New Signal Box

 For all my many followers my apologies for the lack of posts this year but other things have been going on.

I have refurbished two of my line side buildings and most importantly 'The Golden Rivet Inn' was one of them, closely followed by 'Stevies' snack bar, complete with 'Barnecutts' cornish pasties on sale!

Recently it was decided to have a 'shuffle' around the layout (shuffle the buildings - not shuffle as in shuffle!!) and three new properties have been purchased and the first of them has now been completed.

Sheepham Signal Box has now been put in position at the top of Sheepham Slope, building construction took place over a couple of weeks and hopefully it has been suitably weather protected for the winter ahead.

First stages of building

Second phase complete

Completion and signalman installed!

In a suitable location!

On to the next project...

First project of 2023

A belated Happy New Year to all you enthusiasts out there.

Some slight delay, but a new project is underway.

Purchased in November last year from North Pilton Works I have three Industrial Tipper Wagon's that I have now commenced, but in slow time due to various reasons.

Lets hope its not too long before they are actually complete and available for running!

Knee pauses play

 Well a lot has been going on over the past two weeks - but nothing directly garden railway related.

A planned knee operation meant we had to cancel our previous commitment to assisting at the Exeter Garden Railway Show, but I’m sure our absence wasn’t that notable.

The operation went ahead and I am now in recovery mode which does restrict me somewhat due to a ‘poorly leg’ and crutches, but hopefully I have prepared accordingly.

Before going off to hospital I reviewed my Planned Maintenance spreadsheet (well, there has to be a spreadsheet) and removed some lineside equipment to the workshop where hopefully I can do some ‘make and mending’ and restore the former glory, without ruining the weathering.

I have also ordered some ‘Binnie’ truck kits. This will give me yet more ‘occupational therapy’ and extend my fleet of quarry trucks.

So, keep doing the physio and hopefully things will greatly improve over the next few weeks.

“R&R” ….!!!!!!

God Bless the Queen - and Thank You Ma'am

 

Little & large...

 Well with all this hot weather it has been time to hide in the 'workshop' where it is slightly cooler and add another 'memory piece' to the line in the form of a flagpole in miniature (to go with the full size one in the garden) and a couple of figures to watch over it..... no resemblance to present encumbants at all!!

Little ....

AND....

Large ... !!!

...ah well, back to the drawing board

Giving it 'the brush off'!!

Well the weather has changed and I am slightly indisposed at present suffering with a bad back after a recent trip up on to Dartmoor.  Thank fully it seems to be improving, but an opportunity to 'create something'!

So into the 'workshop' and I decided to try and produce something - and ended up with this......

What is it ... no not the marker pen!

The answer lies here.....

Gave it a test run - and surprise it works - so the new removable 'debris clearing brush' has become part of the track maintenance kit! Perhaps I will seek  a Patent for it!!!

Next stage will be to produce a line cleaning tool that beats as it sweeps as it cleans (remember that?)!!!

😊 😊

'Lanterns' lit on the BLL!

Having tested my very limited skills during 'lockdown' on things electrical we thought it was about time we actually had an evening run to highlight (excuse the pun) those skills! So here are a couple of pictures taken from the other glorious summer evening's 'night time' run on the BLL.

(Pity my photographic skills are not as good!)

Or click HERE and view 'Night Running' clips to see some moving images!!!

The Jubilee Special

Well although the weather has not been kind to us I did manage to run 'Doris' as a Jubilee Special - over the new 'Jubilee Bridge' in the week leading up to the Jubilee weekend and associated festivities. (A flourish of Jubilee's!!!)

'Doris' passing over the new 'Jubilee Bridge'

Unfortunately for us down here in the South West the weather put a bit of a dampener on things yesterday (Saturday) but being British we soldiered on, so to speak and it did dry up in time for the gathering!

 

Our local Jubilee picnic

A Commonwealth salute

Congratulations your Majesty - and thank you.

