Progress Report 52

The weather has been very mixed since the previous update (See Progress Report 51). There have been a few days of sunshine but mostly the weather has been showery, which is the worst type of weather for playing trains - no sooner have I put out equipment than I have to gather it up, trying to decide if it will be a short sharp shower or a more prolonged downpour. Fortunately, with radio control and battery power, I have been able to run the odd train now and again. However, I have managed to get one full running session in, and the wet weather has given an opportunity for several indoor projects to get completed.

A Day in the Life of Peckforton Station

During the full operating session, I set up my video camera at Peckforton Station and, each time a train passed through, filmed its progress. The result is a video showing a typical day in the life of one station on the line. The video has condensed the day into a series of brief episodes, but the feedback from fellow modellers has been encouraging.

In addition, I took a series of stills from the video sequences, and produced a blog posting outlining the day's activities. (See A Day in the Life of Peckforton Station)

Track sweeper

Although track cleaning is no longer the pain in the butt which it used to be, locos and stock can still be derailed by the dreaded 'leaves on the line' and other debris.  I've discovered, for example, that from time to time, blackbirds and thrushes like to use the rails as anvils to crack open snail shells. Whilst, I still have to cut back the vegetation (on a weekly basis at the moment), it's still necessary to check the track before each running session - even one twig can have disastrous consequences. To help this tidying-up process, I have produced a simple track sweeper which can be sent around the track before a running session to remove the general detritus which the track seems to accumulate. (See How I constructed a track sweeper)

Take one HLW wagon chassis, a couple of pieces of brass rail, some brass strip, a motor, battery and a bottle brush and voila!

Trestle Bridge

In the previous Progress Report (see Progress Report 51), I gave an account of the building of the mill siding. The track crossing the stream had been left hanging in mid-air, awaiting the construction of a suitable bridge.This has now been completed (see How I constructed a small wooden trestle bridge), based (loosely) on the wooden trestle bridge which was situated on the Southwold Railway beside the water mill between Halesworth and Wenhaston.

At the moment, the bridge looks very new, but now it has taken up permanent residence, it will weather naturally.

Flat wagons

Adding details to the match truck

Following suggestions from fellow modellers on the G Scale Central forum, I've added a few more details to the match truck which will accompany the mobile crane whenever it ventures forth.

The detailing includes a couple of baulks of timber, a coil of rope, some chain and various other utilitarian objects such as a tool kit and re-railing jacks. I may distress and weather the wagon still further as it would be likely to suffer considerable abuse as it goes about its duties on the railway.

A new permanent way wagon

I decided that, rather than making the above wagon a general purpose Engineering Department wagon, I would make another flat wagon more specific to platelaying to be towed behind the IP Engineering Lollypop Railcar (see How I constructed an IP Engineering railcar) which I have designated as an platelayers' trolley.

The flat wagon uses an IP Engineering Hudson wagon chassis as its basis, with a coffee-stirrer body and tools provided by Bachmann. It needed to be small in size to match the dimensions of the railcar, and looks appropriate as it trundles around the railway (see How I constructed a small flat wagon).

Points controller

Having decided to move over from DCC controlled track-power to radio controlled battery power, one of the sacrifices was going to be the remote control of some of my pointwork from the DCC remote handset. Casting around for alternatives, I discovered the Deltang points and accessories controller which has seven outputs. As I had six turnouts which needed to be controlled remotely (owing to their awkward locations), this seemed to be the most appropriate solution. However, the controller is designed to work with r/c servos rather than LGB point motors and so I was faced with the dilemma of either replacing all the existing LGB point motors with servos, or finding some way of adapting the Deltang controller so it would operate the LGB point motors.

 Following the guidance of a fellow garden railway modeller (who, incidentally is based in Australia), I programmed a Picaxe microprocessor to respond to the Deltang receiver and generate a half second pulse of electricity to kick the relevant LGB points motor into operation.

It was surprisingly easy (and equally surprisingly inexpensive), to construct a system which would operate relays in response to the instructions generated by the microprocessor. I can now control my more inaccessible pointwork by the flick of a switch.

