My Proposed Railway

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IanC
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My Proposed Railway

Post by IanC » Sat May 12, 2018 12:08 pm

I thought I'd share with you my thoughts and plans for my railway.

This will not be a quick build. I am starting a new business venture and also do some commissioned 4mm work, building locomotive kits and painting or repainting stock. It has taken me over 10 years to get this far! Time is at a premium.

I have for some time wanted my own railway to run my, so far solitary, locomotive. It had always been my intention to build a line in the garden, although the past 12 months I have contemplated building a portable layout instead.

Unless my circumstances change I will probably build in the garden. More space! There have been a lot of useful posts on here which will help me. My garden has a gentle slope. Nothing that would trouble R/C locos, but I still want to aim for a level railway. Construction will be on lightweight breeze blocks to raise it slightly.

I have in mind two loops connected by a single line. This will be subject to space and may have to be modified if necessary. There will be three stations, one on each loop, and one on the single track. Again, subject to space I will incorporate a steam up/storage area too. This will simply be two or three sidings.

My first step I suppose is to survey the area (garden) and work out what I can get in. I will have to keep some space for SWMBO to sit out in the garden. Then I can construct a plan. I guesstimate the area is roughly 30' x 30'.

In my idle moments between everything else in my busy life I have worked out a rough location for the line and a vague route and reason for it's existence, but not a time period yet.

It will be a fictitious 2 foot gauge (32mm) line to connect the West Coast Main line at Wininck, Warrington, with the Cheshire Lines at Sankey. It will serve an intermediate station or goods facility at Burtonwood, or Old Hall. For those that know the area Burtonwood was a large USAF airforce base during WWII. In reality it was served by its own standard gauge line off the Cheshire Lines Railway. Winwick also had a short line off the WCML to the hospital there. My inspiration for using real places comes from Rik's names of places in the Chester area on his own railway.

I am gradually acquiring things I will need. Some track is in stock, and I have some buildings purchased from a good friend who down sized his own line and were too good to resist. Also I am scratch building some stock (wagons), construction of which I may detail in a separate post.

Mods. If you feel this should be under a different topic, please feel free to move it. I thought as it is only a project at the moment this would be the best place to post my thoughts.

Ian
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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Sat May 12, 2018 12:15 pm

This can be the beginning of your build thread (you can rename the topic later if you wish).

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by IanC » Sat May 12, 2018 7:38 pm

Thank you Tom.

While my railway is at the "planning" stage I'm happy to leave it as a project so I can share my thoughts and ideas. When I start the construction I'll probably start a new thread and cross reference them both.

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by Soar Valley Light » Sat May 12, 2018 8:05 pm

Hi Ian,

You've clearly invested some time to thinking the project through. Always a wise move! I look forward to hearing more. I've been building for about three years and I wouldn't claim to be even half way yet. Other things get in the way as you say. Keep us posted as you go, it will inspire slow builders like me to get a wiggle on! :mrgreen:

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by invicta280 » Sat May 12, 2018 10:55 pm

Good news! Another garden railway under construction.

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by IanC » Sun May 13, 2018 8:51 am

Soar Valley Light wrote: Sat May 12, 2018 8:05 pm Hi Ian,

You've clearly invested some time to thinking the project through. Always a wise move! I look forward to hearing more. I've been building for about three years and I wouldn't claim to be even half way yet. Other things get in the way as you say. Keep us posted as you go, it will inspire slow builders like me to get a wiggle on! :mrgreen:

Andrew
Thank you Andrew.

I'm not sure how another slow builder will inspire you. :scratch: Posts about construction are a long way off yet. I have my fingers crossed I will make a start this year, but it might just be a case of building stock in the evenings, and continuing to acquire track and building materials.

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by IanC » Sun May 13, 2018 8:54 am

invicta280 wrote: Sat May 12, 2018 10:55 pm Good news! Another garden railway under construction.
Thank you Invicta280. A long way off "under construction" yet. Planning is underway, but it has been for 10 years. So far only outline planning approval has been given by the authorities. Detailed plans have to be drawn up and approved before the first sod is cut.

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by daan » Sun May 13, 2018 3:03 pm

Regarding "long term railway construction" I would offer the idea of starting with one station and finish that on a short, overseable timespan. From there on, move forward to an oval, so that you can run a train and try out your made rolling stock. Then advance into the garden steadily, growing your empire on the long run, giving way to your dreams over a longer period of time.
If you keep planning and want to build the railway all at once, you might end up with nothing, because always there will be something more important then the big layout project. But if your big project is the result of a lot of small projects, then you will find time to finish each small project on shorter terms, keeping the dream alive and you'll be looking at the railway being finished eventually.

A lot of people always kept on dreaming and it never changed into a real thing. Which obviously would be a shame..
"En schöne Gruess" from an Alpine railway in Holland.

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by IanC » Sun May 13, 2018 7:32 pm

Thank you Daan. I always intended to build as you suggest, whatever the final plan. I have seen many a 4mm large railway get abandoned because the project is too big.

There are a few other reasons why I will not be attempting to build everything at once. The garden is not large and my wife also uses it and she has sight problems so I will need to keep changes and upheaval to a minimum. The other is to spread the cost as I can't afford to buy everything I need at once.

Getting something finished is a great moral booster and encourages momentum. So yes, I shall be building in bite sized chunks.

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by IanC » Mon May 14, 2018 3:04 pm

I have taken advantage of the warm weather and spent a little time in the garden thinking about the proposed railway. I am probably only going to have one loop, not the two I was thinking of. The loop will be between two terminal stations to allow end to end running and, if required, some continuous running. I think I also hve a plan in mind which can be built without wholesale changes and upheaval to the garden. I'll make a rough sketch and post it up in a day or two. A picture is worth a thousand words they say.

