The Keepers Grange Light Railway. By an outdoor novice.

[Bartb]

I did consider OO Gauge when I was thinking of a garden layout, but then Dapol bought out the Terrier and I decided to go for O Gauge. Good luck with your Garden Layout Andyram.

[andyram]

I decided to avoid 00 for the time being as I was worried by the maintenance of a ground level 00 line. I may still build something outdoor in 00 some time in the future.

As regards the G scale project, I have shopped around online - mainly EBay, and purchased 12 pieces of straight track and 12 curves. I have also purchased a flat wagon and now have a loco too. I will probably start a dedicated blog or just update this one. I now have a plan and made some progress. I will post more details soon.

[Nearholmer]

Andy

 

If you have scratch-building inclinations, fire me a PM with your address, and I will pop an envelope with some 45mm gauge, c20mm diameter, wheel-sets in the post; I have quite a few left over from when I re-wheeled a lot of LGB wagons with metal wheels, and they have spent a decade sitting in a drawer doing nothing useful.

 

It is possible to make simple axle-boxes, using odds and sods like small cable clips, and the rest of the wagon can be made from cheap bits of wood, and coffee stirrers or lolly sticks. Couplings can be made from bits of wood, pop-rivets for pins and bath-plug chain.

 

Sounds like a load of bodging, but with a bit if care very nice wagons can result.

 

Kevin

Edited June 10, 2016 by Nearholmer

[andyram]

Thanks for the offer. I must admit that scratch building is far beyond my modelling capabilities at the moment. My aim is to get part of the line laid during the next few weeks. I have a plan and a back story to the line. I am hoping to post more details soon.

[Nearholmer]

Honest, Andy, scratch building isn't beyond anyone's abilities - it's a matter of practice.

 

K

[andyram]

I thought that I would continue the thread rather than start a new one as I outline the developments to my fledgling garden railway. So I now introduce

 

The Keepers Grange Light Railway

 

The railway is a tourist line, being built around the grounds of Keepers Grange, one of the large manor houses on the edge of Skalebyshire. The house and grounds are one of the tourist attractions in the area, however it has failed to attract many visitors in recent years. Most of those who holiday in the area have preferred to visit the more famous Skaleby Hall which is a National Trust property and is known for its wonderful gardens.

The previous owner of Keepers Grange has recently passed away with the estate bequeathed to his son. The new owner has, rather controversially, decided to turn some of the grounds of the estate into a small theme park type of attraction and a narrow gauge railway is central to his plans.

The intitial plan for the line is for it to run from a main station at "Saffrons Rest" before running along the West side of the site, running into Meerkat Wood and turning to skirt the Southern boundary. Here it will call at Sasha's Halt, continuing through the wood and past the dinosaur park before terminating at Amber House. Eventually the line will be extended into a full circuit but that is a longer term project.

So that is the fictional history.

 

In reality the stations are named after deceased pets who are buried in our garden. The station sites being near to the relevant pet's grave. Amber House is actually my daughter's play house! The line is to be laid at ground level and will run on concrete blocks buried into the garden. The railway is g scale and will mainly use second hand stock. The first two concrete blocks have been laid. They are shown below with track placed temporarily on top. The first item of rolling stock, a flat wagon, is posed with a track load.

[Jongudmund]

I like the naming rationale for the stations. Suitable memorials, I think!

[Nearholmer]

From little acorns.

 

Good luck with it.

 

Kevin

[andyram]

A small update. Development of the line has stalled due to a combination of work commitments and wet weather. Four concrete foundation sections are stacked and ready for laying along the Southern boundary. This will extend the track bed through the "wood". The first locomotive has arrived and brief testing has taken place today.

A warm welcome to locomotive number 1 "Otto".

[andyram]

Some better weather today has encouraged me into the garden this evening. The result has seen two more concrete foundation blocks laid to extend the track bed along the southern border. It has now reached the point where it will curve inside to reach the western side of the garden.

The track has been placed insitu to check clearances. The bush has been trimmed back today. The line curves inwards at the fence post.

[Nearholmer]

Good choice of loco; they are very robust.

 

Are you putting graphite grease in the fish-plates? You will find that it really helps maintain continuity.

 

Kevin

[PaulRhB]

I like the Triceratops, very John Allen,

Just dig out under the base a bit and cover it with soil so only the legs show

Otto is a good base for conversions later too as the chassis block doesn't intrude much into the body. GRS have a range of basic kits to make British locos using that chassis

[andyram]

Good choice of loco; they are very robust.

Are you putting graphite grease in the fish-plates? You will find that it really helps maintain continuity.

Kevin

Thanks for the information. I am interested by the graphite grease. How does it work? If it saves me soldering wires to each join I will be happy.

[Nearholmer]

Here it is http://www.pshobbiesandmodelshop.co.uk/massoth-8319201-graphite-paste-p-5355.html

 

A tiny dab inside each rail joiner works wonders for continuity. It isn't a complete substitute for soldering wires on, or using one of the various screwed-in mechanical fastening, but for a relatively small railway, and to last a few years (until you re-design your line, as everyone does their first one!) it is quick, cheap and effective.

