Jongudmund Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Instead of digging up the blocks could you add height to the bits that are lower? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted July 15, 2016 Author Share Posted July 15, 2016 Instead of digging up the blocks could you add height to the bits that are lower? Yes that will be the plan. I will try and raise the blocks slightly. The corner block just needs raising at the rear whilst the second block needs more soil packing underneath. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted August 5, 2016 Author Share Posted August 5, 2016 A family holiday and the recent "traditional" summer weather has prevented any progress on the railway recently. However today has seen a small step forward with the delivery of some straight sections of track. Another 8 pieces, courtesy of an EBay win, gives me enough track to allow me to lay the straight along the western perimeter of the garden. I need to purchase some concrete base blocks in order to move on with this work. I am hoping to get out into the garden over the weekend and into next week to try and progress this work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 After a period of inactivity today has seen major progress with the Keepers Grange Light Railway. The purchase of further concrete blocks has allowed the track bed to be extended through "Meerkat Wood" towards the current limit of progress at the small fence that borders the lawn. This was the prelude to some major track laying. By the end of the day track has been permenantly laid for the very first time. The track now runs along the garden's southern boundary from "Amber House" (my daughter's playhouse), passing the dinosaur decorations (the dinosaur park) before curving around the back of a large bush ready to cut the south west corner of the garden. Here it passes the collection of meerkat ornaments (Meerkat wood). This means that the track now runs the whole length of the prepared flower bed. I have enough concrete blocks to take the line behind the playhouse to the site of the shed, or through the south west corner. Both areas need digging out before work can take place. I also have enough track to complete the west side of the line. These areas are on the "jobs to do list" for the rest of the school summer holiday. The track has been ballasted using some Cotswold stone from the local garden centre. I bought a bag as a trial and it seems to look the part. My daughter helped with the ballasting and was rewarded with the chance to operate the first train. My one, and only, loco "Otto" shunted up and down with a flat wagon. It was a bit stiff at first, but ran well at times. The track has quite a gradient from the Meerkat Wood railhead to the curve around the bush. Starting the train on the grade proved quite a challenge, but was possible. Here are some pictures of the test trains. PASSING THE DINOSAUR PARK! TWO PICTURES OF "OTTO" AT MEERKAT WOOD. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted August 8, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 8, 2016 Looks good & concrete base blocks seem a good idea. I've not yet built a garden Railway so well done. But is that Triceratops to scale? Dava Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 Ah ha Dava. Careful consideration of the "back story" of the line (see earlier in the thread) means that the dinosaur could be a model of triceratops in any scale possible. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Congratulations! Those concrete blocks look very good for the job. If you've got any long, straight bits to do, you might consider using a concrete "gravel board" as a bed. They are about 2m long, 50mm thick and 250mm wide, and the better ones have reinforcement cast into them. Rather heavy to lug to site, but probably cheaper than a string of individual blocks, and definitely easier to keep level. The other ballast option is something called "potting grit", which is granite chippings about 3mm across. It looks more realistic than larger stones, but I have currently abandoned use of it, and have no ballast at all, because small daughter and small cousin kept digging it all up and mixing it with the sand pit while I was at work! K Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted August 9, 2016 Author Share Posted August 9, 2016 Thanks for the advice. What you suggest may be useful for the west side of the line where a long straight section is planned to take the line to the site of the main station near to the house. This is the next area for development. First I need to dig out the flower bed and move the lawn edging to create the path for the track to pass through the south west corner. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted August 13, 2016 Author Share Posted August 13, 2016 (edited) An hour's work session yesterday saw a small amount of progress made. One section of lawn edging has been removed and enough grass cleared to allow another concrete block to be laid and two more sections of track to be added to the line. This has been ballasted too. The track has now started to progress through the South West corner on a falling gradient towards the Western side of the site. The empty block towards the front of the picture shows where the line will curve again. This area still needs digging out and this is on the job list for the week ahead. Today has seen delivery of ten more straight sections of track. This now gives me enough track to lay the whole length of the West straight. Hopefully I can report more progress soon. Edited August 13, 2016 by andyram 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jongudmund Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 Will the meerkats be getting a station? Will there one day be a coach with meerkat passengers? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted August 13, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2016 Will the meerkats be getting a station? Will there one day be a coach with meerkat passengers? Simples! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted August 13, 2016 Author Share Posted August 13, 2016 There will be a halt type station around "Meerkat Wood". This will be called "Sasha's Halt", named after a deceased family pet who is buried in this part of the garden. The "grave" is currently marked by the large ceramic "duck" which can be seen in some pictures. As for a carriage containing meerkat passengers - that is unlikely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted August 25, 2016 Author Share Posted August 25, 2016 Just noticed that RMWeb has grown a garden railway section, with one area devoted to the construction of garden railways. Perhaps some of the threads within the outdoor railways section, this included, could be moved into this new area of the site? