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Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 7:15 pm
by Just Julie
Like your idea of the netting for getting ground covering established, Looking forward to seeing your railway develop. Lovely photos :thumbright:

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 11:23 pm
by invicta280
The netting is a handy method I first encountered in the Manawatu gorge in New Zealand when I worked on the highways there, but have since seen in many places. I seem to remember seeing it in the Avon gorge at Bristol, It is meant to stop rocks falling onto roads and railways but can be useful for helping plants to establish themselves on vertical rockfaces.

The plants that were holding up progress have now been moved and the campaigners who had established a camp intending to halt the progress of the railway have now been shot so nothing stands in the way of laying the trackbed for the next section :twisted: This section has a very narrow path available so I will abandon the breeze block method for this section. I am going to try laying the next 8-10 ft (2.5-3 mtrs) on small paver bricks set in a shallow bed of pea gravel.
At the end of that section I will need to devise some kind of removable bridge to cross the path but I'll err... cross that bridge when we come to it :D

Looking at what's been done so far I can't help thinking that this line has been a bit overengineered, like putting in a cycle track to a spec which will accommodate 40 tonne trucks.

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:36 pm
by Tom the blacksmith
Looking at what you've done so far I think it's looking great, and always over engineer rather that under engineer :thumbright:

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:38 pm
by tom_tom_go
We are all guilty of over-engineering at some point I am sure...

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2018 10:02 am
by Andrew
tom_tom_go wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:38 pm We are all guilty of over-engineering at some point I am sure...
I've got a friend who's a civil engineer, and I think I recall him telling me that a lot of Victorian civil engineering was built to last about 1,000 years when assessed by modern standards, wheras these days they reckon on 100... Anyway, better over than under...

The Cobtree line's looking great, looking forward to seeing more soon - intrigued to see what will grow up the netting too. The mind-you-own-business on my line has started colonising some vertical concrete blocks, but it's taken a while...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 11:33 pm
by invicta280
As previously alluded to, the next section of trackbed is being laid into a shallow bed of the familiar pea gravel; I think my local builder's merchants believe I'm constructing the base for a nuclear reactor, their stock reorder programme for 10mm pea beach has spiked.

This section of the line has to tiptoe between a narrow path needed for access and a row of plants bordering a trellis, so a deep base is out of the question. Hence the pavour bricks.

Looking back down the line....

Image

...and where we're heading next....

Image

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 2:17 am
by Dwayne
:thumbright:

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:18 am
by tom_tom_go
I like the sound of this line having to negotiate around the garden. It should be very atmospheric when finished.

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:27 pm
by Just Julie
:thumbleft:

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:48 pm
by invicta280
Due to pressure of work and other aspects of life, the trackbed for my garden line has progressed no further than the last picture. Also I needed to figure out how the line would cross the footpath to the rhs of that picture as the line needs to swing to the right, crossing the path and curving around the pond to the reverse loop.
The path is more of a goat track through the back of the rockery and around the pond. Not intended for leisurely strolling it is more an accessway to tend the garden and of course maintain the railway (when it finally opens for business).
SWMBO has already taken a tumble into the pond once but fortunately the pond liner wasn't damaged :D

So a permanent bridge was asking for trouble. I need something removable but easily put in place for a running session. A timber trestle was too complex for me and not suited to constant movement. A lightweight stone lookalike viaduct made from expanded polystyrene? Not really.
The idea of Meccano popped up. I had no previous experience in this medium but the simple bolt together nature of it appealed and it is real metal !
The undeniable fact that anything made of Meccano looks like like it has been under sustained attack by a machine gun doesn't really bother me. Neither does its colourful appearance. Bridges are often brightly painted. The bits needed appear on ebay in random colours and tbh I like it that way.

Image

What you see here is one deck section. Two others will be required plus some extra L- girder pieces to provide additional strength underneath. A couple of large ice cream tubs full of concrete set in the ground with angle iron or steel pins sticking up should provide permanent anchorage for rough wooden abutments, maybe coated in grout scribed to look vaguely like stone.
It is only just wider than this loco and the approach to the bridge will be curved so clearance will be tight.

Image

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 12:45 pm
by bazzer42
I like the bridge, a darn site easier than cutting bits of aluminium...I should know...

I think the colour scheme is cool too.

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 8:07 am
by FWLR
Agree with bazzer42, the colour scheme looks great. It's a simple solution, that's well thought out.

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 12:43 am
by invicta280
I finally got chance to make a little more progress and the track is being laid around the south end of the pond.
The Chariot inspection trolley was sent out to test the newly laid track. I think it needs fitting with a snowplough to clear away all the hazelnut shells deposited on the line by squirrels..

Image

I made a video too but imgBB wasn't happy with that so I may have to start a youtube channel.