A Bridge Too Far - Of course not.

Out with the old and in with new that is the philosophy on the BLL, well at least it is regarding bridges!

When I first set to building my line back in 2019 one of the things that was crucial to its success - and also ensuring we had a complete 'loop' was a bridge across the path. This was constructed with very little bridge building knowledge (...well none actually!) out of handy pieces of timber which meant it was quite heavy and I needed a removable one to maintain access. A lifting or swivel structure definitely was a bridge too far at the time!

Out with the old...!

The wooden structure actually carried out its role very well but after recently scanning through the 16mm mags. I opted for a replacement, lightweight bridge and eventually after many site meetings, lots of measuring, exchange of e mails I ordered my new bridge from MVL Bridges (many thanks Steve) and hurrah it arrived this week.

Sharp intake of breath at the first fitting, but all was well - all I had to do was add the rail and 'design' a suitable system that would ensure it stayed in the same place each time it was put in location. This was achieved by cutting back a couple of redundant sleepers and positioning them either side of the track 'frame' - seems OK. (see picture below)

Happily the job has been completed and the bridge has now been tested and officially opened by my MD!! (that is Money Director if you didn't know already!!!)

So here are few pictures of the new BLL 'PatioPortabridge'.... 

...in with the new!

The crowd are apprehensive as they wait for the official opening!

"Cut the tape! Cut the tape!!!"

Wot - no Champagne!!!

An Anniversary

The second Bank Holiday in May also coincided with the 150th Anniversary of the South Devon Railway (see more here) so we took a trio of trains over to Buckfastleigh to add our support to the festivities which were taking place on the 'big' line!

Sadly the weather was not too kind and only four other SDGRG members turned up - but that meant we could 'hog the lines'!

'Phyllis' flying the flag under a head of steam!

'Dennis' doing similar - battery powered!

Having spent a few hours we left about 1400 - just as the sun came out!!

A day out with 'Thomas'

Easter weekend sees the Thomas festival at South Devon Railway, Buckfastleigh - which is also the 'home' to the South Devon Garden Railway Group.  The SDGRG have an extensive layout there and we have been members now for two years.

The SDGRG always tries to support the 'festival weekends' which then gives the visiting public more to enjoy so we opted to run on Good Friday and suitably adorned three of our 'prime movers' as the picture clearly shows....

... funny how they all look like 'Thomas'!!

It was busy day with lots of visitors and only a couple of minor derailments - on the garden railway I hasten to add, due to grease on the lines - wot no leaves!!

It was also very warm for April and by the time we left mid afternoon there was a lot of sun burnt faces around.

A jolly good day all round said Thomas!

Stay Safe .....

Fine weather bodes well for the BLL..

The current fine but somewhat cool weather has been a bonus out on the BLL as track maintenance has been able to progress well after the February storms caused  some 'disturbance to proceedings".

So the track team has been out clearing fallen leaves and berries thus ensuring a smooth run for 'Dennis the Diesel' and its crew....

With the good weather expected to continue hopefully we should have some good running events.

 

Stormy weather closes the BLL!!!

 Well here in South Devon 'Storm Eunice' has torn across the countryside and done her worst - the BLL has suspended all services until further notice due to the extent of the damage at various locations on the line - albeit hopefully all only temporary.

The MD currently sits in her shed working out the priority details on where we go first for repairs once the weather abates - in the meantime here is an overview of what has befallen us..... 🤪

Above, these passengers seem oblivious to the damage - and didn't receive the e mail - in the foreground a major collapse of a key signalling installation has occurred and 'Wallace' & 'Grommet' appear to be laying down on the job!!

Further down the line and the high Spring tides combined with the extremely strong winds have ensured maximum damage 'down on the beach' .....

In the top picture you can see the beach hut in the foreground has been lifted and hurled over 1 mile away (relative to scale!!!) and landed beneath Canada corner which is still reeling from the derailment two years ago!

