Lotus lakeside light railway

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Old Man Aaron
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Re: Lotus lakeside light railway

Post by Old Man Aaron » Wed Jan 26, 2022 5:32 am

New line looks great, fine work. Can't go wrong having such a cute cat around either. :D
Regards,
Aaron - Scum Class Works

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RadioActiveGnome
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Re: Lotus lakeside light railway

Post by RadioActiveGnome » Sat Feb 26, 2022 12:03 am

Old Man Aaron wrote: โ†‘Wed Jan 26, 2022 5:32 am New line looks great, fine work. Can't go wrong having such a cute cat around either. :D
He's been very helpful with the gardening, he even digs up flowers before they start to wither.



At some point during the destruction of the old pond i found some slate rocks that had been cut perfectly flat at the bottom, an idea came to me to use these as walls for an additional albeit much smaller raised flowerbed on the patio.

i glued them in place using leftover ballast mixture
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then i permanently borrowed the domestic authoritys compost and took some cuttings from a groundcover plant i have forgotten the name of.
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Andrew wrote: โ†‘Tue Jan 18, 2022 10:29 am I really like this, great garden railway-ing! The track seems to work really well laid straight onto the patio, and the pond wharf is going to look great - I think I need a pond... Love the little red loco too.
Ponds turned out alright, not quite happy with where the water level maxes out at.
Wharf still in progress.




Unfortunately the groundcover plant didn't live very long because it was devoured by slugs.

But during a walk, i noticed some moss that was growing on top of a fence sort of resembled scaled down ferns, so i grabbed a handfull of it when i thought no one was looking and quickly took it home.

it looked the part, so i went for a walk in a mossy forrest and ended up with all sorts of moss.
i got some really weird looks walking around with clumps of moss sticking out of my pockets but i think the result was worth it.
Image

Great success!
the moss had no problem establishing itself and the slugs left it alone!

i even steamed up bolt just for an excuse to admire my handiwork some more


i was very happy with the moss, for 3 days.
and then i discovered to my complete shock, my railway had been vandalized!
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a blackbird had ripped up the moss in search of bugs to eat!

i hastily put the moss back and then went for a walk to find replacements
But when i came back, it had struck again! Twice in one day!
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i put my new moss down and expanded the groundcover.
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i've also put a pendle valley bricked up tunnel in the coal mine siding so it looks like it was closed long ago.
Image
i primed it with a sandy coloured primer and then borrowed a small makeup sponge to lightly paint the raised bricks, hopefully giving it a 3d effect.
i was a bit too heavy handed in some spots and the paint ran in-between the bricks, ruining the effect.

im planning to put another small raised flowerbed both sides of the tunnel to hide the 1/1 scale brick wall.



my moss has been ripped up a total of 14 times so far.
i lost the battle with slugs, my solution declared war on the blackbirds and i am losing that battle too, and then i heard news of a storm and almost gave up.

i put the moss back one last time and prepared for the worst.
but after the first storm? my moss was undisturbed! the strong winds prevented the birds from landing on the patio and my moss was safe!

the next 2 storms had the same result and the moss has been left alone since but i do not expect peacetime to last long.
as the blackbirds appear to be the stronger force of nature i now strongly suspect it was the blackbirds that destroyed 3 fence panels in my front garden.
Train on track, Cat on lap.
i have everything.

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philipy
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Re: Lotus lakeside light railway

Post by philipy » Sat Feb 26, 2022 5:40 am

It looks good, that moss. You'll never stop blackbirds from digging, especially at this time of year and once they have young ones who are learning to forage for themselves. Once the moss gets properly established rather than being just a lump plonked on top of the soil, it will regenerate itself though.
Philip

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Lonsdaler
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Re: Lotus lakeside light railway

Post by Lonsdaler » Sat Feb 26, 2022 12:29 pm

I wondered why the passenger train was rattling along so quickly, and then saw what was following behind. Damn those Daleks and their neverending enginuity๐Ÿ˜‚ (see what I did there?)
Good luck with the moss - as Philip says, the damage won't be so bad once your cuttings establish themselves.
Phil

Sporadic Garden Railer who's inconsistencies know no bounds

My Line - https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11077

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Sir Clothem Cap
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Re: Lotus lakeside light railway

Post by Sir Clothem Cap » Tue Jan 10, 2023 4:33 pm

This is a great railway, Even visited by the WPSR occasionally

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FWLR
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Re: Lotus lakeside light railway

Post by FWLR » Wed Jan 11, 2023 7:29 am

You have done really well with your line even with all the problems you have had, we all have them and it never seems to get any better or easier, especially with wildlife. But it's great to know that wildlife comes into the garden and maybe it helps in some ways to improve the line too :dontknow:

Love the videos too, please keep them coming.

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