Tackeroo - The Cannock Chase Military Railway project

[wagonbasher]

Historic England have been working with the Cannock Chase Through Time Project to use LIDAR aerial survey images to map the camps and other features. 

 

https://historicengland.org.uk/research/research-results/recent-research-results/west-midlands/cannock-chase/

 

The results are interesting as they can strip off most of the vegetation to reveal the ground surface. You may recognise the area shown in the first image in their post!

 

 

I saw this for the first time yesterday morning. It is fascinating. The part of the camp you can see is pretty well smack in the middle. The road running top to bottom is chase road and the village of Brocton is at the top of the plan. The camp railway is running in a curve from the middle of the right hand side down to the bottom. You can just see the power plant sidings coming into the picture extreme bottom right with the engine shed at the end.

 

Thank you

 

Andy

[wagonbasher]

Things are happening on the model...  honest.

 

Ive wanted one of these for a while.

 

This is a British Tommy's issue Jack Knife

 

The3se were service issue for decades and I believe were still used in WW2.

 

This one is older, it has the original style of can opener (the stubby blade) and a copper hoop.

 

They were made by lots of different companies, this one was made by Ford Medley of Sheffield

 

The spike is a Marlin spike and is used in rope work, rigging ect

 

Also useful for getting boy scouts out of horses hooves

 

Andy

[Stubby47]

I use the ring pull, rather than a blade...

[mervyn]

Still got my issued knife its on my keychain at work!! still use for the occasional gasket  removal !!!!

[wagonbasher]

I use the ring pull, rather than a blade...

How posh..

 

Andy

[wagonbasher]

Over the weekend I made up the platform edge for the ordnance store.  We have no idea what it looked like other than we know there is a cutting dug into the ground to make the height difference and we know where the store stood along side it.  One method the military used for platform constution was as follows:

 

rail mounted up right every 4.5 feet approx., a futher rail at 45 degrees driven into the earth behind the upright rail and tied back with cable.  a sleeper bolted somehow on top of the upright rail ends forming the platform edge, corrugated sheet to line the inside of the uprights and then back filled to level. 

 

Here it is in primer

 

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

 

[Andy Y]

Scurries off to look at his files for the building; what's the length and width of the platform you've made? That looks a cracking job compared to the Longmoor platform.

[wagonbasher]

Scurries off to look at his files for the building; what's the length and width of the platform you've made? That looks a cracking job compared to the Longmoor platform.

 

 

The length is 710mm long which should be much bigger than the building, the track is starting to climb out of the cutting before the end of the platform.   We talked about an platform area to the left of the building where thing other than boxes of bullets and grenades can be unloaded.  As for depth it doesn't matter, it is one sleeper deep at the moment (36mm) but the platform just turns into the bank, it can be trimmed or extended.  One of the Longmoor shots has the bank levelled by the next upright,  Remember there is some platform below the ground here.

 

Andy

[Andy Y]

Rightho, I will need to do a bit more decking.

[wagonbasher]

Rightho, I will need to do a bit more decking.

 

Its up to you but I don't think you need decking beyond the building,

 

Andy

[Stubby47]

Rightho, I will need to do a bit more decking.

Look out, the Admin are getting violent again...

[wagonbasher]

Look out, the Admin are getting violent again...

Admin...  ?    Management surely...

 

Andy

[Stubby47]

Admin...  ?    Management surely...

 

Andy

 

 

[2ManySpams]

rons.jpg

 

 

Both have too much hair for the Andy twins

[2ManySpams]

Over the weekend I made up the platform edge for the ordnance store.  We have no idea what it looked like other than we know there is a cutting dug into the ground to make the height difference and we know where the store stood along side it.  One method the military used for platform constution was as follows:

 

rail mounted up right every 4.5 feet approx., a futher rail at 45 degrees driven into the earth behind the upright rail and tied back with cable.  a sleeper bolted somehow on top of the upright rail ends forming the platform edge, corrugated sheet to line the inside of the uprights and then back filled to level. 

 

Here it is in primer

 

platform edge.jpg

 

Andy

 

Very nice Andy, good to see a very different platform face.

 

I see you've been kicked out in to the garden. Serves you right for finishing the house decorating.

[wagonbasher]

Very nice Andy, good to see a very different platform face.

 

I see you've been kicked out in to the garden. Serves you right for finishing the house decorating.

Without the normal platform overhang and 9 foot sleepers there really is no gap between the face of the uprights and the end of the sleepers

 

Andy

[Chris-GNR]

Without the normal platform overhang and 9 foot sleepers there really is no gap between the face of the uprights and the end of the sleepers

 

Andy

 

 

Evening.

 

The Avonside at its widest is 34mm across the cylinders & the motion brackets! It's gonna be tight.

 

 

Chris

[wagonbasher]

Evening.

 

The Avonside is 34mm across the cylinders & the motion brackets! It's gonna be tight.

