If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

Future covered workshop and storage space (especially for carriages) ?

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by toplight, Sep 5, 2017.

  1. gwalkeriow

    gwalkeriow Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 17, 2009
    Messages:
    1,703
    Likes Received:
    1,727
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired.
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    We have solar panels on the roof of train story at Havenstreet, the budget was enough for a commercial array but unfortunately (good in many respects ) on a sunny day the island exports electricity to the mainland and the cables at the time did not have sufficient capacity. We had to settle for a domestic arrangement, perhaps it is time to revisit the idea.
     
    T'Bogger likes this.
  2. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2008
    Messages:
    26,099
    Likes Received:
    57,413
    Location:
    LBSC 215
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    One factor might be the physical orientation of the roof, which would be site-specific.

    I’m not aware that any of the sheds on the Bluebell have solar panels; however, the main carriage shed at Sheffield Park certainly has rain water recovery, the water thus recovered being used to supplement the loco supply and thereby slightly reduce reliance on the river. As I understand, using it requires a bit of juggling round with boiler chemistry because the pH of rainwater is not the same as the river. AFAIK, rain water harvesting was in the planning conditions for building the shed.

    Tom
     
    T'Bogger likes this.
  3. gwalkeriow

    gwalkeriow Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 17, 2009
    Messages:
    1,703
    Likes Received:
    1,727
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired.
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Train Story also has rainwater harvesting.
     
    T'Bogger likes this.
  4. BrightonBaltic

    BrightonBaltic Member

    Joined:
    May 26, 2011
    Messages:
    724
    Likes Received:
    242
  5. T'Bogger

    T'Bogger New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2009
    Messages:
    96
    Likes Received:
    118
    Occupation:
    Design Engineer
    Location:
    England :-)
    That is a great idea to capture rainwater for the steam locos. With carriage sheds that is a lot of surface area to capture the water from.

    As for a grass roof. That would be an interesting one. Might take a bit of mowing though. Certainly give you something to do for the weekend! Hehehe

    A regards solar panels it is very much dependent on facing south ideally and having them at the optimum angle, but it might be and ideal way to reduce running costs for such a shed.

    From experience, does anyone know what the first step are in getting on the road to building a carriage shed? Drawing lines on paper is the easy bit, but I'm guessing there is a fair amount of red tape to deal with before you can turn a sod of soil. What would the shopping list be? Thanks for any thoughts.
     
  6. BrightonBaltic

    BrightonBaltic Member

    Joined:
    May 26, 2011
    Messages:
    724
    Likes Received:
    242
    The whole point of a grass roof is you DON'T mow it... you leave it to become a wildflower meadow (or in R-R's case, plant it up as such with carefully selected species) and thereby encourage wildlife, biodiversity and all that shizz. I'm not convinced solar is worth it in this country tbh... what I would CERTAINLY consider would be a ground-source heat pump. When you're disturbing a large acreage of soil, you've got the opportunity to run the pipework, and the initial capital investment becomes worth it in the long run. It won't provide enough heat in winter, though, so you'll need some kind of solid-fuel boiler then.
     
  7. JayDee

    JayDee Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2017
    Messages:
    354
    Likes Received:
    272
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Swadlincote
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Solar's a bit of a funny one for the UK as obviously 54% of our days are overcast. That being said, the UK probably averages about 10% or so efficiency when using commerical solar panels. Meaning it's 10% we're not burning on fossil fuels or nuclear. Your house panels are probably only about 8% but again, it's 8% you ain't burning.

    Germany is the leader on solar panels and they have a similar climate to us.
     
  8. gwilialan

    gwilialan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2012
    Messages:
    1,658
    Likes Received:
    3,891
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Out there somewhere
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Don't forget though, you have to factor in the additional cost of the stronger roofing and supports to take the extra weight...

    and if you don't mow - in a dry summer - on a steam line - all that long dry grass on the roof close to the chimneys..... :eek:
     
  9. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    Messages:
    12,172
    Likes Received:
    11,493
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Brighton&Hove
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    "Grass Roof" is something of a misnomer. Although you can arrange a putting green atop your building should you want to, the more usual choice is a far less labout intensive selection of planting. Sedum, also known as stone-crop or house leek is a very popular choice ..... and you won't even need to hoik your lawnmower up onto the roof!
     
