SUBSCRIPTIONS.htm

PHASE 1

I sourced many garden railway sites for advice and decided that an elevated line was the only way to proceed. Too often those lines at ground level caused problems with debris, leaves, snails, pets etc which one could well do without.

As mentioned previously the major engineering problem was to get the gradient correct. I used levels and a bit of schoolboy geometry to over come this and a good bit of try it and see. I knew that 1 in 80 was about as steep as I wanted to go - I literally calculated the distance from the start of the line to the bottom of the garden where the ground was at its lowest. This gave me a track bed base at the top of the garden of 1ft above the ground to 5ft from the ground at the bottom end. Not ideal but workable. I appreciate not everyone will have this type of topographical problem to overcome but it is worth paying attention to as you don't want slipping, however authentic, to dominate the running of you stock later.

Far left. The loop at the house end only a foot from the ground. Left. The line winds its way down the side of the hedge and curves into meet the trellis. Note how the garden is yet to be populated with plants...

Two views to show the boxed structure of the baseboard. 8 inch bolts have been used to secure the structure to the trellis whilst 1 inch aluminium screws were used to secure the base to the boxed superstructure.

Far left. 3 ft radius curve at the end of the garden, and left, looking up towards the shed with gazebo under construction. The line is level from the shed to the this end of the gazebo when the 1 in 80 climb starts towards the house and the loop.

Most of the track superstructure is attached to the trellis but where I have to run alongside the existing hedge I have used 4 x 4 treated posts, bedded into the ground using Postcrete. It is worth mentioning at this stage that ALL wood, although pressure treated, was painted four times using an outdoor paint. In this case I choose one of the many coloured paints on the market which I obtained from a local supplier.

6ft frames were constructed in my workshop using treated 2 x 2 and 2 x 1 inch wood with 2 x 2 spacers (see above photo) for the long sections of line, held together with aluminium screws and bolted to the fence using several 8inch bolts. This gave a firm fixing which can even be stood on - I had to reprimand one of next doors children from doing this - thankfully they have moved away but it was quite a good test - roses now prevent any further problems like this!! It was possible to create long sweeping curves on the layout because of the lines length and the fact that my boundaries, which the railway follows, don't have straight lines - 19th century cottage gardens are wonderful things you know. However, at the bottom corners it was a fairly tight fit but I was able to get 3ft curves for the return journey up the garden.

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Planning and Design Construction Phase 2 Construction Phase 3 Electrification Couplings Bridge Photos		The shed and very nerve centre of operations. I have yet to run an armoured cable down from the house for power purposes - a job for the winter. Up and down lines enter on the platform to the right whilst signalling, lighting and bus line can just be made out below. To the left of the shed the other bus line can be seen encased in a plastic pipe. PHASE 1 I sourced many garden railway sites for advice and decided that an elevated line was the only way to proceed. Too often those lines at ground level caused problems with debris, leaves, snails, pets etc which one could well do without. As mentioned previously the major engineering problem was to get the gradient correct. I used levels and a bit of schoolboy geometry to over come this and a good bit of try it and see. I knew that 1 in 80 was about as steep as I wanted to go - I literally calculated the distance from the start of the line to the bottom of the garden where the ground was at its lowest. This gave me a track bed base at the top of the garden of 1ft above the ground to 5ft from the ground at the bottom end. Not ideal but workable. I appreciate not everyone will have this type of topographical problem to overcome but it is worth paying attention to as you don't want slipping, however authentic, to dominate the running of you stock later. Far left. The loop at the house end only a foot from the ground. Left. The line winds its way down the side of the hedge and curves into meet the trellis. Note how the garden is yet to be populated with plants... Two views to show the boxed structure of the baseboard. 8 inch bolts have been used to secure the structure to the trellis whilst 1 inch aluminium screws were used to secure the base to the boxed superstructure. Far left. 3 ft radius curve at the end of the garden, and left, looking up towards the shed with gazebo under construction. The line is level from the shed to the this end of the gazebo when the 1 in 80 climb starts towards the house and the loop. Most of the track superstructure is attached to the trellis but where I have to run alongside the existing hedge I have used 4 x 4 treated posts, bedded into the ground using Postcrete. It is worth mentioning at this stage that ALL wood, although pressure treated, was painted four times using an outdoor paint. In this case I choose one of the many coloured paints on the market which I obtained from a local supplier. 6ft frames were constructed in my workshop using treated 2 x 2 and 2 x 1 inch wood with 2 x 2 spacers (see above photo) for the long sections of line, held together with aluminium screws and bolted to the fence using several 8inch bolts. This gave a firm fixing which can even be stood on - I had to reprimand one of next doors children from doing this - thankfully they have moved away but it was quite a good test - roses now prevent any further problems like this!! It was possible to create long sweeping curves on the layout because of the lines length and the fact that my boundaries, which the railway follows, don't have straight lines - 19th century cottage gardens are wonderful things you know. However, at the bottom corners it was a fairly tight fit but I was able to get 3ft curves for the return journey up the garden.