The Burnbake and Woodyhyde Railway

[MickT]

Thank you for the comprehensive regulatory requirements for foreign stock operating south of Wareham David. I can confirm that the railcar does indeed have a black box installed, well actually it is a rather clever remote control feature where the black box is remote from the vehicle and signals from the box are transmitted through a 120 millivolt high frequency pulse to the engine of the railcar.

The Roving Reporter has informed me that this clever piece of technology was provided by a firm in Sussex called Gaugemaster and the product in their catalogue is described as an "HH" - it is indeed black, although I understand a slightly less technical range of beige coloured boxes are also available fromt them. They are all fitted with the mandatory TWERPS system which provides a reasonably seamless human to volts interface by way of a rotary control knob which the TWERPS approved operator uses to pass between 0.002 and 0.012 kilovolts through the 120mv pulse to the railcar, thereby ensuring safe passage even in the hands of low grade TWERPS.

Mick

[clayliner]

Apologies for the long interval since the last post (can't believe it has been that long, etc.) but all has not been quiet on the railway. Here is the first stage (apologies for the pun) of the mine building which will finish off the right-hand end of the layout:

staging by clayliner, on Flickr

I had thought that it would just be a rough mock-up, but I think it will be okay simply to clad it in tin and add appropriate details.

Tomorrow the railway hopes to welcome a distinguished and well-know visitor - maybe a photo or two after the visit...

David.

[MickT]

Bad news I'm afraid regarding the photographer's visit tomorrow morning. I've been contacted by the Agent for Mr Ivo Peters, distinguished railway photographer, with his regrets that he cannot attend the previously made commitment at Burnbake (or was it Woodhyde?) due to the blue Bentley off the road having the ashtrays emptied, and I have been asked to deputise on the basis that most people baulk at leaving the main road to Swanage south of Wareham and apparently I'm the only one that could be contacted who was not quick enough to say they had no idea at all where you live, so I'm afraid that you'll have to put up with me swinging my camera around and snapping away at what are hoped to be appropriate subjects and at appropriate times.

The Roving Reporter's Railcar has been serviced and fuelled for the journey and will be accompanied at some point with His Lordship's personal engine "Wee Moira" plus loan of his 1st class saloon coach as it is understood that no passenger vehicles have yet run on the B&W Railway

Mick

[clayliner]

The good news is that the little green railcar duly arrived - here the manager is waiting to greet its occupants:

railcar a by clayliner, on Flickr

The railway was also visited by 'Wee Moira' and coaches:

'Moira' by clayliner, on Flickr


'Moira' and First Class coach x by clayliner, on Flickr
The management would like to express their thanks to His Lordship and Mr Thornton, his assistant/dogsbody, for the honour of their visit. It is hoped that more photographs will appear here (and elsewhere) in due course.

[MickT]

The honour was all mine Sir, for the granting of a track pass to visit your Wonderful Railway! Now you have seen a bit of colour in the stock at Burnbake (or is it Woodhyde?), perhaps you may be tempted to provide a passenger platform when you build the extension round to the wall opposite the door to the layout room?................... :D

Mick

[tedp]

Very nice, David & Mick. I'm looking forward to more photos!

[clayliner]

Passengers? - I think not, Mick.

As Notwork Rail and any TOC will tell you, they're nothing but a nuisance, demanding comfortable trains which run on time at a price that even people not on expenses can afford.

Maybe, one day, a converted clay wagon with a tin shed on top, but don't expect much more!

David.

P.S. More pictures in the pipeline, Ted...

[clayliner]

A new


EDIT:  I've just noticed the above post which appears to have been another victim of the forum software upgrade (2019/20)- 'lost in translation', I think. Unlike the other one which I was able to 'repair' from clues and memory I can't remember what this one was about, though I suspect it relates to 'A new'... locomotive, as that's what's described in subsequent posts.

Please read on...

David.

[Elmgate]

David,

For your information, the "eth" connection is actually a comunication buzzer between Guard and loco crew, and would also give an alarm if the train separated. I believe that a revised version is fitted nowadays to Tal-y-llyn stock, and with continuous brakes is no longer so crucial.

The chassis, as you might have guessed, is not that intended for the kit (should be an Arnold 0-4-0). However, if it was fitted and running when you bought the loco, then I can see that you will have a good basis to work from.

Hope you enjoy the project! :)

[clayliner]

Thanks for clarifying the eth connection, Tim. I'm pleased I didn't suggest it was a jumper cable for multiple unit operation! (Anyway, it will disappear in due course, I'm afraid).

