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Karen's Little Railway
United Kingdom
Приєднався 9 чер 2016
Karen's Little Railway is a private 7 1/4 inch gauge garden railway in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Our steam and diesel locomotives and rolling stock are in the 'minimal gauge' style, perhaps best described as being genuine 12" to the foot narrow gauge rather than being scaled down miniatures of something else.
Two Train Operation on Karen's Little Railway
We don't often run two trains at once on Karen's Little Railway. The main line track plan (available at www.karenslittlerailway.co.uk/trackplan.php or at the end of this video) is a figure of eight folded over on itself.
It is easy to have two trains travelling in the same direction as each other around the main line, as shown in the first part of this video. The track layout helps to disguise the fact that the trains are simply 'tail chasing' each other.
Although there is only one passing loop provided, it is possible (with some point switching) to run two trains in opposite directions. The second part of this video attempts to show how this is done. One train (in this case the battery electric 'Minx', hauling 2 wagons) travels anti-clockwise around the original oval route. The other train follows the main line - starting from the passing loop, it starts travelling clockwise around the original oval, branches right onto the balloon loop, then right again onto the ladybird line, before finally re-joining the original oval. With some careful timing the two trains can effectively pass each other in two places per circuit.
I found it difficult to keep the trains moving continuously whilst filming and acting as signalman, but I hope the second part of this video gives an impression of how two trains can be run in opposite directions at the same time on the railway.
It is easy to have two trains travelling in the same direction as each other around the main line, as shown in the first part of this video. The track layout helps to disguise the fact that the trains are simply 'tail chasing' each other.
Although there is only one passing loop provided, it is possible (with some point switching) to run two trains in opposite directions. The second part of this video attempts to show how this is done. One train (in this case the battery electric 'Minx', hauling 2 wagons) travels anti-clockwise around the original oval route. The other train follows the main line - starting from the passing loop, it starts travelling clockwise around the original oval, branches right onto the balloon loop, then right again onto the ladybird line, before finally re-joining the original oval. With some careful timing the two trains can effectively pass each other in two places per circuit.
I found it difficult to keep the trains moving continuously whilst filming and acting as signalman, but I hope the second part of this video gives an impression of how two trains can be run in opposite directions at the same time on the railway.
Переглядів: 4 830
Відео
Building a wheelchair accessible carriage for our 7 1/4 inch gauge garden railway
Переглядів 1,9 тис.6 місяців тому
We are in the process of building a wheelchair accessible carriage for Karen's Little Railway. The aim is to build an end-loading carriage with a completely flat floor, rather than the more usual side loading well-wagon type (with a lowered floor between the bogies) which is a more common design. This is a work in progress and we do not know whether we will be successful in meeting all (or any)...
A longer tour around Karen's Little Railway, our 7 1/4 inch minimal gauge garden railway
Переглядів 9818 місяців тому
A driver's eye journey around the longer circuit of Karen's Little Railway, on board our 'Minx' locomotive. Includes a brief description of some of the civil engineering features we have built and hope to add in the future. For more details visit our website at www.karenslittlerailway.co.uk/ The video was originally recorded at the beginning of October 2023.
Karen's Little Railway in the snow (including a cab ride), 7 1/4 inch 'minimal' gauge garden railway
Переглядів 3998 місяців тому
On the day before Christmas Eve 2023 it was cold and snowing. Here's a video of a trip around the original oval circuit, followed by a driver's view of the same journey.
Mini Minx Mystery - wheel spin on our new build 7 1/4 inch 'minimal' gauge garden railway locomotive
Переглядів 4 тис.11 місяців тому
This is a short tale that may be useful to builders of locomotives of any size, not just 7 1/4 inch 'minimal' gauge garden railways like Karen's Little Railway. Having recently built a battery-electric locomotive named 'Minx', I was disappointed to find that when pulling a load it appeared to get wheelspin as soon there was any more than a slight gradient and soon came to a halt. I was puzzled ...
The original oval - a short tour on Karen's Little Railway - 7 1/4 inch minimal gauge garden railway
Переглядів 6 тис.Рік тому
All aboard our newly completed 'Minx' battery-electric locomotive for a test drive and tour around the flat section of Karen's Little Railway - a simple oval with a single siding leading to the engine shed. This is a journey around what was the original route. Featuring a bridge built in the local style, and showing where the 'golden spike' was fixed to the final sleeper which completed the oval.
