Tern Valley Light Railway (Mk.2)

[Benny Boy]

Good evening,

As the title suggests, this is my second railway. The original Tern Valley Light Railway, also known as the Tern Valley Tramway, was dismantled early last year. That was a waist level line built using fence post and ladder frame construction. It was down two and a half years and was still in good condition. I'll post some photos in a later post.

I decided that the new line would be built at waist level again but I wanted lt to be more scenic whilst not taking up all of the garden. I settled on three large wooden planters around the outside of the garden and a section of the ladder frame around the back of the shed all connected by bridges, two of which will be lift out to allow access through the garden.

Construction began last summer but work and life got in the way so it was left in a bit of a mess until this week when I've finished the third and final planter. The attached photo shows current progress.

The next phase is to line the insides and fill with rubble up to about a third of the depth. The trackbed will then be built on top of this out of breeze blocks with the gaps filled in with soil for planting. I'm hoping to make a start on track laying by June.

All the best,
Ben

[Peter Butler]

Welcome Ben... I do like the look of your substantial structure, very well planned and constructed to last. Nicely sheltered too so no problem with structures suffering storm damage.
Watching with interest.

[Benny Boy]

Thank you Peter. They are rather substantial, now and again I think I've gone too big with them but hopefully they'll look ok once the plants are added back in again. The wide angle photo alters the way they look as well.
I do have to be careful with the wind, the garden faces south west so can get a bit battered in storms.

[ge_rik]

An excellent start - they look really well engineered. As you say, once they're landscaped and planted, they will blend in well. Really looking forward to seeing how it evolves.

Rik
PS Welcome home to the forum, BTW, Ben

[Phil.P]

Don't go too mad planting out straight away..
The soil will settle, and need topping up. - Maybe twice?

I was advised to plunge the pots plants come in, into the new beds. Keep them watered, but unless something is really struggling, or pot-bound, try to let the beds settle out for 6-8 months, before planting properly.
It takes a little longer to get towards the finishing line, but is possibly better than having everything settle four inches?

Phil.P

[Benny Boy]

Many thanks for the welcome Rik. Hopefully it won't be too long before I can show more progress.

Thanks you for the tips Phil. I was expecting the soil to sink but I hadn't thought of leaving the plants in the pots for a while. Good idea.

All the best,
Ben