Ulpha Light Railway

[Armchair Modeller]

I had better idea for the hinge on the point blades. I experimented with a Peco fishplate - the new type they introduced for the bullhead track. I used a piece of scrap rail in lieu of a properly filed point blade. After messing around a little, I tapered the foot of what would be the blunt end of the point blade slightly. It now hinges very nicely.

The first photo shows the Peco fishplate in position

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These two show the point blade closed and open. The piece of scrap rail representing the point blade doesn't sit properly against the stock rail, of course, as I have not bothered to file the taper. This is purely experimental. A properly shaped point blade would look far better.

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I am really pleased with this and will probably use the idea on all the turnouts for Ulpha. It is nice and simple, which suits me! The photos do show up some dodgy soldering though. I was using a new reel of not very good solder and an almost life-expired soldering iron tip, so things did not quite go as well as they normally do. I shall do a bit of tidying up before installing the assembly on the layout.

The trackwork has been removed from the paper template and is currently in soak to dilute away the flux. Then, it will be almost ready to stick down on the baseboard. No time over the weekend though - a 26 mile walk tomorrow and a 13 mile walk on Sunday will leave no time for modelling.

[Le Corbusier]

No time over the weekend though - a 26 mile walk tomorrow and a 13 mile walk on Sunday will leave no time for modelling.

Hmmm! I think that officially makes you a ranger from a well known fantasy classic .... though I do wonder how many orcs there may be to track in your neck of the woods

[PeteT]

Thanks for making the topic - when Paul posted the layout as available I thought it had a lot of potential, so will be interested to see it develop as time and the 2mm allow.

For the narrow gauge, and especially with the Baldwin and tressle (if a bit high), it is quite Snailbeach esc. I find Peco track section very heavy duty, but agree that the pragmatic way forward is to leave it as is.

[RobM]

Hi Richard. As I have been away north of the border, as far as John 'O Groats for the last 3 weeks or so, I have just caught up with this topic. Good to see you are back in circulation and am following with interest. Would like to see what you are doing in the flesh.
Rob

[Armchair Modeller]

No time over the weekend though - a 26 mile walk tomorrow and a 13 mile walk on Sunday will leave no time for modelling.

Hmmm! I think that officially makes you a ranger from a well known fantasy classic .... though I do wonder how many orcs there may be to track in your neck of the woods

Unfortunately, all the Orcs were in hiding when I completed the White Peak Walk yesterday. The intense heat really sapped my energy, so I missed today's walk. Here's a topical photo from yesterday's walk - on Monsal Dale viaduct.

[Armchair Modeller]

Thanks for making the topic - when Paul posted the layout as available I thought it had a lot of potential, so will be interested to see it develop as time and the 2mm allow.

For the narrow gauge, and especially with the Baldwin and tressle (if a bit high), it is quite Snailbeach esc. I find Peco track section very heavy duty, but agree that the pragmatic way forward is to leave it as is.

Thanks Pete. Glad you are finding this of interest. I agree that the Peco track looks a little heavy - Code 80 rail!

The board with all the visible NG track will be the last to receive my attention, so no need to think too deeply about it for the time being. I really don't fancy the challenge of converting the Baldwins (there are two of them now) to finescale standards, so Peco track still makes a lot of sense. Also, I fear the trestle might get seriously damaged if I tried removing the existing rails.

[Armchair Modeller]

Hi Richard. As I have been away north of the border, as far as John 'O Groats for the last 3 weeks or so, I have just caught up with this topic. Good to see you are back in circulation and am following with interest. Would like to see what you are doing in the flesh.
Rob

Hi Rob

Hope you enjoyed your holiday. I would be delighted to see you, but the next month or more are very congested already. Maybe think about it again in late August or early September? I promise not to finish everything before then. Your artistic advice etc. may well come in valuable

[RobM]

Hi Rob

Hope you enjoyed your holiday. I would be delighted to see you, but the next month or more are very congested already. Maybe think about it again in late August or early September? I promise not to finish everything before then. Your artistic advice etc. may well come in valuable

Look forward to it sometime when mutual engagements permit. I'll PM you sometime rather than interrupting the topic.
Rob

[Le Corbusier]

Here's a topical photo from yesterday's walk - on Monsal Dale viaduct.

