A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway - The saga continues

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philipy
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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by philipy » Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:12 am

Ahh, the Midlands damp is obviously more efficient than Northwest damp, these are a couple of the stones I was angle-grinding just back at the beginning of September this year! :lol:
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That is a nice shot of your train, BTW.
Philip

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by invicta280 » Wed Nov 14, 2018 9:04 pm

That skew bridge cut from breeze block is superb. It will look the business with the stream running underneath. Most impressive.

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by FWLR » Thu Nov 15, 2018 8:07 am

And more bird poop too Phillip….. :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by FWLR » Thu Nov 15, 2018 8:10 am

Agree with Phillip, great shot of the Loco Phil. :thumbright: :thumbright:

Must get around to a visit one day.

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by Lonsdaler » Thu Nov 15, 2018 9:15 am

philipy wrote: Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:12 am Ahh, the Midlands damp is obviously more efficient than Northwest damp, these are a couple of the stones I was angle-grinding just back at the beginning of September this year! :lol:
combined.jpg

That is a nice shot of your train, BTW.
It doesn't take long, does it? If the sun's out, that wall has the benefit of full UVa and UVb radiation in the afternoon. Maybe that helps control the algal growth?
Thanks ofr the compliment re. th train. It belongs to one of the visitors to my line, travelled down from the Ingleton Mountain Railway, IIRC.
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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by philipy » Sun Dec 23, 2018 11:57 am

I just had to larf a few minutes ago!!!
Just having a passsing look around the garden, seeing how many bulbs were coming up, etc, and something caught my eye, the stream sump dustbin seemed a bit higher in the ground than when I last went near it. "Oh good" I thought, "the rain has settled the soil round it so I can top it up a bit.". Then I realised that there wasn't actually a gap, just the top of the bin about 2" above the surrounding soil level. So I bent down and pressed it down until it stopped, but as soon as I let go it gently bobbed back up again. The rain has filled the bottom of my hole, excavated from the solid clay, and the empty bin is actualy floating in a pond of its own. :lol:

Somebody did ask if I was going to use a liner for the stream....! :!:
Philip

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by IrishPeter » Mon Dec 24, 2018 12:40 am

:lol: Ah, the joys of clay soil! We have plenty in our garden, but it seems to be broken up enough that it drains... eventually... I hope...

Peter in Va
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by BorisSpencer » Mon Dec 24, 2018 11:32 am

The delights of living in Northants. That and the inch wide cracks once the sun's been on it for an hour!

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by philipy » Sun Mar 10, 2019 12:13 pm

I haven't been entirely idle over winter, in fact I've achieved more than I thought I would be able to.

Firstly, to return yet again to my clay 'soil', sorry but this amuses me :lol: . When I dug the hole for my dustbin sump, I had it fitting quite nicely with the top at soil level.
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As I said a few posts back, one day I noticed that it had lifted up and discovered that there was water sitting in the hole and the bin had floated up a couple of inches.

The weather dried up somewhat and eventually it went back down more or less to where it had started.
Then it rained again and this is the result:
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That went down again eventually, although not quite to the bottom. Yesterday I put two large concrete ridge tiles in the bin, last night it rained again and this morning it is floating with a pronounced list to one side!
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Before anyone suggests it, I don't want to put water in the bin yet so that I can adjust heights etc to match the end of the stream bed, when I get that far. I'm just hoping that in due course the bin full of water, plus the weight of the pump, plus the weight of the pebbles on the lid, will be enough to counter the upward water pressure collecting in the hole in subsequent winters!

Anyway, enough of that. I have actually made some progress on the stream itself. When I originally cast the concrete trackbed, I always had it in mind that it needed facing, but being short of Tuits, I never did get around to it. It was never really exposed very much before so wasn't a major eyesore. However since the stream will be significantly lower I felt that it really had to be tackled, especially after seeing Phil's cast concrete facings in a similar situation. I did actually make a trial section using a mould but that was before I carved the bridge from the Aerated blocks. After the success of that, it was no-brainer to do the same for the facings, using up left over blocks at the same time and ending up with the same surface finish as the bridge, as a bonus. You may have already seen the comments and pictures whch Mr Spectre posted, but for completeness, this shows the facings. The joins are showing darker because the mortar/pointing was damp. When dry it is a fair match for the blocks and once I've applied water proofer to the joins I think it will blend in, especially once weathering takes effect.
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Yesterday I managed to get the underlay and liner in place and approximately trimmed. I had previously cut a large sheet of polythene to size and shape to act as a template for the actual stream liner, sdo I spread it out on the lawn and put the template on top to cut round. It was dry, but blowing a gusty 20+ mph wind which made handing large flat sheets, interesting at times!

Last night it rained again but fortunately I had deliberately folded the bottom end of the liner up out of the way to stop even more water funnelling into the bin hole. Good job I did, because this morning I have a long, thin, lake.

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Philip

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Sun Mar 10, 2019 7:39 pm

That's coming along, I love the sound of trickling water.

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by FWLR » Sun Mar 24, 2019 8:45 am

You certainly are having some issues with that sump Phillip. I think I would be pulling what little bit of hair I left out because of it. But I am sure you will overcome it.

