Update - No.29 - 30.03.12

 

Originally sent by email to friends and family only in Mar 2012 

 
Well hello everybody.  Just when you thought you'd finally gotten rid of me here I am again....sorry!

Corky in the Middle!

This is a significant update to the Corkscrew-Lines story for many reasons so I suppose I should hit you all with the big news first.  For the last couple of weeks I have been working away from home and if everything pans out as I expect it to, I'll continue working away from home for many more months to come.  I have changed career and I have now started an extensive period of training shared between North Hampshire and West Yorkshire.  This means I currently have almost no spare time for modelling.....sad face!  A further change is on the horizon for Mrs Corky too as her employer is looking to relocate to Sussex in a little over a years time so all in all, everything is currently in a bit of a state of flux.  It is probable we will take the pragmatic view of our situation and look to move home sometime in the next year.  With this in mind, I have reluctantly decided to temporarily halt all further expansion of the Corkscrew-Lines.

Now don't despair my lovely little Corkettes, this is not the end of our adventure, simply a time to pause and rest before I continue again in a new location on a future date with renewed vigour!.....Hellfire!!  I intend to carry on with the Corkscrew-Lines whether it be in another garage, a shed, a bedroom etc, etc, but as a house move looks likely, it seems prudent to stop further construction at this stage to avoid unduly damaging baseboards or trackwork during a move.  I will from this point on be working on modifying stock (fitting DCC chips, kadee couplers etc) and building kits and producing plans of the layout.  For this reason, the frequency of updates will inevitably slow....Hooray I hear you all cry - you can all be very hurtful at times !!!

So what is my latest choice of railway career?......check out the shots below for a few clues.......Oh My Lords!!  If things don't work out there are still a few Railway jobs I've yet to have a go at!

 

Construction Progress - The Portable Northern Loop - "Turbo Banjo"!!

The latest wacky creation to emerge from the Corkscrew Laboratory is a portable return or balloon loop.  This loop of track can be easily connected to the top of the helix to allow trains to climb the grade and return down it again without having to be run round making the layout continuous run.  The idea is as the layout progresses and further track is laid, the balloon loop, or "Turbo-Banjo" as I have christened it, can simply be moved around the layout and connected to wherever the new northern end of the line is.  I can add another few feet of main line run and then connect the Turbo-Banjo always giving me a continuous run for playing trains.....simples!

 

The Banjo is currently sitting atop of the peninsula boards and I have spent many hours already watching trains successfully ascend and descend the helix via it.  It is constructed from a single sheet of surplus 12mm plywood which has been attacked with a jig-saw to produce the distinctive snow shoe shape.  Once strengthening beams and corner brackets were attached, I laid the trackbed and track in the usual way.  Finally, I fitted another Hex Valley frog juicer to deal with the electrical issues associated with opposite running rails meeting themselves and now the short circuit is automatically dealt with totally seamlessly.

It works brilliantly and is ultra light and portable - all in all an excellent portable "Turbo-Banjo" type thingy that works a treat!  If you fancy one yourself get in touch and I'll give you a healthy friends and family discount.....Hellfire!

Regular Corkette visitors over the last month or so have been the Rooster and Napier-Boy who is demonstrating the art of speed tea drinking in the attached snaps......Dreadful!

 

 

New Arrivals on the Corkscrew-Lines...

No new arrivals on the line since the last update mainly because I've not had the time to purchase anything......Mrs Corky thinks this is a splendid state of affairs - I do not!

 

In the next thrilling instalment...
 

No idea when the next update will arrive or what it will contain but rest assured - there will be one.  Watch this space my little lovelies....Hellfire!  Life is quite lonely right now at times and I'm missing Sarah when I'm not at home so please keep in touch.  It's always great to hear from you all.

That's all for now folks!!

Oh, one final thing.  This is a message for the one and only Bob "Maybach" Tiller.  Shocked and saddened to hear you are not firing on all cylinders right now mate.  Hope the fitters get you back on the mainline again soon......all the best.

Corky

Update - No.28 - 02.03.12

Originally sent as an email to friends and family only in Mar 2012
 

Hi Guys.....Did you miss me?

Man that's cold!

I hope you enjoy the photos this time.  I thought I'd share some local wintry scenes (minus 16 degrees....brrrrr!) and some shots taken during recent trips to Lincoln and London because I'm told not all of you are completely engrossed by my photos of ironmongery and wiring.  I personally don't understand how ironmongery doesn't excite people, but I am a man who listens to his fans and I have even included a shot of a cute pussy cat for the ladies...ha ha!

It's cold in the other direction too

Lincoln re-signalled

Lincoln re-signalled

Tammy

Waterloo of course!

