Track gone!

Following last weeks day at the Rocks By Rail Museum where track maintenance work was being started, I was expecting some more work but was a little staggered by how far things have moved on with a lot of track gone!

The point has been lifted!

The sleepers are stored on the bank!

And, by the end of the day the rails into the platform had gone to!

There is more to do as a trench needs to be dug by the platform to install a drain and then everything need to go back. Easy to say but not so easy to do especially when the CAT has decided to break!

This is where it inconveniently decided to break down.

The cause is nothing terminal but it appears that the fuel system is slightly clogged as John, one of our mechanical geniuses, demonstrates with this part of a filter housing which ahs a nasty sludge inside.

This is the sludge he dug out - nice!

Not being a mechanical genius, I was back to using the crude tool of a spade - or as you could say, I was putting a spade in the ground, just as the UK Government is presently talking about!

That trench was soon widened with the ultimate aim of clearing a path, level with the existing, to the new viewing platform that has been subject to previous posts, 

In the meantime, David was digging, but in a different way, through the overgrowth, to extract a panel of Heras fencing. Might seem a strange thing to do but there was a logic behind this. 

Once free, we managed to maneuver the panel down the bank and rest it against the gabions. About a metre was above the gabion which is ideal as a barrier to prevent visitors falling off the top of the platform.  

 

Amazingly, using my phone spirit level app, the thing was also spot on level! Amazing! We then wired it to the gabions and in theory, the backfill behind the gabions should firmly secure the panel in place.

Going even further in the pursuit of excellence, Alex is unwrapping a roll of Terram sheeting.

Suitable lengths were cut off and back at the viewing platform we covered the Heras fencing and looped the remaining 7 metres of the stuff over the top. Once the backfilling is done we will roll the Terram back over it and cover it with stone. Hopefully the Terram will stop weed growth!

Looking back from the Heras fencing, David and Alex admire a good days work!

I wonder if we will finish this platform before the track goes back to the other platform?

Boxing clever!

Boxing clever may be a little over the top as a title to this post but I do feel a little clever over the way this sub-base is coming together. Firstly more supporting frames have been constructed and fitted.

Which has allowed the sides to be fitted.

Turning it right ways up begins to show how things will work with the four tracks at the back of the layout going into the gap. That gap will eventually be tunnel mouths but that is something that is still beig planned in my mind!

Whilst the main structure is now quite strong but light I did take the opportunity to brace some of the edges with card bent to a right angle and glued in place at joints of the card.

Hopefully, from here on and if I box clever it should get to be fitted onto the layout but that is a job for another day!

Picture frames?

It may look like I am creating picture frames but theses are in fact structural formers to place inside the scenic base that I am building at the moment and posted about yesterday.

When using large pieces of card to create in effect a large box, they can warp, so there is a need to brace them. I could haver just cut a rectangle of card but that would have been too easy! In addition a rectangle of card would also not be as structural strong as creating a frame made out of three layers of card such as that I have built. I fact I have built three of them so far!

Having built the these frames it was time to fit them to the card sides that I glued the other day, well two of them at least. Glued in place and supported either side by a jar and bottle of Pepsi (usual disclaimer that other makes of drink are available) and weighted on top I have left it all to allow the glue to dry and hopefully that will leave me with a warp free and strong initial structure. If not, then I have some spare picture frames! 

Filling an empty space!

Now, much as Mrs. Woody thinks that there is an empty space in my head where my brain should be, the empty space I am concerned about is on my 00 gauge layout. The space is the last part of getting the baseboard I am working on at the moment fully scenic.

This is going to be filled with a structural sub-base. That is, it will be a brick structure and will also cover the four tracks at the back. First job was to actually create a top shaped to the right contours. I had to ensure that the largest rolling stock could get by and the Central Trains Class 156 at a scale 75 foot long was used to test. After some small amendments the final shape was cut.

This will be supported and will be level with the top edge of the grey board at the back of the baseboard. Making that supporting structure and ensuring that it is light in weight so it can easily be lifted if needed as well as structurally strong, so that it doesn't warp and can take the weight of any additional structures on top, is going to take a fair amount of thought. Hopefully, that empty space that Mrs. W thinks that I have in my head actually does have some brain to be able to think this through! So far this thinking has produced what is in the photo below which will hopefully form a good base to build upon.

Whatever, it is going to take some sorting!

In an effort to add a little more realism to the scene, I have added some earth type powders to the bases of the trees. Generally, the base around a tree is dry and therefore not much tends to grow unless it is in my garden where the weeds seem to flourish no matter what the ground conditions are like!

It is a subtle effect but with the tree trunk added it looks right to me.

Moving onto the barn, the mud area, created with acrylic mud, does look right. But, generally around buildings like this, the weeds, just like my garden, do tend to flourish. But, unlike my garden where Mrs. Woody directs regular weeding operations, places such as this barn don't benefit from a Mrs. W type regime of weeding!

Knowing I won't have to weed this model means I can go as wild as I like! So lots of glue and a variety of vegetational materials were applied. 

