Jongudmund Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 That's a Postman Pat character driving the train isn't it? I think that's rather cool, personally. There's a g-scale lay out somewhere that uses Trumpton figures and they look really good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted September 17, 2016 Author Share Posted September 17, 2016 That's a Postman Pat character driving the train isn't it? I think that's rather cool, personally. There's a g-scale lay out somewhere that uses Trumpton figures and they look really good. Yes it is indeed a Postman Pat character - namely Ajay Baines who is the engine driver in the series. Normally found at the controls of another green steam locomotive, the Greendale Rocket, or in the cab of the more modern Pencaster Flyer. He was added to the cab by my four year old daughter who has quite a collection of such figures. I must admit I did not mind his presence in Otto's cab and there is every chance he could get another driving turn in the future. Although the picture does not show it - there was actually a second figure in the cab taken from her Brio train set. I think he must have been the rostered fireman for the day! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 (edited) Another Playmobil advert, this time the modern battery loco, with old, 1980s, stock. First thing this morning, in pyjamas and anorak. K Edited September 18, 2016 by Nearholmer 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted September 18, 2016 Author Share Posted September 18, 2016 Another Playmobil advert, this time the modern battery loco, with old, 1980s, stock. First thing this morning, in pyjamas and anorak. K Yes this is the one I have seen and considered for my railway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 Today has been the first official day of Spring. A pretty wet and grotty day welcomed the official start of the season. I did not quite expect to be tackling any outdoor railway work so early in the year. However circumstances dictated otherwise. I mentioned in an earlier post how the locations on the line (Saffron's Rest and Sasha's Halt) were named after the deceased family pets who were buried nearby. Last night we lost another animal member of the family. After just a year on this planet, my daughter Amber's hamster departed to the great pet shop in the sky. Fortunately Amber woke up in the night before the poor little mite took her last breath and was able to say her own goodbye. There were quite a few tears from her although she had recovered her composure enough to smile for the photograph she asked me to take as she held the poorly animal. So after work this evening there was the usually burial. Amber chose a location near to the track which we laid last summer. I could not believe how overgrown it had become. Once the weeds had been cleared and hole dug, we added a plant that I had bought on the way home. One of the heavier meerkat ornaments was relocated to sit over the grave to prevent any unwanted digging. A quick check along the line sees plenty of work to be done once the weather improves. A few of the shrubs are spreading well, but the front of the flower bed that represents the dinosaur park seems to have become quite a swamp. Plans for the year are to extend the track to run behind the shed and also along the western side of the garden. Hopefully I will not need to do any further pet enforced landscaping this year! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Apocriphal story of the clergyman's off-spring laying a pet to rest....."In the name of the Father and of the Son and into the hole he goes" Coat on.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 Yesterday was the first day of the school's Easter holiday. With decent weather and the need to tidy up the garden, the temptation was too great. Once the lawn had been cut, I started work on digging out more of the flower bed. A quick visit to to the garden centre for more concrete blocks allowed me to lay the track bed and track through the South West corner. The railhead now points towards the western straight. This will need the grass clearing and flower bed creating before I can lay more track. Today's forecast is for more good weather so there is a good chance of further progress. I forgot to take any photos yesterday, but here is one taken through the kitchen window this morning. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 10, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2017 Excellent stuff. The weather has been very kind, and I suspect progress has been made on many a railway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 10, 2017 Author Share Posted April 10, 2017 Thanks. The continuing good weather resulted in more progress yesterday. The lawn has been dug out to create the flower bed for the next part of the route (coming towards the camera on the right of the previous picture). A good length of the western straight has been laid and ballasted. I have now used all of the concrete base blocks in stock and will need to purchase more before any further extension can take place. I still have about 10 straight lengths of LGB track ready to lay as well as a number of curved pieces. I will need to purchase some more of the fencing for edging the lawn with. A few other jobs will take precedence today, but hopefully I can post some photographs of the current progress later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 10, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2017 Excellent news. Just seen your location. Not a million miles from me. I run 32mm gauge but you would be more than welcome to visit! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 10, 2017 Author Share Posted April 10, 2017 Where are you located? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 10, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2017 Where are you located? Stapleford - west side of Nottingham Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 10, 2017 Author Share Posted April 10, 2017 Stapleford - west side of Nottingham Yes that is not too far away. I did a course once at the George Spencer Academy near there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Andy I see in another thread that you are contemplating a live steamer. Can I chip-in another recommendation to choose Roundhouse? I've had four or five over the years, and they are superbly engineered - more robust than some other makes, I would suggest, so ideal for your sort of railway. Most of my 16mm locos were disposed of to help finance 0 gauge, but I've kept "Billy", which was the first one I had, and at nearly twenty years old, he is still going strong. I'm in the process of resurrecting My little garden railway, and might even build an extension this year, so I intend to strip the radio system from "Billy" (I prefer manual). He might appear here in steam fairly soon. Kevin 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Minded Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Totally agree with your comments on Roundhouse engineering and build quality Kevin, and would add that their after sales support is second to none. I'd also say though that in my experience over the years, Accucraft have improved in all of those aspects, and so the "Ragleth" shouldn't be overlooked as a candidate for a first live steam loco. Again, it can be purchased as manual control and R/C can be added if required later (along with any number of other modifications), and it has a reverser instead of slip eccentric which may appeal to some beginners. