The Ridge - extension to the Creag Dhubh Mountain Tramway

[theelliotts]

Ah memories, Crib Goch in the background, are there any ridges like that in Scotland. I spent 5 years at University in N. Wales way back in the 1960s

Makes a good back screen though.

David

[tedp]

Sharp ridges such as this in Scotland? There must be plenty. In the Northwest, or in the Cuillins. I didn't climb any mountains yet in Scotland to take appropriate photos, but I think Snowdon will do as a replacement...

[MickT]

are there any ridges like that in Scotland.
David

Have a google images look at Suilven in the north west of Sutherland for starters, that is a ridge and a half!

Mick

[tedp]

Looks like someone pitched a huge brick into the soil, with one corner sticking up!

[Graeme Dunbar]

Sharp ridges such as this in Scotland? There must be plenty. In the Northwest, or in the Cuillins. I didn't climb any mountains yet in Scotland to take appropriate photos, but I think Snowdon will do as a replacement...

Is this ridgy enough for you?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ_IQS3VKjA

[Gerhard Novak]

Nice video. Makes me look at my bike...

[tedp]

Sharp ridges such as this in Scotland? There must be plenty. In the Northwest, or in the Cuillins. I didn't climb any mountains yet in Scotland to take appropriate photos, but I think Snowdon will do as a replacement...

Is this ridgy enough for you?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ_IQS3VKjA

Not bad. Good inspiration to use some rock moulds!

[tedp]

Tonight I had a look at Creag Dhubh summit station again, after many weeks. Recently, my good friend Jan van Mourik sent me a Peco 009 point to replace the temporary N gauge point I had put in. It still needs a little fettling, but it's far better than the one I had.

In addition, I found a Peco point motor which I fitted under the baseboard. I extended the drive pin by removing a few millimetres, adding a brass sleeve and soldering a brass extension into the sleeve, so it would point through the ply baseboard. Then I drilled a few holes to be able to glue the unit under the baseboard surface, with the pin in place in the point's tiebar.





Leaving it to dry, I set to thinking about the station building. I will have to carve a little more out of the hillside, but the old Snowdon summit station was built into the slope, so I can do the same:



http://www.enterexit.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/

What I really want is a long, low, narrow building that may not be similar, but in much the same style. One end would be given to the tearoom, and include a chimney. Since there will be very few travellers starting from the top, the guard can issue tickets. What is needed is a ladies' room and gents' toilet, at the other end of the building.

I found some of the remains of the Ratio Castle Cary station kit that was used for Inverlochan station many years ago. It took some fiddling to arrive at the window and door layout I wanted, but in the end I got there. I made up a baseplate 54mm wide and a rear wall, using 1mm styrene. I also found a complete sheet of Kibri corrugated asbestos, which at this altitude will be more durable than a slate roof.



The front wall was cut from the Ratio parts, to slightly less than the length of the Kibri sheet. I made the cuts along the stones lining the doorways, in an attempt to camouflage the cuts. If I cannot close the cuts well enough, I can always add a downpipe to hide them.



Left to right: two windows for the tea room, the entrance to the tea room, the ladies' entrance and the ventilation window to the gents. Note the part kept for the end wall. This has one more doorway which will be the gents' entrance. No outside facilities in the kind of weather that may be expected up here, from time to time! The end wall has to be extended up with another piece of stone sheet by Wills, which I found in the scrapbox.



Well - this is as far as I got tonight, but at least something is moving on the summit. I have windows and doors by Ratio as well, so many parts needed for the building are ready for use.

The blank end wall to the left will include a chimney, and I suppose a second chimney must be provided to keep the ladies warm as they wait for the tram down the hill. The gents can be expected to bear the freezing conditions and grin....

[Gerhard Novak]

Typical, the gents have to suffer from the cold. But probably they serve something warming other than tea in the tearoom.  :D

Looks good, looking forward to the next stage..

By the way - why did you have to extend the point lever ? are you are using a thicker board?

regards

Gerhard

[tedp]

They serve an excellent single malt in there, produced at Rae Bridge! The point motor is designed to clip on to the base of the point, but then you need to cut a big hole which I wasn't prepared to do! This is much neater.

