Nolwyn Valley Tramway

[FWLR]

I like your water feature .A pond is one of my next projects for my railway . I am hoping to find a suitable solar powered battery backed up system pump that can raise a head of water 3ft to feed a stepped waterfall .

Hi Preseli Chris,

Having a solar powered pond pump while being good for the environment, won't really help with the water quality if your going to keep fish of any kind because once you lose the sun and the given time that the battery last's won't keep your fish happy and your pond water clear and clean. Saying that we did have a small solar powered pump for a very very small pond that I sorted for Anne's first little Fairy Garden and we kept one little goldfish in it, but I had to keep changing half of the water fairly frequently because it would just go green and dirty. And like Drew has said, the cost of them just don't warrant them for fish, because you need a constant supply of water going through a filter system of your choice.

Anyway don't let me put you off getting one, I hope you'll do a pond and have a brilliant water display. I think a pond is great for railway lines because there were and still are a Loy of railways that run along the side of water and they look fantastic.

Lets us know with updates please on the progress so we can all see how you can have a pond to be proud of. Drew's is going to be brilliant don't you think.

[FWLR]

The ponds are ready for fish as soon as the water temperature stays just a bit warmer.
[/quote]

Hi Drew,

Why are you waiting until the water get's a bit warmer, fish like to be in cold water, they hate it when it's too warm. Our goldfish have been in our pond when it's as been -10 degrees and the water as frozen the pond and the waterfall. I do have a separate air stone to help with the aeration and it stops the water freezing over completely, because the fish do need oxygen to breath.

What type of fish are you keeping in the ponds Drew, I don't think I have asked before...

PS I do realise that you get far more extreme cold weather than we do...

[drewzero1]

You're right, I just checked and the midnight soil temperature is 60°F/15.5°C which is what I was waiting for. Stocking will be White Cloud Mountain minnows and Variatus platies. I've kept the minnows for several years now and a few of the ones I'm putting out were hatched in my own tanks back in 2021. Have not yet tried the platies but I've had decent luck with other live-bearers.

I'd love to do goldfish again but they're relatively messy and I'd have to keep them in a bigger tank over the winter. (I do have a 40 gallon tank but it's already full of mollies, gouramis, and catfish who like the water too warm for goldfish... You're not kidding about them not liking it too warm!)

[Peter Butler]

Drew, the fish species you mention would stand no chance of survival outdoors in the UK. I kept such 'tropical' fish in my youth in aquaria but only with heaters and filters installed.
At our previous house I had a garden pond with goldfish and carp but the water had to be constantly circulated through a filter box and UV filter, both of which required a mains electricity supply.

[philipy]

At our previous house I had a garden pond with goldfish and carp but the water had to be constantly circulated through a filter box and UV filter, both of which required a mains electricity supply.

Same here, although the UV filter hasn't worked for a couple of years and doesn't seem to make any difference either way.

IMG_0794.jpg (1.02 MiB) Viewed 28593 times

WE've only got goldfish, som eof which are black, and one Shubunkin who is blue and black and white - can just see him nearest the camera in the piccy. We've had him ( her?) for about 10 years.

...and Yes, the track maintenance gang are slacking, but they don't work when its raining, which it's done most of the time for ages.

[drewzero1]

Drew, the fish species you mention would stand no chance of survival outdoors in the UK. I kept such 'tropical' fish in my youth in aquaria but only with heaters and filters installed.
At our previous house I had a garden pond with goldfish and carp but the water had to be constantly circulated through a filter box and UV filter, both of which required a mains electricity supply.

The tropical fish I mentioned are permanent indoor residents here as well in my filtered, heated, planted aquarium. The white clouds though are known to survive down to 40°F/5°C (though I've only personally tested them down to 50°F/10°C). I keep them in a smaller, unheated aquarium. I'll order the platies this week, hopefully... Common platies are tropical fish, but the 'variatus' variety prefers cooler temps down to 60°F/15°C. I've never tried those before but I'm looking forward to their brighter colors and slightly larger size compared to the white cloud minnows.