As for the chassis, the first thing was to try and get rid of all that Continental-looking red paint (very unBritish!) Easier said than done, removing it from all the crevices in the motion, but most of it has gone. It has been replaced by a general application of oily gunge varnish. Amazingly, everything still moved even after it was dry. The other major job was to beef up the cylinders by applying a wrapper of soft plastic tubing. I hope I haven't overdone it and strayed into 'Skarloey' territory, and I haven't yet checked the clearances...

P1010236a by clayliner, on Flickr

A picture of the backhead I put together has appeared in another thread already; it looks rather crude (and I guess it is) but will look better when it's largely lost inside the cab, I think. In this view (most of) the red paint on the motion has been removed but the oily finish has not yet been applied:

backhead by clayliner, on Flickr

More anon.

David.

[clayliner]

A few further developments to report, with this picture showing the current state of play:

new loco by clayliner, on Flickr

- there are some rainstrips on the cab roof (though I'm toying with the idea of removing them and fitting a sliding ventilator instead, just for a change)
- holes have been drilled in the cab-side ready for handrails (Bambi staples)
- I have beefed up the boiler and firebox slightly with a thin plastic wrapper
- there is now a single dome (fashioned out of the end of a ball-point pen)
- I have added 'conventional' steam pipes between the smokebox and cylinders. This was tricky as they have a subtle curve in two planes. They are made of single core copper wire with plastic insulation, but attempts to bend the wire resulted in marking of the plastic. The solution was to remove the wire from the insulation and bend that to shape separately, then reinsert into the insulation. All rather easier than it sounds, and if it was tricky to make one then making a matching pair was... well, even more trying.

I will probably replace the original chimney although it's a bit on the skinny side - will see how it looks later on. Safety valves will go on the dome, but I can't decide whether to place them fore and aft (probably the commoner arrangement) or side by side (unusual, I think, but I have seen examples). I was toying with the idea of just one central handrail on top of the boiler, but with quite a large expanse of boiler sides I think I will probably need to place them there. The original arrangement of regulator on the dome looks rather fragile so I think that will best be avoided.

It all looks a bit scruffy at this stage but I'm hoping that painting will pull it all together in due course. (It also looks a bit down by the bow in the photo but I think that's because of the angle it was taken from.)

That's all for now - hopefully some further developments soon.

David.

[MickT]

Full of freelance atmosphere David and coming along nicely!

One little feedback point if I may: it seems to be sitting rather tall on the chassis and I'm a little concerned that it may end up looking a bit top heavy, is there any way of lowering the body a few mm so that the footplate such as it is sits much closer to the top of the driving wheels and cylinders?

Mick

[Elmgate]

One point about your steam pipes - if you look at the photo you posted of Glyder, you will see the main steam pipes coming down from the external regulator in front of the dome; these are lagged, and appear to be what you intended? The exhaust pipes, into the smokebox, are plain, and enter the smokebox from below. If you are following a totally different design, then your steam pipes might come as you have shown, but then, you would not be replicating something similar to Douglas or Glyder! :)

[clayliner]

Just a few evenings ago, Mick, I was looking at some of Les Dench's photos (on Flickr) of the delightful O&K locos on the Guardiola line in Catalunya. What really appealed to me was what I would call the 'verticality' of the locos - which really just means they are slim and tall. Looking at them again I will admit that much of the height is above the boiler (i.e. chimney, dome etc.) rather than below, but for now I think I'll press on and see what it looks like with the boiler fittings on. If it does come out uncomfortably top-heavy then I'll have a re-think, though it may not be easy to drop the firebox end. But thanks for raising the issue.

Tim - I realise that Glyder's steam pipes are different, and as I think I said I'm not going for the regulator on the dome, so I'm settling for something simpler. And I'm not really copying Glyder (or Douglas) anyway - they're just for inspiration!

David.

[B.Meldon]

Those Minitrix BR89 0-6-0 chassis do run well, they are a lot better than the dock tank chassis.

However you may well need to get to the top motor bearing at some time as they do have a tendency to dry out causing the motor to squeal.

But the main problem these chassis have is a split drive gear on the rear axle. This is sadly quite common and will cause the chassis to bind. In my experience this problem is so common I have stopped taking the time to make any loco to fit these chassis!

That said if you have a good one it may well remain ok.

Brian Meldon