Philou

Hello chaps and chapesses, I did manage to do a little work in the barn - but got waylaid again this morning - this time by Mrs Philou who wanted to do some gardening whilst it was dry and warm (a balmy 15°) and as I had commandeered the wheel-barrow for 'other things', she needed it toot-de-sweet. Some emptying of my bits ensued followed by carting some loads of earth around for her and that was the morning done. I cut the last remaining wall to size and fixed it to its glue-blocks and is now ready for further decorating. I'm glad I did do that as it has shown that the card sides to the bridge that I cut out some time ago are too short and will not meet the pilasters as erected. A pretty minor but major detail that I now need to take into account when constructing the bridge in plasticard - once stuck, it's stuck! I may have to re-do the pilasters as well - but they're in card and easy enough to replicate - bit annoying but it's not a major disaster as everything is demountable. I didn't hang about in the barn as I felt it was getting cold. Colour me surprised, in an hour the outside temperature had fallen to 8°!! In warming up inside, I was browsing a thread on RMWeb (Fatal that. Don't. Just don't.) I had missed, and got engrossed - more modelling time disappeared - hey ho. Tomorrow, I shall open my bag of bits - bridge-in-a-bag, I suppose - and then moan I haven't enough of this or that. Once I've re-dimensioned the bridge side and centre plates, I shall get cracking! More tomorrow, Cheers, Philip

Hello chums and chumesses, 'Tis done! I completed the wall this evening, gave it a going-over with my pastels and a waft of spray varnish later ................... taa daa: ^ Once the photos were taken, the two parts were taken into the barn and screwed into place and they fitted together, can't even see the join! I wonder if I should go the whole hog and add details such as downpipes now as later will be more difficult once things like station platforms are placed in front of the wall. What do you think regarding the question I posed yesterday of adding lighting? (I meant to take a photo of ones I did earlier). As for the next step - I shall probably start the bridge, but it's years since I actually used plasticard so I'll have a short learning curve of how to cut and bend the stuff without too much waste. However, before I do do that, I really ought to set up the last retaining wall that will sit alongside the sidings at Dymented as I did see a part of the upper level track bed that needed fettling to allow the wall to sit square. Once that's set up, I can do the arches and decorating later. Now we're moving! More tomorrow, Philip

Hah! Well, I was on my own today but did I have more time to myself? You know the answer ............... It turned out to be 'help the neighbour day' again. My opposite neighbour is having fibre to the door (as we did a few weeks ago) but the technicians turned up yesterday and gave up try to thread their draw-wire through the previously laid ducting - blockage somewhere along way. 'Nah mate' (or the French equivalent) 'We're going to have to come back with an excavator and expose the ducting even it means digging up the flowers beds and that nice new drive laid last year in blockwork and trench into your garage ...... '. Armageddon basically and they're both in their eighties so M. le Gendarme (retired) decided to help and did I have a ladder so that he could go down into a manhole where the ducting popped out of ground before popping back in. Yes I did and did he want a hand (he had a shoulder joint replacement last year and is not as mobile)? It was an interesting couple of hours this afternoon pushing and pulling the draw-wire into the duct that was full of water and goodness knows what else and finally between us we pushed through three blockages and onwards and upwards into his house. The other end of the draw-wire was threaded into the duct in the opposite direction and out it popped in the street next to the pole from where the fibre will make its connection - that bit was done in minutes. Three old guys did in two hours what three strapping young technicians couldn't do in a whole morning ...... pffff, the yoof of today, mumble mumble .......... I did do a little more modelling, but I still have the cappings, copings and corbels (I said plinths yesterday) to do, but I do have a photo of the whole of the supporting wall that will be behind the platform at Dymented: ^ The peg is holding a bit of buttress in place whilst drying. This is the return of the wall where within which the waiting shelter of the platform will be placed. The return will not be fixed permanently to the already finished wall in case I need access to any electrical gubbins under the track on the upper level. ^ Here's more or less the whole of the retaining wall behind the platform (I don't know if it'll be the up or down line :)) ). There's a bit of wing wall to add at the very end where the retaining wall becomes embankment in the direction of Pontrilas. Nearest the camera will be the one ramp and way over at the far end will be the other ramp. The length of the platform, including the ramps, will be about 1.6m - long enough for a decent branch-line train. All-in-all, despite the untimely cry for help, I'm quite pleased with the outcome for today. As there's no club tomorrow, there'll be no excuse for not finishing the wall by tea-time. Question: Do you think the railway company (GWR influenced) would have put lamps attached to the wall or placed them independently on the platform? I can do the former easily enough as I have a whole load of LEDs that I can form into swan-necked lamps with a white-painted metal reflector made from card. Cheers everyone, Philip

Received a photo of one of these from my go-to railway emporium with just the words: 'These arrived today. Stunning.' If he says that, then they must be pretty good. I am very tempted ...................

