F.A.T.corp!

[bessytractor]

Hi I can see this is my first post despite being a member a while, so hi, I'm Matt  :)

I've finally gotten round to building a garden railway.  Unfortunately its not the recreation of the WC&P in O gauge but a 16mm railway on LGB track  :lol: .

Track layouts simple, oval of track, passing loop, siding.  There will be a extension to a terminus "somewhere", haven't decided yet!

Tracks laid on ballast in the station area, and on the main line it is held down with mortar mix.  Never going anywhere!  I cheated at a derailment spot and made it tram track (though it is appropriate) to provide a bit of guidance to the Jane when it goes berserk down the bank.

Stock doesn't equate to much.  I've got a homemade Jane (just made out of bits accumulated) and a coal fired geared vertical boiler loco under construction (waiting for the boiler).  I've also got a Stainz but thats waiting for me to make it RC (and de-germanize it).

rolling stock consists of an LGB flat truck (which I use as a pway vehicle - clearing flangeways!), and then a heavily altered LGB toast rack coach from Compton Down, and a Bachmann caboose from the CDR too.  Theres one of those LGB crane things but we won't talk about that  ;) .

Hope you like  :)

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Welcome! Looks like it'll be a smashing railway! Rather interested in the coal fired Vertical Boiler! Also, what's your method of making tram tracks?

[bessytractor]

Welcome! Looks like it'll be a smashing railway! Rather interested in the coal fired Vertical Boiler! Also, what's your method of making tram tracks?

easy, slap some mortar mix on the track, filling the gap between rails completely. Get a bit of 2x1 or some other such thing and scrape the top level with the rails, then just cut some flangeways with a screwdriver!

Works pretty well, I ran the LGB flat through a few times to make sure all was well.

[DolwyddelanLightRail]

Welcome!

Nice little line there! nice and quaint and not too busy! The verticle boiler loco does sound interesting as well, can't wait for more info!

[SillyBilly]

That vertical unit looks pretty cool.

[bessytractor]

That vertical unit looks pretty cool.

it will look a lot better when its thrashing along on the loco  :lol:

kinda stalled on that project.  Other, bigger things have got in the workshop queue.

[mhlr]

kinda stalled on that project.  Other, bigger things have got in the workshop queue.

I know the feeling, as well as a main factor being AS level exam preparations... Your's looks ace though, looks like a super project!

Nice railway too, do you have any future plans for the line? Some scenery in the middle to brake up the 'tail chasing' feeling? Plants, rockery etc? Stuff like that?

[bessytractor]

kinda stalled on that project.  Other, bigger things have got in the workshop queue.

I know the feeling, as well as a main factor being AS level exam preparations... Your's looks ace though, looks like a super project!

Nice railway too, do you have any future plans for the line? Some scenery in the middle to brake up the 'tail chasing' feeling? Plants, rockery etc? Stuff like that?

I did say to myself early on this was a test track, as I am hoping to join the 16mm side of Guildford model engineers.  So scenery wasn't really on my mind.  I just filled the centre up with bark and said "done".  But I was at Focus getting the mortar mix and saw these little tree things and thought "hmmm one or two of them!".  So thats something to do later!

I don't really want to spend much money on this though, trying to do it on the cheap but do it well.  The reason the layouts not that big is because I don't have lots of stock, small locos, and I don't have time due to my work (Network Rail lacky) to maintain it all the time.

[mhlr]

I don't really want to spend much money on this though, trying to do it on the cheap but do it well.  The reason the layouts not that big is because I don't have lots of stock, small locos, and I don't have time due to my work (Network Rail lacky) to maintain it all the time.

Aye, good idea. If you want to make your railway 'appear' bigger, if you make the rear part of the line invisible from the front, the train will dissappear for a few seconds then reappear, as it it's been somewhere (sounds silly I know lol). You said you had a couple of trees, that sort of thing works, even just scrounging round for some large rocks and stuff lying around places to place there and create a rockery kinda thing in the middle. That would look cool, and no maintainance - just let nature take over

[kes]

Hi Matt, excellent to see stock being put to work already - good luck with projects

[bessytractor]

Hi Matt, excellent to see stock being put to work already - good luck with projects

thanks

I had a good 10 minutes looking at what Peter did to the coach, its quite an involved conversion!  I'm very glad to have got it, as its bang on for my railway  :lol:

[bessytractor]

I've decided the line needs a proper name. So I've named it after my road. The line is now called the Ferndale Avenue Tramway Corp, or FAT.co for short! I've started extending it too, photos will be put up in time.