DSC00471.jpg

Now I'm properly jealous

[Armchair Modeller]

Here's a topical photo from yesterday's walk - on Monsal Dale viaduct.

DSC00471.jpg

Now I'm properly jealous

The walk included the trail from Brushfield to Monsal Dale Viaduct, not far from your spar mine - then along the railway trackbed until just before Bakewell.

Moving on, I tried scaling the drawings of the Solway Viaduct from the drawings in 'The Engineer' yesterday. This proved mildly challenging as the drawings are not quite true scale - more like beautiful artistic drawings roughly in proportion. Different parts of the drawing were scaled to suit the page size too. I stretched and squashed the component parts to a constant scale, based on measurements given on the various parts of the drawing and by comparing one with another. Some of the small detail I left much larger. The copies below should come out at 2mm scale when clicked on to enlarge them - but I drew most of it at 8mm scale to show the detail better for my own reference.

I shall adapt the design slightly as I need something in between this and the simpler style of the slightly earlier Kent Viaduct. The latter, for example, appears to have had wooden planking on the deck, rather than contoured iron plates, which would be easier to model. Some of the detail is vague, or missing altogether. Thankfully there are photos online of the viaduct after it was partially demolished by icebergs. There are also photos of some remains that still exist. These answer most of my questions.

I am in the early stages of thinking how to construct this. I am thinking of using metal tubes, washers and strips to fabricate the piers, with a bit of added detail in plasticard. Plastic sheet may be best for the deck and girders as there is a lot of intricate detail to reproduce. Some of the detail is almost certainly far too fine and delicate for 3D printing, for example. I did think about etching, but doubt it would give me the 3D look that would be essential to capture the look and feel of the structure. Plastic components should be easier to assemble and ought to be strong enough. After all, the structure is supposed to be disused, so it only has to carry its own weight.

As always, other people's experiences and advice would be welcome. I have never attempted to construct a structure like this before.

[Armchair Modeller]

Oops! Change of plan for the bridge following further research and discussion with a few friends.

I was accused (very nicely) of gross over-engineering by proposing something based on the Solway Viaduct for the replacement waggonway bridge. I have also discovered a lot more about the history of tramroads, wag(g)onways and other similar things online and in a couple of books I have now read. These make amendments to my history of the waggonway and the later light railway desirable.

This article was particularly interesting and relevant. https://www.plaskynastoncanalgroup.org/ ... s-tramway/ It explains the limitations of waggonways built with L shaped rails and gives plausible dates for the construction of one with edge rails. This tramway was converted to a railway in 1860. I could plausibly use a similar history for the Ulpha Waggonway.

I also found more information online about the Preston & Walton Summit waggonway I mentioned in a previous post. Apart from a very early plateway in Whitehaven, this is the nearest I can find geographically to Ulpha.

I discovered that timber bridges and viaducts built for waggonways (I use the term loosely) lasted a long while. One on the Lee Moor Tramway lasted until at least the 1950s. The Preston viaduct on the Walton Summit line lasted as a timber viaduct until 1936, when it was reproduced in concrete after a washout. That makes a timber construction for the bridge on Ulpha more likely. I have also found several designs for earlier iron viaducts and bridges worthy of consideration.

Meanwhile, the track I built is now ready for laying on the baseboard. More of that in due course.

[Noel]

I discovered that timber bridges and viaducts built for waggonways (I use the term loosely) lasted a long while

Sometimes. On the other hand, one on the Penydarren fell down in 1815 [injuring several people and horses], and was replaced by a high single arch [Victoria Bridge] in stone. There is an early iron bridge here http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=285, a kit of parts, rather like the classic bridge at Ironbridge and its sister, and another here http://www.engineering-timelines.com/who/Overton_G/overtonGeorge.asp, plus a stone viaduct at Bassaleg on the 'Old Rumney', The iron bridges are plateway [i.e. using L-shaped plates] as was the stone one originally, but by the time the 'Old Rumney' was bought by the Brecon and Merthyr, it was using steam engines on rails which were combined edge rail and plateway [so horse trams and steam engines could both use it].