Wiring-up the most distant turnout

The most distant point (on the approach to the swing bridge) had not been hard-wired - it used a slot-in decoder connected directly to the track. This needed to be connected to the points controller, situated in the outhouse about 40m away. I happened to notice a couple of lengths of orange mains cable which my neighbours had thrown away in a skip which they no longer needed. This was pressed into service, routed around the outside of the garden and then buried.

Station Buildings

Until now, I have left my station buildings outside throughout the year and, even though they are constructed from resin castings or plastic (see How I constructed some station buildings and How I constructed a station building from a toy, they were beginning to show signs of wear and tear. Some of the epoxied joints had sprung apart and the paintwork was beginning to peel in places see Progress Report 50).

The buildings were brought inside and all the internal joints (regardless of whether they had failed) were reinforced with a strong instant-grab, flexible adhesive.

The representations of timber framing were repainted green and some of the roofs were touched-up but I decided to leave the cream clapperboard as it was as this was generally surviving well (it was watered-down masonry paint designed for outdoor use with a ten year guarantee). The posters and signs were all reprinted and re-applied (see How I made some period posters and enamel signs). Some posters were mounted on noticeboards, made from black plasticard (see How I made some noticeboards)

I have decided to bring my buildings inside during the winter months from now on to prolong their working lives (and to save myself unnecessary maintenance).

The station buildings and platform paraphernalia ready to be installed in the garden

Peckforton Station building in situ

Beeston Market Station building

Platform detailing

Whilst re-installing the buildings, I decided to assemble and paint various kits and general clutter of platform equipment which I had accumulated, such as trolleys, firebuckets, seating, luggage, etc.

These items had come from various sources including Trenarren Models, Garden Railway Specialists, Roundhouse, Modeltown and Back2Bay6.

These items were constructed and then given a couple of coats of primer, before being given a final coat of green or red, with detailing added with acrylics.

As time progresses, I will add more and more items of this sort as it seems to me that this type of detailing is what brings a railway to life.

How I created posters and 'enamel' signs for the station buildings

To add character and authenticity to the station buildings (see How I assembled station buildings from TM Models resin kits and How I converted a cheap children's toy into a station building), I decided I needed to add enamel signs and railway-related posters.

A search of the internet unearthed several images of enamel advertising signs and railway posters from the period being modelled (early 1930s). These were copied and pasted into a word document where they were reduced in size to something more appropriate for 16mm scale.
They were printed on photo paper, cut out and glued on to the building. They were then given a light spray of clear varnish from an aerosol to help seal them.

Specific railway related notices were created in MS Word based on examples printed in Branchline to Southwold (Mitchell & Smith, 1984, Middleton Press) with amendments to focus the content more on the locality of my railway:
These were then scanned and saved as images which were then inserted into a Word document where they were reduced in size to make them more appropriate. The beauty of working with images is that they can readily be resized or re-proportioned without unduly distorting the layout.

In Word, for example, I can right-click on an image which has been inserted into a document and from the pop-up menu, select .....'Size'

The next pop-up then enables me to specify the exact size of that image, to match the dimensions of the notice board or section of wall where the poster will be placed on the model.

 The sheets were laser printed, the individual posters cut out and glued into place.
As above, the notices were given a couple of coats of varnish from an aerosol to protect them from the elements.

I leave most of my buildings out in the garden throughout the year and after a couple of seasons I find that the posters deteriorate. Sometimes, slugs and snails take a fancy to them and eat them, or they simply rot away - much as would happen with posters in real life. If doesn't take too long to print-out a fresh set, cut them out and glue them in place.

Update 19/5/14

I found that as the station building at Bickerton is taken inside during the winter, the posters on this building last considerably longer. I have decided to over-winter all my buildings inside as even those which are made from resin castings and plastic, suffer from the ravages of the weather.

