The Potters Orchid Railway

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Plod lifted the plastic off the Potters Junction yard area his morning and discovered an effing cane toad has hoped about under the plastic last night and disturbed some soft areas. Never mind, out with the flying gang to do so some repairs today. Locos crews clean their fires while waiting time for the board to drop and thus proceed out of the platform and loop roads onto the next section.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

SBR is baking off nicely after 48 hours.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Cooler weather and regular applications of H2O from the rain water tanks has MAM's plant selection coming along nicely after 2 years.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

The plantings on the new extension to Cabbage Tree Creek station yard are progressing. One day a wooden trestle will replace the plywood and pavers. Plod has always wanted to make a trestle bridge and 2023 might be the year.

[invicta280]

Planting and rock faces looking awesome. It really is turning into a railway at home in its landscape.

[FWLR]

MAM's expertise in the greenery is now showing what can be done to elevate garden railway lines to real life and the wildlife will enjoy it also as well as humans.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

The POR's Great Ballast Saga is over. That was in total 8 full days devoted to ballasting, with a Covid bout thrown in there as well. Yesterday arvo after ballasting the sidings Plod did some dry brush dusting of mortar dye powders here and there and then with diluted SBR in a spray bottle wet it all down. Trying to get that dirty track effect. Oily looking areas where locos dwell, ash that is yet to be shoveled off. There are compromises with texture and coarseness of the grit so the SBR soaks and gives it good weather durability. We will see what the QLD UV does to all of this. He has never done this caper before and being a metal worker rather than a modeller, then perhaps he is not the best yet with the techniques, but it is done now and there will be no more track to ballast in his remaining life time.













Sacred Kingfishers nesting in a termite mound that over looks the POR. We are very excited to see this.

[Peter Butler]

I think your ballasting looks spot-on. Clearly the Kingfishers approve too!

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

I think your ballasting looks spot-on. Clearly the Kingfishers approve too!

Thanks Peter, as I have said before, I followed your ballasting methods.
Thanks !

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Incredible what they can do with micro electronics now. The head of the Potters Orchid Railway permanent way uses one of those new fancy drones to inspect the recently ballasted track. This Drone looks remarkably like a dragon fly and has the same maneuverability.

[Peter Butler]

I think you are building a miniature theme park where passengers can ride in rail mounted 'bubbles' to view your answer to 'Jurassic Park'. You have a great variety of endemic wildlife there.

[ge_rik]

Well, it looks pretty darn good to me. The dye dusting adds another dimension.
I've not noticed the drainage ditch in the cutting before - the whole thing could easily be mistaken for the real thing.

Rik

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

This morning finds the POR chair of the board doing a bit of line side painting before going off to work. The cactus flowers come out at night and by lunch time are withered and done. The native bees also like these flowers.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Well, it looks pretty darn good to me. The dye dusting adds another dimension.
I've not noticed the drainage ditch in the cutting before - the whole thing could easily be mistaken for the real thing.

Rik

I cannot remember seeing or reading about mortar dyes, so I think it is my idea, or was it MAM's idea ?
When it rains here, it can be 2 inches in 30 minutes, so drains we thought would be good, or we might have a lake.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

I think you are building a miniature theme park where passengers can ride in rail mounted 'bubbles' to view your answer to 'Jurassic Park'. You have a great variety of endemic wildlife there.

Like this
https://www.experienceoz.com.au/en/cair ... t-cableway

MAM and Plod did this in June last year as well as the 4 day Savannah Lander trip. I can recommend the Savannah Lander.

https://savannahlander.com.au/

Which is all up the Cairns end of Queensland

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

We cannot sustain moss growth here in south east Queensland , however the POR's head horticulturist (MAM) discovered 'Pratia - white star creeper'. Kept moist is spreads nicely as a ground cover and keeps bubbling out cute little white flowers. In dry times it seemed to sulk but hangs in. With daily watering from the rain water tanks and the occasional dose of the worm juice water it spreads along in a nice manner. It is a 2 hour round trip to the only nursery known to have these little fellas, so Plod dived into the ethernet and ordered 10 more tube stock on line and they arrived in good nick 3 days later and these are doing well. Plod had never had plants delivered before and he was most pleased with how it went.

[GAP]

We cannot sustain moss growth here in south east Queensland , however the POR's head horticulturist (MAM) discovered 'Pratia - white star creeper'. Kept moist is spreads nicely as a ground cover and keeps bubbling out cute little white flowers. In dry times it seemed to sulk but hangs in. With daily watering from the rain water tanks and the occasional dose of the worm juice water it spreads along in a nice manner. It is a 2 hour round trip to the only nursery known to have these little fellas, so Plod dived into the ethernet and ordered 10 more tube stock on line and they arrived in good nick 3 days later and these are doing well. Plod had never had plants delivered before and he was most pleased with how it went.

Where did you order them from?

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

We cannot sustain moss growth here in south east Queensland , however the POR's head horticulturist (MAM) discovered 'Pratia - white star creeper'. Kept moist is spreads nicely as a ground cover and keeps bubbling out cute little white flowers. In dry times it seemed to sulk but hangs in. With daily watering from the rain water tanks and the occasional dose of the worm juice water it spreads along in a nice manner. It is a 2 hour round trip to the only nursery known to have these little fellas, so Plod dived into the ethernet and ordered 10 more tube stock on line and they arrived in good nick 3 days later and these are doing well. Plod had never had plants delivered before and he was most pleased with how it went.

Where did you order them from?

Captain Plod googled and found this mob

https://www.australianplantsonline.com.au

Ordered on Thursday, delivered the following Monday.
They were buried late afternoon Monday

[FWLR]

They look far prettier than our myob....

[Andrew]

They look far prettier than our myob....

Especially after the frost's killed it off until Spring!

Looks like White Star Creeper grows in the UK too:

"A ground-hugging perennial to 1.5cm, forming a mat of tiny, rounded leaves. Throughout summer it produces a mass of star-shaped white flowers to 7mm across. Spreads rapidly. Grow in fertile, loamy, reliably moist soil in full sun to partial shade. No pruning required."

I imagine the trick is to balance the requirement for "reliably moist soil" with its seemingly only tolerating partial shade, but I might buy some and experiment. Thanks Dazza!