Garden Railway Forum

Hello all,
Over the last 18 or so months I have been building a railway (or rather a tramway) in my backyard. The line is approximately 60 meters long (Roughly 2 miles in 16mm scale). The line is laid to 45mm gauge. The line started with the gift of 3 meter long trestle bridge from a friend. The bridge was about 15 years old and had been part of 2 railways before mine. Unfortunately it got squashed by a gum tree . Fortunately the bridge was partially salvageable and the remnants have been used to build another 3 along the line. The line features 5 bridges, all hand built from scratch; four yards; a quarry; a river port (eventually) and a continuous scale gradient of 1 in 30.

The tramway's fictional history is that it was constructed slowly during WW1 by several local contractors. The line was built to serve a quarry on top of Black Hill. It transports granite from the quarry to a river port in Auravale where the granite is loaded onto barges for further transport. The line also serves the local community of the quarry, bringing general goods and passengers into the area.

The line is still under construction. Currently the remaining tasks include finishing track in the yards and balloon loops; building a shed and landscaping. Hopefully the line will be done before the year is out.

I currently have two locomotives, a handful Accucraft wagons, as well as a bit of European rolling stock.
There's my Roundhouse 'Billy', named George after its former owner. This loco was bequeathed to me by a friend. And there's my yet to be named Fine Line Models 'Alfie'. It's the only one in Australia (and the southern hemisphere!). Unfortunately the weather outside is rotten at the moment so I can't go out and get any photos of the line for you so this is the best I've got. I hope you enjoyed that, I shall post more photos of the line as soon as I can.
Thanks,
Ronan.

*EDIT* fixed the issue with the images sorry about that.

Welcome aboard Ronan, there's some names on your railway that have a familiar ring to them. Would like to see some pictures of the line. Unfortunately I'm only getting the word "image" in your post with no pic. visible. Maybe it's my computer, or perhaps Tom can help!
Grant.

Sorry cancel that about the pics., they just showed up. Wow, that engine shed and water tank look superb. Think I know where your inspiration is coming from.
Looking forward to more.
Grant.

LNR wrote: ↑Tue Sep 05, 2017 8:47 am Welcome aboard Ronan, there's some names on your railway that have a familiar ring to them. Would like to see some pictures of the line. Unfortunately I'm only getting the word "image" in your post with no pic. visible. Maybe it's my computer, or perhaps Tom can help!
Grant.

Hi Grant,
Yes the names would all sound familiar to you.

Sorry about the pictures I had trouble uploading them to the forum. Also the shed and the water tank aren't mine unfortunately they belong to my friend around the corner on his railway.

Ronan.

I like the look of your line Ronan, looks worn and used like mine!

Like Grant I would like to see more when you can get outside.

Hi Ronan,

You've got a very promising line there. Line everyone else, I look forward to seeing more.

Andrew

Welcome Ronan, love the images.... you have enough line there to set a train going and have lunch and a beer before it gets back!
I might have concerns about ground maintenance here in wet West Wales where everything grows so quickly, but perhaps it is not such an issue in your climate?

Welcome to the forum.
That looks a good run that you have there, more pictures when the weather improves please.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Hi all,
Thanks for the responses. Sorry for anyone who got confused about the first photo I posted with my locos in it, unfortunately that isn't my railway. That railway belongs to a friend of mine, whom I shall be visiting tomorrow to test out his new Silver Lady (watch this space). I will better caption my photos from now on!

I was able to get outside today and get some photos of my railway today. So here they are: Above: The rather large yard at Black Hill. On the right are two roads for arrivals and departures. On the left is a siding for the goods shed and in the middle is a through road for trains going straight to the balloon loop. Above: To the left the mainline down the hill heads off through a cutting and to the right the line to the quarry. Above: The line on the other side of the cutting. The cutting ends just before the bridge at the bottom of the photo the line then heads along the rock wall and into another cutting (currently covered in flower petals). Originally we were going to have a switch back, but the gradients were to steep. So to solve the issue we built a loop to gain height. The steepest gradient on the line is to the extreme right of the photo before the bottom of the loop. Above: The other end of the line to the left just out of shot is where the line other terminus will be and the river port. To the right the line can be seen beginning its climb and to the extreme right the lines only intermediate station can be seen along with the bottom of the gradient up to the loop.

I hope that gives you a good idea of what the railway looks like at the moment. I'm hopping to finish off some of the rock walls around the loop this weekend, if the weather stays sunny. Work is often restricted here because whenever it rains the whole backyard turns into a slippery slide (one of the unfortunate things of living on a hill).

