The Charnwood Forest Light Railway

A place for the discussion of garden railways and any garden style/scale portable and/or indoor layouts
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Dwayne
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Post by Dwayne » Mon May 30, 2016 11:19 pm

Andrew, it's fun reading about the required engineering to make your layout come to life. Looking forward to more progress reports once you've thought things through. :)

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Post by LNR » Mon May 30, 2016 11:34 pm

As Dwayne has said, and I reckon your civil engineering skills are getting a work-out on your railway. Still there is no substitute for well laid track on a garden railway, it leads to trouble free running in the future.
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Post by Soar Valley Light » Thu Jun 02, 2016 7:35 pm

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the positive and supportive comments. I agree that this stage is critical to a well laid and well performing road later on. It's one of the reasons I'm not rushing headlong into anything.

Against all the odds I managed a bit more work this afternoon. Space is getting very tight again but I managed just enough earthworks to allow for the next section of Filcris to be installed when I get chance. This is one section of the railway where I'm not working to a hard and fast alignment design. There is a general direcdtion to follow but the levels are dictating it's relationship with the new levels of the garden path and adjacent flower beds. I'm using a set of (3) standard radii to construct the whole line and I shall use these to follow the edge of the flower beds but also introduce some interesting features and vistas of the line as it makes its way down to join the main circuit.

One of the next jobs is to clear some of the stored timber. Pallets need delivering to the allotment for compost bin construction, old windows too, along with some planed timber, to make cold frames. Another stack of timber is waiting to be turnesd into a log drying rack. These items of work will clear space to move the soil dump visible in the picture. This will allow the formation preparation to continue and also the line of the main section of railway to be set out from the scale drawing. No further construction (beyond the point I've now reached) can be safely progressed until this setting out has been competed. If I'm not careful I shall find I haven't left enough room to achieve a satisfactory alignment and acceptable scenic landscape.

Anyway, here's the shot of tonights work taken from under the arch. The shots from the weekend show the line immediately to the left of where I'm standing. This is also the spot where the main circuit will swing round from one side of the garden to the other (under my feet in this shot). Whislt 'tail chasing' will be physically possible I intend to arrange the stations so that the line normally operates as a linear railway. Trains will run from the upper terminus, down to the far end to join the circuit, then all the way round almost to the branch junction. There they will run round and go back.

All the best,

Andrew
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Post by LNR » Fri Jun 03, 2016 12:39 am

Hey! Andrew, that last shot looks like you had some easy digging for a change. I too run a circular railway as a linear one, all part of the garden railway compromise.
Grant.

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Post by Dwayne » Fri Jun 03, 2016 1:17 am

Looks good Andrew. Taking it slow and steady is a good thing.

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Post by Soar Valley Light » Wed Jun 22, 2016 7:58 pm

It's amazing what inspiration can be gained from a trip to see the real thing! We got home this afternoon from a trip to Devon. We stayed at Snapper again and the visit included a trip on the railway from Woody Bay to Killington Lane, as well as some driving around the lanes to admire the scenery. (Oh look, we just happen to have crossed the course of the L&B - again!)

Anyhow, So inspired was I that as soon as we were back, and on the pretext of beating the garden vegetation into submission, I got straight out there and got another section of Filcris in through the difficult section alongside the garden path. IOt's not big progress but it is a step in tyhe right direction.

Lets see how long the inspiration lasts and how far it takes me!

Andrew
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Post by tom_tom_go » Wed Jun 22, 2016 8:18 pm

That is going to be a great view point watching trains slowly moving along the s-bend, keep up the good work.

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Post by LNR » Thu Jun 23, 2016 2:40 am

You must be getting close to a circle Andrew. Then some track and then -------------- Trains.
Keep being inspired.
Grant.

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Post by Dwayne » Thu Jun 23, 2016 3:13 am

Keep at it Andrew. :)

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Post by Soar Valley Light » Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:09 pm

TTG - yes, I think that may well prove to be one of the most scenic locations. The short straight between the reversal will be a level crossing with the path down into the middle of the garden.

Grant - if only things were as close as that. Progress remains snails pace but at least it IS progress.

Dwayne, I have.....................................

In a continued bout of enthusiasm (and with the car empty from having been away) I spent this afternoon taking pallets and old sash lights, together with some sundry timber and some rain water guttering down to the allotment. It was all sock in the way of any further earthworks progress and needed for projects on the allotment. However, having got down there I simply HAD to spend some time chasing tigers out of the long grass and trying to hoe some space around the few plants which have survived the worst efforts of the ants. Frankly it's an embarrasment this year and unlikely to produce much for the kitchen.

