The Warren, Bredgar, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8AT. Tel:01622 884254. Fax:01622 884668.
The Warren, Bredgar, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8AT. Tel:01622 884254. Fax:01622 884668.
ENNSTALBAHN
Page 27 of 28 First page Previous page Next page Last page Latest Update
Published:- May 2009
It is now over a year since the last update, not because little has been done on the layout but the time has just passed so quickly. During the 2008 Open Season the layout performed well and most of our time on our Thursday work days was spent on maintenance. After each open day there is always some item or items needing attention. An electric connection goes down, a motor packs in or a mechanism decides to perform differently than expected.
Plans were drawn up for some form of industry to fit in the large gap created in the mountainside of the extension. It was decided that a woodyard would be ideal and this would give us the opportunity to build some moving mechanisms. A lot of time was spent working out how best to use the area.
One of the first items to be installed was a section of track running along the front of the area. This allows a small loco to push a load of logs out of a tunnel mouth and along the front of what would be the woodyard. During the rest of the summer the mechanisms were designed and construction started.
It was then realised that the woodyard would require a lot more switches to be fitted to the control panel and this was not going to be possible on the existing panel, so a new panel was designed and once the final Open Day was over for 2008 work could commence on its construction. The new control panel was going to be a box unit which would sit on a shelf alongside the track controllers, at the end of a session the shelf could be slid back into the side of the layout out of harms way. The downside of this task was that every wire to the new control panel had to be lengthened by 30cms.
The new woodyard takes the form of a working loading gantry, then the cuttng shed, and here a large circular saw slices through a log lengthwise as it moves through the shed on a track. There is then a cyclone, non working, which collects the sawdust from the cutting shed and delivers it into a skip. Next in line is the water tower and then the storage shed with its working pillar hoist. Finally there is a working fork-lift truck, this was a cheap radio controlled model bought from Maplins, the radio control servos have been removed and it is now operated via the control panel. As with most of our mechanisms the motors, gearing and wiring come from old video recorders and computers, a valuable source of equipment for the modeller.The backscene for the woodyard has been modified with distant hills and trees.
Another item is the street cleaning truck which shuttles back and forth with its amber light flashing. This is located on a short section of road between two tunnels to the extreme right of the layout.
One of the items which visitors greatly enjoyed was the on board video camera on the loco on the long bottom run of track. Unfortunately at the end of last year it finally gave up and we have been unable to repair it. A replacement was found but this also failed so until we can find a suitable replacement we have mounted a fixed camera overlooking the station area, the advantage of this is that we can see on the overhead television screen what is happening on the track when out view from the control panel is blocked by all our visitors.
We have now got to the situation where we are running out of ideas and No, we are not comtemplating a further extension.
Page 27 of 28 First page Previous page Next page Last page Latest Update
