Garden Railway Forum

Hi Pip,

As Andy says, there is some very good quality engineering on display there. I'm very impressed. Getting the alignment smooth and even is absolutely everything when it comes to looking realistic. Very few railways, even narrow gauge industrial ones, were ever just 'laid where they fell', there was almost always at least some surveying and setting out. This means straight straights and circular curves on the whole. Those lines which replicate this always look the better for it.

I love your loco too, the livery is superb. Keep the pics coming please, you are the latest in a whole string of people bringing me inspiration. You have my sincere thanks for that.

Andrew

Many Thanks Andy and Andrew. Ive done some planting out around the area which seems to have made a big difference and also finished the access path. A couple of photos here.......



....and a few more photos on my flickr site. Feel free to have a nosey there, link below

Greetings Peeps! Been a few weeks since Ive done anything to the railway but back in business these last couple of days and the next stage is underway, namely the raised 'filcris' section. The photos show progress so far, all achieved quite quickly really, the filcris is a joy to work with, hopefully it proves to be relatively maintenance free too! Time, and running trains, will tell! On with the show....

Going beyond Hollycross station, the line will run onto a raised section, almost immediately crossing the main path to the house where I plan to put in a removable bridge. A bit of faffing around gave me the initial positioning of the main bridge supports.



These were built and put in a couple of days ago, securely set in Postfix. A couple of battens were fixed to them to ensure they stay in position relative to each other, both while being set up and the next stage to ensure no twisting out of line occured. I can report this proved its worth, filcris is great to work with, very easy to use, but it IS flexible! Onwards....


The photo above shows the junction for a branch which will eventually lead to the front of the house. From this point, the run out and back will be approximately 60 yards, and will require locos to work hard on the way back!

Standard crosshead screws were used, initially in pre-drilled holes, but I found the filcris accepts them without holes being drilled, it doesnt split, crack, bobble and screws will countersink themselves very easily and neatly, making construction fly along. Within a couple of hours, the first train was venturing onto the new bit of line, and Im pleased with progress. You will note, some realignment of the outer platform line is required as a result of not much proper planning!



The wagon was built with a view to filming. 2 rubber bands hold the camera in place against the bolster and away we go...Ahem....

That is looking great. How do you find the cost filcris vs timber?

Hi Jim! Thanks very much, Im getting there slowly. Like everything 'green and eco friendly ', the filcris stuff looks pricey, but if it works as it should, the real saving comes in not having to remove rotten timber, dig out and replace concrete footings, rip out and replace torn roofing felt etc and do all the work again in several years, or even sooner! The filcris website shows all sizes of posts, rails and accessories, with prices, so once youve worked out what you need, you can cost it out and then make the decision. I initially thought £40 for carriage was excessive but when it arrived, and filcris rang to arrange delivery on a day to suit me, it was very well packaged in 3 heavy, and 3 metre long parcels so I guess its not too bad. The customer service is very good, the product is very easy to work with, and I would recommend it to anyone if theyre OK with the cost. I did consider using it throughout but feel that Ive made a saving using the blocks and concrete I settled on for the ground level section which again, should be maintenance free hopefully. Hope this helps mate!

this is great looking very good looking forward too seeing this progress

More progress today, getting the other end of the present line ready to cross the path. First off, a quick review of yesterdays efforts.

Its rained overnight but everything looks good and Ive got a reference for the pier I'll be putting in today. First job, build the pier and get it set in position, in POSTMIX again, and checking its level and inline with the existing trackbed.


The reversing line comes in very close to this pier so a PECO small radius point was chosen along with matching curves to cut out any problems with dogleg joints in flexitrack, and maintain an even curve. The filcris again went together very easily, Im very impressed, and it wasnt long before the trackbed was taking shape. Single posts were put in around 2 feet apart with the outer rail set a couple of millimetres higher to give a bit of cant and aid progress around the sharp curves. Wheeeee!!!


Again lots of level checking and rail level sighting to get things nice and straight.
It seemed to go relatively easy and soon I had things well sorted and a complete connection. The diesel was fired up to do a few test runs and apart from a slight deviation where the filcris meets the blocks, my fault, I was knelt on the string line!, its looking fine and dandy!


Super elevation I believe?..... Dee Dah....

Great (and rapid) work, lovely to see such good workamnship.

