Another visitor to the PLR

David John's K1 (built by Paul Berntsen) came to visit the PLR over Christmas. This is it trying out the big climb (1 in 28  with 26" radius reverse curves) with a few wagons on the back: http://youtu.be/ypnf0ot11tM

And a couple of shots of it posed with mine (I can't actually run them together as mine is DCC and David's is DC)

More Lynton Trackmaking

After very slow progress over the summer, a burst of activity means the final three turnouts are well underway. The following photos show the sacrificial jigs I use which are made from card a copy of the template overlaid with card and straight slots cut for the rails. Flares and cosmetic rail clips (made from pins) are added later and the rails cut to length.

Trackmaking for Lynton

I agreed a while back to make some trackwork for a new layout of Lynton in the late SR period - all in O14 of course. We had lots of challenges with various sources and Templot to ascertain the track layout and turnout angles/dimensions which is as close to scale as we could determine. Subsequently I started a new full time and very challenging job so progress has been a lot slower than intended. Luckily the recipient has similar time challenges and is very patient.

Here are a few shots of the first turnout under test and the common crossing under construction for the next.

PLR at ExpoNG

Well the day came, it happened and I'm glad it is all over.

It largely went to plan. Packing the van was a challenge, but luckily my friend Steve helped us do it properly. Set up on Friday night took the best part of 3 hours, and we just got to the hotel in time to persuade the barman to give us a drink.

Everything worked as well as could be expected on the day. We had some challenges and soon realised it was better to abandon the planned realistic operation (clay up, coal down) in favour of plenty of action to please the crowd - Hensbarrow has never seen so much traffic!

I would especially like to thank Gary, John, Mark, David and Steve for their help and support, and doing nearly all the operating. Due to a quirk in layout placement the back-room operations area proved quite an exhibit in its own right.

With David's help the boards are back in the loft. Some repairs are required and it will be a few weeks before it is fully operational. I'm looking forward to working on the next developments without any pressure.

Here's hoping it's worth it

With just a few days to go, the construction of temporary staging, fiddle yard, traverser, lighting gantry, etc. is all complete. There is more trackwork behind the scenes than in front - all just one show!

The last push will be to try and get some more wagons ready and a few more running trials.

Scenery nearly complete

Most of the scenery on the the bit going to ExpoNG is now complete. Just some of the quarry buildings to finish and bed into the landscape and its good to go. It's really far from finished as lots of the details will be left out - unfortunately this is likely to include the planned big derrick crane. Anyway this project was never about actually finishing it - as what would I do then!
So time for some updated shots -  some seen before sans vegetation.

Trackmaking for Chelfham

I've been helping my friend David by making some points for Chelfham. He was running out of time before it's next outing at the 7mm NGA AGM at Burton-Upon-Trent and I wasn't going to let him succumb/revert to the dreaded crazy track.

Rail Sections

A quick note about the rail sections I use. Most of my track is laid with Peco Il-115 which was the best available when I started, however I would certainly have used Karlarin code 82 had it been available. As noted a while back I recently relaid the quarry track using Micro Engineering code 55 which I think looks right on a small industrial system especially when seen alongside the mainline. The following diagram comes from my track articles hosted on the o14 group: http://www.o14group.org/2008/10/31/finescale-7mm-ng-trackwork/

Hedges (walls if you are from up Country)

Experiments continue on hedging. The basis is corrugated cardboard stuck down with a hot glue gun and then coated with a gloop made from slightly diluted PVA and lots of loo paper coloured with a big dollop of raw sienna goache (yes it looks like what one could find down a sewer but obviously without the smell). This is trowelled on with an icing knife. It stays soft and sticky for days giving plenty of time for adjustments but will eventually dry hard and strong and is very light.

The following photos were the result of a couple of hours spent adding rocks to simulate a typical moorland type granite hedge. The stones are coloured filler/PVA mix spread out to dry on foil then broken up by hand and pressed into the gloop. Static grass was added with a puffer and some scatter and foam added by hand.