Carp (including goldfish) are messy! Part of the reason I'd been able to get away with light filtration in the earlier pond is that the minnows have a very small bioload. With adding the platies I might have to add a filter box as well which could be incorporated into the tunnel structure (to be located behind the small pond). Should still be pretty light compared to goldfish.

[FWLR]

At our previous house I had a garden pond with goldfish and carp but the water had to be constantly circulated through a filter box and UV filter, both of which required a mains electricity supply.

Same here, although the UV filter hasn't worked for a couple of years and doesn't seem to make any difference either way. IMG_0794.jpg
WE've only got goldfish, som eof which are black, and one Shubunkin who is blue and black and white - can just see him nearest the camera in the piccy. We've had him ( her?) for about 10 years.

...and Yes, the track maintenance gang are slacking, but they don't work when its raining, which it's done most of the time for ages.

Nice looking pond there Philip. How long have you had it now. because you have so much plants in the pond you probably don't need a UV light now hey. I really like your fish too. We have tried Shubunkins, but everyone died unfortunately, so Anne said "No more of them" she couldn't put up with the heartache of losing them, or me to be honest. Funny how you get attached to something that doesn't love you back...Although one of our Goldies now always comes to Anne only to get food of her, me..no chance..

[drewzero1]

I bent the last piece of track and cut it to length on Friday, now we (theoretically) have the full phase 1 loop. The brave little diesel completed a few trips around in each direction but required assistance or rescue at most of the joints. With some tweaking at those joints and a few places along the track bed, and some ballast and fill, we should be running regular services in no time*!

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*which is to say, probably by Christmas

[FWLR]

Hi Drew,

It will soon be running with your locos and running stock. You have made tremendous progress in the short time for when you started.

Keep going and you will enjoy it and have fun, that's the main thing.

[drewzero1]

Hi Drew,

It will soon be running with your locos and running stock. You have made tremendous progress in the short time for when you started.

Keep going and you will enjoy it and have fun, that's the main thing.

Thanks Rod, as always I appreciate the encouragement. I managed to get a few trains to stumble around the loop today with temporary rail joiners in place. It feels so much closer to completion now that I can see something running around on it!



I am starting to see some downsides of using secondhand tubular rails, namely that they have a tendency to twist when bending into curves, and they can be difficult to lay flat. I've had to trim the ends of most sections to remove mangled ends from old connecting pins, and even pried out a few connecting pins that had lodged inside the rail. The hidden costs of using cheap track I suppose

[philipy]

I am starting to see some downsides of using secondhand tubular rails, namely that they have a tendency to twist when bending into curves, and they can be difficult to lay flat.

Then again it is allowing you to see what is possible, at minimal cost. Once you have it running properly it may spur you into upgrading, as and when.

[drewzero1]

I am starting to see some downsides of using secondhand tubular rails, namely that they have a tendency to twist when bending into curves, and they can be difficult to lay flat.

Then again it is allowing you to see what is possible, at minimal cost. Once you have it running properly it may spur you into upgrading, as and when.

That's exactly it, if I waited until I had saved up enough for solid rail I'd still be dreaming, and I'd probably never get around to it. My wife was skeptical of the trains until she saw them running outside, so phase 1 has already been very helpful as a proof of concept!

Here's a slightly longer video showing a full loop:


This little molehill of a garden layout does feel like a mountain sometimes, but it's certainly gratifying when it comes together!

[Preseli Chris]

Hi Drew. Nice to see your video clips .re your tube rail what is the diameter ? would it be possible to insert fence wire to enable you to bend the rail without it creasing ? Your fish pond is looking very good.

[Preseli Chris]

I like your water feature .A pond is one of my next projects for my railway . I am hoping to find a suitable solar powered battery backed up system pump that can raise a head of water 3ft to feed a stepped waterfall .