[Armchair Modeller]

Sometimes. On the other hand, one on the Penydarren fell down in 1815 [injuring several people and horses], and was replaced by a high single arch [Victoria Bridge] in stone. There is an early iron bridge here http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=285, a kit of parts, rather like the classic bridge at Ironbridge and its sister, and another here http://www.engineering-timelines.com/who/Overton_G/overtonGeorge.asp, plus a stone viaduct at Bassaleg on the 'Old Rumney', The iron bridges are plateway [i.e. using L-shaped plates] as was the stone one originally, but by the time the 'Old Rumney' was bought by the Brecon and Merthyr, it was using steam engines on rails which were combined edge rail and plateway [so horse trams and steam engines could both use it].

Many thanks for that information Noel.

I did find information on the Pont-y-Cafnau bridge, including a dimensioned drawing. It is a real oddball though - originally 2 aqueducts and a railway bridge all in one structure. The Robertstown Tramway Bridge looks cute!

Locally, we have the Kings Mill Viaduct, built in stone for the Mansfield & Pinxton Railway (a horse-drawn tramway built with fishbelly edge rails) - 200th anniversary next year (2019).



I was reluctant to use a stone bridge - mainly because of the 'headache' of what stone to use. Ulpha is all modelled as limestone in what should be a totally non-limestone area. An iron or wooden bridge would avoid the dilemma - with the possible exception of the piers, of course.

Maybe I am just over-thinking again (what's new!)

[Armchair Modeller]

OK, my (second) final solution to the bridge problem is to choose timber construction. My idea is to loosely base the design on a former bridge on the Lee Moor Tramway, linked here...



on the parknowethtramway.co.uk site.

You just have to imagine a river, rather than a road running under the central span. Similar construction seems to have been used elsewhere. The design is pretty timeless I guess, allowing it to fit in better with the Ulpha railway/waggonway's fictitious history.

[Armchair Modeller]

Some minor progress on the track today

At the baseboard joint I am doing my usual trick of soldering the end of each rail to PCB, with an extra piece of rail sandwiched in-between. The recess provided by the extra layer of rail allows me to add cosmetic sleepers to hide the PCB. It has worked very well on other layouts, so it ought to here. I have cut a recess in the trackbed to take the PCB. This will eventually be glued and screwed in place to produce more or less totally immovable track at the baseboard joint. The ends of the rails are over-long at the moment and will be trimmed. The extra length is useful during soldering, as it allows one to put track gauges there to ensure that the rails are the right distance apart. I cut insulation slots on the underside of the PCB as well as the top.

For a change, I decided to have a look at the Bobbin Mill. This is by far the largest building on Ulpha. It was very solidly built and is finished in a typical Lake District grey/green colour. Unfortunately, it had suffered superficial damage, largely because it was located really close to a baseboard joint. As part of the river renovation, I shall move it more towards the middle of the baseboard.

I have glued down a few tiles and other bits that were coming loose and cleaned up the surfaces with a stiff brush. The building will be recessed slightly below ground level, so some marks will automatically disappear. Others parts need touching up with a bit of paint, which I shall complete in due course. The worst damage was to a small projecting roof over the wood saw. I had to remove it. Most of the glue etc has been removed successfully, but the paint in this area will require more attention than most.

Just a little bit of extra detail will be added as part of the renovation, including a new wood saw and shed. I have a visit planned to the Lake District in a few weeks time. This will give me the opportunity to visit the preserved mill at Stott Park and obtain details of a real bobbin mill first hand.

Here is the back of the mill (left), not normally seen by spectators - and the side of the mill with the damaged saw. The detail hanging off the wall is the belt powering the saw. This will be incorporated into the new sawing shed in due course.

This view shows the river side of the mill. Apart from essential repairs I want to preserve the look and feel of the existing building as far as possible. One of the very few 'improvements' I am thinking of doing would be to add just a little more detail onto and around the door on the ground floor, as this will be very close to the front of the layout.

[Armchair Modeller]

It has been a moderately busy few days, culminating in the laying of the new pointwork on the first baseboard.

