5 times longer in coming than Brunel took making the real thing!

Has anyone heard from Kaiser recently ? It's a year since he posted in this thread.

I wonder how things are going and if he's still in S.A………:roll::roll:

Mal did post in Jan 2013 in reply to a new member from South Africa.

Thanks Sol - I realised as soon as I'd posted that I should have checked it myself :oops:

Good to know he's still "connected". :thumbs

The glacial progress at Ottersford continues, so as usual excuses & whinges.  Readers of this thread will know our dogs play a large part in our lives & that we have had some really bad luck with them.  I have to report that atrocious luck continues as we lost our lovely Honey (the smaller of the two in the picture [subject of jigsaw of the week a few weeks ago]) just a month before her 1st birthday.  She just literally dropped dead - right as rain one minute, dead on the floor the next.  The vet tells us it's not uncommon with the large breeds with a fast rate of growth (she was already 40 Kgs at 11 months) that the walls of the heart get very thin & just 'burst'.  It was a huge shock & to be honest I just lost it & didn't do much of anything for a few months.

Anyway, as they say, look on the bright side, things could be worse.  So I tried to look on the bright side, & sure enough things did get worse as in November my cell number was stolen, my bank account hacked & R300, 000 (about £25, 000) stolen.  The bank said sorry for you not our problem, & as the money was taken from our Bond account, they're now charging me interest on the stolen amount!  The case is now with the police, the Banking Ombudsman & the cell company fraud department, & I wait to hear.

Then I came off my bike & jaspered my right knee.  The BMW saga continues as I have had to sue the dealer who was selling the car.

The good news is that as I can't afford petrol for the car & have to stay in I made the effort to get something done on Ottersford so I'll update with a railway related post soon!

Whinge over - thanks for listening!

OMG Mal. You really are having a run of the most awful luck. So sorry to hear that you've lost Honey. I know it's probably not a lot of comfort but at least you can console yourself a little that she has been imortalised in a YMR jigsaw. As for the bank account hacking, I don't know how the banks work in SA but here in UK you would have a strong case for compensation from the bank. Typical bloody bankers though to just play Pontius Pilate.

Mal, that's a terrible tale of continuing woes.  I'm so sorry.

We once lost a Golden Retriever in similar circumstances.  It's such a shock although, after a time, there is some comfort in knowing that, until a split second before they die, they are loved, happy and totally unaware of what's about to happen.  No pain, no suffering, no long illness, and probably above all, we don't have to make that awful decision to have them put down.  It's always those who are left who do the grieving.

As Trevor said, in UK, and France for that matter, you'd sue the banks from here to kingdom come - and win hands down !!

You weren't by any chance born on Friday 13th were you ?  It seems incredible that so much bad luck can fall on one person.

I'm sure I speak for us all when I say I really do hope the silver lining on every cloud soon makes itself evident to you. 

Hi Mal, My condolences on your loss.
I sure hope things are getting better for you these days.
Well I have returned to the long saga of trying to get a railway together if I can avoid the distractions of the outside world there maybe hope.
I do hope you can get writing again your lovely layout even in the endurance phase is a pleasure to follow.

Regards,

Derek

Hi Mal.So sorry to hear about Honey.I lost one of my greyhounds last december although she was 13. So sad.

Sorry to hear about Honey mate.Its never easy to lose a dog,for me,I prefer them to people!

Cheers,John.B.

Well it's about time & I promise nothing negative in this update!  Firstly, thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts & support during the dark days of the last two years. I look in on the forum most days & must say it is a continuing source of inspiration - Phil C, Ben Alder, Bradford Wheregate (those mills!), Upton to Dunton, Downsway South et al all fabulous examples of what can be achieved. It's also great to see Allan Downes as a member having been in awe of his modelling over the last few decades!

On the dog side, I don't believe in having one dog so we went to the rescue centre & found Dolly. No pedigrees or fancy breeders but there was something in her eyes even at 7 weeks old.