I'm currently trying to work out how to make point levers. As I don't want to have to buy them (which means shipping them from the UK). Does anyone have a good method to make point levers?

I've ordered some coach kits from Argyle yesterday. I'm trying to my 'Alfie' radio controlled and detailed, and get a train to go with it for an annual steam up event here in November. I'm trying to do more work on the railway from inside, so I can at least keep the project moving whilst I wait for some better weather.

I hope you all enjoyed the photos,
Thanks,

Ronan.

Space certainly is not an issue for you! Is that your garden?

I am very fond of my Silver Lady so I am sure your friend will be very happy with theirs.

If you can get a video of it running round your line, brilliant.

Wow, very impressive.
I have seen little brass bolts used as point levers. Cut short with a diagonal cut made in the tube.
I will see if I can find a picture.

for an annual steam up event here in November.

I take it you will be attending the GSSU then. Good luck, hope you get your train together in time, if not I'll have rolling stock. Look forward to seeing you there.
Grant.
PS like the nice long loops on your railway.

cooltrain wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2017 7:53 am I'm currently trying to work out how to make point levers. As I don't want to have to buy them (which means shipping them from the UK). Does anyone have a good method to make point levers?

Since you are going to the GSSU, have a look at the ones used on the GSSU portable track. They were made by Gordon Watson, based on the TenMille design.

The basic principle of the TenMille type goes back a long way in model railways. As the handle is thrown over it moves back and forth in the slot, so the push rod has to be able to rotate relative to the base of the handle. Throw adjustment is usually by forming a z bend, or an omega loop, in the point rod. The TenMille one is part plastic and this photo comes from their website.


What sort of workshop tools and skills do you have? A mill would be useful, but not essential, to form the slot, but the rest of it could be made with hand tools and soldered up from various bits of K&S brass tube and rod. Painted white they would vaguely resemble a VR quadrant lever.

Argyle sell a simple all brass point throw from Sunset Valley in the US, but it doesn't look much like any real point lever I've seen. A friend uses them and I find they work OK.

As Jim indicated, a small barrel bolt from the nearest Bunnings, or Mitre 10, could be shortened and modified to work in much the same way as the TenMille one.

Regards,
Graeme

Looks like an interesting layout - plenty of different levels. Be interested to see more.

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2017 4:06 pm Looks like an interesting layout - plenty of different levels. Be interested to see more.

Rik

Looks good and big - agree with Rik - good to see more - any chance you can pop a plan of the line on here - I always find it useful to be able to pics into context about where we are on the line

Hi folks,
thanks for the many great responses. I love having a community of people to share my railway with. Unfortunately there aren't many people of generation Z, like myself, who enjoy a cup of tea and running tiny trains around in circles. It's great to get some feedback and ideas from other people.

I have decided to suck it up and spend some money on Tenmile point levers rather than make my own. But I will have a go at making some in the future. Thanks for the suggestions Graeme and Jim. I will remember them for when I do get round to making point levers.

All went well today at my friends house. We had his new 'Silver Lady' and my 'Billy' (George) running around. I got some video which I will edit and upload this weekend, I also found some video of my 'Alfie' running which I will also get uploaded.

Here are the photos from my friends railway today: Above: 'George' is seen raising steam outside the shed. Below: 'Silver Lady' is seen taking coal at the coal stage. Above and below: The bridges on this railway have all been scratch built. As you can see there are a lot of them! The railway took about 18 months to build. Above: Ready to go! George's safety valves have just lifted and his crew are ready to take the loco out. Below: 'Silver Lady' and 'George' wait to depart with their trains. Below: Back at base. The locos cool down outside the shed after a few laps around the railway. Hope you all enjoyed.
Thanks,

Ronan.

Nice pictures.
The rain makes it look like darkest Wales.

The SL looks good in that colour (FR Victorian Maroon I believe?). Mine is just 'Maroon' but looks red in bright sunshine.

Never fear, I'm still here!

Sorry for the lack of any update on my tramway over the past few months. Not a lot of work has occurred on the line due to me being occupied with volunteer commitments on real railways (somehow I manage to go to school and find time to volunteer at 4 railways!).

Some work has been going on in the background with planning of my rolling stock fleet. As well as the overhaul of my RH Billy.

Expect some more detailed reports soon with photos!

Ronan.