Progress Report 43

This year I have had fewer opportunities than in previous years to run trains on the railway. Firstly, the weather has been very changeable which has meant that there have been relatively few days when an unbroken spell of decent weather could be guaranteed. On a couple of occasions, I had spent an hour or so setting up the railway, only to have to gather everything together and dash back indoors as a shower of heavy rain blew up. Secondly, I have spent several days during the summer period visiting full-scale narrow gauge railways for a new blog which I have set-up (see Narrow Gauge Railways UK). Mostly, these visits seem to have coincided with a spell of decent weather which I could have used for running the railway.

Orenstein & Koppel 0-4-0 locos Utrillas and Montalban at the West Lancashire Light Railway

 Thirdly, I have spent quite a bit of the summer, doing running repairs, constructing signals, making a set of buildings for the copper mine and experimenting with radio control (see below).

Running repairs

These have mostly centred on improving the running of stock which had wheels which were incompatible with LGB pointwork (see How I made IP Engineering wheels compatible with LGB pointwork). There would appear to be very little conformity over back-to-back measurements and flange depth of wheels across manufacturers when it comes to 45mm gauge. As a consequence, when products from different suppliers are brought together, there are often problems with smooth running through pointwork. Whilst I have sometimes re-wheeled stock to overcome these difficulties, there are occasions when this is not possible or desirable as, for example, when journals or axle stubs wheel sizes are non-standard. I have developed a rough-and-ready method of beefing-up finer scale wheels to improve their running characteristics through the coarser scale frogs of LGB pointwork.

Another issue associated with LGB pointwork which I have uncovered over the seven years I've been running my railway has been a steady and consistent breakdown in electrical continuity between the running rails, point-blades and lead-rails before and after the frogs. I could have removed every point and soldered invisible connections beneath the rails and sleepers, but when I have done this in the past it has caused more problems than it solved. Consequently, I opted for an in-situ solution of soldering jumper wires from the stock rails to the switch rails.

For more information see - How I repaired LGB pointwork

Constructing signals

As I try to run my railway according to light railway prototypical practices (which of course were often quite idiosyncratic), I decided that with up to three trains in steam at any one time, it was about time I supplied the line with signalling.

Using the signalling diagrams which were provided by a fellow modeller who also happens to be a Railtrack signalman (see Progress Report 36) ........

......... I figured that even the most minimal approach to signalling the railway would require 20 signals (around 4 per station). I explored various kit-built options but decided that the cost would be prohibitive. I had no option but to construct my own signals.

Although the signals were  of the same basic design as I wanted to batch-produce them, there were two alternatives in terms of the types of base. One type had a plate base for mounting on hard surfaces, while the other had a concrete base, for mounting in soft surfaces .......

All the signals are equipped with flickering LED lamps..........

 ....... which are shuttered at the rear.

At present, the signals are operated individually but eventually I hope to have them operated through linkages to a ground frame at each station, as per prototype.

For details of construction see Garden Rail edition 224 (April 2013).

 Mine buildings

Up until now, the sidings for the copper mine have had only a backdrop of the laurel hedge.

Ever since the extension to Beeston Market and the copper mine was constructed (see How I built the extension), I have been planning to add some buildings and loading hoppers.

At this stage, construction is well under way - with a variety of techniques being deployed.

The crusher shed and manager's office

The workshop

 The buildings are still very much work-in-progress with a lot more tidying-up and detailing needed. Once completed, the buildings will include a Gn15 feeder line from the mine workings together with loading hoppers and conveyors. See How I constructed the Mine Buildings)

Radio control

I have been broadening my experiments with battery operation and radio control, following the construction of my first battery powered radio controlled vehicle, a double-ended railbus (see How I constructed a railbus from two Andel coach kits).

A chance-find on eBay resulted in the purchase of a couple of cheap 2.4GHz radio transmitters designed to be used with low-cost helicopters.

I discovered that the transmitters worked with cheap FlySky receivers and so, after setting-up a test-rig, I explored the potential of this cost-effective approach to radio control.

