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  John ready to take Bronwyn round

   

Hi there

We had a great day as guests at the Parklands Railway on Wednesday 11th when we took John’s ‘Bronwyn’ and Peter’s Class 08 over to Hemsby for us to have some driving on that excellent railway before it closes in November.

 

After the locos had been unloaded and while they were being prepared there was chance to drive one of their Class 86 (?) electrics and  (their) John’s Class 08 which was really good as we had visited before but not driven so we made the most of it which was very enjoyable, ‘Bronwyn’ was duly steamed and we all had a drive, somewhat apprehensively at first as we were not sure how the loco and its drivers would cope, but we needn’t have worried as the loco was in fine form and once we got used to gradients on Parklands she ran really well. So a great day out, and we were really grateful the the Parklands Gang for making us so welcome and helping us out, it was a great day out for us, The only sad part is that the railway will soon be no more, but there will be lots of happy memories too recall !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the home front at the EVFR we have been fairly busy with those jobs that crop up from time to time on the railway…we have been painting the outside of the clubhouse,

Kevin and Tom are sorting out the body  construction for their Tram loco, Brian B has taken his driving trailer home to do some mods, gardening work continues although the grass seems to have stopped growing now. We have started to get ‘Chieftain’ ready for  repainting some areas of the bodywork that are ready for a spruce up. We are also considering  the use of concrete edging kerbs in the station area and maybe elsewhere, as there is an opportunity to have some from Parklands when that railway closes. There is ongoing track maintenance where needed too, so plenty to keep us reasonably busy.

and last Saturday we had an impromptu running day as it  was such a nice day, with ‘Prospero’, ‘Isabel’, ‘The Shay’, and ‘Chieftain’, all stretching their wheels, very pleasant !

 

Hi There

We are now enjoying some lovely summer weather at last and on Wednesday we welcomed  invited visitors from the two local Parkinsons Groups, so we had a nice afternoon running trains, chatting, and enjoying lots of cakes (thank you Folks!) and cuppas, very pleasant. We had four trains out at one time with ‘Isabel’, ‘Prospero’, ‘Chieftain’ and ‘The Shay’ all in action. The Class 08 also made an appearance too !|

Apart from that we have been chipping away at the various tasks that are needed to keep our railway in good order. We have been replacing some sleepers that are past their best,

adjusting point lever timbers, painting the gates and external walls of the Clubroom, replacing the gutters at the back of the clubroom workshop area, Kevin and Thomas continue to construct their tram loco and they brought out the very impressively engineered chassis for a trial run, which went ok apart from us having to tweak some track outside the workshop which had widened (another job for us to attend to!) .

Gardening work continues as always and the sheep are still contentedly grazing the East View Farm grass!

 

Hi

We are still enjoying our railway and the recent lovely sunny days have allowed us to enjoy running trains  and watch them go by in the warm sunshine, very relaxing and very enjoyable. On Saturday last (18th) we had a little celebration as it was Ray’s 90 birthday on Sunday ,so we thought it would be nice to have a running day to celebrate his special birthday. Ray is now being looked after in a local care home and he enjoys his little trips out on running days !

So a gathering of some of his previous neighbours and friends came along and enjoyed a party atmosphere in the clubroom which had been decorated with balloons and  colourful banners. A good variety of food and drinks were consumed and then we ran some trains ! ‘Prospero’, ‘Bronwyn’ and ‘Hercules’ were out together with Chieftain and Viceroy’ ,all running under the control of our impressive (well we think !) automatic colour light signals. A lovely day.  

John’s wagon is just about complete and runs very well, and there is a seat that can be added to turn it into a Guard’s vehicle should we need one at any time, another useful item of rolling stock for the EVFR.

Brian B is busy working on a driving trailer/ tender for his lovely ‘Hercules’ steam loco, and we look forward to seeing it attached in its final form soon !….our steam locos are all in good nick with a new sight glass fitted to ‘Bronwyn’ following which she had a good polish and came out to play, she’s a lovely little engine and loves being out on the EVFR.

