Petermac's Railway

Oh! Happy days to come, I hope.

Very Best wishes,
Douglas

[P.s. I recognise the Bricomarche carpet runner, I've still got some in our caravan!

Many thanks for all your kind comments guys.   :cheers

There is certainly something to get my teeth into on there.  All the points are dead frog so that will have to change and there are only 2 motorised so yet more work there.

From memory - I've only seen it once and there was a lot to take in - I think most of the trackwork relies on fishplates for continuity.  The bus is copper tape - as recommended by ZTC - mounted on the facia and there didn't seem to be too many soldered connections …………….

Once I've learnt my way around it, both physically and electrically, I'll be in a position to start the upgrades and/or modifications etc.

I'm busy laying some concrete foundations for it at present ………………………………

Those of you who have been following this thread will know I've been eagerly awaiting harvest before I could think about any moves with the "office" unit.

Well today, this apeared :



The 2 concrete slabs in the foreground are where the unit will sit and the rest is my view from the train room.  John Dew, who has been here, will probably work out exactly where it is on the property.

Fingers crossed, next week will see the concrete hidden……………..  It's all in the hands of the crane man now.

Hopefully and English craneman and not a French one Peter the French one may be waiting for next years harvest.

How many miles does the unit have to travel?


Brian

Now thats a nice view to have from a train room  :thumbs  good that things are finally happening Peter, you will soon have a new Oasis to take yourself off to  :doublethumb
Cheers

Matt

Hi Peter

What a great find, have fun getting to grips with it and I hope it fits your needs, it certainly is a good retirement project.

Jim

[user=2137]Briperran[/user] wrote:

Hopefully and English craneman and not a French one Peter the French one may be waiting for next years harvest.

How many miles does the unit have to travel?


Brian

Alas no Brian, he's French.  I've got everything crossed that he'll come good.

At the pick up end, it has to be craned over a building then travel around 45 miles to me.  Because we have a low roof walkway between the house and garage, the only access is across that stubble field - our property starts where the grass starts.  He'll park somewhere near that ping pong table (which ill be moved !) then the HIAB on the truck will just pop it onto the concrete "sleepers".  It's a skid mounted unit rather than jack points so I only needed the 2 slabs - around 8" to 12" of steel reinforced concrete so should carry it easily enough.

You have absolutely no faith Mr Webb ………………………………. :It's a no no

Unit being loaded up this afternoon and delivered here Monday - "au plus tard" - at the latest !!

Result  :doublethumb :doublethumb :doublethumb

A great find Peter, I think a good vacuuming of the track etc to give it an initial clean up for a start and then modify to your own taste, it could turn out to be a "great" layout!

Plenty of light there too for photographs.
 
Good luck with the move!

No piddling little Tonka Toy for Petermac - this is what I call a crane !!!

Weighs in at 42 tonnes, lifts up to 50 tonnes and has a 50 metre long boom when fully extended……………………



A short video (very short) of the lift will appear when I have time to cobble it together ………………and more importantly, to upload it !!

Hell Peter a Frenchman doing a job within a few days his wine cellar must be nearly empty.


that crane will have no trouble whatsoever with your layout room. Your pads are absolutely fine to support it. It better to have airflow underneath it to deter rot occurring.

I assuming you have already checked there is room for a wine fridge under the baseboards.



Brian

That is certainly a crane and a half!  Looking forward to seeing what you do with layout….

Michael

As long as it doesn't happen like this !!

To lose one crane may be regarded as misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness!

Michael

A beautiful setting for a trainroom Peter.I am truly envious, I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

Thanks for sall the good wishes guys.

I'm quite excited now - it arrives at 7am on Monday - an early start immediately after a late night celebrating Bastille Day tomorrow !!!

Liz is slightly less excited - she sees her "list" slipping into second place - and it's still 4 pages long !!!  If she has her way, I'll be losing some weight because she's demanding a meal per job ticked off………………………….

If the "job" was changing a light bulb, no problem but it's things like "decorate spare bedroom", "re-stone drive" and other 10 minute jobs ……………

They just don't seem to realise Peter what is more important…..I can't understand it :)

If I were you Peter, I'd put my foot down.  If you were me, however, you would do as my wife tells me!

Michael

[user=1512]Headmaster[/user] wrote:

If I were you Peter, I'd put my foot down.  If you were me, however, you would do as my wife tells me!

Michael

I think it's the same the world over Michael.  I can see Liz will be writing a timetable for the train room.

0800 to 2000 : Jobs for Liz

2000 to 2030 :  Supper

2030 to 2300 :  Conversations (or browsing fashion pages on Google etc. etc.) with Liz

2300 to whenever - Play trains ………………if I dare !!!

The Eagle has landed:







7.15 this morning - absolutely as promised - he trundled across the wheat stubble and in under an hour, he was on his way again.

Maybe as one would expect, there was some transport damage to the layout, mainly caused by the backscenes on one side coming adrift and bouncing around on the platforms.  Result - some broken coloured light and semaphore signals and a couple of tall yard lights snapped off.  Nothing too serious, it just means I've a little more work to do before I can see if trains will run.

The next problem is finding what I need immediately amongst the piles of stored "railway boxes" scattered around the house and garage !!!

I nearly forgot - my first job was to run an extension cable to the unit and try out the mains electrics.  The air-con is fantastic !!!