Building a layover crossing for our 7 1/4" minimal gauge garden railway
Переглядів 9 тис.Рік тому
How we built a temporary track to bridge other tracks in order to reach a stock shed on Karen's Little Railway. This is a useful alternative to having to build railway points (or railroad switches, if you prefer) and crossings in order to connect to adjacent tracks or sidings. A tapered ramp leads onto a portable track panel that can be laid to join onto a nearby track at a slightly higher leve...
KLR 'Minx' Build - a simple 7 1/4 inch gauge battery electric locomotive for our garden railway
Переглядів 13 тис.Рік тому
My first attempt at a descriptive video, so please excuse all the technical faults with the filming. I think my skills improve and the presentation gets better toward the end of the video! I forgot to mention in the video that this locomotive was built using some parts from my earlier 'Imp' locomotive and the layout of the drive and controls is based on a locomotive design by Colin Edmondson al...
A Cautionary Tale
Переглядів 6162 роки тому
A cautionary tale. Rupert thought it would be a good idea to deliver a wagon load of willow saplings without connecting the wagon. Gravity shunting wouldn't be a problem. Karen thought otherwise.....
Testing Our New Crossings
Переглядів 1,3 тис.2 роки тому
The KLR "crash test dummy" tests the flangeways on newly installed barrow crossings.
KLR Cab Ride
Переглядів 4843 роки тому
A cab ride around the railway consisting of clockwise run around the main circuit, changing direction by running around the balloon loop part of the circuit, and then an anti-clockwise run around the main circuit to end up where we started but facing in the opposite direction. Normal practice after completing such a journey is to disconnect the locomotive from it's carriage/train, then take adv...
KLR Passenger's View
Переглядів 3723 роки тому
A passenger's view during a slow trundle around the main circuit on a cold evening. Spring 2021.
Worm's Eye View
Переглядів 1 тис.3 роки тому
A worm's eye journey around Karen's Little Railway. Watch out for pesky ducks! This trip starts from the usual 'station stop', heads off around the balloon loop, then completes a trip around the main circuit in what Karen considers "the wrong direction" ending up back at the proposed station, stopping just short of the partially built points that will eventually lead to the turntable. There are...
KLR Introduction
Переглядів 1,8 тис.3 роки тому
An introduction to Karen's Little Railway in video outtakes. A not too serious selection of video clips showing developments on our 7 1/4 inch gauge garden railway.
Out & Back at Speed
Переглядів 2633 роки тому
A sped up journey around Karen's Little Railway following the 'out and back route'. This shows how switching points enables a trip over the whole length of the track in both directions without stopping. We reckon this gives a run of approaching a quarter of a mile in what is a small space for a 7 1/4 inch gauge railway. Having completed this journey the locomotive can run around the train and r...
Looks great. Well done.
Any updates on the wheelchair carriage? As seen on BBC iplayer. Seen ur last one on ur channel, but nuthin since.
Work stalled at the end of last year when the weather became too bad to work outside - our 'carriage and wagon works' is a table in the garden. The poor weather earlier this year means we're still catching up with other (non railway) jobs, so there's no more progress on the carriage to report at the moment. We'll post an update when we've done some more work on it, but that may not be until 2025. If others are looking for our previous update mentioned in the question above, here's a link ua-cam.com/video/GBDO5zVVCRo/v-deo.html
Outstanding scale track work👍
Magnificent! I'd like to see water under those bridges though😉😉💜💜
Water does sometimes collect under the 'simple deck bridge', but it quickly drains away. Unfortunately the ground conditions (tons of stone dumped into boggy ground over the last 100 years or so) mean building water courses (or anything requiring grading) is difficult.
@@karenslittlerailway Understood. Best left as is then re civil engineering if it's boggy, best it drains away. Perhaps plant up with something that looks like, represents, water🤔 Just a thought ✌️👍😊 It's a wonderful line regardless 💜💜
@@musoseven8218 Thank you for your kind comments and thoughts to be pondered upon
Are the swans members of the railroad crew? Joking! Really fantastic to see them there.
Nice layout. Starting both trains in the same direction one needs to use the triangle and reverse to run in opposite directions. Lots of fun on such a limited space.
