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McMullen Coal Company reborn into 7.1/4"


Owd Bob
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I finally managed to get hold of some ride on railway track which was for sale very local to me and at the right price, wether it becomes a usable railway or just a garden feature we will see. A start was made on laying the 5 metres of the 7.1/4 gauge stuff.  I was told once to lay the widest track you can fit in your garden and the seven and a quarter stuff is just about right for the space, especially the width i have here. These first two sections are laid onto the solid block and concrete footings of my old 16mm. garden line. The track bed was made up using granite dust chippings laid in a two inch layer and which was firmly trod down and then screeded and levelled both ways by a length of 3"x2" wooden post, the track was loosely laid on top of this level and after some minor adjustments, two B&Q bags of 10mm diam' white Limestone chippings were brushed into and around the sleepers. After a night of rain the whole thing has set solid. I'm lucky to have enough garden room for a good straight out and back run with a few sidings and a passing loop. I'm in no rush and stuff will be bought as and when i find it cheap enough or when i'm in the mood.  My main aim is to make my own stock and loco's using any old metal and items i can get my hands on. I already made a start on a couple of 'V' skips using left over recent car repair off cuts. I'm sticking to a narrow gauge theme and i'm using a rounded off scale of three and half inch to the foot. 

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I finally managed to get hold of some ride on railway track which was for sale very local to me and at the right price, 

 

I wonder where the old sidings recently lifted from Springs Branch went to Bob !!!!!!!!

 

Nice to see you back in the garden and look forward to seeing this progress.

 

Best Wishes - Brit15

 

 

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Cheers Apollo, its been slow going here i've not been out and about or around the branch for a few weeks, but i bet it all got weighed in, sometimes the Lads deserve a bit of scrap money for all that ball ache:D We've been using most dry days to try and get our old camper van done up this summer...looks like it'll be sat here another winter yet though! Sometimes you just have to walk away from some things before it totally do's yer yed in!;) ....so God knows why am i still with swmbo:crazy_mini::biggrin_mini2:

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Good question!;) I have an old Aldi petrol generator i hope to use one day, nowt wrong with it only the plastic bung/tap fitting going into the bottom of the fuel tank has rotted away so an excuse enough to break it up, not sure if the 240v it pumps out is safe though, so a smaller genny or a car alternator might work....all good thinking and scribbling fun and more fettling with bits of scrap for the future.:)

           More pics' of the future track bed going through the old gate and behind my shed, this area by the side of the shed will make a nice station halt and is the only area i've had to fill and build up with rubble and blocks to raise it up level with the rest of the garden. The 'V'  tub is taking shape, the cheap Aldi welder will have to come out soon.....if it still works! 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've been waiting for the rain to stop a lot lately...but have'nt we all!:mad: So i got together some recent off cuts and odds and ends and made a signal in my lean-to. The signal arm was bought on line, the pole is a metre tall and is an off cut piece of stainless exhaust pipe from my old camper van resto, the ladder was made from 10mm alloy angle also left over from the van resto' the spike on the top is a plastic finial off a defunct bird feeder. A counter balance is made from a elongated 'L' shaped bracket with an old 40mm diam' weight from a set of old fashioned kitchen scales bolted on. Not a serious effort but a bit of lineside clutter that might look right and cost pennies.

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I saw several loco' bogies listed for sale on fee bay last week, so i made offers on two and got them for a very reasonable price, the one that came yesterday is a great item and only need a few tweeks, and it's very solid and very heavy, once the other arrives i'll think up what i can design to stick on top of  'em....nowt a big hammer, a grinder fitted with a cutting disc and a borrowed mig welder won't solve or put right.....can't beat a bit of back street bodging :lol: I decided on bogies as my line will have some quite tight curves if and when its done.....and i'd rather sit in a loco' than on or behind it. :rolleyes:

 

 

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28 minutes ago, alastairq said:

An old 'Howard Gem' would suit me just fine:D with the exhaust silencer box left off.....and would'nt the pay back be a b*tch on the scummy neighbours.:biggrin_mini2::D

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I've spent this last weeks evenings stripping down the bogie, the bearings which are set into steel blocks are all ok and run fine after a night soaking them in paraffin, it was surprising how much crud and grit came out of them. All were packed with fresh grease and put back on the axle ends. Both the side frames at one had only had stretched upwards so the cut outs where the bearing block slides into had become slightly wider making the blocks slack and not just touching slightly enough to slide up and down like they should. Nowt a lump hammer, a vice and a wooden block did'nt soon put right, i can only assume the bogie had a lot of weight on that one end/axle in the past. Most of the nuts and bolts on the whole bogie even though covered in two thick layers of paint were loose and all needed removing, cleaning and tightening up using thread lock. The bogie and wheel sets was paint stripped, rubbed down and etch primed, axles are now back on and all sits square and level. If and when i get a chance i will seek out a full set of new springs as one is slightly smaller in diam' than the other seven. I'm in no hurry for a final coat of paint as i'd like to weld both the ends up with plates instead of the round bars that have been bent and adjusted to the end of their threads in the past. Hopefully the second bogie will arrive today. :)

 

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If its not it soon will be!:D Dead handy having that disc already on it, it's saved me loads of time and effort.:) Just in the middle of stripping the recent one down, looks like the big hammer will have to come out again.:butcher:

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That time of year again and what with three lovely dry days swmbo and i set about cleaning up the garden and shifting all the dead leaves that had dropped, we also split up and transplanted some plants. The main job was to shove swmbo little summer house shed two feet away from the line of the track bed, which we did shockingly easily by sticking a garden fork under each back corner and then lifting and pushing thus sliding it along its base of gravel, all surplus stone and gravel from under where the shed once was, was then used to level off the track bed and levelled on top of the old blocks we'd already laid, it left the original ground/soil level that was turned over and improved by mixing in some decent compost. The long narrow bed all along the fence line was also forked over and more compost was mixed in, then any split and spare plants were planted into it. Rubble from elsewhere in the yard was used to fill up the small platform area along side my shed. The black painted shed will be demolished quite soon and then the track bed can continue straight through for at least another eight metres. 

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....or ''How this part of the north west was won from the scummy neighbours":D....eee by heck! it don't half drive 'em bonkers whenever they see us doing owt or spending owt on the house or the garden:pilot:...Oh! dear how sad never mind!:crazy_mini::D

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1 hour ago, Owd Bob said:

and i wish my wife looked like Claudia Cardinale

 You sure about that,  'Owd Bob? [Just done a google search....oh deaahhh!]

 

Reminds me,............ got spotted & collared by my first-Ex-wife in Tescos the other day, She recognised my body shape [of all things]...I dropped a cauliflower in surprise!....Oh dear.....there is much truth to pass on to the younger generation, when they consider marriage? [Take a gander at future Mum-in-Law , to see what you've got to look forward to?]  

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  • 2 weeks later...

With a few dry days and some appeasing to do to her indoors, a small second hand pre-moulded pond was bought local off that thar face-ache book thing by her off her phone i hate the things and won't use 'em, best thing is to keep her happy and then i can add another siding or two later on:P Most of the blocks and the rubble from the pond excavation hole were used to make another track-bed short spur.

 

 

 

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