The Burnbake and Woodyhyde Railway

[Graeme Dunbar]

I was impressed by David Churchill's article in this months News adapting the Bagnall. I suspect diguise is the way forward.

I think it would be one thing to put a smaller motor in a chassis design with a horizontal motor, or move the motor forwards or backwards out of the way, but a different matter to convert the Minitrains chassis to take a horizontal motor.

Possibly it is best to play to the strengths of the chassis and motor in the cab and if not having actual daylight under the boiler take advantage of there being no motor there to use it for models with slender boilers. Similarly, with chassis with motors hidden bulky tanks use the opportunity to show a clear cab.

[clayliner]

Over recent months there have been reports of a large beast on the prowl hereabouts. Sightings have been few and far between but livestock have been savaged and folk have tended to stay indoors during the hours of darkness. The local yeomanry have been put on watch with orders to track down and, if possible, apprehend and detain the offender. Many nights of patient observation have finally paid off and eventually the creature was cornered and, after putting up fierce resistance, despatched

[MickT]

A lucky escape David and well done to the Creech Platoon of the Kings Own Wareham Yeomanry Volunteers for their digilence in cornering the beast. I have consulted my well thumbed ISpy Book of Rural Rodents 1958 edition and it tells me that it is the rare Purbeck Gigantamouse strain (200 points) which from a distance looks identical to a common field mouse (5 points) but is 76 times larger.

I hope that the PW Dept are able to get the line operational again without undue delay

Mick

[clayliner]

Burnbake is on television!

Anyone wanting to see what Burnbake looks like in reality, these days, might want to tune in to Channel 5's 'Celebrity 5 Go Camping' series starting tomorrow evening (Friday 4th January). I'm not sure if Burnbake features throughout the series or just in one programme - we'll have to wait and see.

David.

[clayliner]

Well, the 'slebs' finally managed to find their way to Burnbake, in what my television listings guide prettily accurately described as "an oppressively tedious reality show".  The campsite at Burnbake is delightful and far off the beaten track, in the forest on the southern shores of Poole Harbour - I've camped there a good few times myself in past years. Normally it's very quiet, but this bunch soon changed that - it's no surprise that they received coded expressions of displeasure from the other campers, who I imagine were highly relieved when they (and the crew) eventually moved on (to Durdle Door campsite - which I've also stayed at).

At least the programmes have shown the great scenery hereabouts, through which the old tramway to Goathorn ran, close to the campsite. I doubt they will camp at Woodyhyde, though...

David.

[clayliner]

Christmas found me with some time on my hands (it was that sort of Christmas this [i.e. last] year) and the opportunity to spend some time on something I'd been wanting to try for a long time: doctoring some of my layout photos to add smoke and steam effects. Although we can't do it in 'real life' maybe it's a possibility in photos, and something to add that extra realism most of us try to achieve.

This is the sort of thing I've come up with so far:

t/t s by clayliner, on Flickr

It's an early attempt and I'm still experimenting. Never having tried to manipulate photos before there's plenty to learn, and I'm really working by trial and error, but hope to come up with some more convincing results in the future.

You can see some other attempts on pages 11, 12 and 13 of this thread if you're interested.

I'm sure I'm not the first to try this - has anyone else out there had a go at it? It would be good if you could share your experience and the finished results.

David.

[Elmgate]

I recall that, over on the NGRMO forum, someone found a program that added smoke effects to pictures and video. For the life of me, I cannot track this down, but I had an idea that Chris O'D showed an example in Compass point topic. If you have the time to search, perhaps you can find the reference- I also think that a short video with smoke effects was shown recently, but I cannot find that either! :(

[clayliner]

Thanks for that, Tim. I'll have a look around the NGRMO forum. It's tricky in two dimensions, so going for the same effect in three - i.e. videos - sounds distinctly ambitious! But 'programs' are clever things these days and quite possibly make light work of it - though hopefully don't take too much of the fun or creativity out of it.

David.

[clayliner]

After too long a break, I've decided to get things moving again with a general review and overhaul of the B&W's wagon fleet.

