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The McMullen Coal Company Light Railway


Owd Bob
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Yay! ;)  Great to see you and your railway here Owd Bob (y'owd b..... )

I see you've managed to take advantage of a few "dry" days recently :sungum:

Hey up fancy seeing you on here NM :secret:  :sarcastichand: Thanks for the heads up to this great place and for the quick replies, was so quick and easy to get on this great looking site :sungum: and a lot more little faces to play around with! I've posted a mix of photo's both old and new, two major jobs to do and that is to build a viaduct section which is about three feet long using my own home made molded concrete arches, and i've about ten lengths of track to buy and lay yet. Obviously i'll post progress and some new additions as and when i go along with it this year...mostly or nearly always weather depending just like the real thing is :smoke:  

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I think we need to know more about your stock - please!  Lots of character there.

Thanks Neil, most of my stock and all my locos are home made from plastic card and are built out of any bits of rubbish i can find for detailing, such as bike spokes for hands rails and shampoo bottle tops for valve covers and chimneys, i don't base any of my loco's apart from the Brown & Cream Baguley Drewry 0-4-0 diesel loco' on anything real, only one of my steam outline loco's 'Verdun' is loosely based on a armour plated protected WW1 version.  Because of limited space inside the locos' all run on standard PP3 9v. batteries, and use Timpdon Electronics combined remote control units, most wheels, axles gears and cogs come from I.P. Engineering (I have just one 'Swift Sixteen' made ready to run brass chassis units)  most have a single EDM como Drills 6-15v. motor,  I will post a full list with pics' and all the build details of each loco' soon. The little Green Pecket saddle tank has since moved on to pastures new, hopefully to replaced by my first ever live steam loco' by the end of this year....but i've been saying that for ten years now Neil and i've still yet to get or build one. :scratchhead:

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Really like the Wagonmaster.

Thank you very much Colin, i just copied it off the back cover photo off a DVD case, which was all about the Turf railways of Ireland, again its not a scale copy and i just made it up as i went along, i've made the grille a lot smaller to look more like the real thing just this week and added the 'Hunslet' works plate above it, i would love the side 'Wagonmaster' plates making next..that maybe a special order job for 'Narrow Planet'? unless you have a good idea of anywhere else i could get them done? It would be much appreciated Colin. :thankyou:

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Having got to "know" this railway over the years, I still find it amazing that virtually everything apart from the track, but on and around it, is either scratchbuilt or "kitbashed" "toybashed" :good:

(and the weathering is superb!)

Edited by Narrow Minded
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Having got to "know" this railway over the years, I still find it amazing that virtually everything apart from the track, but on and around it, is either scratchbuilt or "kitbashed" "toybashed" :good:

(and the weathering is superb!)

Thanks Nm you know me far too well, being skint i do build everything myself apart from the track and there are always bits you just have to buy like wheels and motors etc, so not a skip can be driven past without a quick glance into it to see what i can use, anything from bottle tops to bits of plastic sprue are all given a good once over before swmbo throws them in the bins. Here are a few of my loco' and wagon builds using plasticard and bottle tops and bike spokes etc.

 

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Thought i'd post a few more pics' to show the general size and area of my garden line. It roughly covers an area of 12ft wide by 24ft long. To hide the horrible concrete block walls i've attached guttering along most of the railway at track level which i've filled with a gritty free draining soil and Alpines, small Hebe's and conifers, and i've also added tubs and pots of various sizes to help build up a back drop and a safe falling off zone. The viaduct sections are ready to lay in the gap on a drier day.....and soon i hope. The Canal basin is still under construction, small disused shafts help to add something of interest on the lower (ground) level.

 

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Thank you very much Colin, i just copied it off the back cover photo off a DVD case, which was all about the Turf railways of Ireland, again its not a scale copy and i just made it up as i went along, i've made the grille a lot smaller to look more like the real thing just this week and added the 'Hunslet' works plate above it, i would love the side 'Wagonmaster' plates making next..that maybe a special order job for 'Narrow Planet'? unless you have a good idea of anywhere else i could get them done? It would be much appreciated Colin. :thankyou:

Hi Bob, I would go with Narrow Planet for the works plate; they had just made some nameplates for me and I am very happy with the quality and price.

 

I've just had a look in my railway room, I have a Alpagraphix card kit (4mm scale) which includes a Wagonmaster, peat wagon and the 4 wheel railbus. The railbus would be a nice addition to your stock; I'm thinking of building one in 7mm scale.

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Hi Bob, I would go with Narrow Planet for the works plate; they had just made some nameplates for me and I am very happy with the quality and price.

 

I've just had a look in my railway room, I have a Alpagraphix card kit (4mm scale) which includes a Wagonmaster, peat wagon and the 4 wheel railbus. The railbus would be a nice addition to your stock; I'm thinking of building one in 7mm scale.

Colin i could'nt believe it when i watched the DVD on the Irish Turf railways, talk about battered, bodged up and well dodgy trackwork!  You can't help but love it all and the casual way they get the job done.  Are you talking about the old caravan on rails with a moggy minor engine in it Colin? :O then i agree, it's a superb choice for a unique model. I have made three peat wagons in a similar Irish style for mine, but i'm still short of all the wheels...i did have them all on and all three wagons ran well, but me being me i borrowed them for something else and i've yet to put them back...and being bogies  i'll start to save up for 'em. I will try 'Narrow Planet' again Cheers, it only took me five years to get the front Hunslet plate so it may be a while yet. I do get there in the end with most of my projects and builds, no matter how long it takes and how much swmbo moans about shifting all my rubbish from under 'Her' feet. :)

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Some lovely modelling in there I have enjoyed a ramble through.

