Garden Railway Forum

Welcome!

That's an amazing trackplan! Would love to see some photos of your line - can we persuade you to start a thread?

All the best,
Andrew.

Thanks for the feedback and thanks for inspiring us with such an impressive layout. I'm delighted to see that you have plenty of industries along your railway to generate goods traffic.

As Andrew says - love to see some photos.

Rik

Thank you for your fine complements -- always appreciated. I'm not exactly new at this (garden railroading) having started actual construction of my railway back in 1995. And as all of you also realize who have a layout of any size, it has been an extremely wonderful and fulfilling labor of love. To answer some questions:
Philipy -- the layout covers a length of about 110 feet by 50 feet and is raised above the ground level on an average of about 2 feet. Also like so many of you, I did an awful lot of research and listened to many comments from layout owners about a favorite and natural topic found in magazines and other forums --" What I would have done then due to what I know now" -- prior to starting a layout. So I am especially happy to have accepted obviously sage advice (particularly for my advancing age) by having raised the layout.
Andrew -- I would be glad to start a thread but I'm not sure how or where? Otherwise, I can certainly post pictures.
Rik -- Thank you and I always await news of your ongoing projects -- they are not only very informative but just plain fun to read. As for industries on my line, there are a number of others but I didn't want to clog up my map with a lot of words.
Thanks again to all.

thornmini wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 7:41 pm I would be glad to start a thread but I'm not sure how or where? Otherwise, I can certainly post pictures.

To start a new thread simply go to the Railways and Layouts Board
and click on New Topic at the top Left corner, give it a title and write whatever you want to say ( with pictures!), Any problems just ask again.

Thanks bunches Philipy for your quick reply. Now all I have to do is get some pictures together.

Andrew wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 12:07 pm Yes, welcome!

Looks like a good plan... I'm guessing you'll have a station or two somewhere? In the middle of the single-track, with a passing loop, maybe?

Thanks for sharing,
Andrew.

Yes, I was considering making a station in the smooth curve in the middle.
Another idea is to place a switch just before this curve, making the loop in the back much larger (maybe hiding the track in the back a bit) and have a station at the frontside of that loop

After making a reply to Philipy about posting pictures of my WEB and thinking of my task ahead, I remembered an even better way of introducing the Waldeker EisenBahn to this forum. About 5 years ago, mainly for my own enjoyment (and for my "captive audience" of family members and some friends -- and also to see IF I could do it), I made a fantasy video of my Waldeker EisenBahn as an armchair trip along the line aboard one of my trains. At that time my railway was not quite complete as it is today, so forgive me for taking some creative license by filming some sequences for sections of track that were not really connected but which made the railway appear as a "whole". Also, to be fair and as a "warning", the video is a half hour long. There --- I think I have made things clear.
But as Phillipy, suggested and because it really is something other than a trackplan, I thought I'd start that introduction as a new thread/topic. So please come see my slightly younger WEB at "Railways & Layouts".

Well I thought I was smart enough to add a Youtube link to my new post, but I'm not. Philipy or somebody --- HELP (but keep it SIMPLE please)

thornmini wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:07 pm Well I thought I was smart enough to add a Youtube link to my new post, but I'm not. Philipy or somebody --- HELP (but keep it SIMPLE please)

There you go..!
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=9208

( It is simple, honestly)

Here's the plan of the Sandstone and Termite in 2021. It has reduced in size over the last 3 years.

The plan IS to scale. I know it looks pretty convoluted, so I added a simplified diagram on the bottom. Basically it provides end-to-end running from Termite to Sandstone and also allows 2 trains to run on a continuous loop around Termite, to Melaleuca (trains cross here) and to Maple Jn and around Lilyvale loop, and return. Here is a line profile too, so you can see the grades. Trains from Sandstone face less grades as far as Melaleuca, but then it gets steeper, so operations need a big loco or a 2nd loco. Adds to the fun. What I would really like to see here (or in another topic to be started) is the operations on each line. Some of us like lots of picking up and dropping off wagons, some like going round and round. I'm a bit of both. So I can do point to point with shunting and crossings on the single line. Or I can run continuously.