As you can see from the video, with the modest outlay I'm figuring it's worth producing a small fleet of battery-operated locos to run alongside and maybe eventually replace the track powered locos. I have a couple of spare ToyTrain loco blocks which can be pressed into service and one day I will get around to converting my LGB 0-6-2 U-Class Zillertalbahn loco into a representation of the Southwold Railway loco No. 4 Wenhaston.

How I repaired LGB pointwork

After a while I found that several of my LGB points (switches) lost electrical continuity across the point blades and/or the rails leading up to the frog. It seems I am not alone in having this problem as the welded or screwed bonding straps beneath the rails deteriorate. Rather than removing the points to resolve the problem, I opted for remediating the issues with the points in situ.

To repair the link between between the stock rails and the fixed rails leading to the frog needed repair on R3 and some of the older R1 points, I soldered fixed heavy gauge copper wires using my 75watt soldering iron. Neither of these rails moves and so I felt there was no need for flexible wires.

 To repair the links between the pint blades and the fixed rails leading the frogs I went for multi-strand wire as the point blades move and hence there needed to be some flex in the linkage.

 For most of the R1 points where the point blade is pivoted next to the frog, and the link between the stock rails and the point-blades needed renewal, I soldered a multi-strand wire from one to the other. Once the ballast is relaid this link becomes less visible.

On the older R1 points where the point blade is split into a moving and a fixed part (as with R3 points), I soldered a single piece of multi-strand wire between the two halves of the point blade and then looped it under the rail, soldering the end to the stock rail.

As above, the longer stretch of wire will be buried in the ballast.

My main piece of advice is to ensure the rail is filed clean before it is tinned - I used the end of a square needle file to rub down the rail until I get clean bare metal. I find that holding the iron hard against the rail for around five seconds and then feeding multicore solder in between the iron and the rail is usually sufficient to tin the rail without melting the plastic chairs either side. This is particularly important when soldering near the pivoted end of the point blade as softening the plastic sleeper can cause the blade to become misaligned (how do I know???). The wire is also tinned before it is then held next to the tinned part of the rail and the heat applied from the iron for around another five seconds or so - I use a small flat bladed screwdriver to keep the pressure applied to the wire while the solder hardens. I reckon I eventually got the entire remediation process down to around seven minutes per point - ten at the outside. 

I have now bonded all my points in this way, regardless of whether they have failed, as experience suggests that they will all fail eventually. 

How I made IP Engineering wheels compatible with LGB pointwork

You will see from one of my postings (How I constructed a cattle wagon from an IP Engineering kit) that the line has two IP Engineering cattle wagons which I later modified by replacing the heavy metal roofs with lighter plastic ones (see Progress Report 41). Whilst the wagons ran smoothly out on the main line, they struggled to negotiate the LGB R1 points which I use in the yard at Beeston Market station. Often they would derail on the frogs.

Careful scrutiny of the wheels showed the profile of their flanges were much narrower than those used by LGB and hence the check rails were not accurately guiding the wheels through the frogs.

I tried reducing the back-to-back measurements between the flanges by pushing the wheels closer together on the axles, but this was not always successful. I even tried adding brass shims to the check rails but this caused some of the other stock to have problems.

A thread on the G Scale Central Forum suggested the IP Engineering wheels could be replaced with 24.5mm diameter Bachmann metal wheels. This I did successfully but, because the Bachmann wheels are wider overall than their IP equivalents, the solebars on the wagons had to be carefully prised off and re-fixed. Fortunately I managed this without damaging the wagons but it was touch-and-go!

When it came to replacing the wheels on my Swift Sixteen corrugated van (see How I assembled a corrugated van from a Swift Sixteen kit), I ran into difficulties. The axles are mounted beneath the van inside brass tubes and would have meant engaging in major surgery to replace with Bachmann wheels.
Update: Since May 2012 Swift Sixteen kits are supplied with Accucraft wheels

I figured that if I could make the IP wheel flanges fatter, then maybe I wouldn't need to replace the wheels. Measuring the wheels passing through the pointwork I decided that 1.5mm thick discs could solve the problem.