She has turned into the most intelligent, fastest learning dog I have known with boundless energy & the speed of a Whippet.  She never rests & needs to be constantly occupied which isn't easy even when we're home most of the time.  Current but not exclusive list of destruction is 4 pairs sandals, 1 pr trousers, 3 towels, Kodak digital camera, 2 water feature pumps (taken while plugged in & running!), 2 Persian rugs, mats out of my Audi, garden sprinkler, 2 garden hoses, static grass applicator, 2 books, 4 door stops, pool skimmer & various garden plants.


You will see in the background the chewed skirting boards missing from the above list! She is one year old next month - let's hope she sees it!

After 4 months of fighting the bank 'recovered' my stolen money. I'm still trying to recover the over R10, 000 interest they charged me in the meantime but still a huge relief.

I'm going to post this now to see if it goes through OK then I'll post more relevant railway matters.

 

That's a fine looking animal Mal. Sounds like a one dog destruction machine.

Hi Mal,i've had two GSD's,both sadly gone now but they are fantastic dogs,probably the most loyal dogs of all breeds.

Great to see you posting with life for you on the up curve Mal .
That,s a great new Dog and sure looks a happy animal.
Best of luck getting back your 10 000 rand from the usury crowd.

Regards,

Derek

Well that seems to have gone OK.  A few months ago I decided to heed my Mother's trauma advice ("Stop feeling sorry for yourself & get on with it - you don't know how lucky you are.") This is probably the same trauma advice offered to my Grandfather after he was shot to ribbons at the Somme but more apposite in my case.

To cheer myself up I ordered one of the new Hornby 'County' class, a Bachman 'City' & a Dapol track cleaner.  I also managed to acquire one of the limited edition Hornby LSWR 'T9's.  I then decided to get the main line circuit finished & get something running. I was glad I'd tiled the railway room as after nearly 12 months of inactivity a day with the vacuum & a mop got it back into shape. The first obstacle was where the main line leaves Ottersford & crosses the river.  The bridge had to be on a curve & accomodate a road, the river & the line to the docks.  The original plan (see 1st post) was for 'N' gauge & I couldn't allow the same width in '00'.  I decided to shorten the branch platform & goods reception & bring the point forward - this meant I could have one single & one double width bridge.  I had to pull up most of the scenic groundwork already done (it doesn't work fitting a model railway into the scenery!).

I used the 'Scalescenes' viaduct as this seemed to give the most flexibility. I made each arch individually & as previously noted on the Forum, cutting out the arches is the worst part.  I've had 16 to do & it's a real pita. Change blades regularly & take your time.  I found when fitting the arch lining, it was far easier & more efficient to use a bead from a hot glue gun to hold everything in place rather than pieces of tape as suggested in the instructions.  It also makes the structure much stronger. I cut a base out of 3mm ply & attached the arches directly to it, again using a hot glue gun.  I had to build plinths for crossing the river. An inspirational picture is on page 39 of 'The Railway Photographs of P.W. Pilcher' available from the LNWR Society for only a tenner. This shows a stone viaduct crossing the Severn at Shrewsbury.



 

This shows the main line snaking off around the headland - the branch to Easwood is on the left.  I've nearly finished the second viaduct that will carry the branch.  Completion of the viaduct let me lay the rest of the circuit - I now have 38 metres of main line (with 80 droppers soldered underneath!) & 4 hex frog juicers. This is why I thought the Dapol track cleaner would be a good idea. However, once I had chipped it & tried to use it, the glaringly obvious fault became apparent - the track cleaner only works when the track is clean! I had to resort to the old abrasive block before it would work.  I think track maintainer would be a better description although I found the 'vacuum' effect negligible. Can't say it's worth £50.

The new 'County' however was very impressive.  No where near the detail of the Bachmann (but half the price) but once chipped ran very smoothly & pulls 5 coaches with ease & I'm sure could manage more.






Loco & coaches all straight out the box (some of the coaches have been in them since the 70's!).


Unfortunately, after a few circuits a problem arose, whereby a loco will respond when selected but will start to move at it's own pace & then won't respond to any commands, not even 'STOP'. The only way to stop it is to unplug the power. It will stop for no apparent reason & then start up again but not responding to any commands.  I'm using the 'Dynamis' system but Bachmann have been less than helpful. They suggested it may be the hex frog juicers but I disconnected them & it made no difference. I did post a query on the Forum but for the first time didn't get any replies so I suppose not a problem anyone else has had.

