So little time, so much to say...

Lots to say but little time to put it up and say.  Some new arrivals - both locomotives and rolling stock, a trip out to another garden railway some accessories and track planning.

Brief update therefore on some of the accessories and track planning.

I've mentioned before that one of the Borsigs is to be the "Ann Margaret" and I think I've shown the nameplates.  Female loco crew are another matter though.   I tracked some down to the states and a firm called Just Plain Folk although they didn't seem very interested in reply to my emails.

However, Glendale Junction have imported some of the range, so I ordered them.  £9 each is not cheap but they have been shipped across the great big pond and there's probably import duty on them as well. Besides which, nobody else makes them...

The scale is 1:22.5, so nominal LGB scale.  The lady engineer though is rather short though - so much so that she has difficulty seeing out of some of the locos.  I wasn't aware that the figures would come pre-painted and it seems a shame to hide them behind shut doors.  So, rather than the Borsig I looked at some of the others.  The lady engineer is waving, so ideally suited to an open window.   The clothes are American style too - well, overalls and that train driver cap.  So, I looked at the LGB 2-4-0 tender loco.

The firelady is somewhat taller (although comes without a shovel). 

The LGB Porter was another idea, except it doesn't come with open windows...

The Track planning was looking at the far side.  Back on 20th July I posted how I was an inch short on a join and contemplating solutions.   Following on from a discussion at the garden open day, the idea was to move things around and create a bigger gap elsewhere.  Also, Ann's hammock extension had given me the impetus to feature the extension out to the "ferry" (bearing in mind the Lake Constance model).   Playing around has produced this so far...

The extreme left and right tracks the come down at about 45 degrees will link to the rest of the layout.  

   

Mixed running: the prototype

Ok, so I may not post much, but that generally means that I'm busy with life or reading magazines, books or watching videos.

Two recent videos really caught my eye.
Both are "prototype" (i.e. real trains) Rhb (Rhatische Bahn) sessions.  What I enjoyed was the mixture of rolling stock and trains.   I think I have said before that I doubt I have the money to "model" the RHB in a pure sense.  But from a Narrow gauge - anything goes - view then these videos are wonderful.

There's almost everything.   I love the last wagon in some of the shots with a single car on it and wonder, where is it going and why ?  

OK, so not so many steam trains but then Iscatalbahn has a reasonable diesel roster as well.    

Trains are back: on a hot, hot Sunday

Last weekend was birthday boy's special day and whilst I had dropped hints about a "red box" (aka an LGB something) to unwrap, I ended up with a panini press in red wrapping paper... :-(

Also, SWMBO demanded that we have trains run on the birthday.  Now, if you remember, a few months ago I took everything up to clean, inspect and check - in part because of the perils of buying second hand track and also because last year's running season was so poor that it just didn't happen.

So, we start off like this:

Not a single piece of track to be seen.  

After about 2 hours we get to this...

This is the most difficult bit - given that it actually goes through the garden and has to cope with the bushes.  Previously I'd put some bricks down and the track was on decking boards on top of those.  There had been some weed barrier beneath but I'd not got around to putting stone chips or some other coverage on top.  Now we have stones to keep barrier in place.  The front piece is weed barrier with larger parts of the ex shed roof to keep in place.   Laying this was much quicker than I thought because of the previous work.  

A couple of hours saw me reach the far side of the garden and the "station".  Given this is "Summer 2013 and possibly beyond" layout then it's all R1 points and nothing fancy like double slips, three way points, all of which are part of what I need to check work properly.   

I found I could work in around 45 minutes stints and then have to go into the shade and drink fluids for 15 minutes.   Coming round the right hand side and nearest edge of lawn then this time (compared with March) I had enough track to go on the concrete path rather than have to short cut across the lawn with all those attendant problems.   In this respect I think t was the purchase of a second box (12) of 60 cm straights from ebay that speeded things up and helped.  I find the 60 cm length to be good versatile size for what I have.   

So, after 4 hours we are finished and have the first train of the day.  Number 13 gets chosen yet again for all the dirty work in case it all goes up in a puff of blue smoke....   And it goes round first time without much in the way of complaints.  There is a slight stutter on "murkey corner" - the first corner between the two bushes you see but a gentle prod and off she went again, and a slight upping of the power meant no more stops on later circuits.  So, seems reasonably flat - I laid everything quickly by eye without the use of the spirit level - although that was used last year on putting some of the bricks down.   

And here's me a the end of 4+ hours in the hot sun, running the first train of the day.  Sharing it with a Belgian blonde (beer) that a work colleague bought me for my birthday.   Loco went round with the (empty) beer bottle in the truck without it tipping over which is good.   

