The Ridgemont Hills Light Railway

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DonW
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Re: The Ridgemont Hills Light Railway

Post by DonW » Thu Aug 29, 2019 11:03 pm

You really are cracking on with this very good progress.

Don

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ace
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Re: The Ridgemont Hills Light Railway

Post by ace » Fri Mar 26, 2021 12:11 am

Thank you for the positive comments.

It has been a little while since I updated. 2020 didn't really give me much in the way of inspiration to actually do much to the railway, but I did get quite far in 2019, here are some progress pictures.

Update

With the easier work now completed, and the height now set by the garden wall, it was now time to plough into the soil and get the hard work started. I knew that it would need to get into the ground somewhat but I really wasn't ready for quite how deep I was going to have to go....

First earthworks, nice and easy. Stared with a small bank that disappeared behind the garden shrubs.

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This was slow work and decidedly difficult due to the depth of the resulting cutting.

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It was decided that a tunnel was needed as the cutting was getting ridiculously deep. Another feature I hadn't initially planned for.

This was starting at the opposite end to give myself and Dad a break...

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Site of the tunnel.

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Overview from above of current progress.

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philipy
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Re: The Ridgemont Hills Light Railway

Post by philipy » Fri Mar 26, 2021 7:15 am

That is all very impressive and will look fantastic when you've finished.

The two related things that bother me are the apparent length of the tunnel, and drainage in the cutting and tunnel. If you get a derailment in the tunnel ( and you know what Sods Law says!), or winter debris build up of leaves etc, it will be extremely difficult to do anything about it.
Then unless you put a 'crown' on the level trackbed so that water runs back out to the end of the cutting, I can see a very long thin puddle every time it rains.

You've probably already thought about it and if so, I'm sorry if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs. :oops:
Philip

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ace
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Re: The Ridgemont Hills Light Railway

Post by ace » Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:55 pm

philipy wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 7:15 am That is all very impressive and will look fantastic when you've finished.

The two related things that bother me are the apparent length of the tunnel, and drainage in the cutting and tunnel. If you get a derailment in the tunnel ( and you know what Sods Law says!), or winter debris build up of leaves etc, it will be extremely difficult to do anything about it.
Then unless you put a 'crown' on the level trackbed so that water runs back out to the end of the cutting, I can see a very long thin puddle every time it rains.

You've probably already thought about it and if so, I'm sorry if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs. :oops:

The tunnel is approximately 6' and it will have access hatch(es) from above - the track is straight and the most level part of the railway so I shouldn't have much problem. At the point of building I did not know how I was going to build the tunnel, but I shall post about it in due course. At the time of building I did not know how well the soil drained but I thought to myself that the cutting is level-ish and the water would never get particularly deep because it would run out of either end. However, this past winter proved to me that flooding was not an issue.

Update

The trenches continue. The most odd thing I have found whilst digging is some bones! They look like a horses hock, pedal bone, and hoof sole. I assume there is a pony/ horse below my lawn!

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Skeletons aside, the trenches have gone well.

Site of the tunnel

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Laying some blocks. I have to say I owe the entire layout level to the amazing laser level. How one could be seriously accurate before is anyone guess! That tool makes this 'idiot proof' of which suits me.

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and the tunnel base

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And finally the blocks are laid. Over the entire layout length of 95 yards, I only ended up being 4mm out. Not bad considering really!

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Peter Butler
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Re: The Ridgemont Hills Light Railway

Post by Peter Butler » Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:52 pm

Great progress Ace, you could have a feature to commemorate your pony/horse find?
The best things in life are free.... so why am I doing this?

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ge_rik
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Re: The Ridgemont Hills Light Railway

Post by ge_rik » Mon Jan 03, 2022 12:16 pm

I was just going through some of my unread posts and was wondering how this project is progressing. Presumably things will have advanced since last March. It does look like a really exciting project.

Unless, of course, the bones turned out to be something more sinister ..... :shock:

Rik
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