 

 

Chris

hmmm ...   nothings stuck down yet.  There is probably a spare 2mm

 

thank you for the heads up

 

Andy

[Chris-GNR]

hmmm ...   nothings stuck down yet.  There is probably a spare 2mm

 

thank you for the heads up

 

Andy

 

 

I just had a quick Google & found this,

 

 https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=uk+military+railway+loading+gauge&rlz=1C9BKJA_enGB620GB620&hl=en-GB&prmd=isnv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiGzNTIoeHTAhWJLcAKHQ2KBy0Q_AUICSgB&biw=1024&bih=653#imgrc=dfvBujRmxE1FaM:&spf=197

 

Going off that it looks to be ok. 2mm clearance should be plenty.

 

Cheers

Chris

[aac]

Over the weekend I made up the platform edge for the ordnance store.  We have no idea what it looked like other than we know there is a cutting dug into the ground to make the height difference and we know where the store stood along side it.  One method the military used for platform constution was as follows:

 

rail mounted up right every 4.5 feet approx., a futher rail at 45 degrees driven into the earth behind the upright rail and tied back with cable.  a sleeper bolted somehow on top of the upright rail ends forming the platform edge, corrugated sheet to line the inside of the uprights and then back filled to level. 

 

Here it is in primer

 

platform edge.jpg

 

Andy

Have you seen "Rails Across the Plain"? Quite useful reference material with photos covering rail-served military installations on Salisbury Plain:

 

www.amazon.co.uk/Rails-Across-Plain-Amesbury-Bulford/dp/1906419515

[wagonbasher]

Have you seen "Rails Across the Plain"? Quite useful reference material with photos covering rail-served military installations on Salisbury Plain:

 

www.amazon.co.uk/Rails-Across-Plain-Amesbury-Bulford/dp/1906419515

 

Interesting, I will look that out

 

Andy

[wagonbasher]

Both have too much hair for the Andy twins

 

How rude...

 

Andy

[wagonbasher]

OMG, just less than three weeks until the Gnosall event.

 

Working on fiddle yards. Arguably a little too early... the night before is considered best practise for a maiden showing.

 

The trains are small because the gradients are harsh so the fiddle yards fit a loco and three wagons.

 

The fiddles are bolted to the two end boards and then a support leg that is temporarily attached to the end board pulls away

 

An adjustable threaded bar is hinged down from the end of the fiddle and slots into a hole on the end of the support leg.

 

The singlel nut can be used to adjust the back of the fiddle and get the boards level.

 

 

Andy

[wagonbasher]

OMG, just less than three weeks until the Gnosall event. 

 

Working on fiddle yards.   Arguably a little too early... the night before is considered best practise for a maiden showing.

 

The trains are small because the gradients are harsh so the fiddle yards fit a loco and three wagons.

 

The fiddles are bolted to the two end boards and then a support leg that is temporarily attached to the end board pulls away

 

An adjustable threaded bar is hinged down from the end of the fiddle and slots into a hole on the end of the support leg.

 

The single bolt can be used to adjust the back of the fiddle and get the boards level.

 

IMG_3040.JPGIMG_3041.JPG

 

Andy

Note the stained up rights form the supports for the 'letterbox' . 

 

Andy

[Andy Y]

Working on fiddle yards. Arguably a little too early... the night before is considered best practise for a maiden showing.

 

Don't worry; I'm keeping the traditions alive at this end. Three and a half years of navel gazing, procrastination and pointless avenues of important research leading up to two weeks of panic at this end. The first week of that fortnight saw the 'Rugeley board' morph into some kind of angry dog sat behind me in the office snarling at me daring me to get any closer and it would have my hand off. When we get down to the "this is really critical so you'd better pull your finger out" moment last weekend there was a blast of activity which saw that board wired up and the scenic bits largely completed.

 

 

No; it doesn't look much does it? However, it's meant to convey the dying grasses and bilberries of autumn on the bleak heathland and Polak products have been a massive help in creating decay and latter months of the year. And there is a it of railway in there but that's as much as you'll see of the back line at display height unless you're 6'+. There wasn't much in the way of trees up there so there's no handy foil for the hole in the sky as the railway goes off-scene. Not that there's a sky to have a hole in yet but, fingers crossed, that should be in our burnt and sticky hands next week. And some other bits; something I haven't seen tried before but there's nothing like impending doom to decide to go out on a limb and try something for the hell of it. If it doesn't work it's an expensive mistake but we shall see come Saturday the 8th at Gnosall.

 

This weekend will see the green bits finished on the centre board; that board will have a key feature missing on it on the day due to unfortunate circumstances but it will be there in spirit.

 

I've just wired up the last board bar one of the accessory decoders which is still in the post (well it would be as I only ordered it yesterday). Will it all work on the 8th? No. Being realistic that will be the first time the boards will have been joined together, untested and untried but cosmetically there will be lots to see; Andy has made some superb structures, all with a tale to tell.

 

I must say that Andy is a fantastic person to work on a project with; when there's any difficulty he just cuts to the basics and we work round and through it. He never gets stressed on things getting behind and he always surprises me with gems of ideas and some great workmanship.