Wednesday 2nd December
The line is now well into winter but trains are still running as normal, even if the point blades are occasionaly frozen. All the locos are working well and the cold weather seems to be having little effect on the running, even Falcon has managed a few runs. Since the weather turned cooler there have been a few modifications to the locos. Jake has been fitted with head lamps so is now capable of running in the dark. After trails with the prototype burner in Dougal, Robin now has a similar set up. The new burner has found to be more realiable in use and does not seem to smell as much, while producing a steady amount of heat. There has been another visitor to the railway recently in the form of an Accucraft Mortimor. This loco has been fitted with radio control gear in the DLR workshops and has been thoroghly tested. Looking ahead to the Christmas holidays it is looking likely that Jack will be having a repaint as his paint work is looking a little tired. A few othe ideas have been discussed, including block houses (small signal boxes) in certain areas with full rodding to control points and signals. Also, some months ago now, a full yard was finally constructed to allow for more siding space and for a bit of detailing. The pictures below show the yard area and the visiting loco, of which there is also a video of on my Youtube page.
Wednesday 14th October
Jack is back! At the Elsecar garden railway show I managed to buy an RC speed controller for him and all the parts to make Jack fully radio controlled. This now means with two RC locos I can run the railway more prototypicaly, so long as there is somebody to drive the other loco. Also after the show I decided to have a good look at Condor to see if anything apart from a full rebuild could be done to improve the running. After resetting the vavle timing and the position of the valves, he is now back to how he should be. The cylinders are far easier to clear from cold and now self starts far better, just need to nip up those valve chest nuts.
Friday 25th September
OK, so it has ben a very long time since an update, so this is Dan's summer sum up. The first week was spent on a "research" trip to Wales, which gave me lots of ideas. All the usual places were visited as well as a few new ones. While in Wales, William invited me to his railway and to look round boston lodge works (thanks Will). On arriving home very little happend for 3 weeks and no trains were run, which worried a few people. After that little break things went back to normal with all the locos running well. The slate wagons had weights added so that they wouldnt derail as much going over the self setting points and so that Falcon could tow them. Condor is now really starting to show the wear in the motion parts so can only run backward at the moment. Bertie is running well and a new type of leakless whistle valve was fitted and the boiler was descaled. As usual at this time of year preperations are being made for the Elsecar garden railway show, and just to give me something to do Jake had a big accident after the battery for the RC gear went flat. This caused the regulator to stick open and, upon reaching the bottom loop, derailed taking all the coaches with him. Luckily there was no damage to Jake but the coaches looked a little worse for wear, but all fixed now. I will try and put some pictures up from the summer soon. I'm sure I've forgoten something so expect more news.
It's not going well so far this month. A couple of weeks ago Jack blew his speed controller but a replacement has finally been found and he is back in traffic. Dougal has also been having problems, mainly with his safety valve sticking open. Once again the workshop staff mamanged to make a replacement valve so quickly he barely had chance to cool ! Condor is still strugling and there are doubt wether he will get to visit William's railway in Wales, which is only a week away. On Tuesday Bertie, Jake and Falcon went to the Claremont light railway where Falcon had his first public run. As the summer holidays approach and I will have some spare time I am asking if there would be interest if I made a small batch of Falcon style locos. If you are interested please contact me.
Once again a big jump between updates. The open day went very well with a total of five visitors and some interesting locos. The weather held off just long enough for everyone to have a run although the last train did get a bit wet (pics in the visitor section). Since then Dinorwic station has been completed and work has started on designing Caenarfon station which will go in the loop. Most of the locos are running well, Falcon really showing what he is made of towing far more than the prototype loco could. The loco not working this month is Jack who has some how managed to blow his speed controller, so he will be out for the foreseeable future. There is also a new video from a passengers perspective in the video section
Long gap between news again but it is worth the wait. After having a new cylinder fitted Falcon has been transformed and now has a lot of power and is now capeable of running out side, I'll put the videos in the video page. Jake is now run in and is showing his true power. Condor is only running cab first for the time being due to a timing issue. The line is once again getting ready for the annual open day. All the little issues with the track have been fixed and the quarry has been finished. Also Dinorwic station has been made but is not yet complete so a photo will have to wait.
Condor has returned this week after having new bearings fitted to the conecting rods, its not a permanant solution but should last the summer season. Bertie has had his whistle refitted after some modifications were made, Jake's new RC gear has made him the most controlable locomotive and is a very enjoyable way to drive. It has however had a nice side effect, the gas lasts longer as you do not need as much steam. Preperation have begun for the open day in 3 weeks with parts of the track being lifted for reapair.
Dougal is back in traffic after having a well earned repaint and so far the rust doesn't show through. At the weekend the annual trip to Roundhouse was made for the open day and to see the new 'Atlantic' locomotive. A line in Tickhill was also open on the same day so Jake made his first trip out. Unfortunatly the line did not suit the chopper couplings of my coaches so the owner very kindly let me have a go with his RC Roundhouse Billy . This short trial convinced me that Jake needed fitting with radio control which I spent the last two days doing. As the weather has not been suitable there aren't any pictures of Dougal yet (I might have lied )so I will add some this week, if i can stop playing with Jake!
