Garden Railways and the British summer

5665 Views 20 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Brian Considine, Jul 12, 2007

Gary

Discussion Starter · Jul 9, 2007 (Edited by Moderator)

With reports that B & Q have 300,000 unsold BBQ's in stock I was wondering if any British forum members here have actually purchased a garden railway set up since the Model Rail feature back in April?

And if you have how are you managing?

Do your embankments resemble those of the Severn Valley Railway right now?

And have any incumbant garden railway modellers actually managed to operate so far this summer?

Happy modelling
Gary

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Brian Considine

· #2 · Jul 9, 2007 (Edited by Moderator)

Don't know about B & Q's little misfortune but I have had a garden railway for about 15 years, starting with O Gauge.

I gave up on the O Gauge as the price of a decent locomotive in O far exceeded the cost of an equivelent LGB one ! For the garden it's purely for fun & enjoyment - no rivet counting of any sort here - NG loco's pull SG stock & vice versa also a mix of North American & European.

The track is all brass with soldered & bonded joints. I run it all the year round usually for at least an hour a day (keeps the track clean on it's own !). Bearing in mind the track is all ground level it runs very, very well. It's now running on DCC using a Lenz LH100.

One train is left outside perminantly so the weathering is the real thing.

Only a few things stop it running, if the wind is too high & blows the stock off the track, the snow gets too deep or frogs (the four legged kind) on the track. They get stunned & stop the train so they are soon spotted & gently put back in the pond seemly to no ill effect.

A trader friend of mine who specialises in garden railways told me that most of his LGB stock has all flown out the door & sales of Bachmann have gone up - but that is probably due to LGB's problems.

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7113

· #3 · Jul 9, 2007

QUOTE (dbclass50 @ 9 Jul 2007, 15:28) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Only a few things stop it running, if the wind is too high & blows the stock off the track, the snow gets too deep or frogs (the four legged kind) on the track. They get stunned & stop the train so they are soon spotted & gently put back in the pond seemly to no ill effect.

What about cats in the tunnel, ant nests in the station, and idiot friends accidentally shorting the current with their watches!!

Regards

John

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Brian Considine

· #4 · Jul 9, 2007

QUOTE (BRITHO @ 9 Jul 2007, 16:03) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>What about cats in the tunnel, ant nests in the station, and idiot friends accidentally shorting the current with their watches!!

Regards

John

Well, they are all on about the same intellectual level, although I think the ant's may be ahead.

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goedel

· #5 · Jul 9, 2007

QUOTE (dbclass50 @ 9 Jul 2007, 15:28) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Only a few things stop it running, if the wind is too high & blows the stock off the track, the snow gets too deep...
What about leaves on the line in Autumn?

QUOTE (dbclass50 @ 9 Jul 2007, 15:28) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>...or frogs (the four legged kind) on the track. They get stunned & stop the train so they are soon spotted & gently put back in the pond seemly to no ill effect.
You just need to set the correct CV values and hopefully you should be able to revive them with your DCC handset!!

Goedel

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Brian Considine

· #6 · Jul 9, 2007

QUOTE (goedel @ 9 Jul 2007, 20:55) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>What about leaves on the line in Autumn?

You just need to set the correct CV values and hopefully you should be able to revive them with your DCC handset!!

Goedel

No leaves in my garden - all the small trees are evergreens !

The frogs will not work properly with the Lenz - I think they have come from a certain place just across the fields from me - maybe if I Select them individually or maybe they are an Elite breed !

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60134

· #7 · Jul 9, 2007

This thread really revives the "live frog versus dead frog" debate!

I don't have many problems in this field since I'm a live steam man but the rotten weather has prevented much progress on the extension - however, it's great for indoor track pre-fabrication....

60134

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Dan Hamblin

· #8 · Jul 9, 2007

Now this is what I call a garden railway:

http://www.rsme.org.uk/

Regards,

Dan

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Brian Considine

· #9 · Jul 10, 2007

Nice link Dan - makes mine look a bit naff

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Dennis David

· #10 · Jul 10, 2007

WhenI first read the title of this thread "British summer" i thought somebody was attempting a joke.

In California we have summers.

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Brian Considine

· #11 · Jul 10, 2007

QUOTE (Dennis David @ 10 Jul 2007, 14:31) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>In California we have summers.

Ah - but we don't have earthquakes (well very, very few anyway) & best of all no GWB either !

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Dan Hamblin

· #12 · Jul 10, 2007

I think this is the ultimate garden railway though:

http://www.vintage.demon.co.uk/chilcomb.htm

Regards,

Dan

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7113

· #13 · Jul 10, 2007

QUOTE (dbclass50 @ 9 Jul 2007, 19:58) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Well, they are all on about the same intellectual level, although I think the ant's may be ahead.

Well the cat's certainly aren't.......

QUOTE (dbclass50 @ 9 Jul 2007, 21:27) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>maybe if I Select them individually or maybe they are an Elite breed !

Ouch that really was painful........

QUOTE (dbclass50 @ 10 Jul 2007, 16:49) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Ah - but we don't have earthquakes (well very, very few anyway)

Well there are parts of Dover that a 'quake could only improve!!

Regards

John

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Crabby

· #14 · Jul 11, 2007

Well it didn't rain this afternoon, and I had a couple of spare hours to play, so I decided to give Dwight a run out.

Anyway, after getting him nicely warmed up he managed to pull 11 coaches with ease.

I know it's not for the faint hearted, but is anyone else running Hornby live steam in the garden? You can't beat the smell and the sound.

As for frogs, well they usually stay in the pond.

It's the little b***ers who do this;

who annoy me.

I know it's not prototypical, but rule 8 applies ................. it's my railway.

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goedel

· #15 · Jul 11, 2007 (Edited by Moderator)

QUOTE (Crabby @ 11 Jul 2007, 16:49) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>It's the little b***ers who do this;

who annoy me.
Have you tried mixing salt into some ballast?

The scale of the plants makes me think of it as a railway through the Mountains of the Moon, I think they're called, in Africa...

Goedel

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Crabby

· #16 · Jul 11, 2007

QUOTE Have you tried mixing salt into some ballast? lmfao.gif

If I use rock salt will it last longer?

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goedel

· #17 · Jul 12, 2007

QUOTE (Crabby @ 11 Jul 2007, 22:53) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>If I use rock salt will it last longer?

I would recommend running a floodlit 'special' at about midnight especially after some rain, and by special I mean you with a torch and a jar of methylated spirit/very salty water to drop the little horrors into when you catch them...there's nothing nicer than the sound of a fizzing slug...except perhaps a snail in a fondue.

Goedel

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Dan Hamblin

· #18 · Jul 12, 2007

You need something similar to those 'flail' tanks that were used during the Normandy offensive to clear minefields. Mount one of those on a truck and push it in front of the locomotive - hey presto! Slugs gone

Alternatively you could get a second hand Tri-ang snowplough model.

Regards,

Dan

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Brian Considine

· #19 · Jul 12, 2007

QUOTE (Dan Hamblin @ 12 Jul 2007, 16:04) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>You need something similar to those 'flail' tanks that were used during the Normandy offensive to clear minefields. Mount one of those on a truck and push it in front of the locomotive - hey presto! Slugs gone

Alternatively you could get a second hand Tri-ang snowplough model.

Regards,

Dan

Don't know if this is practical but my wife has put crushed egg shells round the plants that slugs & snails have attacked & they just will not cross the stuff - maybe you could try using it on the bounderies where they are a problem.

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60134

· #20 · Jul 12, 2007

Does the higher current in DCC tracks help? Maybe you just need to enrgise the track at night with 20 + amps!

60134

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