I agree with everything Pipindo says about Filris. I'll be very interested to know if the elevated sections suffer from expansion problems. As Pip say, it IS very flexible and boy don't it expand! I'm burying all mine to shade it from the heat. It means most of the railway will be on embankments but it looks ok so far - even without tyrack on it!

Keep us posted on progress.

Sorry, had to chuckle about kneeling on the string line, been there done that.
As Andrew has said very nice neat work Pipp, the branch will make for interesting working.
Grant.

With NOBBY leading, the Down Evening Mixed swings away from Hollycross, closely followed by DELILAH with a motley collection of wagons. Well...I can dream a bit...  :?

Very nice Pipp, that's a beautiful loco and it looks great heading through the greenery!

Andrew

Thanks again Andrew, locos were despatched off to Rhos Helyg for R/C fitting, any other work, and repainting and lining, and I can't recommend Tony's work high enough. Further developments this morning included sorting out the realignment of the outer platform line to ease the connection back onto the main line. This involved dropping a trimmed block into the gap, set as ever in POSTMIX, before going to ASDA. Upon my return an hour later, the track was slewed across, secured, and a new (old!) section dropped in to complete the connection. The diesel did half a dozen passes without incident, and it was signed off by the Pway gang, or at least it will be when they return from the Railway Tavern. Hopefully!

Looking great already. Certainly helps when the planting is already well established.

Rik

Greetings from the Hollycross Railway Company!! First off, my apologies for the long absence just as progress and interest was bumbling along in tandem, Im back now though and ready to begin the next part of construction, though as some of you may recall, my methodology is somewhat 'unusual' so if anyone who was previously duped into believing I plan everything meticulously, it may be best to look away now!
Right, we have 2 sayings in Yorkshire, one is 'Ey up cock!', the other is 'OW MUCH?!', so when Lord Hollycross approaches anything like this, its very much what was good enough for the Romans, its quite good enough for him, Thank you very much! So...

String, in balls, very cheap, very useful and if its pulled tight, very straight and level!....so, if for instance, you tied one end of your string to a sleeper end.... ....then walk along, keeping it tight against the railhead.... ....pulled it tight, looking along it to make sure its straight.... ....then pinned it to a fence, for example.... .... You'd end up with a straight and in-line string line! Fun isn't it? So lets do it again then, from the other side of the gap! ....still with me? So now we've got 2 in-line string lines from either end of a gap, and a fence that wont blow down cos its tied to our railway....lets join em up.... ....and.... Wey Hey Missus!! The wooden rail has been secured between 2 fence posts to help keep things stable, but it really DID end up almost perfectly level!
And thus, Lord Hollycross's team ended up with a well surveyed, non engineered plan, which provided a line of route for the rest of the circuit, an ideal spot for a steam up area/siding area and most importantly, pork pie and beer bottle storage area, and under the shade of the trees. Right, me and the team are off to the Railway Tavern for some recuperation whilst you re-read it all in absolute disbelief and wonder however it all works! It has so far though, and it will. More later, Cheers chaps!
One more shot, because every garden railway project needs a train piccie
so, below, we catch intrepid Top Link Hollycross driver Albert 'Oi loikes t' go faaast' Bracegirdle and his regular steed NOBBY, trundling past with hopper wagons and wondering why there's string hung everywhere, and what was that loud TWANG!......

this is all brilliant looks like you have had a busy weekend nice weather for it too great use of a string line

Still laughing about Albert and the "Twang", in fact the whole story. Good to see you back at it.
Grant.

Albert! NO!! I really don't care how much you 'can back up a bit!'......

Great update Pippindo.

How is the Filcris doing on the warm days? Mine is all at ground level and will be buried, even on embankments. The recent warm days have resulted in some movement due to expansion of those areas as yet unburied. I notice a significant proportion of yours is up in the air, so I imagine the problem could be more noticeable. That said your construction is much more rigid than mine, I'm just using runners held with 400mm long posts at 900mm centres and spacer blocks half way between, no top boards like yours and only single posts too. It's cracking stuff though and worth every penny. I've even ordered some bigger sections for other gardening jobs. You're right about the service from Filcris - it's second to none!

Andrew

This is a great thread, love the style so keep us updated please.

I took the plunge with Flicris recently for a non-garden railway project and was very pleased with the service although it is not cheap and they charge for delivery as the material comes direct from Germany by road.

The more popular it get's, the cheaper it will become...