TONFANAU CAMP - IT AIN'T HALF WET MUM

[John R Smith]

That looks really good, Chris. It's a variant that would probably appeal to a lot of people if you brought it out as a production item.

 

John

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Mervyn,

I still shiver at the memory of freezing inside nissen huts masquerading as officers' messes at among other places Otterburn, Sennybridge, Wretham A, Warcop, Westdown and the magnificently named Knook Camp. I gave up on Army blankets and slept in my nice warm issue sleeping bag aka maggot.

 

Sadly, I have not yet found any suitable 1950s army lorries to the right scale and all I have is the Oxford Models Mark 1 Land Rover in REME markings. A couple of days ago I actually laid the first pieces of track on Tonfanau Camp having procrastinated the task for a few months. More to follow, but not while we are having beach weather.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

Hi Chris,

 

Lovely work!

 

There were an awful lot of Nissen Huts around the real Down Ampney (which appeared on Penelope Keith's villages programme recently) - Dad recounts his time in one, IIRC, several in fact, I remember as a lad he had one as a workshop, wherein we would toast cheese sarnies - I have fond memories of those old tin and concrete buildings, but as you say, ruddy cold in winter and hot in summer (and I didn't have live/sleep in one!).

 

As you know the RAF branch on Down Ampney is an 'off stage' venture......yet seeing those Nissen Huts makes me think about building a shunting plank module to represent such though.

 

If you look at Brian Daniels' Thread he has made up some lovely WM military vehicle kits - I cant remember the name of the manufacturer - they're pricey but very nice, not sure what eras they do, but maybe worth a look? I understand that Pete Waterman may be doing military vehicles soon too.

 

ATVB

 

CME

Edited September 26, 2016 by CME and Bottlewasher

[81A Oldoak]

Progress on Tonfanau Cmp has been held up by day-job work, preparing for the delivery of the Minerva Victory and work on the Minerva 57XX/8750 0-6-0PT loco. I have started to lay the track on Tonfanau Camp and hope to have the main running line into the station and loop completed this weekend. Initially, it will be DC powered as most of the locos are not yet fitted with DCC, but the wiring will designed for a simple switchover to DCC.  I may post some singularly unexciting photographs of bare baseboards with unpainted and unballasted track.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[81A Oldoak]

A rather dull photograph showing track-laying under way at Tonfanau Camp station. One of the Minerva Victory EP2s lurks in the background.

 

Has anyone found a reliable solution to the problem of the slide-chair sleepers on hand-made points falling off?

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[Happy Hippo]

Chris,

 

In the past I have used a dab of epoxy to stick the slide chair to the rail outdoors, but now used spiked track with battens underneath so don't have the problem anymore.

[Simond]

Chris

 

I asked the same question a wee while ago. See reply from Martin Wynne in post 121 of PD

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79052-porth-dinllaen-in-0/page-5&do=findComment&comment=1729171

 

I have followed his sage advice ever since. Only had a minor issue with glue failures, now sorted.

 

Best

Simon

[N15class]

I super glue them to the rail.

[3 link]

Is it really such a problem? We are only talking 7-8 sleepers on a standard turnout. Just space them back out when laying the turnout and fix them with a blob of whatever adhesive takes your fancy.

 

Martyn.

[81A Oldoak]

I used a dab of UHU (£1 for a large tube from Poundland) to hold them in place. My real issue is the inability to recover points for reuse after it has been firmly embedded in ballast. I suppose  should consider selling layouts and starting from scratch when I want to do something new rather than trying to recover assets for future use.

 

Wiring next. Can't wait.

 

Chris

[Barnaby]

I'm still tidying all my wiring up after doing the bird nest approach, thank god for spir-a-wrap.

[Simond]

I recovered almost all of the track from the Greater Windowledge by the generous application of a kettle full of very hot water. Made a horrid mess, but it was all cleared up before MrsD got in from work... the PVA basically disintegrated and the track lifted away pretty much without damage. The track was mainly Peco, with a formation of copperclad for the tandem and crossover.

 

Whilst I hope never to need to do this with the current project, I am less convinced that plastic chairs and plywood sleepers would withstand the onslaught, should it be necessary.

 

I am going to try using diluted latex adhesive for the ballasting on PD. I understand this to be more flexible and thus less noisy - though my track is largely stick straight to cork and thence to the baseboards, so I'm not sure it will make a great deal of difference.

 

Best

Simon

[3 link]

I recovered almost all of the track from the Greater Windowledge by the generous application of a kettle full of very hot water. Made a horrid mess, but it was all cleared up before MrsD got in from work... the PVA basically disintegrated and the track lifted away pretty much without damage. The track was mainly Peco, with a formation of copperclad for the tandem and crossover.

Whilst I hope never to need to do this with the current project, I am less convinced that plastic chairs and plywood sleepers would withstand the onslaught, should it be necessary.

I am going to try using diluted latex adhesive for the ballasting on PD. I understand this to be more flexible and thus less noisy - though my track is largely stick straight to cork and thence to the baseboards, so I'm not sure it will make a great deal of difference.

Best

Simon

Hi Simon,

 

I tried Copydex a while back just to glue down the track and not the ballast, all was fine until I tried to drill some holes for the droppers.

As the drill rotated it literally gripped and dragged most of the dried glue around the drill bit, looked like how they apply candy floss to the stick.

 

So it's back to good old pva for me, most of the sound comes from beneath the baseboards in my opinion.

 

Martyn.

Edited October 11, 2016 by 3 link

[corneliuslundie]

Our club acquired a large supply of plastic comb binders from somewhere a long time ago. They are an excellent substitute for the commercial products for tidying up wiring.