This morning I cut some of the styrofoam hillside, and I added a strip of styrofoam to the front, to cut the rock face from. The usual mess resulted, but I cured that by waving a hot air gun over the surface. This seals the crumbs that will otherwise keep falling off. I also cut the footpath up the hillside to the actual summit, off the stage.

The station building is progressing well - I just need to make the blind end wall, possibly with a narrow window so the passengers can see the tram coming up the hill, add the chimneys and some interior bracing, then cut and assemble the roof.

Photos later.

[tedp]

Tonight I had another go at the station building. The roof parts are now cut to size - they fit, but final fitting and detailing has to wait till the doors and windows are in.

Then I started the first phase in painting. The walls were made up from different stone patterns, so they need some work to tie them together. I first sprayed the entire structure dark grey (with the roof off):



The grey is an undercoat for the next stage. First I painted the chimney dark red brown. Then I decided to try something new which I was very pleased with. I took artist's acrylics and put green, dark brown, white and black on the palette. Then I brushed the walls with a rough mix of this.



Of course, this is far too rough despite the fact that some stones were accidentally and rather nicely picked out. After letting this dry, I took some Tamiya colours and started picking out the individual bricks and stones in alternate colours, trying to break up the pattern.



It doesn't matter if you hit the next stone with the brush - that will all disappear once the mortar goes in. I think the brick can use a few flecks of yellow, as the three hues of reddish brown are too similar:





In the next photo the effect of picking out the individual stones can be seen better. Note the lintels etc which were painted a slightly lighter colour of grey-green:





The corrugated asbestos roof has got its first coating of light grey. Plenty of work to be done there still. And note the platform faces in place. The platform covers will be card.



It still looks pretty drab, but that will change once the mortar is applied to the courses. More soon.

[Gerhard Novak]

Lovely work. You can be proud of yourself. Looks pretty much like the real thing. Looking forward to the next report.

[duttonbay]

This morning I cut some of the styrofoam hillside, and I added a strip of styrofoam to the front, to cut the rock face from. The usual mess resulted, but I cured that by waving a hot air gun over the surface. This seals the crumbs that will otherwise keep falling off. I also cut the footpath up the hillside to the actual summit, off the stage.

What an excellent idea. I have never thought of re-melting the stryofoam crumbs. I've always just tried to sweep them up, or vacuum them up, both of which result in electrostatic bits of styrofoam attaching themselves to whatever I am using as my cleaning device.

[B.Meldon]

In addition, I found a Peco point motor which I fitted under the baseboard. I extended the drive pin by removing a few millimetres, adding a brass sleeve and soldering a brass extension into the sleeve, so it would point through the ply baseboard. Then I drilled a few holes to be able to glue the unit under the baseboard surface, with the pin in place in the point's tiebar.





Leaving it to dry, I set to thinking about the station building. I will have to carve a little more out of the hillside, but the old Snowdon summit station was built into the slope, so I can do the same:

When new all the Peco point motors I have came with a brass sleeve and an extension pin so they could be mounted below the board.

I have found that fixing the peco point motors in place on the underside of the track bed with no way to adjust them is not ideal.

If you intend to fit the Peco accessory switch for frog electrical switching you will find that you will have to adjust the point motor position relative to the point blades so that the switch works. (This needs to be tested before the switch is wired to the track.)

I use the Peco point motor adapter base, but with extend the screw holes so they are slots giving some adjustment. The small brass screws are just the right length so they hold the motor in place but do not go all the way through the 1/4 ply track bed.

Here is a photo. (The Peco accessory switch is also held in place with two wires.):



But you may not be fitting frog switching and if you do you may have another type of switch in mind.

Brian Meldon

[tedp]

Thanks, all.

One change that will be made is the roof, which must be finished as corrugated iron. Corrugated asbestos, as Michael Campbell pointed out to me, is far too modern. So the sheet edges must be thinned down and the surface finished with rusty streaks.

Melting the surface of the styrofoam is one way of doing it. Richard Glover cuts the stuff with an old knife which he heats on the gas ring. But this came to me naturally - never done it before.

Finally, the point motor. This doesn't need to be adjusted as I checked its throw and the point's throw before gluing down. This is easy because the tiny layout unit can be put on end. For the moment I'm not going to fit a switch, but if it is needed, I can fit a microswitch directly under the baseboard, with an extended operating arm driven by the point motor's drive pin.