Oo-er, I should have thought of that .......... :( I pressed on today and I have arrived at the sticking buttresses phase. Tomorrow should see the copings done and the return wall - but I needed to go into the barn and do a check measurement for that as it will butt against the previously constructed wall. I'm on my own tomorrow so I should have plenty of free time ........... says he with fingers and toes crossed. As promised, a photo ........................ ^ Here it is ... the pegs are there to hold the buttresses in place whilst the glue dries. Just as well as I took the photo only moments before posting as it shows the second buttress out of alignment - glue hadn't set and so it's now straight! The white card will disappear when the plinths are glued in place. I've also shown below how I've marked out the mortar joints using a pizza cutter. It only works if glueing onto card and you have to 'groove' before the glue dries (Pritt-type in this instance). Quite effective I thought and the strong sunlight has emphasised the joints. In reality, the joints may well have been flush or no more than 1/2" deep (0.15mm at 4mm scale) and to all intents and purposes flat especially when seen from 2' away - but it's there. I haven't done the verticals as I haven't got a steel tipped tool suitable for the job and in any case it's probably not worth the faff: I have to get really cracking as time is moving on and I still haven't finished in the Dymented area and at this rate I won't be finished by Christmas. Oh, which year I hear you ask? This year, I should like to have a train do a complete circuit - yeah, right :)) . More tomorrow, Cheers, Philip

Hah! By the time there were only glowing embers, some 7hrs had passed, and probably all the oil would/should have burnt off (still glowing hot at the mo' nearly 12hrs later) but the point is taken :)).

Hello chums and chumesses, My gusto sort of fizzled out on Monday, I just didn't feel up to it - probably a hang-over from all the travelling. It went better yesterday and I did a half-hearted attempt and managed to assemble and decorate some of the card cut-outs and glue them to the plywood base. I was going to do the buttresses today but Mrs Philou had other ideas and so we had a bonfire of all the bits of branches that we cut down before going away. Normally, I'm first in the queue to make a bonfire, but this was a barsteward to get started. A whole bottle of meths, a quarter pack of firelighters and a half box of matches later, I had a very weak flame underway. The ultimate accelerant was a litre of sump oil - not good for the environment, I know - but it worked and everything was consumed save for some big damp logs that are still slowly burning as I write this. I'll make it all safe before I go to bed, but it looks very inviting seeing the dull red glow at the bottom of the garden. Sausages and marshmallows come to mind! I should be able to get really going tomorrow and I'll have a photo for you. Cheers everyone, Philip

The lad is back! Hello chums and chumesses, I got back late this evening - left Lunnun at 10am and arrived at 7pm - no bad weather and no traffic. Tomorrow will be putting things away and so no modelling will happen, but I did acquire assorted plasticard and struts and such like, so once I've finished the short section of wall, then I can return to the bridge. Whilst I was in London yesterday, I went to Borough Market and as it was piscillating down, where better to stand but under the bridges surrounding the market. Whilst Mrs P, my daughter and SiL were looking around all I could do was look up at all that lovely ironwork. I now have a slightly better understanding of how the things are rivetted together AND all different too. I also took the London 'vaporetto' from Parliament to London Bridge and the one bridge that threw me was the Blackfriars Railway bridge. The cross-girders were underslung to the longitudinal ones and I just couldn't see how the whole was holding itself up. Must have been sky-hooks again :) ! Modelling ahoy!! Speak soon! Philip

Hello chaps and chapesses, The evening modelling that I had mentioned a couple of days ago didn't happen - after our evening meal I just pooped out. But, I did do a little more the following day and I shall get some done this evening. This is probably my last message for a few days as it's chicken heads-off day running around doing last minute shopping and getting suitcases ready for our trip to the UK early Thursday. I shall be visiting my favourite modelling emporium whilst in Cardiff (wonder which one that might be :))) ) and collecting a few bits and pieces no doubt. I shall be lurking if I have nothing to do of an evening whilst away and all being well I'll be back to some serious modelling at the end of the month. Take care out there and speak soon, Philip

