Lock down stage 3

Lock down stage 3

Well, May and June have come and gone and all I have to show for them is the completion of the replacement bridge over Gnome Valley Gorge . The first bridge finally gave out last Easter, and as it was only build about 12 years ago I thought it time to make alterations.

The gorge was thought to be a little large so it was reshaped and a new support system was created. As the old bridge was constructed in ply wood and pine the new one is built using hard wood supported on plastic sheet.

So here we are now, some 6 weeks later and finally managed to get the bridge in place. Got track down temperately so as to check clearance and running.

 It was thought Logs would be suitable for edging the bridge thus producing a safety rail.

 These logs where fixed in position with chain. ( Surplus left overs from my secondary hobby, Jewelry making )

 Looks OK to me and that's all that counts.

 So there you have it, The new bridge just waiting for the next train.

  The track inspection crew have finally pasted the bridge open for traffic.

Lock down boredom Stage 2

Lock down boredom      Stage 2

So I moved round the loop and having all my tools already handy in my mobile tool shop I carried on.

So here's before

and this is after

I managed to finish the rest of the loop and it looks OK but will be better after lock down and I can get on and give it a coat of fence care

Now I think it's on to the mountains, they seam to be in a sorry mess.

Lock down boredom

Boredom

I think after about 5 year's layoff following heart and lung problems I think it's time to try and do some repair work and tiding up the layout.

I started with repairs to the return loop that had suffered considerably from wood-root had had collapsed, so here we go.

All we need now is some tubs of fence care to finish off with.

So lets move round and tackle the rest.

Bridge Day 7

Bridge Day 7

Well I started today by fitting bridge into position and  finally fastening it down.Then a start was made on the tedious job of track laying, and of course making sure the bridge did indeed work as planned.

The next thing was to build in a fail-safe dead area in front of the open bridge to prevent valuable locos and rolling stock from plummeting to the ground when the bridge is in the open position.

With this done it was time to test run some trains and see if every thing was indeed running right as this has not been done since last December when the accident happened that made all this effort needed. So what's next, well I think it's time to spring clean, repair and renew items to try and revitalize the Gnome Valley Railway as it has, for reasons of bad health and lack of enthusiasm been left, forgot and neglected for well over 6 years now.

                      So here goes  

   

Bridge Day 6

Bridge final step

I finished last time in a bit of a dilemma, how to but joint the wire rope guard rails.  Following discussions at my railway club monthly meeting I tried to use what is commonly known as a Choc Box connector.  This did the job but I was not really pleased with the look when fitted in place.

So after some considerable thought I came up with this.  A 1" length of 2.5mm aluminium tubing filled with superglue was I my opinion the answer. 

    

Bridge Day 5

Having some free time owing to lock down I pottered about in the shed this morning. My problem was how to thread 2 mm wire rope through 2.5 mm holes to form the safety rail on the new bridge.

After considerable head scratching I came up with the following. A good covering of superglue over about a inch of the end and when dried cut off the end to form a nice clean end.

I tried several methods to cut the end and finally came up with my Dremel fitted with a thin cut off disc.

Now I set too and threaded the wire through the pre-drilled holes starting at the bottom row and from the middle. Now of course come's the next problem, how to butt join the ends

  

Bridge Day 4

 Day 4 Started out OK, the wife went out shopping so I thought a hours or so working on the bridge would go down well, so into the workshop I trundled armed with my trusty little radio and a large cup of tea. A start was made and all went well for a time as you can see.

But then for some unknown reason, I don't know if it's old age, stupidity or perhaps complaisance But I made the mother of all mistakes, the sort of thing a kid in school would make I fixed the last 4 to the wrong side of the line.

So after a bit of self discipline ( and some swearing )  and another cup of tea I proceeded to drill out the rivets and replace the posts in the right place.

We are now ready I think to make a start on the side railings. I have decided to use 2 mm wire rope, but as yet I have not worked out how to butt joint the ends together