New beginnings of a small railway

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chris w
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New beginnings of a small railway

Post by chris w » Wed Sep 12, 2018 3:42 am

I have been longing a few years now for a small railway in my garden and decided to stop day dreaming and get on with a build.
Day 1 Bought some supplies and started on the decking frame.
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Inspection time
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Andrew
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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by Andrew » Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:35 am

Great selfies, but you seem awfully young to be building a garden railway...

Good luck with the build, looking forward to seeing how it progresses - and first train celebrations too!

All the best,

Andrew.

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by Lonsdaler » Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:19 am

Andrew wrote: Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:35 am Great selfies, but you seem awfully young to be building a garden railway...

Good luck with the build, looking forward to seeing how it progresses - and first train celebrations too!

All the best,

Andrew.
:lol:

I was going to suggest that you make better use of the DLH (Daddy's Little Helper) - he needs a full set of tools!
Phil

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

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:33 am

You seem to have a fair sized garden there, why only a small deck railway?

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by BorisSpencer » Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:16 am

Promising start.
That cut-off corner looks like it is the planned exit point for a future loop running up the garden. :thumbright:

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by IanC » Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:32 am

Starting small and expanding as you learn is a great way to go. I'm sure it will bring you and your helper much pleasure.
Ian

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by chris w » Wed Sep 12, 2018 1:13 pm

Boris Spencer spoted the corner near the border, is a 14" run off for the track to run up the side of my garden.
my garden is quite big but only want to run down the one side.
that is helper number 4 with number five dew in January/February.
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its going to be 33ft long but narrow.

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by chris w » Mon Sep 24, 2018 1:26 am

Update not much done as weather has been rubbish by me.
Decided to add decking adjusters in case I need to make future alteration in height.
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Hopefully get more done soon before it gets too cold :D

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by chris w » Mon Sep 24, 2018 1:47 am

This is the sort of plan I am thinking of at the moment.
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Just going with the flow when i start to lay track.
Not sure either to put some roofing felt on top of decking,then adding either a rockery/or some sort of building scene.
Most likely going to add small station on the decking for the steaming up part.

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Mon Sep 24, 2018 7:31 am

I just caught up with this one and can see now you have plans to branch out!

Roofing felt will work but I have also used weed control landscaping fabric which is cheaper and easier to work with.

AnyRail is great for planning :thumbup:

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by FWLR » Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:46 am

It’s going to be a great looking build Chris….your'e helpers will give you plenty to think about too….

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by BorisSpencer » Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:47 am

My railway is all raised on second hand decking boards and varies between a couple of inches and 'knee' high. My proposed extension will give me a waist high steam-up area.

I debated for some time whether to use roofing felt over the boards, but in the end decided that it was just as likely to trap moisture against the wood and that they could rot away unnoticed. I decided that 'unfelted' they could dry out and pieces could, if required, be easily replaced. I have some decking that has been in place for 15 years unmaintained and is still structurally sound.
My track is also unballasted for the same reason, although I am contemplating using chicken grit and SBR in places.

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by FWLR » Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:52 am

SBR is brilliant stuff. Have you seen Peter Butler’s thread on how he has used it…

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chris w
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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by chris w » Wed Sep 26, 2018 1:59 am

Almost finished the decking part, just need to decide on what to cover the sides with.
would also like to use gravel of some kind on the track at some point.
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Managed to upset the missus today, as she wanted to hang out some washing, while I was finishing the decking today.
But hey that's what condenser dryers are for :D

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by IanC » Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:35 am

Coming along nicely. You'll soon have track down and trains running. Oh, and the missus will probably forgive you, eventually. Mine usually does.
Ian

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by SpudUk » Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:48 am

Is that AnyRail? How are you getting on with it as a piece of software?
Chris Auckland

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chris w
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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by chris w » Wed Sep 26, 2018 12:38 pm

Anyrail is very good and is free,up to 50 pieces of track is allowed I think then you have to pay for full version if you want to use more pieces of track.
that's why its in two pieces my diagram.

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by tom_tom_go » Wed Sep 26, 2018 2:43 pm

SpudUk wrote: Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:48 am Is that AnyRail? How are you getting on with it as a piece of software?
I have used it for years and it's great, saves you money as you can design the track layout and base you plan to install it on (no more buying extra materials you don't need).

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Re: New beginnings of a small railway

Post by FWLR » Thu Sep 27, 2018 9:49 am

Looking good Chris, have you thought about putting those log rolls that are used for borders, something like these.

https://www.homebase.co.uk/softwood-eco ... 5m_p583672

You could put them higher then your’e decking, it would then hold any ballast you are thinking of putting on it too.

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