Ox Mountain Railway

[trammayo]

Dandylions aside, yesterday turned out to be nice (weather that is), so I decided to test a train. James the red engine hadn't seen daylight for over three years so out he came. Annie & Clarabell (now bogie coaches) were attached and off they went "roundy, roundy". All OK so I went to check on the goats and give them their evening treat. All still OK on the railway before I decided enough was enough and put them to bed.

Yes, the two coaches were surprised to see where they'd been!


But the matter was soon rectified


A close-up running at speed - a bit of a blur really..


And the last circuit round at (around) 6.00pm!


And all without the rails being cleaned!

 

[trammayo]

H'mm - a week since I ran something or did something with the line! But I did a bit of experimenting yesterday. The treated wood for the replacement trestles has been stood outside for some time now. The wood is to build the replacement trestles. Apart from wood rot, fastenings also rust away, so I ordered some stainless steel screws to eliminate that particular problem. The original, now decaying, structures were mainly nailed with an air nailer but I could find the right length 18g stainless nails - hence the screws.

An area of decay is the foot of the uprights/bents so I thought I'd insert a stainless screw in the bottom end so that it might support the wood and there'd be a gap to help prevent moisture meing absorbed by the legs. I'd done something similar with the wooden legs supporting the new baseboards.

The other thing that occurred to me was that inserting a screw in the end of the 3/4" square timber might cause the wood to split. I had some copper pipe offcuts in the shed so I thought making some ferrules out of it might solve the assumed problem -





So the bottom pic is looking down at the end of the timber. To make it easier to drive the timber into the ferrule, I just tapered off the corners, placed the ferrule on the concrete floor and drove the wood in. Stanley knife to trim any resulting splinters and Bob's your uncle (he wasn't mine)!

Because the timbers will each make two legs, its just a matter of fitting the ferrules to either end and cutting the timber to size as required. I'll also dip the ends in non-water based treatment before I start using them.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Yup, I forget the statistic but a timber end grain absorbs significantly more moister than side grain. It's quite a big number, which is why, even with treated timber, it's worth applying some sort of end sealer - you used to be able to by Enseal; geddit?

Many moons ago, when I was out of work, I was assisting a chippy mate f mine repairing the bottom edges of garage / barn doors at the home of Michael Nicholson the news broadcaster (that's how desperate I am for a claim to fame).

My mate was a joiner, in fact a musical instrument maker, and not a site chippy, and he looked down his nose a bit when I insisted that we prime the ends of the new pieces of wood before fixing. He went along with it OK after I'd explained.

 

[Chris Vernell]

Yup, I forget the statistic but a timber end grain absorbs significantly more moister than side grain. It's quite a big number, which is why, even with treated timber, it's worth applying some sort of end sealer ...

Yes, it's highly recommended ... and I do it, so it must be right, right?

 

[trammayo]

Nothing much to report really - except a finger slippage in July which has finally entered my grubby hands -


I'd always fancied an Aristocraft station building and I saw this for sale described as a house! What's more, it was just under £30 + plus a nominal sum for P & P! Wow! I thought so I clicked on the post and bought it. From then on, our life changed forever. Our youngest son, who's house I was having it posted to, died on the 24th of July. Anyway, the parcel never arrived for nearly two month!

Then my son's partner got a message from a neighbour saying the postie had dropped a parcel off with them because there was no one at her house. It turned out to be the above object. I did the decent thing and contacted the seller with a view to repaying him (I had received a full refund because of the non-delivery). He said forget about it, I've claimed off Royal Mail! So it costed me nothing!

It does serve as a reminder of my late son - I was talking to him about the delivery on the Wednesday of the week he departed. It was the last time I spoke to him (we had great craic - laughing and joking about each others problems!) so I think the little station will be called Adriansville in his memory!

Just three more pics showing all aspects-



I have a location in mind, so need to get my posterior in to gear!

 

[PhilP]

A fitting tribute, that will no doubt raise a tear, and smile, in the future?

PhilP

 

[Madman]

Nothing much to report really - except a finger slippage in July which has finally entered my grubby hands -

View attachment 290992
I'd always fancied an Aristocraft station building and I saw this for sale described as a house! What's more, it was just under £30 + plus a nominal sum for P & P! Wow! I thought so I clicked on the post and bought it. From then on, our life changed forever. Our youngest son, who's house I was having it posted to, died on the 24th of July. Anyway, the parcel never arrived for nearly two month!

Then my son's partner got a message from a neighbour saying the postie had dropped a parcel off with them because there was no one at her house. It turned out to be the above object. I did the decent thing and contacted the seller with a view to repaying him (I had received a full refund because of the non-delivery). He said forget about it, I've claimed off Royal Mail! So it costed me nothing!

It does serve as a reminder of my late son - I was talking to him about the delivery on the Wednesday of the week he departed. It was the last time I spoke to him (we had great craic - laughing and joking about each others problems!) so I think the little station will be called Adriansville in his memory!

Just three more pics showing all aspects-

View attachment 290993View attachment 290994View attachment 290995

I have a location in mind, so need to get my posterior in to gear!

