Garden Railway Forum

Having enjoyed playing trains for 3 years now, it was decided to build a railway of my own.
taking advice and inspiration from visited railways and these forums i set to work.

The domestic authority were contacted and building permits obtained, Surplus track was obtained from the Warren point and Stow railway. (Sir clothem caps railway)

a patch of jungle was cleared, discovering a long lost s̶m̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶p̶o̶n̶d̶ Great lake in the process. The railway was designed around this, and the name "lotus lakeside" was decided.

Track was test laid on the bare jungle ground, to see how much i could R̶u̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶m̶e̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ ̶a̶u̶t̶h̶o̶r̶i̶t̶y̶'̶s̶ ̶g̶a̶r̶d̶e̶n̶ work with.

a lumber train driven by loco number 1 "Thomas" moves jungle wood while a goods train driven by loco number 3 "Perkins" carrying track parts awaits at signal. Loco number 2 "Theodore" awaits orders in a siding.


Soon, a loop of track was formed and a test run commenced
https://youtu.be/Vmew0sepYV8

various plants were obtained, the domestic authority granted a large flowerpot to store in.
track was also laid in this flowerpot, making a nice scene for photographs.

Plants used so far:

• Juniperus compressa (Dwarf conifer)

• Sedum acre aureum (Strange flowering weed thing)

• Nobody's business (The plant where the saying "Growing like nobody's business" surely comes from)

And one other dwarf conifer whose name currently escapes me.

Despite the lakeside not allowing boats to sail apon, the domestic authority demanded a lighthouse was installed.

Skeleton crew operates a late night coal train, driven by electric loco number 4 "lyn".

(Flash on, lighthouse light not very visible)

While funding for foundation to lay the track on was being raised, the jungle reclaimed the track within 3 days presenting a new problem that had not been considered yet.
The garden is overrun with a strange type of jungle grass, it grows 50 scale feet tall, spreads very rapidly and has been resistant to all attempts to get rid of it so far.

The domestic authority were contacted and decided to combat the unending jungle on their own.
Various weed killers used, grass endlessly pulled out, even the Lotus lakeside favorite tool "a hammer" was used, all to no avail.
a flamethrower is being considered but the jungle persists for now.

While the domestic authority combated with the invading jungle, i decided to try to build a portable layout with the little amount of leftover track that wasn't under 50 feet of jungle trees.

Small pallets were obtained, because the boards are the perfect size for making small modules with no need to saw to size but mainly because they were free.
pallets can be obtained for free from shipping depots and post offices, they will usually be happy to give them away.

If you look very closely you can just about see the track under the unending jungle grass.

The pallet was dismantled by being repeatedly hit with a hammer with only a small amount of the boards splintering. (almost all of them)

a workshop was needed, the domestic authority were contacted and temporary building permits granted to construct in the lounge.
a footrest had to be moved to make way for a workmate.

Glued together, a weight was placed apon the top to ensure a good bond. the first time these weights have been used since the domestic authority obtained them many moons ago.

The towns population were in uproar that the domestic authority allowed this, staging a midnight protest.
Local cat bertie had this to say about it "Meow Meow i want my footrest! No i wont sleep on the empty chairs! its my footrest and i want it NEEEOOOOW!"
The domestic authority interrupted the protest, ensured the towns population that this unjust action was a mistake and will be fixed shortly, bribed the protesters with biscuits then went back to bed.

will post more when progress is made.

Good to see another railway on the go. Good luck with the jungle grass.
Grant.

Cool. Love the skeleton crew. Looking forward to progress updates.

Nice bit of humour and the beginnings of another railway to follow

Nice to see a new layout and good to find somebody else has vegetation trouble. Mine is built under a wysteria that sheds flower cases then petals in the spring and leaves from July to November, all part of the fun...

Often thought an indoor layout could be fun...need to get power to the shed (on Mrs B's to do list)

bazzer42 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:22 am Nice to see a new layout and good to find somebody else has vegetation trouble. Mine is built under a wysteria that sheds flower cases then petals in the spring and leaves from July to November, all part of the fun...

