1/32 Devoran Quay

[Simon]

I got out there early this morning to do some ballasting, the light was lovely.



This evening I have now ballasted as far as the thyme plant, seen here in the moonlight about an hour ago.



I am next tackling the reverse curve, which needs a bit of spot gluing along its length.

The SBR is going off really well, I look forward to seeing it all in the rain(!)

Simon

 

[Simon]

I managed to set up the cant on the reverse curve tonight using bits of Plastikard and superglue, I will hopefully attempt some early morning ballasting tomorrow.

Here is a fairly cruel close up of the dilly wagon pushed along to the next finished joint this morning.




A bit of epoxy to be scraped off the concrete and some ever so slightly visible wiring...

 

[Simon]

As of earlier this morning I have now run out of ballast - more sieving required!

 

[Alan]

Can 't wait to see a train running round that curve.

 

[Simon]

No movement yet, but the Ruston is now repaired and was photographed out on the new line a few minutes ago.



I feel quite encouraged, I won't be able to run long trains round and around as before, but I think the new set up will offer lots of interesting other possibilities for its trains....

 

[Simon]

Dave came over for a meal tonight, sadly without Tess who is now contemplating trains in another world.

A very pleasant time in the garden, to celebrate and commemorate we set up and ran the very first train on the new line that Dave helped me to create,





Several runs up and down were made, there is a short video showing proceedings on Youtube

 

[D6331]

Dave came over for a meal tonight, sadly without Tess who is now contemplatingtrains in another world.

A very pleasant time in the garden, to celebrate and commemorate we set up and ran the very first train on the new line that Dave helped me to create,

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Several runs up and down were made, there is a short video showing proceedings on Youtube

Brilliant! Glad the 48ds did the inaugural honours. Looks and sounds splendid. The tick over is superb.
Hurrah for garden railways!
R.

 

[Simon]

I didn't lay anything today, but did lots of work on the two points for the quay line and started cutting and shaping the associated track.

In the background of the first shot you can see I have removed the beautifully laid and canted track from the last layout as it really doesn't suit the bridge's new role as a aerial headhunt(!)

The ballast and track was stuck down with both Gripfix and SBR through the ballast and is damn near impossible get off, even using an old chisel and hammer!



On this basis I am pretty confident of the security of the newly laid track.

I don't intend to move house and have to remove anything I am building.

I have said that before, but I really mean it this time!





And finally a view which reveals the lower level of the garden just below the dock. I do quite like the "dramatic effect" of the different levels(!)



Maybe get some more done tomorrow...

 

[Simon]

After a bit of a short camping holiday, I thought that I would construct the "missing link" between the new point and the ballasted "light railway".

First off I did a bit of plantery, cutting back the sedum album from the main line trackbed and setting out various cutting, I have also bought quite a few new plants that will go out shortly.



Having made up a panel of track and soldered feeds to the ends of each rail, I put it in place and soldered the end feeds together.



Connecting the Multimaus enabled the engineers to run a train, a first time out for the two bogie bolster E wagons that got re-bogied in another life.



So I can now run down on to the new point, which is good.



But, but, but, the new piece of track featured or set up a rather ungainly straight section followed by an unpleasantly sharp curve, which the bolsters derailed over, partly because the couplings are too short and the buffer heads stick out a bit too much, but the overhang was too much, as this overhead shot shows.



I vacillated and deliberated, but in the end decided I needed to do better than this.




So in the fading light I made up an improved section, which with easing the alignment of the two adjacent sections slightly will hopefully fit in and look less awful.



So that's tomorrow morning sorted out, an early start with the soldering iron and hopefully I can get it all to work out!

 

[Simon]

I did take quite a few shots today, which was quite fun as there are so many different angles and viewpoints available given the layout's topography.








On the whole I feel encouraged, there is still a lot to do, but the whole thing still lives in my imagination and I think the scope for photography is going to be interesting...

Simon

 

[Osgood]

It seems a bit soon for the track-lifting contractor’s train to be doing a trial run?

 

[Simon]

Very droll....

Bright and early I went out with soldering iron to de-wire the offending section of track and start again.



Several hours later and after re-making two sections of track, I had the makings of a solution in hand.



There then followed some tedious soldering of wires, pondering of the small spirit level and finally supergluing of track and the odd wedge to create a half decent piece of permanent way. Suitably encouraged, I commenced ballasting the new formation.



I managed to ballast nearly all the way to the point, leaving the last section to be adjusted for when the point is fixed in place. There is a very slight dog leg in the joint between the two sections, but within limits for a light railway.... The general alignment is much better and the bogie bolsters are "happier".



While my back and knees were recovering I explored some different camera angles..




Everything aches!

 

[Simon]

Dave Easto came over on Wednesday, and after clearing the old ballast from the headhunt bridge and making up a suitable piece of track, we ran his switcher and gon up and down the "light railway".



Which revealed a problem, by derailing, what I thought was a slight dog leg was in fact a massively raised joint on the inner rail, curses - how did I manage that? You can see it in this picture.



I dug it all out in the fading light, the SBR hasn't yet gone rock hard, and this morning I superglued the sleeper ends, .



Which took most of it out, and this evening after returning from setting up the WS stand at the Swindon Steam show, I epoxied the sleeper middles to achieve maximum lowering and hopefully cure the problem. The steel rule was there to visually check that a level top to the rail had been achieved.



The epoxy has gone off, but I have left the weights in place to make sure. The weights came from a post office my Mum ran many years ago, maybe pre Elizabethan?

 

[Simon]

A bit of early morning ballasting and it looks much better.



And passes the double bogie bolster test.

 

[Simon]

A first "proper" train was run this evening, the first time D6319 has been out of its box since hauling the last train through Launceston Road, just over three years ago now.



The good news is that everything runs happily over the whole new section without buffer locking or derailing, including when being propelled - happy days!







It was also the first time that I had taken these wagons out and put them on the new line.



There are a couple of short videos of proceedings on youtube at:

https://youtube.com/shorts/HYcg-18ywHI

 

[D6331]

Excellent! An historic moment. Glad that all ran well; quintessential track engineering at its best.
Super photographs.
Roger.

 

[Simon]

No real progress to report, but sun, rain and nature are gently working their magic on what has been done.

This was looking down the line on a lovely bright morning after a lot of rain a week or so ago.

 

[Lyndhurstman]

A wonderful vision, @Simon. I’m a definite fan of those ‘trains in the landscape’ moments. Even when the trains aren’t there

Cheers

Jan

 

[Simon]

On the other side of the scheme, I just this morning photographed the nascent Toad on the "main line", on which any drought and heat driven similarity to the Atacama desert has more or less gone(!)



Laying track on this bit is going to be a bit "interesting" one way and another......

 

[D6356]

Looks like a lot of NR infrastructure at this time - did not know you did the current scene as well ! In summer always possible of having more than one toad about the line if nature is lively. The plant growth will certainly hinder ballasting but hopefully the SBR will resist rooty things.