The lower picture gives a close up of the beach area and sadly the upmarket 'Sandbanks' condominium has collapsed across the line and in doing so taken out communications from the phone box (phone box - what are they?) sadly also trapping the Colonel underneath!!

Mind you the 'Sheepham Flasher' can still be seen being a cheeky little chappie - nothing seems to hold him back!!

In the main siding (next picture) we have a major incident .....

... with a derailment which has also brought down another main signal feature and blocked three lines. 

O woah is us!!! You can also see at the top of the picture further damage with Sheila's lineside cabin blown over and again blocking the main line, fortunately Sheila was not in occupancy at the time (she did receive the e mail!!).

Sheila's lineside cabin

And even more.....

At the RN Lay Apart store the 'heads' have been blown over and we are still attempting to find out if it was occupied at the time!!

So as we wait with baited breathe for the pub to open, sorry I mean the weather to abate we can do no more. Further updates will be promulgated. 🥳

PS Stay Safe 

Stormy weather closes line!

Last weekend I spent some time over at the South Devon Garden Railway at Buckfastleigh (SDGRG) where a number of us completed this years major track replacement programme and the layout is now available for regular running.

Meanwhile back here on the BLL  as Storm's 'Dudley & Eunice' (apparently) head in off the Atlantic the decision has been made to close the line due to the anticipated foul weather and retire to the engine shed and concentrate on maintenance.

Beach & Brigade

 It's been a lovely cool sunny day here on the BLL so an opportunity for a bit of a beach clean and tidy around the house.

Excessive rain over the past couple of weeks has caused havoc so with today's sunny weather an opportunity was taken to reposition the pebble breakwater, beach clean and tidy around the phone box.

The 'Sheepham Flasher' was spotted and the naughty chappy can be observed misbehaving in the pictures below!!

Meanwhile the Sheepham Fire Brigade have completed recruiting and are now up to full strength and they have also taken delivery of the new Personnel Carrying Vehicle  (PCV) which can be seen undergoing trials. Again if you look closely you will some locally made items of 'small gear' including hose, hose fittings and standpipe. These have all been made in Britain - in fact made here in Modbury by our onsite very clever equipment facility manager (dear of her!!!). And of course their is the veritable Cornish Pastie fresh from Malcolm Barnecutts in Bodmin!

A full steam up has been programmed for the complete Sheepham Fire Brigade train which now consists of eight support vehicles - a fire train to be proud of! 

Watch this space for more details........ 

 

 Well it has been 'another' of 'those' years with the Covid demon still causing the world massive issues which I am sure many of my readers will have more personal experiences than what we have had here at the BLL - myself and the multi tasking CEO wish you all well.

So with that in mind not a great deal to report from trackside, however the "Sheepham Fire Brigade" - which has exclusive use of the BLL has had an additional couple of emergency response vehicles added to its fleet and recruitment has been successful with additional firefighting staff now employed.

An Incident Command Unit (ICU - no, not the NHS variety of  ICU!!) and the most important Canteen Wagon are not both on the run and will soon be joined by a Support Operational Deployment Intervention Truck - or colloquially known as 'SODIT"!!! 

So....

SODIT is till in the engine shed receiving its final paint job and the recruits are just finishing training school and will join the SODIT in the New Year - so watch this space if you feel so inclined!!

Oh, Let's not forget the new 'Long Park Junction' signal box is also in place outside and has survived both A and B Gales!!

Finally it only needs me to say PLEASE PLEASE Stay Safe - 

Be Sensible - 

BUT Do Have a Great Christmas and Happy New Year. 

🎅🏼

Who needs rain?

 I said on my previous post that I needed a rainy day to start construction of the new water tower and signal box - well no need to rain - water tower completed and in location!! All done without a rainy day.

Fresh out of the box ..

Primed ...

Job done!!!!

This was my first attempt using Humbrol Weathering Powders to give more effect and so not a bad result even if I say so myself! Is there no stopping this man!!

Take Care...