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PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2026 9:31 am
by ge_rik
When I renewed the baseboard at Beeston Market, I also replaced the boards at the Copper Mine. For a while, I've been living with the original arrangement of the buildings at the Copper Mine ....
- IMG_4825.JPG (335.29 KiB) Viewed 7448 times
..... but I've never been happy with the way the 15" and later the 2' gauge feeder lines were configured.
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- IMG_9047.JPG (589.39 KiB) Viewed 7448 times
Rik
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2026 9:36 am
by ge_rik
So, I did a bit of head scratching and decided it would be easier if the feeder line actually came in at the other end of the buildings. This required some careful excisions with a circular saw and various handsaws to reorganise the layout of the buildings, .....
- DSCI1161.JPG (2.87 MiB) Viewed 7444 times
.... and an extension to the baseboard for the new feeder line.
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- DSCI1165.JPG (3.56 MiB) Viewed 7444 times
I might even have a go at making some dual gauge track .....
Rik
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2026 3:45 pm
by ge_rik
It's taken about three weeks, on and off, but I think I've very nearly finished revamping the Copper Mine.
Freelance (HGLW) 2' gauge loco propels three loaded skips up the incline from the mines to the crushing shed and loading chutes.
- DSCI1212.JPG (3.94 MiB) Viewed 6675 times
3' gauge Ruston 44/48HP (ish) shunts tipplers to be loaded with spoil from the mines
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The Ruston loading more tipplers with crushed ore from the hopper.
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Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2026 3:49 pm
by ge_rik
Fowler 0-4-0DM arrives with a train of empty tipplers to be exchanged for a train of now filled tipplers for transportation Up the line to Beeston Market.
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- DSCI1228.JPG (3.22 MiB) Viewed 6674 times
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Fortunately, the Copper Mine is under the shade of trees in the afternoons and so I've been able to continue working without getting scorched.
Rik
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2026 2:51 am
by LNR
ge_rik wrote: Tue Aug 04, 2026 3:49 pm
working without getting scorched.
"Know that feeling" bit surprised hearing it from someone in the UK though
The Copper mine sure looks a hive of activity again Rik, nice job. I imagine you could spend an hour or so just shunting various rakes of wagons and tippers around.
Grant.
P.S. I spend a fair bit of time watching the Ffestiniog Webcams in the evening, find it funny seeing people walking around in the rain wearing shorts and summer clothes.
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2026 5:05 am
by philipy
I'd forgotten what a superb bit of modelling the copper mine buildings are Rik, and until I saw the 2nd picture of this last set, I don't think I had ever realised that the big building at the RH end is actually low relief! Fantastic job all round and I'm sure the revised trackwork will give you hours of pleasure.
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2026 7:17 am
by ge_rik
Thanks chaps. It does give me a lot of pleasure - as you know, I enjoy the logistics of shunting.
The 32mm loco on the feeder line is programmed for auto-shuttle, so it happily chugs to and fro at intervals. If only I could find a way of loading and unloading the skips automatically........
Rik
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2026 8:01 am
by philipy
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2026 11:29 am
by GTB
Tri-ang had an operating accessory called a 'side tipping car set'. It was part of the Transcontinental range, so probably less well known in the UK. Copied from a Lionel US model I think. It should be possible to make something similar to dump mineral instead of logs.
http://tri-angrailways.org.uk/OONew/SideTipping.htm
Tri-ang also had an 'operating hopper car set' that could dump it's load from an elevated track into a bunker, or another wagon, on a lower track. The 'special' mineral supplied was just a bag of the black polystyrene pellets used to injection mould black parts like underframes.
http://tri-angrailways.org.uk/OONew/hopper.htm
The old Tri-ang TC hopper cars and the unloader are common enough that they could be used as Gn15 mine stock to give you a rtr solution.
You won't be the first modeller to do this in garden scale though....
Some years ago there was a sceniced LGB layout doing the rounds of the local model railway exhibitions. One of the working scenes was a mine tippler with a loaded train of skips that ran through a shed on an elevated track dropping the loads into a hopper. The train was then shunted into a lower track and refilled from the hopper. I don't have a clear memory of the mineral used, but I think it may have been kitty litter. That could get interesting in a suburban garden.........
Like Philip said, easy to describe, but getting it working reliably will keep you off the streets and out of the pubs for a while (or drive you to drink).
Graeme
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2026 12:34 pm
by philipy
Graeme,
I think that's what I was thinking of previously. I knew my TPO suggestion didn't sound quite right but couldn't think of further alternatives. I guess because my cousin actually had the TPO but the others I only saw in adverts!
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2026 2:34 pm
by SimonWood
Fabulous scenes, Rik, well done!
GTB wrote: Wed Aug 05, 2026 11:29 am
I don't have a clear memory of the mineral used, but I think it may have been kitty litter. That could get interesting in a suburban garden.........
Back in the '90s we had an O-16.5 layout at my club (Upper Creek - Brighton Model Railway Club) and the 'mineral' in our tippers was Growmore (representing clay). Unfortunately, it attracted moisture and rapidly rusted all of the metal parts of the wagons - particularly the springs in the kadee couplings. Garden railways being designed to be more rust-proof and moisture resistant, that should be less of a problem, but I'd think kitty litter would also attract moisture in the same way. Spilled Growmore on the other hand, would turbo-charge undergrowth creating a whole new kind of line side issue!