Whilst I cleaned myself up ready for evening festivities, there were some unauthorised extensions laid...... ( I think for delivery of cups of tea or glasses of ginger beer....)

The evening festivities were supposed to be fireworks (well sparklers - and I discovered we had one left in the tube) and the light faded fast as I was trying to get organised.  Earlier in the day I watched the you tube video of Mallard opening up the festivities at the York Railway museum, and anything they can do, we can do better.....   A couple of years ago when we went to the Llanfair steam gala (and railway show) we discovered that there is a bit of "railfan photo shoot" in taking pictures of locos by night, steaming up just outside the engine sheds.  I suspect the yard lights plus the steam and ambient warmth of the engines themselves make for reasonable photo shooting conditions.

All I therefore got of any quality was a couple of still photo (with no sparkler...)

In the following days I went back and got a photo of the "station" area.   The arrow indicates where I'm around 25mm short of a join.  I think its going to be a hacksaw job on a piece of track to make the join.  

So, all in all a worthwhile exercise.  I still need to spend some time finishing off the "station" area and dealing with the right hand and near edge of the line where it is all just single track and there is scope for some passing loops etc.  The whole thing though is much neater and better proportioned than we had in March 2012.   

Magazines - this month's reading

Once again it seems to be a bumper month on the magazine front.

July Continental Modeller with a nice article on a Dutch urban setting (Hoe) which is exactly the sort of thing suited to being modelled in the Garden in G scale.  A (real) Tramway from Switzerland which again matches the LGB small sightseeing cars.   Swiss Z gauge layout (which I feel I've seen) which are always good to see, given how much Rhb stuff LGB make (even if most of it outside my price range).   Interesting articles on (real) Japanese Trams, American inclined railway with a couple of other layouts (French & Sicilian) of interest rounded off by a couple of scenery articles and the usual reviews.  I don't buy Continental Modeller every month as a matter of course (although I have been following the recent series of scenery articles) and July 2013 is to me a bumper issue of things that interest me.  

July Garden Rail.  Headlining the Linz Gstadt Bann in all its Austrian inspired glory - I'm not quite so Austrian themed but a good look at an interesting railway.  The Roundhouse Darjeeling B loco improved - which is a live steam loco that I really like the look of.  Rest of it is the usual fare of reviews, articles etc.  

Real trains.  I bought this for a chum who had been in/out of A&E a bit and wanted to have a quick flick through it before sending it on. Ended up that there was so much I wanted to read - the A4 Pacifics, really nice picture of the Ffestiniog four  George England Locomotives lined up, the Birmingham New Street renovation, Keith and Dufftown railway (aka the Whisky line) and lots more inspiring pictures and articles. 

OK, so this is the quarterly magazine from membership of the society but ... "fame..." I'm in two photos of the show at Stafford on page 25 - third row down. Both scouting out the bring and buy.  The left hand one is my back and rucsac, whilst on the right were looking at things.  Can't remember what Ann seems interested in unless it was the Hartland Mack (which had gone by the time we returned after a complete circuit) or the box in front.  

Finally, Narrow Gauge World no 88 (July- August) is a bumper issue for me personally.  Again, this is an irregular purchase with with a headline article on the Silverton-Durango and other main articles on the Snowdon and the Mariazellerbahn (Austria) then lots for me. 

Of Sunny Days and Station platforms

Well, today has been hot and sunny and I've used to explore things in the garden and consider a new arrival.

Over the past couple of years I've been buying some of the POLA and PIKO G scale building kits as I've come across them cheap and ultimately they will be assembled and make it into the Garden.  But, on the Mark 1.1 layout (which is get something down reasonably quick) then such niceties will have to wait - especially as today has shown that I need to consider space and clearances.

The recent purchase was most of a Playmobil Station.  Incomplete which meant an attractive price via Ebay - £20 and it included some other bits.  I'd not seen one "in the plastic" though and was a bit concerned about how it would fit in.

The track is an R1 point with a 300 mm straight, and then the R1 curve followed by more straights.   Experience will determine if I should use a shorter straight before the curve which will then reduce the distance between the two tracks.                      

    

This is a distance view and also the first appearance of the Orange RHB shunting Tractor (recently back after being equipped with sound) and the Santa Fe Tank wagon.  

This is a close up of the station with some Prieser and Bachmann figures on.  The Canopy needs to be high to ensure clearance for any passing trains. OK, so its not fine scale and some people will dislike the mix and match approach, but whilst I'm learning and moving forward then it is a station model.





This an end view showing how high the canopy is - needed because of the clearance.  

This is a top down shot showing one of the "clearance" issues I'd been talking about.  Basically when the curve becomes the straight then the straight can abut the platform - which is something I need to work on.  Steps down on the end of balconies are one thing to watch out for, as will be the ladder on the side of the pig snout bus.