I found a guy in Johannesburg who is modelling UK & he was selling some stuff. I bought some unmade kits (I now have over 120 & Sandra went beresk as she says at the current rate of progress I won't live long enough) but also got a rake of 4 & 6 wheel coaches. They are brass built with fully detailed & compensated chassis, detailed interiors & screw link couplings fitted. I thought they would make a great branch set for Easwood & got them for the equivalent of £6 each! As I'm paying £5 a pair for screw link couplings (+postage) I thought they were a bargain.



They are in war time all-chocolate livery & could do with a bit of touching up (couldn't we all) but make an unusual & interesting train. 



One kit I have finished - old Ebedia waits at Easwood to take out the morning parcel delivery.







Still need to bed in & detail that station building!



That's all for now!  Pip pip.

 

Mal

 

Thanks for the update Mal, That's looking like some great progress on Ottersford Junction.
Track dropper,s what a pain I am busy on that score myself among other things.
Good luck with the kits. Maybe Sandra can give you a hand?

regards,

Derek

Well Hi to all on the Forum.  I find it hard to believe it's so long since my last post - it's certainly true that time speeds up as you get older.  I won't bore everyone with reasons for the delay - suffice to say I had an emotional battering that meant I did very little of anything for a while.  I do, however, look in on the Forum every day & it continues to be a source of inspiration & support.

Another thing that stalled me was the thought of completing the control panel & wiring 38 or so point motors.  Relief came in attending a local show where I met a guy who is an electrical engineer & who actually enjoys that kind of thing (!).  After my Dynamis problems (see previous posts) I had invested in an Ecos ESU system that had immediately proved that my track laying & wiring had not been at fault as everything worked fine once it was plugged in.  Anyway, Colin (for so he is called) is currently building me a control panel with automatic switching of crossovers, route indicators & all kinds of wizardry & he is going to wire all the point motors as well!

I also met a guy who likes fitting decoders to locos (it really does take all sorts!) so he is busy fitting ESU Loksound to all my locos.  The trouble with Loksound is that once you've had one loco done it's so good that not having sound isn't an option & it's very expensive.

Anyway, the imminent arrival of the control panel gave me a boost to finish tracklaying so the main station is complete, the goods yard just about with only the loco depot to finish.  I've ordered a Metalsmith's GWR turntable & I've re-designed the area a little so as to incorporate the raised coaling stage (such as at Didcot) of which the GWR was so fond.





I've also just about finished the 2 viaducts - I've left off the parapet walls for now as they kept getting knocked off.



Meanwhile, Easwood has at last got it's cattle dock.







A foreigner at Easwood - a Saturday market through special sees a LSWR train pull into the station.



I see from earlier in the thread I started to build the coach about 4 years ago - so I should have a rake by about 2030!

So once the track is all wired & working OK I can start in earnest on scenery & that if I'm honest is what I really enjoy.  But at least now I can have trains chuff chuffing around while I'm working & at least I'm starting to feel I'm getting some where, even though painfully slowly.

So thanks again for all on the Forum for keeping me in touch with the hobby through bad times.  Hope it won't be so long before the next post!

Bye for now.

Mal

Lovely work…glad to see the cattle dock has got a poo collector in the track work :thumbs, often forgotten.

I did some arches for a chum, as you say a PITA. The Olfa cutter kept making a mess though using double sided sticky tape to hold the card/paper still and cutting on hardboard to stop the point wearing a big hole certainly helped. I think I will try cutting out an aluminium cutting guide next time. When I see some of the big viaducts on here I take my hat off to the builders, and indeed to you, Sir!

Doug

Awesome modelling Mal, another bench-mark model railway! Also like the cattle dock track, not seen that modelled before?

Cheers
Ron

Hi Mal, Thanks for your PM and photo's. Nice of you.
Great to see you back at your railway and making great progress which is more than I have achieved over the last while. Still I am back and ordering track parts and booked a couple of new loco's for when they get released. All the best ,Derek.

well ,Kaiser and Shunter 1 back on,two for the price of one great,good to see you both are ok happy modelling,,
:thumbs;-):cool:
Owen