The Charnwood Forest Light Railway

[Soar Valley Light]

Sorry folks - Me and technology! Try these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOHl57hJc3c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW9QDFOhlZU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMMmJEugI7s&t=1s

Andrew

[tom_tom_go]

All good Andrew, steam at last!

Have you considered R/C for your locos?

[Peter Butler]

Lovey images Andrew, the garden will look stunning when complete.

[Soar Valley Light]

Phew - that's a greater achievement than building the railway Tom!

Thanks for the comments Peter, I'm certainly hoping so.

The black kit built Ragleth is RC, the Edrig is manual. Manual is 'interesting' but not conducive to operating a railway. I may consider fitting it in time, I loike the engine and I think I'd like to keep it. I'm not sure that the black one is staying, I would much sooner have a couple of larger tank engines, it's more in keeping with the premise I have for the railway. I have a Lawley which I thought was RC but turns out not to be! I'd also like something that can have a slomo fitted, that makes Accucraft a none starter at the moment and Roundhouse is out of my price range I'm afraid. Building the railway has reduced available funds to a number with a minus sign in front of it! I've just placed an order for what I hope will be the last significant track materials order. In the short term a momentum van looks like all I'll be able to contemplate but I'd much rather have it loco fitted. Something to aim for I guess.

I managed a bit more progress today. It was one step back and two forwards but progress nonetheless. I put a length of Filcris in yesterday for the siding at Anstey. Unfortunately it was only much later (whilst I was thinking over the plans in bed) that I realised I'd picked up from the running line in the wrong place. A quick review of the situation this afternoon confirmed I'd 'made a Barney' and that things could not be left as they were. I also realised that by reverting to 'Plan A' I could get a second short siding in. Dismantling quickly followed. A new length of Filcris runner was dragged out and trimmed to length and assembled on the new alignment. The wisdom of this course of action was immediately apparent. The second siding quickly followed and I had to do some shallow quarrying in the area of the yard to produce some sandy fill material to build up the ground to level. Thank goodness I've held back on concreting the yard!

I can't do much now until the pway materials arrive, I've only one prefab'ed section of track left to lay and then I'm out of rail. It's stopped the turnout production line too. There is the last bit of foundation to go in for the sidings at Abbey Lane and Woodhouse Eaves and also some work to do on the foundation for the station and sidings at Shepshed but I'm not rushing into things, thinking time is everything where I am concerned!

Andrew

[invicta280]

What a lovely line. Well engineered and it will look superb when the plantings take hold. Personally I think the black tender loco looks very much at home there.

[IrishPeter]

Looking good, Andrew, but then I am a sucker for sweeping curves.

Peter in Va

[LNR]

As others have said, a wonderful piece of track laying, congratulations Andrew. I'm sure you will now be building a little, running a little, as you are able to reap the rewards of your patience.
Grant.

[bazzer42]

Thanks for redoing the videos Andrew. The layout is going to be a cracker, good planning and all that...

[markoteal]

Brilliant Andrew - great to see those long sweeping curves in action!

[daan]

The railway looks terrific, Andrew, when the plants will grow later on and you can sit in the middle with a beer watching the trains running by it will be a joy for many evenings.. So if there is a minor sign in front of possible expenses now, it will only be a thing far away then. It is growing into something working now..!
Best regards, Daan.

[Lonsdaler]

Only just caught up with your videos Andrew. You must be really chuffed ( ) to finally have movement on your line. That is going to mature into a really stunning railway. Well done!

[ge_rik]

Great to see stock running on your line, Andrew. Another milestone has been reached.......

Rik

[Soar Valley Light]

Thanks for all the comments guys. I'm afraid I've got no photos to share of recent activity. Not that there's been much I'm afraid. The ongoing upheaval of bathroom rebuilding grinds slowly on. It's a bit of a team effort between my plumber, his plasterer and me. We all have a lot of other things to keep us busy. After a summer of snails pace progress (which at least gave me some time to work on the railway) the plumber has picked up the pace and is finding plenty to fill any spare moments I have to support his work. Some progress has been made though. I spent some time adjusting the cross levels on the last series of curves I laid, to remove some twist faults found by the first steamings. I've also managed to get the 180 degree curve laid, although much work remains to complete the footpath crossing. At the end of this curve is the small yard that will form Anstey Station. The lead from the mainline to the yard has been laid and I've got another length of track down now towards Shepshed station. The distance is only just over a couple of lengths of track long so won't take long. This stage of the work will be largely in a shallow cutting and so a lot of work has gone into providing a french drain on each side of the trackbed, wrapped in geotextile to keep the soil out.

