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.

I have attempted to keep the content as balanced as possible & to include
details of as many suppliers as possible, please let me have any comments or
suggestions about additions for these pages.

With the weather as it is the first open weekend of 2010 is likely to be on
May 1st & 2nd - this should give me time to get everything tidy & also allow
things to warm up a bit! - keep your eyes on this page for updates.

Before you ask, no I did not dig out the loop just to play trains (although
I was tempted - wrong sort of snow!!)

Now the new year is underway I thought it time to take a look at these
pages & give them a bit of a cleanup & update.  Please do let me have details
of any additions I could make.

This year has started like many before with a trundle round the line at
midnight - well it gives the neighbours something to talk about!

I am hoping that this year will see several public running events & that
we will be able to get a few more bits of interest added to both the stock
& the line itself - Sound & lights for the loco's & the introduction of
the remote control signal & point work.

Nothing much to report over the last few weeks as the weather has just been 
too bad to get out & do anything on the line - managed an hour today & all
seemed OK although some ballast does need topping up after the rain!

Please do let me know if there are any items I should add to these pages over
the next few months - ideas always welcome!!!

In my continuing search for a sound unit for my locos I was recently 
pointed at a new product by Magpie computer developments, it appears from
the description to be the basic guts of the Phoenix unit but priced
somewhat less at £295 however don't let that lower price fool you as although 
it costs less initially you will have to add several switches & already have a
controller installed in your loco.  

There are details of all the sound units I have found so far on my locomotive
pages - please let me know of any others & any comments on any products you
have physically seen in operation.

A really big thankyou to all that came along to last weekends open days, not
only did we have the railway up & running but there was the added benefit
of live music on both days provided by John Cave, Jennifer Dole, Ian Cairns,
Tom Cunliffe & me.  

An equally big thanks to the hard work of my friends Jan Daynes, Sharon Smethem
& several others who's combined efforts managed to help us raise a total of 
£115 for the Lupus trust.

I'll be adding some photos & video clips of the event shortly so you can see
for yourselves that all the visitors seemed to have an enjoyable time whether
if was riding on the trains, listening to the music or just meeting & chatting 
to the other visitors.

The next open weekend on the Branch will be on Saturday 19 & Sunday 20
September 2009, trains will be running from 14:00 onwards.  Like on previous 
events we hope to have several engines working including visitors from the 
Beacon light railway.  

AS an added bonus we hope to have a little live music to fit in with part of 
"Seaford Live" music festival - artists include (hopefully) John Cave, 
Jennifer Dole, Tom Cunliffe & me! - come along on the 20th for most of the
music although I will be here on the 19 too! (ear plugs not provided..)

While the sun came out for a couple of hours we took the chance to take
a few trips round the line, the pictures above show Eric Meeds taking the
controls, without Eric I don't think the project would have been completed,
how he deals with all my bright ideas I'll never know!

After a very long delay I now have a sound unit installed in my class 37.
Not quite sure on my feeling about it yet, needless to say it did not work
first time & required additional wiring - I've now added details of some
sound modules to my locomotives pages so please look there for full details.

Two bits of track news:-
* the points, track panels & buffer stop for the siding are now complete & if 
the weather holds should be planted tomorrow .
* The last tight bend on the line has been eased, this involved shifting
10 edging stones & rebending the track to fit.

Over the next few days I'll be revisiting the track pages to make sure they
reflect the current build ideas.

At the end of day 2 of this public running weekend we have again achieve what
I aimed for, everybody seemed to have a good time & we raised £75 for
the meningitis trust.  Thanks to Jan Daynes & the rest of the team for all
their hard work without which the weekends fun would not have been possible.
See the open day pages for full details of snags & various comments.

A big thanks to all who turned up on the first day of this open weekend.  
The Ride on Railways Hercules from the Beacon light railway owned by Peter 
Gatward spent the afternoon performing well towing the Blatchingtn branch's
2 sit astride coaches without hitch while my locos & wagons decided to play
up a bit - full report on the open dya pages shortly.

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!

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.

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!

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

they are a really friendly bunch so do give them a call or pay them a visit.

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:-

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!

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11,200 +/- (proper counter back soon!)

Please drop in again soon for updates!