Building the Fairfield Railway

ACLR · Post by **ACLR** » Fri May 16, 2008 11:40 pm

not boring me mate i am keenly watching this thread
will give me a great reference when or if I rebuild the ACLR

SillyBilly · Post by **SillyBilly** » Fri May 16, 2008 11:58 pm

I thoroughly enjoy every update you provide Bungle!

steamyjim · Post by **steamyjim** » Sat May 17, 2008 12:56 pm

Looking great mate!

It's certainly not boring

bungle80a · Post by **bungle80a** » Sat May 17, 2008 10:26 pm

Day 17: The loop is blocked!

Well, to finish the week i've done half a day today, which actually became nearer a full day!

As the boss was off we spent a good half hour discussing the next couple of stages of work to be done. This was followed by a bit of gardening to prepare for it! The end of the wide section was blocked by a tall grassy thing (Which gives a nasty paper cut if your not careful. I'm covered in them from the last week or so!!) This was removed and rehomed along with another plant behind some of the completed block work. Some compost was added and the first back filling to the blocks was completed...

This was followed by a few return trips to B&Q to get 40 bags of sand and 12 bags of gravel to make sure we had enough materials to keep me going for the next couple of weeks.

So having spent over half my days work doing almost nothing on construction, I thought it was bout time I got the back loop finished, and I wasnt going home til it was done!

As you can see, the rest of the blocks got laid, and as far as possible I tried to make the gradient I found I was stuck with yesterday, as smooth as possible. Unfortunately, try as hard as I could, I still managed to end up with one block (the long one nearest the mainline) with a steeper gradient than the others! Still dont think it comes in any steeper than 1 in 100. So here is a shot of the completed back loop.

The boss decided it would be interesting to have a high level view, so took my camera upstairs to get this shot.

It is interesting to compare this shot to this one from earlier on in the project.

The track was relaid, and it turns out my blocks today were slightly misaligned, but this isnt a problem as the track can be played around with a bit to make it fit!

As mentioned, we discussed the next stages to be completed earlier in the day. The first thing to do next week is the next 6-8 ft of track bed at the top end of the garden, almost up to the launch point where the ground level changes. Following on from that, the trench towards the house will continue to extend towards where a step will be built (roughly where the block is directly in front of the black washing line pole). We laid out some lengths of track to work out where it will run and how much straight we can get in before we need to curve...

Its all going well with the project, but i'm cutting down on the number of hours each week i'm doing it as I really need to spend some time concentrating on getting a real job!

ACLR · Post by **ACLR** » Sat May 17, 2008 10:50 pm

looking great mate what brand of track are you using

bungle80a · Post by **bungle80a** » Sat May 17, 2008 10:58 pm

Its Aristocraft 45mm. Theres a mix of American and European style track, but when laying we are gonna do our best to keep each style together. I think the back loop will be built all from 1 style, while the mainline is in the other. Not sure which is which!

One thing I do know is that this stuff is expensive! The shorter points (5ft rad curve) are almost £50 each, and the big (10ft rad curve) ones are nearly £100! In the first section we lay, which is almost blocked now there are 2 of the lrg points and 4 of the shorter ones. I'll let you do the maths! And that doesnt include any of the straight or curved sections of track!

Current plans indicate that the blocks will fit 3 full circuits round the garden. 1x45mm line, which is going in first, 1xfinescale 0 gauge, which may go in at the same time or just after the 45mm, then a third loop which will be either 32mm, 45mm or dual gauge 32/45mm which will not be going in til at least next year!

steamyjim · Post by **steamyjim** » Sat May 17, 2008 11:04 pm

Looking good mate!

ACLR · Post by **ACLR** » Sat May 17, 2008 11:07 pm

thanks bungle I found this site http://www.svrronline.com/TrackandRail.html
and its available in Aus so have been thinking I might use it in the future when I win the lotto that is

bungle80a · Post by **bungle80a** » Sat May 17, 2008 11:13 pm

Just had a quick look. Its interesting to look how the dual gauge points work. They are extremely complex for full dual gauge switching! Do you have any idea of the exchange rate £'s to AUS $?

ACLR · Post by **ACLR** » Sat May 17, 2008 11:17 pm

last night it was about £0.482 = AUD$1.00 highest it has been for years

bungle80a · Post by **bungle80a** » Sat May 17, 2008 11:20 pm

so a full dual gauge point that costs AUS $225 actually works out at 108.45. Thats not bad considering. Thought it'd be more than that! I suppose though there would be import charges at this end though!