 

Don

Thank you Don it's much appreciated, i have hundreds of pics' to bore you all with but most are stuck in 'Photobucket' and me being a complete thicko useless article on a computer, i don't know how to get them back and into 'My photo's' i'm sure The Lady of the Manor can do it for me...if i catch her in a good mood :angel: ...see i'm already crawling to 'Her' Don by posting an Angel icon :smoke:

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Absolutely outstanding Owd Bob!! This is one of the most atmospheric garden railways I have ever seen. Amongst your many obvious skills, can you just expand on your ballasting techniques, from the mortaring evident on part, to the use of graded ballast on others?

 

Are you a member of the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers? If you are, is there more on this on their website? If not, please consider it, as many like me will benefit hugely from your experience. You deserve a bit of live steam for this.

 

I am just about to start laying my third outdoor track bed (weather here permitting), at a new location, and there is much to inspire here, particularly your canal basin. I had all but given up on this! (My new thread will be the "Belle End line", as soon as I have some pics to post).

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A few pics' of the French loco' that i really wanted to build to honour all the fallen of the Great War in my own minor way. I started it a couple of years ago. I copied it from a drawing in the 16mm groups SMT magazine. The main body shell and boiler were all made from plastic card of various thickness, the dome covers were the tops off deodorant spray cans filled with car filler to add weight and they are screwed on from inside under the boiler, the chimney was a cotton reel...i say 'was' because i put a joke shop smoke bomb down the chimney to add a smoke effect and it melted it  :O  :mosking: it's since been replaced by a wooden pull knob off a window blind. It is a static model at the moment. I've tried and failed to get it to run a few times. So it's another on the to-get-it-done list.

 

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Hi Bob, yes, its the motorised caravan thing. Would make a great model. I've got that DVD too. Several years ago I had a trip to see the peat railways; we were watching and filming from behind the fence at one of the loco depots, adhering to the keep out signs. One of the staff shouted to us, 'what are you doing over there, come on in and have a look round'. Great place.

 

I'm really enjoying seeing your layout, its so inspiring and encouraging me to make more progress on my indoor garden railway (at my previous house I had a garden railway, the current house has no garden, so I'm building a layout inside for my garden railway stock - hope tha makes sense.

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Absolutely outstanding Owd Bob!! This is one of the most atmospheric garden railways I have ever seen. Amongst your many obvious skills, can you just expand on your ballasting techniques, from the mortaring evident on part, to the use of graded ballast on others?

 

Are you a member of the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers? If you are, is there more on this on their website? If not, please consider it, as many like me will benefit hugely from your experience. You deserve a bit of live steam for this.

 

I am just about to start laying my third outdoor track bed (weather here permitting), at a new location, and there is much to inspire here, particularly your canal basin. I had all but given up on this! (My new thread will be the "Belle End line", as soon as I have some pics to post).

Wow! thanks Mike you are really making me blush! I was a 16mm group member for a couple of years but i'm now well lapsed, i didnt see the point in staying a member until i got a steam loco' of my own, and to be honest i really could'nt afford anything at the mo' not even the yearly subscription which i'd rather spend on bits for my line. I am that skint that i'm always looking out for any old rubbish to make something out of, i'd been a bit of a lone garden rail' modeller for several years and kept myself to myself, then i did join an N.G. garden railways forum a few years back but it recently lost its hosting site, so it was an hard decision on whether or not to just go it alone again, or try and find a new home elsewhere...luckily and after a great tip off about this forum from another recent new member and a great mate.....here i am! at it again!...i'll give you some ballasting tips later as i have about 12 meters of track yet to lay so i'll take a few pics' along the way when i do it....the main secret is in finding the right size/grade and type of stone/ballast you think looks right for your own line, i'm lucky that a local builders yard sells bags of Grey Granite chippings at a size from 5mm to dust...i just add cement to it 50/50 and brush it in dry with a one inch household paint brush...and then i wait for the rain, or use a small hand held sprayer to damp it all down on warmer days, the former is mostly used.  :)

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Hi Bob, yes, its the motorised caravan thing. Would make a great model. I've got that DVD too. Several years ago I had a trip to see the peat railways; we were watching and filming from behind the fence at one of the loco depots, adhering to the keep out signs. One of the staff shouted to us, 'what are you doing over there, come on in and have a look round'. Great place.

 

I'm really enjoying seeing your layout, its so inspiring and encouraging me to make more progress on my indoor garden railway (at my previous house I had a garden railway, the current house has no garden, so I'm building a layout inside for my garden railway stock - hope tha makes sense.

I would love to go over there to see all that great stuff, is it all still up and running Colin? i got that same dvd from the charity shop for ten bob and its the only narrow gauge railway DVD i have....the theme music gets on yer bits after a while though. lol. It makes sense if you take the roof off the house Colin...lol...only kidding! it sounds great to me, just wish i could divert mine in through the kitchen door and then out the back door and back round again.  ;)

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The Bord na Mona railways are still very much working. We're off on holiday over there soon, so I shall beg a couple of days out to visit one or two. For about ten years I visited the lines three or four times a year, but haven't been for about ten years, so looking forward to it.

 

Kevin

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The Bord na Mona railways are still very much working. We're off on holiday over there soon, so I shall beg a couple of days out to visit one or two. For about ten years I visited the lines three or four times a year, but haven't been for about ten years, so looking forward to it.

 

Kevin

Wow! Kevin, i'm so envious, i hope you take a lot of nice photo's and share them with us. I'm struggling to find more photo's now so until i get them off my Photobucket account these may be the last of my old ones for a while.

 

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