I'm pleased with the stonework and from a distance the vegetation looks reasonable but the close-ups show the grass is not ideal. When it eventually dries I may clean it off a bit with a toothbrush and then apply rough grass (carpet underlay and/or plumbers hemp), bushes (a la Gravett) and static grass (properly).

I've also included a photo of the trunks under development (again a la Gravett) of some more substantial bushes which grow out of another section of hedging.

First attempts at Scenery

I have at last starting on some flora - I also have some fauna to add (a nice Christmas present from one of my daughters). This is the first time I have done any scenery for over 20 years and all those previous attempts never saw completion, so I am have to learn all over again. Rough grass is proving to be a challenge and I suspect I will need to have several throw-away attempts before I am happy with the results. Similarly with Cornish hedges. The following photos are some of the early attempts which will I think be scrapped and restarted soon.

They also show a mock-up of a wooden crane. I think I've accepted that there's no chance of me completing the intended lattice metal jib crane by October, so it will have to be a temporary wooden one (hopefully more convincing than my mock-up).

Bridges and Sheds

Progress has been slow but I have installed parapets on the remaining two bridges and some walking boards so the PLR track gang should hopefully be a bit safer (although this was the 1950s).

This shot also shots the quarry engine shed. This has been made with scale corrugated iron sheets from (IIRC) Metalsmith with 1/16" square brass for the main frame and wooden strips for the rest. The corrugated iron fairly quickly started rusting after soldering, but as there were still shiny bits I painted it with gun blue and then washed it off. The next day the whole outside was totally rusted. Whilst the rust looks good I'm not sure if all of every sheet would be like that in the prototype, so I am deliberating if I should try and paint on some grey in places to represent non-rusty areas.

I have some more corrugated iron buildings to make so may try and paint bits of the sheets first, or at least before wielding the gun blue.

Progress on the quarry and leat

The last two weeks have seen the ballasting completed on the quarry board and numerous small scenic enhancements.

The quarry entrance gate - it will be a Cornish hedge to the left.

One of the next major tasks is to complete the river and leat. This is one of the sluice gates (well a pair in fact).

A Major Milestone Achieved

With just over 53 weeks before it's outing (you can probably guess where now) I have finished the quarry trackwork which completes all the trackwork for the section that will be displayed.

As per my usual practice I then separated the board and strung it up on some large hooks installed for this purpose - this makes it much easier to do the wiring. I then realised I didn't have enough point motors!

Of course there are still new boards and trackwork for the hidden sections and fiddle yard to be made, lots of scenic work, more rolling stock to be built, etc. - it will be a busy winter!

Going Industrial

The PLR is of course a 'main line' narrow gauge railway even if it was built on a shoestring. However, there is one corner where typical O14 industrial narrow gauge can rule which is the granite quarry. Some of the track was laid a while ago using code 82 Peco Il-115 which I know is the recommended rail for the Roy C Link/KBscale track, but I felt a lighter rail would be more appropriate and give a visual contrast to the adjacent main line, so I am relaying it in Micro Engineering Code 55 rail. You will note I have used wooden sleepers as most of the quarry trackwork I have seen did too.

I have now completed the two sets of pointwork of which the latter is the most complex (I'm not sure what you call this arrangement). Just a bit more plain track to add and I will have completed all the trackwork for the scenic section ready for it's outing next year (but not all the hidden track that will be required).

I hope to show some final pictures once it is completed and ballasted.

Telegraph Poles

Over the last month or two I have been attempting to install telephone poles on the PLR. The idea is that there is a circuit going down the line with a telephone on a pole at the quarry loop (to discuss their traffic requirements). In practice this means a two wire circuit down the line to the viaduct at which point the main circuit crosses to the lower line and through the tunnel, and the original wires continuing to an end pole on the quarry loop.

