Weekend Update

This weekend was good for the railway; mostly sunny & warm. Had two extended afternoon steam-ups, running both Mortimer & Cackler (and with both steaming nicely). I also had time to do some track tweaking, re-laying the front part of the loop. This has helped sort out the last of the problems due to the spring bulb explosion! There have also been a few recent problems with track coming apart during running (particularly with running the heavier steam loco's), so a session with the pliers has helped sort this out!

I also had time to sand down the partially completed freelance coach I abandoned some time ago, so hopefully the lines' first passenger stock will be running in the near future! (a Henrietta for Toby ;-)

Outstanding jobs now include improving / aligning some of the recently laid section to the terminus (a bit of a 'hump' to even out), and reworking the end of the terminus. It's difficult to access locos in the cuttings, so this will likely be opened out & re-layed onto a slab.

Still, with warming longer summer days & evenings ahead (assuming that we didn't have the British summer this past weekend), there's plenty of time for relexed running & tinkering!

Lappa Valley Railway

On holiday in Cornwall a couple of weeks ago, we took the family to the Lappa Valley Railway, near Newquay. The highlight was the steam hauled 15" gauge line, but there were plenty of child friendly things to do and we all had a nice afternoon in the spring sunshine. The staff there were very friendly, and we'd recommend it as a fun & relaxed afternoon out. Pictured is Zebedee, the 15" gauge loco that was in steam.

The garden railway has a name!

Well, after about 9 months of existence, I finally have a name for the line in my garden:

The Worthies & Littleton Light Railway

The name reflects pretty well where the line is, and also shares initials (W&L) with a rather better known narrow gauge prototype: http://www.wllr.org.uk/. It remains to be seen whether this convenient similarity will be sufficient to warrant purchase of the forthcoming Accucraft "Countess"!

Spring steam up [video]

Here's a short video of a steam-up yesterday evening, featuring Mortimer running over the newest section of the line. The video gives a pretty good impression of the line in it's present state.

The end of the line?

After so much soggy March weather (& an Easter weekend wiped out by sickness), Sunday turned out to be a nice warm Spring day. After lunch, I found time to do some gardening, and to have anther crack at removing the bulbs that have been steadily pushing up the paving bricks on the main loop - hopefully mostly cleared by now. Then my sister & family popped in, so we ran a couple of battery locos for the boys (the youngest of whom was very excited!).

Later on I managed to have couple of hours to myself, and got nearly all of the remaining route to the shed laid, including the station run-around loop & siding. The run around loop is quite short, clearance for three or so good sized wagons, but hopefully this might be improved with some tweaking. Some fettling in of the line itself is required, and completion of the run around spur & siding on a few last pavers, but the track was complete enough to allow the first ever proper 'out & back' run at about 7pm (longer evenings are back - hurray!).

Running over new rails

Here are a couple of photos of the Baguley-Drewery running over the newly-laid leg of the reversing triangle for the first time this afternoon. It only just cleared that rose-branch!

Weekend Engineering Work...

Significant progress with track laying this afternoon, with the reversing triangle completed, the bridge moved further along the line, and work started on the terminus!

Photo 1 shows the newly installed leg of the reversing triangle on the left (you can just see the Baguley running round the loop). Trackwork is the usual Peco laid on paving blocks set into the flower bed on a base of ballast.

Photo 2 shows the start of the terminus; there'll be a run-around loop on the left, and a siding on the right. Originally I had planned to put the terminus by the wall on the left at the back of the bed, but the shrubs there are nicer, and there's a tree stump I'd need to dig out, so I've gone for the easy option, plus it's more accesible here at the front. Track will be laid on some small paving slabs, probably screwed in with rawl plugs... You can just see the re-located bridge in the top right of the photo.

Photo 3 shows the view from the back corner of the garden, with the re-located bridge, and line towards the reversing triangle.