The Burnbake and Woodyhyde Railway

[clayliner]

Here she is in the finished form - I've added some additional 'skirting' in the area below the firebox to increase the heft at the rear end a little.
The trailing truck is still hitched under the keeper plate, though I can see other possibilities if required. As to the slide bars, Ted, on this chassis they don't reach the cylinders - or at least they don't appear to. In fact they are cranked inward and extend forward to the cylinder as a single arm, but because they are tucked away and painted black they are not easy to see:


'Arne' 13 by clayliner, on Flickr

The apparent hump in the cab roof is only the rain strip, I'm pleased to say!

All being well, the naming ceremony will take place tomorrow morning...

David.

[clayliner]

This morning a brief naming ceremony took place outside the engine shed, where the line's second loco, 'Arne' was named. Mr Churchill the Foreman is again present and on the footplate is Ted Marshallsay, who will be the engine's regular driver. Arne is the name of a nearby settlement and area which will (hopefully) yield freight traffic for the line, mainly in the form of clay from the pits there and timber from the forest plantations:


'Arne' naming 1a b&w by clayliner, on Flickr

(Poor Ted - I think he will be spending the rest of his days on the footplate as there seems no way out - how's that for loyalty to the Company?)

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology - using the digital chromogenic retrospectoscope, no less - I am also able to show you the scene in full colour:


'Arne' naming 1a by clayliner, on Flickr

David.

[MickT]

Excellent David, congratulations!

A thought for additional traffic for the Arne region that you mentioned - a morning out/evening return passenger service for the nature reserve - "The Flying Twitcher"?

Mick

[tedp]

I like the naming ceremony photos. It's looking good. Has it entered service already?

[clayliner]

Thanks for your kind comments.

Yes, Mick, twitchers' specials could indeed be a possibility though I think at the time we're writing about people were possibly more concerned with collecting birds' eggs than watching the birds themselves, sadly (but it would give an excuse to invest in some coaching stock). Certainly my Dad did, and no-one disapproved in those days! (For those who haven't a clue what we're talking about, Arne is now the site of a large RSPB reserve, and also home to the Dartford Warbler [Sylvia undata]. Once scarce and endangered it is now common enough hereabouts, but still regularly gets wheeled out when people get exercised about some conservation issue or other.)  

Meanwhile, back on the railway...

I have spent more time that I would have liked working on the chassis to try and eliminate the pronounced limp or waddle which seems to afflict it. At times when I've run it with my hand on it there has even been a distinct 'knock' which sometimes even feels to be on one particular side. I guess these are not uncommon problems with elderly chassis and I have recently followed Ted P's 'Iveagh' thread [on the NGRM forum] with interest and to see if it offers any clues.

When one takes a closer look at the chassis certain things become apparent, especially from above:


'Arne' chassis 3a by clayliner, on Flickr

From this angle there are three distinct layers or planes to the motion

[tedp]

To me it seems the RH crosshead touches the nearest crankpin - possibly due to the pressure of the pickups. Even if it doesn't, the crosshead guides look bent - they are out of true. So are the motion brackets. Have you checked whether the crossheads run true? Before considering 'play' in the bearings etc I would first remove the motor and see how smooth all parts of the chassis are.

[Tom Haythornthwaite]

Isn't quartering the arrangement in which the crank on one side is 90

[B.Meldon]

Yes I agree make sure the rods are all running true.

It has been a while since I looked at one of these chassis but I think both the rear and centre driving wheels are gear driven and then front wheels are driven by the rods that do not touch the centre wheel at all.

But in the end I think your problem could well be as a result of axle bearing ware.

As the wheels turn the pressure on the rods changes depending on the position of the wheel. With the play in the rear axle bearing this will make the gears change the depth they are engaged with each other giving the chassis a tight spot. Or even making the gears jump a tooth.
Also although the 90 degree quartering is not that critical all the axles must have exactly the same offset. However if the axles have excess play this will have the effect off making the rods the wrong length for the wheelbase and will again cause a tight spot.
Brian Meldon

[Krizzy]

Enlarging the photo gives me the impression that the cylinders are off centre. More clearance for the bottom set of motion than the top with possible binding of the moving motion parts, thus the limp.

Roger

[clayliner]

Thanks again for all the helpful comments / observations / suggestions.

Ted:  Yes, I realise that the assorted rods are less than true - it would be good to take everything apart and hammer them all flat (!) and reassemble them, but I suspect that sooner or later something would go ping and then I'd be left with a chassis that didn't just limp but was totally useless, so I've resisted the temptation. But your suggestion to remove the motor was an excellent one as it gives so much more freedom to explore the problems.

