Jump to content
 

The McMullen Coal Company Light Railway


Owd Bob
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Premium

When we were in Ireland we found,

a) some of the road direction signs turned the wrong way to confuse visitors.

b) a peat bog railway where the trackbed was in a disused canal, it even ran through the lock, complete with rotting gates but no water!

 

If you wanted to avoid the cost of a works plate for a loco, you could make it look like it had fallen off or been removed.

Link to post
Share on other sites

When we were in Ireland we found,

a) some of the road direction signs turned the wrong way to confuse visitors.

b) a peat bog railway where the trackbed was in a disused canal, it even ran through the lock, complete with rotting gates but no water!

 

If you wanted to avoid the cost of a works plate for a loco, you could make it look like it had fallen off or been removed.

They certainly seem to have a relaxed view of life over there Colin, i have a friend who visits his friends and family a few times a year and he says they just don't care and don't rush into anything. I come from Irish stock myself but have never been over to the families home town of Bray...but it looks lovely in some pics' i've seen. I've been told by a old Uncle of mine that there is a big jewelers shop on the main high street in Dublin, which is owned by the family and distant Cousins...i wonder if i have any shares in it? lol... Cor! they would buy a few live steamers!  :mail:

Thank you Rob for your kind words :good:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Wonderful layout Bob, wonderful modelling.

More please!

 

Cheers, Dave.

Dave' i'm laying the viaduct sections in the lovely weather right now, i'll try see if i've time to take a few more pics' later....meanwhile heres few random pics' and of some visiting loco's including a few steamers.  

 

post-31611-0-45419400-1491131848_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-73334700-1491131969_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-97886100-1491131993_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-50217700-1491132029_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-47664400-1491132051_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-66152800-1491132100_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-33719600-1491132154_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-58406900-1491132188_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-89942600-1491132276_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-07047500-1491132360_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-07782200-1491132308_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-78095200-1491132215_thumb.jpg

  • Like 10
Link to post
Share on other sites

And people say garden railways aren't scale modelling! Beautiful builds and the weathering is spot on :)

Cheers Paul, i've no excuse for keeping them clean when they are out in all weathers, and anyway the more filth ..the better for me, these are industrial locos' doing an hard dirty job, i do leave stuff sat outside for weeks on end in all weathers, and the only risk i take is that they might get stolen, :fool: I see it and treat it as being just like the real thing with all its weather related  probs' and the occasional damage caused by wildlife strolling the line....well! Cats and Hedgehogs :) After two months of waiting for the right weather and getting the timing just right i was up and out early this morning and i've finally laid the viaduct arches and ballasted up a short section of the track that i had to rip up and skew over an inch. I'll need to make some shuttering and get it all concreted in later this week. I managed to take a few pics' and run a few trains later on and they include the recently built drift mine loco' which i've nick named 'Salamander' it is'nt based on anything real, it is powered by two HGLW budget chassis and two 6v. motors and it needs to be powerful enough to get up a very steep incline from the pit yard and then up to the canal basin....and trials will be done with it when the track is acquired for that section. Slowly the buildings are being put back out and into place as the weather warms up and the days get longer, i used to leave them out all the time but recent Winter storms made me change my mind after i had some damage done  :blackeye:

post-31611-0-30492100-1491143473.jpg

post-31611-0-40479700-1491143511_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-95368200-1491143584_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-29314700-1491143617_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-63967300-1491143644_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-70259700-1491143715_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-21499700-1491143750_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-97182400-1491143781_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-51252900-1491143816_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-05994300-1491143875_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-55991400-1491143910_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-86006100-1491144007_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-46145200-1491144047_thumb.jpg

  • Like 11
Link to post
Share on other sites

Great to see the viaduct going in - I know how long you've been waiting for the weather to let you do it :rolleyes:

 

Marvelous set of photo's (as ever!) and I've already spotted a few ideas and 'reminders' for things that need doing on my own line :D

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, photo of it on this page: http://smallmr.com/wordpress/small-layout-insperations/  Very modellogenic!

 

Nice site at that link, with some interesting stuff. When I was about to click the link, though, I thought "that won't work, he's copied it wrong - look at the spelling!", but no, the site really is called "small layout insperations". Too late to tell the site owner, I suppose...