How I detailed the interior of a station building

I bought a secondhand model of Chelfham station building (ex Lynton & Barnstaple) on eBay for a reasonable price with a view to using it on the railway. It was constructed from a GRS kit. In the end, I opted to standardise on wooden buildings constructed mostly for T&M Models resin kits (see How I assembled the station buildings). So the model of Chelfham had been languishing on the shelf for a year or so before I decided to put it back on eBay. Before, welling it I decided it would benefit from some tidying-up - or rather a complete refurbishment. The exterior was painted with acrylics in the same way as the T&M models and then sealed with matt varnish.

Then, for reasons I cannot really fathom, I decided it might sell better if I detailed the interior. having not done this for my other models, this would act as a test-bed.

Firstly a base for the interior was cut from corrugated plastic board:

The walls and ceiling were then cut out:

The idea was to make a completely separate box for the interior so it could be removed for more detailing. Next, I filled the surrounds of the doors and windows with flexible filler:

... and then cut a load of planks from coffee stirrers for the panelling - I found a pair of scissors was perfectly OK for this job.

After smearing some Evo-stick adhesive on the walls, the planks were stuck in place, leaving a slightly over-scale gap between each one.

Architraves were made for the doorways by cutting coffee stirrers down the middle longitudinally, and then mitring the corners:

Once all the interior walls had been panelled in this way......

.....  they were painted. Cream gloss paint for the wall (left over from painting the garage door), and chocolate brown for the panelling using acrylics:

The walls on all but the front of the model were then hot-glued in place:

.... and more coffee stirrers were glued to the floor as floorboards - again the gaps were slightly exaggerated. The floor was varnished with an antique pine stain and window sills and a sill for the panelling were added:

The interior was then furnished with benches around the walls of the waiting room and the booking hall:

... and a table and desk made from off-cuts of timber and whittled lolly sticks:

These were varnished with antique pine stain and fixed into place with Evo-stick. Finally, the inside of the window frames and doors were painted and clear plastic was glued into the shell of the building across the windows and the interior was eased into place to check clearances.

Lighting
Next, I turned my attention to interior lighting; no point in detailing the interior if no one can see it. I cannibalised a solar rock light. I bought a set of these a while back and was never really that impressed by them. The circuit and components were carefully removed:

...... and then the LEDs were unsoldered from their circuit board. This was a bit fiddly, but they came out quite easily with the minimum of heat (I didn't want to fry them!).

The LEDs were then soldered to lengths of fine wire from an earpiece. This was the finest wire I could find. The wires were interwoven with strands of nylon thread which were teased out and melted with the iron before solder was applied to the copper strands.

Shades for the lights were cut from circles of card which were folded into cones and glued above the LEDs.

The LEDs were then 'hung' from appropriate places in the ceiling of the inner box.

As the LEDs were wired in parallel, the leads from them were gathered together and then soldered to the original leads from the solar light circuit board (blue and white in the photo). The base of the battery box was hot glued to the upper side of the ceiling and the wiring was fixed in place with some white Gaffa tape.

 NOTE: I realised after two of the LEDs failed to light that I had got the polarity of their leads wrong. Swapping them over soon fixed the problem.

The wires to the photo cell were snipped and extended with a suitable one metre length of two core cable. This was threaded through a hollow stake ('borrowed' from another solar garden light). The top of the stake was cut at an angle of 45 degrees, the cable was then soldered to the leads from the photocell and insulated with tape before the solar cell was hot glued to the top of the stake.

The other end of this lead was then hot glued to the side of the inner box and soldered to the charge leads (making sure I got the polarity right this time!).

More Gaffa tape was applied to the edges of the ceiling and the front wall to act as hinges so that further detail could be added at a later date.

A dolls house coffee table was bought to act as a table in the waiting room, some figures were glued into the rooms to give a little more atmosphere, and then the lighting was tested after dark just to make sure everything was functioning as expected.

Although I am aware of some imperfections in my modelling, I and pleased to say this approach passes muster and will be used to add detail to the other buildings on the line. Hopefully, as everything has been constructed in plastic or treated with varnish, it should survive the damp conditions which prevail in our climate.