Garden Railway Forum

Four months later...

Not a vast amount has happened with the garden line, apart from the greenhouse curve has now been laid and an opportunity to have a quick steam up on Christmas day (2019) came about.







Next project to do on the line involves some earthworks and the installation of supports for the 6 foot long covered rail bridge (that didn't happen), this will complete the negotiating of the greenhouse section. Once this is done then the next 30 foot of track can be laid up the garden to reach the next station. I still have a 3 foot girder a bridge and a 5 foot trestle bridge to fit in somewhere further up the line once the next station has been reached.

Martin

Two months later...

Heavy snow storms swept across the South East last night (Feb 2019), the crew managed to struggle in this morning and made a start on track clearing until the kettle boiled and they stopped for a cup of tea.







Martin

Back to the station platforms. These were built from hardwood rescued from old window frames from my Mother's house when she had the windows upgraded.

The basic platform supports were made including a bay platform facility.



The thinner window trim bits were cut on a bandsaw to create the platform surface planks.



After a while a good selection of planks were available.



These were glued onto the frames with enough overhang that will be trued up later.



The bay platform trimmed up.



Then treated with creosote.



Here being installed, September 2018.



Martin

Work has now progressed on installing the turntable (Swiftsixteen).



Early engine shed mock up in the background,



Some of the painting stages of the turntable, I made a simple jig to hold the turntable while painting, this made the job a whole lot easier.







Eventually it was finally installed.





Martin

Bloody marvellous work there, huge job.

I particularly like the planked platforms.

Old Man Aaron wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:14 pm Bloody marvellous work there, huge job.

I particularly like the planked platforms.

Thank you.
I did enjoy making the platforms and they have now weathered well.

Martin

To give me something to do over the winter months, I made a start on the buildings, the first up being the engine shed, so I made a rough mock up to judge size and positioning.



Then on the computer drew up some full scale (16mm) drawings.



Using these computer drawings, I dug out my old drawing tools from my art college and early paste-up days and set to work drawing the building out on PVC Foamex, this being a new material to me and inspired by the work of Nikki Wilkes, thought I would give it a go. I used a print out of brick courses taped at the top of the drawing board as a measurement guide when marking out the Foamex.





This I embossed and cut with a selection of tools.







Until eventually I had effectively a building kit of parts.



Assembly went quite smoothly and soon took up a lot of space on the workbench.



In my research I came across this superglue used in the double glazing trade, comes in a decent sized bottle and is very powerful, I tried a test piece first and the Foamex broke and not the glue joint.



I made a roof with trusses which is a very snug fit into the building and hoping this will hold in place when it gets windy in the garden, if not, I will find some way of fixing in it place.



The roof was covered in nearly 800 slates, hand cut and chipped or broken where required.



A set of steps for the pedestrian side door was also made, sanding the flag stones to simulate years of wear.



Now in position by the doorway. The first step does look high at the moment, but when on the railway the building is effectively 'planted' in gravel, so the building has 15mm extra added to the wall bottoms to cater for this.



As the build progressed, I felt the end of the shed lacked interest, so a driver and fireman rest was added.



Ridge tiles and end boards have been put on the roof.



Next I need to start getting some paint applied.

Martin

There is need for a cattle/sheep dock on the railway, so one was drawn up on a 600mm x 400mm sheet of 5mm PVC Foamex and scribed.



It did not take long to glue the main structure up, again, like the engine shed, this has an extra 15mm depth to the sides to embed it into the gravel.



Some posts for the railings were made by laminating some 5mm and 3mm PVC Foamex, then trimming to final size with a bandsaw on it's slowest speed setting.



I wanted the posts to have a pointed top, I have some five bar gates on the driveway at home so measured the angle of the pointed tops of the posts which came out as near enough 30 degrees. My mitre saw block only had 45 degrees, so I laser cut a saw and drilling guide to help with batch processing, also makes it a lot easier to hold a post than a mitre block would in this size. The photo shows the laser cut 2mm MDF jig with 30 degree guide and one of the two drilling guides. Also some of the post blanks and a selection of 2mm mild steel rod for the rail, which I am hoping will rust nicely over time.



How the jig is designed to work, first a post is inserted up to the end stop, then the first cut is made.



Which gives this first cut that gets a few passes with a file to smooth flat to guide.



Then the post was withdrawn and rotated through 90 degrees away from me and inserted back thus...



Another cut is made...



Repeat until the fourth cut...



Eventually I ended up with 15 posts...



Each one was put in the jig and drilled with one guide, then each post was rotated 90 degrees and put back in the jig with the second hole guide in place and drilled.