Jonathan

[81A Oldoak]

Hi Simon,

 

I tried Copydex a while back just to glue down the track and not the ballast, all was fine until I tried to drill some holes for the droppers.

As the drill rotated it literally gripped and dragged most of the dried glue around the drill bit, looked like how they apply candy floss to the stick.

 

So it's back to good old pva for me, most of the sound comes from beneath the baseboards in my opinion.

 

Martyn.

Martyn,

I had a similar Copydex disaster during my youthful 00 days. It's been pva ever since.

 

Unwanted sound is not usually a problem for me because of the low speeds on my smallish terminus layouts and what there is is usually masked by the DCC sound effects.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[Barnaby]

Re the copydex "candy floss" problem when drilling.
If you have enough space to get in use a knife to cut a X and you should have no trouble.

I am using copydex for ballasting in my track work with little or none under the track but with the odd headless pin nail where necessary.   On the tests done the track is held firmly by the glued ballast alone and is much easier to remove than the solid lump PVA turns into.

 

Best not to want to keep lifting track too much.  

[CME and Bottlewasher]

I recovered almost all of the track from the Greater Windowledge by the generous application of a kettle full of very hot water. Made a horrid mess, but it was all cleared up before MrsD got in from work... the PVA basically disintegrated and the track lifted away pretty much without damage. The track was mainly Peco, with a formation of copperclad for the tandem and crossover.

 

Whilst I hope never to need to do this with the current project, I am less convinced that plastic chairs and plywood sleepers would withstand the onslaught, should it be necessary.

 

I am going to try using diluted latex adhesive for the ballasting on PD. I understand this to be more flexible and thus less noisy - though my track is largely stick straight to cork and thence to the baseboards, so I'm not sure it will make a great deal of difference.

 

Best

Simon

I have heard of good results with latex glues, they are kinder to copper-clad and solder....

 

Hi Simon,

 

I tried Copydex a while back just to glue down the track and not the ballast, all was fine until I tried to drill some holes for the droppers.

As the drill rotated it literally gripped and dragged most of the dried glue around the drill bit, looked like how they apply candy floss to the stick.

 

So it's back to good old pva for me, most of the sound comes from beneath the baseboards in my opinion.

 

Martyn.

Sorry to hear that Martyn, it's an interesting side-effect....

 

Re the copydex "candy floss" problem when drilling.

If you have enough space to get in use a knife to cut a X and you should have no trouble.

I am using copydex for ballasting in my track work with little or none under the track but with the odd headless pin nail where necessary.   On the tests done the track is held firmly by the glued ballast alone and is much easier to remove than the solid lump PVA turns into.

 

Best not to want to keep lifting track too much.  

Agreed, as I say I have heard good things about using Latex glues - with non of the downsides of PVA. I also wonder how good Johnsons Kleer is for ballasting re noise, relaying etc etc?

 

ATVB

 

CME

[3 link]

Another side effect I have noticed with the latex ( Copydex ), is that if It gets in contact with the rail itself it leaves a slight grey stain on it,weird ?

 

Martyn.

[Osgood]

Is there potential for placing a 1/43 ww2 tank 'gate guardian' at Tonfanau Camp, Chris?

 

Tony

[Happy Hippo]

More likely to be an artillery piece than a tank.

 

Although one should remember to get it deactivated prior to putting 'on guard'.

 

Many years ago, I recall some 5.5" howitzers that were disposed of by being given to the local authority and had to be recalled PDQ as a result of such a gaff.

Edited October 16, 2016 by Happy Hippo

[Simond]

I'd only start to worry, when I see shells and cartridges on eBay...

 

Oh, hang on

 

http://militarymementos.co.uk/WW1-WW2-Ordnance-Shell-Cartridge-Grenade-Rocket-Mortar-Bomb/ordnance-shells-cartridge-over-20mm

[81A Oldoak]

I don't think I'll be modelling the camp entrance, but as Tonfanau Camp was originally a Royal Artillery anti-aircraft  gunnery training establishment a gun may be more suitable than a tank. So far the only military vehicle I have procured is an Oxford Die-Cast Mark 1 Landrover in REME markings, which might be suitable for the period when the camp was in use from  1959-1966 by the All Arms Junior Leaders Regiment, which included REME junior leaders. Interestingly, I think I had been in the army for a year before I realised that "B****y Gunner" was not, in fact, a single word. It was also worth noting that the flaming grenades on the collar-dogs of the Royal Engineers and Royal Artillery bore the same latin motto "Ubique", generally translated to mean "Everywhere" for the former and "All Over The Place" for the latter.

 

Meanwhile, tracklaying proceeds at a glacial pace.

 

As you were.

 

Chris

[HSB]

You won't be putting in an order for a few Warwells then, Chris?

[81A Oldoak]

You won't be putting in an order for a few Warwells then, Chris?

Howard,

It's tempting, but even though all of the line regiments of donkey wallopers and the Royal Tank Regiment sent junior leaders to Tonfanau, there were no tanks or other heavy armour there. Inwards freight will mostly be coal for the rather pathetic stoves in the nissen huts and vans with ammunition and other stores.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[81A Oldoak]

The platelayers have been at work today laying track at Tonfanau Camp. The main Cambrian coast running line and loop are complete. One of the Minerva Victory second prototypes is gingerly approaching from the north in the first photo. The WD centre-cab Fowler MONTY has managed to get on to the main line; good job he is registered to run on BR metals. The wooden-sleepered crossover was made by Martyn "3 link" of this parish and the other points were made by me.

 

Carry on.

 

Chris

[Barnaby]

it's always exciting seeing the rewards of the Platelayers work.

 

Great.