Kevin and Keith are looking into the electrics on’Chieftain’ which are in need of some attention, new LEDs have been fitted to the loco front and rear and then she will have some cosmetics done as she /he is looking a bit tatty.. ‘

Viceroy’ is to have a master charging socket fitted so as to save having to take off the bonnet and disconnect the batteries for each charge, and we keep discussing whether to turn the centre driving wheels into flangeless  in the hope that would prevent some of the derailments that occur from time to time?

We have also done some improvements on one of the 3 way points leading into the yard off the main, as there have been issues with the frogs and check rails, it is much better now ,with some rotten sleepers replaced too.

The station fencing has been re stained and the flower boxes replanted to look smart during the summer , and we have started to restain the other timber fencing and gates around the site.

and Peter cannot understand why his new Raspberry Pi carriage engine isn’t working ?

 

Hi There

Well we have been quite busy to say the least, with work continuing to test and refine our automatic colour light signalling installation which is working well with just one or two items to attend to, including the labelling of all the cable boxes and push buttons so we all know what to do to get stock in and out of Laurel Sidings. We have also installed a white LED on some of the signals to confirm that a loco has entered a detection track section, at which time the LED goes out to signify to the driver that the system recognises the presence of a loco/train there .Well done to everyone’s efforts in establishing this system of which we are very pleased!!!!

 

 

Viceroy held at a red signal during a                                   test

 

We have also started work on the construction of our ‘ballast’ wagon which will form a useful addition to our ‘work train’ fleet.

 

          Chassis on the bench

 

 

             Rolling radius check

 

 

All our locos and coaches have undergone their annual maintenance check so all are ‘good to go’.

We are also delighted that Brian B has acquired a lovely ‘Wren’ 0-4-0 loco, ‘Hercules’ which is now based on the EVFR and has been checked , tweaked and put into service, temporarily using ‘Bronwyn’s tender while Brian completes his riding trailer for the loco.The loco runs very well and most of us have had a drive !!, so another pleasing addition the the EVFR fleet.

 

 

Kevin and Thomas are planning on building a tram  loco and we look forward to seeing that in action in the future, but early days yet in the planning of the loco. We shall also be looking to re-installing an additional storage track in the  shed down at Laurel Sidings to accommodate these extra item of rolling stock! (we need to consider renaming that area as there are no Laurels there anymore!!!)

Then on Saturday (30th March) we had a ‘Hot Cross Buns’ specials day when some 20 or so of our members and friends enjoyed a day of trains, food and chat, excellent,. The weather was lovely and we had ‘Chieftain’, ‘Prospero’,’The Shay’, ‘Isabel’ and ‘Hercules’ out and about, at one time all out together so a PIC was needed to maintain order !! Great fun….    

 

 

Hi

We are delighted to report that on Saturday (27th), we sucessfully tested the automatic operation of our new colour light signalling installation , when Thomas drove ‘Viceroy’ into the station and as he approached the signal at the end of the loop entering the detection track panel, it turned to green (indicating that the next section is clear) and then back to red once the loco was in the next section..When Thomas then reversed the loco into the (clockwise) platform, once again, as the loco moved onto the track detection panel, the signal turned green.

So we are very pleased that all our thoughts,chats and planning efforts, have now been  satisfactorily proved to work> A great team effort from everyone involved which will now enable us to continue to wire up the remainder of the system, as we now have all the cables installed along the tracks and all the signal posts in position…. 

 

 

 

 

Hi

We enjoyed a good pre Christmas Mince Pie specials running day on 23rd December when some 15 folks came along and enjoyed the day. Lots of mince pies, sausage rolls and more were consumed and the trains looked after by ‘Prospero,’ the ‘Shay ‘, ‘Chieftain’, and ‘Viceroy’. An excellent day !

and so to the new year, all at the EVFR would like to wish you, all your families and friends, a Happy, Prosperous and Healthy New Year. We look forward to running lots of trains, having lots of fun and getting to grips with some new projects ????

From all the EVFR Boys and Girls 

Hi there

We would like to wish you and all your family and friends a very Happy Christmas and a Prosperous and Healthy 2024, with lots of trains !!!!  Take care

From all the Boys and Girls at the East View Farm Railway

Happy Christmas !

