patrick

Cut and sort of fill, garden railroad style. What is excavated for the pond becomes the reason for the tunnel.

Excavation work has started on the pond. I'm not as young as I used to be and the ground is pretty hard so I'm trying to get a little done every day without killing myself! The layout has also come through a heavy storm last week, sever enough to warrant tornado warnings. While I have yet to run a train everything seems to be in order but some ballasting will need to be done in places where it settled. Thankfully very little was washed away in the downpour.

20240812_015120.mp4

It all started years ago when I got a great deal on the Aristo Craft 2-8-0. It was my intention to have it as a display model but of course I had to see it run so acquired a controller and some track and started to pick up some rolling stock. Occasionally we would set it up in the garden but I never did get the opportunity to set up a permanent outdoor layout. After selling our condo we are now renting a house from Maureens brother where we plan to stay for the next two years or so. A few weeks back we had our former foster girls, age eight and eleven, over for a weekend. We set up a simple oval on the lawn and started running trains. At this point it was decided to set it up on a more permanent basis in a herb garden we are planning. Given that the layout will be dismantled after two years and the ground is fortunately very flat and hard no great effort was made preparing the track bed. After the location of the track was established the track bed received a liberal dose of weed and grass killer. Once the vegetation was cleared the track was replaced using black wire ties to keep the sections together and was then ballasted and leveled. The coarse grass will be kept in each side of the track as it keeps the ballast in place. How this will work out remains to be seen especially during the harsh winters here in NE Ohio, the layout is literally a few hundred feet from Lake Erie. Should things not work out the track could be lifted in a few hours if necessary. Control is dc track power and so far operation has been pretty reliable. The layout has no name as yet but I see it as a branch of a small Colorado railroad which sees a train a few days a week. Any suggestions from anyone with some knowledge of the Colorado narrow guage would be very welcome. Although essentially a roundy roundy display layout there is potential for a little prototypical operation when the mood strikes.

I love this video Maureen took earlier today. It really captures the atmosphere of the layout. IMG_9114.MOV

Progress. It's starting to look like a railroad.

Now that the track plan is pretty much settled it will be making it up as we go along. Here is a sketch showing what I'm after.

No, but we regularly get deer not to mention squirrels, the occasional possum and of course our three cats.

Patrick's new layout. More to follow.

A beet load for the Bulleids?

It's really not practical attempting to re-erect the layout given how it is built and in any case given all I have learned in the twelve years since the layout was started any future project will be hopefully built to a higher standard.

Thursday May 15th 2024. The last train on the South Waterford Line leaves Grange headed for the Cork fiddle yard. There the rolling stock will be boxed and work will begin dismantling the layout. Maureen and I have decided it is time for us to move, first to a rental property near her mom who needs more and more help by the day and then look for home with with a garden, something we did not have in a condo and sorley missed. Of course a train room will be a requirement in any new house!

The white CIE insulated containers would also be very welcome.

I must have gone through about twenty of these kits just for the underframes and have on occasion considered actually complete one just for fun.

A12 on a beet special at Keilys Cross in October 1969. The two H vans are returning empty to Mallow from Glen More where they delivered beet pulp, a byproduct of the sugar refining process which was sold to farmers for cattle feed.

141 continues its journey on the Waterford goods and is seen here passing Kielys Cross.

All my grey wagons, including the Bulleid opens are painted with grey primer from rattle cans. The Bulleids then recieve washes of very diluted black poster paint with a few drops of dish washing detergen sprayed on with a spray bottle. The wash should look like very dirty water. A paint brush is used work the wash into corners and crevices. This process is repeated allowing wash to dry between applications. I have found that it is best to place the wagon upside-down while drying to avoid unrealistic water marks in the interior caused by water pooling. Once the desired effect is achieved and the wagon is totally dry it is dry brushed with white paint. Using prototype photos as a guide the axel boxes get a wash of black paint to represent oil stains and rust applied using weathering chalk, again consult prototype photos as a guide.

The Cork passenger train crossing the Waterford goods which has finished its shunting at Grange.

B135 shunting at Grange where it will wait for the Cork passenger train before proceeding to waterford.

The Waterford goods pulls into the loop at Grange. After the beet special leaves the goods will engage in some shunting while waiting for the Cork passenger train before proceeding to Waterford.

A42 on a sugar beet train waits for the Waterford goods at Grange. My locomotive fleet really needs weathering however while I have no problem mucking up anything I have painted myself I have a mortal fear of touching anything else.

The Velvet Underground and Nico on vinyl.

C226 on a goods at Glen More and on a representation of a Loughrea mixed train on the South Waterford Line. The locomotive is a Silver Fox model. The coach is from Irish Freight Models.

A42 shunts a beet special at Keilys Cross during today's running session.