The line is down to 3 working steam locos at the moment as Condor has worn out both connecting rods. The other loco missing is Dougal. After a long run on Saturday all the paint on the front of the cab pealed off to show a huge rust patch so he has been dismantled for repair and a repaint. In the rebuild, the sandboxes will be properly fixed as will the lamp. Planning for the open day has begun and the track is being made ready for the larger locos expected.
At long last and a year after the design was finalised Falcon is finally finished,well nearly. The last few days have been spent cleaning and painting all the parts and rebuilding. I am very pleased with the result and hopefully in the next week we will see it haul its first train.
After a few days hard work and another to tidy up, the extension is finally finished. It has doubled the length of the line and has added a lot more interest. Initial testing was done with the Simplex and 13, then with Robin light engine. The official opening took place today with Jake towing the first train after coming back from Mike who repaired him (thanks again). A link to a video of a trip down the line has been added to the videos section.
OK, so its only a week late. The annual garden railway show at Stoneligh was last Saturday. The show was fantastic, lots of things to see and got to finally meet Peter from the MHLR. As it was his birthday on the Sunday (happy birthday Jim), I let Jim loose on Mount Dowd with Bertie and he did very well. Later in the afternoon, Bertie got to play at triple heading with Peter and Andy's Bertie's. All went really well and attracted a lot of attention.
Big news! Due to me being out voted in the last share holders meeting (dont ask) the line is being extended. This extension will be the last major work to the line, mainly because I've run out of garden. The new extension will add about 60ft to the run making the total track length 120 feet. Yet more good news, Jake is coming back. All of the larger wagons and locos have now been fitted with chopper couplings. This means all the stock is interchangeable so I can have different trains, look out for them in later videos. For the extension, a new page has been added for you to follow the progress.
Preperations are being made for the national gerden railway show at Stoneliegh. If all goes well Bertie will be triple heading (maybe quadruple) with two other Bertie locos owned by friends. As such Bertie is as clean as he has ever been. Some bad news now. Jake is going to be repaired after developing a fault, just in time for the easter hoilidays. On Sunday I will put all the pictures and videos of the show up, I'd put them on Saturday night but I like to keep you waiting.
The line has a visitor from a line in Lincolnshire. The loco is called poppy and is the same type of loco as Robin and Dougal. It is currently in the workshops undergoing a rebuild but all being well should venture out onto the line in the coming week. So far the workshops have fitted new cylinders and a lubricator. Poppy is on the far left
Saturday 14th March
I've got a new loco!!!!
Alright sorrry for shouting but im excited (something i thought i would never say). I have been thinking about the new loco that Accucraft brought out since last year, and after saving the money decided i was going to seriously consider buying one. To cut a long story short (most is just unpacking anyway) I am now the proud owner of a brand new Accucraft Lawley, bought from Brandbright about 11 hours ago. Already been out for two runs and it runs very well.
Testing of Bertie's new whistle has continued with pleasing results. The new whistle has a clear, deep tone and works at most pressures. A video of it has been added. In non railway news the workshops have made a showmans style living van that goes behind William.
16th Febuary
Exciting news! Falcon has made it all the way round the track and didnt stop. This finally means he will be in normal traffic by the summer. A short vid of his first lap is in the vidoes section
14th Febuary
Once again a huge jump between updates with good reason, nothing has happened! Bertie has been given a new whistle toady with a lower note (and a higher volume!) Dougal had a long run yesterday with no trouble at all staying at a steady pace with the occasional stop for fuel. Other than that trains have continued as normal, what an exciting news. The next one might be more interesting
Happy new year all! Yes I know its about two weeks to late however. Services have contunued despite the cold weather but on a limited timetable. As a result nothing has broken and there have been no problems, well nearly no problems. Falcon is still proving a bit difficult although has towed its first train and should work better once the weather gets warmer. More interesting news the railway now has its own Youtube channel which videos will be added to in time.And yes due to complaints (Will) the news is now the other way up.
27th December
The line has had visitors! William of the SHR came on Christmas eve with his loco for the after noon. All went well and both his and my locos performed well. Falcon is still proving difficult but hopefully that will be solved with a new boiler. A new cattle van is being constructed in the workshops, which had a little relief as the line closed for Christmas
Tuesday 23rd December
As you probably noticed on your way here, the line isn't closing, so we can forget that bit. There is another new loco on the line this one taking the form of a 20hp simplex which was given to the railway by a friend. Although it is about 15 years old it runs very well and will be a great asset in the evenings when traffic is quieter. Falcon is causing the railway's workshop problem as it refuses to run properly im sure they'll sort it in the end. Hawk's frmaes are in transit from another line and construction will start upon their arrival. Apart from that nothing is going on really all the other locos are running well and no new sceanary has been added.