You can probably tell from all this that turnout construction has continued too, and is still ongoing. Most of the line will be built with 8 foot (scale length) loose heeled switches and 1 in 6 crossings. These are therefore standard units. It's not quite mass production but being similar makes the process of building them much simpler, if only by dint of being a relatively repetitive process and thus more and more familiar with each unit. I need two special turnouts that will fall within curves. Both turnouts are on the inside of the curve and so 1 in 6 crossings would make the turnout radius horribly tight. One of these is already built and laid. I stuck with 8 foot switches but used a 1 in 10 crossing. The other turnout was the first attempt at 16mm S&C construction. All my turnouts are designed from first principles. I've got an excel spreadsheet giving the lead lengths radii and other details for any number of combinations of switch length and crossing angle! The first turnout was drawn before the spreadsheet was produced and without a lot of the calculated detail that came from putting the spreadsheet together. I learnt a lot from building that turnout. Five turnouts down the road I know I can do better, both geometrically and structurally. The second turnout I built was a standard 1 in 6 but there was a basic schoolboy error in forming the switch heel which put a twist fault just where you don't want one! The standard to which these two were built is not acceptable for use in a running line, both are destined for the sidings at Shepshed. One of the jobs I've done in this 'quiet' period is to produce a better design for this second special turnout. I actually had to re-survey the curve it will go in to account for one of two minor alignment changes made during construction of the road bed. I've now got a design drawn out ready for an 8 foot switch turnout with a 1 in 8 crossing, curved throughout on both roads. It's location at the top of the branch at the throat to Abbey Lane station means it can be accessed from surfaced paths and is therefore an ideal site to work on during the muddy days of winter, when working on the soil further down the garden would produce mud in quantities beloved of hippos! Consequently the next turnout, hopefully to be started later this week, will be another standard 1 in 6 for the throat of Shepshed station.

Big railways have also been an obstacle to progress. I've had to produce a pway design for one heritage line in a bit of a rush during October and I've got another two waiting in the wings for other lines which are getting increasingly urgent. At least my expeditions to the Bluebell have ended for the year now! I'm very hopeful to find time to complete the pway construction work up to Shepshed station throat before the weather gets too wet to be on the garden. At that point I intend to turn the focus on the Abbey Lane Station area. It's where most of the remaining turnouts are required and so there will be plenty of work to do indoors when the weather is too poor to be outside at all. Hopefully the bathroom will be finished by then too. It's got to progress with a bit more speed in the short term - the loo was removed today. I'm not going to stand using the outside loo for long once the weather turns! It's no fun venturing outdoors at three o'clock on a frosty morning - I'm sure we used to have a 'po' somewhere that came from my grandparents! I promise to try and take some picture of recent progress and post them before too long.

Andrew

[James from Devon]

WOW!

Progress or not,, your line is a masterclass in Garden Railway building. The trackwork is stunning. I salute you Sir!

[Soar Valley Light]

Thanks Jim, It's nice of you to say so.

I think I might do things slightly differently if I did it all again, much like being 21 again but knowing what I know now! Work has been stalled by bathroom rebuilding lately. There's been no significant progress for about two months now. It's going to be a little while longer before I can get back to it and, of course, the weather is against me now. Much of what's left to be done needs me to be out on the garden (well off the paths), definitely a 'better weather' job. The branch terminus and it's throat are all adjacent to much firmer ground though. This is planned to be the winter project - once I've finished with bathrooms..... and tidied up the spare bedroom....... and the cellar...... and the dining room....... and got down the allotment to clear the ground and get the winter digging done....... Maybe it will be a spring project!

All the best,

Andrew

[Peter Butler]

Andrew, just wait until you are retired, you will have even less time then. I have had so much to do since I retired I am seriously considering going back to work to give me more time again.

[River Lin]

Hi Andrew.
Have you been able to carry on your tracklaying lately. Missing your posts. In Butler Henderson with a coffee a couple of days ago and i thought of your layout and wondered how you were getting on. Mind you, if you have had snow like we have had in Anstey today, i expect you have not done much this weekend. At least I am able to do my carriage modelling inside. I don't have a line myself but look forward to being able to run on Association group lines again in the spring.
David.

[Soar Valley Light]

Hello David,

Thanks for asking. Construction has been at a stand since Christmas I'm afraid. There was a lot of tidying up to do indoors and out. I've been trying to get the allotment dug over but the weather has confounded me at every turn. I managed some tidying up on the horticultural side of the house garden but railway wise it's been static. My next task really is to construct a curved turnout for the terminus station throat. I need to draw it out first and, although I've dug out the drawing equipment since Christmas, it's been to work on pway designs for heritage railways rather than the turnouts for the garden line. Covering the dining room table in tools and rails is not an ideal scenario and so I'd like to create some space to work in the cellar. (I'd also like to crack on with the construction of the Hornby Dublo layout down there and the two are mutually beneficial). Now the bathroom reconstruction work is effectively complete I can begin to sort out the stored junk - I mean invaluable collection of random items that will come in one day, for something other- and I started down that road this morning. The end result is the recyclling being full again already!

I hope to make a start again soon, I'm very keen to do so, but I must get this couple of 12" to the foot drawing jobs away first.

Andrew

[jim@NAL]

your making great progress cant wait to see it in the summer with lots of plants

[LNR]

A 2018 Christmas Special then (dig, dig.).
You'll get there Andrew, and the result will be worth it. Remember this is a Hobby
meant to be for spare time, (can't believe I actually said that!)
Grant.