Hi there

Well how time flies, can’t believe its almost December and that means another year nearly gone ! But it’s been a very good year on our railway with plenty going on and a very warm and friendly atmosphere with everyone involved. So in anticipation of some cold weather as winter draws near, we have drained ‘Bronwyn’ and ‘Isabel’, moving them up into the workshop area where they are tucked up under quilts to keep them cosy. ‘Prospero’ is also cleaned  down and drained ready to move to join the other steam locos over the Winter.

                                                           ‘Bronwyn’ and ‘Isabel’ tucked in

 

 

                                                       Thomas and Kevin working on   Prospero’

 

The station benches, seats , and fencing have all been moved into the carriage shed.

Work continues on the signalling project with the ‘Raspberry Pi’ fitted into the control cabinet in the carriage shed, and another signal post is now concreted in position alongside the anticlockwise headshunt track .

 

Another track detection section has also been  wired in on the clockwise track here.

                                     JP with BB supervising the wiring to a track detection track section

 

Some push buttons switches have been obtained courtesy of Brian B which will be ideal for using when  requesting and completing shunting or train movements in and out of the carriage and pit sheds, and turntable tracks. So we are almost at a point (forgive the pun!!!) where we can test the signals and track detection tracks in the station area, which will be a major step forward….

Leaf clearing is also taking place as the trees shed their colourful autumn displays which have been very attractive this year…    

 

             Locos being prepared with much ‘mardling’ !

 

Hi

On Saturday 14th October we enjoyed a very good running day, although there was a very cool wind , we put on our warmer clothes and had a good day with ‘Prospero’, ‘Isabel’, ‘Chieftain’ and  the ‘Shay’, all performing well, with drivers Peter, John, Kevin,Thomas, Keith, Richard and Brian all taking a spell on the locos.

                                    JP working on ‘Isabel’

 

 

Keith with ‘Prospero’

 

Peter and ‘Prospero’ coming wrong road round new loop extension

 

Thomas brings ‘Prospero’ out of the station

 

We continue progressing with the signals installations with more cabling installed along side the old headshunt, so we are getting there bit by bit. Kevin helped by coming up with some 12 v LED s which are much brighter in the signal heads so they are what we will use for all the signals now.,

cable run and junction to signal post at anti clockwise exit from headshunt loop

 

‘Isabel’ with John in charge coming along the old station stretch

 

‘Horticultural ‘ work continues with good use being made of John’s new ‘mini mulcher’  which is doing a great job of reducing the tree and bush cuttings. We hope to have a running session after our AGM, , and then we will be thinking of taking in the platform fencing and seats etc to their winter storage, and maybe thinking of draining down the steamers ready to bring up to the top workshop for their winter storage…..then there are some  Clubhouse maintenance items to attend to like redecs and replacing a MDF widow cill that has swollen. It would also be good to get a coat of stain on the external woodwork before Winter sets in, so always plenty of jobs to do !!!!

   

Hi there

Plenty going on at the moment with most efforts being concentrated on the signal installation work. Cable ducts have been laid from the carriage shed to the platform and the two signals at the platform have been installed, wired up, tested and working fine. The track detection sections at the station are also wired and satisfactorily tested too . The ‘control’ box which will contain the ‘computer’, relays, switches etc, all designed with Peter’s knowledge, is now fixed in the carriage shed ready to receive the cables…

(Brian)

We are also pleased to report that we had an excellent Fun Day at the club on Saturday with good weather, lots of loco running and lots of friends and family joining us.

Keith, John, Brian, Richard and myself were all there running things plus visits from Brian Baker, Kevin and family, Stuart and Isaac plus some spouses/partners.

We starting running trains at about 3.30pm, had fish and chips about 6pm and finally put the locos to bed about 7pm. At the last minute ‘Isabel’s fire failed (problem with clinker) and I was so pleased that ‘Prospero’ was able to pull ‘Isabel ‘ back to the sheds even though ‘Prospero ‘only had 40 psi of steam pressure as we had been deliberately running her down ready for the final blow down.

Both Kevin’s grandson Thomas and Isaac did a lot of driving of ‘Prospero’ with both of them doing very well. The ‘Shay’, ‘Chieftain’ and ‘Viceroy ‘also all came out for a run during the afternoon.

(Peter)