    BrightonBaltic likes this.
  10. Railboy

    Railboy New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2016
    Messages:
    166
    Likes Received:
    238
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Hamburg
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
  11. ghost

    ghost Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    May 29, 2006
    Messages:
    3,967
    Likes Received:
    5,064
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    N.Ireland
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Just to add a correction to this - the building is to be a 2 road 4 vehicle shed. 3 of the vehicle spaces will be reserved for the 125 group. It will not be a 'massive covered track' and will not cover all the group's vehicles.

    Keith
     
  12. Johann Marsbar

    Johann Marsbar Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2016
    Messages:
    1,587
    Likes Received:
    1,998
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Suffolk
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Was surprised to see today that the existing RVP rolling stock storage building at Swithland Sidings on the Great Central looks if it is going to be doubled in size to accomodate GCR owned vehicles as well. It gets a mention in the C&W report in the latest edition of Main Line, stating that it will eventually provide space for 12 GCR and 12 RVP vehicles. It's currently a 12 vehicle size and used by RVP only. Provision was made to enlarge the original building when it was constructed a few years back.
    A very sensible step to take.
     
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2018
  13. T'Bogger

    T'Bogger New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2009
    Messages:
    96
    Likes Received:
    118
    Occupation:
    Design Engineer
    Location:
    England :-)
    That's great! The GCR must be one of the last of the big preserved railways not to have proper carriage storage. It is a must have for every railway, really, to make the vehicles last. Of course its the usual money and time thing... Still great they are building one :)
     
    paulhitch likes this.
  14. Hawkeye28

    Hawkeye28 New Member

    Joined:
    May 24, 2018
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    New Plymouth, New Zealand
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
     
  15. pete12000

    pete12000 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2006
    Messages:
    914
    Likes Received:
    327
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Renewable technologies are excellent concepts, we used to have a National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies in the UK and the government launched The Green Deal loan system to encourage consumers to install renewable systems. Solar photo-voltaic, Solar thermal, Rainwater harvesting and Ground and air source heat pumps, were the NSA's focus.

    The Green Deal had a "Golden Rule"

    "The Green Deal's Golden Rule states that the energy savings a property makes in a 25 year period (it is possible to choose a shorter period of time, but return on investment must be paid for within the time period) must be equal to or more than the cost of implementing the changes in the first place."

    Take up was extremely poor, making the maths justify the Golden Rule was nigh on impossible when all associated costs were taken in to account.
    The exception being solar photo-voltaic, where take up was initially high due to artificially subsidised sell back tariffs, which had to be swiftly reduced.

    The NSA ET and Green Deal no longer exist, renewable technologies are still excellent concepts.
    Local authority planners often require "renewables" to be incorporated in to commercial new build schemes.
    One of the best seminars I was present at explained the reasons we don't invest in renewables to save money.
     
  16. jnc

    jnc Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2012
    Messages:
    1,511
    Likes Received:
    2,706
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Western Atlantic
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    Maybe I'm confused, but I don't think the GWSR has one yet, although they are about to build one at Winchcombe.

    Noel
     
    flying scotsman123 likes this.
  17. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    10,437
    Likes Received:
    17,937
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cheltenham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Well, I wouldn't say "about to" but it's certainly on the cards.
     
  18. jnc

    jnc Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2012
    Messages:
    1,511
    Likes Received:
    2,706
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Western Atlantic
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    No I do not currently volunteer
    I got the impression from this post on the boardroom blog that work would be starting 'soon'?

    Noel
     
  19. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    10,437
    Likes Received:
    17,937
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Cheltenham
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer
    Perhaps jumping the gun a little there! There has been yet more unplanned expenditure this year, it was a while ago now but I recall the Gotherington span cost more than expected and the replacement of the aquaduct at Laverton is costing a huge amount too. Then there's the bash beams at Broadway as well. AFAIK there has been no actual groundwork on any of those 3 projects mentioned in that blog post yet, which is disappointing. Planning does continue though. Good things come to those who wait, and I'm confident it'll all happen.
     
  20. Ploughman

    Ploughman Part of the furniture

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2008
    Messages:
    5,806
    Likes Received:
    2,649
    Occupation:
    Ex a lot of things.
    Location:
    Near where the 3 Ridings meet
    Heritage Railway Volunteer:
    Yes I am an active volunteer

Share This Page