tree sap

[dunnyrail]

Mobi,

I am sure that you could quite legally cut back the branches overhanging your land, but I feel inclined to leave my trees alone and put up with it.

There are lots of trees on our land, they give us privacy, if slightly too much shade) and I rather like running the train on the shady part of my new extension, despite all that work.

I may cut back some a bit, but my trees are staying!


James

You are legaly entitled to cut any branches overhanging your land, but only that bit that is overhanging. Plus you should by I believe some old long forgotten law put the resultant cuttings into the owners land. Now all this silliness can be sorted by a chat with your neighbour, unless of course you are not talking!
JonD

 

[beavercreek]

A lot of my layout passes under trees or bushes. There are one or two which do rain 'honeydew. at certain times of the year. Some are deciduous but most are evergreens (even evergreens shed leaves through out the year) and the worse ones are the firs which shed their needles (some being particularly strong and sharp!).

So I have constructed customised nets inside the broadleaved trees/bushes which are hard to see but collect the leaves.
For the 'honeydew' I have put camouflage coloured, shaped, thin tarpaulins into the branches (again not easy to see as they are 'woven' into the branches and obscured by the leaves). These tarpaulins stop 'honeydew', collect the needles, and also, as a side benefit, they keep the rain off and so protect my wooden buildings and vulnerable detailing that are sited there.

When I tell visitors that the nets and tarpaulins are there, they say that they wouldn't have known had I not pointed them out.
Better than chopping the trees down!

 

[Madman]

I have plenty of ants. They live in the buildings around the pond. That's another problem as I would like to get rid of them without poisoning the frogs.

We have an ant bait/poison that goes by the trade name "Taro". It's a small plastic container that lures the ants with a sweet liquid. I believe it may be Borate. The ants go for it then bring it back to the nest to feed others. I too have concerns about frogs and fish in my pond.

 

[dunnyrail]

A lot of my layout passes under trees or bushes. There are one or two which do rain 'honeydew. at certain times of the year. Some are deciduous but most are evergreens (even evergreens shed leaves through out the year) and the worse ones are the firs which shed their needles (some being particularly strong and sharp!).

So I have constructed customised nets inside the broadleaved trees/bushes which are hard to see but collect the leaves.
For the 'honeydew' I have put camouflage coloured, shaped, thin tarpaulins into the branches (again not easy to see as they are 'woven' into the branches and obscured by the leaves). These tarpaulins stop 'honeydew', collect the needles, and also, as a side benefit, they keep the rain off and so protect my wooden buildings and vulnerable detailing that are sited there.

When I tell visitors that the nets and tarpaulins are there, they say that they wouldn't have known had I not pointed them out.
Better than chopping the trees down!

Can we see a Picture, I am having difficulty trying to visualise what you have done.
JonD

 

[James Day]

Just seen a video of the PIKO track cleaning wagon. This is not a spirit using Tri-ang style pad on as I thought, it seems to be just a very expensive and over-wide grinding pad!

Grr.

On the internet I have seen a rather lovely US made brass tank with pads on twin diamond bogies and at $250USD it is no more expensive than the PIKO one, but then of course there is Postage, Customs, etc etc.

I would also love to see a video of what it does and how best to use it.

I am even thinking about making my own G scale version of the Tri-ang one to tackle tree sap and the omni-present grease

I did severely cut back one very annoying tree yesterday and after the storm last night the rails are not as sticky this morning as they were before cleaned them yesterday. Not sure if that was the worst stickiness offender - Time will tell.

James

 

[Eaglecliff]

A lot of my layout passes under trees or bushes. There are one or two which do rain 'honeydew. at certain times of the year. Some are deciduous but most are evergreens (even evergreens shed leaves through out the year) and the worse ones are the firs which shed their needles (some being particularly strong and sharp!).

So I have constructed customised nets inside the broadleaved trees/bushes which are hard to see but collect the leaves.
For the 'honeydew' I have put camouflage coloured, shaped, thin tarpaulins into the branches (again not easy to see as they are 'woven' into the branches and obscured by the leaves). These tarpaulins stop 'honeydew', collect the needles, and also, as a side benefit, they keep the rain off and so protect my wooden buildings and vulnerable detailing that are sited there.

When I tell visitors that the nets and tarpaulins are there, they say that they wouldn't have known had I not pointed them out.
Better than chopping the trees down!

Mobi,

I am sure that you could quite legally cut back the branches overhanging your land, but I feel inclined to leave my trees alone and put up with it.

There are lots of trees on our land, they give us privacy, if slightly too much shade) and I rather like running the train on the shady part of my new extension, despite all that work.

I may cut back some a bit, but my trees are staying!

