RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 13, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 13, 2017 Impressive stuff Idris wish i could have the room to have such a big line, but swmbo owns 4/5ths of the back yard ..and i'm having to breath in when i open the gate to my bit Thanks Pinzer. Perhaps you should go down the gym if thats the case? More great progress. I look forward to following developments next week during your holiday. I hope to make further progress on Keeper's Grange too. Excellent news, and thank you for the kind comments. Please keep us up to date with progress. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Minded Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 Nice work in the civils department there Idris - I hope you've instructed the navvies to save any off cuts from those blocks (they can be cut and carved into lineside huts etc quite easily) Now, speaking of rugby, we're off to Cwbran Rugby Club today......... do you think I'll be safe wearing my England top?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 13, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 13, 2017 Nice work in the civils department there Idris - I hope you've instructed the navvies to save any off cuts from those blocks (they can be cut and carved into lineside huts etc quite easily) Now, speaking of rugby, we're off to Cwbran Rugby Club today......... do you think I'll be safe wearing my England top?! Thanks NM. I have saved the off cut, but I suspect it will end up as trackbed support somewhere! Hmmmm. As long as you don't "swing low" and arrive in a "sweet chariot", you may only get a black eye. If you really want to upset them, grab yourself an Ospreys top. I'm wearing mine with pride on Saturday in Cardiff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Minded Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 Thanks NM. I have saved the off cut, but I suspect it will end up as trackbed support somewhere! Hmmmm. As long as you don't "swing low" and arrive in a "sweet chariot", you may only get a black eye. If you really want to upset them, grab yourself an Ospreys top. I'm wearing mine with pride on Saturday in Cardiff. Of course we'll be arriving in the "sweet chariot" (how on earth did you know what I'd named the van????) - and I'll save "swing low" for the encore at the end of the night...... it should ensure we have a quick get-away for the trip home 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 13, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 13, 2017 Of course we'll be arriving in the "sweet chariot" (how on earth did you know what I'd named the van????) - and I'll save "swing low" for the encore at the end of the night...... it should ensure we have a quick get-away for the trip home arborial1+blue.JPG Ha ha! Love the pillbox. You've given me an idea now! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 24, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 24, 2017 Apologies for the enforced silence. I spent last week and weekend at home with pretty much every waking hour spent on the railway. So what progress has been made? While waiting for supplies to appear, Tuesday morning was spent planning how to arrange the blocks. IMAG0817 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0818 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0819 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr Supplies arrived early afternoon, and the first job was to build some piers to rest the trackbed on. IMAG0820 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr There was a composter in one corner, (one of those ones shaped like a Darlek) but to my horror I found that it was actually on top of a much larger area of softish ground. Fortunately, I have a limited supply of rubble, so out came the tamper, rubble inserted and tamped, and a dry mix of weak concrete brushed and tamped in. IMAG0821 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0822 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr By Wednesday morning the piers for the curved loop were complete. IMAG0823 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0824 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0825 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr I gave the piers 24 hours to "set" so started work on the foundations for the other end, working from what I had laid the previous year. IMAG0826 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0828 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr As I may have mentioned, my intention was to install a lift out bridge to allow access to the inside of the loop. I decided to use some of the left over "posh" bricks we bought which matched the house, and build two nice piers for the bridge to sit on. IMAG0827 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr The following day, I laid the blocks for the station area. This still requires pointing by gave me the level I required for the final curve. IMAG0831 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr Once the station blocks were laid, foundations were started for the final curve round. This ended up forming a substantial wall, with 4 courses of bricks in places. IMAG0829 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0830 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0832 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0833 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr Once these had set for 24 hours, I then proceeded to spend Saturday laying the blocks for the trackbed, and building the piers for the liftout bridge. IMAG0834 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0835 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0836 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0837 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0838 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0839 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0840 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0841 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0842 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr You can tell I'm rather proud of those piers. The final job on Sunday was to lay the last remaining blocks to give me a complete circuit. IMAG0843 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0844 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0845 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0846 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0847 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr So whats left to do? Well I have a load of pointing, the blocks for the engine shed, the blocks for the goods loop, and the goods sidings. I'll start work on these tonight, but I'm not going to rush as I am rather knackered from all of last weeks work. It comes to something when coming back to your job is a holiday compared to your actual holiday. TTFN. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
77philg Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Hi idris Really impressed with your efforts I did mine every second weekend ,its easier on the back and it gave me time to change the odd thing when I needed to phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 24, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 24, 2017 Hi idris Really impressed with your efforts I did mine every second weekend ,its easier on the back and it gave me time to change the odd thing when I needed to phil Thanks very much kind sir. I decided to bite the bullet and use up some annual leave. Due to other hobbies and SWMBO free weekends can be few and far between, so I usually try to do as much as I can in the free evenings I have. I'm knackered, but very pleased at the same time as I have pretty much done all the hard work. All that is left is some fiddly stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ossygobbin Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 hi idris very impressive. what sort of price are the blocks you are using and are they the lightweight type ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owd Bob Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Plenty of food for thought there for you Ossy! Well mi backs done in just looking at those pics' Thats a very impressive weeks work and its took me the best part of 12 months to get that far, so very well done young man, you deserve another weeks holiday to recover i would expect! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
