terrysoham

Dava,

 

The running issues were resolved by dint of careful use of my multimeter and my magnifier headset to map circuit board.

The problem of lights direction not being the same as railcar direction was resolved by reversing the wires leading to CN5.

 

Gaugemaster have asked Heljan on my behalf whether they can supply the connectors (both plug and socket) or what the specification is or where they source them from.

Now supplied thank to both companies.

All I have to do now is tidy up the wiring and put the body back on!

 

if you have all the bits, would you like some help with reassembly?  It seems a shame to let what I have learned go to waste.

 

Kind regards

 

Does anyone have a Heljan 0 gauge AC railcar?  I have had to replace some wiring and the pickups.  Now when I run it forwards, the upper LED and the driver’s panel LED illuminates but at the reverse end. And vice versa.  None of lower LEDs illuminate.

 

The 21 pin circuit board has micro connectors marked CN1 to CN9.     I am trying to map the connections so I can resolve the LED problem.

 

I would like to make contact with anyone who owns one of these models.
 

Thanks

 

Terry Metcalfe

 

 

 

 

I found these two bits of plastic in the box containing an 0 gauge second hand  Heljan railbus.   They may well be pieces of scrap.

 

I have looked carefully and I can find nowhere they could have fallen off of.

 

 

 

 

My wife and I are exhibiting this 009 depiction of, so far as we know, the only logging tramway in East Anglia at Norwich model railway exhibition on 15 April.   

I’ll be there making trees!

 

Here is an annotated OS map of the likely route

Does an N gauge model exist?  If not is there anything which looks like it to the layperson ?

 

Here are the photographs as promised

UPDATE OF UPDATE. INCLUDES MORE INFORMATION AND CORRECTIONS

 

I thought I’d write a bit more about modelling this logging tramway.

 

I set myself some objectives:

 

1.To build something different using the techniques I learnt from Neely.

 

The layout is, dare I say, not just different, but unique.

 

2.Follow the ‘keep it simple’ philosophy (KISS).

 

I realised that, following my stroke in early 2019, I couldn’t wait too long to have a working layout. The layout is a simple oval with only two, hand operated, points. The curves are from the Peco Setrack range with some flexitrack. I have not added any droppers , relying on the rail joiners to carry the power. I have not experienced any running problems with the loco as it is fitted with ‘stay alive’ capacitors and, should the lack of droppers result in a problem they can always be added later,

 

 

3.To introduce youngsters to the wonderful hobby of railway modelling.

 

I have achieved this by involving my next door neighbour’s 10 year old son. He has helped me build the feeder line from the logging activity to the transshipment point.

 

4.Make the baseboard of a size and weight that it could be easily transported to any exhibitions.

 

I have done this by using a single sheet of Xtratherm – a lightweight, 50mm thick foam board – about 36” x 42” which fits comfortably in the back of my Honda Jazz. All of the scenery is lightweight, the backscene is thick card, the terrain is formed using scrunched up newspaper as formers covered in a PVA-soaked material – garden fleece, that is used to protect plants from frosts. A plaster/PVA/water mix is then spread thinly on top to stiffen it further. It speeds up the construction by initially drying out the fleece using a hair drier.

 

What would I have done to improve the layout:

1.Glued 6mm ply to the top surface of the Xtratherm. This would have made the laying of the track much easier.

 

 

By the way, I mustn’t forget to mention my fellow modeller, David Bourne, who has produced all the trees and has been a great source of information about this project. He lives local to the site in Thetford.

 

 

Photographs will hopefully follow.

2019.

 

I thought I’d write a bit more about modelling this logging tramway which, as far as I know, is unique.

 

I set myself some objectives:

1.To build something different using the techniques I learnt from Neely.

 

2.Follow the keep it simple philosophy (KISS).

 

Iu

 

 

3.To introduce youngsters to the wonderful hobby of railway modelling.

 

I have achieved this by involving my next door neighbour’s 10 year old son. He has helped me build the feeder line from the logging activity to the transshipment point.

 

4.Make the baseboard of a size and weight that it could be easily transported to any exhibitions.

 

I have done this by using a single sheet of Xtratherm – a lightweight, 50mm thick foam board – about 36” x 42” which fits comfortably in the back of my Honda Jazz. All of the scenery is lightweight, the backscene is thick card, the terrain is formed using scrunched up newspaper as formers covered in a pva soaked material – bought from a local garden centre which gardeners use it to protect plants from frosts.

 

Photographs will hopefully follow.

Thanks

Does anyone know whether a there is body kit available of a Bagnal 0-4-0 saddle tank. I am capable of building a body from a kit and kit bashing it to fit a suitable chassis.

 

Regards

The IRS East Anglia handbook lists Bagnalls 2081, 2085 and 2086 being at Santon Downham.  Of the three, only 2086/1919 passed to the Downham Syndicate, which company bought the tramway and timber rights at auction in December 1919.  Potted histories of all three locomotives are given in the handbook.

 

Where can I find the IRS East Anglia handbook.