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 Thanks again for the advice. Both makes seem to have their merits. As I mentioned elsewhere, my dream is for a live steam loco for Keeper's Grange. However until I have a complete circuit it is pointless paying out for one. This gives me time to save. I did make some further progress last weekend, which I will share in due course, but I am still a long way from a complete circuit. I doubt any further progress will be made during the coming week so things will probably have to be on hold now until the summer break. I would love to have a complete circuit by the end of this summer, but I am not optimistic. Plenty of time for saving up. In the meantime I have spied a very reasonably priced r/c battery loco on EBay which would suffice in the meantime and I have The LGB "Otto" already when I use track power. I have also spotted some very basic kits by Locolines. One of which is an outline of a Corris type saddle tank. These are battery operated and may also provide a cheap temporary option. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 23, 2017 Author Share Posted April 23, 2017 Another nice, sunny day has seen me out in the garden preparing further sections of the planned line. There has also been some time to get the loco out and test the extended sections of track that were laid earlier in the Easter holiday. The extended section is shown in the first picture. This shows the beginning of the western straight which will lead to the site of the main station at Saffron's Rest. To test the track a temporary connection was made from a Hornby set track controller. The line's one loco, "Otto", was placed onto the track and travelled well over the new section. Sadly it stalled on the older sections. That was no surprise really because I have not cleaned it since winter. One connection, on the curve through Meerkat Wood, also did not seem to be making a good electrical connection. Perhaps the track bed and track has moved during the winter months. Some additional ballast was added and this seemed to help the loco to progress further. Sadly it did not progress the full length of the line. Some serious track cleaning needed then. The remaining pictures show "Otto" stalled on the gradient through Meerkat Wood and the overgrown track section that was not operable today. I am back to work tomorrow so predict there will be little progress until the half term break. If I can clear the weeds from the sides of the track bed before then I will feel happy. I have plans to purchase a cheap R/C locomotive to use in the near future. That may arrive before the main summer operating period. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 24, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 24, 2017 Great work. Having a job always gets in the way of railway construction, fortunately being an academic I get plenty of leave! Have you considered converting Otto to battery power? I'm sure its doable. You can get micro receivers which would fit not problem, and the only limitation would be the amount of space required to fit the battery. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 24, 2017 Author Share Posted April 24, 2017 Great work. Having a job always gets in the way of railway construction, fortunately being an academic I get plenty of leave! Have you considered converting Otto to battery power? I'm sure its doable. You can get micro receivers which would fit not problem, and the only limitation would be the amount of space required to fit the battery. That would mean me being capable of doing such a task. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Minded Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 Just a thought Andy, but are you aware that "Garden Railway Specialists" sell kits that are designed to fit on the Otto chassis? Here's just one of them that I've built in the past.... Loads of room for batteries etc inside that saddle tank Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 25, 2017 Author Share Posted April 25, 2017 That is a nice looking model. I will look into those kits at some point. Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 25, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 25, 2017 That would mean me being capable of doing such a task. Its not as difficult as it sounds. Most of it is plug an play, and I'm sure plenty of help and advice is around on the forum. I use the RC Trains system. http://rctrains.co.uk/ You don't have to solder all the connections together, it can be done with mini connection blocks, although I bet there are alternatives to those out there. If you can wire a layout up (which obviously you can ) you can fit battery RC to Otto. Any questions please don't hesitate to ask! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 25, 2017 Author Share Posted April 25, 2017 Its not as difficult as it sounds. Most of it is plug an play, and I'm sure plenty of help and advice is around on the forum. I use the RC Trains system. http://rctrains.co.uk/ You don't have to solder all the connections together, it can be done with mini connection blocks, although I bet there are alternatives to those out there. If you can wire a layout up (which obviously you can ) you can fit battery RC to Otto. Any questions please don't hesitate to ask! My layout wiring skills are currently two crocodile clips attached to a track! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 26, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 26, 2017 My layout wiring skills are currently two crocodile clips attached to a track! Everyone starts somewhere! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 26, 2017 Author Share Posted April 26, 2017 Everyone starts somewhere! Very true. I know my limitations at the moment. I am close to buying a cheap German outline R/C model to provide alternative power for now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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