'Fleet' is a rather grand term for what is a pretty ramshackle collection of rolling stock, collected from various sources over the years. In this the B&W is probably not much different from many other similar lines; wagons largely obtained on an 'as and when' basis to fulfil various assorted needs and requirements, sometimes needing modification for the purpose.

From my point of view, the review has meant generally repainting where required, adding lead ballast to increase stability and sorting out couplings, as well as thinking about suitable loads. Incidentally, has anyone else noticed that lead seems to accelerate the setting rate of cyanoacrylate, or is it just my impression?

The obvious place to start is perhaps with the clay skips. These first ones are, I think, from Dundas, eminently suitable for their job and with rather nice curly-spoked wheels:

sk1da by clayliner, on Flickr


The loads are detachable and incorporate a lump of lead:

sk1a by clayliner, on Flickr


There's also another rake, of uncertain provenance, here on the ramp up to the transfer shed:

sk2 by clayliner, on Flickr


Both of these rakes are internally coupled with three-link couplings, as they're likely to run together most of the time, and will not need to be remotely separated. These couplings are simply three links of chain, rendered rigid by careful application of superglue to the appropriate links and where one end is fixed to a wagon, then painted over:

coupling by clayliner, on Flickr


Being rigid, they seem to push okay.

I imagine chain can be obtained from many model suppliers but is probably cheaper bought from craft shops. It can be bit tricky to work with - I first blacken it with a permanent marker (to give it a firm colour base) before painting it over with acrylic (which can rub off quite easily). I found it helpful to anchor one end using a track magnet:

ch1 by clayliner, on Flickr


(though it's probably just as easy to use a track pin in a piece of wood:

ch2 by clayliner, on Flickr )


More soon.

David.

[MickT]

Nice to see the B&W back in business David! I think it is about time that the Board of Directors at least gained their own coach - and possibly some more primitive ones for the workmen's train?

I will hazard a punt that the "unknown provenance" rake of skips is either Roco or Minitrains, or if they are really ancient examples they could even be original Egger. Brian Meldon who I think comes on this forum from time to time will know exactly which of the 3 possibilities I've mentioned are, (I can't think they could be from any other source)

Mick

[clayliner]

Whatever the origins of the skips, Mick, they are well suited to their job and look smart and business-like, unlike the rather ungainly timber wagons on the nearby Furzebrook Railway.

Ah - coaching stock. Well, the B&W does possess one coach, which spends most of its time languishing at the back of the yard at Mill Lane:


 


The Directors' view, I suspect, is that local Gentry will have transportation of their own (probably horse-powered) but that the Lower Orders are kept fitter (and so able to be worked harder) by walking and bicycling around. So the coach is kept for special occasions - I think it was last employed when the Bishop of Egdon came to bless the new local lifeboat. It took several days' hard work to rid the coach of the assorted wildlife which had taken up residence inside and make it generally suitable for His Grace to use.

David.

[MickT]

 ::)

Fair enough David - a splendid tale to justify your aversion to providing some comfortable travel facilities for the good people who work at or live in the region of Burnbake and Woodyhyde..................

[clayliner]

After clay, timber is the next most important traffic for the railway. Some of it is felled locally and leaves for distant destinations, but some is arriving for use in the mines

[please see post 230 for the picture originally here]

[clayliner]

Next up is a useful flat wagon, one of a number on the railway. The B&W is not a common carrier but it's usually ready to do 'favours' for local concerns, which helps to provide some useful extra income. This time it's a dinghy for a local fisherman (or possibly smuggler):


b1 by clayliner, on Flickr


The wagon is metal and says 'Arnold' and 'Germany' underneath, so I guess it's by Arnold, and presumably N scale. The Artitech boat cost a couple of quid from 009 Sales; it rests on timber baulks which are just strips of brown Funky Foam [see p.4 ]

David.

[clayliner]

Perhaps the most impressive item of rolling stock is this bogie wagon, again primarily used for transporting timber, in various forms (raw and finished) around:

tandg2 by clayliner, on Flickr


Standing behind the s-g interchange siding. Some meaty buffers! Provenance unknown.

David.