Dinowic light railway- The rebuild

[DLRdan]

Been quite some time since I have posted anything on my railway but thought you might like to see the progress of the rebuild. A bit of history first. For those who haven't come across my line before half of it is raised about a foot above the ground, the rest is at ground level. The reason for this is a step in the garden. The raised section is mostly gravel boards apart from the curved sections which are 12mm ply. About September last year the balloon loop finaly gave up, the ply delaminating completely. I got fed up looking at the rotton mess so ripped it up and bined it. Which brings us to this point.




This is the site of the original balloon loop. This is being replaced with new boards and the new set track curves from peco. Hopefully this will stop the bad kinks apearing as the track expands in the sun.



The next area to recieve attention is the yard area. This was fine while I am running alone but when visitors came this area just didn't work. It got to the point where I wasn't using it either and it got abandoned, finding it easier to set the train up on the mainline than to mess with the awquard point set up.



Half an hour later......



The plan here is to change the alignment of the track to smooth the S bend, add a passing loop and siding. This means I can then store a full train and have some where to steam up. Last thing for today, I have cleared the cutting. Being damp and sheltered the weeds tend to go mad in there.

[tom_tom_go]

That last shot looks like a great photo spot

[WVLR]

Excellent, as I'm also starting work on a balloon loop using Peco ST-605 set curve track.
I'll look forward to watching your progress.

[DolwyddelanLightRail]

It was interesting the last time I brought Pheonix along which ran over the balloon loop!

[MDLR]

I look forward ot your line coming back onto the East Midlands Group's calendar!

[kandnwlr]

[quote="DLRdan:97894"]Been quite some time since I have posted anything on my railway but thought you might like to see the progress of the rebuild. A bit of history first. For those who haven't come across my line before half of it is raised about a foot above the ground, the rest is at ground level. The reason for this is a step in the garden. The raised section is mostly gravel boards apart from the curved sections which are 12mm ply. About September last year the balloon loop finaly gave up, the ply delaminating completely. I got fed up looking at the rotton mess so ripped it up and bined it. Which brings us to this point.


That cutting looks as though moss will grow well. Shame to get rid of that as well as the weeds!

[DLRdan]

Funnily enough, moss is the one thing that has never grown down there, everything else has though.

[laalratty]

Good to see it finally being rebuilt!

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Marvelous stuff Dan!

[DLRdan]

Bit more progress from today. The gravel has been lifted and the weed suppressing plastic removed, I am going to replace this with fabric so the ground can breathe. The ground had moved quite alot so some time was spent leveling the site.

[DLRdan]

First section of new track bed today, along with a very large set square.

[DLRdan]

I hope you are sitting comfortably. Today with the help of Dad a large proportion of the remaining track bed was replaced or repaired. First off the balloon loop was completed, the next stage is to relay the track once the new pointwork arrives.



Further up the line one of the tight radius curves has been eased. This was a 30" radius that has been opened up to 38" radius. The photo shows a work in progress but this section is now complete.



Continuing across the re leveled bridge another section was being replaced. The ballon loop was in a similare state to this, only this section has been in for 7 years. The ballon loop lasted 18 months.



The new section in and the track relaid



Finally the retaining wall for the flower bed was mooved across to allow room for the new station design. The end nearest the camera will also be moved into a more pleasing arc once the station trackwork has been marked out.

[laalratty]

All looks very good, it'll be interesting to see what difference the wider radius will make to running

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

Great stuff Dan!

[kandnwlr]

I hope you are sitting comfortably. Today with the help of Dad a large proportion of the remaining track bed was replaced or repaired. First off the balloon loop was completed, the next stage is to relay the track once the new pointwork arrives.

Further up the line one of the tight radius curves has been eased. This was a 30" radius that has been opened up to 38" radius. The photo shows a work in progress but this section is now complete.

Continuing across the re leveled bridge another section was being replaced. The ballon loop was in a similare state to this, only this section has been in for 7 years. The ballon loop lasted 18 months.

The new section in and the track relaid


Finally the retaining wall for the flower bed was mooved across to allow room for the new station design. The end nearest the camera will also be moved into a more pleasing arc once the station trackwork has been marked out.

That looks like significant work Can´t wait to see some trains running

[DLRdan]

Update time

We left off having just moved the wall for the flowerbed. The plan was to make a straighter line between the cutting and fence, thus removing two of the tighter curves.



After the old track was removed the new track bed could be laid. I decided instead of a straight line I would follow the curve of the wall giving more room for sidings on the right.

[DLRdan]

Once the oute line was laid the inner one was easier. I used a 2 inch spacer between the bricks to give 6 inches between the center of the rails, hopefully this will be enough clearance.



Once the track was down I got a loco out to test the new layout. The new areas were fine but it showed that a couple of the older areas needed attention also.



The sidings took a lot of thinking about, wether to go with one or two and their position. In the end I went for two sidings giving more storage and also a place for the engine shed.



After all the track was down i filled the areas between the track with small gravel ontop of weed fabric. This area has been prone to things growing next to the track so hopefully this will be significantly reduced. This photo also shows how the grass falls away, the bricks almost being out the soil.

[Maple]

Thats looking great! Are you cementing your blocks down or not, i have heard of a few rebels who dontlately, thinking of trying it.

[DLRdan]

The blocks are not cemented in, just well packed with soil. Doesn't work for everyone but its quick and easy to try, I've used it for years and providing you don't disturb the soil immediatly round it, it lasts well. Also seems imune to frost heave.


I didn't get photos of the inbetween stages but this is the finished bottom loop.



This curve was 30" radius so was opened out to 38", a big improvement.



The trees in the station have had a serious hair cut and the building has been cleared of the bits of unwanted moss. I also managed to find the cat !

[Andrew]

That's looking really good!

I've previously gone for the relatively heavy "create foundations then mortar bricks/blocks on top" approach, but it takes yonks and is lots of work. Recently I've heard of a couple of people setting their chosen building material into the ground using postcrete/fix (guess Old School cement and sand would work as well, just more slowly...) and am trying that technique in my current station re-build. So far so good, it certainly seems to give the desired solid level base.

Anyway, thanks for the photos Dan, the line looks excellent...

Andrew.