Garden and railway complete re-hash

On the right hand side of the garden the old fence is demolished and is being replaced, it will be topped off with flowerboxing. The railway on this side of the garden will probably be laid on torched on mineral felted external grade plywood tied to the fence.... however that plan may change yet ???   

Due to work ,all I got done today was a wee bitty progress on the fence.... 

Davy,

 

Amazing amount of work there, but it sure is going to look nice. Thanks for the update.

It's shaping up.

Hi Joe,aye its a big job for sure but I have the bit between my teeth. We've had the summer from hell here in Scotland this year,much of it cold ,windy and rainy, but hey ho ,sun'll shine again. I'll just get done what I can when I can before the winter frosts close things down till spring comes round again. Ye can never tell here with the weather though ,November could be better than July !!  . I have two grandsons ,one 4 and one 2,so I want to get the trains up and running ASAP so we can enjoy some shared quality time wi them. I've got three grandaughters too but they're more girly girls than tom-boys so I don't see them gettin all that excited about trains...but ye never know ! stranger things have happened !  thanks for the thumbs up Spence...  cheers  Davy 

Hey Davy,

 

Great to hear your back at the yard layout! And when you do scenery,it's the real thing no foam board and rock castings.

 

 

 

 

 

Hi George,aye the scenery is all too real.... and my back and old bones know it ..

 

Wee bit more wall building progress this morning.....now I need to go to work !!

Hi Guys these next 2 pictures show the direction I'm goin in. Some of the old track formation coming off the loco stabling area still bears to the right ,this will be re-hashed as the doubletrack mainline's new route will be tighter to the loco yard and a much longer straight run too.The new pond will extend a good bit more towards the house too.  

And a bit further with the wall construction....

That is really looking great......always wanted to create a garden layout like yours......like the idea of train running by the dining room and kitchen. Should look outstanding at night!

 

-Pete

Hi Pete, am gettin there,but I have a huge job in front of me, still the good weather the last couple of days has let me push on a bit with the wall building. In the next two photos you can see todays progress.Up in the right hand corner where you can see the track pieces is the location of my turntable (still in situ and to be reconnected once the new mainline is laid. The main line will go straight to where the build has extended to date ,next job is to demolish the old formation and swing as gentle a curve as possible into a straight section along the front of the house window. Once I get the walling and track base finished to there I can start to lay track again and re-hash the sidings into the loco stabling area. The former patio in the forefront of the picture will be part of the floor of the new pond. Anyway,won't try to confuse you,I'll just keep posting progress pics as pics speak a thousand words eh ??   I think the forecast is for rain tomorrow ...ah well such is Scottish weather !!    Cheers  Davy 

Hi Guys.. todays project .......demolishing the old track bed formation and breaking thru and shaping the line of the curve into the straight section along the front of the house.  

Davy

Fantastic work, makes me tired reading about what you're doing. Having to carry everything through the house.

What could you do with one of our US sized gardens?

Hope the weather holds for you to get to the track.

Scotie

Hi Scotie, believe me I;m tired tonight that old trackbed formation is as hard as hell, could be doin with hiring a jack-hammer .however got on not bad with the big hammer and steel pinch. I'm almost thru though ,had to finish at 3pm due to torrential rain ,but got few hours at it while the sun shone. As soon as I get pushed thru I'll get the new wall foundation in and  the stonework rattled up. Old bones achin tonight though ... Never mind tomorrow's another day. this attached pic was taken just as the weather started to break this afternoon. Not the greatest photo but you can see what I'm workin towards.... Davy 

One of my daughters took this pic of me today batterin away at the old stonework ,all the old stonework in the foreground has all to be demolished and moved this was the route of the old intended layout .However the priority for now is breaking thru it where I'm working in the picture to get the new formation built. 

Excellent and sure beats my G scale layout

Work is coming along nicely. What kind of track is that? How has it held up?

Davy,
Once again I'm getting inspired and I don't have any rock to smash !
Davy will this new layout be 2 rail O scale or like your old G scale layout?

Matt and George, the track is PECO bullhead rail ,O gauge 2 rail. Nickel Silver rails and UV resistant plastic sleepers or "ties" as you guys in America call them.The track thats been down for a couple of years is as good as the day it was laid. The bulk of my G scale layout was also Peco G scale nickel silver track ,great stuff and far better than any other make I experimented with by far .   

