Salfords Light Railway

The Salfords Light Railway diary

August 2003

3rd August: Just got back from Ride on Railways after picking up my new coach. Initially Paul didn't want to let on that he was building the coach for me as it is a lot of work and he has "enough on his plate" as it is. However, having seen how well it has come out he's thinking of releasing it is a standard product later in the year. It still needs its final coat of paint so for now, here's Paul's "pre-delivery" photo for you. It looks really good. Now all I have to do is invest a few hours painting it. Picking out all of the panelling should be fun! NOT.



Look what else I got to see whilst I was there. The prototype for Paul's new HERCULES bogie loco. I might have to have one of these later in the year. Photos courtesy of Paul Middleton of Ride on Railways and used with permission.

9th August: Open Day for members of my local H0-scale US model railway club, the Seaboard Southern. Open day cancelled due to the number of people in the club who could not attend this particular date. To be re-scheduled for late August or early September. I think it is a good idea that I did cancel the open day, it is incredibly hot outside. I'll have to check the news later to see if it has broken the UK all-time record of 37.1 degrees.

10th August: 1st anniversary of the start of construction of the Salfords Light Railway. Yep, it broke the record at 38.1 degrees. Way, way too hot to go outside and work on the railway, so I stayed in the house and worked on the website and did a few other jobs. Have you looked at the home page? No, well go back and reload it a few times. Like it?

My Father has not been at all well in the last few weeks, so progress on the line is slow at the moment. I need to lift the stretch of track along the chain-link-fence side of the garden and build up a small retaining wall. The ballast here is settling badly, I need to ease the gradient a bit and replace the kink; which makes 3 good reasons.

I am having a "spot of bother" with the check-rails on my points. Essentially they don't seem to be doing their job very well. Paul Middleton has replaced some of his with some strips of steel and I think I might do the same things. What is happening is that the flanges on the wheels are digging in to the soft aluminium and riding up over them rather than being pulled over to one side. Investigating...

[ author: - last updated 28th August 2003 ] [ HOME ]