Ox Mountain Railway

[trammayo]

Made a display board to visually answer the many questions I get asked about the trailer. Need to make something to hold it at the side of the trailer. Board size is 1800 x 800. Pictures and text laminated and stuck on board with double-sided carpet tape. All protected by cellophane sheet and edges 'gaffer' taped to add further protection.



The fact that the portable railway is now ten years old (well it was in July) had escaped me until quite recently. Photos show it in various forms.

 

[playmofire]

Happy 10th birthday, Mick!

 

[trammayo]

Happy 10th birthday, Mick!

Cheers Gordon. At least I don't forget the better half's birthday (or our anniversary)!

 

[playmofire]

Cheers Gordon. At least I don't forget the better half's birthday (or our anniversary)!

Two of the most important things to remember if you want to live long!

 

[trammayo]

Sunday, 25th September, saw me at the Hollymount Village's "Harvest Festival" day. Although I had previously put the trailer away for the winter, I was happy to attend. The bad weather kept visitors away despite it beinf a free event. So in a long lull, I got the camera out and took some pics.

Nearly everything was sited on the village mainstreet. I was outside the pub....



A dark view occassioned by the rain clouds..



The Thrashing set (still haven't got round to making the baler!) as seen through the protective screen made from Florist's wrapping. A few rain drops can be discerned......



A little more light on the crowded station...



The coaling tower in better light (but not better quality pic!)...



Lineside scratch and feed ....



And my "village mainstreet" ....

The trailer's on my drive at the moment and I am giving serious thought to repainting the interior. The ceiling needs painting after last year's new roof - as does the rear (or offside when it's going down the road) after I lengthened it!

 

[playmofire]

Looks excellent, Mick. It's a pity there weren't more there to see it.

 

[trammayo]

Its some time since I ran a train on the garden line. Over the past months I've acquired one or two items so I tested them out earlier this week. Another test, for me, is if Firefox will allow me to post a photo after my son has just reinstalled the program (following advice from a fellow forum member on Posting Pictures).

I took eleven photos and deleted ten! So here is the remaining one with an Xmas Annie coupled to a couple of Sierra coaches.

Here goes -



Wow - good advice from Mr Arthur A!!!

 

[playmofire]

It works, Mick!

 

[trammayo]

Just another test - having probs with pic posting ...


still got probs

 

[trammayo]

Changed to PNG and Microsoft Paint - and it works! (Son's advice!).

 

[trammayo]

I finally fettled the two Sante Fe Sierra coaches - one had loose couplings (screws seized up - had to cut slots in heads with junior hacksaw before they could be replaced) - and both had no stove pipes.
The latter were turned from some 20mm dowel and capped off with some beer tin (Joshua Tetley's) offcuts.

Dug out a Sante Fe BH (with noisy gears - well, very noisy actually) and a train.





The plastic hand rails alongside the boiler are all distorted - I have a plan how to sort them out - but they will have to wait until I can sort out the gears before investing any more time in the loco.

Still loads of stuff to repair and service though!

 

[playmofire]

A good start to the new year, Mick.

 

[trammayo]

A good start to the new year, Mick.

Well I tried another test train yesterday in my efforts to get over the photo posting problem. Thanks to Nick of this parish, I can now post pics. Not that the quality has improved (that's totally down to me), but at least I can post them now.

So, one for the record. My little Bachmann Mogul and some logging cars - all awaiting some form of repairs but still operable!



Apart from the loco (suffers breaking connecting wires), all the rest have been inexpensive purchases awaiting my Round Tu-it.

To mis-quote the late Stanley Unwin - "Joyamost to postamost"

 

[playmofire]

Hmmm, the load on that truck looks a bit unbalanced, Mick. You don't want to start the new year with an accident.

Stanley Unwin -- there's a name to conjure with! What a way he had with words!

 

[trammayo]

Well, I am back to pic posting problems so I am just doing a test. I have been working on the Critter couplings - the loco didn't have any couplings (just had the body mounting portion) and although I used Aristo Knuckle types, the result was that they were too high.

As they don't seem to be available, I butchered one of the body mounting arms and succeeded (crudely) in getting a set to sit (or hang) at the correct height.

Loco to the right - showing difference in height ...


After hacksawing and drilling ....

A comparison ...

AND NOW I KNOW WHAT MY PICTURE POSTING PROBLEM IS!

The last picture (above) I used MS Office Picture Manager to edit the pic - IT DIDN'T WORK. So I used an unedited pic and that worked!

Loco on test - I put the coverted coupling on the cab end and had no problems.....




... and today's helpers -Tomas & Mae! ....



I have some remedial work and the other coupling to sort out - so I've no doubt I'll be back.

At least I know that I can post unedited pics using the Resizer (that Nick pointed me to - and helped me with). If I want to smarten them up, it will have to be pngs!

 

[duncan1_9_8_4]

Love it. I do like the growth between the tracks.

 

[playmofire]

Those cats are definitely plotting something!

 

[Rhinochugger]

I have used Picassa ever since it was G Scale Mad. Once heaving set the re-sizing options, it's always worked for me

 

[trammayo]

Love it. I do like the growth between the tracks.

It's purely nature showing it has the upper hand! I don't know if its the trains (like their full size counterparts) that spread the plants but I only started out with a tiny plantpot!

Those cats are definitely plotting something!

Yes - and I think I know what is was. When both came in, they refused to eat the cat food - spoilt I suppose by the festive fare we gave them a taste of over the hols! No good deed goes unpunished.

I have used Picassa ever since it was G Scale Mad. Once heaving set the re-sizing options, it's always worked for me

I thought it said pickaxe (which I feel like using).

The resizing is no longer a problem (well at the moment before the next MS Dos - sorry dross) thanks to Nick of this parish.

What I need is something like Picture-it to smarten up my pics and crop, etc. MS Office Picture Manager (of the proverbial "in a brewery" management) can do this but then the pics will not post.

Why is every MS ugrade one step forward and two steps back? I suppose I'm a dinosaur with Luddite tendencies.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Picassa has limited editing tools - you can crop and brighten etc, but I can't and generally don't.

Not only do I share your frustration at the constant IT changes, but I can't take very good pictures either