The Apple Valley Railway (7 1/4" gauge)

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Sat May 07, 2011 7:50 pm

Just a brief update...

..been working on the curved embankment:

(and yes i did get my thumb over the lens

)

The timber wall is made from reject scaffold planks (obtained for free). It all looks pretty good to me

Dr. Bond of the DVLR · Post by **Dr. Bond of the DVLR** » Sat May 07, 2011 9:18 pm

Excellent, is it a trick of the camera with the large looking gradient off that curve?

mhlr · Post by **mhlr** » Sat May 07, 2011 10:48 pm

Wow that looks Tidy! Nice work

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Sat May 07, 2011 11:40 pm

Thanks, I love using scaffold planks for making things (especially when they are free!). I don't know what type of timber they are cut from, but it's very easy to cut - and has plenty of strength.

There is a dip at the midpoint of the curve that I need to sort out - it's not as bad as it looks in the pics. When I joined the loop up there was about a 2" height difference to compensate for....

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 4:54 pm

Update time

The railway has been gradually progressing, and blending into the garden over the last couple of months. We have had a few bbq's with friends, so the railway has had some testing.

I have found that the bogie wagon is not stable enough for "average" passengers. I am used to it, so have no problems, but there have been several derailments with other people riding

I will be improving the bogie mounting arrangements to help with this problem, but I have also been working on a much more heavy duty passenger carriage.

The idea is to get as much weight low down as possible. In addition, the chassis rails are just above rail level - making it impossible for the carriage to be tipped up when passengers climb on / off.

The new carriage is over 5' long, but can still squeeze around my tight curves (about 7' radius at the worst point

):

I specifically didn't want to go for a sit astride design, as I was concerned about passengers feet catching lineside objects.

With a floor and bufferbeams added it looks like this:

The coach is pretty heavy, and rides very nicely.
Next step will be to add some proper seats

Happily, I know know that the loco can haul two bogie wagons, with two adults & a child on board, up the steepest gradient without any trouble - I am looking forward to some proper testing....

I have also started to build an engine / stock shed off the end of the decking:

As the decking is about 2' off the ground, the shed is supported on metposts, and is largely built from discarded scaffold planks (my favourite building material

).

Bamboo cleared from the site was transported by rail, naturally:

Number 1 tries the partly completed shed for size:

Current projects are:
- Complete stock shed
- Complete passenger carriage
- Build drivers truck
- Improve bogie wagon

After that lot, I need to finish detailing the loco, build a weedkiller tank car, build 2x level crossings, and I am quite tempted to build a railtruck....

Dr. Bond of the DVLR · Post by **Dr. Bond of the DVLR** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:01 pm

Excellent! I do like the way everything is being done to suit the needs of the railway. I'll have my bogie carriage finished as well soon and need to think of a driving truck. Where do you get your wheels/axles and bearings from?

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:23 pm

Wheels are from ride on railways, bearings are from ebay

Heywood style minimum gauge principles apply for rolling stock design, I have been looking closely at some of the equipment on the driving creek railway for inspiration.

It really is amazing how effectively small railways can move large loads. The railway already has 1:30 gradients and 7' radius curves, none of the rolling stock is sprung, and yet trains still roll around smoothly carrying vastly out of scale loads.

I am looking forward to trying the loco on 24v, at a track with space to see what it can really do

I have been thinking of ways to get some steam on the line, but funds are tight due to a new VW project.....

mhlr · Post by **mhlr** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:16 pm

Excellent, really love the style and everything built on site.
I could bring Bluebell up now she's all fixed so you get steam on the line. But I'm not leaving it there.

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 11:27 am

That would be great!
It would be very interesting to see how a steamer handles the curves / gradients. I have been dreaming up plans fir an engine using one of the Stuart marine engines (with chain drive). A bit like an oversized regner

I will let you know when I have my driving truck built....

mhlr · Post by **mhlr** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 9:56 pm

Nomis:57571 wrote:That would be great!
It would be very interesting to see how a steamer handles the curves / gradients. I have been dreaming up plans fir an engine using one of the Stuart marine engines (with chain drive). A bit like an oversized regner 8)

I will let you know when I have my driving truck built....

Ok cool! And that sounds like a plan. I think I've seen something similar on the net somewhere, if I come across it again I'll put it up on here.

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:26 pm

MORI, builder of the Akubi Lightweight Railway did something similar:

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/beat/non/loco/locoM7/index2.html
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/beat/non/loco/locoM8/index2.html

As did David Wegmuller:

http://wegmuller.org/v-web/gallery/maximod

(from Japan, to California, to Cornwall, all in one post - how international!)

mhlr · Post by **mhlr** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:30 pm

Ah I think that second link was probably it!

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:51 pm

I have been in contact with MORI, I asked him about how the tram loco performed. He said that the loco was a bit underpowered - but then his is only a single cylinder.

Model engineer ran a build on a live steam sentinel that used a Stuart D10 back in the day. There are some pics on the station road steam site:

http://www.stationroadsteam.com/archive/1903.htm
http://www.stationroadsteam.com/stock%2 ... /index.htm

Got started on building the driving truck this evening...

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:53 pm

ALL CHANGE IN THE APPLE VALLEY:

After several near miss accidents due to friends / visitors struggling to balance on the 5" gauge stock, I have made the decision to go back up to 7 1/4" gauge.

The main reason for going with 5" was the fact the steam locos are so much cheaper - on the other hand 7 1/4" should be far more stable, will allow for endless future expansion (with the right space), and is well supported by the 7 1/4" society.

I just don't want the worry of a possible accident / injury to a visitor (especially a child

). Hopefully the wider gauge should make things so stable that any risk should practically nil.

My diesel loco was always "designed" to be suitable for either 5" or 7 1/4". So the wheelsets were removed for conversion:

A before & after comparison:

All refitted and ready to be re-railed:

Re-gauging the track through the decking:

And the point:

A view back down the line, things are starting to look bedded in now:

No 1 tests the re-aligned track through the cutting:

I have taken Friday & Monday off work this weekend, so there should be plenty more progress yet...

ninge · Post by **ninge** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:41 pm

crikey - big change! interested to see the results

James-Buzz · Post by **James-Buzz** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:24 pm

If your considering running steam on your line now its 7 1/4" just watch the spacing of your sleepers as the rail your using is soft.

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:35 pm

There wont be any Tinkerbells or Romulus(s) running in the garden any time soon! Any steam loco that runs on my track will have to be very small (and light).

I have got the four wheel truck to a point where it can be ridden and used for track testing:

It's just the right size for a tool wagon:

The wheelbase on this one is 13", it's as long as I would want to go with the tight curves (the loco is only 12"). There is a really big difference in stability - you would have to try really hard to get it to tip over. Being a rigid chassis it is good at finding any twists in the track

I have pretty much got it all adjusted now though.

I also got a few more pictures in the recent sunshine:

Current jobs are:

- Finish rolling stock shed
- Re-gauge and finish passenger wagon
- Weld loco wheels and sprockets to axles

Nomis · Post by **Nomis** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:29 pm

Been working on the passenger wagon today:

I'm pretty happy with how its turning out, still got to regauge the bogies, and make a pair of padded seats.

LMS-Jools · Post by **LMS-Jools** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:13 pm

Looking Nice, very nice.

andysleigh · Post by **andysleigh** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:56 pm

cool stuff!

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The Apple Valley Railway (7 1/4" gauge)

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