Garden Railway Forum

That's VERY impressive Rod, your son-in-law's done a fine job!

I'm very glad my father-in-law doesn't have similar expectations, he'd be sorely disappointed!

All the best,

Andrew.

Great work there Rod, he has done a good job and you must be delighted. The water level is just a bit alarming though, especially near the house, let's hope it doesn't happen again as it was exceptional this year.

Thanks for the kind replies. When I next speak to the son-in-law I will give him your very kind comments.

I did notice that the channel my son-in-law ground out of the other original flags in the patio near the bungalow/house, has now resolved the flooding problem vastly. Although we do get some standing water, it's by no means like the mini lake we used to have....


I can't remember if I posted the raised bed, so this is what has been done with the help of Anne..

I have also built something for the line when we are able to get some track laid.

Anne wanted something to put some flowers to grow over the line. I said "What about some sort of tunnel......

So I made this out of Wilf's Chair.


This is it


Don't have a clue on what to grow over it, but it needs to be an evergreen....Anne thought of a clematis, but I think it would be a bit too big. But as we aren't gardeners,

Been sometime since the line has progressed, even if it is just a little. Anne's Fairy Garden as come on a treat and when the planting gets done and start to grow, hopefully it will be even better.
Has it is now, with a lot more done.
Some partial track laying has been done, it is only laid to see how it looks. It may not be its final position, you know how things work when laying a new line.

The heat over the last few days has stopped work it got to 38degrees in our garden, far far too hot so it's a bit of stop and start now. I did have a little accident while I was putting some trellis up for Anne. I stepped off the raised bed backwards and well you know me, it was painful. Lots of bruising to my left elbow and hip, with some pain also in my shoulder
These may be x-rated....
Elbow...
Hip...
The bruising over the next few days got worse with my arm almost covered, has was my hip, it went all the way down one side of my leg and across the back. I am not going to show any photos of them, because they really are bad....

Still it's something that won't happen again, once bitten twice shy, has they say.

I did get to do a little project with some Foamboard. Thank you Andrew for you info and help, I decided not to use that glue you told me about because the smell of it would not have been very good for Anne, so I used outdoor wood glue, I know it's foamboard not wood, it did the trick although I had to put some brown tape on it, that stuff that sticks let the preferable, to hold it while it went off.

Here it is in place. The 1st photos is of the bush, it is approximately 5 feet wide.

I am hoping to get both ends of the tunnel finished with entrance's and then put some greenery on top of it, or just let the bush grow over. First though is to work out what to use for putting stone work on the foamboard to try and get it to look something like Andrew's....Luckily I have a bit of it so experimential is going to be the order of the day, with scrapping quite a few boards....

That looks good so far, Rod.

Somehow I missed your previous post in April, but as I read down the thread I was thinking you need Lonicera Nitida, then when I got as far as your pictures, I see that's what you've got!

I have a 4ft long tunnel done in exactly the same way as yours. For the liner, I used one of those black planting troughs that are about 6" square x 4ft long, and cut both ends off.
The Lonicera grows quite quickly in the spring but then slows down, mine generally needs a hair cut twice or three times a year. Don't let it get too high/wide because it gets very leggy and you end up with bare stalks at the bottom.

My tunnel mouths are done exactly as you suggest, with scribed stonework on foamboard.

Well done Rod, and Anne! Despite your accident you have made good progress and the garden looks really tidy. With the area for the railway defined it will be pleasure from now on.

Thanks Phillip. Didn't know the name of the bush, it does grow fairly fast has you say. The only problem I can see with the tunnel however, is the blackbirds mostly that visit the bush destroying the tunnel inside of it. Still it won't be such much of a problem, the board is easy enough to take out and do repairs...

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Fri Jun 26, 2020 7:16 pm Well done Rod, and Anne! Despite your accident you have made good progress and the garden looks really tidy. With the area for the railway defined it will be pleasure from now on.

Thank you Peter.