 This set me looking at what other Playmobil etc platforms I had acquired.   This is a picture of what I now know to be a "western - as in cowboy - stable or barn, sitting on some LGB code 50340 platforms.

This I think is somewhat older - it looks more basic - Playmobil code 4370 "Neustadt" shed and some platforms - incomplete set as there should be more straight and ramp sections.   At the back is a wooden ramp from G scale designs that I acquired at Llanfair show in very early days.   









Finally I got out the platforms from the PIKO 62004 covered platform set (4 baseplates, each 172mm x 267 mm) and there's some steps etc in the set, along with the canopy.

Big John and we attack the track again

Lots bubbling away here but a lack of posts.

One thing I've acquired in the past week or so were my first Woodland Scenics G scale figures via Ebay.   The resin has that tough but brittle feel to it but size wise and anatomically I'm happy so far.  I managed to get the Hilow Surveying Company (Pack A2556) cheap and I'm very pleased.

First up is "Big John"

When Ann first saw the pack then she said "Ooo, is that a Trainspotter figure....?".  I pointed out that the answer was not and suggested that she look at the rest of the pack, but I have to say that I admire the hat and the pose.  A long time ago I had a friend who was taken away at a young age by Cancer and whilst John would never have worn a (stylish) hat like that, he was most certainly a train spotter.  For me the figure has the aura of the silent, quiet, strong type.  

I was also reminded of one of ht songs that was on the radio as I as growing up...

Big Bad john...

This is from 1961 and yet somehow its one of those songs from my childhood.  

 

Here's the full gang...

Part of me feels that there's a "Hank" in the man with the pole.   The figures don't come with bases and on one of the forums there was talk about miniature railroads and why run and model trains (with some lovely staged photos that might, just might, be real railways).   Another post talks about running sessions.  

I think for now the Hilow Surveying Company will end up with another name, and if I can pick up a cheap caboose then I fancy a respray job and re-lettering along the lines, say of "ATSF, Pagoso Springs, Engineering department" and a man with a coffee pot on the balcony....  I have no idea if in reality the survey teams had dedicated cabooses - from a space viewpoint then a drover's caboose may be more likely but given the size/cost issues then in Iscatalbahn land a "bobber caboose" may have to be settled for.

Today also saw another attack on the track. 

My problem is that  I want to have a "temporary" layout down whilst I learn and perhaps ultimately move house.   The initial weed barrier on its own after the last lot of garden improvements suffered and ended up somewhat shredded.  There is a need to put some sort of topping down keep the light out = and also keep the barrier in place.  The Mk2 answer is stone chipping.   The pictures below show two sets - larger (say 2-3") green stones, and small (say quarter inch) white chippings, just because I'd run out of the green stones and had some weed barrier left.  I think putting in a barrier of plastic lawn edging both sides is the way forward - to stop the stones being washed away in the rain/winter...  More news (much later) if this works, unless its a complete disaster when there will be something in a matter of weeks.  

Also trying out Ann's new camera - as light was fading - hence the blurry close up picture.  

  

Bachmann Short line vs LGB

Back in May  said that I had bought the Short line railroad set cheap:

http://patiorails.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/north-american-modelling.html

A posting elsewhere said that the coupling height was different and it could do with having spacers (as  believe are supplied with the Thomas stuff) to lower the height.  Here's a photo to show what that means.

Bachmann short line on the left, LGB tanker on the right. 

Have sent an email off to Bachmann customer services to see if I can get the spacers. 

The surveyor gets to work

So, the garden is neither square nor level but not enough of either to be "interesting", just enough to be difficult when planning.

Friday I succumbed and bought a 30m tape measure to be able to measure things reasonably accurately.

Went out today and measured various dimensions and its well worth it.  

Also when investigating railmodeller further discovered that it can cope with flexi track, but also has a layers system (akin to photoshop, elements, paint shop pro etc) enabling me to have a base layer of garden, and a second layer of track.   I can lots of happy days ahead....

However, today was like much of last year and essentially rainy !!

New arrival - Liliput V3

After the Exeter Model railway club show I took stock of what locos I had that were digital and with soun. Ideally I wanted something that would also demonstrated the second tier of buttons available on the Dimax Navigator, and which also came at a cost that meant I was preapared to take it to shows etc

The following loco which had been advertised previously on one of the forums I frequent met some of those conditions - namely price.  It also replicates the sound of a petrol mechanical (gas Mechanical in American jargon) rather than traditional diesel loco which sounded quite interesting.  Given the relatively modest price then I'm quite pleased with it.

It's the Liliput V3 - their European version of the Davenport.  The sound is by Dietz - I don't  have the exact details with it being second hand but after some listening I'm tempted to say its the standard Feldbahn dieselok...

