Garden Railway Forum

Mitch stack wrote: Fri Mar 08, 2019 5:55 am ....is that railmotor a IP engineering Lollypop Range kit? im looking around for small Railmotors for my tramway at the moment.

Yes Mitch, it's one of Ivan's Lollypop railcars, reworked a bit.

I built it when I changed scales about 8 years ago, when they were still available. It is the same size as most of the current range of Ezee kits, so the right size for a gang motor, or inspection motor. The write-up and construction photos are still in the group files.

https://gardenrails.org/viewtopic.php?f ... 224#p58224

Something similar could be built by fitting an IP Engineering Ezee motor chassis under one of the Ezee guards vans. The bodywork isn't complex and one could be scratchbuilt on an IP Ezee motor chassis, or a HLW motorised chassis.

Regards,
Graeme

Thanks for that Graeme, something like that could be handy when i finish the extension of the CCT! going to need a Rail motor soon enough.

Regards Mitch.

Just read that old post of yours Graeme, brilliant conversions of cheap kits.

The circle is now closed. The last lengths of track on the bridge approach and the bridge were fitted on Friday and the first train has run the full length of the mainline, including crossing the bridge.

The photo shows the inspection motor and the weed killer train running over the bridge on it's first run. Normal scale running speed for this motor is about 5 mph and it took about 6 min. for a complete circuit of the track........


Someone asked how I was going to locate the bridge accurately. The next photo shows the arrangement I used to maintain alignment between the rails on the removable bridge and the fixed rails. They are a rail clamp with part of it milled away, so there is a recess for the rail on the bridge to sit in. This keeps the rails lined up horizontally and isn't particularly affected by movement in the abutment posts, as the bridge has enough clearance in the mountings to move around.


Now I just have to extend the other leg of the wye a couple of metres and install the steaming bay, so I can test run a steam loco. The Shay runs at a scale speed of around 5 mph, so that will also take it's time doing a circuit of the track. Will be interesting to see how the conventional steam locos. manage.

Regards,
Graeme

Great work Graeme!, looking forward to seeing some Timber tramway action soon!,Mitch.

Hi Graeme,

As Mitch rightly says - Great progress!

Your line is beautifully engineered. i look forward to each update.

keep up the good work,

Andrew

Great to see the line again, it gets better every time you post Graeme. And those little tips are most welcome.

Finally............

The track supports for the steaming bay went in Friday, the deck went on Saturday, the steaming bay was fabricated yesterday and the track connecting the wye and the steaming bay was installed this morning.

Just in time for the next cold front to hit. It's blowing a gale and it's just started raining, so no first steam run today. Maybe later in the week.....

The photo shows the new bit. Nothing flash, just a steaming bay which is open underneath so the oil and water are dumped onto the gravel path instead of building up on the deck and sleepers. The s-curve was necessary due to the way the flower beds and steps were laid out when the backyard was landscaped a couple of years ago. At 5'6" radius it's a bit sharp, but it will be eased when the branch extension goes in......


The new track had it's first junior grade visitors a week ago when Perdita brought her pigeon pair for a visit. They had a great time following one of the battery powered gang motors around and the school holidays are soon, so they will be back to see a steam loco in action.

Regards,
Graeme

I always marvel at the outstanding quality of your work. It is always very accurate and well finished. Good work!
Where is the branch going and where is it leaving the loop?

George

steamgeorge wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 4:32 pm Where is the branch going and where is it leaving the loop?

The branch will run further down the side of the flower bed to a yard with 3 loops and is an extension from the end of the s-bend shown in the photo. The steaming bay will be moved down to the end of the branch.

The junction with the main line oval is the wye, the branch being on the third leg. Using a wye for the junction means trains can leave the branch and run around the loop in either direction. Tender locos can be turned on the wye, so I won't need to build a turntable.

Regards,
Graeme

GTB wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 10:59 am

steamgeorge wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 4:32 pm Where is the branch going and where is it leaving the loop?

The branch will run further down the side of the flower bed to a yard with 3 loops and is an extension from the end of the s-bend shown in the photo. The steaming bay will be moved down to the end of the branch.

The junction with the main line oval is the wye, the branch being on the third leg. Using a wye for the junction means trains can leave the branch and run around the loop in either direction. Tender locos can be turned on the wye, so I won't need to build a turntable.

Regards,
Graeme

Thanks - I'm looking forward to seeing it completed.

A year later and the station extension is finally finished. Well as finished as it is likely to get, as I doubt it will ever get scenery installed.......

