Kudby Ennyware

Discussion in 'Members Personal Layouts' started by Cidge, Oct 1, 2019.

  1. Cidge

    Cidge Full Member

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    Back in February this year, @Andy_Sollis cited a visit to see my outdoor railway as the inspiration for his thread, Andy’s (& Dads) OO revival. Had I known that he was to share my very rough scribbles with you all, without the benefit of the commentary that went with them when I was explaining my construction to Ernest (Andy’s Dad), I would have been rather more precise with my sketches in order to make them self-explanatory.

    Inspiration can be a two way thing, so I thought that now would be as good a time as any to share the history of my own outdoor line, ‘Kudby Ennyware’.

    As it transpired, I could not have chosen a better name. The reason I say this will become clear as this thread progresses.

    Way back in August 2007, when I lived in a village between Stafford and Wolverhampton, I identified a site for my outdoor railway in the back garden of my house. The idea was to construct the railway across the front edge of the border which ran the width of the garden. This was a level site, sixty-odd feet in length.

    Clearing work commenced in the first week of August.


    A number of plants were sacrificed in the interests of progress. Sounds a bit like HS2!


    At one end there was a pond to incorporate into the plan…


    … and a tree to negotiate around at the other end.

    By mid August construction of the supporting structure was underway. As will be seen in the photographs, this involved using ‘Metposts’ - with an 18” spike driven into the ground - to provide the sockets to support 4” square wooden fence posts. The posts were linked by lengths of 4” x 3/4” timber screwed to the sides of the uprights. These were positioned such that the top edges were horizontal, but proud of the post tops in order to provide a route for installation of track wiring.




    By the third week of August, the ‘easy’ section was in place and it was time to loop around the pond.


    A bit of inventive construction was required, but the pond return loop junction was in place...



    … with just a bit more head-scratching needed to get this gap filled with an acceptable curved section.

    Similar inventiveness was needed to make the junction around the tree at the other end ...


    … but by the end of August the supporting structure was in place, treated with wood preservative, and ready to accept the top boards.



    By the first week of September, all the exterior grade ply (can’t recall if this was 3/4” or 1” thick) was screwed to the top edges of the support timbers, treated with preservative, and allowed to dry before cutting top grade roofing felt for the ‘ballast’ surface on which the track would be layed.


    The roofing felt was stuck down onto the exterior grade ply using cold roofing felt adhesive. What a messy job that was, but I was determined to weatherproof the structure!

    Galvanised clout head nails were used to secure the mineral felt to the edges of the boards, and all joints between the sections of roofing felt were (as far as possible) offset from board joints, and again were well sealed to prevent water ingress.



    The view on 10 September 2007. Just a bit to finish off at the far end, then track laying can commence.

    Unfortunately, the trail now goes cold as I have yet to find the photographs and videos taken beyond this point in time. If/when I find them I will add them in to this thread.

    In the meanwhile, when time permits, I’ll move this tread along to explain the reincarnation of ‘Kudby Ennyware’.
     
  2. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Now the juices are flowing, now for the next 12 years of updates :thumbup:

    very nice work ..... erm do you shed roofs as well

    Paul
     
  3. Cidge

    Cidge Full Member

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    Thanks for the kind words, Paul, but I'm afraid I can't fit you in for a roof job!

    I have left you a message in the "New Gallery & Posting Pictures from the Gallery" thread though, in case you hadn't spotted it.

    I promise to add more to this thread as soon as I get to the bottom of that issue, time permitting.

    Cheers,
    Brian
     
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  4. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    I'll have a look into it
     
  5. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Nice work and it is great to see where other modellers obtain their inspiration !

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  6. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    Very nice workmanship there :thumbs:. Must admit when I used Metposts in my garden, for the life of me I could not get the flippin' things to go in vertically :facepalm:, good job it was just for a fence ;).

    Cheer's, Pete.
     
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  7. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    I can’t find the photos? :(
    I’m looking forward to the updates:thumbs: was this the video you showed myself and uncle jack at my 40th? Or was that the “mow Cop” version :avatar:
     
  8. Cidge

    Cidge Full Member

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    I've never actually called it anything but Kudby Ennyware, although Mow Cop is close by me since I relocated. If you mean is it the current location for Kudby, then yes.

    Brian
     
  9. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    Yes. It’s current location Brian... - Mow Cop doesn’t give too much away to where it is. :thumbs:
     
  10. Cidge

    Cidge Full Member

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    Hi Andy,
    I'm thinking that way, too. Then again, it could be anywhere!

    There, you've let the cat out of the bag. Not that everyone hadn't already guessed.