I filed the point blades and added them to the turnout and catch point with Peco Bullhead rail joiners as previously described. These seem to vary slightly in tightness. The ones I used were gently squeezed so that they had a moderately tight grip on the rails. I then added Masokits tiebars, complete with small wire loops to take the pin from the point actuator. I haven't decided exactly what to use to actuate the turnouts. Could be point motors or Blue Point mechanisms. Whatever I choose, they will be sited below the trackbed. I cut slots in the baseboard top under where the loops would be. I then stuck the track I had built down on the trackbed using wood glue for the sleepers/timbers and 24hr UHU epoxy for the PCB slab at the baseboard joint. Everything is now setting. When the epoxy has set, I shall drill a hole through the centre of the PCB slab and add a screw for additional strength. First impressions are that the Peco rail joiner method of holding the point blades in place should work very well - but its early days yet! I am modelling old fashioned, hinged point blades. The 'hinge' look seems to be effective too.

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In other news, I wasn't happy with the thin ply I had put down for the river bed - far too flexible! I tore it up and put some offcuts of 25mm styrofoam sheet down instead. These cover a larger area and will facilitate building up the scenery around the river - as well as being much more solid, lighter and bend-proof. I used wood glue to secure them in place.

Before I put the track down permanently, I checked the alignment of the siding heading towards the cattle dock. I always knew it would not align perfectly. The old track has several (probably) unintended minor wiggles and bends. The dilemma with these is - do you keep them and maintain the exact alignment of the old track - or do you try to improve things? In fact my own siding ended up very slightly astray from where I had intended it to go - a hazard of soldered construction! I did what I knew I would have to do long ago - lift the cattle dock ready to realign it with the new track, which went well.

I still have some plain track to lay on the first baseboard, which I can probably do tomorrow. I need to double check the gauge of the pointwork again first - just in case. I shall use SMP plain bullhead for the remaining track. I have carefully checked all the track I bought and am happy that it is in gauge. I can then wire it up and hopefully run the first loco.

I have also now cut an inch off the bottom of the second (middle baseboard, removed the baseboard cross members and the backscene board. This makes it consistent in height with the first board again. Apart from a few small cracks in the plaster, no damage was done. I need to do a new replacement curved back to this board before I can do the same to the other boards. This is to make try and make sure that the curve is exactly in the right position relative to the whole layout. Starting at the centre should minimise errors on the end boards. I now have some plywood to make a former for the curve.

Research into waggonways, bridges and the Duddon Valley continues. I found a great book on eBay called "The Old Tram Road" by S Barritt. This is the history of the Walton Summit and Preston Rail Road - a plateway opened in 1804. This has some great drawings, including one of a wooden viaduct very similar to the Lee Moor Tramway one illustrated in an earlier post. The book has given me lots of food for thought - including a few possible modifications to the imaginary history of the Ulpha line. I think I shall try balsa wood construction for the old waggonway bridge over the river. Too many other things to do first though.

[Armchair Modeller]

A modified 'official' history of the line

Ulpha Light Railway Timeline

C1780 Wooden waggonway built from Duddon Bridge Ironworks to Lady Hall Marsh where lighters could dock.

C1805 Waggonway re-engineered as a plateway using cast iron L flange rails to 4ft 3in gauge (measured between verticals of the L girders). Based on the Walton Summit & Preston design. Gradually extended up the Duddon Valley to the Ulpha area to tap slate quarries, other mineral resources and wood.

1848 Kirkby branch of the Furness Railway extended to Broughton, passing inspection for passenger traffic at the end of February 1848.


1851 Whitehaven & Furness Junction Railway opened to Broughton, connecting with the Furness railway. Short plateway extension built southwards to new exchange sidings with the W&FJR just west of the Duddon Viaduct at High Shaw. Container wagons used to transfer some loads between the plateway and the main line.

26 August 1857 Morecambe Bay line opened, Ulverston to Carnforth. Through traffic could now get direct to London and Manchester by rail.

1859 Plateway main line largely rebuilt as a standard gauge railway with locomotive power as far north as Ulpha. Further conversion abandoned due to lack of funds. 1859 would be contemporary with the opening of the Coniston Railway. Old plateway retained north of Ulpha and on branches, but gradually fell into disuse. Annual trips made on some sections to preserve access rights until the 1950s.