Once back home I restacked (for at least the 10th time) my pile of bricks and pavors and then began to clear some of the last remaining gravelled area into a stockpile, thus clearing gound to transfer the next section of soil dump onto, thus making room for the next length of Filcris. Honestly - who needs shunting puzzles! No pictures today, stacked bricks and heaped gravel aren't that noteworthy! :?

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Post by ge_rik » Fri Jun 24, 2016 9:34 am

Soar Valley Light:118637 wrote: Progress remains snails pace but at least it IS progress.
All the best things are worth waiting for Andrew ....... it's a good idea to think things through. I spent around five years planning my railway before I laid my hand on a spade.

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Post by Soar Valley Light » Thu Jul 07, 2016 10:29 pm

I have no railway construction progress to report I'm afraid. I havent been idle though, the recent drier (relatively!) weather has allowed me to get out into the garden and do some serious earthmoving. A good deal of restacking started the process and since that I've been moving the main top soil dump. This soil will be needed for the construction of the final ground profiles once railway construction is complete, in the meantime it has to go somewhere.


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Here is the job almost done. The soil dump used to be a mound nearly four feet high, six feet wide and twelve feet long in the centre left of the picture above, you may be able to make out the remains of the mound in the centre of the picture.

Now this is done I need to do some accurate levelling to set the level of that section of the branch already constructed, this can then be carried forward down to the junction with the main loop (centre left of the picture above). You might just be able to make out the earthworks for the main loop started last year as a light coloured horseshoe of materials in the distance. Once the Branch is in I plan to build this side of the main loop. That will enable some of the soil to be moved to its final resting place. I will then need to finish the path up the centre of the garden (and centre of the picture) which should use up most of the building materials stacked next to the top soil at the moment. THAT should leave me enough room to build the other half of the main loop which can then be landscaped with the remaining top soil. All I need to do THEN is build a railway!


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And here is the side of the garden covered in stacked materials - picturesque isn't it!

Fingers crossed for the weather holding. :?

Andrew
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Post by IanC » Fri Jul 08, 2016 8:16 pm

That's major construction work and very impressive. I have yet to start on my line and the thought of all that work is quite daunting.

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Post by ge_rik » Sat Jul 09, 2016 7:15 am

I found the civil engineering phase great fun - I reckon I barrowed a couple of tonnes of soil around when I got started. Ehhh..... they were the days - eg see http://riksrailway.blogspot.co.uk/2016/ ... rt-63.html

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Post by Soar Valley Light » Sun Jul 10, 2016 9:17 pm

Rik has a good point, I'm really loving the terraforming. I admit I'll be sorry when it's done.

I managed a little time over the weekend in the civil engineering build up yard (AKA the paved area where I'm assembling the Filcris foundations)

Image

The surveyors were also out setting out the line of the main circuit on the newly cleared ground. The alignment of the branch has never been accurately drawn up and I've been waiting to see what room I have to play with to fit the branch down the outside of the loop. It turns out there is only one tight spot, I feel a bridge coming on at that point! This definitely paves the way for the accurate levelling and installation of the Filcris foundation along the whole length of the Branch now.


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View down the garden


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And the view back up the other way.

Hoping for more progress this week,

Andrew
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Post by Dwayne » Mon Jul 11, 2016 12:00 am

Andrew, it's looking great. Very much enjoying your updates. :)

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Post by Soar Valley Light » Sat Jul 16, 2016 11:15 pm

Against all the odds (and some very fickle weather), a little more progress!

The supports and one side of the Filcris substructure have been installed. I even managed to get the laser level out this evening and set the base at the correctly gradient. I can now get the other side screwed on. The alignment has ended up encroaching on the route of the main loop in just one place and fortunately it's somewhere that I can design a revised route to avoid the conflict.

It's so tempting to move on to some track laying but I think it's more important to get the rest of the substructure in first.

Here is a shot of the new works looking down from the narrow cutting beside the ahoneysuckle arch towards the branch junction.
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And here's a view the other way, looking from the branch junction back upi the branch.

Image

All the best,

Andrew
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Post by Peter Butler » Sat Jul 16, 2016 11:54 pm

Well done Andrew for making progress despite the weather. It is certainly moving forward now and soon there will be track in place to show the results of your meticulous planning.
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Post by LNR » Sun Jul 17, 2016 1:16 am

Meticulous planning indeed, as Peter said. Keep the pics. coming Andrew.
Grant.

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Post by Dwayne » Sun Jul 17, 2016 3:30 am

Andrew, getting the substructure down based on your situation probably is the best way to go about it. Looking good.

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