Cambridgeshire Progress Report

[keith Bristol]

Geoff

Keep in touch over pacer..

K

[Jon Nazareth]

John

How are you getting on with the rusting of your stainless steel rails i.e., does the solution from Cliff Barker work?

Jon

[John Candy]

Jon,

After two coats of Cliff's rusting solution and being left outside all Winter, the rails were as bright as the day they were made!

About 3 months ago I placed a section in a tray of damp salt but that has not caused much change...lost a bit of its "shine" but still no sign of corrosion.

Looks as though paint is the only easy solution.

Regards,
John.

[Jon Nazareth]

Thanks for that, John.  I was hoping to get away without paint but, as you say, probably the only solution.

Regards
Jon

[AllWight]

Or you could just be happy with a big railway and focus on the more important things such as putting your feet up with a glass of wine as the trains pass by on a warm summers day. Let nature gradually give the track the weathered look that you so desire



Mark

[John Candy]

Progress Report

Turnout construction was completed two weeks ago and I had hoped to get straight on with track-laying at the terminus.
Didn't quite turn out that way ... Carol's brother came to to visit us and stayed for 8 days.
There was a positive side to the delay....he is an avid gardener (spent all his working life in the Malaysian jungle managing plantations!) and, even though almost 80, waded into the brambles, etc. and spent much of the time clearing accumulated weeds and detritus. Several trips to the local tip followed.

He left on Sunday and track-laying is now well-advanced.
The goods yard side of the terminus has been completed and the approach roads and platform roads are taking shape.
If the fine weather holds for today and tomorrow, the track-laying at the terminus will be completed by Friday.

The two Robin Saxton double slips (in code 330 rail) slowed progress, since they have to be inset into the surface of the re-cycled plastic board to match the rail level of the surrounding track. They are timber-sleepered with longitudinal strengthening base strips and the railhead stands 7mm higher than normal (GRS-sleepered) code 330 track. This involved six hours work with a Forstner drill bit, chisel and mallet to cut  the necessary channels into the plastic board (in a temperature of 26C).

Next week will be "R&R" in Sussex, then back to platform construction (a mountain of resin castings of stone and brick wall sections has been building up over past few months).

A decision now needs to be made on point control : I have, so far, accumulated large quanties of both pneumatic and electric (LGB) motors and am considering adding some Minx MicroDrives into the mix (still pondering the weather-proofing requirements). The question is to work out the optimum "zoning" for each type of actuator.

Altogether, I need approx. 40 "powered" switches plus a handful of manual levers for the yards and so far have parts for 20 pneumatic and 11 LGB motors plus 6 Cliff Barker manual levers.

Photos later today/tomorrow.

Sun is shining, cool breeze and the work area is on the North (shaded) side of the building, so must now get on.

John.

[Geoff Nicholls]

here in North East London, the cool breeze was replaced with something like a hot hair dryer.  did you notice any track distortion? and how do your resin castings cope in the full sun?

[John Candy]

I slogged away until 12:00 and had to give up (temperature was registering 36C).
Then went to the tip (again) with more sacks of brambles and weeds!
Started again at 19:00 and finished for the day at 21:00.

No signs of any track expansion problems and the cast resin loading bank walls have not shown any signs of distress.

Whether a black-painted GRS loco with a resin body or a resin wagon would have been damaged by such heat, I have no idea.
Regards,
John.

[AllWight]

All your engines are black. Im sure you have shares in Halfords Black paint John!!!

[John Candy]

All your engines are black. Im sure you have shares in Halfords Black paint John!!!

Actually, I currently have only 4 black engines out of 9 which are completed!

Others are:-
1 x Green (GWR 1361 class)
1 x Blue (Bagnall 0-4-0ST in "Worthington" livery )
1 x GER Crimson Y6
2 x LNER Brown Y6

The black I use is usually "Plastikote" and sometimes "Wilko" brand, if Wilkinsons are out of "Plastikote".

John.

[John Candy]

Tracklaying at terminal station is now complete.

Next task at this end of the line will be the MPD, which requires the turntable to be constructed.

Photos :

1. General view from buffer stops.
Tracks from left to right are: Goods arrival; Yard headshunt; Goods departure; Loco release road / carriage loop; Platform 1; Platform 2; Platform 3.



2. View of goods yard with shunting neck in foreground.



3. View looking back across site of MPD (green tarps, folded back, are my PPI ....Pigeon Pooh Insulation)!



4. Another view towards buffer stops.



5. A (rather fuzzy) view looking towards the "pilot refuge" (with red stop block) and the (as yet unlaid) spur leading to the turntable and MPD.

[MikeWilliams]

To put temperatures in perspective, the deflection temperature of most resins we use is around 70 degrees C.  I know a loco or black wagon left in the sun with reach temperatures much higher than ambient, but that's a bit difference to the 30 or 35 we've seen here lately.

Mike

[AllWight]

Looks like a complex track plan John

Did you base it on a particular location or take many areas for inspiration

Mark

[John Candy]

Mark,

Track layout was tailored to fit the site, taking into account following factors:-

1) I needed to make use of two code 330 double slips.

2) Make best use of the three types of rail I had accumulated : Code 330 brass, code 250 brass and code 250 steel.

3) Only a single transition point between code 330 and code 250 rail.

4) Make the platform roads as long as possible.

5) Direct access to the MPD from as many terminal roads as possible (taking into account point 4 above).

Platform "1" will be the most used by local trains, so it has a run-round / loco release road and direct access to the MPD for loco servicing/exchange.

The Goods roads are arranged for the following modus operandi :

An arriving goods train enters the reception road (extreme left hand road when viewed from buffer stops).
When the departure road (third from left) becomes clear, the pilot removes the brake van to the stops on the departure road.
The train engine of the arrival then sets back its train into the yard sidings (loco then moves to MPD).

Yard shunter then sorts the yard and forms next departure using the headshunt (road between reception and departure roads).
When sorted, the wagons are hauled into the departure road in two tranches, each no more than 7 wagons (this enables the yard shunter to run round, via the headshunt, and then propel the wagons to couple up to the brake van and form the next departure.

That was the logic applied!

Regards,
John.

[John Candy]

After much deliberation about methods of mechanizing the additional pointwork, I decided that pneumatic control was likely to prove less problematic than electric motors (I already have 11 LGB electric motors and had been considering Minx Micro Drives for the terminus).

I already hold a stock of 20 "Sunset Valley Railroad" air actuators and switches, etc. which had been bought from the UK agent, Back2Bay6 but the untimely death of Steve Warrington left me with no option but to order direct from the USA.

Last night I placed an order for a further 15 actuators plus additional switches and other parts and it was simpler than I expected. An email to  Pete Comley at Sunset Valley RR, followed by a phone call to provide card details and it was all tied-up in less than an hour.....the goods were despatched today by US Mail.

There will be the slight inconvenience of having to attend the Royal Mail sorting office to pay the Customs duty and VAT when the parcel arrives but at least the parts are still obtainable.

I still have to work out the best arrangement to link the motors to the three different arrangements of tiebar on the mix of pointwork but progress should be rapid once I have carried out a few tests.

Additionally, there are 12 manual levers to be installed for operating turnouts in the goods yards (all turnouts on the running lines, in passenger stations and those controlling access to / from goods yards will be either air or electrically powered from 3 "signal boxes" with only shunting movements within goods yard limits under local control).

John.