I was out of things for a while late last year, but managed to order a box of track and some turnout making materials in late November. Nothing much happened until the new year, when I worked up enough energy to start building the turnouts and then painting the track while the weather was too hot to work outside.

By mid-February I had managed to finish the track and turnouts and my workspace was rapidly diminishing. The next step was erecting the steelwork and this time I had it cut to size, which was cheaper than having the full lengths delivered. The cut pieces fitted in the car boot and it also saved time and effort manipulating long bits of steel into the bandsaw.

The photo shows the bench top covered in turnouts and track, while the floor area had been further reduced by the steel stacked on sawhorses in the foreground.


A couple of weeks later and the steelwork has been fabricated and the first supports have been installed, in between rain storms. This time around the 40mm galv RHS is bolted to the retaining wall rather than sitting on a star picket and the wider deck means the cross beam needed a support brace.


Another week or two and the rest of the supports and the longitudinal angles have been installed.


Fitting the decking only took a couple of days, including cutting the bits to size. The decking is the same material as the rest of the track, 10mm thick Weathertex.


Painting was another matter, as the weather has been alternating between being so hot the paint dries on the brush, or too wet to paint. Eventually it was finished and track laying could start. This photo shows the new station extension in relationship to the wye junction on the mainline.


Track laying went quickly this time as all the turnouts and track were ready to go. This photo shows the amount of track laid on the first day, although it was a hot day. the curves into the station are finished and the track and turnouts for No. 1 road are complete. The turnouts for Nos. 2 and 3 roads are also in place at the steaming bay end, as well as the steaming bay. The van halfway down the yard was being used to check clearances and track joints.


The next day was going well and most of the track was in place by just after lunch. Then of course the track joiners ran out...... Luckily a quick phone call to Argyle and a packet of track joiners dropped into the letterbox just before lunch the next day. The last of the track was installed late yesterday afternoon (Wednesday), by which time it was too hot for a proper test run.


The track plan is fairly typical of VR branchline and NG terminal stations. A main line/platform road (No.1), a run around loop road (No.2) and a goods shed road (No.3), with a spur off No.3 road leading to the loco pit. It probably looks long to most people, but Nos.1 and 2 roads have to be long enough to clear ten bogie wagons, which is the maximum train length for the line. The track in the station is 1.2m off the ground, which is a convenient working height for me. There wasn't much choice anyway, as the block is steep and a ground level track is impractical, even if I was interested.

Today dawned clear and hot, so a morning run with the Fowler Motor Mule and a small work train to test the track laying was all that was attempted. The train is shown leaving the station and heading for the mainline.

The station track work and the operation of the mainline and wye junction were tested and worked as planned. So the next step will be a steam run on the weekend when the weather has sorted itself out again.


The final two photos. show the mainline as it is now, as I realised no photos of the mainline loop in finished condition were shown in the previous instalments of this saga.

The first is taken looking south and the junction to the station is out of shot to the right.


The second is taken facing the north and the junction is visible in the distance just past the truss bridge on the right. The angle of the fence compared to the roof line of next door's shed shows what the ground contours are like.


........ and I've got my bench back.

Regards,
Graeme

Top work as usual Graeme, should make it a bit more enjoyable raising steam at that height. Your going to be pruning soon by the looks of the Pittosporum. The tree inside the loop looks like it needs a drink.
Grant.
PS if you heard a loud bang, that was me getting a brainwave that might solve my problem!

Amazing work Graeme, well done.

That looks fantastic - I imagine derailments are a rare event indeed on your line?!

I like how you've gone for a track layout based on the real thing - it's something I don't think I give enough thought to. Those two loops will give you fantastic flexibility when you're operating.

All the best,

Andrew.

nice work graeme, i think we need to do a steam up one day.

mitch

Clean, crisp and precise. Just like all your other work, excellent work Graeme it looks a treat

Andrew wrote: Thu Mar 12, 2020 1:18 pm That looks fantastic - I imagine derailments are a rare event indeed on your line?!

Not as rare as I'd like. The mainline is usually OK, unless I miss some debris on the rails.

The station turnouts still need some final tuning and while the rolling stock used during the test run ran fine, the loco had some difficulties.

I thought I'd already reprofiled the loco wheels, but turned out I hadn't. For reasons I've never discerned, Roundhouse use different wheel profiles for the driving wheels and the non-powered wheels on 45mm gauge locos. Their driving wheels have never caused me any problems, but I spent this morning turning the tender and leading/trailing truck wheels on the black Baldwin to the standard G1MRA profile I use.

The sun came out this afternoon and I forced myself to do a test run, as you do. No problems with the black Baldwin anywhere on the track now.....

Graeme