James

You are legaly entitled to cut any branches overhanging your land, but only that bit that is overhanging. Plus you should by I believe some old long forgotten law put the resultant cuttings into the owners land. Now all this silliness can be sorted by a chat with your neighbour, unless of course you are not talking!
JonD

The first case that law students learn is Lemmon -v- Webb (1894) Court of Appeal, when their rollicking Lordships decreed that overhanging trees constitute a nuisance (not a trespass as such). If the offending owner fails to abate the nuisance, the neighbour is allowed to chop of the branches as far as the boundary, and as mentioned must give the branches (and the apples!) back. But of course the best advice is to avoid courts and lawyers, and speak nicely to your neighbour!

 

[beavercreek]

The first case that law students learn is Lemmon -v- Webb (1894) Court of Appeal, when their rollicking Lordships decreed that overhanging trees constitute a nuisance (not a trespass as such). If the offending owner fails to abate the nuisance, the neighbour is allowed to chop of the branches as far as the boundary, and as mentioned must give the branches (and the apples!) back. But of course the best advice is to avoid courts and lawyers, and speak nicely to your neighbour!

Hi Eagle and your inclusion of my post is for what reason?....I was not mentioning neighbour trees or bushes, but my own and also not having to hack them down anyway??

 

[dunnyrail]

P.S. Bring your tree loppers Friday JonD .

Poor Smart will be overloaded!
JonD

 

[dunnyrail]

Only kidding, gonna get a pukka tree surgeon !

Hells teeth, already in the House with all the other junk I need to bring over! I wonder if I still have that Tin of Agent Orange kicking around?

JonD

 

[PhilP]

[quote author=dunnyrail link=topic=301530.msg355627#msg355627 date=1436167583]
Hells teeth, already in the House with all the other junk I need to bring over! I wonder if I still have that Tin of Agent Orange kicking around?

JonD
[/quote]
Now if you find that, and put it on the `Private Sales`.. ???

 

[dunnyrail]

Now if you find that, and put it on the 'Private Sales'.. ???

[attachment=0][/attachment]

Looks like you need a Garden Railway Phil, a BIG ONE!
JonD

 

[PhilP]

[quote author=dunnyrail link=topic=301530.msg355716#msg355716 date=1436211320]
Looks like you need a Garden Railway Phil, a BIG ONE!
JonD
[/quote]
Now, where can I find some track??

 

[dutchelm]

I went to an open day on Sunday. At the start the trains would not pass a fuschia bush. A bit of spit on a tissue to wipe the track & a quick snip on the bush when hosts boss was out of sight to remove aphids. No more problems for the rest of the day (until it rained).

 

[James Day]

Did a marathon track clean and de-grease today. Lots of rubbing, wiping and grinding!

The sap issue seems to have abated quite a bit since a week or two ago, although the same loop entry point had stuck again and appeared unmovable. Strangely that turned out not to be sap, but a colony of earwigs making a home in an EPL drive! If they do it again at that location I will try installing a gaitered PIKO one there instead.

I will probably find out that earwigs like eating synthetic rubber next!

In all my rubbing, grinding etc, I forgot to clean my catenary, and at first there were issues, but a couple of loco passes later and quick wipe of the pantograph and all was well. Not sure if one should used conductive lubrication on catenary wire on permanent outdoor layouts? I have always used Graphite grease on temporary layouts and indoor set ups, but my fear was that outdoors it would cause more trouble than it saved

Advice and experience would be welcomed there

James

 

[TheMartin]

This year seems to be especially bad.

We had some long narrow tarpaulins made two years ago but stopped using them because they become just as sticky and we needed to wash them too. The section of our line that suffers most is up for renewal in January so i`ve been toying with the idea of permanently covering it with some kind of covered bridge sturcture... however it`s 7 metres long and I can`t help wondering how daft it would look!

I also wonder if it`s worth the money as cleaning only takes 10 minutes. we just use soapy rag and it comes up quite nicely.

A bigger problem is cleaning wheels. LGB Locos with skates seem to be fine (the skates seems to collect most of the sap leaving the wheels clean) but generally when the railway is open to children we only run Thomas and Percy (they prefer it and damages are less expensive) however as they don`t have skates they both collect huge amounts of crud mixed with sap. If we clean the locos with IPA at the end of a running session it comes of just fine, if we forget then it`s a much harder task!

Here`s a photo of Percy after Sunday`s running. The railway was running from 11am - 7pm and he ran for half of that time with Thomas covering the other half. As you can see it`s a nice grey sludge that is somehow still quite conductive and is fairly easy to remove. However left overnight it turns hard and black (much like you find on the rails before you clean) needs IPA plus a bit of vigorous cleaning or the paper-towel on the track trick!