Often thought an indoor layout could be fun...need to get power to the shed (on Mrs B's to do list)

I know what you mean - my line runs under various vegetation and have a year around battle to keep the line clear - I have an old vac that I use in the shed and on dry days, it comes out for a vac around the station areas - note the house vac is never used for this - more than my life worth to get that involved in Garden Railway activity!

Oh the joys of working with Mother Nature - or more particularly in her realm!

Good luck with the grass, I look forward to seeing more of the railway as it emerges.

Andrew

It's Great to see the railway coming together.

I like a good boxed-set - looking forward to the next episode .................

Rik

Some progress has been made with the portable layout.

Due to being made out of pallets, the layout has been named "Pallet town moorings". Very creative i know.
its come to just over 9 feet long and somehow still fits in the back of the domestic authority's car

its purpose and track positions have been designed, with the plan as follows:
A train pulling tipper wagons goes under a hopper, the tipper wagons fills up with coal, then goes down to a narrow barge and dumps all the coal in it.
the narrow barge has a mechanism in it that allows the coal to fall into a hidden container, allowing it to fill up endlessly and for easy refilling of the hopper.



Module 1 is slightly wider then the other modules so the coal loading mechanism can fit on it.

The fictional story behind it:
Due to advances in digging technology a previously ignored part of the hilly british countryside had been decided as an ideal route for a new canal, shorting a usually very long trip from pallet town to a neighboring town by a very considerable margin.
to save time the canal system was connected to and from the many lakesides dotting the countryside.
While digging out the path for a canal, coal was found.
being directly in the way of an important passageway they simply built the canal over it, but the existence of the coal did not go unnoticed and it wasn't long before coal mines were opened in the hills around it
coal was moved via the canal, but as the coal was mined up and they had to go further and further away from the canal it quickly became apparent that lugging bags over your shoulder to the canal was a big hindrance and a narrow gauge railway was promptly built to shorten the travel time.

If you look closely you can almost feel the excitement of the paint drying.


and while i was painting and assembling this layout, the jungle got worse.
another strange weed thing has popped out of the soil, apparently the domestic authority planted it last year on purpose because "it tastes nice" and "shouldn't survive the winter"
it has come back with a vengeance and completely covered the s̶m̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶p̶o̶n̶d̶ great lake.

its growing twice as fast as the jungle grass and taller too.

the domestic authority have promised to deal with this new menace by... waiting for winter to kill it?
Thankfully caterpillars and slugs seem to like it but its growing faster than the local pests can eat it!

I think your edible "weeds" are nasturtium, a common garden flower, spreads like fury and is edible. With all this undergrowth perhaps you should have a colonial sugar cane layout. Like the portable idea, anything with tippers is good in my book.

Yes - go with the natural fauna - at the CHLR, we are soon to have our Vendage weekend where we'll run grape harvest trains - the grapes are colouring up nicely!

Following the suggestions of bazzer42 and markoteal, a n̶a̶s̶t̶u̶r̶t̶i̶u̶m̶ Sugar cane harvest was started.

Trogdor, being the newest member of staff was given the grunt work and ordered to harvest the n̶a̶s̶t̶u̶r̶t̶i̶u̶m̶ Sugar cane and was quickly worked to the bone while skelator sat in lyn watching. Typical boss.


chefs prepared the food, it was then taste tested by all the staff.
it was disgusting.

the n̶a̶s̶t̶u̶r̶t̶i̶u̶m̶ sugar cane was promptly placed in boxes marked "The finest British n̶a̶s̶t̶u̶r̶t̶i̶u̶m̶ sugar cane. Export only."

jokes aside it was actually pretty good.

Modules 1 and 2 of the layout have been assembled and painted, all that is needed now is latch's to join the modules together and trackwork.

and alot of grass and decorations to hide my horrendous painting skills

the domestic authority stopped by to remind me the temporary building permits have almost expired, and i need to hurry up and get out of the lounge.

i then decided to start work on the river.
Having seen how good the pour on resin stuff looks and then seeing the price, i tried an experimental water effect instead.
the idea behind it is simple:

Paint the board the colour you want the river


when dry, plaster it in acrylic gloss gel, patting the gel with the brush to make water effects


and when that's mostly dry, you should have some realistic-ish river water and absolutely no cat footprints just off camera because you left it unsupervised for 12 seconds.


attempting to mimic a muddy river canal, i think the colour i chose is a way too dark but the gentle water ripple effect turned out okay.

