Early 2009
What's New at Hereford Rail
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Early 2009
| Early in the year I sent away for a Roundhouse Engineering "Lady Anne" kit. The kit came in 4 parts. Chassie kit, Boiler kit, Body kit and Radio controll kit. Within a month it was running reliably on steam around my railway. I have named my her "Lady Louise" (The wife's middle name. That got me lots of Brownie points). Most times when we go away the "Lady Louise goes along with us. You never know where you may end up. She has run on Chris Rogers "CP Light Railway", John Robinson's "H&M Railway", Ian Galbraith's "Culcreuchfold Railway", Grant Alexander's "Squirrel Valley Railroad" and my own "Hereford Railway". |
9 May 2009
| On the 9 May it was my turn to host the WGRG at Hereford Railway. There were 31 groupies and hangers on. We had Battery Power, Live Steam and Track power models all running in different parts of the track. Over the previous weeks I had replaced all the old wooden sleepers with the plastic ones from Auckland. That was a mission. I also reballisted all the low level track with crusher dust and that made the track much more stable. The following photos show The Busy (unfinished) Hereford Station, Chris Rogers live steamer "Vincent" and my NZR "D" approching the points to the single track section that heads off to Hydrangea Halt station some 23 meters away. |
Christmas 08 - New Year 09
| Some time in November we had a drunk prowler that trampled all over the railway. The raised part was a mess. I rebuilt the front section with 19mm concrete board. About this time I obtained a large quantity of LGB track, rolling stock and accessories. This was the opportunity to make the garden loop track powered as the were transformers, controllers and a Train Engineer. The Track was laid and wired to two 7 pin trailer connectors. I built a cabinet with wheels, to house the electrics so it could be bought inside, and made a mimic board where I could put the point motor and isolating section switches. This cabinet plugs into the two trailer sockets. There are three short sidings and the station loop. Here you can see the controller cabinet, the North end of the station and yard and the Sothern station loop and freight depot. |
25 August 2006
| My latest construction is a semi scale model of a NZR 4 man jigger and trailer.It was originally supposed to follow another model and slow down if it got too close. I couldn't get the software running correctly before our Model Engineering show, so changed the software for IR control. ie Fast , Slow and Stop all controlled from an IR Remote. The jigger has an 8 pin Picaxe 08M microcontroller that controls the Motor Speed, Brake Light, Head Light and IR reception. Picaxe Code Here |
25 June 2006
| Recently I discovered why some of my trains were derailing about 2 meters before the bridge. This is where I had an S bend without a straight section of track in the middle.
Last weekend between the rain showers I straightened it out and relaid the track. I haven't run any thing over it yet as it has been far too wet. My latest structure has been the building of a lighthouse for the pond at the bottom of the mountain. The basic structure is a piese of 85mm plastic downpipe. The lamp is controlled by an 8 pin Picaxe 08M microcontroller. Picaxe Code Here |
19 May 2006
| While on holiday I took the Bachmann 4-6-0 Big Hauler to Grant and Donna Alexanders railway in Cambridge. Grant lent me some freight cars and and away we went. |
6 May 2006
| In early January, I purchased a new Bachmann 4-6-0 Big Hauler from the US. I have since installed 12 x 1.7Ah MNiH batteries, 2 channel Tower Hobbies radio control and another RCS motor controller all fitted in the tender. It's first run was at the opening of Colin Burleigh's Garden Railway. It ran for approximatly 2.5 hours with 2 passenger cars and a guards van. This was much longer than I had anticipated. I have retained the sound system and run that from the onboard batteries through a 9 volt regulator. Under the flap where the 9 Volt battery was is now where the power switch and the charging socket are located. The loco can also be run using track power by switching a switch in the smokebox. |
30 March 2006
| After the track was raised. I managed to get hold of some rubble from a old brick fence that had been pulled down. Many wheelbarrow loads later, I have the start of my mountain.The bridge looks so much better above the ground |
29 December 2005
| Over the holidays I have raised and leveled the old track out the back by the deck. This will stop the birds scratching in the bark and leaving it all over the track. I can now build a mountain (small hill) and have a stream running down and under the bridge to a small pond. The first structure I built was a bridge and was at groundlevel. It did look a bit out of place. |