And just to make things a little more pleasing to the eye, a bit of colour in the form of the red flowers that I have previously used were added.

So, with all the green stuff done for the moment it was time to stand back and admire it all but also take note of the mess created!

As I have said before, great artists tend to work in a mess, and although I do not count myself as a great artist I think my mess is something a great artist could have produced! Whatever, it is going to take some sorting!

Another job on the list!

It seems like a long time that I have been dealing with the vegetation of these scenic sub-bases but I am just about there now! No more dealing with green stuff for a while. That dream was shattered though when Mrs. Woody reminded me that it would soon be time to start planting seeds in the greenhouse! Another job on the list!

Anyway, forgetting about that job for a while until it returns to Mrs. W's mind, the last section on my layout to do at the moment is the one that runs up at the edge of the baseboard. Originally in one piece but due to the weight and weakness of the thin part of the structure it is now in two parts. Dealing with the smaller part first I had this bare patch of grass to work with.

Moving it to a more comfortable to work on position, it benefitted from some fencing and bushes done in the same way as described in recent posts.

Put back on the layout it looks good - to me anyway! Must put some track in place on that point. That's a job on my own list of jobs to do! 

Moving onto the second part, I had to use some masking tape along the length of the narrow part to stop the glue running down the back. I then added some ground foam.

The wider part was again treated to some fencing - the last that I have of this old Triang product - before general bushes, shrubs and unkempt vegetation were added.

With that done it was back on the layout.

With all the green sub-bases back on the baseboard it looks very different to a couple of months ago. I say green sub-bases as there is still one sub-base to make right at the back of that baseboard but that will be more of a civil engineering one in brick.

I just need to bed the barn and tree bases in and then that's it - for the moment anyway but no doubt there will be another job on the list - or maybe more!

Hanging basket liner isn't just for hanging baskets!

A quieter day after the hard labour at the Rocks by Rail Museum. Lifting scenic materials for my 00 gauge Last Great Project Layout is far easier then lifting rocks and digging trenches!

Having moved to the back of the current scenic sub-base, I am vegetating the area along the edge of the tarmac area for the goods shed. My usual methods have been used and I ended up with this.

That area on the right didn't quite look rough and uncared enough in my view so out came the hanging basket liner. Now this is a great product for creating that uncultivated wild look where nature has run wild and isn't just for hanging baskets! Applying some of it gave me this.

A bit of yellow flock added a little colour and interest and the whole scene looks much better. Just hope that Mrs. Woody isn't thinking of having hanging baskets this year as there may not be much liner left!

Pointless, but progress is being made at the Rocks by Rail Museum!

I couldn't help but feel something was in the wrong place as I walked into the Rocks By Rail Museum.

A somewhat pointless point switch! Walking further down I could see that there were far from pointless works going on!

It was a bit of a shock to see rails and sleepers taken up but there is a reason.

The platform line is suffering from sinkage caused by the fact that the drainage system is either in sufficient or actually is not there! It has got to the point where something has to be done. The plan is to lift all that track including the point, dig a trench and install a drain.

That drain will then connect into the manhole under the point just to the left of the picture above. Why is the manhole under the point? Well, apparently many years ago the track was realigned and the manhole ended up partially covered. I guess it made some sense at the time but it is not the best of situations to have to deal with it now. However, with some hard work it should be done in a few weeks!

One interesting item of rolling stock that has appeared is this rather unusual falt wagon with barriers around it. Apparently it was a tippler at Corby where its body was removed and the chassis was used to rest engines from the Class 14s that were serviced there. You learn something every day!

Meanwhile, over the maintenance pit, work continues on the re-tube of 1931. Somewhere under there is John who is reaming out the tubes so that they can be pulled out once the ends are ground off.

What looks like a battery in the firebox is actually a workshop light so that John can see what he is doing!

Moving over to the Exhibition Centre, John was pleased to show me that the timber from my kitchen Rocks by Rail Museum was now a floor in Mr. D! Good to know it has had a second life and it makes it look somewhat classy in there! Anyone for ballroom dancing?

Turning round I noticed that two of the brake vans have been moved in to dry out ready to be repaired.

Nothing to substantial but the woodwork has suffered being outside over many winters.

Moving onto my work, it was back to Gabions! But we are there!

Having run out of rocks we found some old bricks that broke up nicely and David is putting them in.

We think there is about eight and a half tons of rock material in the gabion baskets/cages and another ton and a half behind it - all moved by hand!

Moving to the other side this fence had to go and I soon had that gone with the use of a hammer!

That's a view I had not seen before!

This will be the way visitors get onto the viewing platform and we need to lower the area to match the path level behind so we first dug a trench that is level from the path.

With that done a scaffold post was placed from the trench to the top of the gabion.

And, miraculously, using my spirit level app on my phone, it is level! 

All that we need to do now is backfill from behind and put some barriers around the edge of the platform. Simples! At least we have a lot of clay and soil to backfill with!