Hello chums and chumesses, I did start the retaining wall and all went well. I need to do the arch reveals (the inside faces) and I can start papering - I have a photo of the WiP: ^ This is the retaining wall dressed temporarily with the arches - buttresses need to be added on the outer face and papered inserts will go inside each arch. On reflection, the columns between the pairs of arches are somewhat thin - a note to myself for next time - but once dressed it may blend in and not be so noticeable - ahem. Other news: Despite the impending rain, M. le Maire and I, did assemble all the cut wood into convenient piles ready for splitting and bringing down from the woods. This won't be done until end of August or September to allow it to dry out in the summer sun. I do have some pictures of Mr Mayor cutting the one tree that was blocking our access today (plenty of windfalls every year due to being too wet, too dry or attacked by insects), the rest are just what we did today. Last week's work was the same!: ^ Busy cutting into 1.0m lengths - elf'n'safety would have had a fit - no hard hat nor ear-defenders. I had mine on!😛 ^ Into the mess we go ....... ^ Half an hour later cleaner and much tidier ............ There was a lot more to do but all done by lunchtime. In the afternoon (thinking that rain would arrive and I would do some modelling) we went and started cutting M. le Maire's wood stock. What you see above are matchsticks compared to his tree that we cut into lengths! He has only another three to do, and I couldn't really not help him, could I? Busy life being retired! I shall try and do some more modelling this evening as I'm nowhere as tired as I have been these last few days. Speak soon, Philip

^ Hmmmmm .......... I think I should have re-read that. Six times 'cut' in four lines seems excessive, five in the same sentence too!

I haven't been loafing around enjoying my retirement - just completely pooped after being in the woods all day and no modelling was done in the evening. We have, however, cleared the three parcels, cut down all the trees that were to be cut plus some saplings that would come to nothing and cut whatever could be cut into 1.0m lengths. I shouldn't like to say just how many trees we cut (saplings excluded) but conservatively between 50 and 60. If I remember to take the camera with me I'll take some pictures. Friday another all-dayer as we will assemble all the cut lengths into conveniently placed piles to be split and then allowed to dry before bringing back down into stock ready for NEXT year - some will be burnt immediately this coming winter, but oak takes much longer to dry hence no good until the winter of 2025. Today is a day off as it's raining, so I'm going to tackle the arch cutting and glueing the formers for the arch onto the plywood base. Papering will follow. More tonight, Cheers, Philip

Unfortunately as the weather was overcast but dry, M. le Maire decided to press on and do as much as possible before lunch which meant a short lunch and back we went straight after - at least two parcels are now done and the third we start tomorrow. He thinks we'll have all 40 trees down and cut to length by the end of the day - WUT? - is he trying to kill me? If I have the courage and energy, I may do the curve cutting this evening after dinner. I'll have to use the kitchen worktop area as that's where is the best light and I can't do it now as Mrs Philou is preparing a soup .......... mmmmm soup :). Cheers everyone and take care, Philip

A report as promised - it was a slow start getting the feel for where I left off. I managed to cut my plywood retaining wall to length in two parts, the smaller of the two forming a short return wall. I had glue blocks already made up (remember them from last year?) so these were fixed to the underside of my formation and then the wall sections screwed to the blocks. The now one-piece wall was released from the formation complete with the blocks and brought indoors where the blocks were unscrewed temporarily to be then glued and screwed permanently in place. During the afternoon, I kept myself amused by sketching out some retaining wall details similar but not identical to that already made. Having decided on the detail, it was a question of marking out on some card of what was to go where. The card has been cut to height and length but tomorrow will be the cutting out of the arches. I need good light for that as I find the artificial light we have here casts too many shadows that make for less than satisfactory curve cutting. I'll tackle that during my lunch-time break. Once done, I shall get on and cut a basic form in thicker card on which to place the finer cut card facing. I can do that in the evening when I get back from wood cutting. It's good to get back to be doing 'something'. The weather is definitely getting milder (though still a tad damp) so going into the barn isn't such a thermal shock! Scenic stuff to do and my PVA, kitchen paper towel and plaster awaits for the off. More tomorrow, Cheers, Philip

