Time, slow progress and points!

Time! I never have enough of it. Lots of things done today, especially on Mrs. Woody's job list for me, but very little time for model making activities! I shouldn't grumble as I probably do, over the course of a month, spend a good few hours in my man cave producing things that will eventually end up in a skip! However that will be someone else's problem, so in the meantime I carry on. 

Back to my Last Great Project 00 gauge layout which has made some progress over the last few weeks but not as fast as I had hoped. Progress is progress though but I am getting to the stage where this particular job of getting the track laid, wired and ballasted on the removable section is becoming a bit of a chore. I may need to divert onto something else for a couple of weeks and come back to the layout when refreshed and keen to progress again. I do admire those people who can work on a project for months and years without deviation but I cannot do that and as it is a hobby its has to be relaxing and fulfilling so I do it my way!

Anyway that does not mean I am not thinking about what I need to do next with the track laying/wiring/ballasting on the 00 gauge layout and I have made sure that stocks of necessary materials are available from the WMD Stores when needed. Sometimes it is the small things that cause delays but make a difference to the model. There are several points on the removable section. They will be operated by under board point motors but in real life points were operated from on the ground systems. Basically there are three ways of operating a real point. Firstly by a lever next to the point. Secondly by point rodding leading to a remote lever on a lever frame that could be located in a signal box. Thirdly by an electric motor controlled usually from a signal box. With the first option the lever has to be next to the point so you need to walk between points which would be fairly exhaustive in a large yard. With the second option there is a mechanical limit to how far point rodding can effectively operate so the levers need to be in the vicinity of the points. The last option means that a point can be operated by a signal box literally tens or hundreds of miles away from the point. That last option is the modern way that railways have gone. On most model railways there is usually no above ground point operating system modelled but it is one of those little details that makes the difference if modelled. Point rodding looks great but it is a real pain to model. I therefore have decided I will model the electric motor point control which makes life easier and saves time for me - working smarter not harder as I get older! Suitable model point motors have arrived in WMD Stores together with a kit for a couple of relay boxes where in real life all the electrics and control relays for the point motors are contained.

The point motors look good when temporarily put in place.

Coping!

I understand that the World's perception of the UK is that it is a usually wet country climatically wise. Given that the last decade or so has seen some really hot and dry spells you would think that perception would be on the way out. However given today, yesterday, the day before that and so on, maybe that original perception is still valid! It has been a real rainy day and I think that the Burning Woman Festival that I talked about yesterday is probably more like a Somewhat Damp Festival as from what I understand it is mainly taking place in the open or in tents. Not something I could cope with these days!

However, I think I can cope with the wet weather better than the 40C temperatures in some parts of Europe at the moment. Anyway, whilst it is very British to talk about the weather, there are other things in life, as Mrs. Woody tells me as she hands me another list of jobs to do! To cope with doing those I have, however, managed to get out to the Man Cave between jobs and without getting too wet! Having found the missing safely stored coping stones to the two viaducts I thought it best to actually now attach them before they became missing safely stored again.

I had thought that I was only missing four coping stones but it was actually eight - the other four were in the bag - luckily! Anyway with them all in place it just makes the viaducts look better - you could even say coping well!

Things turn up when you least expect it!

Things turn up when you least expect it like out on a bike ride this morning when I came across this sign.

I am sure there the event is not as you might read from the sign but that is one strange sign. Must find out what it is all about.

Back in the reasonable safety of home, the last couple of days has seen the WMD HQ undergoing some deep tiding and cleaning which Mrs. Woody seems to be keen on having done and having done by me! Fair enough. The cats and me do make most of the mess whilst Mrs. W, safely watching, from the comfort of a sofa, some more murder mystery TV show, does not! I must admit that I do sometimes leave things lying about. The six pens, can of paint and some screw drivers (I wondered where they had gone!) in the kitchen are probably better placed elsewhere! 

Having got into the right frame of mind for this tiding and cleaning lark I took to my Man cave which was looking decidedly messy to bring about some sense of cleanliness. Whilst I was tiding things up I happened to open a box to see what was in there. I actually emptied it out to establish the contents and found this at the bottom.

It might just look like a plastic bag with a few bits of cardboard but as soon as I saw it I knew I had found them. I had found the missing coping stones and the brick pier to the viaduct that I talked about a couple of weeks ago. 

Brilliant! I knew that I had put them somewhere safe - in this case a very safe place! I also knew that the likelihood was that I would find them when I was least expecting it which I did. Anyway they are on my workbench ready to be glued into place. Now where did I put the glue?????

Brakes only slow you down!

Back in the days when I did cycle racing I can remember a fellow cyclist telling me not to worry about my brakes as 'they only slow you down'! Now that advice may have its merits when Woody was a younger cyclist hurtling down hills but as I have got older the life preservation button has been pressed and I like to be safe! To that end I needed to replace the front brake pads on one of my bikes. As you can see the old one on the right when compared to the new one on the left shows I was right in deciding to change them.

Having done that job I noticed the bike looking somewhat dirty. I do prefer to use the time I have for cycling to actually cycle and not clean bikes but I decided it was time for the clean!

