Ox Mountain Railway

[trammayo]

Managed to make up the curved baseboard coming off the bridge and tried it for size - just clears a fence post by 50mm. Needs securing to metalwork then covering with felt before cutting track and screwing down. THEN I can start setting up for the extension!

All made from scrap timber and re-used screws.

 

[trammayo]

Well I took the baseboard into the shed last night to save it from getting wet. I notched the wooden framework so it would sit at the correct height after covering with mineral felt. I had a rather tatty piece of felt that had been rolled up and then got squashed. The result was creases in the felt when unrolled. A blowlamp proved useful in getting the felt to lay flat.

I screwed the board down to the metal frame using hardened wood screws (they make good self tappers), gave the surface a very liberal coat of felt adhesive and laid the felt on as it was now raining.

Drizzle on the lens

The overlapping felt kept the sides of the board dry whilst I applied the adhesive. Then it was a case of warming up the felt to dress it down the sides.

Track tried for horizontal alignment and found OK.

With the need to swing the whole assembly clear of the drive, this causes a problem because the "fixed" baseboard on the extention is still required to follow the curve of the bridge baseboard and this would foul the bridge. So the "fixed" portion will need a short lift out piece. Never rains without it pours.

 

[trammayo]

Well I keep dodging the rain and getting a little further. The lift-out curved section was completed yesterday and I was looking forward to more progress today. I dug out a further section of weeds and laid another 3 metre section of membrane. Topping it with sand was a pain in the posterior as, when wet, the sand was sticking to the soles of my boots and getting trailed everywhere. I had some black limestone ballast (called maintenance over here - used for filling pot holes) which I had saved from the old drive so used this instead.

I also cut back a section of the hedge so it was totally behind the sheep netting. I am now able to start on the baseboards for the extention - yipee!

 

[trammayo]

Well, at the moment, it has been a beautiful morning (after the ice had melted) and I was able to make some more progress. The 10ft section of base board was made yesterday and I left it out overnight -so I'm having to wait for it to dry before adding the felt! I trimmed back more of the hedge and also decided that the remaining border would have plants in instead of gravel/ballast.

I also decided to cut the top supporting concrete blocks in half so the base board would overhang and the woodwork would be sheltered. Any wood, like packing blocks, in contact withe concrete directly has been treated. This is as far as I've got this morning.

Weather permitting I hope to get another 15ft down and covered with felt (fingers crossed).

 

[trammayo]

Managed to set up another 16ft of base boards and cover the whole 26ft in felt. Quite a long day and tiring but the weather was brilliant. Might lay some track tomorrow while I ponder the terminal loop.

That was the last of my mineral felt anyway, and I don't want to splash out just yet!

 

[bazzer42]

I like those "base boards" Mick. That is a tidy and novel way of playing trains. Hope the weather holds good for tomorrow.

 

[trammayo]

Thanks Derek.
Apart from recycling the wood rolf, the main object was to make it as light as possible because it's directly next to a stream - and my usual method (stones and concrete) might have sent the whole section tumbling over the edge. The drive is floated on old corrugated sheets in this area and the concrete apron is reinforced to spread the load. It didn't help when our neighbour tried to lower the water level in the adjacent bog and undermined the bank!

 

[trammayo]

A "soft" day again but managed to sort out 50 odd feet of straight track (mainly LGB, AML and Aristo) and place in position.

The lift out curved piece joins on to the curve from the bridge with normal connectors whilst the opposite end straights join with slightly widened connectors which slide into position. A bit basic but it will do for now until I get time to make something better.

The bridge section is now folded back to the extention and accentuates the slope of the drive. The extention is level!

Most of the track is not screwed down yet at I need to make some electrical connections.

 

[Gizzy]

Blimey O'Riley, you don't hang about do you....

 

[trammayo]

Blimey O'Riley, you don't hang about do you....

I find doing something is the best antedote to feeling sorry for myself

 

[beavercreek]

Terrific Mick!You are certainly kicking up a lick...... it is already looking mighty fine.


I hope that you have no light-fingered passers by.....reckon you might have to fix the track down with security bolts!!

 

[trammayo]

Terrific Mick!You are certainly kicking up a lick...... it is already looking mighty fine.


I hope that you have no light-fingered passers by.....reckon you might have to fix the track down with security bolts!!

Hey up Mike - if it doesn't rain (much) today I'll be on the case! It's ten years since we last had something pinched. The day the bulk gas tank was installed, the 38kg bottle (chained and padlocked to the wall) went walkies. Its quiet here but you never know:thumbdown:

 

[trammayo]

The rain stopped early so I set to in case it came back. I needed to put some connections in for a feeder before I screwed the track down. As mentioned earlier, the track is mixed bag of S/H stuff - mainly 900mm lengths but with a handful of 300 pieces towards the current railhead.

I love LGB track for its patina when weathered (don't think the AML - or Aristo for certain - can beat it) but also like Aristocraft's mechanical connections even if they are a bit fiddly. I like how the sleeper panel is secured by two 2mm screws underneath and all my electrical connections are made via these screws.

As I had decided to used all the brown sleepered track at the front (nearest the drive, I swapped over the Aristo rails in a 300mm piece of LGB so I could use the screws underneath. I used some 3mm terminals - ex-Maplins a few years ago - some good quality (Oxygen excluded?) wire and a "belt and braces" of a little heat shrink. The pics...

Aristo track to sleeper screws

Same rail in LGB panel

Feeder leads ready for connecting to main feeder (when that cable is eventually rolled out)

After that, I screwed the track down and also inserted single sleepers under the rail joints where required - I just pare the plastic rail clamps away on one side (furthest away from viewing side) and bend the other half so it fits over the rail joiner.

 

[trammayo]

After screwing the track down, I decided to operate a test train to the current railhead.

The first trip accross the bridge..

Heading for the temporary railhead ...

Nudging the stop block ...

Reversing back ...

Back across...

The next job is the terminal loop....

 

[beavercreek]

Stupendous Mick. It looks impressive and is impressive!

 

[trammayo]

Thanks Mike - it has been one of those Round Tu-its (collecting S/H track for three years!) - I want to finish it before my next job of getting the trailer layout ready for the first show in April - otherwise it will be September before the drive is clear:thumbdown:

 

[trammayo]

Having tried, late yesterday afternoon, to lay out the terminal loop on the drive - and getting thwarted by the rain, I resolved to create some floor space in the shed. By lunchtime today I had managed to lay out the track which was also to form the template for the plywood base.

I managed to get back to it later this afternoon and cut out the plywood. Next, I set to screwing battens (pallet planks!) underneath the ply sections and using the jigsaw to cut the planks to the same contours as the ply. As the afternoon wore on, this joining of the plywood sections became a rather heavy (and harder to work with) 'G' shaped baseboard. It needs a little more work, some felt for protection, the track screwing down and then it will be ready for feeding through the fence/hedge and back again. Tomorrow maybe.

The green line is the approximate hedge line and the other coloured infills represent the drive..

Basic measurements..

Ply cut to shape and more mess to clean up..

Progress so far...

 

[spoz]

Modern art...... (and more useful than most!)

 

[trammayo]

Modern art...... (and more useful than most!)

 

[beavercreek]

[size=14pt] I've got the missing one of the pair.............. ?[/size]