Do you do anything to protect your trains from the suns UV rays?
Hi CEV, the quick answer is no. When I had G scale my rolling stock remained outside most of the time and paintwork on it did fade as per the real thing. However G scale stuff (and most of mine was Aristocraft and Bachmann) is usually made in UV resistant plastics. This time round with O scale I have a direct run into my shed so trains won't be left to the elements. Most of my locomotives are brass .So bottom line is exposure to the sun won't affect them and the plastic bodied rolling stock won't be in full sunlight enough to affect them in a major way. Plus here in Scotland we don't get anything like the amount of hot sunshine of the likes of some places in the states. As for my track ,its all Peco and as far as I know the plastic used in it is all UV resistant as per their G scale stuff. I am lifting Peco G45 track that has been in place for years and the sun doesn't seem to have affected it at all.The same can't be said for what Aristo track I had. The plastic in it seems to have deteriorated to an extent. So UV isn't a big concern, my trains won't be sitting in hot sunlight for hours on end.
Ya got me laughing with that video.
Too bad you haven't been able to get on with your layout... The friggin midges are probably building up their ranks for a massive assault on ya, lad; once you emerge after the rain lets up. Loch Rick is probably midge central.
My scale wheels CNW Dash9-44CW arrived at my dealers today. They just have to check it out... I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Today, I ordered a couple of Atlas O (Master) 53' Evan double plug door box cars. I'm trying to get them in the Georgia Pacific livery. My second choice is Grand Trunk, and my 3rd is Boise Cascade. Nice looking cars.
Hopefully, good weather is Glasgow bound.
Take care,
Rick
Davy,
I was just thinking... Bob Dylan's "knockin' on heavens door" might sound good with some pipes?
Dylan and Guns N' Roses... maybe, Cafe Royale? Not kidding around, here... it might work? Great song!
Rick
here's an'ther vid clip by Celtica, featuring one of my fav'rites.... oy!
Hi Guys, aye the Scots and Irish stuff's good fun eh ? Anyway,suns out today and I'm back into the garden.Been shifting buckets of crushed rock from the front of the house up to the back left hand corner to get it finished. However decided to take a wee break from that and ballast some of the track in the engine terminal area. made up a dry mix of fine crushings and mixed it with cement powder. Spread it over the tracks brushed it in carefully levelling the track as I went then brushed it all clear of the rails and switch blades etc.,etc., then gave it a very fine spray of water using a bottle with an atomiser on it. Now just leaving to set. Looks OK.
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You've given it a well used, heavy traffic look. Well done, lad.
Rick
How do you control those turnouts Davey? I see an oblong piece of material over the throwbar on each one, is that some sort of a control setup?
This is nice railroad building Davey...keep it up, and appreciate your sharing and the music is good too...
Bob
Hi Bob, I will have no automatic switch control at all. Just a long thin snooker-Q style pole to push or pull the switch bldes and everything will be manual. However when I have my grandkids about I'll get them to run about changing the switches. As for the switch mechanisms heres a close up . Pretty straight forward. Peco switches have very simple but effective mechanisms using a very simple spring wire.
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Hi guys ,well here's todays progress. I'm now working on the back left hand corner patio ,been filling it with crushed rock most of the day. I will be finishing it as per the patio around the paddling pool with flat river stones,however with the local rivers running so high right now with all the rain we've had it'll be a couple of days before the water drops low enough for me to get access to the stone bed where I normally go. Other than that I've laid some more track fixing timbers along the back fence towards the wee stream and have started to lift whats left of the G scale track down the right hand side of the garden. I was hopin/thinkin to split the parallel double track running and do up and overs a-la-single track look style but I've chnged my mind. I'm instead thinking to fan the double tracks out to four track (ie,a passing loop on each line as I bridge the "river" and part way along the right hand side of the garden . This would let me hold 2 longish trains in the passing places and it should look quite good as it will mean trains sittin parked over the water as trains on the other tracks run by. With the passing loop in the station too which is planned for this would let me hold 5 trains on the main circuit. Umptten locos in the engine terminal area and even a couple of trains on the wye. I've given up on the up and over idea because I think the grades would be too severe in the space I have though I probably will take the rear line up in height a bit before coming back to the same level at the station. Anyway thats the rough plan. (at the moment !) Anyway some pics attached.
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Me son,
I've just finished up running some nice looking teams of oh-so-fine North American diesel-electric motive power. Today, was mostly eastern US power with a Canadian CN team thrown in... an ES44DC leading a SD70M-2.
After I finished with the trains... I felt like hearing that Skye-Quirang music you recently posted. For me, the first piece, when the strings kick in with the pipes... that is magic. I think strings and pipes complement each other... extremely well.
