Garden Railway Forum

ge_rik wrote: ↑Sat Nov 19, 2022 7:16 am I like the way the dirt road curves up into the great beyond. Surprising how much soil is needed to fill a few gaps.

Rik

The road was a nuisance, but the Orchid House loop has a station area and it has a road/car park and crossing so it had to be continued to some where. Up the hill seemed best and if all goes well the plants will hide the dead end. I might make a fake tree fall blocking the road to hide the dead end. I have 1/3 of the 1.5m of soil still on the front foot path, it will be used to fill some more areas and also some spots when the front area in front of the track is done. Plod is making a start on this today. Left overs end up in other non railway garden beds.
This is the last of the major work on this railway. So after this summer as time passes it will fun making details, slate and rock walls, stations and more signals and get back to my coal fire loco.

Hydrostatic Dazza wrote: ↑Sat Nov 19, 2022 7:50 pm Captain Plod was heard chanting over and over while at the native plant nursery with MAM (POR, GM, board directors and chairperson)


"What do we want ?"
"All the plants ! "
"Where do we put them?"
"We don't know"

MAM will no doubt....

Two full days of toil for Captain Plot, ably assisted by MAM who is the Potter's Orchid Railway's head horticulturist. The back section is planted out but for a few plants and some minor rock work. Then the front sections are now to be done. A wooden trestle will be built to replace the white ply wood bridge in the months to come. MAM also opened her Kiln which is located at Potters Junction.









Waldo, one of this year's new water dragons. He was zipping about the place, gobbling up bugs as we toiled.



Where is Waldo ?

Post the storm that was inevitable after the still, hot and humid days. As long as there is not hail.





This extension is a lot more work than Plod had anticipated.



Sugar cane mulch is down.



Soon to clean the road off soon after it has fully hardened. It will also be a stepping path as there are blocks and 60kg of concrete under it.

It's all looking magnificent... I love the location with your backdrop of trees. I could picture myself enjoying the red on a warm evening with you and Waldo doing his job to keep the natives under control. I did spot Waldo in his/her (?) prominent position ready to pounce.
I do have relatives in Oz, but never felt the urge to go!..... perhaps I should?

He's on the big pointed rock....

FWLR wrote: ↑Mon Nov 21, 2022 7:58 am He's on the big pointed rock....

Yes, that is him or her.
There are two more young ones like this about the place this year. We have a few females and a large male that still survive.
We had a lot more Water Dragons but if they venture next door they are destroyed by the dog there.

Late afternoon it is a dash down the back before dark, another 20kg bag of concrete and some mortar, some more rocks. There will be more plants going in here and there.

Filling in more plant corners and strips. Some areas will be dug up and changed when the buildings and signals etc arrive, but that is going to be some time away, measured in years I suspect.

Plod is back from a weekend at the Rattler, late afternoons back on rock and soil toil. The last push of rock work is underway and if all does well the last of the major planting will be done by the end of next week then "Operation Clean Up" shall be launched.

4th May 2022. The extension and tidy up gets underway



3rd December, all is done, tidy up. 95% of the plantings are in and the we wait for them to grow up and ground covers get going. Details such as the trestle bridge, signals, little stone walls, buildings can be filled in later. I will be now back to coal fired loco shake down tests.

That's looking so neat and tidy, a lovely job and rapidly achieved.

Very impressive. And it fits into the garden surroundings perfectly

.. or should I say you have created the garden surroundings perfectly to make the railway fit into the landscape.

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Sat Dec 03, 2022 10:20 pm That's looking so neat and tidy, a lovely job and rapidly achieved.

Thanks Peter.
I drained the local water supply with the garden hose yesterday, to wash the dirt and grime and mud away. It was very nice to see it clean.

invicta280 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 03, 2022 10:26 pm Very impressive. And it fits into the garden surroundings perfectly

.. or should I say you have created the garden surroundings perfectly to make the railway fit into the landscape.

Thanks, that is nice, because that is what we wanted to achieve. This season's summer afternoon/evening open day runs are not far way.

Mr Specture was lurking about. It seems he is a vagabond with no new railway to go forth to. However the POR management are happy for him to stay as long as he wants, till another railway wants him to call in ?



Mr Specture was most impressed with the wagon mounted mosquito coil. "A marvellous idea" was muttered into his Dictaphone.





He was also inspecting the wine deliveries

Hydrostatic Dazza wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 1:05 am Mr Specture was lurking about. It seems he is a vagabond with no new railway to go forth to. However the POR management are happy for him to stay as long as he wants, till another railway wants him to call in ?

Dazza,
He does have another booking back home, but it isn't urgent. You seemed to be enjoying his company so I was waiting until you showed signs of wanting him to move on!( ie, your bar bill was getting too high )

That looks so good. What a masterful improvement.

Rik

The whole thing's looking great, very impressive.

Loads of operational potential too, for when you really want to get stuck into playing trains...

Cheers,

Andrew

philipy wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 6:16 am

Hydrostatic Dazza wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 1:05 am Mr Specture was lurking about. It seems he is a vagabond with no new railway to go forth to. However the POR management are happy for him to stay as long as he wants, till another railway wants him to call in ?

Dazza,
He does have another booking back home, but it isn't urgent. You seemed to be enjoying his company so I was waiting until you showed signs of wanting him to move on!( ie, your bar bill was getting too high )

The POR Management team have had a meeting with Mr Specture to chat about his intended travel plans and possible dates for his departure. Mr Specture explained that it would be most useful to see the new year in here while down under, he believes he can offer much assistance with the delayed steam test of the new build coal fired "Llewellyn" number 1 and also the official opening of the POR extension to Cabbage Tree Creek station. The official opening event will be held on new year's eve. Then to report back to HQ with his observations of operations on the new extension. ( Those two young ladies who Mr Specture spends many evenings with who can .... while.... and.... are of course not the reason Mr Specture has delayed his return to his home land) The POR management have made it clear to Mr Specture that he can stay till early January 2023 and the POR will cover his accommodation costs however his entertainment expenses are what we would say here "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" and he could do well to ease up on these. Anyhow Mr Specture's Mum will be pleased to hear that he will returning soon.