The South Buckinghamshire Light Railway

[Martino]

Mother’s Day in the USA, so ran a train hauled by my 95 year old mother’s namesake.  The Peckett ‘Betty’.

[Mike Storey]

The engine shed and coal stage have come out very well indeed! It is difficult to get it all to look right, and you have managed that.

 

I have just finished restoring one signal box (ex-Old Bob) and have recently finished a new kit of another. I am just in the finishing stages of the Pendle Valley engine shed kit, and hope to post photos soon on my thread "Belle End", when the weather improves!!

[Martino]

Thanks Mike.  Trying to get things done here before it gets too hot! Currently about 83F (28.3C) with low humidity, but after May it will get too hot and steamy to do much outside work, so will be confined to the air conditioned workshop.  First World problems eh?

[Martino]

Having been impressed with the Thorley Minatures engine shed and coaling stage, I acquired their 16mm signal box kit. My idea is to fit it with a detailed (ish!) interior, so I have created an interior floor to carry the detailing.  Luckily I have an unused signal box detail kit from the much missed Back2Bay6. 

Anyway, the job begins.....

 

[Martino]

The Farnham Common Signal Box is pretty nearly finished.  Just a couple of coats of varnish, a bit of touch up here and there, some signs and then it can go onto the line.  It will be illuminated by an adapted garden solar light. 

 

Then on to the next project.....

[Martino]

So, the signal box is now (temporarily) installed with the solar powered lighting working.  The engine shed is in it’s final position (although has to be capable of being moved inside if and when we get a hurricane!). The solar panel for the engine shed is in the top of the water tank.

[Martino]

Area around the signal box now virtually finished.  Just need to acquire some ‘junk’ to litter the area.

 

The new station building has arrived, so that’s the next big project.  By ‘big’, I mean it’s 38 ins long.

[Martino]

The new station building for Farnham Common is nearly finished.  Just a couple of coats of varnish and some hanging baskets and it’s ready to be installed.  A Thorley Miniatutes resin kit.

[Martino]

The building is finished and in place.  Still needs to be ‘embedded’ into the platform.

[Martino]

[Martino]

I decided that the Hudswell diesel ‘Denny’ needed a GWR style shunter’s truck, so butchered a Swift Sixteen tool wagon to suit.  Here’s Denny pottering about Farnham Common yard today.

[Martino]

Night falling on the SBLR tonight.

[Ben B]

That shot along the tracks towards the station is wonderfully atmospheric

[Martino]

6 hours ago, Ben B said:

That shot along the tracks towards the station is wonderfully atmospheric

Many thanks Ben.

[Martino]

I’ve got a boggy bit in the garden where the embankment is acting as a dam in wet weather, so have decided to replace part of the embankment to allow drainage into the next door neighbour’s garden (he can thank me later).  I need a bridge to cross the gap.

A four foot truss bridge is in construction.  Side one completed and the components for the second side plus top and bottom links have been cut.   Sunday looks like a day of drilling and riveting.

[Martino]

Construction complete apart from the mountings where it sits on the embankment piers.  Need to cut, stain and seal the wooden decking and then paint the whole thing.  Next job?  Earthworks.

 

[Martino]

Trial installation.  Still needs decking and painting.  Plus of course some beautification of the area.  March is a cruel month in the garden!

[Martino]

Just to prove it works!

 

[Martino]

Truss bridge completed, painted and installed.  Plants put in, and test trains run.

[Martino]

Running my track on slightly elevated blocks around my garden has been very effective, however the blocks have become and effective barrier for water that needs to drain off the lawn during heavy rain (tropical storms and the odd hurricane).  I built one truss bridge that was effective in solving part of the problem and here’s another girder bridge cobbled together to sort out another area.  It does need some brickwork piers at each end of course.

[Martino]

Some experiments on the SBLR today.  The engine shed had its windows replaced.  I had used the conventional method of using thin perspex but this was affected by light (it fogged) and heat (it warped). So I replaced the perspex with scientific microscope slides. Real 1mm thick glass.  We’ll see how that holds up.  Also replaced the illumination, in both the engine shed and the goods shed.  Next job will be to replace the glazing in both the signal box and the station building.

[Dorkingian]

That yellow tinge to the lighting looks very realistic, and your maroon girder bridge really looks authentic - so I hope it does the business with your floodwater.

[Martino]

Today was a day for running the railway!

[Martino]

[Martino]

The signal box was completed and installed a year ago.  In general it has stood up pretty well.  The windows however have become fogged and warped, being perspex/plastic.  So in line with the engine shed, I’ve replaced the glazing with 1mm thick scientific microscope glass.  A change of battery in the solar powered lights and we’re good to go for another year.  Now move on to the station building, with rather more windows.