Flat wagon - generator load

A small enhancement to one of my Accucraft wagons; the flat wagon (single plank) had no load and I was lucky to find a generator engine of the about thee right scale at a recent Toy&Train fair.

I decided to make the load removable, so it was mounted on a card base cut to fit on the wagon...

I gave the card base a coat of brown and a wash of dark grey, then stuck on the generator. The load in place on the wagon

Break down train ....

After a track clean of the indoor garage layout I decided to run the breakdown train round, using the track cleaning loco in ordinary running mode.

the video clip shows one circuit of the the garage layout.

Indoor Layout - Trackside scenes

I like to have some interesting track-side scenes on my indoor layout, I've been tidying up and adding a few new bits; in addition I'm been re-basing the figures so they are on clear bases. Here are some of the things on view ....

rabbits gamboling by the track ....

 man at work in the woods ...

 mechanic at work ...

 fireman on an exercise ...

 house with garden...

 some sheep and other animals ...

 postman doing a delivery....

 forklift truck busy in the goods yard ....

New visitor attraction...

Something a little bit Jurassic..

The operators of the line are pleased that a local entrepeneur has opened a dinosaur reserve on the central plateau; specials to bring people to visit the attraction will bring much needed revenue to the line.

While the herbivores much the long grass, other more hungry ones watch ready to strike ...

[ The largest dinos from a box brought at a local toy store, will probably look better when the grass is cut]

Garden Layout track cleaned .....

After giving the track a quick clean with a track rubber; out comes the track cleaning loco for the final clean...

With the track cleaned I had a short running session using my favourite electric powered loco...

Garage layout ready for use again ...

After a lot of cleaning and tidying the garage is now presentable again. The railway layout has been refurbished, new platform edges, roads repainted and the track cleaned.

 the section for the door with the bridge on now has its own shelf to keep it as dry as possible and avoid warping...

 some close-in shots of parts of the layout ...

Diesel Loco - light running ....

A trial post to see how video clips taken with my camera work out; the sound pickup off its microphone is better than I expected.....

Playmobil battery loco shown in Rockery cuting

and down by the station...

Tipper trucks on the move ....

A nice time running a little train today, after some work tidying up the garage

The chap in the signal box had to put his book down today for while, a goods train of tipper wagons was running ...

waiting for the go outside the station...

 past the signal box ...

 round the bottom of the garden and then up through rockery cutting ...

 coming back round again on the station approach ...

 a good running session, had some some derailments in rockery cutting - these were fixed by levelling the track and oiling the spring on the engine coupling.

New Glazing for the Signal Box

The glazing for my PIKO signal box had become opaque - mostly due to UV exposure, the thin plastic was breaking up as well. So only one way to get at it to replace it - take the signal box apart, hammer and screwdriver used - not too heftily though....

 All the bits were then put into a bath of soapy water ...

 out of the wash and dried out, ready for re-assembly...

 I removed the old glazing and then put in some new clear plastic (culled from Barbie doll packaging);  the main wall sections stuck back on and the roof supports ...

 The roof was then put back on and the access steps. Back out in the garden in its spot waiting for a train ....

on the workbench ....

Coupling for a Tipper Wagon

Removed the hook from a coupling...

 and fixed it to the tipper wagon chassis...

tried it and the height isn't quite right, but the hook from the loco end is long and connects fine - need to do some running checks ...

Track Cleaning Loco 

When I started this was not working at all; motor not responding very well at all. I turned the speed knob up to max, but no effect.

 So I took out the main motor,  cleaned off any accumulated gunge, cleaned springs etc;  checked the worm gears were properly engaged .....

 on reassembling it it started working fine ( dodgy pick up or loose connection ?)

The motor and track cleaning is working fine now (alost as good as when I got the loco) - one minor problem the lights no longer work - I can live with that.

Out to the garage to check it operationally, running smooth as a loco and fine in the direction of the track cleaner - even cleaning the track; needs to be tested on the outside line though.

Looking foward ....

First off a list of jobs to do:

• change one of my tipper wagons to have a chopper coupling so the three together can be pulled by all locos
• have a look at my track cleaning loco and see if I can find out why it is not running properly
• repaint the roofs of the trackside houses
• get the station pieces secured to the underboard
• repair the water tower and if possible get it on a base to reduce risk of it being blown over again
• clean the outdoor track and check track running with electric locos
• trial removal of chopper hook from coupling at one end of each piece of rolling stock (more prototypical), to see if it improves running and prevents derailments on bends.

Oh dear lots to do !

What else - some new rolling stock is overdue...

• I've pre-ordered an Isle of Man E-Van in Maroon & Cream livery - expected availability in Dec 2016 - so nice little Xmas present for me.
• I'll see if I can pick up some suitable items off Ebay or from Toy&Train fairs.

First running session of the year ....

With most of the big gardening jobs done, I've been able to spend some time on the garden railway. The track has had a good spray of weed killer and I've been round cutting back the line-side growth to ensure good clearance.

Today I managed to get a short running session in ...