I even went as far as cleaning the block which was somewhat oily and dirty.

An old sock was cut into strips and these were used to get between the cogs and clean the gunk out.

After 15 minutes or so it looked a lot better!

In fact with the rest of the bike cleaned it all looked a lot better and I can stop as well!

Just wish I could find something to give my old legs a bit more speed these days!

Wednesday at Rocks by Rail Museum?

 

It is Wednesday so I should not have been at the Rocks By Rail Museum today - but I was for various reasons that I won't go into! Despite the weather forecast showing rain all day apart from a few drops in the morning it was dry. So I was out mowing! All the front grass done and about a ten mile walk to do it. However I still had the legs to do my usual tour of the workshop where I did find Harriot the JCB slowly becoming a technicolour JCB as she gains all sorts of paint coverings. I am sure she will look good once finished but at the moment she looks somewhat like something out of Scrapheap Challenge!.

In the Exhibition Center the three Sentinels that the Museum relies on are getting continual maintenance. This time Graham is being looked at with regard to a charging problem for the battery.

The control console is in bits which means this is serious work.

Steve, Dan and Derek are working their magic in getting the alternator back in probably for the 96th time! Whether the problem will be fixed is still awaiting a proving test!

Meanwhile this Yorkshire loco had to be moved and shows just how attractive an industrial loco can look when looked after. A real credit to Paul the owner who has spent a great deal of time painting buffer beams, buffers, couplings and polishing the bodywork. The engine noise is just stunning too. Almost makes me want to own one! Now that would be something that would need some careful explaining to Mrs. Woody!

Waterproofing.

As I get closer to the point of ballasting the track on the removable section of baseboard on my 00 gauge Last Great Project I need to take account that the two viaducts are made of cardboard. Whilst I did paint the track-bed with some sealant I thought it would be best to take a few more precautions or I could end up with a mass of soggy cardboard when I glue the ballast down with watered down PVA glue.

Step one was to cut some very thin plastic card to size. As usual, WMD HQ Stores had the required item in stock so that was found and cut to size. Unfortunately the sheet was just 4cm too short so I had to glue a small extensions on to the main parts.

As the plastic card was bright white it was painted grey to avoid any bright patches if the ballast did not cover it all.

To try to further reduce the amount of diluted PVA that I would need to use I pre-ballasted the edges and middle of the track-bed.

Putting the two pre-ballasted track beds in place on the viaducts it looked like this.

 I thinking its looking good but whether it will still be that way after all the track is ballasted and glued down with dilute PVA remains a question to be answered!

Flat Earth!

Not that I have joined the Flat Earth Society but flat earth is the Vallejo colour that I am painting the sleepers and rails on my Last Great Project 00 gauge layout. This tones the sleepers down from their plastic dark brown and gives the sides of the rail a rusty look just as in real life. The photos below hopefully demonstrates the difference between unpainted and painted track.

I am airbrushing the track which uses a fair amount of paint but is certainly quicker then using a paint brush! All I have to do is use a track cleaning rubber to clean the top of the rail head so that locomotives can make electrical contact and run. As a lot of paint still needs to be used I had to get three more bottles of flat earth paint today just to make sure stocks at WMD HJQ are maintained!

Driver for a Fiver!

Driver for a fiver must be one of the best value activities in the railway museum World! Not sure how many museums offer such a thing but at the Rocks by Rail Museum a £5 drive gets visitors behind the controls of one of the Rolls Royce powered Sentinel diesel locomotives and under supervision allows them the experience of driving it to the end of the line and back. The whole experience takes about 10 leisurely minutes or so which means that participants do actually feel as though they are being focused on and not just being pushed through as quickly as possible.

From the feedback we get, the vast majority of visitors think that it is fantastic value. Even with the less then summery weather today about 30 of our many visitors today experienced the driving opportunity so that is hopefully a number of Bucket List items ticked off for many of them! I am sure most of their other Bucket List items will cost a lot more than £5 to fulfill!

Visitors awaiting their turn for Driver for a Fiver during a sunnier part of the day! Not even the rain could put them off!

A short video about Driver for a Fiver is on my YouTube channel.

Waiting for glue to dry!

Yes, it is that time when I have to wait for the glue to dry. The underlay to the track on the removable section on my Last Great Project 00 gauge layout has now been glued in place complete with the plywood pieces at the baseboard joins.

Ordinary PVA glue is just the job and spread over the whole surface to be glued should make a secure join.

I have poked the holes through the glued underlay where the wiring feeds through to the underside of the baseboard from the crossing complex.

 

All the underlay on the removable baseboard and the plywood sections at the joins have been glued in place. I need to think about weathering the track next. I will have plenty of time to think about that as I wait for the glue to dry!

Drilling times!

Today Mr. Drill came out today! 

Many holes were drilled to feed the various wires through and for the point motors. Amazingly, having fed the wires through and tested that the point motor holes were in the right place, the track actually fitted to the baseboard. Next step is to take it all up again and glue the underlay in place! Sometimes you have to do things many times to do the job properly - that is what I keep drilling into my mind anyway!