Provided the PVA is NOT waterproof, you can re-wet it to loosen it. If the base is to be scrapped, it won't matter how much water you use! Having gently prised the nails up (if you used nails), remove them with a small pair pincers/pliers and you should be able to lift the trackwork. I have a very small upholstery tool that looks like the claws of a claw hammer that does the job as it fits between the rails (just!). It's ancient but still useful. Good luck! Philip

Hello chaps and chapesses, Right! Time to stop moping and saying 'It's too hard, difficult etc...' and get on 'doing something'! As I'm not happy that the card will give me a satisfactory result imitating plate girder, I shall get on with the other retaining walls. I have the ply already cut height-wise and only need to trim it to length. So, out will come all my cutting boards and cutters and the card plus printed paper that I put away yesterday and I can tackle all of this in the warmth as today is grey, wet and miserable and Mrs Philou and I shan't be doing any gardening. We had a good bash on Friday afternoon cutting down an apple tree that despite being 15 years old has never given a crop of apples (my favourite, Cox's Orange Pippin) whereas the adjoining one, a Best of Boskoop, gives a huge amount every year. So, down came the Cox's, a dwarf Leylandii that was over 10' tall and a whole load of prune tree suckers that had grown into saplings - oh - and coppiced a hazeltree that was rotting from the inside out. Now the garden looks like a mini Somme with tree branches all over the place. We'll cut them into manageable lengths with some big garden lopping shears and then burn them in a couple of weeks when dried out a little. Who ever said being in retirement was being always on holiday? Back to the woods tomorrow as there's another parcel of trees to be thinned (this time all standing) - there's about 40 to cut down - nothing big all less than 300mm (1') in diameter. Hopefully, a meaningful progress report tonight, Cheers everyone, Philip

Hello chums and chumesses, No modelling yet again today, it was out into the woods with M. le Maire to cut some trees into logs ready for the log-burner this coming winter. I have to confess I've run out of stock this year and had to GSI as the stuff I have left is absolute rubbish - too old and too wet. It burns but gives off no real heat so he and I (mostly he) are thinning out a parcel of trees (trees stunted, twisted or already fallen) already marked by the ONF (Office National des Forêts - Forestry Commission). It's quite cheap at €5 a stère (stère = 1m3 of wood cut into 1m lengths and split) but not as cheap as affouage (the right to cut and use thinnings) which is €35 for 35m3 in our commune. We cut about 6m3 of wood today (4T approximately) and more to be done tomorrow. The only thing is whilst relearning my woodsman's badge, my joints haven't yet acclimatised to the hard work - my wrists, feet and back are feeling it in the main. My chainsaw probably weighs more than 20 Accurascale Deltics! and I haven't used it in at least two years. Anyway, all is well and no mishaps with the saw nor falling trees on me or M. le Maire! More tomorrow, Philip who's pooped. Top tip: When using a chainsaw always work away from your feet, otherwise you could become a foot shorter and I'm not that tall already! The other thing, do make sure that your safety trousers are outside your safety shoes and not tucked inside. Result? Shoes full of wood chip and sawdust. How do I know this?

@lezz01 Well, I didn't know that - thanks for the information. Is Butanone (diluted) OK for the chairs that you sent? I don't want to end up with brown soup all over my baulks - oo-er missus. :) Cheers, Philip Top tip: If you use Ethyl Methyl Ketone, do be careful in its concentration in the air as apart from being flammable, it'll make you go woozy and at one time it was considered carcinogenic (whether it still is the case I don't know).

Hello everyone, A couple of days off to add to those already lost over Christmas and the New Year (unfortunately). I've struggling a bit with the bridge at the moment as my card isn't giving the same results as the first time I used for the bridge. I also had a closer look at what I originally constructed and am horrified to see glue marks and badly fitted bits of card - painting hides a lot! Rather than tear my hair out or give up, I'm changing the approach of the construction and I shall do it in Plasticard and Plastistrut but it'll wait until I get to my favourite railway porn shop - erm - emporium, Lord and Butler in Cardiff to which I shall get in mid-February. My brother advises me that he has a full stock of assorted shapes and sizes. I shall get rivet head transfers from RailTec. I made a useful discovery that I can acquire 5L quantities of EMK (MEK) or Butanone and iso Propyl Alcohol (iPA) here in France at about €6 a litre - that ought to make fair few bridges! Cheers, Philip