Squares of 1.5mm thick plasticard were roughly cut from a sheet, slightly larger than the 23mm diameter wheels, and a 5mm hole drilled approximately in the centre and a cut made from the hole to one of the edges - to enable it to be slipped over the axle.

The plasticard was then superglued to the back of each wheel and held in place with small clamps .......

...... until set.

The plasticard was then trimmed off with a pair of scissors, leaving a little to spare round the wheel rim.

For the unfitted wheels, the axles was mounted in the chuck of a drill and the excess plastic filed off ....

....and then slightly chamfered at the back of the wheel.

However, this was slightly harder to achieve with the wheels already mounted on the van as they could not be removed and so the same procedure had to be done slightly more laboriously by hand.

As can be seen, the profile the 'disked' IP wheels (in the middle) now more closely resemble that of the Bachmann wheels (at the top). The original IP wheels are at the bottom.

The wheels are now a much cosier fit in between the check-rails and the wing rails of the LGB points.

However, the proof of the pudding ................................

Rewheeled wagons being propelled through two LGB R1 points in reverse-curve formation

Note: The first two wagons are IP Engineering cattle wagons (with Bachmann 24.5mm replacement wheels), the last (black) wagon is the Swift Sixteen corrugated van with 'disked' IP Engineering wheels..

Progress Report 42

Prolonged running sessions

The weather this summer has been appalling from a garden railway modeller's viewpoint. Showery weather is a great frustration - do I assume the sunshine will last or will the heavens open as soon as all the stock has been set out?

However, a couple of days of almost unbroken sunshine/light cloud has enabled me to have some prime time out in the garden 'playing trains'. Interspersed with ongoing maintenance and other matters, I managed to work my way through about half the timetable. This included a fair amount of freight handling and shunting and also some re-runs of manoeuvres for a video I am compiling (more later).

The following pictures give some indication of the ongoing running sessions -

The first Down Train of the day about to depart Beeston Market

Early morning Up passenger about to depart Bickerton Station

Daily Down pick-up goods about to depart Beeston Market

Up passenger crossing the Down pick-up goods at Peckforton

Unloading the milk from the early morning Up passenger at Beeston Market

The mid-morning Down Passenger pauses at Beeston Castle - not many tourists in evidence!

A laden ore-train cruises through Bulkeley station having just emerged from the Mine Branch

Full ore train approaching Peckforton from Bulkeley while the mid morning Down passenger approaches Peckforton from Beeston Castle

Full ore train crosses the mid-morning Down Passenger at Peckforton

Up pick-up goods between Bickerton and Bulkeley

Up pick-up goods between Peckforton and Beeston Castle

Up pick-up goods arrives at Beeston Market - too long for the loop, the train has to be split to be shunted

Train of empty ore wagons being run round at Beeston Market

Mid-morning Up passenger approaching Beeston Castle

The prolonged operating sessions provided plenty of opportunity for the stock, the permanent way and the locos to be tested. The star of the sessions was Hunslet No.3 (Bickerton). Having spent some time in the workshops having more weight and a power buffer fitted, she is now proving to be a very reliable loco for slow, controlled freight duties (See Progress Report 37). The added weight has improved adhesion considerably - the somewhat elongated Up pick-up goods of eleven wagons proved no problem for her up the 1:40 gradient between Peckforton and Beeston Castle. I am now seriously considering adding a power buffer to Barclay No. 2 (Beeston) which seems now to be the least reliable loco, stuttering and stalling over quite a few points despite assiduous wheel-cleaning!

The newly acquired Atropos flat wagon is proving an asset - being used on the first passenger of the day to collect milk churns. The finer scale wheels sometimes cause problems over some of the facing R3 points - and there is no way she would go through R1 points, but with a little tweaking I feel confident the wagon will become a stalwart of the line (Update - see How I made IP Engineering Wheels compatible with LGB pointwork).

