What is he doing

Another day at the Rocks By Rail Museum where there is a lot of track laying activity! 

Richard was busy drilling holes in the ends of rail so that fishplates could be bolted in place.

It is a technical process to get track laid properly with a spirit level being used and several 15 ton bottle jacks to lif the track level.

With the track level it is time to pack ballast under the sleepers and then around them to support the track. Freshly washed ballast is being added, transported up the line on the platelayers trolley which saw a lot of carrying duties during the construction of the viewing platform.

We had a bout 300 tons of used dirty ballast delivered which is a big pile.

And this is some of the rubbish we pick out before it even gets to the washing stage!

Whilst I left the track laying and ballasting to those who know what they are doing I got on with the never ending grass cutting tasks! Interestingly, I had the company of this male pheasant and his lady friend for much of my mowing time.

They are probably wondering about my mowing activity, what is he doing? I wonder that sometimes as well and no doubt Mrs. Woody does but not just about the mowing!

Whats that then Woody?

When you construct something like this...

...you do get asked what it is. It is difficult to answer apart from its for my model railway. It is only when you fit it to the baseboard that it explains itself - well to me anyway!

It is a cover for the hidden loops! Well the base for it anyway!

This took a lot of thinking out - never my best point. Clearances are tight and there is a need for thinks to fasten to each other and for the whole lot to be able top be removed if I need to deal with a derailment or maintain the track.

My solution was to have cross bars between the upright front wall and the back and my further solution to secure them was tabs that slide into the gaps that I left in the horizontal support that I fastened to the profile board yesterday.

It does actually all work! Yes! I amazed myself too!

Taking a step back and placing the brick paper covered card wall that I started making some time ago and the whole thing makes more sense in this picture then my words could ever!

I just need to make the top cover now!

This took a while!

 It may not look that much but there are quite a few hours of work in this profile board that is now fitted to the baseboard of My Last Great Project layout that I am currently working on. Normally it would be a cut to size, paint and screw in position job.

However, you may notice the batten running along the length of it which has slots at the back of it. That is the bit that took some time. You may further wonder what its purpose is - I certainly wondered that as I constructed it! All will be reveled, hopefully, later this week but it is taking some time so in true Woody style that few days may become weeks!

Not at all a usual Woody experience!

 Pointless? Well, not anymore! The point motors that I started preparing the other day are now fitted to the baseboard and just need the wires connecting to the central connector.

So far I am surprised at just how uneventful this wiring job has been - not at all a usual Woody experience! No doubt things will get back to their chaotic normality before too long!

The Banner Man!

Well, a week today the Rocks By Rail Museum opens with brake van rides which will hopefully be on the newly laid track that I have posted about over the last few weeks. For reasons far beyond me, I have ended up dealing with the advertising banners for the past few years. To save money on new banners each year I have taken to keeping the old banners going by amending dates on them. Luckily, the events follow a similar pattern each year which makes altering them relatively simple. However, with some uncertainty as to quite what will be finished on site and the effect that will have on events I had to amend the banners a little more this time. However, they get the message out there that the Museum will be open! Well, they do now as I dragged Mrs. Woody out with me and we made the grand tour to put all six sets of banners out. It was six months ago that I last did this to bring them back in at the end of the season but I will now be out every two to three weeks doing the same run changing the banners as the years events progress. Just call me The Banner Man!

Time for some point motors!

Still getting over the shock of having managed to connect up all the track power feeds without any issues (so far!) on the baseboard that I am working on from My Last Project 00 gauge layout, I am now dealing with the point motors. I pre-prepared them by fitting an extension pin to the activating rod.

That done I also attached the Peco mounting plate which makes fastening the motor to the baseboard much easier. 

With that done it was time to wire up the first one so that it can be attached to the baseboard. Much easier to pre-wire them on the bench than struggle once they are fastened to the baseboard. Working smarter not harder as I get older! I use a three core wire from Gaugemaster which again makes life easier and the only additional wire I need to add is a small loop between the two common returns on the two sides of the motor's solenoid.

Hopefully fitting the motors to the baseboard will follow on from the ease of the connecting of the power feeds! 

 

That mix of industrial heritage and nature!

 The view I got of the platform area at the Rocks By Rail Museum as I went to sign in for the day may not have looked that different to last week but there has been a lot of work going on.

Richard and Martyn were busy leveling the track by the platform ready to be fully ballasted.

Meanwhile, John and Ben were literally grappling to replace a wooden sleeper under the point.

With only just over a week until the Museum opens Pete and Pam were busy painting the wooden fencing giving a nice clean look to the entrance.

I was also trying to make the place look nice and clean with further mower work. This time I was cutting the quarry area of which this was the first cut of the year so was hard going but it looked a lot better afterwards.

The nice part about working up in the quarry area is that after all that hard work over the Winter, I can now take a few minutes rest in the quarry viewing area and take in that mix of industrial heritage and nature!

Power feeds complete!

Miraculously, the wiring of the power feeds on the baseboard from my My Last Great Project 00 gauge layout is complete! Whether it all works remains to be seen but I have a level of confidence in my work although I am not sure how low on the scale that level is!

I just need to add the point motors and their wiring next! Oh joy!

Making sense of a spaggetti!

Time to start on the wiring of another baseboard on my Last Great Project Layout. Two have been completed leaving two to do so I guess I could claim to be half way through but it doesn't feel like it! at least when I laid the track I did solder on the wires to it and fed them under the baseboard ready to be sorted out at a later date - something I am too good at!

First thing to do was to clear all the trains off the baseboard.

With that done the remaining tracks that ran over the baseboard joint were cut through and it was time to lift it up and see the underside!

That is going to take a lot of sorting! I think I will be busy for the next few days/weeks!

Kadee coupler.

Some years ago, whilst attending the Newark Toy and Train Fair, I found a stall selling pre-used USA outline rolling stock at really good prices. In addition to the price being attractive, the wagons were also fitted with Kadee couplers which on their own are about £5 a pair  to buy. The wagons worked out at just under £5 each so I came away with several! The only thing about them was that the previous owner had obviously fitted them as an after market modification and rather than using the proper Kadee mounting box a paper envelope had been created. The problem with this is that the coupling itself pulls out with any load on it. You cannot glue it or it will not uncouple. Having bought some of the proper mountings at the Bingham Model railway Show I decided to investigate how they fitted. I decided to trial with this caboose.

A close up reveals the coupler in the paper envalope.

With the coupler out you can see that it has a metal 'whisker' either side of the main shaft and this allows the coupler knuckle to move when it passes over a magnet in the track. This then allows the coupling to automatically uncouple from the other wagon fitted with the same style of coupling. You can also see the paper envalope mounting.

The Kadee mounting boxes come in two parts and have an inbuilt piviot for the coupling shaft.

Under the paper envelope was a piece of card that it was glued to. That needed to come off!

With some scrapping it was off revealing a solid plastic base which would form a much better mounting surrface for the coupling.

However I did need to add some plastic strip so that the coupling mounting box was at the right height from the rail.

With that done, the coupling itself was put in one half of the proper mounting box and the other half was carefully glued to it.

Then it was glued onto the caboose.

I have tried it on the layout and it does work so I just need to do the other end and then the 15 or so other wagons! If only I had more time!