I checked out a number of different pipe sites, after seeing/hearing the Skye site; and I like what's on Skye site, the best.
The Australian(from Perth) " the Badpiper" has some fun...
BTW, I can picture castle Rick, high up on one of those grassy escarpments. I'd be wearing a flat black kilt and sporran, high top black combat boots, full beard... the works. Maybe, even listening to some war pipes, eh... to keep those intruders away.
Re: your masterpiece... I forgot, how are you going to control your trains?
How well/smoothly do brass pieces run? I heard brass looks good, but...
Cheers lad,
Rick
I forgot to mention, in my part of the world, mountains are everywhere. Just a short 20 minute drive from downtown Vancouver... we have our Coastal mountains, including: Grouse, Cypress and Seymour.
Plus a little further out... Whistler. On the way up to Whistler, you pass by Garibaldi Provincial park. The extinct volcano chimney, Black Tusk, is found in Garibaldi park. You can almost drive to the base of it... the actual chimney.
I spent a night up there with some friends, when I was in my early 20's, one summer. We were camped off to one side of the chimney base. What a cool place to kick back and have a few brews... We were on dry/clear ground, and the glacier was only a short distance away.
The view was spectacular... you're on top of the world. The Skye music would have fit in great.
I used to frequently fly(for work) from YVR(Vancouver International Airport) to Prince George. The route went up over the coastal mountains. What a view, once you're airborne, leaving Vancouver. Snow capped mountains for as far as the eye can see.
I was blown away, when I saw that for the first time.
Rick
Hi Rick,you just caught me before I headed to bed. heres another beautifull melody for you. A Gaelic song ,in English it means "leaving the place". The last part played on the sax is being played in the Mausoleum here in Hamilton where I live. Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGMR3yX630k&feature=related
Thanks for the music, Davy. The Skye piece is still my favorite... so far. It's got a melodic, powerful, deep haunting feel to it... you feel it. It's unsettling in a good way.
The right setting sure adds to the experience, too.
Rick
Off on a wee bit of a musical/melody tangent -
have you ever heard "Stop The Cavalry"... a 1980 song, by Jona Lewie? Apparently, it somehow became affiliated with Christmas.
The horns melody, is what sticks in my mind.
Later lad,
Rick
This is like building the real thing! Sheesh. I wish I had an excavator.
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It would be nice if you could get a species or two of extremely small, real, evergreens. Pretty much everything else could be made to effectively mimic reality.
Some well-placed real trees would add remarkable visual impact... Not much could duplicate that look.
Rick
Hi Joe, great stuff, you've been making progress eh ?. Now I'm guessing but I'm thinkin that that concrete support is in the intended pond ? Or at the edge of the pond ?. If so how are you going to tackle the pond liner ? If its actually going to be in the pond I'd put the liner in that hole first and the concrete support in cement within the liner. Your intention isn't to go drape the liner over the support ?. I'm just guessin of course Joe , but if was you I'd definately put the liner in place first. I could of course be reading your intentions completely wrong ???? Anyway plenty progress there since the last time you posted. Go for it !! Good stuff Cheers DAVY
Well Davy, the trouble is I don't really know what I'm doing! Someday there will be a pond there. I need to dig it down 30 to 45" so the fish don't freeze?? For right now, just a rock garden? I heard that concrete will kill fish and I'm not sure even if I want fish? The liners were going to be expensive(to me) and then the pond store told me all the equipment I would need (filter, pump, etc.). I don't want to put out another grand on this yet. I need to get the track beds built around the yard. The price of track is crazy.
So, should I drop the bridge abutments in the holes for now and remove them later for a liner? How would I hide the liner around the concrete so the fish don't get killed? Should I just say the heck with the fish?
Too many questions have kept me from even getting started til now. I'm just getting anything going forward and I'll fix it later!!! I would just love to run some trains. Someday a water feature like the pic I copied of yours, Joe
Hello Joe,
I am sure Davy will answer your questions. I just wanted to say that I relate to your comments. Davy's posts indeed inspired me to start a garden railroad, and he has been a tremendous help to me. Like you I have run up against the cost of a water feature and the crazy cost of track. I am personally focused on the water feature at present and have been picking up bits of track here and there as I can afford them.
There is a group in Colorado that set up a garden track at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. I have not seen the track, only videos of it. The comment that struck me was from a member who suggested starting with a modest layout and letting it build from there. I had great plans for a complex layout, but have since simplified and decided to do a piece at a time. They started with a circular track around a tree. Now it is much more sophisticated.
Also I realized that I couldn't afford even a simple layout all at once, so I'm doing it in stages. I don't know your situation Joe, but if it is like mine, breaking it down into manageable (and affordable) pieces may help.
Good luck.
Craig
