Hi

We had our first, fairly low key running day on Saturday 8th April when ‘Bronwyn’ ‘Prospero’, ‘Chieftain’, ‘Viceroy’ , the ‘Class 08’ and ‘The Shay’ all came out to play. (maybe not so low key !!!)

John, Keith and Brian B with ‘Bronwyn’

Peter’s family visited and they all enjoyed themselves having plenty of rides and some drives. Peter gave Isaac his first experience of driving a steam loco, which went down very well !!!!

Peter supervising Isaac driving ‘Prospero’

Brian B came over and had a drive of ‘Bronwyn’ and the ‘Gronk’, once he discovered it went without having to put any coal in !!!!!

Brian B with ‘Bronwyn’

So a very pleasant afternoon and it was good to have trains running again, let’s hope for many more running sessions throughout the year!!!!

Oh and why the sheep? well Jane and John are helping a local, young shepherd by allowing his flock to graze the East View Farm ‘grass’, which they are doing nicely and providing some entertainment!!. There are lambs too with the two newest ones making an appearance here a week or two back. Lovely to see , proving it’s definitely Spring !!!. 

     John and Peter working on the signal lights

Hi there

It always seems a quiet time of year but we have kept ourselves occupied with a variety of tasks that we didn’t get round to yet, such as sorting our tools so we have a set in the tool van and a good set in the pit shed  (with an additional shadow board to keep things tidy., thanks Keith). It’s all part of an exercise to find out what we really have accumulated over the years so we can have a sort out  !!!

We have also made a start on our next exciting project to provide a longer loop from the Laurel Siding headshunt around to the layby siding, which will give is just two passing loops that will help the bi-directional running. We needed some more rail to complete this excercise, so we decided to purchase some new 16mm alloy rail  and use this in the storage shed so we could use the 22 mm rail in there on the new loop to match the existing .We have replaced one track so far.

Peter and John replacing Track i

Also as part of this plan, we have been for some time looking at  the different ways of installing automatic colour light signals on the railway and  Peter (with some input from Kevin and others !!!!), is now looking at utilising a ‘raspberry pi’  ‘computer’ to work the system. John has also been busy making up a signal head out of 5 mm plastic using those 3 light led ‘push for on’ , lights used in cupboards etc. We have dismantled them and removed the switch and rewired them to be on or off via a  switch in the ‘mini computer’ system,and the initial one looks very impressive !

The other job we have started is to fettle and repaint the point levers giving each one a number to identify its location when requiring attention.

  Point number lever 4 done

Hi there

Well the days do seem to be getting longer so maybe Spring is just around the corner ????? We are keeping busy ish with one or two jobs around the railway. Keith and Peter have started to take in the point levers to give them a good clean and a repaint, with each one being given a number for ease of location identification. We have purchased a new window for the kitchen end outside wall of the Clubroom as the old one was getting past its best, so we are ensuring we have all the materials needed to allow us to fit it in one session, hopefully, next month sometime depending on the weather. The work to the Shay is now complete with the whistle sound unit fitted and working.

We are also planning to build an open wagon to carry ballast to work areas which will be really useful when we  carry out planned trackwork alterations. More on that later ! This plan has also encouraged us to make use of the lathe with Brian B and Ben’s help. We have two wheeled axles that we are going to use and the axles have been turned down (think that’s the correct technical expression) with a shoulder formed to take the bearings, and we are now just compiling a list of materials that we need to build the vehicle.

Apart from that we still meet on Wednesdays and Saturdays to chat, plan, put the world to rights, have a cuppa or  two and try to finish off the mince pies, cheese straws and stuff left over from Christmas and the New Year !!!!.  

Happy New Year everyone, let’s hope it will be a good one !Take care