Chemin de fer Sud de Bretagne

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Duplicate posting for some reason

After much debating (I do a lot of that with myself) I hit upon what I think is a good idea today. I was trying to think what to put under the cobbled tiles I have to raise them up to track level at the brewery. I had cut out some plywood 6mm thick, but after doing it and laying it down it looked very vulnerable to the weather. So what about some second hand tiles, I have a few left over from the house, wall tiles the right thickness, stick them down with waterproof tile adhesive then stick the cobles to them. I will need to cut some round the track but I think it will be a goer.

Saddletank wrote:

Is it possible to avoid walking near it? Can you take another route round? Making the structure more durable is all well and good but if you kick it with engines inside you might be sorry.



Before GSM closed down one guy had built a concrete dock and he slathered the sides in cement and scribed stone blocks into it. He then added vertical timber strakes by drilling these straight into the concrete. A good idea is to take a look at old dockside pictures and be inspired by the real thing.

It’s far too convenient to walk that way……. I will just have to be more careful.

I think I saw the dock on GSM you mentioned, yes something like that.

Slight track re alignment at the junction, now a train can run round the inner circuit and the reveres loop in the hanger in a continuous run.



The track layers have also been working on the lower station track of the rack railway.

FELICITATIONSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Some damn fine track laying.

What are the radii of that triangle junction Peter?

Carl Hibbs wrote:

Some damn fine track laying.

What are the radii of that triangle junction Peter?

Sorry for the delay in replying, it got through the net. It’s all LGB R3 point work with a Massoth reverse loop module, which appears to work remarkably well.

Progress is slow as usual, but no pressure. I have filed in between and around the tracks at the engine shed, perhaps it needs some oil dropping around and some of mikey’s ash in the ash pits, the gravel is too big.

Right I am looking for inspiration……
The little bottles shown here. Any ideas for there use apart from the obvious, a new size of container for the brewery.
I have a small mountain of them, and growing, as the Joan is having eye drops 3 times a day, for the past 5 months……and on going

Red wine would get my vote but flagons of cider might be more regional.

Did a bit of general running today, partly spoilt by dirty wheels I think, to start off there was a lot of stop start going on.

Amazing what a few trains adds to the picture! Looking good Peter.

Mikey

I have done a re rout of the track to the Brewery. Now the track runs round the Dock without a reverse loop, so shunting can go on without using a head shunt onto the main line. (Possibly ideal for grandson to practice)

Carl Hibbs wrote:

Red wine would get my vote but flagons of cider might be more regional.

I think they are going to be the new EU packaging for Red wine Beer, and anything else that comes to mind I have about 200 now.

Peter, some really nice pics there - your line is certainly starting to get a character to it.

I guess the running problems you had are the price one pays for having a lot of track and electrical pickup - you're almost compelled to run trains on it regularly just to keep the track clean. I too tend to find that a first run after a long lay-off is usually punctuated by that 'stop-start-stop-3-seconds-later' thing - It's probably more to do with oxidation and general crud on the rail surfaces, although it's true that grubby wheels and pickup skates won't help the cause either. Even last weekend when I ran a train for the first time in about 3 weeks, I had the same problem. The tram loco is probably my best runner, but it needed a bit of push and shove to get it to go round the circuit unaided. I usually run it with towing a 'track cleaner' type flat wagon for a few passes before going with other stock.

I used to suffer even more with bad joints between tracks at certain notorious locations on my line, but since using those Hillman rail clamps I get a lot less trouble from that.

Yes Clive I understand what your saying, the frustrating part is that the OBB diesel (the red one) goes round beautifully no doubt because of the multiple pickups. One thing I did find is that with the recent heat some of the standard rail joiners had almost or completely come apart, so I re copper slipped and re joined. Perhaps I will have to go the rail clamp route eventually.

The only problem with Hillman rail-clamps is the price of them... if you can source some cheaply though, I'd certainly recommend their use. I bought some from Glendale Junction a while back, and I've had to use them sparingly, ie at the known trouble spots. Thankfully that strategy seems to have paid off, and I still have a few pairs left just in case. I guess that's where users of Aristocraft track have an advantage, each length comes with rail joiners that have a grub screw in them to make for a better electrical contact, plus they are less likely to pull apart anyway.

Actually, the other problem with them is the grub-screws have an Allen-bolt head, and the size of the required Allen key is not standard! They (Glendale) wanted some outrageous price for a suitable Allen key, which I refused to pay. I got away with filing down a slightly larger one, which worked up to a point. I then managed to avail myself of a proper one at the Llanfair show last year for a couple of quid. Still an outrageous price, though!

Up until five years ago my wife and I used to regularly attend the National Narrow Gauge Convention in the US and I well remember seeing the Hillman Rail Clamps quite early on. My first reaction was that they could solve a lot of problems where heat expansion tended to eventually part the standard fishplates. My second reaction was, "HOW MUCH?!" I did get a sample for review in the magazine I was editing at the time and I noticed that the allen screws and key were not standard and how much a key was. I concluded at the time that not being satisfied with charging a high price for the clamps in the first place the company was attempting to milk every last bit of cash by deliberately making the allen screws non standard so they could charge a rip-off price for the keys on top.

I have used a few Massoth rail joiners that are a bit cheaper and only require a screwdriver for fitting; we will see how they perform with the weather.

If anyone wants an Aristocraft allen driver for the hex screws let me know. I have a couple of spares.

A 2mm AF allen key fits which you can get here ok.

The problem with Aristo hex screws is getting them in the hole. With deteriorating eyesight and patience I found them irritating until someone suggested a dab of glue from a glue stick on the end of the allen driver.

I had a parcel arrive the other day.
I had been collecting items at my son’s house for him to bring over in the autumn, but he is not too sure if he will now. Having seen a reference, to a firm offering parcels up to 30 kilo to France for £10 + vat. I thought I would give it a go.
Parcel picked up a week last Thursday, tried to deliver Monday but didn’t locate me, finally delivered on Wednesday, complete with computer tracking. Pretty good I thought for the price.



So I think I may do it again if I have a few items, that can all be put together in big parcel.

The LGB OBB wagon is second hand, picked up of the GSC site. Very good, complete with metal wheels, very pleased

The fuelling station is a small kit and easy to assemble so first one done. It has a lighting pole that looks to tall, but then it may be representing a yard illumination light, perhaps another couple would light the engine shed site, so the diesel engines now have somewhere to refuel.

French Chuffed wrote:

a firm offering parcels up to 30 kilo to France for £10 + vat..

All looking good Peter.

If you could PM or post the details for the UK parcel company, could prove very useful!

Cheers

It’s a set up called Parcelsplease. They appear to be very efficient, I am not sure what the max size of parcel is but mine was approx 600 x 600 x 300 weight

I have no connection with the firm apart from being a satisfied customer. The fact that my address in France is just the village I am located in and my Name, it doesn’t help with parcel deliveries.
The Mayor said we would be getting a house number in 2 years 18 months a go so sometime in the next 5 years we may see a new number.