 

Regards

*****Update****

 

I have had my first meeting with a fellow modeller, David Bourne, to discuss the model which we will rename as the High Lodge Logging Railway. We have agreed that it will be a diorama probably 7mm/ft using 21mm track. Built on a lightweight foam core baseboard. It will not need a locomotive as we will construct a model of a donkey engine to rope haul the loaded wagons up a 1 in 50 incline which is probably steeper then was the prototype. We decided against loco haulage due to the fact that i would like to keep it simple.

I always thought that "Baker & Civil's Bumper Book of Bagnalls" would've been a better title. Excellent book and one I find myself referring to time and again. It is really quite comprehensive. I would suggest it is definitely a 3' line.

 

Thanks for that piece of. Information

Excellent!

I was going to dig out my copy of the big green book and go through the list later this evening, and brack has saved me a good deal of work ...... most of my books are still packed away as I go through a prolonged reorganisation of the study.

The ‘untold story’ title sounds like a sub-title; it’s not Cox & Krupa is it?

Otherwise, I’ve never heard of it in c50 years being mildly obsessed by narrow gauge railways, so I can only suggest contacting the NGRS librarians, who are mega-helpful.

 

Silly me. It is not so obviously the publisher’s review of the Kerry Tramway book on the back cover of said book! I blame it on what is left of my brain after my stroke!!

I’m looking for a book called. The untold story of Britain’s logging railways. - tried Amazon but no luck. Where else might I try?

I am hopeful of finding some documentary evidence to support the view that the track gauge was 3’. If modelling the tramway in HOe the track gauge will have to be about 2’6” ish. I was thinking of using the drawing on p 23 and the photo on p 59 in the Kerry tramway book to construct the Bagnall 0-4-0 saddle tank which was probably used on the forest tramway near Santon Downham near Thetford. I shall use the 0-4-0 Minitrains chassis.

 

Regards

Having read about the Book

Have you seen this? http://santondownham.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/FCA-March-06-SD.pdf

 

And, this https://archive.org/stream/canadianforestry00birduoft#page/n91

 

I traced the routes in Woburn Forest as best I could, and reported the results in The Narrow Gauge about three years ago, my main sources being the CFC War Diaries, which are available on-line, if/when the server is working, OS maps pre-and post WW1, and hundreds of dog walks, which meant I knew the terrain very well.

 

The best 'enthusiast' book is 

The Kerry Tramway and Other Timber Light Railways Paperback[/size] – 1 Jul 1992[/size]

by David Cox (Author), Christopher Krupa (Author).

 

The Bagnall at Thetford was, going from memory here, moved there from Woburn, where it had arrived to replace a loco that, so far as I can work out, was a KS 0-6-0T previously at Virginia Water. "Peter" in the Amberley collection is an ex-CFC standard Bagnall, so should help give you an idea, although it is 2ft gauge (and I think always has been), whereas I think Thetford was 3ft gauge.

 

Good luck with all this - very interesting operations, with very interesting railways!

 

Kevin

 

Edit: checked, and "Peter" was 3ft gauge originally, so originally probably identical to the Thetford loco.

Thank you for your help. In the book about the Kerry tramway, page 59 has some interesting info regarding a Bagnall E 2081

purchased by the Timber Supply Department and supplied to Downham Hall (a country house which was taken over by the Canadian Forestry Corps. as their HQ.). So it is possible that this loco ran on the forest tramway but there are still some unknowns, for example, what was the Gauge o& said loco.

 

Anyone got any references to the hydro electric scheme at Kinlochleven, Scotland as the Bagnal E 2081 was used in the construction

 

Regards

The particular Crimp Tool under discussion produces a "Square" finish so the width shouldn't increase.

 

 

 

That is more of an issue with MERG Kits than an issue with the Crimp Tool.

Thanks. That sounds a reasonable explanation. Just a pity after several years of MERG membership that’s the first time using a crimping tool to give a square section has been mentioned.

I’m not a fan of crimping. The problem is that crimping flattens the ferrule and increases the “width” to the extent that, unless you choose your screw type terminal carefully, the crimped ferrule cannot be inserted into the hole in the terminal. Be aware the some of the MERG kits suffer from this issue as the terminals that come in their kits are too small.

Any more information such as the route it took and any name?

The routes are only speculative - unsurprisingly no maps show it.

The scarcity of information is not a problem - I will produce a model based on the existing photos of logging in Scotland and bedfordshire

 

Regard

I went on a course held at the HighLodge Activity Centre at Santon Downham near Thetford on Saturday. A mixture of railway enthusiasts, archeologists and historians put their heads together to try to find out the possible route of this known tramway by walking from places where it was known to exist. It was used to transport urgently needed timber from the forests at the end of WW1. We know it was constructed with the help of a men from the Canadian Forestry Corps.

 

I’d like to model this railway in 009. I know that one of the three locos was an 0-4-0 Bagnall. Can anyone supply me with a photo? Is there a rtr model in 009?

 

 

 

 

Regards

The layout’s electrics have been a thorn in our side since its first exhibition outing two years ago. The main issue has been switching the polarity of the frogs on the points. We decided that we needed a means of setting the Seep solenoid on the work bench so that it switched the blades ok and switched the frog polarity correctly. Having got it set up, we want to transfer it to the baseboard without upsetting these settings. We have some ideas but wondered what other modellers have done? Any ideas welcome.