Garden Railway Forum

I like your garden layout and how the railway flows with it, much more interesting than mine.

Next house I will be demanding raised beds, stops dogs destroying everything and allows a railway to sneak in at waist height

I know the things with dogs.. Though raising the track takes a lot of problems away (depending on the size of them though). Nicely done, one can enjoy the trains at eyeheight on some areas here and the trackwork stays nice and tidy.

Thanks Tom and Daan, I've done quite a bit in the garden since I moved in a year ago, always mindful that I wanted a railway, as it happens, it's all happened quicker than expected! I had a cat until recently (he was just short of 21) but know what you mean about dogs, and I'm very watchful when the grandkids are visiting, love em to bits but......!! Welcome to the forum Daan, I'm sure you'll find as much help, inspiration and knowledge as I have. A couple more piccies to hopefully whet your appetite.... The afternoon Passenger gets underway from the (very) recently laid Hollycross platform, as Albert waits to follow with a Goods train, providing of course he manages to get some pressure up... Looking the other way, you'll see the recently documented steaming bay and THAT tree in the distance, so get an idea of the general layout of things. Cheers for now!

Thanks for the welcome! About grandchildren: since my line is 45mm track, I have some Playmobil trains for them to play with. On 32mm track, there where so called "Faller Playtrains". I still have them from my youth and on Ebay.de they come so and then. It's not that expensive and really fun for kids. They run on batteries and use switches on the locomotive, you could even build in a simple radio control in it I guess.

That way your trains will not be in risk when them visiting and they have a lot of fun too.
Absolutely nice trains by the way!

Cheers Daan.

Well, a very bright, sunny day yesterday turned thoughts towards raising steam, so the gap between the two sections was bridged (very!) temporarily to allow NOBBY to have a trundle round with a few wagons. It wasn't long before inquisitive neighbours turned up resulting in an Easter egg! and quite a few free plants for the garden. Nice one! And guess who had to get in on it all!.....

Even the very temporary bridge looks solid , apart from the clamps that is..

Fantastic! Your line has really become a part of the landscape. I particularly LOVE the shot of the level crossing over the path.

Andrew

I like the idea of trains running over a patio.

Have you placed rails inside the channels you have cut in the paving slabs?

As I've said elsewhere, I just tend to get stuck in without too much planning then just 'make it work'! The temporary bridge is a bit of spare floorboarding bought for the roof of the summerhouse I built. It does look a bit precarious but was actually also resting on some screws too so sits quite stable even with the train rattling across it. When I do the bridges 'proper', they'll be a lot more secure! The crossing is shown in the very first photo back on page 1, or at least the relevant breeze block is shown. Then scroll down that page and you'll see that any stones I dug up were thrown either side of it as hardcore for the path that followed. I laid the flags on a sloppy cement base, tapping them down to be 'as near as' level with the track railhead either side. I then simply threw cement into the gap between the flags, covering the track, smoothed it off with the trowel, ran a screwdriver against each rail to form the flangeways, and waited for it to dry off. When it was nearly set, a damp sponge and old paintbrush tidied it up and the result is as seen. Easy really! As the ladies in the BOOTS advert say, Ta Da!!

Just nipped out and grabbed a couple of piccies if it helps. The flags are cheapy ones as seen in all garden centres/DIY places. I bought half a dozen, 3 were used in Three Flags Tunnel, self explanatory!!, The others formed the path and crossing, one being cut diagonally with an angle grinder to go either side of the track. You can just make out the chairs which hold the rails in place. I noticed too, that the train actually rumbles as it crosses the path, the wheels crushing any dust that's settled in the flangeways. Brings a tear to me eye it does....

Brilliant, thanks for the pics - I can see what you have done now

Greetings!!! Again, looonnngg absense, this time caused by illness and holiday travels but back with a BANG now, hopefully! The line got pretty much left alone for a while, and its the wrong time of year really to be doing much to a garden railway but...... Just to bring things up to date, I have laid in the top part of the out and back branch line which WILL reach the front garden eventually. The photos show it starts its descent immediately after Hollycross Station Junction, and the ruling gradient is 1:45....ish. As I said earlier, trains will have to work on the way back! Further news is that the strawberry patch 'disappeared' and was turfed and a small block paved area provided from where I can watch trains make their way down and up the gradient, whilst enjoying a drink of something suitable. The branch line will be basically below the main line and run parallel to the wall. The bottom fence rail behind the seating area roughly marks the bottom of said gradient, and from there, the line will cross yet another bridge over the steps from the bottom gate and go round a loop in the front garden before tackling the climb back up. It says here...
Anyway, nice to be back on my feet and hopefully it wont be too long before Ive some further progress to report. Cheers for now!

That's definitely a railway garden. Good to see you back.
Grant.

Looks like you've made clever use of a difficult site. Will follow the next phase with interest.

Rik

Very nice, the plants have defiantly matured in the later pictures and it seems to help the railway blend in to the garden.

Wonderful layout.

Down in the jungle, something stirred!...... Yes, tis I, back from yet another prolonged break but determined to battle on with Hollycross and get at least the top circuit running asap. So....anyone who remembers my previous antics will know, Lord Hollycross, Albert, balls of string etc all play a part in my Modus Operandi and its been no different these past few days, but as ever, a picture paints 1000 words so.... First off, we need to plot where we're going, cue stringline, half a brick to pull it tight, and an eyeball.... then hole, post, spirit level, Postmix, water. Done! You'll notice that I'm getting involved with plastic fence posts this time, the lines a bit higher up here so I want a bit of stability. The posts are easy to cut to length with an ordinary wood saw and rapid progress followed. This view looks the other way and also shows the garden drops away, hence the height difference, and also shows the branch junction. Ive 'borrowed' a few bits of filcris from elsewhere to get a line and set the gradient, more later. Next...
Another post in between, fixed in same as before. Now, this bit is 'interesting'! I've pondered many methods for bridging this gap across the corner of the path, including paving block piers, aluminium bridge deck, brick built viaduct etc, THEN, an old friend who's particular trade for 50+ years, has been building, repairing and trading in boats, and on a recent visit he happened to mention that ' he'd enough offcuts to knock up a portable/removable 6' long wooden trestle viaduct' and he'd love the chance to do a bit to help! Hmmm, so thats currently under consideration but it'd make a lovely and very photogenic addition. Anyway, onwards.. The next bit involves turning through almost 180°, on a curve of just about 5' radius, to line up with the main line again at the point it comes through the steaming bay. So, peg, string line, aerosol paint, and Hey Presto! we have a line marked out on the lawn to guide us along. If you get this bit wrong, mow the lawn, have a beer, start afresh!. I didnt, so after another hour or so, this is the state of play. Good innit!? So we're well on the way with posts etc, theres another one to plant on this curve then filcris rails will be clamped to the BOTTOM inside edge for a few days to give them an inbuilt curve prior to fixing at the correct level. This will help to avoid the tendency of the posts being spread out of true, the filcris is really easy to work with, but is quite flexible but this will be to my advantage at this stage. The inside rail will be fixed level with the post tops first, then the outside rail fixed slightly higher to give a degree of cant in case anyone, Albert!!, is in a rush to get finished! I will also be fitting some sort of boundary too on the raised section, only an inch or so, but hopefully it will prevent any disasters if theres a derailment.
If you're still with me, a couple of photos to close with, which show progress to date. Cheers chaps, and chapesses! More soon!

Welcome back, I love your garden so looking forward to new progress.

I'd just 'roll' the lengths of filcris for a couple of days, they'll adopt (and pretty much keep) a curve in no time. Looking very good though - there'll be no bending down on your line!

Test post.