 

Thanks. I'm hedging my bets on home layouts and looking for various alternative track brands should I have to build outdoors.

Only copped a couple of hours at the job today but managed to finallt break thru the cement and stonework of the old route to let me get a start made to the new curve...  

Hi Guys well had to down-tools for a week or so due to making a living and bad weather,however back into things today. Got the sandstone wall pushed on a bit and some track timbers laid..... 

I've enjoyed your progress reports and excellent photos.

 

Never thought of sledge hammers, wheel barrows, etc. as model railroad tools.

 

Thanks, again, for sharing.

I love seeing those step-by-step progress reports and photos, Davy!

 

You ought to consider doing a series of articles for the magazine over time. I would certainly be interested in publishing them as a continuing feature in small, manageable doses.

What a labor intensified job, but it is looking great.

Thanks for the interest guys, as for doin articles for the magazine Allan, feel free to use anything you want from what I'm posting if that suits you. I;m sure you'd make a better job of putting things into words/editing etc., than me. I have a general plan for the garden and layout in my head but nothing's definite other than the rail route must go to as near the extremities of the garden as possible. Believe me I'm as curious as anybody else to see how it pans out as I have only a loose general plan in my head. Great fun !! 

 

 

Great work Davy,

 

What are you using for track boards and how do they hold up with your weather. Do you have much problem  with the cold weather and the boards warping?

Keep the posts coming.

Mike

Hi Mike, the wood I'm using is pressure treated "tile batten"as we say in Scotland. Kinda wood strips used here for fixing tiles on roofs. They're about 1.25"X0.5"profile..... As for warping ......doesn't happen. The timbers are laid in wet cement .To stop springing or warping....before laying the strips I hammer nails half way in on the underside of them  leaving the nail heads exposed. A few nails protruding at various angles ensures that when the cement sets round them it takes a grip of the nails...result.. the wood is going nowhere. As for cold and frost ground-heave,again,doesn't happen because with the rubble underbase everything is well drained....nowhere for water to collect so no frost heave. Only 6.45 AM as I write this so too early to go hammering in the garden just yet....don't think my neighbours would appreciate it...lol. but I'll be laying timbers again today so I'll post method-photos  later on for you.

  

Hi Mike, heres a couple of pics of a typical length of track-bed timber. Like I said these nails hammered in at angles ensure a good grip in the cement bed. 

OK Guys, heres a section I've just done. The top stones in in the walling were all incorporated in the same batch of cement as the track base.So makes for a very strong over-all finish. OK first the timber was cut to the desired length then nails hammered in. Then the wooden strips are bedded in the cement nailed face down and then levelled.Then more cement spread and tamped in to shape,finally a few handfulls of fine crushed grey rock/rockdust is spread on top and tamped into the cement to shape. This gives a nice ballasted look to the track and also being tamped into the wet cement it stays put. (Incidentally the sand I'm using for the cement is is rough/coarse grade sand ,not fine building sand used for brickwork.When I finally lay the track more of this fine crushed rock will be spread and brushed in between the sleepers (ties in US-speak). See stage by stage pics attached.  

Same idea on the curves but this time the wooden strips are laid across the way. No tight curves necessary like using set-track. Flexi all the way. 

End of todays shift ....

Some aerial views , turntable and loco servicing area. The trackwork in this area will be re-laid to suit the new mainline route.Last picture shows the curve into what will be a station area.  

Davy,

 

Thanks for the explanation and pictures of how the tack is laid. I will keep this in mind, my wife wants me to do a garden layout.

Hi Mike, hope its helpfull .....  look forward to seeing your garden project too...

That's a fabulous project in a beautiful setting. But I wonder about the challenges of keeping it all operating reliably when it sits out there in the weather long term. 

Davy, as usual outstanding and very interesting to watch unfold. Will you use straight dc power or DCC.?

Hi Guys,  Ace....thanks for the thumbs up.... don't enviseage any major problems,had a G scale layout for years so the only difference is that its an O gauge layout this time as opposed to 45mm. George ...as for power ...I have too many locos that would need chipped for DCC so I think it'll be straight DC. I'll probably use a radio control system to track though along the lines of the old Aristocraft G scale system. I think the German company Massoth make a similar unit.