A diary of Tramway Demiel

mikeyh wrote:

After checking the romany camp the Gendarme is being distracted by the girl while the illegals hide in the vans (nothing changes does it?)

mikey

Mikey, am I ok to use this pic on my Who's Who page, please? Usual photo credits given etc honest!

Goes without saying Clive! BTW I'm just contemplating a postcard of 1910 Pompiers with their shiny metal helmets. now theres a challenge!!

Mikey

mikeyh wrote:

Goes without saying Clive! BTW I'm just contemplating a postcard of 1910 Pompiers with their shiny metal helmets. now theres a challenge!!

Mikey

OOooooo, shiiiney.... Let's see the postcard then!

http://www.cartespostalesanciennesperigord.over-blog.com/categorie-697314.html -

Cant post it clive (right click disabled), but the above should take you to it. He gets on my nerves ,the guy who runs this. all the pics are in the public domain but he stops any one downloading them (unless anyone knows a different way?

Mikey

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Just do a google image search ( http://images.google.com ) for the phrase

excideuil et ses braves pompiers carte postale ancienne

then click on 'See full size image' to show just the image, and do what you want with it! As I have done

Edit: If you just use the search term pompiers carte postale ancienne you get quite a few others as well!

Thats exactly what i always do clive but when you do that with this one it takes you to the site and you cant save image or anything.If you save the image without opening you just save a 3-6k image (too small)

mike

Strange, it works for me - the end result is about 18K in size?

Although we got away lightly in the big storm, it amazes me that the same wind that brought down two large branches from a walnut tree (now cut up and stored in woodshed) only caused this to the railway;







All things that needed re-doing anyway!

Mikey

Your buildings were obviously well constructed Mikey, looks a bit like the aftermath of a small earthquake. I didn’t risk it with my plastic buildings; I suspect they are fare more fragile.

I like the dock scene by the canal Mikey - is the track to be powered for a little light shunting ?

Its actually the paper mill Paul but most of the buildings have been taken in. Its old Faller track and i've made some wagons that are pushed by the workers. Carl posted a very interesting 'Decauville' track in a papermill in Paris sometime ago.

mikey

Well after deciding to re-livery the rolling stock i've made a start with the two carriages. i personally think that this colour looks more true to 1910 than the green. just got the lettering and weathering to do now;





Mikey

The wood has been weathered,darkened, bleached. They'll do for now. Still got to do the lettering. Cant quite work out how best to do that. Dont want to use decals.





Mikey

Nice pics Mikey, and a very effective paint job.

As for lettering, I guess you could hand-paint them, or what about using a stencil that has the letters you want at the right size and font?

Deffo hand-paint but being lefthanded aint easy sometimes!! I might try and download a font, cut out the letters and then pencil it on the back, similar to doing a brass rubbing!

mikey

After a couple of days in the workshop, the rolling stock has been re-liveried and re-badged and is now back in service. Heres the first passenger train of the day;







Mikey

Very nice, Mikey. Can we have a closer picture of the lettering?

I'll do a close-up tomorrow Clive (but i'm not too confident it will look good!) I printed the letters T.D and the tares on Word, cut them out and flooded them, when in place, with superglue which plastifies the paper. I like to think of it as looking at a Picasso; looks great from a distance!!

Mikey

Fully understand Mikey. I was just trying to get a better feel for the results you achieved and the technique you used. As you say, with the "3 metre rule" applied, it looks great!

Track is looking good Mike !

Has mounting it on the raised boards sorted out the derailment problems ?

Seems to have done Brian. The land is fairly level lengthwise but there was a 10cm difference across the track, which combined with R1 bends at each end, led to the problems. OK now but havent tested with live steam yet!

Mikey

This is the last bit of track that is giving a problem. Its where the metal track (made from T-profile garden piquets) comes from the steam up area and joins the main line via a turntable. I made the turntable and now realise that its a centimetre higher than the track!. Its going to centrally pivot on the raised wood trackbed. Question is; Do I make a new one on a circle of wood a bit thinner (same thickness as a sleeper), or do I route out the wood between the ends of the track. Its all going to be manual and will only be used for live steam. Oh and the ground will be built up under it.





Mikey

Mikey: couldn't you just cheat and raise the track gradually along the length of your main line so that it's 1cm higher at the turntable? Surely easier than intensive woodworking or remaking what looks like a nice neat turntable.

Phil

....or cut/rout 1 cm out of the wood plank so the turntable drops down.

the sunday service autorail arrives at the papermill halt to transport the workers home for a well-earned glass of vin rouge (or Pastis or whiskey!)





mikey