My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

[armyairforce]

4th October 2025
Restoration work began on my railway lamp. All three glazing pieces had their snap-rings removed to allow the glass to be taken out. All three rubber seals are perished, being dry, cracking and very brittle. As a result, I've ordered a sheet of rubber to cut some new seals. The glass and snap-rings, plus the lamp fixing bolt were all cleaned up.

Due to the paint cracking and flaking off the housing, I decided it needed a complete repaint. To start with, I stripped as much paint as possible with a rotary wire brush. The lamp was then placed in a bucket of water and baking soda for some electrolysis rust removal.

After about 20 minutes, it was disconnected and pulled out for an initial inspection. It was cleaning up fairly well, but there were a number of areas still protected by paint or with rust in small tight corners.

I'm not going to strip or do anything major with the burner, except perhaps repairing the porcelain flame shroud with some epoxy putty. That may not even live in the lamp when it's out in the garden and will probably just be fitted over the Winter, when I'll use the lamp indoors as an ornament.

 

[armyairforce]

Further electrolysis showed the bottom of the lamp to be severely rusted through. Initially, before I'd started working on the lamp, I'd considered just repairing the base. Having seen how bad it was, I decided the whole base needed removing and replacing.

I carefully cut through the soldered/welded joints with a mini grinding wheel until the base came free. It wasn't in a good condition at all, but enough survived to take measurements from to make a template.

Most of the rest of the lamp body is in good condition, but the bottom edge at the back of the lamp, is rusted through where the bottom overlapped and was attached. I think the best way around this is just to make the new bottom piece with slightly longer edges that fold up against the sides. This will cover the rusted out rear area. I'll get plenty of soft solder into the overlapping joints to prevent water sitting in them, which is what caused the damage in the first place.

With the bottom off, it gave better access to the inside, to allow further paint stripping and it went back in the electrolysis bucket, slowly lifting rust particles from the surface.

As of the 6th of October, I'm waiting for the post to bring me the new rubber and metal to make the new bottom piece.

 

[armyairforce]

8th October 2025

The neoprene rubber arrived yesterday and the brass sheet came today, so I did a bit more tinkering with the lamp. Time for the new 'O' rings. After cutting and test fitting some card templates, I started cutting out the large rubber 'O' ring with a scalpel. This is the main window for the red lens. The rubber was tested for size in the hole before the inner hole was cut.

The centre of the card template was then cut out and held firmly over the rubber disc, cutting around the inside of the card, bit by bit, until the centre of the rubber was removed. It took a while, cutting gently over and over until cutting right through the rubber, so it didn't stretch while cutting.

With the large one done, the two smaller 'O' rings were cut, one from the waste that came from the centre of the larger ring. Like the large one, the rubber disc was test fitted in the lamp housing first, before the inner was cut out.

The next stage will be to form the new bottom panel. Once that is attached, the lamp will be given one more electrolysis bath, to remove the surface rust that has appeared on the un-primed metal. It can then be rinsed, dried, wiped down with some thinners, primed and painted inside and out. I'll use some smooth black Hammerite to give it a tough, weather-proof finish.

 

[armyairforce]

9th October 2025

Over the Moon with my achievements today. I hate metalworking, but managed to make and fit a good replacement for the rusted out bottom of my railway lamp. I began with a cardboard template, folded and trial fitted to the bottom of the lamp. This template was then taped down to the brass sheet.

I lightly scored the edges and fold lines with a scalpel along a steel rule, so I could work the metal without loosing the markings. The piece was then cut out of the sheet and the corners cut with a mini stone cutting wheel.

 

[armyairforce]

I grabbed a piece of concrete paving stone from the garden, to rest the brass on, while I annealed it and then left it to cool while I assembled my sheet metal folder.

After the back and one end was folded, it was test fitted to the lamp to check on the size and other fold line positions. Satisfied that the fit was good, the other end was folded. I began to fold the front lip, but as this is completely folded over on itself, the brass was annealed again in this area. These folds were done with the brass clamped between two pieces of MDF in a vice and tapped with a hammer, via another brass bar to spread the force of the impacts.

