The Whitegrove Light Railway

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WhitehouseFilms
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The Whitegrove Light Railway

Post by WhitehouseFilms » Tue Mar 23, 2021 9:45 am

In 2015, I set about making a garden railway with a large bundle of LGB track that my parents bought for me one Christmas in 2011. The track used to belong to a friend of mine who had a garden railway in his back garden, but had to move house. My dad bought the whole of the track as well as the locos and stock which rounded off to be one of the most surprising Christmases ever.
However, my attempts to get started in making the railway didn't go as well as they would have. The location where I'd built the line was on a small slope and the track didn't sit well on the concrete blocks we had embedded in the built up mound that we also created in attempts to level the ground. There was also some issues with the power and trains constantly stopped in areas where power was not able to gain access. This resulted in all the rail joiners to be replaced with new ones which fixed the problem. My niece and nephew also find the trains fun to play with but they can be a bit rough with them and several derailments happen along the route. Not to mention the sabotaging of placing stone blocks on the tracks, which ended up damaging a bit of track. The final straw happened a few days ago when the trains stopped running all together after work was spent on getting all the new rail joiners fitted. By this point, after more than 5 years of bother, I decided to lift up the track and start again. The final train run took the evening before with a Newqida R/C, the only engine that could run on the railway, only for it to crash at the points. What a send off, eh?
The new railway, which I will call the Whitegrove Light Railway, will be built in a smaller size to the previous one. The track plan is loosely based off one that I drew many years ago should I ever want to make a garden railway. I call it 'The Periscope', because of it's appearance. A single track loop line with the additional of a few sidings. A passing loop is being thought of for the main station but I haven't finalised on it. One of the loops will enter the shed as well as a siding to allow trains to be replaced or stored. The maximum radius would be of the 15000 curves from LGB. Unfortunately I don't have any of those curves to make up these loops and so I'm looking to see about getting some ordered in.
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The idea is to have the railway laid on top of a walled garden, built of cut slate. We have one of these walls made for grandmother and height wise is perfect for lighting up live steam engines. The main question before work can start is the cost of it all and how much wall is needed to be built. I had thought about building two walls which the first can be used as a garden bed while the other to be used for where the main track set ups will happen. A gap in the middle can lead to the build of a viaduct or other bridge structure where some larger bedding plants can be integrated.
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It will be some time before this project can properly start, which is all the more better to properly plan out the railway and also gather some of the needed track to make it possible. If anyone has any advice that they are happy to share, please I am more than happy to hear your views.

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-steves-
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Re: The Whitegrove Light Railway

Post by -steves- » Tue Mar 23, 2021 11:14 am

Looks like a very good starting plan, though I am sure you will adapt it along the way like most do. :D

I look forward to seeing this progress over the coming warmer months, you heard it here first, it's going to get warmer, no idea by how much though :lol:
The buck stops here .......

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http://peterborough.16mm.org.uk/

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philipy
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Re: The Whitegrove Light Railway

Post by philipy » Tue Mar 23, 2021 11:34 am

Welcome. :D

If the railway looks as impressive as that sketch then it should be worth seeing! :lol:

Obviously the first version was track powered, and you found out the hard way the pitfalls of using rail joiners to carry current. Have you considered converting to battery power going forward and saving yourself a lot of grief?
Philip

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Old Man Aaron
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Re: The Whitegrove Light Railway

Post by Old Man Aaron » Tue Mar 23, 2021 11:38 am

It seems we built our first railways around the same time - with similarly-mixed results. Looking forward to seeing the new version come together; having it raised yet scenic gives the best of both worlds. The shed storage sounds great, too.
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Andrew
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Re: The Whitegrove Light Railway

Post by Andrew » Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:07 pm

Welcome!

I really like the look of this, love the sketch plan! That viaduct will be lovely...

If you're into operating at all, rather than just watching the trains go round (not that there's anything wrong with that), then I'd definitely turn the station siding into a loop, as you're considering. It'll make it much easier to run two trains, and also mean that (by running round the train using the loop) you can still shunt the station's siding's if your choose to run in the anti-clockwise direction.

I'd also suggest that you might want to consider turning round the other siding, so that a train running clockwise can pick up and drop off wagons at both stations - again, it depends what you want from your line.

Do let us know how you get on - I look forward to hearing more...

All the best,

Andrew

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Re: The Whitegrove Light Railway

Post by ge_rik » Tue Mar 23, 2021 9:17 pm

Looks like a really good plan. I hope you've identified where phase 2 will fit ....... :lol:

Rik
PS - I agree with Philip's suggestion about battery power. Hopefully will be more reliable than the Newqida loco tho
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WhitehouseFilms
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Re: The Whitegrove Light Railway

Post by WhitehouseFilms » Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:56 pm

Many thanks everyone for your replies. This project is still up in the air so I've still got plenty of time to finalise what I want from this railway. Right now my wallet is being lent to have a new kitchen and bathroom installed so I'll have to work a few extra hours, working as a writer, to save up to make the new railway possible.

I agree about the conversion to battery power, but my hand has been forced to go for the electric system as I have used before. Nothing wrong with battery conversions and such but when I first got this garden railway bundle from my parents, the MTS system that came with it was an item from that bundle that I felt I wanted to explore more. However the Central Station of the MTS unit short circuited one day last year and refused to reset itself. This had to happen while I was trying to get the original track layout relaid after finally getting it to work at long last. My dad felt upset that this had happened as he wanted this to be something for me to enjoy and so I want to see about getting the Central Station repaired or try and find a spare replacement unit. I contacted LGB last year to see if they might take a look at it. They said they would but I never got the chance to get it sent off. Unless anyone here knows a thing about the system that they might know how to fix it?

Plus this is also a good time to make some repairs to some of my engines and stock as a few of them had been knocked about, mostly with thanks to my 3 year old nephew who took a fancy to the railway and always asks...no...demand the engine of his choice to sent out, even though he has a limited selection. He's also a big fan of Thomas the tank engine of I've made a little Thomas engine for him using an old RC ERTL toy on a PIKO chassis. But being a Thomas fan myself, and having got the chance to write for the official show, I'm currently building a replica of the original G1 model using some 3D printed parts a friend sent me to try out. Like with my nephew's Thomas, this will be running on a PIKO chassis.

I'll update as best as I can with this project, but as mentioned, it's going to be a while before any progress can happen before it sees light.

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Re: The Whitegrove Light Railway

Post by ge_rik » Wed Mar 24, 2021 7:50 am

I used the MTS system for a few years before converting to battery. It should work well with your setup - your track will be at a decent height and isn't extensive so should be quite easy to keep clean. A lot of my track is under trees and so track cleaning became a regular chore.

LGB should be able to repair your Central Station so it would be worth getting it done before the weather improves.

Good luck with the writing - fingers crossed for a blockbuster .... 🤗

Rik
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