Garden Railway Forum

Great video Daan, some nice slow running, but I felt for the loco when it was running a lot faster on those curves…..Still love the colour of your loco though…

Remarkable how well she handles those sharp curves - you seem to have got the regulator set at just the correct level.
Pleased to hear my India photos are being put to good use.

Rik

the sharp curves are "lead in" by curves of a wider radius. So it's more oval shaped then round. The really sharp curves (LGB R1) are only in the middle. The graduate narrowing of the radius is easy on the locomotive, even with speed.
On the eye they seem less sharp than ones made with R1 only. It's a 3,5 x 3 meter space, so I need to have some sharp curves in order to give the line an interesting look..

I can't run an aster schools loco on this layout obviously..

Still a great line Daan. My own line only has 1 curve maximum, so it can take some bigger locos, I have had an RH Alco round it with no problems, not mine I hasten to add

And yes, there is an extention to the line! Since the board under the station area has gotten bad and started to rot, I made a new board along the gardenwall besides the terrace. Here I installed the turntable and made a nice headshunt station with spurs to service the locomotives and put away some trains when not in use.





With a few bent-open R1 LGB curves I made a smooth connection between the old spurs which used to led to the station area. And I made a triangle to connect the oval with the station, to give trains the possibility to depart and enter the station from both sides. Also I made sure that when running the oval, the switches are in straight position, nihilating derailment problems.



The turntable is in position. It is mounted with bolts so that I can level the track very securely to the leading spurs. I made a few roundhead bolts under the bridge to help keep it level when a locomotive is driving up the bridge, that helps a lot.





There are 2 platform spurs and one run around track in the middle. Together with a few sidings for rolling stock and steaming the locomotives, it gives a nice compact station with all which is needed and it gives me the oppertunity to landscape a bit more track.


the turntable from above. Very simple and you'll need to keep the bridge in position by hand, but it works fine.

The turntable looks brilliant Daan.

As the expression goes, like topsy, it's growing. Looking very good Daan. You'll be all over the garden before you (or your wife!) knows it!

I like the turntable but that triangle junction will give you all sorts of possibilities.

I love how your extension has grown your railway and operating possibilities.

And your turntable is so key to the solution

I like your use of 'storage' as a reason for extending the railways when dealing with your major stakeholder - the Mrs!

Well, to my surprise the mrs didn't make a big point of me building the new extension. I had to promise a few new garden chairs and then it was fine.. But I had to promise that I won't convert the whole garden into a railway.. I promised I won't do that (yet) and crossed my fingers behind my back..

daan wrote: ↑Fri May 04, 2018 6:29 pm Well, to my surprise the mrs didn't make a big point of me building the new extension. I had to promise a few new garden chairs and then it was fine.. But I had to promise that I won't convert the whole garden into a railway.. I promised I won't do that (yet) and crossed my fingers behind my back..

Sounds familiar!

Yesterday evening I did make an upgrade to the turntable. It wasn't that stable on it's bearing as I hoped, so I drilled a hole through the middle of the bridge and the axle of the bearing and put a bolt through it. On the underside I placed 2 belleville washers which pull the bridge onto the bearing. Now it stays fixed. I should have done that in the first place, but I was too lazy

Any chance of a video of the turntable and locos in action?

The more I see of your line Daan the more I love it.

Like others I like your Turntable, simple and does the job well….

Great looking extension - glad you got planning permission for it from the Household Authorities

Rik

A video will come, but yesterday I took down the old stationboard and started rebuilding that area of the railway. Instead of wood, I made a brick wall with a wide top supporting the track and left the rest open for landscaping. The bridge will be altered a bit (grows longer) to hook up at the end of the retaining wall. the whole big curve will be on the bridge now.

Apart from that a lot of the line will be evened out, since the old stationboard was rotten, a lot of the track wasn't level anymore, so that will be sorted as well (as far as possible).
Soon the line will be operational again for a video.

Hope so Daan, I love seeing your line.

Today (and the days before) a whole lot of building going on. The sagged wooden board is gone, it's underframe is gone and in it's place are concrete tiles and a stone wall. The triangle is on a concrete pavement slab and the bridge has been altered to better fit in the new situation, although a new section has to be made to fit in between. This section has for now been filled with some aluminium. One of the piers has been relocated as well.

The old station has been moved down and is now a mountain hotel near the lake, I'll call it "Berggasthaus Forelle". I've filled the area in between with soil, rockery and plants. Track is (almost) completely leveled out and the curves on the bridge have a slight tilt inwards on it, to prevent possible racing locomotives to tip over.

The bridge supports have temporarily been leveled out by washers, if everything is according to plan, they will be changed for more substantial filling pieces later on.















I've tried a few battery locomotives to test the track, but no steamers yet.

Very effective use of rocks and plants Daan. Good planting makes the railway seem at home in its surroundings (and earns you points with 'the boss'). I really like your viaduct on its stone piers too.

Agree the planting is very effective and the line looks so just right. Also agree the viaduct looks brilliant on the stone pillars.

Watch out for those Croc’s though…..