The Blatchington branch garden railway - All about the railway
Welcome to the home pages of the Blatchington branch a privately owned 5 inch
gauge garden railway in East Sussex. These are living pages & as such I am
constantly adding & updating them so do come back from time to time to see what
is happening on the line.
Should have posted this a couple of weeks ago but better late than never!
I'd like to thank the driver from Travis Perkins Newhaven for going that extra
step when delivering some materials for my siding - (sorry I don't have his
name)but he took the bother to drop the stuff exactly where I wanted it &
to show me where he had placed it - you would be amazed how difficult it
can be finding things in your own garden when you can't see what you are doing
& my guide dog does not help much unless Bonios are involved!
I'm please to announce that all being well we will have a Ride on Railways
Hercules visiting the line this coming weekend, if you have ever
been tempted to build a garden railway or buy 1 of these locos why not come
along & take a close look. Gates open at 14:00 on both Saturday 4 & Sunday 5
July.
All is looking good for next weekends public running days (4 & 5 July), my 2
engines & at least 1 guest loco will be running on both days - if you fancy running
your loco or stock on the line please call to let me know what you have so
I can post details here!
The points for the siding are half built but are extremely unlikely to be
in place for next weekend but there is a slim chance.
Lastly, a sound unit for the class 37 is on it's way from Brian Jones! I'm
hoping we can have this wired up for the 4 & 5 July days
All here are looking forward to seeing as many visitors as possible so we
can enjoy an afternoon with the trains & raise some funds for the
meningitis trust in the process.
Over the last couple of weeks the work on the new siding has progressed well,
the brick edging is all in place, the track bed is prepared, the track panels
are nearly finished & a PNP buffer stop arrived today which should add
a nice touch to the overal appearance. Just the points to constructnow so
I would hope to have it in use shortly after the next open day & well ahead
of the September event.
One of the additions I have fancied for my locos is a sound module, up to now
I have not had much luck but things do seem to be on the move! Brian Jones
is supplying me with one of his FX4U units & the above link shows a clip
of the Phoenix locos module in operation - more clips & details soon.
We now have dates for the next two open weekends, the first weekend will
be on the 4 & 5 July & the second on 19 & 20 September. The September event
will hopefully have the added interest of being linked with part of "Seaford
live" the towns annual music & arts festival.
Managed to spend a couple of hours digging the trench for the new siding
yesterday, will try to get some photos of this work to illustrate the
construction in stages.
I've now placed the order for the rail & point components for the new
siding along with a new pair of bogies for the log wagon, a log wagon? yes
well actually a really rough thing to shift garden stuff around in. See the
track panel pages for more details of track construction.
Been looking round the garden again & after some thought have started the
plans for a siding, it will be approximately 30 foot long & continue the
straight section along the hedge - the reason for a siding I hear you ask?
well I've got an open fire & I thought it might be handy to park logs at the
siding & run them into the house when required.
Looking a track again has made me review the "building" & "track panel"
pages so please do take a quick look & let me know if is anything missing or
wrong.
Today saw our first visiting Maxitrak Ruston to the branch, owned by Peter
Gatward of Seaford the engine performed well - for some more pictures & details
see the locomotive pages.
Another successful day, even if one bit of track did not want to play the game
& the weather was not so good.
Thanks to support from Jan Daynes we decided to have another go on Sunday afternoon
enabling several people to enjoy the trains & helping as raise £50 for SNAPPS
into the bargain.
There was the usual range of snags with the trains which seemed to worry
me much more than anybody else - "See you next time" was heard frommost
visitors so I suppose it must have been enjoyable!
A bit of a milestone today as the site counter registered its 10,000 visitor,
a really big thanks to all who contacted me with comments about the material
on these pages - please do keep letting me have your ideas on things to
add or areas that could be better.
At long last a few nice days so I can get out & check the lines. Considering
the amount of rain & frost over the last few months the tracks have held up
very well with only a couple of minor track tweaks to get things running. All
is looking hopeful for an Easter weekend open day which I shall confirm in
a week or so. Please let me know if you would like to bring an engine along
on the day
The remote point control has taken another step forward in that the switching
units are now planted, it's just the electronics to complete & wire up.