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 (edited) I have suggested to the powers that be that some of the Garden Railway threads, such as this one, are moved to the new Garden Railway section of RMWeb. Not heard any response yet so I will wait and see if this thread is moved to the new section. In the meantime there is more progress to report. The first building for the Keepers Grange Light Railway was delivered a couple of weeks ago with the arrival of the loco shed. This has not been sited yet as further track work is needed including a set of points to allow me to form a siding for the shed. Today the main running line has been extended through the South West corner with more of the flower bed dug out. The track now almost reaches the point where the track will curve onto the West side of the garden. The accompanying picture is taken from the Western railhead, looking towards Meerkat Wood. As you can see it features a challenging gradient. Edited August 29, 2016 by andyram 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted August 30, 2016 Author Share Posted August 30, 2016 Great to see this section has been moved into the new Garden Railway area of the site. It is also good to see garden railways getting a larger section on RMWeb. Here at the Keepers Grange Light Railway plans are being formed for the next phase of the line's development. The garden shed is due to be erected later today; once complete it will allow the route onward behind Amber house to be finalised. At present I am not sure whether the line will curve inwards across the front of the new shed to reach the Eastern side of the garden, or whether it will run around the back of the shed before curving back into the Eastern side. This depends on how much space there us once the building work is completed. On the Western side the plan is already clear. The line will continue down the gradient for another length of straight track before curving to run along the Western boundary. Some ground work has been undertaken, but more concrete blocks are needed to allow the track to be laid. There is enough track to complete the whole of the Western straight and also to take the track behind Amber House. Hopefully I can report more progress soon. It would be great if the Western side could be completed before the nights draw in and the weather makes progress impossible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 With my return to work things there has been no progress on the Keeper's Grange Light Railway. A spare hour and some decent weather tempted me into the garden for some more test running. Otto was a bit stiff at first after so little action but, after a bit of help, it ran smoothly. Not that I got much driving time as my young daughter took charge hence the interesting character on the footplate. The gradient through the south west corner is quite steep as can be seen in this shot from the permanent way crew. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted September 15, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 15, 2016 Looks like your daughter had lots of fun. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted September 15, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 15, 2016 And that's what its all about at the end of the day! Andy G Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 Indeed. Fun is most important. My original plan was to start the garden railway with a Bachmann G scale Thomas train set to provide fun for my daughter. I have not found one at a reasonable price and raided EBay for the track and loco. I have since read that the track in the Bachmann sets is quite poor so I have abandoned this plan. I would still like to get a Thomas or Percy because she would love to have one to drive. For myself I would like something radio controlled and / or live steam but that will need some serious saving up. Perhaps when the circuit is completed I can more seriously think of such a loco. Now we are in September I very much doubt there will be much opportunity to further develop the railway until next spring. If the weather holds I would still like to extend the track so that the South West corner is complete before things stop for the winter. To do this I need to get some more concrete blocks and find time on a day where there is good weather. Fingers crossed that I can report more progress soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 Andy Kids also get disappointed/irritated with Bachmann stuff, because you can't put people inside the loco cabs or carriages. You made a good choice with Otto, and anything Playmobil (plenty around secondhand in good condition) is ideal. Cracking progress BTW. You've really hit on a good plan with those blocks. Kevin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted September 16, 2016 Author Share Posted September 16, 2016 Andy Kids also get disappointed/irritated with Bachmann stuff, because you can't put people inside the loco cabs or carriages. You made a good choice with Otto, and anything Playmobil (plenty around secondhand in good condition) is ideal. Cracking progress BTW. You've really hit on a good plan with those blocks. Kevin Thanks for the advice. I have seen some open type carriages which I think are by LGB. These would fit well with Otto and would also fit with the idea that the railway is a tourist line. It would also allow plenty of characters to be taken for a ride. The concrete blocks are not cheap but seem to do the trick. They are easy to lay and the track fits well. How it will stand up to a winter remains to be seen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 Have a look at the second page of this thread to see Playmobil in action - seriously good play value! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/113719-actually-playing-with-trains-future-of-model-railways/ K Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted September 16, 2016 Author Share Posted September 16, 2016 Thanks for the link. The set shown is not one I have seen before. EBay regularly has a Playmobil RC set available with a yellow diesel type loco with a centre cab. I have seen a video of this set in action and it certainly looks like the sort of thing I could go for the little one to play with. The railway will be laid with brass rail throughout. This allows flexibility of operation as I can use track power, radio control battery or live steam. I think the RC and live steam would be great all year round whilst track power would work better in the summer months when there is time to keep the rails clean. Otto certainly would be a summer loco. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 The Playmobil loco in that recent picture is 30+ years old, track powered, which was passed onto us. It was only made for a year or so in that livery, so is actually a mild rarity. We've also got the modern R/C battery one, which is also brilliant. As I think I mentioned before, I gave up on track power for a permanent line, after about a year, because I simply got fed-up with track cleaning (birds were a serious annoyance). When things get really troublesome is when steamers are run on a track-powered line, because some of them are oily little beasts, which are tedious to clean-up after. That said, the friend whose son previously owned the old Playmobil has a ground-level circuit, on which he runs electric and steam, but it is quite a small line, so not too big to clean, and he's less lazy than I am! K Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted September 17, 2016 Author Share Posted September 17, 2016 I certainly would prefer battery or live steam but they are quite costly. The Playmobil is on my shopping list, it would certainly be appropriate for works trains and winter running. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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