwork). Swift Sixteen kits are now provided with Accucraft wheels which are more compatible with LGB track.