Hi Preseli Chris,

Having a solar powered pond pump while being good for the environment, won't really help with the water quality if your going to keep fish of any kind because once you lose the sun and the given time that the battery last's won't keep your fish happy and your pond water clear and clean. Saying that we did have a small solar powered pump for a very very small pond that I sorted for Anne's first little Fairy Garden and we kept one little goldfish in it, but I had to keep changing half of the water fairly frequently because it would just go green and dirty. And like Drew has said, the cost of them just don't warrant them for fish, because you need a constant supply of water going through a filter system of your choice.

Anyway don't let me put you off getting one, I hope you'll do a pond and have a brilliant water display. I think a pond is great for railway lines because there were and still are a Loy of railways that run along the side of water and they look fantastic.

Lets us know with updates please on the progress so we can all see how you can have a pond to be proud of. Drew's is going to be brilliant don't you think.

I should have mentioned that I am only going to make a water feature so no fish as such just a small structure 110 litre max with a 12 volt system if I get some frogs and other species to squat in it all the better . I don't want to hijack Drews thread so I will explain more on my layout thread.

[drewzero1]

I should have mentioned that I am only going to make a water feature so no fish as such just a small structure 110 litre max with a 12 volt system if I get some frogs and other species to squat in it all the better . I don't want to hijack Drews thread so I will explain more on my layout thread.

I don't mind a bit of drift if it has to do with ponds or fish Not having fish really keeps your options open, it's almost kind of a fountain at that point. I look forward to reading about it in your thread!

For me, I'm a tropical fishkeeper as much as I'm a rail modeller, so the fish are more central to my plan than the railway! Though of course with much encouragement from the children and fellow forumites the railway plans are taking precedence at the moment.

[drewzero1]

Dull month on the NVT as we've been traveling and busy with other (arguably) more important projects. I was playing around a bit with designing some new axle boxes and thought it might be fun to put actual springs into some of them...

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Still trying to find a load or wagon type that would visibly benefit from having sprung axle boxes, and given the apparent recent popularity of stationary engines I printed one from Thingiverse to try it out. It looks a bit too fresh from the factory so I'll need to hit it with a bit of wear and grime, and some tie-down straps as well.

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Out on the Tramway the main concern has been keeping up with chipmunk damage; they keep digging behind the wall, and I keep trying to backfill their tunnels with gravel. Eventually I'll get around to finishing the level on the bricks and actually fixing the track in place but for now I'm just happy to have a loop at all.

[FWLR]

Those axle boxes look neat Drew. Have you got an stl for them. Also the stationery engine is well printed and I like the colour too.

[drewzero1]

Those axle boxes look neat Drew. Have you got an stl for them. Also the stationery engine is well printed and I like the colour too.

Thanks Rod! I was digging around for a long-neglected tube of green paint when I came across "engine red", so I thought why not? Four coats later and it's almost covered the primer!

When it's "finished" I can post the STLs, but for now here's the Tinkercad link: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/d5NPWH ... svF0sM5AO0

It's sized for 1/4 of the spring from a ballpoint pen, and a 1/8" axle. Should be able to resize the axle to suit whatever wheel sets you use, or maybe even a thin bushing. The bolt holes were meant to fit M2 screws... Due to some sticker shock at the hardware store I am using SAE #2 wood screws which stick out a little bit but are much cheaper here.

[philipy]

That stationary engine looks very good Drew, I may have to join the "Stationary Engine Club" myself.

I do like the sprung boxes. Have you done any load tests to see what they can cope with without bottoming?

[drewzero1]

That stationary engine looks very good Drew, I may have to join the "Stationary Engine Club" myself.

I do like the sprung boxes. Have you done any load tests to see what they can cope with without bottoming?

Completely unscientific, but it seems to spring nicely with a 12oz can of soda loaded. Cursory research suggests that would be about ¾lb or 370g. No particular reason for choosing that unit of measurement...