The Potters Orchid Railway

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

All is ready so if the weather is clear this weekend then Captain plod will be doing the mix and pour at the POR.

1/4 Galv Rod is in place and wired to the cross drain tubes.









The light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation device is marvelous.



Keeping the bubble between the lines is good enough for Captain Plod

[FWLR]

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

28 x 20 kg bags or ready mix, hand mixed in the barrow by Captain Plod. He tried the neighbour's cement mixer, it was cheap rubbish and it was rubbish to use and much more work than it was worth, so hand mixing was easier and gave MAM time to trowel in each 40kg load. That is 560kg of concrete. MAM said, "driveways have less concrete" She was right. I could have used 25 mm less depth. When I am dead some person will be tearing this up and will be cursing and wondering what the fark is this all about ! Maybe I will get laugh out of that in the afterlife

Captain Plod prepares.


Set to go


The GM and Chair of the board will give assistance.


The sun comes out, we wanted clouds, which we got for most of the day.


It was about now that the Chair of the board of directors said "driveways have less concrete"
Captain Plod replied with "it will be handy if we need to use it as a runway for landing A380s"

It will never move, heave, sag , dip and some sod will have to jack hammer it all out one day when we are are all ashes.


Clean up time.


Done for now.






Nicely in flower.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2nJAUka][/url

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

"Good grief, not you again!"
Wash the dirt off the back of your ear, will you !


"Ah, errr, please leave me in piece, go away or I will write a prohibition notice on this railway"

"I believe I am at the right address, I am not sure if this is a railway track bed or airport taxiways and runway for use by Airbus A380s. Excess volumes of concrete have been used, it seems to be far above what is required. However levels seem to be within tolerance. If this is the POR extension I can see no problems at this stage."



Mr Specture was then seen going off to get changed so he could meet the lasses at the pub.....

[Peter Butler]

Mr Spectre seems to be better qualified as an inspector of pubs rather than of railways.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Mr Spectre seems to be better qualified as an inspector of pubs rather than of railways.

It seems since he has arrived in Australia it seems his thirst has significantly increased.
The local gossip is that he procrastinates writing his final reports because of some of local lasses that he gets on famously with who are regulars at these pub he frequents.
Some are rumoured to be saying that he is well on his way to be an old soak but we think he simply likes the better weather, no Tories in Government here at this time and the beaches, especially the scenery at the Aussie beaches. Some think he wants to score permanent residency via one of these lasses. Some think he has fears that if he knocks over his final reports that he may be posted to other less celebrious locations.
All this is just gossip and I am sure he is still a diligently applying himself to his reports.

[FWLR]

Blooming heck that took some filling. It will be worth it though I am sure of that and you will soon be running locos again, and MAM can get to do her thing with the greenery....

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Boxing removed.







Getting an idea of the terra forming , channeling Slartiblatfast . A 650mm long wooden trestle is to be a build project for next year, I have the QR drawings for trestles but till then a curved lump of 10mm ply will suffice. It will visually break the 1000mm radius curve here.



Evening game of wrestling the 3mm ply into a curve with a variable radius and transitions into the straights. I will have to work evenings as the Rattler is short of crews and I am away from home most weekends till Christmas

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Meanwhile the second year since the plantings is arriving and MAM and I are pleased with how most of them are doing. A few losses but happy. The day will come when all the major grunt work is done and I can get into the details such as more slate walls, buildings, ballast odds and ends. All but track ballast will be small projects to do in-between work on the Foden steam lorry .

[FWLR]

That's going to be some trestle Dazza. You are doing such a brilliant job and a lot of hard work that will be well worth it when you have finished the laying of the line.

The greenery is also looking great now. MAM and you have done another great job there too.

[ge_rik]

Looks like all that rain has had some benefits

Rik

[Peter Butler]

I do like the way it fits in the space there, so accessible and formal, whilst remaining naturalistic with rocks and planting... a clever mix.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

I do like the way it fits in the space there, so accessible and formal, whilst remaining naturalistic with rocks and planting... a clever mix.

Thanks. We have learnt a lot but it is only by doing stuff does one truly learn.
In the next life the next garden railway will be better
As MAM says, "it is a garden with a railway in it"

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Looks like all that rain has had some benefits

Rik

We are being told it will be a wet summer again
Some floods no doubt.
We do have rain water tanks for the dry spells and the last 12 months they have been always full. We use this tank water for the garden railway as they higher up than the railway and so we simply connect a hose and drink a beer while wetting down the plants. All part of the plan to ease life when retirement comes. Do the grunt now while able and we can afford it.

[Old Man Aaron]

Coming together well now.

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Coming together well now.

Thanks and you will have to come down for a visit and run with BenG

[Old Man Aaron]

With my Bundy (designated travelling loco) finished, I certainly shall!

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

With my Bundy (designated travelling loco) finished, I certainly shall!

Captain Plod has also printed off your ballast trial formulas to compliment his research

[Hydrostatic Dazza]

Today there is a break in the rain and as Captain Plod is off this weekend to Gympie to do his two annual guard runs so he and MAM devoted a couple of hours this morning to mixing and pouring 6 x 20kg of Bastion Ready Mix that was obtained from the big Green Box last night. As well as more plants
Next is some steps here and there and some tidy up and then the terra forming and fun of fun fun, track laying.

On your mark, set, go


Done. The no concrete space is for the trestle bridge to fill one day, when I make it. I want to make one trestle bridge in my life before I die. Slow but very steady moving locos (Slomo equipped ) hauling wobble free across the trestle with the whistle howling wand emitting vapours on a moonlit evening, should look bloody marvelous.


There is 2-3mm super elevation over the 110mm width of the curved track bed. For the most part this occurs naturally when all is bolted up, then a wee bit of fiddle here and there to settle all in when one does the boxing and a final check this morning before the pour.


Looking over the top of the Orchid green house from the back deck.

[FWLR]

On reading your explanation of the train going over the trestle bridge, I was immediately taken there and picturing in my mind.

Wonderful.