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 11:07 am
by Lonsdaler
That chariot inspection trolley looks familiar - Lost in Space, or something? :lol:
BTW, creeping thyme is doing a very good job of growing down a stone embankment on my line, maybe it's something you could consider for your cutting?

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 2:31 pm
by invicta280
Yes, its the Lost in Space chariot, remounted on a 16mm powered chassis. It awaits a crew and some working lights fore and aft. Possibly a snow plough as well.

Creeping Thyme is great and yes, we have tried it here but without much success. Just shrivels up and dies. Wrong soil maybe,; I know it likes dry stoney conditions.

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 4:45 pm
by DonW
I haven't seen this before so spent a pleasant time starting from the begining. It looks a great line and well fitted into the garden.
I think garden lines need a bit of over engineering . The rolling stock may be 16mm but the weather is 12mm:1ft and even our small terrier at 10kgs would be a huge beast. Not to mention us oversized humans lumbering round. If your ground is wetter usually you could try Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) it will grow on dry land or can adapt to the edge of a pond. Some people regard it as invasive as it will spread but it has never been a problem (unlike MYOB which spreads everywhere) the golden form is said to be better behaved.
The Loco looks very nice too.

Don

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 9:21 pm
by Lonsdaler
invicta280 wrote: Sun Sep 22, 2019 2:31 pm Yes, its the Lost in Space chariot, remounted on a 16mm powered chassis. It awaits a crew and some working lights fore and aft. Possibly a snow plough as well.

Creeping Thyme is great and yes, we have tried it here but without much success. Just shrivels up and dies. Wrong soil maybe,; I know it likes dry stoney conditions.
Love it. Looks very futuristic in that distinctive 1960's way :thumbup:
It's a shame the thyme isn't working for you. It's one of my few successes. Even MYOB struggles in my garden, except in a few well shaded spots.
It's al looking very promising anyway - keep it up!

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2019 6:35 am
by philipy
invicta280 wrote: Sun Sep 22, 2019 2:31 pm
Creeping Thyme is great and yes, we have tried it here but without much success. Just shrivels up and dies. Wrong soil maybe,; I know it likes dry stoney conditions.
We've had this discussion about creeping thyme before, and yes the books do all say dry and stoney soil is what it wants, but I've got a couple of patches where it is going berserk in moist clay in semi-shade. It took a couple of years of me wondering whether it would make it and then suddenly it took off.
I bought another one and planted it alongside my stream a couple of months ago in some new topsoil (bought a bag from Wickes), in complete shade behind a Camellia where it gets watered twice a day automatically. So far it seems to be doing well.

Theer are several species of 'creeping thyme' so maybe a case of finding the right one for your situation?

If you want a plant to trail down a wall/cliff, you could use Aubretia, which likes to do exactly that ( think of old fashioned cottage garden walls ). The leaves can be a wee bit on the large side in some varities and some are a bluer green than others but it works well to cover, but again it may take a couple of years to establish properly. It also benefits from a good haircut of the straggly bits after it's finished flowering and that encourags it to spread.

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2019 3:29 pm
by Lonsdaler
philipy wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2019 6:35 am
Theer are several species of 'creeping thyme' so maybe a case of finding the right one for your situation?

If you want a plant to trail down a wall/cliff, you could use Aubretia, which likes to do exactly that ( think of old fashioned cottage garden walls ). The leaves can be a wee bit on the large side in some varities and some are a bluer green than others but it works well to cover, but again it may take a couple of years to establish properly. It also benefits from a good haircut of the straggly bits after it's finished flowering and that encourags it to spread.
Now I've never had much success with aubretia either, despite trying to grow it on rockeries with a sunny (for North Yorkshire) aspect. I blame my not so green fingers :roll:

Re: The Cobtree Line

Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2019 4:32 pm
by philipy
Lonsdaler wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2019 3:29 pm
Now I've never had much success with aubretia either, despite trying to grow it on rockeries with a sunny (for North Yorkshire) aspect. I blame my not so green fingers :roll:
Maybe you are right, but I've also got dirty brown rather than green fingers, so I dunno.

This picture shows my Aubretia, Thyme and MYOB.
The Aubretia at low level to the left is where the original high level plant rooted itself this year after cascading itself down.
The MYOB is just doing it's own thing and covering everything it can.
The Thyme to the left, growing across the track, has done that in the last week or two, and I noticed only yesterday that it has crept along the outer edge of the MYOB on the paving slab!! It started life a small rooted piece that got pulled off the main plant a couple of yards away and I just pushed in the gap about this time last year.

The fungi just appear, we get many different varieties, dunno what they are, but I guess it shows how damp things are generally.

The rockery is facing slightly west of south and spends much of the day in the shadow of the house.
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