Dark Arts reference sheets

Comments on implementation of the Dark Arts today.

A while back I was asked for help on solving a problem with a wireless network (turned out to be European vs American frequency on the transmitter) but following that I produced a quick reference card on selecting the right train with the Dimax Navigator.  The start up screen also sometimes shows "Analog Loco" amd I need to determine when that happens and update the card.

Changing point decoders will be next and then perhaps advanced stuff like consists.  The manual is a walkthrough of the functions but not especially "user task friendly".

The other thing are my DCC sound sheets.... probably nothing very new but each locomotive has its own A5 card (and I have some A5 clipboards) in two different versions (LGB - 8 button, Dimaz 16 button -red/blue side stripe) for ready reference for users.   Spreewald and U class shown.  

The Track has been lifted.... The new beginning so version Mk 2.0

Ok, so last year was a washout.... After a promising start we had rain and more rain.   However, I kept shopping on ebay, waiting for the reasonably priced bargains after I ran out of larger curves and longer straights.  This year we are starting to see a glimmer of normal summer (i.e. sun and no rain) and I've lifted all the track.  There is nil, nada, zilch in the garden at the moment.

Why ? Basically to clean, test and check (e.g points - I already think I have a suspect 3 way point) track, motors and levers etc.   (Also to get the garage sorted but that is another issue).  Get my SPROG working and test (and re-number) the second hand decoders I've bought.  If I'm really clever I'll get my (second hand signal) to work and control track (at the moment I don't fully understand the instructions).

So, pictures of the track in boxes etc....  Some of it still could probably do with a wash, and some of it certainly still needs a clean and a fishplate check.

I've discovered that HP laserjet cartridge boxes from work are the ideal size to take second hand unboxed R1 points.  

So, we move to version 2.0.   This will be nothing more than a simple oval (single track) with passing places and the odd shunt siding, so that I can have trains run around the garden whilst I deal with cleaning etc what is left and planning.  The most tarnished track and points (R1) will get chosen for this task.   Even bought a surveyor's (30m) tape measure yesterday so I can  accurately measure the distances in the garden before playing around with the rail modeller software. 

Essentially, try and learn to walk first before trying to run, even if running is the eventual aim......

Whilst also having the track design sketchplan with the ideas and comments and work through the issues that it raises.  

(And I'm waiting excitedly for a new -well s/h - loco purchase to arrive.....)

Work in the Sunshine and progress

Today has been sunny.
I was able to get out into the garden without either getting wet or bringing large amounts of sludge in.   The wet weather of last year has taken its toll though.

Given that I intend to revise the the track plan and putting it down was very much planning, then I decided to lift bits and take it for a trip to the washer.    The pictures without track also illustrate something I hadn't appreciated.  I'm using decking, but use it on the grooved side and soil will collect in the grooves, and because its level it won't wash away.  Solution - turn the board over !

This is the pile of some washed and cleaned (nice and shiny) track and stuff waiting (dark and covered in plant residue, snail snot etc...).   

The other thing I did today was test out a couple of controllers I'd bought second hand.  Another wireless transmitter and a complete handset with transmitter.  Everything works good, so I'm now good to have 6 people controlling trains at once, which should be good for open days and operating sessions.  The two at the right are a bit different and the only means of controlling any digital controlled points.  

More Track and a shop visit

Again whilst on my sojourn in the Midlands I undertook a trip to Glendale Junction: a shop that I have dealt with by phone and email several times but which I have never visited.  Circumstances meant that I found myself without a means to recharge my mobile phone other than whilst driving (and after having bought the wrong charger in Nottingham, and even having had it out briefly to see if it looked as if would work).  So, a reasonable length journey was needed - what better than the 40+ miles to Glendale Junction.  I'd wanted to buy some of their Elita paints for a while and this would mean I wasn't incurring the expensive postage for cheap but heavy items.

Unfortunately it was the Friday before the 16mm show in Peterborough so there was a steady flow of people as the day wore on, but I got a nice cup of coffee, lengthy chat and chance to look at various items and a sound demo of the new PIKO digital 0-6-0 switcher...

Very nice too, but I'm saving my money for the tender loco - again chipped with sound - which should be coming in at a tad under £300... 

Not in the shops yet - Q2/3 of 2013 but sounds promising.... 

Given that I would save the postage I made a substantial purchase.  A curved PIKO point, although I also got to look at the Train line ones as well.   I knew where I wanted it to go, and when I got home tried it out...

I may buy some more if this one works out, but it should enable the track in the top right corner of the garden to soon split into the proposed station area.   

Hopefully we will have a good weekend and I will be able to restore a basic running loop whilst planning the rest.