1866 Line extended south to Millom to link up with the new town and ironworks, coincidental with the closure of the Duddon Bridge Iron Works.

1896 Light Railway Order applied for, to rebuild the line and run passenger services. Path of line rebuilt or rerouted to eliminate sharp curves etc. Parts of the old route remained open to serve industries along the line.

C1904 Narrow gauge independent feeder line (2ft gauge) built to aid construction of Seathwaite Tarn reservoir. Also used to connect new quarries with the standard gauge line – extended over parts of the abandoned trackbed of the old plateway. Passenger traffic, mainly for tourists. Proposal to extend over the Wrynose Pass to Little Longdale and Ambleside abandoned due to WW1.

1923 and 1948 – avoids being merged into the LMS/BR

-------------------------------------------------

I think this gives me a workable framework for the model. Further research may suggest a few minor tweaks, but essentially that should be it.

Oh for realistic, working horses in 4mm scale!

[Armchair Modeller]

It has been another productive evening, with the plain track being laid on the first scenic board and the pointwork re-checked for potential gauge problems. I always get the bit around the point blade tips slightly narrow to gauge when I build pointwork. Some minor adjustment was again necessary here. Otherwise, all seems OK. I had also hoped to get some wiring done, but ran out of time.

Here is the baseboard as it now looks. I put the cattle dock in the photo even though it has not yet been stuck down...

Here is a close-up of the point blades showing the distinct kink I was looking for at the hinges. I only noticed when I looked at the photo that the LH point blade needs very slight adjustment so it sits better against the stock rail.

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I also took a couple of close-ups of the cattle dock. This is nicely detailed. There is even a bucket on a rope, tied to the fencing, if you look closely.

The next few weeks are very busy, so I shan't get too much more done on Ulpha until September. My time off includes a visit to the Lake District, so the break is all in a good cause. I don't want to start modelling the river etc until I have done some proper research, on location.

[Armchair Modeller]

Things have slowed down a lot as I am currently very busy with other things. I have however made some progress in the odd free hour that has come my way.

I cut an inch off the bottom of the final baseboard, so it is now matches the other two. Although I am not doing any other work on this board for some time to come, it made sense. I shall need to line baseboards 2 and 3 up for checking when I redo the narrow gauge on board 2. During the checking, I discovered a clearance issue with the stock on the loop in the quarry face.

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I wnder if there is only room for one track on the ledge with the stock I intend to use. One of the turnouts on the loop has a broken tiebar, so will have to be replaced anyway. Maybe I should just replace the whole loop with a plain siding.

Here is a photo of my test loco under the trestle - just testing clearances whilst establishing what the correct elevation for the narrow gauge is supposed to be.

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I also finished the new diagonal cross bracing for board 2. This has improved its rigidity no end.

I have been studying the two real mills around Ulpha on the Internet, late at night. A couple of facts sprang out from old OS maps. Firstly, the mills were both on fast flowing tributaries of the River Duddon, not on the river itself. Also, both seem to have been supplied by long leats to power the water wheel. The wheels were unusually both placed at the back of the buildings, on the wall furthest away from the streams. After a bit more head scratching, I played around with the mill building on the layout, seeing how it might look when placed at different angles. I now thing that placing the chimney at the back works really well. It provides a good wall away from the stream to mount the water wheel on. The chimney is less dominant too. Incidentally, whilst the chimney looks huge, it is based closely on the real chimney at Ulpha Bobbin Mill. Modelling a stream, rather than the River Duddon gives me so much more room to play with.

Here are 4 shots from different angles showing the mill in its possible new position. I have also marked the position of the waggonway bridge - the black diagonal lines marked on the styrofoam in the first image. The stream can be much narrower than the river was in the original scenery, allowing more room for the mill and its yard. The stream will probably follow the wall of the mill, go under the tramway bridge and then curve sharply right towards the front of the layout, out of view behind the bridge and some trees.

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I shall carefully remove the belt for the saw from what is now the wall next to the stream and place it on another wall instead. The walls of the mill need retouching. I shall have a better idea of what colours to use after my forthcoming visit to the Lake District.

