My O Gauge Journal on
Modelling the GWR
A personal Journey
December 2015
I invested in some very cheap people on Ebay and used them to populate the slip coach. One character appears to be holding a gun so no doubt the railway police will be interviewing him after the coach has been slipped!
Signals are to become more prevalent on my railway but I'm opting for colour light signals rather than semaphore ones as I am not a fan of making them!
Investigating various kits but may come up with a surprise set of options in the mean time. Click here to find out more.
November 2015
Revisited the coal mine. This was because the coal for the gas works had to come from somewhere, and where better than our own mines! So the roof and building was re sculptured. Click here to see how this was formalised.
The control for the tippler is being worked on and the Arduino Uno is being programmed to drive the tippler mechanism. The building is finished and painted, the track on the platform replaced with a larger piece to aid alignment. Learning how to control stepper motors will take a lot longer than planned but is under way!
October 2015
The wagon tippler housing has had to be redesigned and new wall sections are on order. The project pages for the tippler have been organised into three sections as this will be a much larger project than first visualised. click here to access the project.
September 2015
The wagon tippler has been started but before I get too involved I'm putting together a trial set to see which is the best approach. I don't intend to rush this project and I see it taking up to three sections of design and planning. The first section is purely practical and logistical in that it has the space predefined and any manoeuvres have to take place within the boundaries set by the building. The second section will involve how the table is rotated by gearing and chain connections and the third section will deal with the control of the tippler mechanism using servos and DCC. Click here to see how this project progresses.
Lights for the engine sheds at Wallington Park and a new halt for local services at Longhampton Bridge, (see the home page).
Post Telford and the Gas works walls are in the paint shop and will be ready to fix around the buildings. The hole for the wagon tippler is cut into the baseboard in preparation for later works. A smoke generator is positioned in the chimney stack on the retort house. I ran a cable down the back of the stack to look like a lightening conductor.
Loksound Programmer purchased to help adjust settings on my locos. A good investment and easy to use at the start.
Telford 2015 coming up and the shopping list is being created as I type.
August 2015
I've taken possession of some Kaydee couplers. I don't know anything about such things so there will be a learning journey here. Click here to find out what happens.
Still awaiting the retaining wall for the gas works.
The slip coach is 99% finished. Interior and testing completed. The interior lights were a bit of a problem but a voltage regulator has solved the problem somewhat.
July 2015
The wagon tippler project is gathering a little momentum. I've started to collect together all the gearing and infrastructure I might need to proceed with it in the near future. Click here to see it grow!
The retort House is finished, the brick wall
around the outside is now on order. A possible project in the future
is the wagon tipper in the coal crusher building. The gas works is
almost a small layout in its own right. Guttering and down pipes are
expected soon and will finish off the building. The last item is the
retaining wall round the outside which I am expecting from
Invertrain in the next couple of weeks.
The slip coach is going through the paint shop. Its interior is now complete and ready to be fixed in place once the paintwork is completed. There have been issues with the rear warning lights and i have stepped back from them putting Springfield lamps up instead of LED ones. The bogies of the coach have been an issue getting power to the ESU card onboard. I have restructured the bogies and this has improved matters. The Haywood wheels rust up very easily as well. The door hinges are soldered in place, the grab handles fit nicely as do the door levers, but it will have to be lined and windows fitted before these are put in place.
June 2015
The retort house castings for the gas works have arrived. Click here to see how the come together to finish off the gas works site.
Continuing with the slip coach. The coach body etches have arrived and are excellent. Working on completing the chassis and bogie connections and making sure that the wheels which are bearing led are free running. Click here to see it progressing.
May 2015
The malt house building sections have arrived from Skytrex and that building is nearing completion. The roof will be ordered from Invertrain Highland castings. Click this link to the granary to see how it materialises.
April 2015
The slip coach bogies, chassis and roof have arrived from JLTRT. Still awaiting the coach body, (a brass etch), from Worsley Works. The couplings are a combination of a Wayoh coupling and my design.
The gas works siding and buildings are in place. waiting for the retort building walls to be delivered having been cast by PLM.
March 2015
Starting to investigate another coach project following on from the TPO. This time its a slip coach. Click here to see how it develops.
The steam crane match truck still proves to be allusive but a drawing of one for crane No1 exists at the NRM. Click here to see how I develop that find.
February 2015
Realised that a granary store would be needed to complete manoeuvres and set about designing an extension much in the same way I developed the Creamery. Click here to see how it develops.
Started to develop a timetable for the railway. Making use of Excel to provide display opportunities using Macros. This will be a slow process, taking advice from Excel Gurus. Click here to see how it progresses.
Upgraded the videos on my site and utilised the SJCAM M10 small camera to take track journey videos.
January 2015
The Cowans Sheldon crane kit arrived. Click here to see its journey. Match truck details for it have been sent to an etcher, awaiting results.
Also on the blocks. A Warren Shephard Castle class locomotive and a Mercian Pecket 0-6-0
Moved the milk storage facility at Longhampton Bridge to the end of the station platform. Created a new road to access the same at the rear of the platform and built a new tanker lorry.
