Garden Railway Forum

I think the approach above described by Philip is the best yet if you can live with moving the points. Least obstrusive and least maintenance.

Thank you for your kind words Peter much appreciated. The jury hasn't sat yet on whether it has all worked!

I'm with the "leave the track in place and raise the path" brigade. You wouldn't need to raise the path that much, only the height of rails plus thickness of slab and a small air gap, which you would remove at running times. You could even use a steel walkplate to make it even lower and ea...

Excellent can't wait to see your loco.

My house is 25m from the track so it's unlikely that an aerial photo would show much, but I'll take a look from the loft window.

So the "golden spike" moment has arrived and I have assembled, laid and joined the last track panel! IMG_20190711_133156.jpg I have checked the level / grade and "pitch" (is that the right word? I mean slope left or right). Even though these are tight curves I have not provided a...

Very good but you've made the schoolboy error of displaying your DIY skills to the home crowd which will lead to more jobs mysteriously appearing on your to-do list from other sources

I did enjoy it very much. A marvellous layout and some wonderful engineering on display. I was amused by the yellow (MoW?) diesel at the beginning which put out more smoke than some of the live steamers and seemed to be powered by a swarm of angry wasps.

Excellent movie thanks for posting. You captured the atmosphere of the railway and operational details.

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2019 8:49 pm Proper big boys railway in progress!

Yes it does feel like I'm building a proper railway. The "navvying" bit is over thank goodness and it's more "engineering" now.

At least I should finish before Crossrail.

I have started building track panels and laying some track. Just two panels so far but the layout is so small there are only 10 panels in total so 20% of the way there! Well not quite as I have to add the ballast and do some fettling but should be done by end of July if not sooner. IMG_20190705_2015...

...However, a couple of quick questions first - 1) is it necessary to have a fully working smart phone for the Bluetooth side of things to function, i.e with a valid SIM card installed? The reason I ask is that I don't possess such a beastie, but cheap 2nd hand units are available and might be wort...

Bang on schedule, I have finished laying the track bed so I now have a complete circuit. I planned to finish this phase in June so just made it. First picture shows the last bend to be laid. In the background you can perhaps see a small pond in the corner. IMG_20190630_191508.jpg Second picture show...

Enjoy indeed. I like the bits of overgrown sidings along the way. As Rik says a model railway is never finished...

Excellent piece of work, really looks the part.

Fine and imaginative example of modelling, nice job so far.

Agree with Rik. Some fine engineering there to accommodate all interests and gauges.

Enjoy indeed. Nice work on the bridge and concrete embankment.

... Even 5" gauge is a bit problematic unless you can keep a tight rein on the passengers. On your home track it would be best to sit the grandkids in front of you on the riding truck. That way they can see where they are going and are less likely to lean out, plus you can keep an eye on what ...

The problem with 3 1/2" (in my eyes) is that you need a raised track so passengers can straddle the rails. Makes points a bit tricky. You can get away with ground level with 5" (I'm hoping this is really true!).

Very nice. The 3 1/2" gauge American outline loco looked the part. Is this the gauge you were thinking of?