A working layout at last - first train runs on the Gzunderbahn.....!
- Thread starter Zerogee
- Start date
Nice set-up you've built there Jon.
I can also vouch for the Marshall's blocks, I used them to create a raised bed 4 courses high, all loose laid yet totally stable for all the 14 years it has stood.
I can also vouch for the Marshall's blocks, I used them to create a raised bed 4 courses high, all loose laid yet totally stable for all the 14 years it has stood.
Jon, I like the retain wall stones you used for the gradient track. They look like natural stone. Pardon me if i missed an explanation somewhere in your descriptions, but would you enlighten me on them ?
Hi Dan, I had mentioned the edging pieces in post no.8 above, but I didn't have a link to hand - this is what I used:
Traditional Paving Edging Grey, (L)500mm (H)250mm (T)45mm Pack of 50 | Departments | DIY at B&Q
I just spotted it while doing some reconnaisance in the local DIY store. Available in either slate grey, as I used, or in a buff colour. They are cast concrete sections, quite easy to cut and trim down (though the ones at the start of the gradient are actually part-buried rather than cut down). They were glued to the lightweight blocks using one of the external-grade adhesives.
The link shows a pallet of 50, but in the store they sold them as singles and I was able to buy just the number I needed for the incline.
Obviously you most likely won't be able to get this exact item your side of the Pond, but I'd guess you could probably locate something very similar....?
Jon.
Traditional Paving Edging Grey, (L)500mm (H)250mm (T)45mm Pack of 50 | Departments | DIY at B&Q
I just spotted it while doing some reconnaisance in the local DIY store. Available in either slate grey, as I used, or in a buff colour. They are cast concrete sections, quite easy to cut and trim down (though the ones at the start of the gradient are actually part-buried rather than cut down). They were glued to the lightweight blocks using one of the external-grade adhesives.
The link shows a pallet of 50, but in the store they sold them as singles and I was able to buy just the number I needed for the incline.
Obviously you most likely won't be able to get this exact item your side of the Pond, but I'd guess you could probably locate something very similar....?
Jon.
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Congratulations on getting some trains running. Bet you enjoyed a few cold ones! Looks like a lot of planning went into it. - Phil S.
Since getting the track up and running, I've tried to have at least a little running session most evenings to keep up the momentum!
Last night it was "The Twins", Fiffi and Pfiffi - I posted a couple of pics elsewhere on the forum last night, but thought I'd add them here to keep this thread complete:
....and then tonight it was some Saxon running, with the VIk and a very eclectic rake of assorted stock!
A full week in, and it is all still passing the "smile test"
...... lots more locos and stock to be run as well! 
Jon.
Last night it was "The Twins", Fiffi and Pfiffi - I posted a couple of pics elsewhere on the forum last night, but thought I'd add them here to keep this thread complete:
....and then tonight it was some Saxon running, with the VIk and a very eclectic rake of assorted stock!
A full week in, and it is all still passing the "smile test"
...... lots more locos and stock to be run as well! Jon.
Some very nice locos there. Like the pair of 0-6-0s.
Thanks Alan! Both TL45, not quite as nice as Keith's KISS versions but they do sound good with their Zimo decoders......
Jon.
Tonight's running.... a quick chuff round for the Dampftriebwagen (Steam Railcar), recently refurbished - though still waiting to have some details refitted - and digitised.......
A little bit of background to this one..... I found it a year or so back as a second-hand sale from Chalk, at one of the shows, and couldn't resist it. After chatting later to Michael Adamson at GRS, I discovered a little of its history - GRS had several of these built around the 1980s, using the front end of an LGB rack electric as the cab, an Austrian bogie coach as the body and a Stainz power unit under the cab; the barrel roof on the cab is scratchbuilt from brass, as is a new cab floor to fit on the Stainz gearbox.
When I bought it, it was RhB marked and finished in red and cream - I wanted more of a late-19th Century German look to it, so stripped it down, removed all the markings with some acetone and resprayed it in a nice mid-green (one of the Montana Gold spray cans). At the same time it received a Massoth XLS tucked away in the rear of the cab unit, with a speaker under the cab roof, plus extra power pickups from the rear bogie of the coach. Some LED lighting was installed in the coach, plus the little red LGB tail-lamp that you can see in the last pic above.