    Regarding photos and videos, I have the more recent ones for inclusion later in the thread, it's those of the first incarnation of Kudby Ennyware that are eluding me. They are likely to be stored in the loft along with my long-redundant Hi8 and Digital 8 video cameras - or not.

    I'll have to set up an expedition to seek them out.

    Cheers,
    Cidge
     
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  11. Cidge

    Cidge Full Member

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    Well, following a period of trying in vain to locate the photographss and videos mentioned in post #1, I think I'll just move on using words for now.

    On completion of the base structure, as described in post #1, two independent circuits of Peco 100 track were laid, pinned directly to the roofing felt. Where the line looped around the pond at one end and the tree at the other end it was effectively an 'Up' line and a 'Down' line, however, on the straight section between the end loops the two circuits ran parallel to themselves to give the impression of a four track main line, if that makes sense. Although I kept an open mind about the inclusion of points at some future date, for the time being I was content to have plain track on which to watch the trains pass by. My calculations could be wrong, but I worked out that I had around 3 and 3/4 scale miles to go at, split between the two loops.

    Not wanting to rely upon rail joiners (fishplates) for electrical continuity, I ran two independent supply buses under the baseboard - making use of the gaps I had left for this very purpose at the top of each support post. Every length of track was connected to the appropriate bus wire via dropper wires soldered to the sides of the rails. Rather than put myself through the ordeal of trying to make close to a couple of hundred soldered joints whilst laying on the ground beneath the baseboard, I decided to try using IDC connectors which I purchased in bulk from that well known internet market place. To fend off the possibility of corrosion I protected each connection with petroleum jelly. I did not experience any problems with this method in the time it was in use.

    Being electrically separate, it gave a choice of analogue or DCC operation on each loop. This proved to be popular with visitors who were able to run whatever stock they owned.

    This is the point at which I would have liked to have shown examples of running operations; but, for now at least, all I can do is paint a word picture of the time when a Blackbird took exception to an 0-4-0 diesel shunter encroaching on its territory. My best guess is that it was protecting its nest. In any event, after several attempts at dive-bombing the loco as it ran past, it finally managed a direct hit which knocked the loco off the track. On reflection, I suppose that I should have been more aware of the bird's point of view. I can't deny that it was amusing at the time.

    The Blackbird needn't have worried. Not only was I posing no threat to him and his kind; but also it was not be too long before I uprooted the whole shebang when I sold my house and moved to pastures new.

    Naturally, I just HAD to take my railway with me, after all it Kudby Ennyware!!

    Obviously, I could not possibly move it all in one piece so I devised a plan to break it down into manageable sections. Firstly the drop feeds were disconnected from the under baseboard main buses, then all track was carefully lifted. Only the track on the 'tree loop' board was left in place, as I hoped to keep that section intact for possible reuse.

    Next, the roofing felt was sliced through at each joint in the underlying boards. It was then possible to unscrew the supporting timbers from the posts, which allowed them to be lifted away whilst still attached to the trackbed boards still topped with the felting.

    All that remained to be done was to extract the support posts, together with the Metpost spikes. Sounds easier than it was.

    By the time I'd finished I found myself left with a large pile of assorted, heavy and unwieldy, sections: some of them quite awkward shapes to handle, transport and store ready for reuse when the time became right.

    I promise I'll be able to include photographs in the next instalment.

    Cheers,
    Cidge
     
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  12. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    I’m sat ready and waiting.
     
  13. Cidge

    Cidge Full Member

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    Following my house move it was to be quite some time before a suitable site was identified in the garden for the reconstruction of the railway, and clearance obtained from the 'domestic authorities'. To be fair, my good lady wife has never stood in the way of my hobby. If anything, she has often encouraged me to purchase yet another locomotive when I was hesitant, and they don't have to live in their boxes either as she is most tolerant of the numerous wall display cabinets throughout the house.

    The pile of baseboards, posts and spikes languished in various locations around the garden for the best part of two years. Out in all weathers, and with a variety of creatures taking up residence in them (including a wasps' nest at one point), they survived remarkably well. I attribute this to the preservative treatment they were given when first constructed.

    The only feasible site for the railway was in apart of the garden at one side of the house, as this presented the least challenging slope. Even here, to maintain a level track bed one end of the construction is less than a foot (300mm) above ground level, whilst the other end is almost three feet above ground level. The distance between the two ends is around forty feet: considerably less than I had available prior to my house move.