Good luck in your endeavours! Do stay focussed though - it's all too easy to waylaid - how do I know this? If you're pining for the ES1 - get it especially as your first thoughts (IIRC and maybe in the original post), was that wires were heading towards Queens Park(?). I like the slightly quirky or one-offs and I saw the ES1 on sale at the Locomotion shop in York - had not been in glossy I would have bought there and then! Cheers, Philip

Railway sleepers - hundreds of them! The irony being that they have to be loaded onto lorries as there are no rail-borne goods handling yards (or railway lines for that matter) within miles of this saw-mill: 80% are sold within France and the rest to Germany and Belgium. Only a very small amount goes to the UK. The sleepers are sent out out cut to size, drying and pressure treatment is carried out elsewhere and the finishing (rebates and bolt-hole drilling) is done by the respective railway PW departments. All in all, a very interesting and railway related morning. Cheers, Philip PS: I'm sure that some of them would be useful as timber baulks too :)) . PPS: Forgot to add that the extra-long ones are used in S&C works - but you probably guessed that!

................. there were hundreds of them, including these extra-long ones: Any ideas? All will be revealed in the next photo .............................

...................... message continues. And there were more: Next photo .......................

@5BarVT Oo-er ..... what a mess! Luckily the bridge didn't collapse when the loco was upon it. An excellent report showing the details in which I was interested and what's more it shows the construction of the plates and flanges in detail and I can use card in appropriate thicknesses. I can see now that the deck is supported by the cross-girders (and in my case, longitudinal 'I' beams underneath) and held in place by short flanges on the inside faces of the main and central girders. What good chaps you all are. As I'm keyboarding, I may as well continue with what I was going to write tonight. This morning, I went as part of my Council duties to a local saw-mill (I thought it was for Monday - but there you go). You might think 'boring' but on the contrary I found it very interesting for reasons you'll see a bit further below. The invite was in the guise of a working breakfast (don't get excited - not full English, just coffee and a croissant) for a hard-sell of entering contracts direct between the saw-mill and the communes, to which we are already subscribed. The idea being that the saw-mill can be assured of a steady supply of quality hardwoods (rather than all the trees being bought by the Chinese and then brought back as finished goods - it all keeps employment and money local - and I agree fully). The downside is of course that the Chinese buy at 30% more - so there is a slight loss of revenue to the communes. I found it all very interesting and the bulk of the wood sold by the saw-mill, apart from oak planks in assorted sizes for flooring, were these in beech (30,000 pieces/year) in lengths of around 2.8 - 4.7m and sections of 160 x 220mm: Continued on next message due to size of files ...................

@5BarVT Mmm, yes my model is going to be just that - two separate decks. I expressed myself badly in my musing. I'm trying to get my head around of just how the deck would be supported on the central girder if there are flanges every six feet (say). Regarding the two outer girders their outer faces would have flanges (they're usually the sides we can see from a road, for example) but I have assumed (probably wrongly) that the inside face has no flanges and just rivetted plates at each joint (I have a photo that may bear this out). But what happens when there's a central plate girder? The few photos that I have tend to show flanges, but the decks are big corrugated channels within which the sleepers are placed with a bit of ballast and an angled plate from the girder down to the channel presumably to stop the ballast falling out of the channelling (does this make sense?). How is all supported? I suppose the channel rests on the bottom flange of the girders. (I think this 'flange' is actually the web). ^ This photo shows a central girder but I can't see what's under the angled plate at sleeper level. This bridge has the corrugated channelling under the sleepers and having looked at the dimensions from this side and externally, it seems that the sleepers are partially inside the channelling. In my case, I'm having a flat bridge deck without ballast and the rails on baulks - how is the deck supported along its edges? Perhaps it isn't and is supported by the longitudinal 'I' beams below that are then supported by the steel sections. Are there cut-outs in the decks at each flange? I was in highway design but never did bridgeworks and even then our office only did concrete or concrete/welded steel composite. Plate girder construction is probably very old hat - but I'm curious - surely the Victorians didn't use skyhooks - or did they? :)))) The bridge that I used as illustration from the RAIB report above, appears plated but no rivets were used in its construction - its all nuts and bolts and unfortunately as the inspection concentrated on the damaged track and baulks, there are no details regarding the bridgeworks itself. I know I'm probably overdoing this thinking lark, but if you don't ask, you don't find out.