Poor old Mrs Corky missed out on the last update and was feeling pretty low.  Then Rooster, during a recent get together, showed Sarah how she could get the Corkscrew-Lines updates via her clever, swanky phone!...You can see her delight at being able to keep up to speed with ironmongery and baseboard developments at any time wherever she is.  You'll also see how Lesley's face lit up when I told her the next update was only a couple of weeks away...Dreadful!  Don't forget I'm only here to serve all you wonderful Corkettes!

"Oh look, it's the Corkscrew-Lines on the internet...fantastic!"

Lesley is so happy to be a Corkette!

Wibble came over last weekend to play trains and a thoroughly enjoyable time was had by all.  He brought his latest acquisition along, a very impressive and extremely noisy Bachmann large logo Tractor...what a beast!  Much thrashing ensued and in a final graphic illustration of how impressive modern model diesel locos are these days, the loco charged to the top of the helix with a train of 13 mk1 coaches no less.  The gauntlet has been thrown down and I now need to fettle my own fleet and produce a loco of my own that can take 14 up the grade...watch this space...Oh My Lords!!

Hellfire - Wibble reporting for duty!

Wibble's new toy!

Tractor power - load 13...What a beast!

Check out the Totaliser and you'll see I now have a non stop running time for a train from the top of the helix, down to storage, then back up the helix of about six and a half minutes for a freight train running at a realistic speed.  This is all "in the dark running" as I haven't even started on the scenic levels yet...Crikey!



Construction Progress - Taming The Helix - Helix Tamed!!

Phase one of the helix from the storage level to level 2 is now complete and functioning perfectly my friends.  Oh yes, the very heart of the Corkscrew-Lines is beating strongly with a full 5 turns of double track main line now installed. 

Does it work?.....Can typical trains climb it without incurring a hernia?.....Oh yes, it's a complete success.....Dreadful, Oh my Lords, Hellfire, and definitely - Phew!

The Helix with 4 turns added - Nice!

The Corkmeister Himself deep within his lair!

Test running with the first Helix phase completed...Groovy!

Round and round it goes...deep joy!

New Arrivals on the Corkscrew-Lines
   
Those Corkettes who have good memories (and actually read these updates....lol) will no doubt remember I waxed lyrically over a wonderful preserved W&M railbus last year which I travelled on during the North Norfolk Railway diesel gala.  Well, at last, the Heljan model of a similar machine has now been released and one is sitting in the layout room waiting to be chipped for DCC.  First impressions are nothing but good....it's gorgeous, and oh my word, it's heavy.  You'll see her in the photos and hopefully she'll be trundling around the Corkscrew-Lines in a few days time.

I sold 5 Heljan class 52 "Westerns" recently via Ebay and made quite a healthy profit.  I don't think everybody realises a new state of the art model of a Western is due shortly from Dapol and my expected low interest in these elderly Heljan models never actually materialised.  I decided to start a rolling program of upgrading my loco fleet with the installation of improved DCC chips and the fitting of Kadee couplers.  Using the cash from the Westerns I have purchased a small batch of DCC chips to evaluate and test before I settle on a standard chip for my fleet.  You can see the chips in the photos along with another piece of DCC hardware....a Tam Valley Hex Frog Juicer - yes, it really is called that, I kid you not!  This is my second Frog Juicer and a wonderful piece of kit it is too.  This clever little box of tricks automatically detects and then cancels the short circuit which is inevitable when you have balloon loops on a layout as I do and the outside rail becomes the inner rail.  I can now proceed and produce a second "portable" balloon loop which will let me begin continuous running so I can just watch the trains go by....again and again and again!

Railcars, Couplers & Chips...Yummy

 A special mention to...

A big thank you to my oldest friend, and my best mate at school - Mark Lyons.  I've known Mark since the late 1970's and in our teens we travelled all over the country chasing trains and buses like there was no tomorrow.  We took literally thousands of colour transparencies and black and white photos and then spent hours suffocating ourselves on developer and fixer chemicals in makeshift darkrooms under the stairs....those were the days!  I've just started the process of scanning all my early photographs and I found one shot of Mark posing next to a wonderful road sign in Scotland in 1987.  Check out the totally bemused Allegro driver in the background...priceless!
 

Thanks for all the great memories Mark and I'm delighted you are now embarking on a model railway project of your own (East Devon in the 1950's.....good choice) so I'm looking forward to numerous running days to come.


In the next thrilling instalment... 

As I touched on in the new arrivals section, my next move will be to construct another "northern" balloon loop so trains can climb the helix and then descend it without having to stop or be run-round.  The northern loop will be movable as I progress up and around the room being nudged forwards again and again as the scenic sections are completed.  Watch this space my little lovelies....Hellfire!

That's all for now folks!!
Corky