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2026 2:37 pm
by GTB
philipy wrote: Wed Aug 05, 2026 12:34 pm
I think that's what I was thinking of previously. I knew my TPO suggestion didn't sound quite right but couldn't think of further alternatives.
My name is xxxxx and I'm a Tri-ang collector.........
There's some very clever engineering in the mechanisms of their working accessories.
Graeme
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2026 7:51 pm
by drewzero1
GTB wrote: Wed Aug 05, 2026 11:29 am
Tri-ang had an operating accessory called a 'side tipping car set'. It was part of the Transcontinental range, so probably less well known in the UK. Copied from a Lionel US model I think. It should be possible to make something similar to dump mineral instead of logs.
http://tri-angrailways.org.uk/OONew/SideTipping.htm
Tri-ang also had an 'operating hopper car set' that could dump it's load from an elevated track into a bunker, or another wagon, on a lower track. The 'special' mineral supplied was just a bag of the black polystyrene pellets used to injection mould black parts like underframes.
http://tri-angrailways.org.uk/OONew/hopper.htm
The old Tri-ang TC hopper cars and the unloader are common enough that they could be used as Gn15 mine stock to give you a rtr solution.
You won't be the first modeller to do this in garden scale though....
Some years ago there was a sceniced LGB layout doing the rounds of the local model railway exhibitions. One of the working scenes was a mine tippler with a loaded train of skips that ran through a shed on an elevated track dropping the loads into a hopper. The train was then shunted into a lower track and refilled from the hopper. I don't have a clear memory of the mineral used, but I think it may have been kitty litter. That could get interesting in a suburban garden.........
Like Philip said, easy to describe, but getting it working reliably will keep you off the streets and out of the pubs for a while (or drive you to drink).
Graeme
Graeme, I fixed the links... Without the http:// the forum software was looking for those pages within the forum itself
I collect old Lionel and I think I recognize that tipping log car! I don't have one (yet) but I do have some older tinplate tipping coal hoppers. Personally I think they look just as much at home in 15mm narrow gauge as they do in an O-gauge consist:
- Screenshot_20260811-133630.jpg (264.91 KiB) Viewed 6001 times
- Screenshot_20260811-133655.jpg (236.35 KiB) Viewed 6001 times
I'm in the process of relaying the track in my garden and considering adding a powered unloading section for these. (The rest will still be dead rail.)
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2026 1:29 am
by GTB
drewzero1 wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2026 7:51 pm
Graeme, I fixed the links... Without the http:// the forum software was looking for those pages within the forum itself
I collect old Lionel and I think I recognize that tipping log car! I don't have one (yet) but I do have some older tinplate tipping coal hoppers.
Modern software is getting too helpful by half. I just cut and pasted the address from the web page, but as well as the 'http:// going awol', Safari also dropped the '
www.'. sigh!!
The powered coal tipper looks like something you might see running around a metal smelter, or a steelworks. What's the power source under the black cover, a solenoid, or a motor and gears?
Graeme
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2026 10:33 am
by drewzero1
GTB wrote: Wed Aug 12, 2026 1:29 am
drewzero1 wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2026 7:51 pm
Graeme, I fixed the links... Without the http:// the forum software was looking for those pages within the forum itself
I collect old Lionel and I think I recognize that tipping log car! I don't have one (yet) but I do have some older tinplate tipping coal hoppers.
Modern software is getting too helpful by half. I just cut and pasted the address from the web page, but as well as the 'http:// going awol', Safari also dropped the '
www.'. sigh!!
The powered coal tipper looks like something you might see running around a metal smelter, or a steelworks. What's the power source under the black cover, a solenoid, or a motor and gears?
Graeme
I figured it was probably a browser being helpful dropping all that useless "clutter".
I usually use Firefox but I've noticed Chrome doing that stuff too lately.
Under the black cover it's just a big solenoid and a couple of gears, and the trucks have offset pickup shoes to pick up power from fourth and fifth rails between the usual three in a special section of track. Both of these came to me with crumbling insulation and sparking when run, I've rewired one of them but haven't gotten around to redoing the other one. Here's the repaired car in action:
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2026 1:10 pm
by ge_rik
If I do get around to modelling something operational, I think I'll probably go low tech, similar to the methods used on the various incarnations of the Stamping Ground Gn15 layout ...
Amazing what can be achieved with a few bits of bent wire ......
Rik
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2026 6:08 pm
by Allu
Really good ideas! Amazing how much movement enhances the scenes
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 8:51 am
by ge_rik
BTW - I found a simple but reasonably effective way of tipping the skips.
Rik
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 11:04 am
by philipy
Brilliant Rik,. Simplest is often the best.
The really amazing thing is that anything stays on the rails at all over that track joint!
Re: PLR Copper Mine revamp
Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 11:23 am
by ge_rik
philipy wrote: Thu Aug 27, 2026 11:04 am
Brilliant Rik,. Simplest is often the best.
The really amazing thing is that anything stays on the rails at all over that track joint!
Yes, slight miscalculation on the relative heights of the two pieces of track.
Rik