 

Also, make sure your rail joiners are good and tight, so that they scratch the rail a bit as you join sections - new ones are tight,mbut secondhand ones often aren't.

 

K

[andyram]

How much expansion space do you leave?

[Nearholmer]

Good question!

 

I've never actually bothered much about expansion, and never had trouble caused by it, probably because the few places where I've fixed track down firmly have been in shady parts of gardens. More by luck that judgement, the track in places that get a lot of direct sun has been free-floating in ballast.

 

My current track isn't fixed down at all, it just sits there, because it survives high-velocity football-impacts better if it can move. When young son ceases to wham footballs about, I intend to add a trackbed (possibly recycled-plastic boarding) and ballast, at which point I will probably fix the track.

 

K

[andyram]

I must admit that I am not planning to fix the track with anything other than a stone ballast. I small gap to allow for expansion then as the section shown is a shady part of the garden. The West side does get full sun at present, although the track bed could be sheltered once things are planted out. The flower bed has not even been dug on this side yet.

Currently there are two more concrete blocks in stock. These may form a job for the weekend if time allows. Once they are in place I will need to purchase some more. The more permenant laying of track will not happen until the school summer holidays when I have time off.

Edited July 4, 2016 by andyram

[uax6]

Why don't you cast your own blocks? Or better still the whole trackbed? It will be far cheaper than the blocks, and you can make it level in one hit. 4:1 mix of sand/stone to cement, 2.5 to 3 " thick, and jobs a good un. depending on the soil conditions you may not even need shuttering, just dig a trench and fill with the concrete.

 

Andy G

[andyram]

The soil is very clay based. I am avoiding casting a concrete track bed as the idea is for the layout to be easily removable if necessary. Casting my own blocks would certainly be cheaper however I have not really got the time to do this at present. As a result I know I have gone down a more expensive route.

[Nearholmer]

If the soil is largely clay, it will heave, shrinking and expanding, in which case a long, but small cross-section, strip of concrete in the surface of the ground will have its back broken, probably in several places, after one winter, unless pretty well reinforced.

 

Personally, I would advocate not trying to fight ground movement, but sticking with a series of individual blocks, which can move a bit. You probably won't maintain pin-perfect line and level for many years, but it should stay good enough for practical purposes.

 

K

[andyram]

I certainly feel that the blocks will allow for movement. Using g scale it means the track does not need to be super level.

[Jongudmund]

I also like the Triceratops.

[andyram]

The Triceratops came from our local branch of "The Range" a couple of years ago. They used to do a good range of dinosaur garden ornaments. They don't seem to be in store any more, but I am hoping to find some others in due course. There are various other strange characters littering the route of the railway.

[andyram]

Despite a few threatening clouds and a couple of minor rain showers, there has been a little bit more progress on the line today. The final two concrete blocks have been put in place. These will carry the curve that will take the line away from the back fence, cutting the Southwest corner of the garden to reach the western boundary and the approach to the site of Saffron's Rest Station.

Due to the contours of the garden, the track bed is slightly more raised - you will see that it is less "buried" in the ground than the earlier sections. This section runs through the part of the garden that was landscaped two years ago before the route of the line had been planned. This is another reason for the raised tracked as it has to pick its way between some already established plants. Clearly the bush will require further cutting back before trains can run.

You may notice the gaps between the block that ends the southern straight and the one that starts the curve. This will be filled in before the track is placed down permenantly.

Today's work has completed the laying of all the blocks I have in stock. I will need to purchase more before any further progress can be made. The school summer holiday begins in two weeks time. I hope to purchase more blocks before then. I will also need to dig out the rest of the route through the southwest corner. This will involve digging out a plant that has spread too much, relocate a length of lawn edging and then dig out part of the route. Lots to do!

 

[andyram]

Thursday 14th July is a historic day for the Keeper's Grange Light Railway because it is the day that has seen the first loco movements. The day has also seen two gauges in action. I blame my wife Sarah for that! A few days ago, whilst discussing the build, she stated that she thought I would be running smaller trains in the garden. She meant 00 gauge of course.

As regular readers of this thread will know, I debated between 00 and G scales for much of last summer. It was only this year that I "decided" on the larger gauge. But Sarah's comments made me think again. I do have a good collection of 00 gauge and the thought of running them on scale length trains over a decent distance was very appealing. I did think that the concrete base would easily take 00 gauge. Today I found some old 00 gauge track and laid it onto the concrete base. I rigged up a controller and ran a Hornby M7 up and down. It did not run smoothly and stalled in several places. I am not sure whether this was due to the track being old or an indication that things would not work. The smaller track showed up all the slight variations in height of the blocks.

 

After the 00 gauge experiment I reverted back to the g scale and laid down some of the larger track. My single g scale loco, Otto, ran up and down with no problems. True it was a little stiff at first, but this was its first run since purchase and it settled down after a while. Its run did show up a slight problem with the curve area laid last week. The height of the blocks varies too much and will need relaying. Apart from that a successful first run.

 

After this experiment it certainly has made me feel that g scale remains the way forward, but I do still want a 00 gauge layout outdoors too. That could be a longer term project.

 

There is a video of Otto's first run on my Facebook page (see below).

Edited July 14, 2016 by andyram