Garden Railway Forum

A few good hot days here baked off the white patches. MAM had a positive to Covid, not bad, better today, Plod has no symptoms as yet, but still skipped his last weekend of driving at the Rattler. He is hoping the 10kg of granite chips will arrive today so he can attack the rest of the ballasting o...

Cloudy days here, warm, humid, no blazing sun for a few days and some storms and showers about, so I cover up the track at night and open it up next morning. Some white patches appeared in the shadier areas, not soft at all, the ballast is still very firm. Perhaps I was over zealous with the SBR ? ...

Pardon my ignorance but what is SBR and Lanka571? As Peter Butler mentioned Styrene-butadiene or styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) describe families of synthetic rubbers derived from styrene and butadiene Davco Lanka 571 is the down under SBR version that I could track down. Sold at the Big Green Box ...

The chair of the POR board has her new Christmas present. It will be used as a pottery bench however on run days it will be most handy for loco prep and rolling stock storage with a handy power point at one end. It is also a flood lit area for night time ops. Plod assembled it yesterday arvo. https...

This is inspirational stuff, feels like "proper" railway modelling, as in really trying hard to recreate the look of the real thing - thanks for sharing! Loving MAM's pots too - Grace took a load out of the kiln this morning which she'd glazed on Saturday, so we got the magical next step ...

You have far surpassed anything else anyone as done before and your right in saying that Peter Butler has been an inspiration for you, he certainly has been for me. It just looks fantastic and looking forward to some more videos of your stock running on it. :thumbright: Thank you, however I am only...

The effects are stunning and the timescale unbelievable! The effects (method) was inspired by you and your railway. We don't watch much TV and on weekends when I am not at the Mary Valley Rattler I get up at 5.00am (at this time the sun is up at 4.30am) and I get stuck in and knock off as it gets d...

This morning after being exposed to the moonlight. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52556570812_d8432967de_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52556570982_a438854e7c_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52557023431_6a47597a2c_c.jpg Potters Junction with MAM in full glazing mode. https...

Plod has been experimenting with different washes of mortar dye powder and diluted Lanko 571 while listening to the West Indies being demolished at the Adelaide oval. Cabbage tree creek yard got the treatment. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52557592198_6ecba58349_c.jpg https://live.staticflick...

09.35 in the morn, after 14 hours later it seems to be cooking off nicely. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52555588974_b4b434ff66_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52554834722_fa56d0da1f_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52555293841_a9a0f4c9d6_c.jpg This has a second and third w...

Captain Plod progresses with the ballasting of the Potters Orchid Railway. SBR and 2-3mm granite chips mixed with 1mm sand and mortar dyes. He thinks Chocolate would be a better dye than the Chestnut he used. The weather will dull it all down and so far Plod is pleased. His efforts as he progresses...

That is drying out incredibly fast.... I've never seen it do that in our climate. The result looks perfect, at least here on the screen... I hope you are satisfied with it on-site. You would find it difficult to remove now I bet! Queensland is the skin cancer capital of the world so the sun is hars...

Captain Plod's winter time sport is digging holes, mixing concrete and shoveling dirt here and there and heaving stuff to there and back to here, but this year he has a new summer time sport. It is nudging little granite chips around Peco SM32 track. Plod explains in a recent interview "It is ...

Do you do anything to your points (turnouts) before applying ballast or 'goop', to stop them being gummed-up, and sticking? Phil.P Blue tack was placed over the mech and tape over the top of that. Just where the spring thingie and tie bar slides. The next morning, just like I have done just now, I ...

Your second attempt is brilliant Dazza, not that the first was any less brilliant, but the black sand has helped it look more realistic in my view. Thanks and yes. This ballasting caper is this season's summer time sport. The plan is each evening after work, a couple of hours in the shade, doing so...

POR Ballast Report, location new locomotive roads # 1 and # 2 at Cabbage Tree Creek Station. After 6 hours of the Queensland morning sun the bake off is going well. Very firm already. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52545265462_0d4359bd10_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52546208370_ea...

Plod added some more mix on top of the earlier loco service area, more dye and 1mm black sand. This morning 12 hours later it looks like this. Plod reckons nothing will beat the real thing so he is going to bring back half a litre of steam oil home and tip it all over this area to get the grime and...

6th Dec, MAM returned home with some 1mm washed sand. :) https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52545609825_bbf223353c_c.jpg 2-3mm granite chips, black sand added to alter the fill, and some black mortar dye was churned into the mix. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52545131221_f4f78ed05f_c.jpg Bar...

24 hours after applying it looked like this. A good day of sunshine and the next few days the temp will be mid to high thirties. Out in western Queensland it will get 46 degrees ! Crikey ! The track in the foreground has a different mix with some sand and also some black mortar dye. It is the loco ...

In a warm, dry, climate (i.e. anywhere except Wales) I would expect the surface of neat SBR to congeal quite rapidly, as shown in the pictures. Assuming the concrete is already holding heat and the air is warm and dry it is probably to be expected. I never use water on my ballast and try to apply w...