Garden Railway Forum

Brilliant. Don't forget your swivelling driver and the stoking fireman.

Rik

Brilliant!
I really like little touches like this ( hence my waiting room fire!), and at exhibitions they are always a crowd pleaser, especially with wives and kids.

In 4mm I once did a traction engine powered threshing machine with a motor in it, plus an elevator, and the pulleys linked by rubber bands, all flying round. The thing that really got interest though was a little man in a smock ( balloon rubber) with a pitchfork who would bend in the middle, arm move forward and flick up, to throw hay up on to the top of the machine ( he's at the front in the pic below).
Unfortunately that was before the days of affordable video cameras ( and mobile phones hadn't even been invented!) so I've only got a couple of not very good stills.

philipy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:25 am .....In 4mm I once did a traction engine powered threshing machine with a motor in it, plus an elevator, and the pulleys linked by rubber bands, all flying round. The thing that really got interest though was a little man in a smock ( balloon rubber) with a pitchfork who would bend in the middle, arm move forward and flick up, to throw hay up on to the top of the machine ( he's at the front in the pic below).
Unfortunately that was before the days of affordable video cameras ( and mobile phones hadn't even been invented!) so I've only got a couple of not very good stills.

Wow, to do that in HO is really pushing the limits! Too bad there's no record of it - I'd love to see the 'man in the smock'.

Yes, I've often regretted not having better records of him. I've just checked through my photos but there is nothing any better than the one above and certainly no video - we are talking around 1982-ish! The layout didn't actually belong to me although I did most of the scenic stuff but funded by the actual owner, so when it was scrapped I didn't get to salvage anything.

FWIW, this quick sketch shows roughly what was under his smock. The balloon rubber was flexible enough to not impede the movement. The head to toe height would have been about 23mm.

Great idea and job with the fire Greg. Just shows what we can do with some thought, whilst we ponder away with our hobby.....

Greg, the noise of the servo is normally down to the drive train (plastic makes loads of noise) so maybe try a servo with metal gears?

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:03 pm Greg, the noise of the servo is normally down to the drive train (plastic makes loads of noise) so maybe try a servo with metal gears?

I know you're correct, but it always seems funny to me that plastic is noisier. I think some of the noise with the man is the slow speed of operation. I had to drive the servo sort of 'one step at a time', for the drinking action, with a small 30ms time delay between. Anyhow, that's my explanation.

I usually like to make my videos look as realistic as possible, with 'sensible' train operations. But with my daughter and 2 grandkids visiting from USA, it was time to just 'PLAY TRAINS.
Here's a video that gives views of the train and (ugly) yard and 5 of us having fun. For a bit of a laugh, the kids' favourite was driving the road traction engine.

Great video Greg. Not only does it show your railway in its entirety, it shows how a garden railway can be a wonderfully unifying family affair...

Rik

Thanks Rik. It was great fun. Maybe I've been concentrating too much on Operation and not just 'playing'.

gregh wrote: ↑Thu Sep 19, 2019 11:46 am Thanks Rik. It was great fun. Maybe I've been concentrating too much on Operation and not just 'playing'.

As The Cat in the Hat says, "it's fun to have fun, but you have to know how" - I reckon you do Greg!

Thanks for the video,

Andrew.

Andrew wrote: ↑Thu Sep 19, 2019 1:22 pm As The Cat in the Hat says, "it's fun to have fun, but you have to know how" - I reckon you do Greg!
Andrew.

A great quote. Thanks

On the last two Fridays, 3 mates and I got together to run a few trains and for Geof to show off his new creation - a Queensland railways railmotor.
Here's a compilation of my videos from the 2 days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdCFYYc94gs



If you want to see Geof's description of his railmotor build, see here:
http://www.trainweb.org/btr/1800%20Class%20RM.pdf

Brilliant Greg, love the colour of the Billy. I would though because I have one.....Some mighty impressive driving up that incline....Talking of inclines, there is much said about not having inclines isn't there. The number of times people say " You should have a really level track for running trains" I personally disagree, you get a better perspective on how to drive a Loco pulling some stock up and down inclines I feel.
On our old line, it went up and down like a roller coaster, well not quite that much....

FWLR wrote: ↑Sat Nov 02, 2019 7:35 am ....Talking of inclines, there is much said about not having inclines isn't there. The number of times people say " You should have a really level track for running trains" I personally disagree, you get a better perspective on how to drive a Loco pulling some stock up and down inclines I feel.
On our old line, it went up and down like a roller coaster, well not quite that much....

I know live steamers seem to think that level track is necessary. Keith's Billy proves that they can climb1:25 grades with a decent load.
For my elec stuff, I just love having to 'reduce the load' or 'get a bigger loco' or 'use a banker', to get up my hills. And having to help visitors up the grades when they stall.
A few years back I removed some weight from some of my locos so they couldn't pull as much and I had to THINK about loads.

Had lots of rain and wind in Sydney - 12" in 3 days.
The old timber trestle that I built in 1994 finally succumbed. It had been 'preserved' by the local Historical Society after it was bypassed by a new bridge.
Here's the before....


and after pics...

Sounds like your weather is going from one extreme to the other, Greg. Glad to see Sandstone wasn't affected by the bush fires...

Rik

gregh wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 8:01 am Had lots of rain and wind in Sydney - 12" in 3 days.
The old timber trestle that I built in 1994 finally succumbed. It had been 'preserved' by the local Historical Society after it was bypassed by a new bridge.
Here's the before....
100_2575.JPG




and after pics...
old trestle broken sml.jpg

The Trestle that is falling down is just like the old bridge near Tenterfield.
Keep the videos coming I really do enjoy them.

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:25 am Sounds like your weather is going from one extreme to the other,

The Aust. climate has three seasons, drought, fire and flood........

The poem ”Said Hanrahan” was written 100 yrs ago, but still covers the situation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Said_Hanrahan

Graeme

GTB wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 11:26 am

The Aust. climate has three seasons, drought, fire and flood........

The poem ”Said Hanrahan” was written 100 yrs ago, but still covers the situation.

I enjoyed the poem. Farmers! There's no pleasin' 'em Haha! Seriously though, it was good to see people rejoicing at the bush fires finally being extinguished, though it seems it brought problems to some.