ACLR · Post by **ACLR** » Sat May 17, 2008 11:24 pm

the site I put up is A US site so its in US$
but its pretty close to Aussie dollars at the moment.
yes good prices there is a company here in Aus importing them have emailed them for a price list but no answer as yet

bungle80a · Post by **bungle80a** » Mon May 19, 2008 10:37 pm

Day 18: Can you Dig it, Suckaaaaaaaa!

Not quite a full day, but got enough done to be happy. Started by working the top left of the site...

Here, a trench needed digging to take it across to the end of the raised bit of garden where it will launch off onto boards. Once again plants needed rehoming/removing. This shot shows how different a patch can look after its had its vegetation removed (compare with 1st pic).

As usual, I used pegs for alignment and the trench was dug. It was then filled with hardcore. (Having problems as we've run out of the old pebble dashing, so its a matter of scavenging the garden for anything suitable!)

Once that was done, I wasnt sure how much longher i'd be working today, so set about digging another 4ish foot of trench at the other end...

Once dug it was shuttered to stop concrete escaping and filled with yet more scavanged hardcore.

Once the boss got home we discussed the possibility of laying a spur off the back loop to take to a steaming bay while we were in the area it needs to go, as it could cause problems digging and laying concrete and blocks at a later stage once we've laid the track (as a point will need fitting in) and the soil has been backfilled to the blocksl! A final decision wasnt made today, but I think we should!

mhlr · Post by **mhlr** » Tue May 20, 2008 1:07 am

(@@) (@@@@@@@) (@@@@@@@)
(@@@@@@@) (@@@@@) (@@@@@@@@@@@)
(@@@) (@@@@@@@) (@@@@@@) (@@@)
(@@@@@@) (@@@@@@) (@)
(@@@) (@@@@) (@@)
(@@) (@@@)

] [ .-. _ .-----.
." """" """"" """"| .--`
(:--:--:--:--:--:---| [___ .---------------------.
|GRF : : : : : : [_1_]|'=='|---------GRF---------|
/|.______________|___|'------l_________________|
/ ||_.--.____.--.____.--._ |-----\-.-/=\-.-/=\-.-/-'/--
/__;(==)==(==)==(==)^~^(-) ^ (-) ^ (-) ^^
**********************************************

CHOO CHOO!!!!!!!!!!

Great work bungle! Looking fantastic there, soon hav em running!

bungle80a · Post by **bungle80a** » Thu May 22, 2008 11:08 pm

Day 19: Time flies when your having fun!

I intended to work for 8 hours today. I arrived about 10:30 and didn't leave til nearly 9 o'clock!

Once again, a very productive day. Popping to the local Waste Management Centre (aka The Tip) to dispose of hedge trimmings this morning turned out to be quite useful. Whilst there, an old gent had a trailer with quite a few bags of rubble for disposal. A few minutes later, I was en route to the Fairfield Railway with more hardcore for trenches!

So that was a bonus start to the day. My main tasks for today were to fill the 2 trenches dug on Monday with concrete.

This took surprisingly less time than anticipated and I was left thinking 'So what shall I do now?' The next thing I wanted to do was lay blocks, but as i'd only just poured the concrete, that wasn't an option, so I decided to get ready for digging the NEXT trench, which involved lifting the last of the paving stones. No real surprise that I found more of these little critters...

I then moved a few bits of greenery, surveyed the area and hit in a few levelling posts. This was followed by removal of more of the lawn where the line will be...

As this area is used for access to the raised section of garden, I have temporarily put one of the old pavings in so as not to get muddy everytime i'm on and off the lawn.

Although I have made a start on that section, I haven't actually dug the trench as there were a few issues about it to discuss with the boss and he wasnt yet home from work. So instead of digging the trench, I moved my attention to the area of soil in the corner behind the top loop. This was pretty poor quality, and 4 or 5 bags worth were removed. The rest was turned and then some good soil and peat were mixed in and that area has now been back filled to the blocks.

If I get a spare hour or 2 in the next week or so, I have a few plants to put in round there, including another move for the tall grassy thing that gives killer paper cuts!

Next time, on Building the FR...
Block Laying,
More Block Laying,
Gardening.