My line grew for about 10 years with many mainline extensions. Then I 'consolidated' for 10 more adding more crossing loops and extra sidings at stations etc., as I found the need for more shunting. A lot of this consolidation was due to wanting to cater for visitors with differing interests.
Then it started to decline as I ripped out track that was becoming too hard to maintain.
I have put together this short video that shows the 'rise and fall' of the SaTR from 1994 to now.

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 3:19 pm Are you going to be able to simulate traversing the real route by x number of circuits before calling in at the through station which I think can be by-passed by the raised loop? Will the through station take on various identities dependent on where the train is on its journey?

That was the theory behind the design and why there was also to be a small second station on the other side of the bridge, comprising a single loop.

Yes, the track is effectively an out and back with the third leg of the wye allowing multiple trips around the loop between station stops.

The three road station could thus be the southern terminus Bruthen, the large intermediate station at Ensay, the branchline junction at Swifts Creek and the northern terminus of Omeo.

The VR narrow gauge also had 'stations' that consisted of just a galvanised iron shed, or even just a nameboard, at the nearest convenient road crossing. One of these has replaced in theory the originally planned two road station, so it could be any one of several stopping places between the larger townships.

The branchline and timber tram traffic can also be worked with the three road station then being the Mt. Delusion timber mill yard, then the timber tram/TVT interchange at Cassilis and finally the branchline/mainline junction at Swifts Creek.

It helps to have an imagination, but with the TVT mainline being 60+ miles, the branch about 10 miles and the timber tram another 10 miles or so, an operator could stay amused for an afternoon with just three trains.

I should point out though that I'm a builder, not an operator. As with my HO layout, I'm likely to run the sequence a couple of times just to prove it works, then go back to my usual habits...........

Regards,
Graeme

these plans are looking great especially when i am fully converting end to end, i will find a way to put my track plan up

gregh wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 8:09 am
What I would really like to see here (or in another topic to be started) is the operations on each line. Some of us like lots of picking up and dropping off wagons, some like going round and round.

I'd like that too! I think Rik must've written blog posts about his line, and posted videos here too, but an operations thread would be fun. I'm gradually evolving an idea for vaguely realistic operation, but am not far enough down the line (no pun intended!) to start a thread yet - anyone fancy going first?

I do love the look of your line - it looks like great fun to operate...

Andrew

Below is the track plan of the Ringbalin Light Railway Feb 2021. (Not to Scale)
The "mainline tracks are completed but will more than likely get a tweek in the near future.
The Sugar Mill precinct is the next thing to be tackled and it grew from my wanting to put a large industry as the centrepiece of my railway.
Issues of reaching into the centre arose so the next logical step was to build the industry and put a path and a series of lines around and through it.
This led to the next lot of thinking that went something like this;
Q "where does the sugar cane come from for the mill??",
A "the farms of course"
Q and "where are these farms located??"
A "they could be in the garden under the frangipani near the firepit"
Q "so that means a line around to there then??"
A"Yes".
A rummage through the shed unearthed a large amount of code 250 track that would work, "Eureka" was the cry thus a line is born.

I love your "thinking" process --- "Imagination is the Mother of layout expansion" --- and, of course, your solution is spot on.

Some very impressive plans and layouts here. Below is my layout plan (current), all at or near ground level (the end wall is raised approximately 3 inches above the lawn, with my version of "The Cob" adding a further three inches, to counter the slight slope down from the house to the garden end.

Some great track plans and some even more brilliant plans from overseas. Puts our little line to shame....

Love yours Phil (GWLR), simple and nice long runs, although my ever increasing pain in my back would be aching for days after a steam up....Still it would be worth it.

I have just finished the line over the waterfall and around the Anne's plant and through the Dogwood, well at the side of it. So when I can I will put the plan up on here.