Working with Concrete Block

[IanC]

For those of us who did not have a nanny growing up, H&S can be quite irritating.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

Indeed!

[FWLR]

For those of us who did not have a nanny growing up, H&S can be quite irritating.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

Indeed!

What........

[FWLR]

Hi Peter, I have made my line has described by most members with the plastic downpipes and wooden decking. It is easy and cheap. I put my downpipes at least 8" down , but didn't concrete them or put any inside the pipes, for the simple reason, because we rent any permanent fixing would be a nightmare to remove if we needed to move, just like we had to last year. Renting can be fickle...

I found though that they where sturdy enough and there was now question of movement, but then it is in that horrible clay stuff we have around here. If it was more soil based I think a more substantial mode of fixing would be needed possibly. I have put shed paint on the board and depending on what make you get, there is some really horrible stuff out there, thin and nasty, the stuff I used was ok but I have had to redo it, but I guess that's par for the course anyway. The Creosote is the better way to go, Anne is also very wary of any glues or paints that are strong smelling, so has COPD. So I tend to do anything when she is around.

When I was younger, my Father made those wooden fence panels and he sprayed them with Creosote and I can tell you from experience, it sure does sting your eyes....

Good luck with your build Peter, and let us have some photos of your'e building of the line please.

[IrishPeter]

Rod,

I discovered that we go to clay about a foot below the surface so I could have driven longer piles/post down into the clay, and not have concreted for five of the eight legs that hold up the decking. The other three would have had to be concreted thanks to their location being in the roots of a long since deceased tree, where there was a lot of soil, and decayed wood.

FWIW, I have a construction thread running over on the 'Railways & Layouts' - "Far End Tramway - Construction Starts." It seems to be coming along OK. The current design issue is how to deal with the station throat, and the transition to ground level running.

Cheers,
Peter in VA

[philipy]

The current design issue is how to deal with the station throat, and the transition to ground level running.

Peter,
I had a similar quandry where my ground level line took off on to raised decking boards. The ground level section being 6" x 6" of poured concrete with a lot of ballast in it, which made it almost impossible to accurately drill holes in. I solved it by mortaring a couple of bricks to the end of the slab and then rawlbolting a piece of ali angle to the face of the bricks to act as a bracket to take the boards at the correct depth and give a level top surface. It's been there with no probs for about 5 years now.

[FWLR]

Rod,

I discovered that we go to clay about a foot below the surface so I could have driven longer piles/post down into the clay, and not have concreted for five of the eight legs that hold up the decking. The other three would have had to be concreted thanks to their location being in the roots of a long since deceased tree, where there was a lot of soil, and decayed wood.

FWIW, I have a construction thread running over on the 'Railways & Layouts' - "Far End Tramway - Construction Starts." It seems to be coming along OK. The current design issue is how to deal with the station throat, and the transition to ground level running.

Cheers,
Peter in VA

Thanks Peter...