I have two Aristocraft stations, similar to yours. They were purchased only a couple-three years ago. I must say they are quite sturdy. Probably owing to the fact they factory built. They are just detailed enough, in my opinion, for a garden railway at ground level.

My Pola structures, though very robust, have lost all of their fine details over time.

 

[playmofire]

I'm very sorry to read your new, Mick, but what a delightful memorial you have for your son.

 

[trammayo]

I finally got off my posterior on Tuesday to commence the repair/rebuild of my arched bridge (as I call it) - an important link on my railway!


"As built"


"decay"

I thought the main rot was the bridge decking. It was well on its' way out and, on removal, the plywood was amenable to being rolled up just like an everyday product found in the bathroom! However, a close examination (eye sight not as good as it used to be!), finger pressure also on the components, revealed extensive decay .....





..... so it was a case of replacing the grotty timber!
I'm using some treated timber (in most areas), and I needed some workspace - so the car is banished from its night-time home for the moment!


Apart from the the curved bit (ex UPVC fascia board) the construction is wood. The repaired bridge will have a plastic deck (ex- surplus off-cuts from my son's bathroom in Scotland!). All parts are fastened with nails (air gun nailer) and they will be stainless steel. I'm also going to use PU adhesive/sealant as well - especially to assist the fastening of the deck. The deck frame-work remains largely intact and solid (apart from the end and side pieces).....



..... and that's the state of play at the moment. Domestic repairs have intervened since I started. Hopefully, I'll get some more work done this morning!

 

[trammayo]

And, indeed, I did get some more work done this morning! Everything nailed or glued (apart from the bridge parapets)....


The plastic cladding acting as the bridge deck - the colour/pattern is called Loft Grey (so my son says).


It's very similar to corroflute.



It has to be cramped up to allow the deck to attach itself to the bridge frame (there is/was a slight downward deflection in the structure so I used a larger piece of timber so it wouldn't bend).

Now it (the PU Adhesive) needs to cure before more filling and prior to painting work. The garage floor has been swept for the bridge's continued sojourn in its' temporary home!"

 

[trammayo]

A little more work done yesterday afternoon - got the bridges railing glued on and clamped in position.....





Just waiting for the "glue" to set now.

 

[trammayo]

Managed to give the bridge a coat of paint this morning. I'm using the same stuff I paint the hay shed with. When it's dry, I'll give it another going over. At the moment, I'm trying to clean up the bridge abutment or central pier ......

....which would have been like this 9 year ago,,,

It's just made of corroflute (scrounged election posters) but, over the years, the paint started to peel off together with the original print of the poster. Wire brush and scraper are the order of the day at the moment!

The freshly painted bridge .....


And that's it for now - goats to see to before I have my tea!

 

[Anglian]

Looks well Mick. All ready for another few years.

 

[trammayo]

Looks well Mick. All ready for another few years.

Hopefully Trevor!

Well I did a little bit more yesterday and even posed the bridge and its' abutment. Both items now resident in workshop and the garage is now letting the car back in!


I did try blasting the abutment with a stone effect rattle can but it wan't really warm enough for painting (must remember to bring the can into the house to warm up).


Also used some very sticky wood adhesive in the odd place as can be see here on two of the quoin stones. It is sandable (it says so on the cartridge) so that's another little thing to un-snot!


Eventually the corner stones (and other random groupings) will be painted a different shade!


So, at least, I'm heading in the right direction! If there's a dry day ahead maybe I'll run a train over to the stream-side extension. Maybe.

Next job will be to get the freight depot rebuilt I think!

 

[playmofire]

Excellent job thus far, Mick, a usual.

 

[trammayo]

With the bridge more or less completed and stored in my workshop, I've made a start pn rebuilding the Freight Depot. The first pics are when it was first constructed......



..... and as it is now - well and truly ready for the compost heap!


So the first thing for me was to get measurements and a large piece of paper. I'm starting with the gable ends as the rot as reduced certain parts in height. Once I'd garnered the required measurements and wrote them down, I selected suitable scrap pieces of internal (as in bathroom) wall cladding. The cladding is nominally 250mm in width so, as I was using off-cuts, it needed three pieces to give me the right width ....



and here's the pieces pushed together .....


So, it looked OK and I put some more pieces together and cut them out (the opposite way round of course ......


They are pretty rigid and they will be strengthened inside the building. As mentioned elsewhere, the material is very similat to Corroflute....



Next job will be to create the longitudinal pieces for the trackside frontage. So that's it for the moment!

 

[trammayo]

Did a little more (inbetween gardening). Took a picture of the grotty face of the building ,,,,,,,



Cut the new face of the building - and superglued all the plastic joints to make the sections ......



The metal angle is leftovers from bridge building (or repair recycling - ex the arched bridge). The galv iron is fixed on with PU18 so it has to set before further assembly work continues.

 

[trammayo]

Just sticking things together ......





The PU adhesive/sealant causes parts to slide a little - hence clamps and weights!

 

[trammayo]

Still sticking bits of the building together - the "roof" is now in place ......



A little more structural work on the back and then it will be time to carry out the detailing!

 

[Madman]

Mick, is that material sort of like plastic corrugated cardboard ? If so, it's used for temporary signs like political ones here. It's easy to work with, but as you say, needs bracing as it will warp over time in the sun.