I mentioned that I had shortened this board by around 12" in a previous post. Reading back, I realise that I had forgotten to explain why. Apart from making the baseboard much lighter, the main advantage is that the whole layout will now fit in my garage. That means I can have it up and running most of the time - at least once I have relaid all the track!

I have cut the insulation gaps in the copperclad sleepers on the new track since I took the photos. Next, I shall do the wiring on board one, which shouldn't take very long. I am still prevaricating over how to operate the points. I may well end up using Blue Points again. I have several to spare at the moment, having recently scrapped a very old HO layout to make room for Ulpha. I do like them, as they allow me to test and operate the points without having to connect up an electricity supply. This is kind of in harmony with the Duddon Valley, as they didn't get mains electricity until 1962. There is also less to go wrong when there is no electric motor or solenoid involved. New ones are getting very expensive though.

[Armchair Modeller]

An unexpected free day (due to the weather) saw me working on Ulpha again. I got lots done, including getting the first loco running - though not quite in the way I had planned!

I really started yesterday evening with a planning session. I decided to mock up the course of the river and the water supply to the waterwheel, just to make sure it would look OK. This is what I came up with - a 2 level stream with a small weir in the middle. This should minimise risk as I won't have to model the whole stream at one go. The weir neatly breaks it up into 3 semi-independent projects.

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The waterwheel position and the leet are shown here

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There is enough room in front of the mill building for the mill yard, saw shed etc. I shall have to develop the adjacent corner of the next board slightly to accommodate the continuation of the leet. This won't be a big job though.

Today, I added the bus wires for the track power supply under the baseboard. I used copper earth wire from a mains cable for this I also fitted two Blue Point mechanisms. These will operate the turnout and the catch point. Here is the catch point one. The operating cable has not yet been set up.

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I was then going to wire up the track and get a loco running on the main line. Instead, I decided to draw the waggonway track in Templot. To do this I traced the existing track on the baseboard along with the edge of the embankment and the line of the waggonway bridge over the river. I imported this into Templot, where I matched up the outline of the track with what I had already drawn in Templot. I then added the waggonway track, carefully spacing it in relation to the main line tracks and the bridge. It is a minimum of 10ft 6in from the main line and 8ft 6in from the siding. I then printed the track plan off and tested if everything fitted OK in real life. The only minor issue was that the track didn't quite line up with the planned alignment of the bridge. I decided the difference was so small as not to matter. I then cut out the waggonway track plan and stuck it to the baseboard.

On the original, there were just a few stone blocks and rails to show where the waggonway would have gone. My amended history demanded something a little more substantial - more or less abandoned track, but still complete and visible in the vegetation. Reading about the history of old waggonways, many of them retained the track long after they closed for normal traffic. This was so they could run a train once a year to preserve the right of way. In the back of my mind I was kind of thinking a model of something like this (stationary of course) would be nice, as the annual train!

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Soon, I was laying sleepers along the trackbed

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Then came the question of what rail to use. I was thinking of a plateway, with L shaped rails and flangeless wheels. However, reading further into the history of waggonways it seemed like the longer distance ones mainly used edge rails. I decided to use some code 55 rail I bought for an aborted project a few years ago. Before long, the rails were soldered in place.

It was getting late, but I thought it would be nice to run a loco along the waggonway, just for fun. I cut insulation gaps in the sleepers, attached a controller and away we went.



Despite a 2 foot curve and no gauge widening, the Sentinel took to the track like a duck to water. I shall go to sleep very happy tonight!

[RobM]

Coming along nicely Richard.....
Heart stopping moment when the loco heads for the edge of the baseboard..... I always screw some scrap wood to the edge of the baseboard a) to protect the rails and b) to prevent any mishaps when testing......
Rob

[Noel]

a small weir in the middle

There would have to be a weir immediately below the start of the leat, to maintain the water level to the wheel, but there doesn't seem to be any reason why there would be one alongside the mill? Another mill lower down is a possibility, but then there would be another leat leaving the river just above the weir...

