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A brief history of the line
The Strawberry Falls Light Railway was built to provide a
means of transporting the produce from the Inverclyde estate farms to
the port of Greenock, for the export and domestic markets.
The range of produce varies during the year, depending on seasons and weather patterns.
During the summer the strawberries are harvested, along with potatoes, onions, turnips and peas.
Autumn sees a reduction in harvesting from the fields and so the railway depends on its other traffic to make ends meet. This includes: -
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jam tanks from the Jam factory,
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clotted cream from the clotted cream mines, and
-
timber from the estate forests.
The winter is the quietest time and is mainly used for maintenance of the track and equipment, repairs to the locomotives and rolling stock, and general duties on the farm.
The reality
The S.F.L.R. is totally fictitious and is in reality, just a bit of fun in the back garden. The scale is approximately 1:19.5 or sixteen millimetres to the foot, using 32mm gauge track to represent two foot gauge (known as 16mil).
The track plan is in circuit form, consisting of about 20 metres of track on the main circuit, with a passing loop, a turning triangle and a couple of sidings
Civil engineering on the line consists of two bridges and a tunnel (currently under construction).
There are, at the time of writing, two stations, a main station (Strawberry Falls) and a small halt known as (Sudden Halt).
There may be a terminus station to follow, but I need to submit a planning application to the Financial Director of the S.F.L.R. (The Wife!).
I’ll keep you posted!
Motive power
The current
pool of motive power is very modest and consists of a single steam
locomotive and a small maintenance trolley.
|
Engine No. |
Name |
Type |
Colour |
|
No. 1 |
Gillian |
Accucraft Caradoc |
Dark blue |
Rolling stock
Freight operations are catered for by ex L&B wagons, also by
Accucraft, two 4 wheeled vans and a four plank open wagon, and by a
collection of Binnie engineering wagons. Mainly bolsters for timber and
skips for aggregate. The line has also very recently, become the
benefactor of two Glyn valley tramway 4 wheel coaches, which are
currently in the finishing shop for last minute work before the tourist
season traffic starts.
Trackplan
Overall size is around 27ft x 16ft.
The future
Work is ongoing on the line and continues when time and weather
allow. Current jobs on the board are station platform coverings and a
bit of track revision.
Cheers for now.
Happy steaming.
Andy
Progress on the line (7th
August 2006)
Latest ongoing projects are the revision of the steam up bay and area
for the September gathering of the 16mm west of Scotland group, so there
are adequate siding for the stock and locomotives. Last year there was a
lack of space on the line and most had to lift hot engines on and off
the track. Not recommended! So this year I’ve added one long siding, at
the station, and two more just off of the triangle.
Station platforms
I’d already
marked out the edges of the platforms, so that I could fill the space
with mortar when the warm weather arrived in June. I experimented,
first, with the short platform at Sudden Halt and found this to be a
reasonably easy way to construct the platform.
Step 1;
mark out the area to be built on.
Step 2; pin down some ¼” by ¼” strip wood
Step 3; pin chicken wire to base as reinforcing mesh
Step 4; pour in mortar.
Step 5; smooth off and admire!
All was
well for a couple of days until we got a rather warm day when due to the
baseboard (larch boards) and the mortar (diy store ready mix filler)
having different expansion rates it cracked! Fiddlesticks!!!! Thankfully
the reinforcing mesh did the trick and only a couple of cracks appeared.
Looks not bad actually, now it is starting to weather down.
So I now have to refer to plan “B”
TIMBER!
Whilst walking through a Bargain shop in the town, I spotted those cheap and nasty concertina type trellis panels for walls and fences and on examination of the items I began to hatch a plan for using the material when dismantled.
The panels are made from ½” by ¼” pine and for £1.50 ea, I got almost enough timber to do the job. Ten minutes with a pry bar and a small hammer (No not the one for adjusting intricate jobs and breaking rocks!) I had a respectable pile of clean ready to use timber to clad the already made platform frames. And a tub of useless brass nails!
So began the slow job of cladding the platforms.
Each of the Deck boards has to be places in position marked and cut (Remember measure TWICE, cut once!) and as the platform curves no two board are the same so no chance of mass production as each one has to be measured then cut then fitted the pinned down. (See pic below)
The east end of Strawberry falls station.
Two sessions have been done so far before the midges and the dishes dictated a return to the sanctuary of the house. But progress is being made and hopefully we’ll have a complete station platform by running day.(Note the glass jar in the picture is sitting on the site of the proposed signal cabin.)
MOTIVE POWER
No. 1 “Gillian” is going into the works for an overhaul and to have radio control fitted. Job list:
- Fitment of radio control.
- Painting of the smokebox, tank tops and interior of cab.
- Fitting of Westinghouse pump and vacuum pipes.
- General clean up and lubrication
Busy, busy!
Happy steaming!
Andy
