Monday 11 January 2010

A Frosty Running Session On My Garden Railway...

Hi all. Today, even though it was once again blisteringly cold, I decided to attempt to give my garden railway a good running session. After snapping the ice on the locks to get into the shed(!), I plugged the heater straight in! (Its too chilly in there without it but, with it on, it makes the shed lovely and warm). Once this was done, I moved out into the garden where I used a wire-brush (to crack the ice) and a rag (to clear the broken ice) to clean the track. I cleared some of the sidings but not all of them. Afterall, the point levers were frozen solid so access to them was somewhat difficult! With the line clear, trains could begin to run. The test runs were taken by the Class 08 diesel (known as the 'shed shunter'), before the steamers came out. A good 6 or 7 loco's and a few of my coaching stock rakes were seen during the afternoon, as well as many assorted wagons. From the cosy shed, with a cuppa' in hand, I can easily operate trains on the whole line. I simply set the 'fiddle yard' to the desired road (& train) before letting the said train depart. Once outside the train is effectively left to its own devices and, after its circuit, it returns back into the other portal and the opposite end of the shed. From the shed window, around 65% of the line can be clearly seen so any problems are noticed relatively quickly.

I ran trains today from about 12:30pm until around 5pm and in my opinion it was the first 'good session' of the year. After running, the portal-doors were quickly locked up and so was the shed. All stock was then put away. Thanks for reading, Evening All!...

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