Garden Railway Forum

I like to eat cooked Lobster on the beach....

Captain Plod progresses with the ballasting of the Potters Orchid Railway. SBR and 2-3mm granite chips mixed with 1mm sand and mortar dyes. He thinks Chocolate would be a better dye than the Chestnut he used. The weather will dull it all down and so far Plod is pleased. His efforts as he progresses down the line are getting better and faster.

The mix before a wee wet down with water and then the neat SBR





Davo Lanko 571 dribbled on. (Aussie SBR)









Cover up in case of evening storms.

09.35 in the morn, after 14 hours later it seems to be cooking off nicely.







This has a second and third wave over it to add some ash (white sand) and grime (mortar dye powder) , SBR added of course.

That is all looking fabulous. It always amazes me how much better trackwork looks with ballast added, it makes it part of the surrounding landscape somehow.

That is just so different now, it looks just right and you would be hard pressed to not believe it was a real line in some beautiful countryside anywhere in the world. Well done.

Like wot they've said - that's looking fantastic!

I may need to experiment with dyes next time I ballast...

Excellent!!!!

Rik

Plod has been experimenting with different washes of mortar dye powder and diluted Lanko 571 while listening to the West Indies being demolished at the Adelaide oval. Cabbage tree creek yard got the treatment.

This morning after being exposed to the moonlight.








Potters Junction with MAM in full glazing mode.

The effects are stunning and the timescale unbelievable!

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Sun Dec 11, 2022 8:22 pm The effects are stunning and the timescale unbelievable!

I'll echo that!

Rik

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Sun Dec 11, 2022 8:22 pm The effects are stunning and the timescale unbelievable!

The effects (method) was inspired by you and your railway.
We don't watch much TV and on weekends when I am not at the Mary Valley Rattler I get up at 5.00am (at this time the sun is up at 4.30am) and I get stuck in and knock off as it gets dark (7.00pm) or not long after. I am snoring by 9.00pm. We have hot sunny weather at the moment so I am on a mission to ballast the whole railway. (this time last year was incredibly wet, major floods and more and more rain) This morning I ordered an additional 10kg of 2-3mm granite chips and maybe later this week I might make a start on the track north of Red Bridge gorge and Potters Junction yard. I am at the Rattler this weekend so I am away Friday, Sat and Sun having fun driving and firing the 12" scale trains. So by the end of next week I hope to complete the track ballasting. Complete the task and then sit back and enjoy it. I am planning tonight to assemble the 1800mm long stainless steel bench that was just delivered. It has a spot to live for use with loco boxes and rolling stock and or food and drink during visitor run sessions and also for MAM to use for pottery stuff. I will get back to my model engineering soon and the POR stuff and time will ease dramatically. For the time being the time and energy resources are being directed at the POR as the holiday visitor days are about to commence. So make it nice for us all to enjoy. New Year's Eve will be a big production.
I have to devote some time to clean up stuff about the house and yard this week. Besides ballast it is tidy up the detritus.

This is inspirational stuff, feels like "proper" railway modelling, as in really trying hard to recreate the look of the real thing - thanks for sharing!

Loving MAM's pots too - Grace took a load out of the kiln this morning which she'd glazed on Saturday, so we got the magical next step in the process...

You have far surpassed anything else anyone as done before and your right in saying that Peter Butler has been an inspiration for you, he certainly has been for me.

It just looks fantastic and looking forward to some more videos of your stock running on it.

FWLR wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:50 am You have far surpassed anything else anyone as done before and your right in saying that Peter Butler has been an inspiration for you, he certainly has been for me.

It just looks fantastic and looking forward to some more videos of your stock running on it.

Thank you, however I am only following what others have done before. I thieve the ideas and techniques from others. If I could start again 12 years ago the back yard walls would be very different and the curves min 1200mm radius and ..................

Andrew wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 9:41 am This is inspirational stuff, feels like "proper" railway modelling, as in really trying hard to recreate the look of the real thing - thanks for sharing!

Loving MAM's pots too - Grace took a load out of the kiln this morning which she'd glazed on Saturday, so we got the magical next step in the process...

Thanks and super.
This weekend I am at the Rattler driving/firing full size steam.

The chair of the POR board has her new Christmas present. It will be used as a pottery bench however on run days it will be most handy for loco prep and rolling stock storage with a handy power point at one end. It is also a flood lit area for night time ops. Plod assembled it yesterday arvo.

That's all very practical and business like.... you can't beat a proper workspace with everything to hand and no clutter.

Pardon my ignorance but what is SBR and Lanka571?

Hi Graeme, there have been many discussions about the use of SBR on several threads here on the Forum. I'm sure you will trace them by searching SBR on the screen. However, attached is just one one of the UK based suppliers which gives some detail of its manufacture and uses....
.
https://www.toolstation.com/everbuild-5 ... ent/p18528
I have been using it since 2014 and have offered suggestions on how best it works with a variety of ballast materials, particularly with fine crushed stone and dust.
Dazza has discovered the Aussie equivalent and it is working equally as well, if not better, than ours.