[mhlr]

Probably a lot of Ferndale Avenues around Keith

[bessytractor]

Probably a lot of Ferndale Avenues around Keith  :lol:  :lol:

there are funnily enough  :lol:

[MDLR]

23 according to www.streetmap.co.uk.........

[bessytractor]

23 according to www.streetmap.co.uk.........

you know what?

I think I'm safe, I doubt theres many would be burglars who'd travel the length and breadth of the UK to steal an Accucraft Ruby and a Jane

[bessytractor]

I've been pretending to be busy, and have got the latest bits done on the line.

I have extended the line to curve back on itself.  There will be a balloon loop at the end of this extension with a siding coming off it with a goods dock for the odd bit of tramway freight!

I've finished an Ezee brake van I had kicking about, and this has been pressed into service, so far it hasn't been killed by the mad Jamod.

I've been doing some more stock construction.  I wanted an open wagon type thing, but balked at the £25 IP wanted for a kit so looked elsewhere.  I remembered the old trailer my Mamod traction engine used to pull, this being a cheap plastic toy farm trailer.  A quick measure up revealed it to be roughly the same size give or take a couple of mm, and the road chassis was promptly removed!

All I've done is cut the sides out and fit some doors with the associated hinges and bolt heads.  A quick spray with some grey primer and painting the black bits and its there.  I painted some odd planks a different grey to suggest repairs, and promptly weathered it with my "dirt juice" (which is just the crap and muck out of my thinners jar).

I'm now waiting on the running gear from IP.  Total spent so far, £16, maybe I should have just bought that IP kit!

My coal fired verticals boiler is almost done.

[bessytractor]

just a couple of pics showing new developments.  First up is the now RC fitted Ruby.  This has become exceedingly well behaved and is very controllable, almost like driving a loco in the larger gauges in fact.  Second is a shot showing the new W&U tram coach with the Ruby steaming up and the Jamod cooling down! For some reason the Titfield coach has become fluorescent.

[bessytractor]

its been quite busy at the bottom of my garden.  I have finally gotten around to doing some scenic work of all things.  If you look at previous photos you'll see that the inside of the loop was full of bark chippings.  This was a mistake, as wildlife would root around in it for food and it ended up in the 4 foot as a big barky mess  :lol: .  I never caught one of the blighters but I'm certain the local cats used it as a public convenience too.  Something had to be done, so I chucked a good majority of it out, put some gravel at one end, and planted some conifers to try and break up the scene a bit.  I think it looks ok, some more plants and some slate chippings will follow.

I have a book all about the 15 inch gauge railways that we all know and love, and in the Ratty section there was a picture of the boat halt at Miteside Halt.  As a little kid (I've had the book a long time though some might argue I've not changed  ;) ) I thought this a great idea, and when I found Model Town actually made a kit to represent it I had to have one!





On the motive power front, the mad Mamod has recieved his Orinoco name plates and is seen with my "Lady Anne"   .  The Accucraft Ruby has been resprayed in gloss black having had the factory decals removed, and has also had a Roundhouse Westinghouse pump fitted.  It certainly looks a bit more civilised now!  Its seen pulling the rake of 8 Binnie tippers I knocked up recently.  These still need to have loads fitted but I've had a lot of fun running them.  As seen elsewhere on the forum the coal fired tram proceeds apace.









Finally we come up to what I was doing today, and thats finishing off building the lines second coach.  Its getting there, and is seen with the previous one.  They will be pretty much identical.

[Narrow Minded]

I've had some catching up to do having missed some of the above while I was broadbandless. You have been busy!

The trailer to wagon conversion is cool and yep, the price of bought in "bits" might have pushed the cost up but it's individual. What price a piece of unique stock for your line?

I've had the same experience with bark chippings in the past - it's usually blackbirds that throw it all over the place (They're doing the same thing with my prized moss implants now )

I never noticed before that the "boat halt" used the end of a paddle for the home signal Strange how the eye can be fooled by what your brain is expecting to see!!

Liking the look of the Ruby now you've started tarting her up. The paintjob without the factory transfers is a massive improvement on its own! (And so it was you who had the Lady Anne Jessie off eBay! I reckon the previous owner did me a favour by not passing on my message re the plates - I prefer Lady Of Sherwood )

Keep up the good work