    Historically the space now earmarked for the railway had been home to three large cherry trees, a tall conifer, a holly tree, and a couple of apple trees, most having dense shrubbery around their bases. More recently, and not because I fancied the site, all but the cherry, conifer and holly trees had been cleared and the area turfed. This, of course, made it ideal for my needs. The challenge was now on!

    I set to, shuffling the various pieces of 'jigsaw puzzle' in the hope that I could find a suitable arrangement of the pile of parts I had stored. The presence of the remaining five trees made it all the more interesting as I mapped a route between and around them.





    With a bit of cutting and a tweak of alignment here and there I finally settled on an acceptable layout for Mk2 of Kudby Ennyware.

    Now you might think that it would be quicker and easier to use pre-built sections rather than build from the ground up: much the same as using set track instead of flexi. You would be wrong! The problem is having to use 'sky hooks' to keep the p-way horizontal and at the correct height above a sloping ground level, whilst at the same time building the support structure the right height and to coincide precisely with the joint between the two sections to be supported. It's a bit like knitting fog in 3D. It's a good job I'm a patient man.



    Even the most basic tasks gobbled up the hours. For example, I had left the original pieces of four inch square fence post in the sockets of the metpost spikes. That was fine if they were long enough for reuse; but where longer pieces were needed, it took ages to chop out the old pieces of wood which had swollen tightly into the sockets.

    Once the structural reassembly had been completed, all the timber received a good coat of preservative.

    Where the roofing felt had been cut during dismantling, a section was carefully cut back on both adjacent boards and a new section was inserted to span the gap, being fixed in position using roofing adhesive to guard against water ingress.






    I have to admit that where the felt was folded to cover the edges of the boards to form a drip strip, the appearance is not as tidy as on the original installation.




    The time had come to lay the track, which was done one circuit at a time in order to get trains running whilst the remaining work was completed.




    Because of the fact that access to the underside of the boards was virtually impossible on some parts of the layout, I opted not to use drop wires linked to under board electrical buses. Instead, I soldered links across every rail joint. Initially I used solid copper wire which had been stripped out of mains installation cable; but after the first winter I found several of the soldered joints had failed. I attributed the failures to metal fatigue caused by expansion and contraction due to temperature changes: the solid copper was simply too inflexible to absorb the movement. As each failure has been discovered, the solid links have been replaced with multi-strand flex and that appears to solve the issue. Aesthetically the links are not as discreet as drop wires, but become less obvious when the weather gets to grips and tones them down, as can be seen near the front bogie of the Class 40.


    21 September 2014. Bachmann DCC sound fitted Class 40, D211 'Mauritania' on a short rake of Pullman cars, after dark on Kudby Ennyware. The driver appears to have the cab lights on to check his paperwork to see if he should really be displaying the Royal Train headcode!

    Provision was made to connect analogue or DCC controllers via sockets fitted underneath the layout out of reach of the rain, hail and snow, all of which are not uncommon where I live.

    I suppose that just about rounds off the saga of constructing and later reconstructing my outdoor 00 railway. It still doesn't have any pointwork; but never say never!

    Photographs and videos of running sessions will be the order of the day for future posts. Here's one to start with:



    Thanks for reading,
    Cidge
     
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2019
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  14. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    Pictures not showing Brian? :scratchchin:
     
  15. Cidge

    Cidge Full Member

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    Hi Andy,

    Did you ever get to see the pictures in post #1?

    I can see them all and haven't done anything different.

    Can anyone else confirm that they can/cannot see them?

    Do I need to make my media visible to all in album settings?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Cidge
     
  16. Cidge

    Cidge Full Member

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    I've now changed permissions on my albums.

    Has it made pictures and videos visible?
     
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  17. AJS is a Red

    AJS is a Red Full Member

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    I can see them.

    Love the outdoor railway Cidge. I would love to do that in my Garden... Maybe when I retire.

    Andrew.
     
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  18. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    No I couldn’t, but Yes. I can now.

    It listed them in the email but not when I came to the forum.
     
  19. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    Oh wow. That’s excellent!
    The early version looks stunning. I’m now sad I never saw it. (A bit like my Uncle Jack who once had an O gauge exterior layout built on old boiler tubes from the hospital he worked at, I never saw his as he also moved. He’s now moved to Chester)
     
  20. Cidge

    Cidge Full Member

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    Let's try another one.


    An Ivatt 2-6-0 pilots a Black 5 on a speed-restricted train of tank wagons, which gets overhauled on the four track section of Kudby Ennyware by an express passenger train led by Stanier Princess Coronation Class, No. 46259, City of Sheffield.

    I hope you like it.
    :cheers:
    Cidge
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2019
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