Brian:  All three axles on this one are in fact gear-connected, but I suspect that as you say wear in the axle bearings won't improve things.

Roger:  I have also enlarged the photo and put a ruler to it - in fact I think the cylinders (if not the motion!) are pretty well on-centre. (At various stages they have each come off and been welded back on.)

Tom:  Agreed about the 90 deg. setting on 2-cylinder locos, though other angles (e.g. 135 deg.) are available, I think, on other more sophisticated engines. However, in a model where the wheels drive the pistons and not vice versa as in real life I think it doesn't matter - indeed, I can't help wondering whether setting the cranks on both sides at the same angle might not actually be a good idea as it would remove one cause of asymmetry (and, as one rarely sees both sides of a loco at the same time, it wouldn't look odd!) But I suspect quartering may be something different - getting all the cranks on one side all precisely lined up with each other.

So - having taken the motor out and spent another couple of hours watching everything go round and round and backwards and forwards (and a moment of panic when everything suddenly seized up - superglue on one of the gears - don't ask) I think things are as good as they're going to get. A significant problem proved to be the LH crosshead hitting the bracket behind in full back-stroke, but moving the motion bracket back then means the radius link starts to hit the bracket when fully forward... Yes, it would be nice if everything moved in straight and parallel lines but I think that even if some of the rods are at an angle this is not really so important as long as everything actually moves freely and smoothly.

I'm pleased to have got the loco finished as now that high pressure has returned and spring arrived here the garden beckons, big time. (This week I've been reassembling the summer-house which dismantled itself in the storm of 23rd December.) And it will be  a pleasant change to do some scenic work.

David.

[clayliner]

As I hinted in my last post, now that the spring solstice has passed I anticipate that activity will shift from the workshops to the outdoors, especially as the line now gets some late afternoon / evening sun which makes working there more agreeable. It's probably a good time to review how far things have progressed overall, so here are a couple of aerial shots of most of the visible parts of the line at present.

First, looking south:


looking south a by clayliner, on Flickr

Things are more or less okay for now and although there is plenty of scope for extra detailing etc. in due course I think it's time to tackle some of the other areas. Here is the view looking north:


looking north a by clayliner, on Flickr

and you can see how much still remains to be done here. Apart from the engine shed needing a roof there's a lot of scenic work to tackle; I had originally planned that north of the overbridge the scenery would change from heath to something greener, but having recently found a new source of heather (a crumbling dark brown bath sponge!) I think the heath will probably be spreading some distance northwards. In the distance, to the left of the shed and against the backscene, are the removable sections of scenery (you'll remember from the trackplan that there is a line running below, from which stock needs to be retrievable), and in the far distance on the extreme right is the future site of the mine building where bare green camping mat underlay is still waiting for a first scenic layer to cover it. On the embankment between the line disappearing under the bridge and into the rabbit hole and the yard line is my latest discovery in scenic material, of which more another time. One essential feature of the local landscape I have yet to get to grips with is making some conifers, and I still haven't got gorse quite right.

David.

[tedp]

I think this looks very good, both the colours and the lie of the land. The embankments look natural despite the fact the hill contours are set on the baseboard and over the hidden line. That cutting leading to the hidden track is an excellent idea - it is completely hidden.

Regarding conifers, think of the ones by the Dutch firm of Anita Decor. They're expensive, but very good.

Their website is in Dutch and German only, but if you contact them on their contact form they will undoubtedly reply.

[clayliner]

Just for those who prefer photos of actual trains (and don't we all?) -



'Creech' and 'Arne' blast their way up the gradient from the 'rabbit hole' with a heavy train of timber from the forest.

David.

P.S.  I said make, Ted... (but thanks anyway).

[clayliner]

Some good news - the loco shed now has a roof! - and windows, and doors...

locoshed b by clayliner, on Flickr

Now at least there's some cover for basic maintenance (which is probably about the best the locos can expect).

Also, an old van body has been acquired and set up on the old (lifted) siding which is used for p/way materials, so now there's somewhere for tools to be stored and a cuppa to be brewed:

p-way hut a by clayliner, on Flickr

(A castle has also mysteriously appeared in the background, but, Brigadoon-like, it could vanish back into the mist any day...)

David.

[MickT]

That backscene and the way you have made the scenery blend into it is fantastic Dave!

Mick