Progress Report 41

You will see from Progress Report 39 that there was a list of jobs which needed to be carried out  over the winter months. Many of these have now been completed (see also Progress Report 40)

Maintenance jobs

Repair Hunslet loco and add more weight

After having a power-buffer fitted, the Hunslet has never quite been the same. Some of the lead had to be removed to make room for the buffer and as a consequence the loco lacked adhesion when pulling some trains up the gradients on the line. More lead has been squeezed into the loco by filling as many nooks and crannies as possible. Also, the joints have been reinforced with good quality cyanoacrylate superglue as the rapid epoxy used previously seems to have failed.

Unfortunately, the paintwork has suffered with a few smeary finger-marks and cracking around the failed joints. I'm going to have to try some remedial work, otherwise she will have to return to the paint-shops for a complete respray.

 

Fix Fowler diesel fly-cranks which have become loose on layshaft 

The whitemetal fly-cranks were originally fixed to the steel axles with superglue and after a while have a tendency to work loose. In an effort to improve the bond between crank and shaft, I removed the cranks, roughened-up the ends of the shaft with a coarse file and fixed them back in place with epoxy. Time will tell if this is effective. If not, my next strategy will be to use larger gauge steel for the shafts, square off the ends and similarly file the holes square in the cranks.

Clean coach wheels and check bogies through pointwork at Beeston Castle

The IP Engineering steel wheels which I use for the coach bogies seem very prone to gathering accumulated gunk if I run them when the track is slightly damp. The gunk hardens to form an irregular layer on the treads of the wheels causing the coaches to limp unevenly along the line and derail over pointwork - particularly that at Beeston Castle which is slightly uneven.

I've tried smoothing out the irregularities in the trackwork so now the vast majority of stock runs through the pointwork without issue, but the coaching stock still occasionally runs into problems. The coach wheels were removed from their bogies and mounted in the chuck of a battery-powered drill which in turn was clamped in a vice. The wheels were then spun in the drill and cleaned of dried gunk using a flat-bladed screwdriver.

 

Replace IP Engineering cattle truck metal roofs with plastic to reduce weight 

New roofs for the two IP Engineering cattle trucks were constructed from plastic roofing sections (Part No. SG1109) provided by Garden Railway Specialists (GRS).

The moulded roof supports provided with the roof sections were fixed in place on underside of each roof to provide a sung-fit and then the roofs were given a couple of coats of my acrylic roof-colour (black mixed with silver). As above, this reduction in weight has enhanced the locos' ability to pull the wagons up the gradients.

 

Repair hinges on engine shed doors

You will see from the original engine shed posting (see How I built the engine shed) that the hinges were fashioned from brass sheet and epoxied to the doors. Unfortunately the bond between the brass and the doors was never sufficient to take the strain and so, after several abortive attempts at gluing, the hinges were removed and fixed more permanently in place by drilling holes in the brass and passing dress-making pins through them into the underlying wood of the doors. This approach, together with superglue, will hopefully prove more enduring.

 

Construction jobs

Complete rail-motors/railbuses

These have now been completed (See How I constructed a Railmotor set) though the motor/gearbox arrangement on the motor-coach has proven to be insufficient to power the two coaches.

The IP Engineering gearbox which was used reduces the drive by only 16:1 which means that even on 12 volts the motor coach is under-powered. I am presently toying with three alternatives to resolve the problem:

• rebuild the motor/gearbox with a greater speed reduction (eg a two-stage gearbox drive)
• add a motor to the trailer coach
• build a powered luggage van to sit between the two coaches, using a power bogie.

The first option would be the cheapest, but may require the motor coach to be dismantled and rebuilt to accommodate a bigger gearbox. The second option would be relatively straightforward  but I am concerned that even then the railbus set will be under-powered. The third option would be less disruptive to the existing construction, but will be the most costly. 