[Armchair Modeller]

Coming along nicely Richard.....
Heart stopping moment when the loco heads for the edge of the baseboard..... I always screw some scrap wood to the edge of the baseboard a) to protect the rails and b) to prevent any mishaps when testing......
Rob

Thanks Rob. Reckless, I agree! Too tired to think of anything that clever

a small weir in the middle

There would have to be a weir immediately below the start of the leat, to maintain the water level to the wheel, but there doesn't seem to be any reason why there would be one alongside the mill? Another mill lower down is a possibility, but then there would be another leat leaving the river just above the weir...

I think you are going to have to grant me artistic license on this one Noel . The stream needs to be high enough to clear the existing baseboard edge at one end and low enough to justify a substantial bridge for the waggonway at the other. If there has to be a reason, I guess it might be to pacify the stream in the vicinity of the mill building and reduce erosion. There are quite a number of weirs in the Peak District that seem to have a similar purpose.

[Armchair Modeller]

I'm back from the Lake District now, but with lots of distractions to come...

The visit was very fruitful, despite some poor weather. At least the Bobbin Mill at Stott Park near Lakeside was bathed in lovely sunshine. For anyone visiting the area it is a really fascinating piece of industrial archaeology, complete with original, authentic machinery and live demonstrations of bobbin making. The strong sunshine made general photos of the site slightly challenging, but here's one from the collection

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and here is what it looked like back in the old days, before colour was invented...

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The overriding interest for me was what I could learn and use on the Ulpha model, some detail for which which was based on Stott Park. The mill only used a water wheel as the solitary source of power for a relatively short period of time. Following a drought in the 1850s, a secondhand steam engine was installed. This was soon followed by a water turbine and eventually, electricity. The steam engine ran occasionally under steam until the present day, though the boiler certificate recently expired and repairs are required. One surprise was that the wood was seasoned and dried for up to 2 years in the various drying sheds, or outdoors.There were two rotary saws - one for cutting up the large logs and another for reducing smaller pieces into workable sizes for cutting out the bobbins. Here is a photo of the crane next to the larger saw.

The following day I went walking to discover a little of Dunnerdale, where Ulpha is situated. I was staying near Torver, so decided to walk from there to Coniston and over the Walna Scar Road to Dunnerdale. Unfortunately, there was low cloud clinging to the The Old Man of Coniston and all the other surrounding hills.

I was quickly enveloped in cloud before I was even half way up the climb. Intense drizzle followed, soaking into everything (I think 'mizzlin' is the local word for it). Soaked to the skin, I approached the highest point of the Walna Scar Road around 600 metres above sea level, which overlooks Dunnerdale. This was my view as I approached the summit though...

Fortunately, things improved quickly as I descended towards Seathwaite. Here was the first view of the Dale, just above the car park for the Walna Scar Road

The drizzle even stopped further down. It was clear enough for me to get all the detail shots I wanted, including rivers, streams, stone walls, buildings and rocks. Here is just one example of the interesting topography

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The low cloud never completely disappeared though, as this view late in the afternoon shows. Note the profuse ferns, which I have to model somehow!

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It is undoubtedly a very quiet and beautiful valley. I must try to go back and see it in sunshine sometime. I followed the valley down to Duddon Bridge and walked back to Torver via Broughton - a round walk of around 25 miles. By the time I got back to the B&B, everything was dry apart from my feet. The kind of dedication only Scalefour modellers do? Well, I suppose it must help get everything right, or something like that!

I will show detail from some of the other photos as I do more modelling.

In other news, I got hold of a beautiful model of a Ribble Leyland Tiger Cub with SARO body, made by Oxford. This is numbered for an Ulverston-Coniston working. The Ribble bus service up Dunnerdale was just 3 trips a day, 3 days a week and finished forever in 1960. A Post Bus and then a community bus have run intermittently, I believe, since then.

I have more or less finished the wiring on the first scenic board now. I am just waiting for some Phono sockets to finish things off.

ERRATUM

Just one slight correction from my previous post. I realised eventually that I had in fact achieved slight gauge widening on the 2 foot radius curve on the waggonway, even with roller gauges.

[jon price]

You can get paper ferns from Noch, and I think Busch, or brass ones from Scalelink who call them Bracken Fronds and scale is 1:60 to 1:100). According to your research it seems you will also need a gaggle of bedraggled walkers who have just missed the Ribble bus.