Link to post
Share on other sites

Great to see the viaduct going in - I know how long you've been waiting for the weather to let you do it :rolleyes:

 

Marvelous set of photo's (as ever!) and I've already spotted a few ideas and 'reminders' for things that need doing on my own line :D

Aye! NM, i thought i'd waited long enough, so it was time to get mi ass in gear when i saw the Sun up early this morn'  and it was probably more like four months of waiting for the weather to be right than the two i first thought, the bad news is i used one more viaduct section than i thought, some how the outer diam' is longer than the inner lol. ..so i need to get another one done and made for a certain person soon!  :P  Yes! the 'Robey' Neil is a lovely loco' and belongs to a Father & Son team from up the North East, and they know their stuff alright!...and the Son now runs a garden railway wagon making venture called 'Harecroft'...nowt like free ads' so i hope he see's this and gives me some discount.  :good:

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice site at that link, with some interesting stuff. When I was about to click the link, though, I thought "that won't work, he's copied it wrong - look at the spelling!", but no, the site really is called "small layout insperations". Too late to tell the site owner, I suppose...

'Tis a nice site indeed, some great ideas for folks just who are thinking about starting up, cheers DLT :) just seen the 'Countryfile' weather forecast for the week ahead...looks like the snowplough will have to come out next week :O

Link to post
Share on other sites

Just going back to answering an earlier question from Mike about my ballasting techniques, whilst putting the viaduct arches in yesterday i had to lift about 20 inches of track to align it with the centre of the new viaduct, so the old ballast had to be chipped out gently using an old bevel edged wood chisel which makes an ideal scraper as well, the old ballast was brushed and cleaned out then the track was re-positioned, leveled up and screwed back down, a dry mix of granite chippings was mixed 50/50 with pure cement, no sand is needed as there is enough granite dust to hold it all together. The mix is spread on and into all the track sleepers gaps and pressed/firmed in hard just using your fingers, i then brush any excess off with an old paint brush. Next step is to make sure all the inner side and outer side of the rails are clear of any mix, especially any that is compacted on top of the sleeper chairs, i use an old dentist hook tool (which i use for coupling up the chains on all my stock) to scrape it all out, last thing is to give it another gentle brushing to get any loose ballast off. In dry areas or during dry weather i would  spray it regular with an hand held sprayer, my yesterdays efforts did'nt need watering as it soaked up any dampness from the surrounding line-side soil beds. The ballasting usually lasts a few years but it will always break up and come loose in places just like the real thing and it's a nice gentle fun job to do on nicer days patching it up. When set solid and on a dry day i use pound shop cheap matt Black paint diluted 50/50 with Turps or White spirits to paint all the ballast and create an oiled up look.

 

The pure Granite Chippings

post-31611-0-57384400-1491207333_thumb.jpg

 

Granite Chippings with added cement.

post-31611-0-07201200-1491207433_thumb.jpg

 

post-31611-0-63578600-1491207485_thumb.jpg

 

post-31611-0-07264500-1491207520_thumb.jpg

 

post-31611-0-45188300-1491207599_thumb.jpg

 

The final outcome which will be left to dry and even get whetted by the dew and rain for a few weeks before finding a nice dry day to paint it up. 

post-31611-0-84524100-1491207645_thumb.jpg

 

post-31611-0-46169200-1491207704_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

"owd bob" :onthequiet: :lol:

so this is where you are hiding.

welcome

Oh God! ....not you Ossy :no:  :sungum: Nice to know i'm in such good company, so how long have you been here? and where are all your postings on here? :dontknow:  :beee:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Many, many thanks for posting pics and explanation of your technique on ballasting. I have used regular granite ballast (for 0 gauge I think) on the previous layouts, one bound with outdoor PVA, and one with a mortar mix, and they both looked too "clean", too much like a preserved line, despite the encouragement of moss and Mind-Your-Own Business in darker parts. The addition of black paint works extremely well, and the use of irregular granite fines really makes a difference. The latter is rather hard to find in these 'ere parts, being all sandstone, but clearly this is a technique I must try, somehow!

