Bridge Installation

Had a bit of time to 'install' the bridge this weekend. I ended up laying it across two pavers on their ends, sunk into the flower bed, which looks pretty good and gives a solid base. Having installed it though, I can see it might look even better a few feet further round the planned track bed, as there's a more of a 'dip' which it could more realistically span. Oh well, we'll see how it looks next weekend - should be fairly straightforward to move if necessary...

Toby and the Steam Up

Spent an hour this morning moving bulbs & plants that are springing up too close to (or even from underneath) the trackbed. Hopefully I've moved all the big ones, so future disturbance to the permanent way should be minimal. The Baguley-Drewery battery ran flat after only 20 minutes, following an extended run yesterday, so I got 'Toby' out for a run. Toby is a scratchbuilt, very short wheelbase tram engine, mostly built the Christmas before last on a budget IP chassis I got in my stocking! He still needs to be finished (mostly painting, some detailling & a bit of extra ballast), but is run-able as-is (usually the kiss of death for getting anything truly finished!).

Once the track maintenance was finished, and the bulbs planted in their new locations, it was time for a steam up before lunch. I gave the MSS a run, although she seemed to be struggling a bit, I had assumed last weekend's de-gunking session would improve her running, but it looks like all that congealed thick steam-oil was probably doing something useful after all (giving a steam-seal if nothing else!).

Live Steam Roster

Here's a picture of the current live steam roster on the garden railway; from front to back: MMS (meths fired), Locomotion 'Cackler' (gas fired), and Accucraft 'Mortimer' (also gas fired). All were lined up on the rails this afternoon, as I took the opportunity of 15 minutes to myself to 'de-gunk' the motion & bearings of each with a bit of paraffin - lovely...!

Extending the line

Here's a picture showing the extension off of the main circuit; the line on the right of the points connects to the front of the circuit, track will be laid to connect the left track to the rear of the circuit. Still some work to do to level the pavers before track laying, but I will probably hold off of doing this until the terminus has been built so I can tweak the gradients of the line if necessary. The bridge was a recent eBay purchase; I need to add some supports to the pavers either side to support it.
If the good weather continues, then hopefully there'll be some reasonable progress on the extension in the near future...

Track improvements & a steam-up!

More very pleasant weekend weather today (is this the warmest / sunniest February in recent history?!), and we got out into the garden. I was able to spent 40 minutes or so re-aligning track on the main circuit, and also finally got around to re-laying the rear section of the circuit, getting rid of the small 'hill' in the process. This was fairly easy to do following the extensive pruning of the shrubs before Christmas! After some running with the Baguley-Drewery to check all was well, I steamed up Mortimer, and he ran very well, especially on the re-laid rear section. He ended up running for about 40 minutes, refuelling & watering after the first fill ran out.

Here you can see Mortimer running over the re-laid rear section - the small 'wiggle' in the track is to clear the concrete fence-post.





And here you can see a lovely plume of steam backlit by the February sun!

First Signs of Spring?!

Glorious spring weather this second weekend of February; sunny & bright, and really not all that cold! I found some time this morning to run the battery-converted Baguley Drewery round the circuit with a few wagons.
Needed to do a little permanent way work; at a few places around the track bulbs have pushed through, in others winter rain appears to have caused a little subsidence under the brick pavers; I'll need to do some more making good before the next steam up - too bad there wasn't time today.

Hopefully the weather will hold; as it was perfect for steaming and progressing the track laying further around the garden. Enjoy the photos of the Baguley Drewery amongst the spring flowers!