Owning a Steam Engine does not mean you have to have deep pocket, read on. In the past couple of years an increasing number of club members have become interested in 16mm: Imperial foot scale locomotives which can be gas fired, coal fired or battery powered. These locomotives and rolling stock are based on narrow gauge railways such as the Ffestiniog railway in North Wales. 16 mm trains (also called garden rail) run on 32 mm (0 Gauge) or 45 mm (Gauge 1) gauge track and being based on narrow gauge railways The motivation for a 16 mm outdoor track stemmed from the fact that track built in 2011 was not a practical solution as a \u2018turn-up and run\u2019 facility, which took a considerable amount of time to set up, assuming a suitable location was available along with the need to be able to access the school.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”327″ alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”331″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472457079{margin-top: 10px !important;}”]\n The committee recognised this short coming and after suitable lobbying, allocated a sizeable sum of money to construct an outdoor track. There then followed a protracted period of meetings of small groups generating lots of diagrams and notes on methods of construction but a reluctance to set the building process in motion. In late 2014 the committee let it be known that if the funds set aside for the new facility was not taken up in early 2015, they would be reallocated. This galvanised the 16 mm members into action and following a meeting held in November, an action plan was drawn up and despite another lull in activity a small group decided action was needed and set about finally building the track. The desire by some members to have the track go through the small garden area was resisted on the grounds of the level of maintenance that would follow. The decision was to go for an oval-ish track set inside the small loop of the ground level track and weave as necessary around the trees and bushes that were there. The plan was for a track of around 39 m in length with the 32 mm track on the outside and 45 mm on the inside. The construction technique used was 110 mm soil pipes filled and set into a concrete base. A timber framework was fabricated on the posts, with the roofing battens laid on top to form the track bed. An ambitious 5 weekend build schedule was proposed but many doubted it could be done especially as most members were usually only on site for 3 hours on a Saturday morning. A few optimists believed it was just an issue of organisation.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”330″ alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472499099{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472610151{margin-top: 10px !important;}”]\n Construction began on 21st February 2015 with the first Saturday being a flurry of activity and set the tone for the rest of the build, with no protracted discussions about the route, position of posts or how deep holes should be. The strong turnout also allowed for self-forming groups to establish route surveyors, hole diggers and bush-clearers amongst\u00a0 \u00a0the skill sets. A small group of members communicated by email during the week to resolve any potential technical problems with the work for the upcoming\u00a0 \u00a0Saturday. Great efficiencies were achieved as the gang became expert at various tasks. This led to rapid progress being made with production line efficiency.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Members could see progress and through good communication knew what tasks they had to undertake when arriving on site.\u00a0 The same team working ethic\u00a0 \u00a0continued as we moved into the woodworking phase. The sounds of busy chop saws rung out across the site, and very quickly the track bed started to take\u00a0 \u00a0shape. By\u00a0 the close of the 4th\u00a0<\/sup>Saturday the track bed was completed and the first sections of track were beginning to be laid.\u00a0 The club were amazed and\u00a0 \u00a0immensely\u00a0 proud of the speed at which the structure had gone up. The doubters finally accepted that the schedule was achievable.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472648052{margin-top: 10px !important;}”]\n The final stage was completed on the 5th<\/sup>\u00a0Saturday as the two tracks were finally completed \u2013\u00a0On Saturday 28th<\/sup>\u00a0March 2015 the track was formally declared open.<\/b><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”18″]\n Due to the small number of active 16mm members in the club at the time of the initial build,\u00a0 it was judged prudent to see what the level of interest the new track would generate before committing additional money on the layout. However, the outdoor track was an instant success and drew in new members as well as seeing existing members switching or adding this gauge to their repertoires. The original circuit design only had one passing loop and this was for the 32mm gauge.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472789694{margin-top: 10px !important;}”]\n Our \u00a0idea was to improve the track by add a passing loop to the 45mm gauge track, this would be achieved either by building it on the inner side of the circuit or putting it where the 32mm loop was and build a new 32mm steaming bay.\u00a0 A request was put to the committee for a small sum of money to complete the task.\u00a0 As often happens in these cases ideas and options began to develop with increasingly grandiose solutions involving 5 x 32mm steaming bays being proposed.\u00a0 To sort out the solution, a 16mm sub-committee was formed and they came up with the design to be adopted.\u00a0 This design had 5 steaming bays and was going to cost double the original figure agreed with the club committee, as a compromise, they eventually agreed to fund a reduced 3 bay design.\u00a0\u00a0Phase 2 commence on Thursday 18th<\/sup>\u00a0February\u00a0 2016\u2013 this being the school half term so we could get on site during the day.\u00a0 The built technique was the same as before, with a group of 4 members working over the Thursday and Friday to complete the basic structure (posts and lateral) thus allowing woodworking to start on the first Saturday.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472813135{margin-top: 10px !important;}”]\n The completion of the track bed structure occurred on 27th<\/sup>\u00a0Feb with the final stage of the 2 lifting bridges to allow entry into the area between the steaming bay and the main track being constructed . Installing the track gave a heart-stopping moment when the designed alignment did not go quite to plan, resulting in one point ending up on the lifting bridge.\u00a0 However, the problems were quick resolved and a slight readjustment of the points on the inner two steaming bays allowed us to move the point off the bridge.\u00a0 The original funding was for 3 steaming bays but the 16mm sub-committee thought that it would make\u00a0sense to attempt to complete the original design of 5 bays.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472834097{margin-top: 10px !important;}”]\n A quick calculation of the extra cost was undertaken and divided by the number of likely responders;<\/strong>\u00a0a call was sent out of members asking for those willing to contribute \u00a315 towards the project. The response was overwhelming and the required additional funding achieved.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”333″ alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472874526{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472911398{margin-top: 10px !important;}”]\n The 5 steaming bay extension was finally completed on Saturday 12th<\/sup>\u00a0March 2016.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”334″ alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472943818{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”166″ alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640473025202{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1640460574481{border-top-width: 10px !important;border-right-width: 10px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;border-left-width: 10px !important;background-color: #004c7f !important;border-left-color: #d3de66 !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #d3de66 !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #d3de66 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #d3de66 !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;border-radius: 30px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1641034629334{margin-top: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-radius: 15px !important;}”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”18″] 16mm Club Section [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center”] Owning a Steam Engine does…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-259","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry","no-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1829,"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/259\/revisions\/1829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wadmes.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nlend themselves to scratch building especially for the wagons and carriages. The locomotives come in a wide range of prices to suit all types of pockets from \u2018build your own\u2019 very cheap battery powers runners to very expensive and detailed radio-controlled gas or coal-fired models.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”155″ alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640470222597{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center”]In 2015 the Weymouth club built an outdoor track (see picture) and with its core of keen 16 mm modeller is always readily and willing to welcome new members and to offer help and advice. If you would like to find out more about this scale of modelling then please look at: http:\/\/www.16mm.org.uk\/<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640470531648{margin-top: 10px !important;}”]In addition to activities at the Weymouth club, there is a Dorset Group of the 16 mm Association. This Group meet regularly in the private garden of their members for running trains and socialising. The beauty of 16 mm scale is that the locos and rolling stock are easy to transport and quick to get running.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”18″]\nTrack Construction \u2013 Phase One<\/h1>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640470795851{margin-top: 10px !important;}”]\n
Track Construction \u2013 Phase Two<\/h1>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”332″ alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472740447{margin-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_column_text responsive_text=”true” color=”#004c7f” font_size=”14″ text_align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1640472764443{margin-top: 10px !important;}”]\n