 

Beautiful work - you should really get a mag to publish your layout, to get it to a much wider, and I am sure very appreciative audience. If Andy Y is reading this, what about it? If not, I know the RM always do a summer garden layout feature. And there is always Garden Rail, it's more natural home, but a more widely read mag would encourage more people to look to the garden. Many think you cannot achieve this level of realism in the garden but you, and a very few others I would suggest, have proven that theory to be be wrong. It is on a par with the very great Peter Jones, but with more detail.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Yes sending an article to RM or Garden Rail, (No doubt Andy could slide the pics over the table as they are the same publisher ;) ), would add quite a few pennies to the steam loco coffers too. Your photographs are good quality and well composed and I could see a follow up series of build articles being popular too in especially in RM or Garden Rail who tend to do such features in garden scales more than BRM.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Aye! NM, i thought i'd waited long enough, so it was time to get mi ass in gear when i saw the Sun up early this morn'  and it was probably more like four months of waiting for the weather to be right than the two i first thought, the bad news is i used one more viaduct section than i thought, some how the outer diam' is longer than the inner lol. ..so i need to get another one done and made for a certain person soon!  :P  Yes! the 'Robey' Neil is a lovely loco' and belongs to a Father & Son team from up the North East, and they know their stuff alright!...and the Son now runs a garden railway wagon making venture called 'Harecroft'...nowt like free ads' so i hope he see's this and gives me some discount.  :good:

 

I hope the outside is longer than the inside or it wouldn't be curved. Interesting way of doing it I would have built a mould for one arch and cast them one section at a time. Your waylooks as though it might be a lot quicker.

Don

Link to post
Share on other sites

I hope the outside is longer than the inside or it wouldn't be curved. Interesting way of doing it I would have built a mould for one arch and cast them one section at a time. Your waylooks as though it might be a lot quicker.

Don

I was only joking about the inside and outside Don! :mosking:  Yes! they would work perfect on the straight and i've used one for my Canal tunnel, with a bit of jiggling about i've set them in ok without having to cut any, not prototypical at all but then i don't really look at the real things half the time and just do things my own daft way....and i'm always learning from the mistakes along the way. :drag: and i can only see one side at a time. I see it as being a fictional railway set up by the wealthy skin flint 'Victorian minded' coal mine and land owner, who is always working his staff to near death and investing little whilst doing it, always doing things on the cheap to pay for his next shooting & Golfing trips to Scotland ;)  :jester:

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks Mike & Paul, you really are making me blush here, and no way ever would i class myself as being on a par with the Guru and God that was Peter Jones...i'm not that worthy at all :nono:  i just do my own thing my own way as i always have, if what i do and how i do it now helps and inspires others to start & join this great hobby then thats fair enough for me!  When you see what other members are doing on here in much smaller gauges it makes what i do seem nothing in comparison. As for doing an article and telling others what to do, well that's another really nice compliment and something i'll really have to think long and hard about, although the thought of getting paid for it somehow did make me sit up and take notice!  ;)  :D

Myself and the concrete mixer(swmbo) :angel:  were up early again this morning and making most of another unbelievable dry & warm Sunny day..what two days on the trot?...never! :sungum: We got a full barrow load of a sand, cement and Granite chippings all mixed & ready between us before 7.30am, and all to be used to fill up the new viaduct arches we laid yesterday. I was at a loss to find what the heck we could use for shuttering until i spotted the two large sheets of 2mm thick plastic card i only bought last week for another daft building project i have yet to finish. Ah! well never mind! i hope they'll clean up and be re-usable when the mix has set. Having cut the plastic card to the right lengths we filled the arches and rammed the wet but not sloppy mix into it slowly but firmly down with a big stick! There is a rise in the trackbed of about half an inch over the three foot length of the arches so out came the same big stick to screed and scrape across to get the gentle rise we needed. A small gutter/trench of about 15mm. deep and 15mm.wide was gorged out with a single finger to make a shallow drainage ditch on either side of the trackbed and right up against the side walls of the viaduct, which we then filled with soil and hopefully the Moss will come and grow and spread in them both. :scratchhead: The curve of the original track bed was made a lot wider with the viaduct after some visiting 0-6-0 loco's had sticking probs' on the then tight curves last Autumn, which means the original track pieces that went there are now not long enough! and an order to 'Trackshack' for another bundle of ten lengths is on the cards for tomorrow.   

post-31611-0-47087300-1491230856_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-34593500-1491230901_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-09273500-1491230937_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-42138600-1491230976_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-32096100-1491231010_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-88955100-1491231049_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-66322600-1491231092_thumb.jpg

post-31611-0-61472100-1491231126_thumb.jpg

 

No Animals were harmed in the process! :butcher:

post-31611-0-16867300-1491231196_thumb.jpg 

  • Like 10
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

what track are you ordering "Bob"

 

Well interestingly it states in the first post all the track was Peco SL300 which would mean it is N gauge. I reckon it is SM32 which is SL600. Good track but you either need to pull the rails out and pre-bend them or make sure the ends of the lengths are well fixed down on tight curves to avoid doglegs.

Don 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...