77philg Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Thanks very much kind sir. I decided to bite the bullet and use up some annual leave. Due to other hobbies and SWMBO free weekends can be few and far between, so I usually try to do as much as I can in the free evenings I have. I'm knackered, but very pleased at the same time as I have pretty much done all the hard work. All that is left is some fiddly stuff. This is where you get swmbo involved ,mine mixes mortar hod carries and keeps me supplied with tea Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 24, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 24, 2017 hi idris very impressive. what sort of price are the blocks you are using and are they the lightweight type ? I think price depends on the quantity and size. There are the Thermalite lightweight Aerated type. The smallest (which I use on the single track sections) come from Wickes. http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Aerated-Block-3-6-N-100mm/p/213632 The slight thicker ones used on the curve were a freebie from a friend who works as a bellhanger. They were used as sound control in a bell chamber and had a load left over, so gave them to me for free. The biggest are foundation blocks, and work out at around £5.50 each (I think). They came from a local builders merchant who mistook what I ordered, however it was a fortunate mistake. I can just lift them, and they have very useful handles. I have cut them down in to twos and 4's for use in the other parts of the railway so they can work out roughly the same price as the smaller blocks. Plenty of food for thought there for you Ossy! Well mi backs done in just looking at those pics' Thats a very impressive weeks work and its took me the best part of 12 months to get that far, so very well done young man, you deserve another weeks holiday to recover i would expect! My poor old back doesn't know what has hit it, and my arms feel 4ft longer. Thank you, but its pale in comparison with your work. But hopefully I can catch up. I need to ponder my track layout and work out how many points I need to order, I feel a big dent in the savings is coming on. Hmm, I think if I had another weeks holiday my body would fall to bits. As it is being in the office for 8 hours today will give it plenty of time to recover, just in time for another couple of hours slog in the garden this evening. What I should say that has been really back breaking is not laying the blocks but mixing the concrete by hand. OUCH! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Minded Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Wow! That is gobsmacking progress - very well done! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 24, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 24, 2017 Wow! That is gobsmacking progress - very well done! Thank you! I'm starting to feel like the end is now in sight. Hopefully won't be too long before track starts appearing. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Wow. What great progress, you have certainly got further on than me recently. Looking forward to seeing what happens next. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 25, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 25, 2017 Wow. What great progress, you have certainly got further on than me recently. Looking forward to seeing what happens next. Thanks very much! I decided to just get my head down and get on with it. Hopefully it will mean that more of the summer is spent playing trains. Well I decided to have a rest last night, which turned out to be a wise move as we had a very heavy frost this morning. I concentrated on my "door stanchions/bangers/stoppers/thingies". To aid strength and rigidity, I bought some 3/64 by 3/8 brass rivets, which I intended to use to help bind the two sections togethr. The first thing was to mark up the outside sections, first hole 2mm from top, followed by the second 3mm below that. Once marked, holes were drilled using a 1.2mm drill bit. IMAG0848 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0849 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr Because of the slight variations (coz I'm cruddy at marking up really accurately), I decided to drill each bracket individually to the job. This was a little time consuming and fiddly, but meant that the parts always met. IMAG0851 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0852 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr Final job was to solder the sections and rivets together, starting with tinning both sides. I only managed 4 brackets in the end, will finish off tonight. IMAG0853 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0854 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr They appear to be very strong, which is what I wanted given that they are frequently broken off my wagons. I guess the next job will be to fit them to the wagons, probably using one or two bolts, and some glue to give the maximum grip to the wagon. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 26, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 26, 2017 Well the random weather we were having last night prevented getting out the garden, so I spent the evening pottering about with some unfinished projects. First of all was to dismantle my few remaining accucraft wagons, and clean the oil off them ready for rubbing down and repainting. I use "DeGunk" which is a very effective car engine cleaner. Brush on, leave for 5 minutes, and then wash off with water. Made good use of the draining board. IMAG0855 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr I then worked on soldering the final 4 "door bangers" together. IMAG0861 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr Finally, I attached 4 of them to my Brandbright 4-plank wagon, completing this ready for priming. I attached them by drilling a 1mm hole and using a 14BA bolt with superglue. IMAG0856 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0857 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0858 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0860 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr The 3rd picture shows the nuts in the floor of the wagon. The bolts were cut and filed. They will be visible, but I will hide them under the wagon load if possible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owd Bob Posted April 26, 2017 Share Posted April 26, 2017 Superb work Idris, they look strong and you should'nt have any more probs with them. If it helps i've used professional car carb' cleaner on metal parts many a time, but get the proper stuff not the pound shop rubbish! but warning! don't get it on any paint work...it'll strip it off! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Minded Posted April 26, 2017 Share Posted April 26, 2017 A thumbs up here for the engine de-greaser, I use the rattle can version and the outdoor hose tap - congratulations on being allowed to use the kitchen drainer (in fact, the kitchen!) Nice work on the wagons so far, excellent stuff! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jongudmund Posted April 26, 2017 Share Posted April 26, 2017 That picture of the two brick piers with the spirit level across them and the bubble right in the centre. Wow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Minded Posted April 26, 2017 Share Posted April 26, 2017 That picture of the two brick piers with the spirit level across them and the bubble right in the centre. Wow. Yeah, I had a broken spirit level like that once Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 27, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 27, 2017 Thanks very much chaps! SWMBO was out at the time, but I did get complaints about the smell and the fact that there were wagons on the draining board. I did point out that if it weren't for me there wouldn't be a kitchen let alone a kitchen sink. Didn't go down well. With regards to the piers and the level, that took alot of time and swearing to get right. But thanks for the compliment! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 27, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 27, 2017 Managed an hour in the garden last night, concentrating on pointing the blocks I laid last year. IMAG0862 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0863 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0864 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr But in sad news my bucket has died. IMAG0865 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
77philg Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 are you going to pile soil against these blocks ? as in disguising the railway and making it fit into the garden? phil. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 27, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 27, 2017 are you going to pile soil against these blocks ? as in disguising the railway and making it fit into the garden? phil. Not sure yet. I will in places, but the area I have been working on will turn into hard standing. I need to cast some concrete supports first before I can think about 'beautifying' it. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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