Ending up with 15 identically drilled posts, what I have not shown is the end stop also had a central hole to drill and tap the post base 8BA so they can be bolted to the main base.



The posts were bolted to the base, using a pin chuck to set the length of the steel rod to be cut.



Using the pin chuck as a saw cut guide, the pin chuck was clamped in a bench vice and the rod cut with a piercing saw.



Once complete, all the rods were threaded into the posts.





Martin

Beautiful tidy workmanship, and what a great use for the laser-cutter.

Great work Martin,
you'd think something like this would take years, but you're really setting the pace.

HansL wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2025 3:27 pm Great work Martin,
you'd think something like this would take years, but you're really setting the pace.

Thank you Hans.

It did take years, on and off, I am just getting the layout thread fully up to date at the moment. I tend to model in concentrated sessions, then do nothing for ages.

Martin

I have started putting some colour on the cattle dock.





Painting has also started on the engine shed lean to office.



An in progress shot of an engine shed wall, the second colour having been applied to the righthand side.



Martin

The panelled side door on the main engine shed has been made.



The panels were bevelled using a screwdriver blade.



A lean to office window and the two main shed doors work in progress.



I found some dolls house hinges online, not worth scratch building them for the cost of these. They turned out to be a waste of money and cracked in one day of being on the railway. I will need to scratch build some in brass.





The insides of the doors showing the framing and scribed planks, they all have wood texture scratched in.



A before and after distressing of the lower edge of the doors.



Some paint on the outers.



A close up and a hand to give an idea of scale.



An inner and outer with more painting still to do.



The office now has a roof.



Three colours now on the walls and the main roof in primer.



This may be of interest, these are the blades I use for the main cutting. The curved blade does the bulk of the cutting, the straight blade just for nicking into the corners.



Martin

Some helpful tips here. Not tried the curved Stanley blade but will give it a try.
Do you apply the brick colours with a sponge?

Rik

ge_rik wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 1:27 pm Some helpful tips here. Not tried the curved Stanley blade but will give it a try.
Do you apply the brick colours with a sponge?

Rik

I am pleased you have found some of this useful Rik.

The blades I buy in bulk and have loads left.
An improvement I have found is to use a Dolphin handle, not cheap, used a lot in the carpet fitting trade. The handle enables a very good grip and pull with the cut. Also has a useful thumbscrew to open the knife. These are the three knives I use for PVC Foamex.



For the painting I just stipple on the Reeves acrylic with a paint brush and some times a piece of real sponge, depending on the finish I want. Generally it is normally just a brush.

Martin

Martin

Very nice buildings. And the finish is very convincing - even though it isn't finished.

Trevor

Trevor Thompson wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 6:46 pm Martin

Very nice buildings. And the finish is very convincing - even though it isn't finished.

Trevor

Thank you Trevor, still lots to do.

Martin

The engine shed now has a bit more colour applied.





Martin

Have done a line inspection and found plants growing on the track bed.



Further along the line we have had overnight visitors!



My Mum recently threw out an old mini greenhouse, the frame poles of which can support some protective nets for the time being.



Martin

As a bit of light relief from the engine shed, I have made a start on a signal box, this is a mash up of the two boxes on the Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway, both of which I have operated.

The box at Warren Wood...



The box at Stony Shaw...



My drawings to work out all the sizes.







Some of the parts drawn and embossed.



The front wall cut out from 5mm PVC Foamex.



Some parts for the steps and verandah cut from 3mm PVC Foamex, which will later have 2mm laminated both sides in places to give a thicker timber look to the posts.



The chimney coming together, made from 5mm PVC Foamex.



Here can be seen some of the laminated stairs sides, the roof trusses, the rear of the chimney, the chimney top and the brick edged concrete base the stairs and veranda sit on.



Starting to put things together in this picture. Inside can be seen the stove and the scribed and painted floor, along with the inner scribed walls, most of which is a waste of time because from the normal viewing angle you will not see it, but at last I know it is there!



A better view of the wood burner and warming plate for those cups of tea.



I made a mistake with the roofing trusses, so had to put a small packing piece in and file to shape so that they sit correctly on the wall tops. PVC Foamex is very forgiving, easy to superglue a piece in, then cut and sand to shape.



I have painted the walls, inside and outside with an initial coat, you can just see the roof trusses from this angle. The basic roof structure is now made and is a sliding fit into the walls. Currently I am cutting the roofing slates from 30thou styrene, then the roof with the upper chimney can be finally assembled.

Next I will make up the stairs and verandah and make a start cutting out the windows and door.



Martin