 

Construct gunpowder van

A kit for a corrugated van was purchased from Swift Sixteen after seeing them on the stand at the annual show for the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers. I decided a metal-bodied van would be the most likely candidate for conversion to a gunpowder van. This how now been completed and has joined the rolling stock roster - see How I constructed a corrugated van from a Swift Sixteen kit.

 

Construct another five open wagons

The Hartland wagon chassis for these have been purchased from Steve Warrington at Back2Bay6 as has the resin needed for the castings which was bought from TOMPS. These are in the course of construction and will be joining the wagon fleet during the summer months (see How I made the third batch of open wagons). In the meantime, two more LGB/GRS open wagon conversions (see Constructing an open wagon and a van from a GRS combi-kit) have been purchased over the internet and are awaiting a trip to the paint-shop.

These came as part of a job-lot with an Atropos Admiralty flat wagon which I am uncertain about using. I think I'll try attaching it to the first passenger train of the day to pick up milk churns.

 

Construct crane wagon (maybe mount a yard crane on a Hartland chassis)

A rash purchase on eBay resulted in the arrival of an LGB crane wagon.

Looking more closely at this I've decided it does not really represent the sort of wagon which would be seen on a UK narrow gauge railway and as a consequence have constructed my own. See How I constructed a crane wagon.

 

Finish painting remaining figures

With the exception of a few instances of minor detailing, all the figures which have been purchased for the railway have now been painted and in some cases modified to make them suitable for the railway. In the last update I suggested that there were too few railway staff in evidence. This has now been remedied and so each of the guards' vans now boasts a guard. and each station has a least one station porter-cum-station-master. The locos now have drivers (including the railmotor which has a driver at each end - one of which was formerly a pall-bearer). The coaches have passengers and there are now sufficient members of the public to populate the station platforms. As has been mentioned previously, all standing passengers have brass rods inserted in at least one of their legs to enable them to be positioned upright on the platforms which, in the case of concrete platforms, have mounting holes provided by rawlplugs.

Detailing for stations

I am slowly accumulating general clutter to adorn station platforms. To date this includes a few suitcases, a porter's truck and some seating. However, I need to make or acquire more luggage, boxes and crates and other items such as vending and weighing machines. I may try casting some of these from resin.

 

Period vehicles

I have purchased three horse drawn vehicles from various sources, I'm constructing a brewer's dray from a kit and have a Hobbies kit of a horse drawn coal wagon awaiting construction. The wagons will  be positioned on station forecourts or on the road crossing the overbridges during operating sessions to provide some wayside interest.

In addition, I purchased a secondhand model of a steam wagon made from a Model Town kit. The paint job on this is a little basic and I'd like to improve this and add some detailing on the model before deploying it.

A local fruit grower (Bellis Brothers) used to transport their produce to the local railway station using steam wagons, so I feel there is a local precedent to justify the use of this type of wagon.

 

Jobs which were on the 'possible' list

Re-site copper mine further back from the main line and ease the R1 main line curves

I've decided that this will be a job for net winter. Owing to family commitments there was insufficient time for this somewhat major project. In the meantime, I intend to construct some buildings modelled in half-relief to represent various workshops and mine buildings - including that housing the ore crusher and the loading hoppers for the tippler wagons.

 

Construct a branch to the timber mill between Peckforton and Bulkeley

This will again become a job for the coming winter months as it will require some landscaping and the construction of a bridge over the river. I have some JigStones mouldings which I cast a couple of seasons ago which could form the basis for the mill building and I am considering constructing a leat for the mill wheel - though I want to experiment with mechanisms for enabling the wheel to rotate at a realistic speed - those models which I have seen on other garden railways have mill wheels which seem to spin round at roughly the speed of an aeroplane propeller.

 

Sell L&B vans and either buy W&L vans or bash more LGB balcony vans 

One of the L&B vans has been sold via the internet and the other is awaiting some remedial work to ensure it gains a reasonable retail price. As can be seen on Progress Report 40, I have bought another LGB van which complements the existing fleet of vans and consequently the line probably has sufficient vans for now.