The Gables Garden Railway (7 1/4")

[Nomis]

The Marie Estelle loco in steam:



And a low level view of the ballasted track:

[Nomis]

Building bridge piers:

2019-07-21_09-58-52 by simon mace, on Flickr

And the bridge itself:

DSC_0062 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0064 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0057_1563820611837 by simon mace, on Flickr

Load testing:

DSC_0081 by simon mace, on Flickr

The bridge took all this, plus two adults sat on top (around 400kg on two axles).

[Nomis]

Pushing onwards, the embankment is blockwork on the "front" and stacked turf at the "back"

DSC_0078 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0057_1564228002051 by simon mace, on Flickr

[Nomis]

As the garden slopes, and the soil is largely clay, I had to allow for rainwater to easily run off - the next section of track is therefore a 32' long trestle constructed using landscaping sleepers on concrete block piers.

Pouring foundations:

DSC_0084_1566590729474 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0084_1566664928294 by simon mace, on Flickr

Transporting materials:

DSC_0085 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0084_1566577896667 by simon mace, on Flickr

[Nomis]

Building piers and laying trestle timbers. I intentionally left a gap between the timbers to allow rainwater to drain - the ballast is retained by a layer of steel mesh and landscape fabric:

DSC_0087_1566850634991 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0102 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0106 by simon mace, on Flickr

[Nomis]

DSC_0105 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0106_1570609337990 by simon mace, on Flickr

Dad rebuilt an old Roanoke diesel loco for the Kensey Valley railway. It came to the gables for initial track testing:

DSC_0094 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0097 by simon mace, on Flickr

With an 800W motor in the loco, and another in the tender, it is a very powerful machine....

[Nomis]

Meanwhile, my wren steam loco "Jynn" had been nearing completion at south west steam.

The coming of the new loco has meant the sale of the Marie Estelle (although it is very likely to return for a visit).

DSC_0129 by simon mace, on Flickr

FB_IMG_1577640769167 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0119_1572243224484 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0123 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0122_1572243224052 by simon mace, on Flickr

[Nomis]

Over last winter, the raised station area alongside the decking was built.

This was a long job (it is about 6' wide and 30' long), using about 100 blocks, and 8 tons of fill....

2019-12-14_02-33-09 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0171_1579373367279 by simon mace, on Flickr

And yes, it does get cold in Cornwall!

DSC_0171_1579504804819 by simon mace, on Flickr

[Nomis]

A winter steam up:

DSC_0177 by simon mace, on Flickr

[Nomis]

When my wife bought a new kiln, there was only one way to move it into the garden:

DSC_0169 by simon mace, on Flickr

A chance nearby sale of a commercial passenger coach was too good to pass up - even though it would need a complete rebuild to suit my needs:

DSC_0175_1582404741872 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0176 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0177_1583011122714 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0177_1583086474325 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0178_1583086474125 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0179_1583086473674 by simon mace, on Flickr

[Nomis]

DSC_0187 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0198_1587402034571 by simon mace, on Flickr

[Nomis]

Running in Jynn:

2020-02-23_09-14-11 by simon mace, on Flickr

DSC_0198_1589867637829 by simon mace, on Flickr

[Nomis]

There are more pics to come, but I might have a break for now....

[Peter Butler]

There are more pics to come, but I might have a break for now....

Phew!!! you and me both, I have been hooked on this all morning waiting for the next episode. I don't do ride-on railways but the construction and development of this has had me completely engrossed.
There is something much more satisfying about your hands-on approach which I certainly applaud, mechanical diggers may be quicker but create other damage which contractors are unlikely to restore afterwards. Also, 'outsiders' don't have your vision of what you are trying to achieve and compromises become inevitable.
Excellent stuff..... ready for more now!

[tom_tom_go]

I meant did he hire mechanical equipment not employ contractors Peter.

[Peter Butler]

Understood Tom, but either way the mess created by mechanical diggers is more trouble than it is worth. Like us here in West Wales, Nomis has clay soil and from experience with our own digger I can justify what I say. The rest of his garden would be churned up beyond recognition and create twice the work to restore it to good condition.
I doubt the 'management' would be agreeable to the work from the outset if that was known?

[Nomis]

Hello, i'm back again with more pictures to get things up to date.

The main reason for doing all the groundwork manually is that, while I have had occasional few days help from friends, I have largely been building gradually on my own.

I had kind of expected the basic loop to take 18 months - 2 years (in reality an increase in free time due to lockdown has sped this up a little).

I did consider hiring a minidigger for a weekend and getting all the hard dirt shifting done in one go; but this would have left an ugly scar all the way around the garden while I caught up with construction.

By digging and building gradually, I have been able to "finish" each section before breaking ground on the next. This has kept the majority of the garden presentable as the railhead has slowly crept forward.

[Nomis]

The raised station area is a good example. In the last picture it was filled in, track laid, and some ballast laid.

This has now been made much more presentable using a good number of potted plants (delivered by rail naturally):

DSC_0204 by simon mace, on Flickr

The front of the station area has been clad with landscaping sleepers, and the existing gravel area extended to do away with the small strip of grass.

Here it all is seen from an upstairs window:

DSC_0172_1593025688546 by simon mace, on Flickr

[Nomis]

To allow the track to proceed through to the front garden, the garden shed (now painted black) was slid forwards 3' on an extended base.

Footings for more trestle pillars were then dug and more concrete poured:

DSC_0199 by simon mace, on Flickr

Onto which more sleepers were placed, on edge this time and screwed together (with spacer blocks):

DSC_0200_1588964290910 by simon mace, on Flickr

And track laid on top:

DSC_0202 by simon mace, on Flickr

The idea here is to keep the track itself as non-intrusive as possible, while re-planting the more luxurious plants from around the garden.

I think it has been quite effective

DSC_0201_1589044108855 by simon mace, on Flickr

[tom_tom_go]

You must be very healthy to be able do all that manual work, well done.

My job is mainly desk based and leaves me with endless aches and pains so to then attempt that amount of digging and manual labour at the weekend would leave me very broken for Monday morning!

Next time you steam the Wren up at home it would be good to see some video of it running with passing shots along the railway.