 

[armyairforce]

Two additional small cut-outs were needed in the sides, to clear the hinge parts. This is because I needed to make the sides taller than the original, to hide rusted out parts of the main lamp body.

Back to jig making next, with a hollow sanded into a block of MDF. The end of an old blunt 12mm drill was then ground into more of a curve, to use as a stamp for the lamp feet. With the bass lined up over the MDF, the drill was tapped with the hammer, to form the indentations that would be the feet. The first two feet went well, then I had to cut the MDF down a bit to fit the front feet.

 

[armyairforce]

The original base appeared to have five small holes in a cross pattern. I don't know if these were for ventilation or draining of moisture, but wanting the lamp to be more weather proof, I didn't replicate these holes.

Both the lamp and new base were tinned with solder first, then assembled and soldered with both a gas torch for additional heat and a soldering iron to help guide the solder into the joints.

Done! I did a quick test to make sure the burner still fitted in the lamp, as one of the runners un-soldered while I was tinning the lamp body. With everything looking good, it was put back into the electrolysis bath to give it one last rust removal treatment.

It came out of the electrolysis bath not long ago, was rinsed in clean water and dried. I've just come in from the workshop, having primed it.

 

[Marlin338MX]

You are doing a fantastic job, thanks for the pics!

 

[Smudge617]

Quite an achievement, great work, and well done

 

[armyairforce]

9th ~ 19th October 2025

After the lamp was dry, it was primed and left for the primer to harden. It was then given a brushed coat of smooth Hammerite, to get into all the awkward corners. Once that had time to cure, the whole lamp was given a rub over with fine wire wool, to matt of the surface for the next coat. The following two coats of Hammerite were sprayed. That's where the lamp is at now, but I really want to give it a couple more coats of paint before re-assembly.

 

[Rico]

Just catching up now, great work!

 

[armyairforce]

17th December 2025

Since the end of October, until mid December, I've been distracted by decorating the large open plan lounge/diner/breakfast bar room. You know it's going to be a long project when it involves Blue Circle cement to make repairs! Only two walls stripped, repaired and painted so far, then put the room back together for Christmas. The work will continue in the new year.

Anyway, all of that delayed any further progress on the railway lamp, until a few days ago. I cleaned up the end of the metal flat bar I'd bought and drilled it for the railway lamp mount. Since the bar was a bit smaller than the slot, the lamp rocked from side to side slightly and didn't always sit level. As a result, I planned to weld a small support just under the lamp. The bracket will screw to the back of the gate. I also gave the lamp a final coat of black Hammerite.

19th December 2025

The inside of the lamp had some kind of reflector in days gone by. The concave shape was still there, but it was steel, had rusted and was very pitted. I don't know if this was plated with something to make it reflective, or whether a mirror had once been fitted there.

I decided to make an aluminium one, so after cutting a disc, beat it with a padded hammer, while resting on the carpet tiles, which had a bit of give. That allowed me to beat it into a shallow concave shape. It is seen having a trial fit over the original reflector, which can be seen in some of my earlier lamp restoration pictures.

 

[armyairforce]

While not perfect, it was good enough and so was polished to a moderate shine. I then gave it a couple of clear coats of varnish and it was left to dry.

A short length of the steel bar was cut to form a steadying support for the lamp and after much jigging up, it was welded in place.

 

[armyairforce]

Back to the lamp and after some time in the curing cabinet, the varnish was dry enough to handle the reflector. This was glued into the lamp with silicone. The lamp was also dusted over with a satin varnish, before the makers plate was polished and also gloss varnished. The mounting bracket was also given a first coat of Hammerite on both sides. The lamp just needs the glass refitting.

21st December 2025

There was only light drizzle this morning, so when I went out to download the trailcam, I also took some tools out and got the lamp bracket mounted to the crossing gate. There's still a bit of greenery in the railway embankment, but it lacks the colour of Spring and Summer. I might have to get some more hardy Cyclamen to add a splash of Winter colour.

The lamp was brought back in after the pictures and can go back once the weather warms up. Just after 3pm today, we'll hit the Winter Solstice and then it's heading back towards Spring!