Yes, the layout does provide quite a few options in the limited space available, but the 'triangle' cannot be used as a reversing triangle as things stand. At present you have to use the line labelled 'balloon loop' to reverse the direction of trains. Plans are afoot for some changes (not shown) to the track plan.
@@karenslittlerailway Then You need to do some shunting, disconnecting the loco and move it to the other end of the train tp make go in the other direction, as I can see. Nothing wrong with that.
Wow. Really? Okay...
What? No headlamps on the locos??? 🙂 Gorgeous countryside!
We've stuck some of those magnetic battery powered LEDs on the metal buffer beams of the red loco in the past and have a pair of bardic lamps with changeable lens colours to put on the other loco as a simple low-tech directional lighting solution as soon as we have fitted some lamp brackets
Some block signals would be fun! ❤
Some sort of signalling may be installed sometime in the future
Add about 4 medium strength hinges & 1/4”x 3” plate to the leading edge of the ramp. This should lessen the bump when loading & make for a better transition between the 2….
320 views 604 subs 19 likes (23 hours after uploading) underrated video
I just love this little train. So simple yet all so cute. I just love it. Thank you.
This is so cool 😎🚂
I like the mini moto brake calipers. Nicely made, cable operated and an axel disk is easy to make.
Good idea. I did something similar idea on my earlier 'Imp' locomotive, though I used push bike brake parts with the callipers acting on the sides of a pulley that was part of the drive train.
@@karenslittlerailway yes, it’s quick and simple, we have a similar thing, but John built a scissor with four bike brake blocks onto disks for the ride on coaches. I can move my wheels between seven and five inch, the central disk makes that simple :o)
Excellent vid. I can see it would be better as a well deck low loader. Maybe so close to the ground in the middle that it can’t tip over very much. Nice build :o)
Absolutely magic and charming. Yes, the waste from minor earth works never fails to amaze me. Well done.
it may be easier to pull the wheelchair up the ramp "backwards" so the large wheel can manage the bump easier.
Thank you, that's a good idea to try. We are still working on a solution for making less of a bump
wonderful
That was really interesting and well made video. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you
Whats the investments in the track layout and its length Thanks
I would estimate track length is less than 200 yards, but I'm not sure without measuring it (it's dark now). I'm not sure what you mean by investments in the track layout, but if you want to know what it is made of and how much that would cost, the best I can answer is with a description of the materials needed and you can find out how much that would be from local suppliers. I have no idea how much it has cost me in total, but steel is now approaching 10 times more expensive than when I started. The track is made out of 20 foot lengths of 30 x 12mm flat steel bar with wooden 3" X 2" (or near metric equivalent) 18" long sleepers at 1 foot spacing and the rail is held onto the sleepers using suitable chairs from www.pnp-railways.co.uk/ plus suitable screws to hold the chairs to the sleepers. I put 1 metre wide weed suppressant under the ballast and the ballast itself is 20 mm down (meaning mixed size pieces that fit through a 20mm sieve) crushed local stone (granite would be good) from a quarry a few miles up the road. I hope that answers your question!
I am a big fan of Karens Little Railway. I am in particular intrigued by your minx locomotive. Can you tell me the wheelbase of this little loco and does it have any issues with your 16 foot radius curves? I have 20 foot radius curves on my 7 1/2" railway. Love to build one like it. Thanks Dale
Thanks for your kind comments. Minx has a 21 inch wheelbase and has no issues with tight radius curves, but we do have generous gauge widening and wide treads on the wheels. The wheels are 6 inch diameter at the flange and 1 1/8 inch thick I just checked the 16 ft radius curve and was surprised to find I widened the gauge by 1/4 inch around that curve. I suspect it probably doesn't need to be quite that dramatic and judging by what others have done 1/8 inch (3mm) gauge widening might be sufficient (see ua-cam.com/video/L9udG95SjmI/v-deo.html for a good illustration and useful comments). Experimentation is the only way we find out what works for us. I hope this helps.
Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, my track is already in place with self-gauging ties. So, there are no economical means of widening the gauge on curves. Perhaps I can go to 18-20" wheelbase on my 20' radius curved track. I suspect the best is to field test a mock-up with different length wheelbases. I custom built my first locomotive as a 1:5 scale model of a gas-hydraulic plymouth narrow gauge switcher. Though a nice model, it is not rideable. One must sit on a trailing car. I like your vision of a real railroad that just happens to be extreme narrow gauge (7 1/4"). The engineer actually pilots his locomotive. Bravo! Thanks again, Dale I
@@bustinboilers Yes, a field mock up sounds like the best way of finding out what wheelbase will go around your curves. Small (sub 15" gauge) extreme narrow gauge but real working railways have been coined 'minimal gauge' in recent times. There is a Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/MinimalGaugeRailways which might interest you or provide some inspiration. Here in the UK there is a commercially available sit on locomotive that has a 12" wheelbase called Scamp. Designed by 7 1/4" gauge Society member Colin Edmondson this (and several even more 'minimal' designs of his) are available as a set of parts or ready to run from CMD Engineering www.miniature-trains.co.uk/shop/ . There is another Facebook group which has information about 'Scamp' and derivatives at facebook.com/groups/449895411876067 . I have no connection with either Colin Edmondson or CMD Engineering other than being someone who has been inspired by them and used their parts in my own variations on a theme.
Fab! Problem solved. 😊
May I ask...Is the track all made by yourself? Is it rail profile or flat bay? And if so how is it fixed to the sleepers? Many thanks
Yes all the track is made by ourselves. It is 30 x 12mm flat bar fixed to wooden sleepers using PNP Railways chairs for bar rail. You can read more about how we built the railway on our website at www.karenslittlerailway.co.uk/ including making points. The PNP chairs are designed to pinch onto the rail to hold it in place. In our experience they work well if the ballast is kept well packed around the sleepers, and it's a good idea to avoid walking on the sleepers. The PNP website can be found at www.pnp-railways.co.uk/
@@karenslittlerailway oh that's a fantastic reply. I'll have a look at all that later. Thanks ever so much for sharing the info !
You're very welcome @@gs425
Its 2am and i am lost in UA-cam land, cool video though
New sub , love what your doing
Beautiful line❤❤. Carry passengers, validate tickets and invest money in further expansion 😀
This is a cool project! I'm not sure why UA-cam recommended this to me, but it's a lot of fun!
Well done must have been literally freezing👍
I'm curious what the overall length is? And the wheel base length
Overall length is 4 feet, wheelbase 21 inches from (possibly faulty) memory. It's cold and dark outside so I haven't checked
Do you know what the caliber on the ammo boxes is? I love the way they look as the body
@@hi1172 They were simply described as steel ammo boxes approx. 19x17x15inches when I bought them. A search on the net suggests they are British Army L15A1 ammo boxes. Hope that helps.
Joyous!✌️💜👍
Do you think you could do a coverage on how your wagons and coach were made? I'm looking into making up some 7 1/4 stock of my own and I'm currently looking at various references
I'll try to think of something. They are very simple - the wagons have no suspension at all, and the carriage is built around some bogies obtained from e-bay
Wow wonderful ❤
I enjoyed this new visit to your Railway vía UA-cam. I am 79 and white haired too. It's rewarding to see another old timer creating something beautiful for a richer life.
How fortunate to have enough space for your hobby! Such fun!
Yes, I am fortunate to have the space I have got, but others have fitted 7 1/4 inch gauge railways into smaller spaces
Is he a scientist 😮 he looks very intellectual person
What a fantastic layout,
Thank you
Why is this video so relaxing? Well it is
Get a broom and start rowing!
I've thought of trying sails - it's quite a windy spot here.
Super kolejka🙂. Planuje Pan pokazać coś więcej? Na przykład jak dokładnie wyglada mocowanie szyn i jak są zrobione rozjazdy? Pozdrawiam z Polski 🇵🇱
Yes, I will be adding more. Some track and turnout building details are on our web site at www.karenslittlerailway.co.uk/construction.php
@@karenslittlerailway Dziękuję za odpowiedź 🤝
A useful simple loco to get things done!
Waaawo iam so happy to see your video, please mak video how to mak wheel 🙏🙏 watching from india
Very nice video
This is just great.
Love the railway and those stars and stripes trousers. Thank you..
That is just magic.
Impressive sound, the "clonk" when the direction is switched. It's like from a 17 ton railcar! Well built.
l used a Jim Crow before !! Bit bigger than that though !! Or watched the process as l was part of the team !! In Kent in the 90s !
The Fire inspector will be happy when he turns up to find all his Fire Buckets filled with earth and plants !
That's beautiful!
Beautiful layout with a beautiful backdrop!