Still waiting for some action on the sound units for the locos, didn't
think there would be such a problem, still not found anybody with one
actually working yet!
Had a few spare minutes so have just been checking the links on the useful
links pages all of which seem to be OK still. As always please do let me know
of any I should add & comments about the service given by these companies.
Just to let you know I'm still here! As the weather is still rough there's
nothing that can be done on the railway so I have spent a few minutes
on these pages. The main changes are the addition of a little colour
to the headings (WOW!) & the usual spelling corrections & checks of links.
I'm going to make a really big effort to read all through this lot again
& make some proper updates & additions so please do let me know if any areas
fall short.
The year started with a few laps round the line at midnight on newyears eve,
I had hoped to envite several friends to join in but sadly, like many others,
I was hit by one of the many bugs over christmas & was just not up to a party
so it was up to Jan, Trent (my dog) & myself to see the new year in in style!
Lets hope 2009 will see some better weather for playing trains & allow me
to add more to these pages - as always please do let me have links to add, any
ideas or comments & most important point out any mistakes.
Happy Christmas & all that stuff! A really big thanks to all that have helped
on the Blatchington branch over the year whether it be with construction, the
open days or pointing me at items to add to these pages. I think I've
more or less achieved what I wanted with the railway, I've got a working line
where models of all sorts can be exercised, it's been a great social point
with people of all ages having fun & of course we have also raised some funds
for charity - perfect!
So what plans for 2009 I hear you ask? well more of the same really. The
sound systems for the locos are still on going & the signalling equipment needs
to be planted. Other than that watch this space for announcements regarding
the first public running day of 2009 - all at the branch look forward to
seeing you next year.
No added pictures as of yet but as I had a few hours I've updated the gallery
pages layout - now to add the pictures!
All the elements of the point control & signal units are now ready, all
we need now is a bit of clear weather so we can get them planted & tested!
The system consists of a solenoid controlled from an infra red
receiver set in a box close to the line - simple really thanks to Marc
Tiltman who has mounted the solenoids & Ralph Woods who has been playing
with the electronics!
I was lucky enough this weekend to be invited along to visit the Lilian
miniature railway at Knockhatch adventure park, off Diplocks roundabout on the
A22, (Hailsham bypass) Hailsham, East Sussex.
There's about a quarter of a mile of track which really gave the class 58 a
chance to get up to a reasonable speed!
If you are in the Hailsham area & think you might like to help with the
construction & maintenance of this large 5 gauge layout find out more by
contacting Ian or Lillian Guppy at one of the following:-
Mobile (07897) 355 434
The weather was good to us yet again & after a slow start the afternoon went
very well with several new faces coming to visit the railway. See the open
day page for more details!
Just a few small bits of news on the run up to the next open day next
weekend. The minor fault with the loco has been fixed, a drive gear had
come adrift but has now been glued back into place. Trent has had another
brief TV appearance on "The worlds funniest animals" & I did a spot on
our local radio station where I had a chance to chat about the line & how
it came to be. Keep your fingers crossed that the extreme weather has
not done any damage to the track bed over the last few weeks & we get to
see a bit of sun on the 13th! - Hope to see you there!
For the first time we have had a minor failure on one of the locos, a drive
gear came adrift - a rather odd sound combined with lack of power & minor
panic but all that was necessary was a dob of Loctite. 603 to anchor it back in
place. More details coming soonon the locomotive pages.
Now the open day is over my mind has gone back to getting some sound on my
engines but as yet I can't find anyone who has actually got either of the ones
I'm looking at up & running. I've been chatting to Brian Jones about his FX-4U
which he is in the final stages of getting working with the Parkside
controllers. The Phoenix locos supersound module seems to be having some problems
from what I can gather, reports of units failing & very long delivery times
plus the price are putting me off this module.