I have also put some thought into staion names and a name for the railway.

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by BorisSpencer » Mon May 14, 2018 5:00 pm

The element with which I'm currently struggling is a name.
I'm currently thinking along the lines of - 'Something clever' Preservation Light Railway, as I then have carte blanche to run pretty much anything I fancy.

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by IanC » Mon May 14, 2018 6:08 pm

BorisSpencer wrote: Mon May 14, 2018 5:00 pm The element with which I'm currently struggling is a name.
I'm currently thinking along the lines of - 'Something clever' Preservation Light Railway, as I then have carte blanche to run pretty much anything I fancy.
I've almost finalised my names. I used inspiration from Rik and used places names around Warrington, where I live. I have linked two areas which had spurs off main lines. Winwick and Burtonwood. I have a name for the railway in mind, but I haven't settled on station names. I might change one of the area's to somewhere on the Manchester Ship Canal which runs through Warrington, but I don't fancy trying to recreate that in my tiny garden!

I suppose I should get off the fence and make up my mind. I don't want it to be the line with no name. The history and time period will be ficticious, but two periods that appeal to me are the preservation period then I can run anything within reason (although I suspect it would be mainly passenger trains in the preservation era) or some time between the wars when it was struggling to earn a living and I can justify freight, and possibly private owner wagons.

I have a friend who has a 4mm model of a real location. It didn't change much over the years so he simply changes stock to run different periods. I might follow suit with my railway.

Good luck with your names. Do share when you decide. I'll post mine when I've settled on them.

Ian
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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by ge_rik » Mon May 14, 2018 6:23 pm

Sounds good, Ian. Will follow developments with interest. Plenty of scope around the Warrington area for lineside industries. A brewery comes to mind ......... :lol:

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by ge_rik » Mon May 14, 2018 6:26 pm

IanC wrote: Mon May 14, 2018 3:04 pm I have taken advantage of the warm weather and spent a little time in the garden thinking about the proposed railway. I am probably only going to have one loop, not the two I was thinking of. The loop will be between two terminal stations to allow end to end running and, if required, some continuous running. I think I also hve a plan in mind which can be built without wholesale changes and upheaval to the garden. I'll make a rough sketch and post it up in a day or two. A picture is worth a thousand words they say.

I have also put some thought into staion names and a name for the railway.

Ian
End to end plus a continuous loop gives plenty of potential for realistic operation and just sitting back and watching the trains pass by. Have done both today - can't beat it when the weather is fine.... :sunny:

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Mon May 14, 2018 6:28 pm

Cannot recommend enough having a continuous loop, I do end to end running because of space and that's the only reason.

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by Peter Butler » Mon May 14, 2018 6:50 pm

BorisSpencer wrote: Mon May 14, 2018 5:00 pm The element with which I'm currently struggling is a name.
I'm currently thinking along the lines of - 'Something clever' Preservation Light Railway, as I then have carte blanche to run pretty much anything I fancy.
My SM32 line represents a worked-out quarry line which closed but has now reopened as a tourist railway. Like you, I can run anything I please, from any period or railway. My title is.... 'Brockhamton and Umbridge Railway' and is operated by a Preservation Society, thus spelling B.U.R.P.S.
The best things in life are free.... so why am I doing this?

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by IanC » Mon May 14, 2018 8:37 pm

Thank you Rik, Tom and Peter,

I've spent an hour or two with anyrail and a drawing package to create a diagram of what I have in mind currently.

This is by no means to scale, and I've used the Peco SM32 set track templates for ease. I haven't yet decided on the final configurations for the stations. The loop will not be a regular circle either. I'll be using Peco flexible track for the railway. Curves will be a minimum of 36". Larger if I can manage it. The bridge from the lawn to the raised bed will be straight, not on a curve as it is on the diagram.

Proposed Garden Line.jpg
Proposed Garden Line.jpg (34.19 KiB) Viewed 5587 times

This will enable me to more or less keep the garden as it is. The house is at the bottom of the diagram, and the garden slopes down from the paved area to the house. The total fall I estimate to be about 6-9 inches over 20 feet. I aim to make the line level an to the height of the raised bed.

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Mon May 14, 2018 8:44 pm

I don't see the point of the loop?

You might as well have the loop at one end so you don't have to run around each time.

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by ge_rik » Tue May 15, 2018 8:25 am

tom_tom_go wrote: Mon May 14, 2018 6:28 pm Cannot recommend enough having a continuous loop, I do end to end running because of space and that's the only reason.
One of the advantages of a continuous loop
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 24&t=11829

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Re: My Proposed Railway

Post by IanC » Tue May 15, 2018 10:21 am

tom_tom_go wrote: Mon May 14, 2018 8:44 pm I don't see the point of the loop?

You might as well have the loop at one end so you don't have to run around each time.
I agree Tom. However I hvae omitted a lot of detail from my drawing. The raised bed on the left is not wide enough, and there is a door at the end of the path into the garage and it's not possible to move it. The terminus on the lawn is also very close to a set of french doors which also rules out a loop at that end. The loop position is not finalised and will not be a circle as drawn. At this moment in time all I can say is it will be "en route" somewhere on the lawn between the two stations. I may add a triangle to the loop for access to and from the terminus on the lawn, and make the terminus in the raised bed into sidings and a steam up area.

All still to be decided yet. I will get round to measuring up the garden properly soon and perhaps marking out the route with string and markers to give me an idea before finalising the plan and starting any construction.

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