Yes, without Anne I don't think I could have got this far. The son-in-law got to do a little bit more with the flagging, then ran out of sand. I suggested he went to Southport beach.. The builders supply he uses, will only let you in if you have booked a slot and he wasn't able to get anymore, so now we will have to wait until he can get another slot. he also got me some more scaffolding boards, but after weather proofing them the heat we had one those last few days have warped them badly, not sure if they are inferior boards or what. The old used boards haven't warped anywhere near like the new boards...

The bed however does now look more recognisable to an area that will hopefully turn out well. I am planing on do a little bit of shunting on it..That's the plan.

This is the track plan we are thinking of doing.


This is with a slight adjustment to the line on the top left track.


It's either going to be a line to Anne's Slate Mine or to another project I am in the process of building....

Hello Rod,

That's really good progress, even if it was at a price! Take care of your lumps and bumps for a week or two to make sure you're fully mended.

The work on the railway is looking really good. I love the tunnel, as Philip says, it will fill out nicely - too nicely without a regular visit from the garden barber! I wouldn't worry too much about the blackbirds, they aren't usually destructive but can get a bit carried away whilst they are nesting - and they won't be doing that for much longer now this year. Once the bush establishes over the tunnel I doubt they will affect it.

Keep up the good work!

(CFLR) Andrew

Great progress despite those very painful-looking injuries - look after yourself Rod!

Looking forward to seeing the completed tunnel - looking good so far!

Andrew

Good to see you getting back on track, even though you took one for the team! That's a good idea for the tunnel - it will not easily succumb to intrusion by the foliage. Will you be able to spray the interior matt black, to take away the reflected shine on the foamboard? If you can it will improve the photo opportunities the tunnel will create.

Thanks Phil. I could take the board out again and take the tunnel off and paint all of it, but it's one heck of a pig doing that. Will have to see if Anne is up to it in the next couple of days. She isn't feeling to grand at the moment and the weather is rubbish again...

FWLR wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:12 am Thanks Phil. I could take the board out again and take the tunnel off and paint all of it, but it's one heck of a pig doing that.

You could probably get away with just painting both ends inside as far as an arm can reach (make sure you start painting inside and work back to the tunnel mouth!!). Then when you put the tunnel mouths on it will appear black to a casual look and, in fact there will probably only be a shortish length right in the middle that is left white and that will be in deep shadow anyway.

Good to see you're back in the garden and getting some track down, Rod. Looks like that was a nasty tumble - take care.

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:40 pm Good to see you're back in the garden and getting some track down, Rod. Looks like that was a nasty tumble - take care.

Rik

Thanks Rik. Yes it did hurt a lot! The elbow still has a scab on it, but it is getting smaller by the day.
Somehow when we get older you kind of loose some sense of danger, I did by stepping backwards into thin air..

Thanks to all the replies I have received. They are very welcome indeed. It shows how the forum cares about it's members. It means a lot..

FWLR wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 7:54 am ..... I did by stepping backwards into thin air..

We all do something similar at some point .... Well I did. Except in my case I stepped down off the railway on to a garden chair after cutting the hedge - the chair collapsed and threw me against the railway - I cracked a rib and winded myself so I couldn't speak. One set of neighbours leapt over the fence and another neighbour dashed through the house to my rescue. My wife was quite oblivious until the neighbour rushed through the house.

All this was well before lockdown, I hasten to add!

Rik

FWLR wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:12 am Thanks Phil. I could take the board out again and take the tunnel off and paint all of it, but it's one heck of a pig doing that. Will have to see if Anne is up to it in the next couple of days. She isn't feeling to grand at the moment and the weather is rubbish again...

I think you could do it in situ - reaching in with a halfords matt black can and spraying would cover the middle, and then as Phil says, paint the ends with a brush, using blackboard paint or similar.
And yes, the weather has reverted to type for a North West summer - thank goodness the majority of lockdown wasn't like this!

Hope you're fully mobile without sore bits soon.