In my hunt for prototype inspiration I came across the following wonderful sites: Teleramics, Double Groove and Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society (I defy anyone to call railway modellers sad after seeing this: here)

I was particular taken with the swan neck type of insulator fitting from Double Groove below as I thought it would be appropriate (cheap) for the forever strapped for cash PLR.

Image linked from Double Groove

After queries on the O14 group etc. for suitable sources drew a blank I started out making my own as outlined below (I was beyond the point of no return when I found out Wenz Modellbau did some kits) .

I ended up getting a casting starter kit from Nigel Lawton 009 and making a master with 4 insulators on it from which I made a silicon mould. Trying to cast with resin (with various colouring agents) proved almost impossible due to air bubbles and the very fast cure time. Coloured (artists pigment) 12minute epoxy was better, but the best results were with white/superfine Milliput. Piano wire was used for the swan necks poked into the Milliput.

Poles were made from dowels, slightly tapered with sandpaper, aged with my cider vinegar/steel wool solution (see previous post), felt tip for knots, and washes with ink and watercolours. The bases have a square rod which fits into a square tube in the basement so they all line up correctly (every pole has it's place), and all were given a yellow/green algae spray on the North East face. Caps were made from cartridge paper painted with grey acrylic mix. The guy ropes were made from fine electric wire innards blasted with a blowtorch to blacken it.


The master, silicone mould(s) and swan neck wires.


Casting a batch of insulators.


Clockwise from top left: Resin (least successful - many bubbles/failures), Epoxy (better) and Milliput (most successful - shown as moulded)

And the final results:





Adding the poles has certainly transformed the look of the layout. I think it adds a visual dimension that highlights the narrow gauge. I am still deliberating whether I add any wires.

Now for some fencing and vegetation....

Hudson Bogie Wagon

Recently I decided to have a go at a David Provan kit for a Hudson Bogie Wagon that I acquired second hand a couple of years ago. I had not looked properly at the kit at the time, apart from sourcing a copy of the missing instructions thanks to friends on the O14 yahoo group.

Starting on it properly and using the article by Adrian Gray in NG&IRM Review issue 42 as a valuable reference, it was clear this was going to test my soldering skills somewhat. It contains a myriad of tiny little pieces which often need to be attached adjacent to each other. My little used Graskop RSU came to the fore - in fact I defy anyone to build this kit without an RSU.

The kit was advertised as complete/unbuilt but unfortunately someone had rather crudely pressed out the rivets on all the etches but not really done anything else. I filed the rivets off the solebars and replaced them with tiny brass rivets pressed out of some brass shim and soldered on with the RSU, but it was clear this was not going to be practical for the rest of the kit. In the end I just ran over the rivets with my GW Models riveter and vowed to make it a very rusty finish. Construction followed the instructions and tips from Adrian's article. The hardest part was fitting the wheelsets, couplings and trying to represent the door pins and chains.

The bogies are scale width and supplied wheels are to 14mm gauge - it could not be built to anything wider. Even with drilling the bearings I could not get enough room to fit the axles so I ended up shortening the axles (by grinding one end). The wheels/axles need fitting at the same time as the whitemetal axleboxes which need to be soldered in - which is not easy. I ended up using pop rivets to fix the bogies to the body as this enable most of the brake gear to be represented. Fitting the brakes was quite a challenge too.

The bogie platforms are far lower than my standard coupling height. Internet searching showed this to be a problem on the prototype too and provided a potential solution of an additional platform as shown in wagon 74 on the Festiniog railway here: http://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/File:74.JPG.

I adapted a pair of my round couplers to pivot in a rectangular brass tube with a phosphor bronze centering spring and fitted a new brass platform above. Milliput was used to fill the gap each side.

Although it provides reasonable sideways flexibility it doesn't flex up and down so it will not run reliably over the whole of the PLR without occasionally uncoupling. I fear it may be banished to a siding and allowed to rust - it will need a bit more weathering if it is to match wagon 74!

Door pins and chains were attempted in very fine brass wire and fuse wire but probably don't bear close scrutiny. Perhaps the banishment siding needs to be at the back of the layout.