Initially a few images of the area where the line will run.
The line will run along the trellis on my workshop side, at either end of this image the line will dive into the garden on the left where two balloon loops will return the route back to itself.
So to enable the line to cross the Arbour, I need to build a "Level Crossing", first I set a level chord (only to discover that the garden is far less flat than I thought) from one side of the garden to the other.
The next step is to lift the slab under the Arbour, I had not intended to lift this much but in order to avoid a lengthy cutting in a boggy area of the garden I've lifted the line height a couple of inches.
A second slab (actually two slabs) is now laid leaving a gap through which the line will run.
Next is the first of two embankments either side of the Arbour & slabs.
The second embankment is laid.
Next I disappeared into the workshop for two hours and construct a four foot length of track from nickel rail and brass sleepers to lay into the gap.
Unfortunately I neglected to take a photo of the track, sorry.
Then the track is laid into place together with two points to support the track in place, then the gap is back filled with a good strength mortar. After much cleaning of the rails (especially between the rail and check rail a round house Jack was pushed across the Crossing to check all was good.
On order are ten bags of Gritstone for ballast.
I saw this on one of the forums recently and bought a test sample, which I tried in the image below.
The Gritstone is terrific, I think that due to it's irregular size the cement used to glue it all together worked really well. I used a mix of two parts Gritstone to one cement. The staining is from something else entirely...
More as soon as it happens...
