Yr Hen Felin & Yr Orsaf Newydd

[gilfachphil]

A lovely sunny day and everything to hand for my first solo steaming session



Obviously much to learn as initially I was wasting gas by havng the safety valve lifting




that seems a bit better. Note that the lifting section is taken much more smoothly than it was in my earlier post

Phil

[FWLR]

Nice little run that Phil, we all learn to turn down our gas mate, it's all part of the experience and it does improve believe me the more you run it. The coaches look great behind her to by the way.

[gilfachphil]

Clara with a goods train including a new wagon. When buying two packs of buffers from Binnie it made sense to include a GVT wagon kit to share the postage cost. An easy kit to build but frightening if intending to paint all of the internal metalwork black.

Phil

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[gilfachphil]

More excitement:-




and some learning!

These coaches are much heavier than anything else I own!

I first tried to run Skylark with them but she either has not enough pulling power or her batteries needed recharging, am curing the latter - may not be able to sort the former.

The Hunslett is the heaviest loco I own, apart from Russell, and managed to pull them but it was not easy. Again it may be a case of needing to recharge the batteries.

The coaches ran round the fenced curves without glancing against any fence posts but the leading outside step hit the knuckle of the hinge at the lifting section.

Phil

[Preseli Chris]

Very nice Phil, are the wheel sets oiled up . So they are free rolling and less drag . I'm Sure your Russell will cope with them .looking forward to seeing your railway next month.
Chris.

[gilfachphil]

Thanks Chris,

I thought there was enough oil in the wheel bearings but I will re-oil them and see whether that helps.

Russell had a run this afternoon and coped with the coaches masterfully, video below.

There was a slight hiatus at the hinge on the lifting section with one of the coaches, it was the leading step again so I have decided to rework the hinged joint. I have ordered some 3mm aluminium plate on which I will set the solid brass hinges I first tried. Their knuckles will be below rail height so all should be well

Phil

[Preseli Chris]

Live steam locos like to pull some weight. I bet Russell's exhaust sounded better due to working harder.

[FWLR]

Great videos Phil. The diesel looked a bit odd pulling the coaches. Before I saw the 2nd video I immediately thought of your Russell would be pull them no problem.

Like Chris said, live steamers love to pull heavy weights..

[gilfachphil]

We had one of our group meetings yesterday to which I took Russell and the Pickering coaches to much admiration. As Chris suggested I gave the axle boxes some extra oil before running them.

On return home I did some further testing with the Hunslett diesel, which was now fully charged, it now coped better with the three coaches, and even better after some additional oiling!

Phil.

[gilfachphil]

I am pretty sure that the slowing down as the train enters the end curve is because there is a small reverse curve leading in. This affects both the diesel and Russell at the point.

Phil

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[Peter Butler]

A magnificent sight Phil, but the loco does seem to be struggling a little. The length of the coaches appears to make the curves look a little sharp possibly causing more flange friction? There are 24 wheels potentially causing drag there.
Have you tried just two coaches to see what difference it makes?

[gilfachphil]

Yes Peter,

the two coach train ran more easily than three coaches. I think the Hunslett can probably cope with the three coaches with active driving to boost the speed a little into that curve, the other end seems fine.

Phil

[gilfachphil]

A visitor from the Preseli Mountain Railway came for a run yesterday.

Phil

[Preseli Chris]

Driver Dai Yanto reported back to the P.M.R. on the feasibility studies of running via the Cardi loop to the Yr Hen Felin & Orsaf Newydd Railway. Stating the the ride was smooth and the permanent way was well above spec .

Thanks for the invite to run on your line Phil. You have done a good job and I am flattered that you took inspiration from my attempt at building a garden running line.

Chris

[gilfachphil]

The aluminium plate came yesterday so I made :-

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The hinges are bolted to the aluminium with short bolts so I drilled shallow holes in the woodwork to accomodate them and clamped the structure in place. When I tried lifting the bridge the rails clashed. Silly me, I had forgotten that the rotation point needs to be high enough so that as the bridge is lifted a gap appears allowing the rail ends to pass without interference.

Experimented with some plastic packers between the aluminium and the brass hinges, using longer bolts, and reckoned that 3mm would probably do. There were two offcuts of the 3mm aluminium a suitable size so back to the workshop for drilling and sawing the aluminium. I decided that the outer hinge might be better a bit further out from the track, just in case. By lunchtime today I nearly had this:-

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It seemed to operate successfully though the rails were not at that time soldered to copper clad board, which was added after lunch. The plate on the table is fixed with two 8mm threaded studs. It should be possible, if necessary, to enlarge the hole through the wood of one of these to allow some adjustment if/when things move due to climate.

I have managed to get the lifting end to line up much better with this new hinge arrangement, the bolt is not engaged in this picture:-

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to be continued:-

[gilfachphil]

Once the rails were soldered to the copper clad and a small adjustment made at the lifting end an Accucraft flat wagon would zoom happily in both directions across the bridge. The acid test was a bogie coach:-

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As can be seen in this photo all is well! The coach steps are clear of the hinge knuckles. The top of the hinges knuckle is around 4mm or so above rail height.

Reaching this stage took about seven hours work!

The final test will involve steaming Russell but that must be another day, my energy reserves are well depleted for now.

Phil

[gilfachphil]

Hunslett (now with crew) and a freight train over the newly hinged lifting section this morning:-




I may remove (some of) the packing under the track on the bridge.

Phil

[ge_rik]

Looking good. Very smooth running over it. Not a jostle, jolt or hiccup in evidence. I wish I could say the same for the general trackwork on my railway....

Rik

[FWLR]

Nice that Phil, really smooth running now. Bet your really pleased with all the effort and hard work has paid off.

[gilfachphil]

Look who has arrived today!



Unfortunately she found that her valve gear hit the hinges at the lifting bridge. Grrrrrr. I'll have to move them further out. Has anybody got a wider lower loco/item of rolling stock?

Phil