A really big thanks to all that helped with & came to the first open day of
2008. The weather was good encouraging plenty of people to come along so
we not only had a good time but raised £80 for Macmillan cancer support in
the process. Take a look at the following video to get an idea of how
it all went:-
Just a quick paragraph to keep you posted on the current activity on the
line!
The wooden blocks are now complete across the drive with just the final
ballasting in the area to be completed. The class 47 body shell has now been
adapted to fit the 37 frame (pictures soon). Still trying to sort out
sound modules for the loco's, can't find anyone who has one working in
my area & Brian Jones is working hard to figure out why his unit does not
want to work with the Parkside controllers installed in my engines.
The web counter on this site is not currently working due to a power
failure on the nextgenstats machine, they say it should be back shortly.
After some further track tweaks we have managed to get the class 58 to
complete the circuit in both directions without coming off! there are
still areas where speed restrictions have to be enforced but it can be done..
A new steel frog has been installed at the east end of the passing loop making
this a lot smoother to cross, as always with this sort of adjustment there
will be a little more work to get it spot on but we can run over it as it is &
this area will be disturbed further in the not too distant as we plant the
new sleepers in the driveway.
I'm currently carrying out test runs with the new class 58 (alright playing with
it!) this new loco has a much smaller flange on the wheels so is showing up
areas of the track which are a bit shakey, it works on 98% of the line &
I'll probably get the rest going but I suspect I will have the wheels altered
like I did on the original loco otherwise I can see me doing more track work
than playing.
A quick but big thanks to all visitors who take the time to use the feedback
facilities on these pages either just to say hello or to point out bits
I have overlooked or things I should add. A big thanks to Ian for pointing
that the Hewsons produce pointwork at sensible prices (I'll be updating
pages accordingly - thanks).
The Blatchington branch on TV! Yes, we've made it to the box! well actually
it was for about 3 seconds & it showed my guide dog Trent at the controls
trundling along but it still counts... If you missed it the first time watch
out for repeats of "Animals do the strangest things" on ITV.
We now find ourselves more than half way through April & the planned track
improvement work in the drive area still goes on so there will be a further
little delay before the first openday of the year, the weather is stopping
play!
The remote control signalling system is also progressing, still in its very
early stages but it is looking good so far, basically using an infra red
control the signal can be changed to green & a solenoid moves the point
holding it for around 20 seconds before returning the signal to red & releasing
the point to its home position. More details soon.
Meanwhile there are 2 new arrivals on the line, a complete class 58 & a class
47 body shell both in EWS livery - see the locomotive pages for more details.
With the arrival of the new locomotive I've been looking round for some new
batteries, the current pair in the class 37 were not performing as I would
hope so I tried charging them right up & then flattening them 3 or 4 times to
see if that would make a difference - this pair are now in the new class 58 &
a new pair of 55Ahr are installed in the class 37. See the locomotive pages
for more details.
Whilst spending money the Deltic from Bexhill model engineering & the mini
deltic (class 23) from Compass house still catch my eye & a class 37 body in
another livery with the 4 hedcode box option crossed my mind just to ring the
changes.
Please do take a minute to look & join in the new 5 inch gauge forum if you
can:-
2008 started well! the first train on the Blatchington branch departing at
the stroke of midnight on 1 January taking several friends for their first ride
of the year on the 2 new sit astride coaches!
If you are reading these pages with just the hint of an inkling to build a
railway of your own just the one word of caution - these trains are heavy & can
move at quite a speed, around 300Kg at up to 8MPh has beensseen on the line,
so they are not for unattended small children even if fitted with speed
limiters.
Now read on & get tempted!!!
My thanks go to all those people I have nattered to on the phone over the last
few years who have given me so much information and support even if they did
think I was totally mad & two fingers to those who said it would never be
completed.
In some of the photos you might notice name plates on the stock, each
coach has been named after those who have helped with construction, I
think this could turn out to be a bit tricky to continue as just so many
people have been involved along the way.
Lastly a really special thanks to Eric Meeds for the hours & hours he has
spent on building the rollingstock, he's managed to cope with all my bright
ideas & apart from loads of bad language he seems to have survived the
experience!