ACLR · Post by **ACLR** » Fri May 23, 2008 1:51 am

This has been a great thread to follow looking forward to more installments

bungle80a · Post by **bungle80a** » Fri May 23, 2008 7:27 am

Todays work has unfortunately been cancelled as I am required to care for a relative who has managed to break 1 arm and fracture another, but hopefully we'll still be able to start track laying on Saturday! (My boss and I, not my relative with broken arms obviously!)

bungle80a · Post by **bungle80a** » Sat May 24, 2008 10:50 pm

Day 20: On the right Tracks

Back to work today and the plan was still to start the track laying! Unfortunately, I had not been able to get the ballast material yesterday, however this wasnt an issue as we probably weren't going to need it today anyway.

To start the day, the trackbed needed to be brushed down, as the blocks have gathered various bit'n'bobs on them over the week or so since they were laid. It was also decided that the DEVIL plant should be moved now so we didnt end up with loads of soil in our newly laid track. It is now located in the corner, thus...

The first track related job done today was to move some of the point switches to the other side of the point. This should be as simple as undo 3 screws, slide it out then slide it in the other side and reattatch the screw. The first of the points didnt want to play ball! It was not allowing the rail to go far enough over, so a little bit of filing needed doing on some of the holes for the screws and I finally got it to work. Thankfully, the mega expensive point didnt have the same problem!

Now the thing with the Fairfield Railway is that it is primarily for track powered, with Live Steam as its secondary purpose, so it is essential that the track is electrically sound! Because of this, most of today has actually been spent removing track joiners and cleaning them, plus cleaning the end of the rails. This being Aristocraft G Scale set track, each rail has a tapped hole at the end and when joined the fishplates are screwed tight. Not a very good description. These pics probably explain it better. The first is of 2 pieces of track before joining, showing the holes in the rails and the fishplates.

This pic shows the assembly once joined.

Mid afternoon, PTLRcecil popped round to see how things were going. He seemed quite impressed seeing it in reality rather than in photos and on here!

So today we have basically cleaned up loads of bits, reassembled them, then joined quite a bit together and laid it in place to see where we need to make a few alterations. Some bits of track however need to be cut, which means drilling and tapping new holes. This requires a special tool (an M2 tap)which we didn't have. Fortunately, Bay models in Carnforth had one, so the boss sent 'his boss aka the authorities' on the train for an afternoon out in Carnforth! By tea time we had this much done and needed to wait til the tool arrived from Bay Models.

With time to play with, it was decided to test the conductivity of the track we had managed to join using this loco...

At this point everything was ok (well, after giving some of the track a bit of a rub down!)

Whilst on the phone to Bay Models earlier in the day, Bill (shop owner I believe) tried to convince the boss that fine scale 0 gauge will run ok on SM32 as long as there are no points. So we decided to test it, including a set of points, with these fine specimins...

Tests of this seemed positive with no problems, however the boss has 2 live steam 0 gauge locos on order, and whether they will run over the points ok will determine whether sm32 or finescale 0 gauge is used for the inner loop. Only time will tell. I've got my fingers crossed for SM32 as my 16mm locos are not regaugable to 45mm!

I hope to have a video compiled of todays tests up by tomorrow night.

After a bit of playing trains, the tools arrived. Drilling and tapping holes was a new experience for both myself and my boss, and because of this we managed to snap the tap on the second hole! We managed to get 2 more holes drilled and tapped before it broke again and was totally unusable! Fortunately, my model engineer landlord/housemate has the appropriate tools, so i'll do a couple more bits of track that we need to do some time tomorrow, ready for going back to the FR on Monday.

Having fitted the couple of bits of track we did manage to get tapped, the whole back loop got joined, as did the vast majority of the mainline, plus a couple of other bits.

So nothing got pinned down today, and it has been a learning curve for all involved.

Next Time, on Building the FR:
Joining the bits of tracki'm hoping to get tapped tomorrow
Pinning down some (if not all the currently joined) track
Setting the cant on the curves
OR
Block laying[/i]

ACLR · Post by **ACLR** » Sat May 24, 2008 11:38 pm

looking great mate

mhlr · Post by **mhlr** » Sun May 25, 2008 12:18 am

Blimey, moving on fast! I bet screwing the rail joiners is a tedious job!!

Garden Railway Forum

Building the Fairfield Railway

Who is online