That sample looks very effective.... if you are happy with it, that's fine!

Lotus lakeside has visited burseldon brickworks.

we attempted to run on burseldons track but there was a slight difference in gauges


Due to this difference the portable layout was bought along even in its unfinished state.

Sadly, due to a recent storm the hopper was not in a usable condition


due to the hopper being unusable trogdor was once again given the grunt-work and ordered to load coal into the tipper wagons with a shovel.


We attempted to borrow one of burseldons tipper wagons but it was a bit too big for our layout


Whilst visiting bursledon brickworks, pallet town moorings was also visited by the numpty ville railway and sir clothem cap.
Numpty ville yet to be named green mss sits in a siding

Numpty ville railway setup a tempory sm42 layout next to pallet town moorings, a camera was then placed on-top of a wagon to follow pallet town trains.
Numpty ville railway then "assisted" by "accidentally" moving the wrong direction, "accidentally" moving when needed stationary, and just generally being a nuisance.

Numpty ville driver was then fired, and sir clothem cap took over.
Sir clothem cap then "assisted" by repeatedly crashing the numpty ville railway lgb stainz into buffers for us, and at one point even managed to get a passenger wagon on top of the buffers.
2 passengers were injured, batgirl and harry potter.
they have been airlifted to a hospital and are expected to make a full recovery.

the coal barge mostly worked, lacking a proper unloading mechanism, a mandraulics system was employed.


Strangely, the extremely well hidden collection tray had gradually less and less coal in it and the barge developed a strange rattling noise.
completely unrelated im certain.


Sadly, after 3 years of reliable service number 3 "Perkins" has bit the grit.

the worm gear has had the teeth grinded down and no longer turns the wheels.
a replacement is on the way but for now Perkins rusts in peace.

Cannot beat a bit of 'Hand of God' action

He is a useful chap...

Just when you thought you were finally rid of me, i return!

i still haven't done anything with the garden layout, nor have i made any changes to the portable layout.


the only thing ive done is put some "temporary" mamod track down on a garden patio and i didn't feel that was notable progress.

The domestic authority permitted me to place mamod track on the patio on the condition it was only temporary.
The track hasn't been moved since last year, so i think its there to stay.

Also, the snowman has finally bought the snow to lotus lakeside light railway, and only 3 months too late for Christmas.
Needless to say, he has been fired from snow bringing duties.

An unnamed worker clears the snow with a shovel


An experimental smoking figure gives thanks to the unnamed worker for clearing the way


Literally 5 minutes later, Stanley, driving Perkins gets stuck in the snow.


Guardsman Barris wishes he hadn't forgot the keys to the guards-van, where a fireplace awaits.



Heres some footage i managed to take before the track got buried under 6 inchs of snow

You can see the near the end the snow starting to wreck havoc with the tipper wagons wheels.

That little red diesel is nice, what is it?

Brilliant pictures.

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Thu Mar 01, 2018 6:43 pm That little red diesel is nice, what is it?

The little red diesel, Lyn, is an Houstongate Locomotive works LB2 body on a Philip sharples chassis.
he sells them on fleabay every now and then

Heres a video of her



After yesterdays running, i went to bed feeling i had forgotten something.
Today, i woke up and found out what i forgot.

I had forgotten to bring the unnamed shovel worker and 3 tipper wagons indoors!

Tipper wagons are in front of him, though completely buried

His dedication to keeping the railway clear from snow is admirable, though it appears he fell asleep upright.

Being stuck under snow, the army was sent to rescue him, but they couldn't get very far in the deep snow



Eventually, a rescue dog carrying 20 cups of coffee reached the poor tired man, and he consumed all of them within 5 minutes.
Energy renewed, he shovelled all the snow off of the tracks within the blink of an eye allowing me to make 1 more video before it all melts