Model Railway – Not a Fowler Dock Tank!

As I posted in a comment a few weeks ago, my BR Engine No.68478 did not have a BR Engine No. of 47160-69; easy mistake!

Basically, I searched into the internet my engine number, and because they were the same wheel arrangement, 0-6-0, I got confused when I saw the picture on Wikipedia – Never trust the pictures alone!

But, after searching through the previous engine numbers I found my engine’s class. This engine was designed and built in 1900-01 and was the NBR D Class, before it became the LNER Class J83, and later into BR ownership. There were forty of these engines produced, and were designed for short-distance freight and shunting. These engines were all scrapped, with the last one being in 1962, after the slow replacement by the more efficient diesel trains.


NBR- North British Railway; LNER- London North Eastern Railway; BR- British Railways;


My Post-LNER J83 Engine

IMG_0007

This still sadly doesn’t fit in with the time-scale of the model, but I do have another engine, a LMS Coronation Class engine, which I will post about in the next two weeks.

PLEASE DO NOT GET THIS CONFUSED WITH MY INCORRECT

FOWLER DOCK TANK POST!!!

Model Railway – Layout Changing

On Saturday evening, daddy, Megan and I spent some time moving track around into the layout design we wanted.

Layout plan we decided on last time:

Layout20140806

We made a few changes because the layout design above was impossible to fit in, we made a few minor tweaks to make it work. We removed the tinker yard daughter board (points on the far left), extended the mine (buffer on the right), and changed the switch-yard to fit in (top of the layout).

After daddy and Megan had left, I had some very weird problems to do with dust, the engine would suddenly stop, reverse, then continue as if nothing happened. Then as I had the controller on no power, and was just about to switch off the controller, it shot off like a rocket! I will need to investigate…

Model Railway – More Research

Last weekend we went on a camping holiday to Port Ban, on the West coast of Scotland. As our trip took us through Loch Lomond and The Trossachs national park, exactly where I’m setting my model, I paid attention to houses, and things I will include on the railway.

Next up was houses/buildings which I will need to model, increasingly more important discovering my shop and church models are in O (churches don’t look different). The houses I saw were rectangular, with a roof slanting down to the longer walls. The houses were painted white, with slate roofs, and often vertical windows sticking out of the roof. Sadly I didn’t get any photos, due to bad planning, but you will see in the future some photos of the models.

Something I noticed was that the forests down low were actually not at all pine, and contained a mixture of other trees. Which means for one thing my forests don’t have to be boring, and secondly I can use the trees I have.

Photos show sections of non-pine forest (it was wet…):

IMG_0036IMG_0044Scaled IMG_0031.2

Model Railway – Fowler Dock Tank

As promised, I have done some research!

(Incorrect research though… – view Not a Fowler Dock Tank! for more detail)

LMS “Fowler Dock Tank”

This train is the LMS Engine No.68478, commonly known as a Fowler Dock Tank, used to shunt in docks, designed to go around tight curves. Only ten were built, between 1928 & 1929. They were all decommissioned and scrapped between 1959 & 1964, which is sad because none were preserved in museums.  Although it fits in the time period, it doesn’t fit with the inland setting of the model.

My model LMS “Fowler Dock Tank”:

IMG_0007

Model Railway – Back on Track!!!

For years my railway has been disused, in a cold and dusty, dark attic; but now I’m putting it back on track as I begin on my new adventure to build my first model railway!!!

Layout Design

This layout design was our old track just changed quite a bit, we needed to keep changes minimal, because re-arranging is hard. I wouldn’t say it was my ideal layout, but it does works nicely, and daddy agreed to do all the new nails!!! The outer loop is the mainline, with the inner section containing the village, switch yard and coal mine.

Layout Map (rough draft):

Layout20140806

LMS “Hughes Crab”

Before beginning on scenery I have to (note: present tense – more coming soon on this post) do some research. I have discovered my model train given to me by some friends, on my birthday one year, is a LMS No.13000 engine. This engine was produced between 1926 and 1932, which means my railway will be set just after that, which also is the time I was planning anyway.

My model LMS “Hughes Crab“:

IMG_0006LMS Engine No.68478

This train is a British railways engine No.68478, as of now I am unsure of anything about it, other than this number. Next week I will have done some research – Sorry for the Inconvenience

My model LMS Engine No.68478:

IMG_0007

Helix Park, Falkirk

A couple of weeks ago the whole of Falkirk was very excited by the launch (at last!) of the new Helix Park. We finally managed to visit today, and it was splendid! It’s very popular. You’re supposed to walk or cycle via the Helix paths, a network of paths covering the whole of Falkirk, but it was a bit far for us today so we drove. Aidan and Megan did cycle once we got there though!

The canal end isn’t finished yet so we couldn’t get close to the Kelpies, but they were impressive enough from a distance. Two things that are finished are the Great Lawn (looking forward to concerts here – the stage and amphitheatre-style wall are very promising indeed) and the Lagoon – complete with kiosk on one side and beach on the other:

By the kiosk is a fountain of a type which attracts children of all ages – Megan soaked herself, Aidan and Daddy went through the middle without getting (very) wet, and Mummy stayed at the side and drank tea!

IMG_1713

We loved this spiral path in one corner.

We’ll definitely be back – possibly with roller skates!

Black Loch, Limerigg

Today we visited a loch called Black Loch, the scenery there was beautiful –  we never even knew we had such lovely scenery so close to home. The walk itself  was 1.25km/0.8miles and 20-30 minutes long – though we decided to go back the way we came, instead of walking along the road. It was about a 20 minute drive from home, pretty much south of Shieldhill.

We started at Limerigg Primary School, we walked along the Lochside road up to a small path. We then walked beside the loch beside marshy area which used to be forested, then we turned off the path that went round the loch. We walked by a small marshy forest for a while, then we reached the road. Then we turned back and trampled through the forest. I came out a little later then the others. Then we went back by the loch.

Megan and Daddy fell behind on the return journey, both carrying lumps of snow, it turned out it was a head and body for a snowman! The snowman was named Billy and we put him at the gate, we wrote his name in the snow!

Almondell

The kids had the Monday off school, so I took a holiday too and for a change we headed east, to Almondell & Calderwood Country Park. We followed the Almondell walk (but from the Mid Calder carpark clockwise, rather than the South carpark anticlockwise). It was a fantastically sunny and still day, perfect to discover yet another hidden gem of the Central Belt! We’ll definitely be back again once the foliage has appeared on the trees.

There’s a good formed path along the riverbank, multiple historic bridges, interesting industry and waterworks, loads of beautiful woodland, and a visitors’ centre that was open and sold icecreams! The visitors’ centre also has a great-looking playground, but we didn’t have time to stop. The walk around took us 1h40m.

This bridge was fascinating – it carried a small channel of water from one side of the river to the other!

 

Fun in the snow

At the end of last month we had some snow. Here are some of the things the kids got up to!

Megan with a cute wee snowman she made at Beecraigs Loch, 19th January 2013.

Beecraigs Loch, frozen (pic by Aidan).

Aidan and Megan making an igloo in the back garden, 25th January 2013. Unfortunately they ran out of snow soon after this, but it was a pretty impressive start!