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The North Kent Light Railway


hobbyhorse
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Some heavy engineering now, which is for the Gantry Crane.

We've got one on The Yard layout which I'm sure many of you have seen. This one is a bit smaller and the base is of different construction, being precast concrete. The upper carriage will be similar to The Yard, and the cabin will gauged the same to act as a spare should it be needed.

I had some brass T section and square in stock that looks very similar in size to the prototype, and after a couple of hours on the mill the basic structure was complete, I'm using pins at the moment to hold it together but it will be glued.

Some copper clad strip is used to mount the rail, as this will be insulated on both sides as it's used to get power to the cabin.

Next to make will be the cabin.

 

Simon

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been cracking on with the carriage for the Gantry Crane, at times it seams like building the Forth Bridge but it is enjoyable.

It is constructed of 4 panels with the central 2 made up of T beams top and bottom, and the outer 2 plan angle. The cost of brass T section was eye watering so I made them my self, with all the other off the shelf from a well known supplier. Each panel was assembled in a jig, this ensures everything is square. The wheels are insulated on both ends again, this well be used to supply power to the control cabin, plus the rails on the top is also insulated for the cabin to run on. The most time consuming bit was the outer 2 panels and the end details as this required the stiffening plate work. It still requires quite a lot of detailing such as walkways, ladders, piping etc, but these will be added once it's working.

 

Simon

 

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Looking around at the trade offerings for suitable small yard office type buildings I decided that around the £50 mark each was rather expensive, so other than some doors, windows and chimneys which I already had I spent this week putting these together. These will be used as the reception office for the Yard masters that also contain the ground frames. The walls are made from Foamex scribed with suitable brick work and coloured with a mixture of rattle cans, acrylics and coloured pencils.

Simon

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Things are progressing well with the gantry crane, RC gear fitted, primmer applied and the control cabin constructed.

Also built another two cranes, these being 2 axis versions. With these I built all the beams as nothing available in the sizes I needed.

With these I'm using a different control system which is wired, one of the group suggested using an Arduino and Joy stick, which has provided excellent control, it is also fitted to it is a servo output which will control a plate to remove alignment issues.

 

Simon

 

Youtube Videos 

Gantry Crane

2 Axis Crane

 

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Edited by hobbyhorse
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Having lived nearby and visit Medway and Dartford on a near daily basis I’m really excited to see this layout develop.

 

Have you visited the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway in Medway? That’s a great little railway with a unique industrial setting!

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52 minutes ago, LDM34046 said:

Having lived nearby and visit Medway and Dartford on a near daily basis I’m really excited to see this layout develop.

 

Have you visited the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway in Medway? That’s a great little railway with a unique industrial setting!

Yes have visited the S&KLR it certainly an interesting area. I spend a lot of time at the Bredgar railway just up the road, have you visited us.

Thanks for the comments its starting to come to life.

 

Simon

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12 minutes ago, hobbyhorse said:

Yes have visited the S&KLR it certainly an interesting area. I spend a lot of time at the Bredgar railway just up the road, have you visited us.

Thanks for the comments its starting to come to life.

 

Simon


Yes! I used to visit Bredgar a lot as a kid but haven’t visited in recent years.

 

Do you work there? I’m a commercial photographer by trade so waiting for a good event to come along to and shoot. It’s a stunning railway in a great location.

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14 minutes ago, LDM34046 said:


Yes! I used to visit Bredgar a lot as a kid but haven’t visited in recent years.

 

Do you work there? I’m a commercial photographer by trade so waiting for a good event to come along to and shoot. It’s a stunning railway in a great location.

Yes I volunteer at the railway, keep an eye on the WEB site. We have the classic car event tomorrow but with limited rides because of restrictions, but hopeful that our model railway show in August will have less restrictions.

 

Simon

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11 minutes ago, hobbyhorse said:

Yes I volunteer at the railway, keep an eye on the WEB site. We have the classic car event tomorrow but with limited rides because of restrictions, but hopeful that our model railway show in August will have less restrictions.

 

Simon


I’ll keep my eye out for the Model Railway show!

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