The stream is coming along nicely and will be a great addition to your line. I am looking forward to some more updates, especially photos.

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by Soar Valley Light » Sun Mar 24, 2019 8:17 pm

Hi Philip,

You are coming on well with the project. Between Riks account of his stream construction and your ongoing project I'm becomeing more and more keen to give it a go myself.

I remember in a previous post you were taken aback at the capacity required for the sump. Is the bin a full sized (four foot(ish)) one? Does your stream drain away completely once the pump stops?

Please keep us updated as you progress, I'm hooked!

All the best,

Andrew
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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by ge_rik » Sun Mar 24, 2019 8:39 pm

Looks like things are progressing well. I never had an issue with my bin floating upwards, but maybe my water table is lower than yours. Also, I got my stream up and running fairly quickly, so it was filled with water almost from the word go.

For a while, I ran it without a cover - but was alarmed to find a dead hedgehog floating in it one morning. Spurred me on to get it covered that day. I then found a few drowned frogs in it when I cleaned it out at the end of the season. They must have somehow squeezed in through the hole for the pipe from the pump. I now make sure I keep the sump topped up and have provided frogs with an escape hatch in the lid. Since then (about twelve years ago), I have found no more drowned wildlife in the sump.
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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by philipy » Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:05 am

Soar Valley Light wrote: Sun Mar 24, 2019 8:17 pm Is the bin a full sized (four foot(ish)) one? Does your stream drain away completely once the pump stops?
Hi Andrew, no it's not a full sized one, its a 70 litre. Can't remember the dims off hand and I'm away for a couple of weeks, will check when I get home.

Yes, in theory, if I get the gradient correct when I put the rocks and mortar stream bed down, it will drain completely. The soil level is currently flat from the bridge to the sump and the plan is to introduce a couple of degrees fall in the stream bed itself. More of that when I get that far. However I do have some issues with levels where the stream flows into the sump and I haven't fully resolved how to finish it yet.

Yesterday morning before we left, I managed to do a bit more and trim the liner more closely and put ( not fix) the bridge then run the pump so water flowed under it. No time to take pictures but it looked fine so far. I'll document it properly when I get back.
Philip

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by philipy » Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:17 am

ge_rik wrote: Sun Mar 24, 2019 8:39 pm Looks like things are progressing well. I never had an issue with my bin floating upwards, but maybe my water table is lower than yours. Also, I got my stream up and running fairly quickly, so it was filled with water almost from the word go.
No I don't think its water table, we live near the top of a hill and there is a 20ft deep ex-LNWR railway cutting right in front of the house! The problem is soil permeability, this thick yellow clay simply doesn't allow water to percolate through at any great speed.
ge_rik wrote: Sun Mar 24, 2019 8:39 pm They must have somehow squeezed in through the hole for the pipe from the pump. I now make sure I keep the sump topped up and have provided frogs with an escape hatch in the lid.
Yes I saw you had done that on your blog and I have it in mind. I've been meaning to ask about your pipe/cable hole. Is it actually a hole, or a slot cut in from the side to allow the inverted lid to be removed easily? I'm a bit concerned that a slot would allow warping of the lid from the weight of the pebble topping, but it will be a 'mare to try to lift it up and slide it up the corrugated pipe. I'm thinking about a removable inverted-U shaped clip to hold the ends of the cut rim together.
Philip

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by ge_rik » Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:14 am

philipy wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:17 am .......... I've been meaning to ask about your pipe/cable hole. Is it actually a hole, or a slot cut in from the side to allow the inverted lid to be removed easily? I'm a bit concerned that a slot would allow warping of the lid from the weight of the pebble topping, but it will be a 'mare to try to lift it up and slide it up the corrugated pipe. I'm thinking about a removable inverted-U shaped clip to hold the ends of the cut rim together.
Mine's a slot. Not had an issue with warping. The slot's only about 1.5" wide and about 2.5" deep. Even inverted, the lid is a close fit on the bin and so it is supported either side of the slot.

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by philipy » Mon Mar 25, 2019 6:37 pm

Cheers Rik
Philip

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by philipy » Tue Mar 26, 2019 7:08 pm

Rik,
The other thing I've been meaning to ask you about is in your "How I created the stream" blog post. You say " A mix of 5 parts sand to 1 part cement was slapped, slopped and splodged behind, under and between the rocks ". Did you really use that mix? I'm far from being a 'brickie' or anything related, and I realise that it isn't doing anything structural/load bearing, but but 5:1 seems very weak?
Philip

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by ge_rik » Tue Mar 26, 2019 7:17 pm

philipy wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 7:08 pm Rik,
The other thing I've been meaning to ask you about is in your "How I created the stream" blog post. You say " A mix of 5 parts sand to 1 part cement was slapped, slopped and splodged behind, under and between the rocks ". Did you really use that mix? I'm far from being a 'brickie' or anything related, and I realise that it isn't doing anything structural/load bearing, but but 5:1 seems very weak?
You're right. A 4:1 mix is probably better. In fact, I generally tend to use a 3:1 mix now for most of my small scale jobs around the garden.

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Re: A stream for the Elderbury & District Light Railway

Post by steamgeorge » Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:10 pm

I use 4:1 for all the concrete on my railway and it seems sturdy enough.

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