A full complement of passengers were installed, though it still needs a cab crew! Some of the cab detailing is still to be re-fitted when I get the chance, but for now it runs nicely and sounds good, and certainly passes the old Smile Test.
Jon.
A little bit of background to this one..... I found it a year or so back as a second-hand sale from Chalk, at one of the shows, and couldn't resist it. After chatting later to Michael Adamson at GRS, I discovered a little of its history - GRS had several of these built around the 1980s, using the front end of an LGB rack electric as the cab, an Austrian bogie coach as the body and a Stainz power unit under the cab; the barrel roof on the cab is scratchbuilt from brass, as is a new cab floor to fit on the Stainz gearbox.
When I bought it, it was RhB marked and finished in red and cream - I wanted more of a late-19th Century German look to it, so stripped it down, removed all the markings with some acetone and resprayed it in a nice mid-green (one of the Montana Gold spray cans). At the same time it received a Massoth XLS tucked away in the rear of the cab unit, with a speaker under the cab roof, plus extra power pickups from the rear bogie of the coach. Some LED lighting was installed in the coach, plus the little red LGB tail-lamp that you can see in the last pic above.
A full complement of passengers were installed, though it still needs a cab crew! Some of the cab detailing is still to be re-fitted when I get the chance, but for now it runs nicely and sounds good, and certainly passes the old Smile Test.
Jon.
GRS have done a number of interesting 'specials' in the past..
If I had not 'lost' a HDD, I would post some pictures of the motorised crane they did with a small diesel and the Matra crane..
I guess this was easier when spares were more readily available??
If I had not 'lost' a HDD, I would post some pictures of the motorised crane they did with a small diesel and the Matra crane..
I guess this was easier when spares were more readily available??
Only just caught up with this thread due to holidays.
Great to see the track down at long last Jon!
Must get on with mine sometime....
Great to see the track down at long last Jon!
Must get on with mine sometime....
Michael A in the early days of GRS was a prolific builder of all sorts of interesting stuff. I guess he got loads of bits from his conversions and being in the trade would no doubt be able to get spares from the Richters readily and at advantageous prices. Probably all sent in with his normal deliveries. Michael built a massive amount of South African Stock and I saw a lot of it when I visited his Garden Railway some time in the 90's I think. Much of it showing some degree of LGB Parentage. A very talented man who was able to keep his head very well in the Garden Railway TV Program when Mark Found was being a bit silly as he was building a Brass Kit.
Yerrs!
Mark did try to be a bit of a comedian, didn't he? I don't think any of the contributors really appreciated it!
I wonder what became of the 'biggest garden railway' project, the series expert was working on? - Looked more like the 'BBC Sandpit' than a railway.. Half expected the cast of Eldorado to appear in the background... Or Blakes 7 / Doctor Who running away from a man in a rubber suit!
That reminds me of his Consultant Pratt by name.............Yerrs!
Mark did try to be a bit of a comedian, didn't he? I don't think any of the contributors really appreciated it!
I wonder what became of the 'biggest garden railway' project, the series expert was working on? - Looked more like the 'BBC Sandpit' than a railway.. Half expected the cast of Eldorado to appear in the background... Or Blakes 7 / Doctor Who running away from a man in a rubber suit!
Yes, that's nearly identical - Michael told me that maybe a dozen or so of the railcars were made, all with SLIGHT differences so no two were absolutely identical; as I mentioned, mine was originally red and cream using an RhB-marked coach body (one of the pseudo-RhB repaints that LGB did using their standard OBB coach body). Other than the paint scheme, yours looks pretty much the same. As well as the repaint, I took out the very rudimentary circuit board in the cab unit and mounted an XLS behind the copper "boiler", with an oval speaker pointing downwards so that it uses the hollow brass roof as a sounding chamber. The passenger compartment now has LED lighting strips and the coach bogie is wired up to provide extra power pickups (with two LGB ballbearing wheelsets) which certainly helps the running quality.
Wonder how many more of them are still around?
Jon.