Garden Railway Forum

I have spent the weekend working on clearing the part of my garden that is destined for a large man shed and railway.
It now transpires that the sort of 'flatish' bit is not as flatish as I thought. The ground falls away at a rate of about 18 inches per 5 foot, I could work out a percentage but it is too damn depressing.
Has any one out there built a garden line on a similar site?
It is funny that until I cleared the brambles and trees away the ground did appear much flatter.
I will point out that most of the rest of the garden is on about a 45 degree slope.
If I can't work out a solution then it will be back to 7mm NG in the shed.

Big Jim:91355 wrote:I have spent the weekend working on clearing the part of my garden that is destined for a large man shed and railway.
It now transpires that the sort of 'flatish' bit is not as flatish as I thought. The ground falls away at a rate of about 18 inches per 5 foot, I could work out a percentage but it is too damn depressing.
Has any one out there built a garden line on a similar site?
It is funny that until I cleared the brambles and trees away the ground did appear much flatter.
I will point out that most of the rest of the garden is on about a 45 degree slope.
If I can't work out a solution then it will be back to 7mm NG in the shed.

perhaps half the line in cuttings with the other on embankments made from the cutting soil and wooden legs, good for steamups

unfortunatly you havent got many options unless your prepared to do alot of land work

It is far from hopeless.  Indeed it sounds like an opportunity to do something 'dog bone' shaped with the longer access following the contour of the land, then the balloon loops at either end can be part in a cutting the hillside and part on a low embankment.  You could even wiggle your way down the side of the hill the way the railroads get down the canyon sides here in central AZ - or like wot the Welsh Highland Railway does north of Beddgelert.

FWIW, an embankment at the steaming area saves a lot of cursing and backache.

My own yard is nowhere near that steep, but I have an elongated horse shoe bend that drops the line close on three feet in the course of 80 feet to get the line down on to the lower plateau.  The gradient is close on 3.7%, which is no worse than Glenagalt, but Millie and Ruby chuff up it no problems, though naturally the trains are short.

Peter in AZ

Here in flatish Suffolk we don't have such severe situations but my suggestion is to run tracks at the top of the slope either on the surface or in cuttings while the rest is either on stilts or embankments.  The stilt or embankment bits could have your steam up area on it, if you are doing live steam.
Remember it is this sort of terrain that gave narrow gauge the advantage over standard gauge.
This could be a positive thing rather than a disadvantage but I have to
agree with Pauly that you have some hard work ahead of you.

Good luck.

Don't be so defeatist Jim! Life is full of challenges and this is just another test of your resolve. You have seen my railway cut into the sloping ground and although yours may be steeper, it is worth the effort in the long run.
Follow the good advice by Pauly: cut out the high spots and build up the low with wooden legs (as I have done too). If you need local support, I will gladly come over to see if I can help from my own experience.
Just look over the river and see how they cut the Gwili into the hillside....... Inspirational!!!!!!!

Can I suggest watching the videos of Lawrie Wrights Excelent railway in Aberystwyth. It may raise your spirits...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP3hrp7i8wQ

Good comparison IRON MAN, I have been to Lawrie Wright's railway in Aberystwyth and had a guided tour of his railway. It is built on a 1:3 slope and still manages to make the most of a seemingly impossible site.
No more excuses Jim..... Make the most of what you have.

Hello Jim

I think your garden is a little bit like mine here i Norway - not flat but more on a hillside.
Even with a lot of hard work you will defenatelly get a garden railway to be proud of.

Here are some pics from my garden railway - the first shows how it was before final track-work, the next how the line today winds around the hillside, the trees, and on a 2 foot high trestle.


The line is on top of a 2 foot high stonewall.


A overall view of the line. Just below the photostand the line makes a turn into a dogbone-tunnel.

I have adopted a similar approach to Pine Hill by building a wall up, infilling behind to give a level base. It may only be 6 feet wide but tunnels and bridges break it up. I have also broken the run of wall to allow a couple of bridges to be accommodated (too wet for a photo sorry) Better than no railway.......

Thanks for the words of encouragement gentlemen.
I have called in a favour and have the use of a mini digger for a weekend in a week or two.
So a major earth moving session is in the planning stage.
I have made a little progress with a small survey. It appears that the slope on the flatish bit is even steeper than I previously thought.
It is going to be a bit of a challenge but hopefully the results will be worth it.
The first challenge is going to be getting the digger up the garden!

Good decision Jim.... we knew you could do it.
How about some before and after pictures? Work in progress!

Next time I am at home in daylight I will get the camera out and post some pics of the Pentremorgan Alps for you all to have a good giggle at.

Big Jim:91422 wrote: I have called in a favour and have the use of a mini digger for a weekend in a week or two.

Brilliant! Go for it!

Good luck - and have fun!

Andrew

Well Folks, the digger is booked for this weekend, I have used up the last of my annual leave to give me three full days of digging and messing about.
The current wife is to be sent off xmas shopping on Saturday morning and I have arranged for the teenage son of a friend to lug 9 inch hollow blocks up the hill, (its amazing what a 17 year old will do for £20 - however it is best not to let on how heavy 9" hollows are and how far I need to get them up the hill.)
I have also ordered a few dozen bolt-down met posts for the first stage of laying a track bed.
Goodness knows how far I will get, probably no further than turning the digger over by 8.30am on Saturday morning.

Good to hear you are going ahead as planned.
Having now seen the site I have every confidence in you and your abilities to achieve great things on the slope.
Any time you need moral support just call.
Practical support is available but restricted to my own abilities!
Good luck Jim.

Slight problem, I can't get the digger into the garden as the ground is too steep and too soft. Oh well back to the drawing board.

Time some bright spark invented a way of digging manually!
Perhaps a sort of very large spoon? For the sake of argument, let's call it a spade! I may be on to something here????

A great pity, driving a digger is surely second only to driving a train when it comes to what every young boy wants to do when they grow up

have you made any progress?

laalratty:93227 wrote:A great pity, driving a digger is surely second only to driving a train when it comes to what every young boy wants to do when they grow up

Please explain.... 'grow up'?