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Godfrey Pass 2 - Swiss Meter Gauge in the Garden - Bored, Planning, Questions!


Satan's Goldfish
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Better late than never, layout on tour!

 

The track and some items of stock were taken to my parents house last month, the plan was to set it up on their deck for my nephews to enjoy over the summer (and to clear some of it out of the way while Mrs SG and I move house)

 

Finally got around to setting it up this morning. Simple folded 8 with points that could create 2 separate circuits if I ever find my insulating fish plates. 'Short' trains, no pantographs to damage, all runs very smoothly :) hooked up to a 1A controller, but my 5A supply is there too if I want to run anything bigger!

 

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And a token video to prove they're not just static pictures ;)

 

 

 

 

Good to see it up and running.

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Time to upgrade controller and maybe get away with some more track and coaches at the same time.

My usual controllers are big 5A job, just got the 1A out as it's simpler for the nephews to use and the orange diesel which is left out for them runs fine on it.

 

And don't worry, there is a lot more track and stock than what is set up there ;)

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  • 1 month later...

While the track is 'on tour', the wife and I have officially moved house now. Still got a lot to unpack but thought is already going into how to fit the track into the garden. As much as I'd like to achieve the plans recently drawn up, costings and the want to get things built has seen me create a rationalised version too (which I'm only 1x 'large' turnout away from creating (LGB R3 or Piko Curved, I don't mind which!))

 

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This plan is easy to adapt to the more complex as time moves on and spare cash for track appears. It can still run 3 trains in an automatic sequence for when I just want to relax with a beer and watch trains go by, or there's a shunt in the station option when I want to do some operating.

 

Getting very close to actually having a permanent garden railway :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Knowing where various features in our new garden are going to end up (my shed, big pond, decking, etc), I've started mental layout planning. The overall plan I was aiming for (above) I thought would be the easiest to implement in any location. However, mental planning in the garden has shown this is not the case. The station plan is fairly static, although I've not been able to work out where best to locate it, but the easiest 'round the garden' track to lay is similar to the temporary set up at my parents of 2 circuits with a 'folded 8' option for longer running..... Which is a surprise, I thought that would have been the hardest to accommodate in the average garden without looking too silly.

 

A rough guide to the space I have to play with - garden is about 40' x 60' and about 2' difference in elevation overall. Highest points are at the front of the property and at the wall at the bottom of the garden, so the back of the house is usefully about 18" above lawn level. Wife unit wants decking at the back so (and she doesn't know this yet) that would leave enough space underneath to run the line from one side of the garden to the other without getting in her way! :)

 

Following our recent long weekend in Filisur, I paid a lot of attention to how the RhB track is laid out and came to the conclusion I need a lot more curves! The only truly straight bit of track near Filisur seemed to be in the station. I think it's going to be a tricky balancing act between 'realistic' track formation and keeping domestic authorities happy :/

 

 

 

Edit: a picture paints a thousand words...... a blocky diagram only a couple of hundred!

 

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Not counting about another 100ft of running line to get 2 circuits around the garden, I have enough points to build this, it's simple, and it leaves scope to make the station more complicated in the future.

Edited by Satan's Goldfish
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If you want lots of meandering curves, just use lots of lgb r5 or even r3 curves ( r4 doesn’t exist). I’ve done that on my gscale railway answer it comes out quite well

 

Just google or YouTube Laverstock garden Bahn and you should find some pictures

 

Dan

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Lines meander for a reason, they're following the terrain to avoid the cost of having to create cuttings or embankments. If I remember the route from Filisur to Davos correctly, it tends to be much straighter because it is running along the bottom of the valley than the route from Filisur toward Bergun where it is following the valley sides to gain height.

 

So before you decide on the final design it might be worth thinking about what sort of "landscape" you're going to have the track running through.

Edited by GoingUnderground
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If you want lots of meandering curves, just use lots of lgb r5 or even r3 curves ( r4 doesn’t exist). I’ve done that on my gscale railway answer it comes out quite well

 

Just google or YouTube Laverstock garden Bahn and you should find some pictures

 

Dan

 

As funds allow, I was going to start stocking up on R3. There's a lot of hedges and shrubs at the side of the garden and the wife wants to get some sleepers to edge the lawn near them so i'll probably end up meandering around various plants.

 

Can't get YouTube on this machine, but the google pictures look good :)

 

 

Lines meander for a reason, they're following the terrain to avoid the cost of having to create cuttings or embankments. If I remember the route from Filisur to Davos correctly, it tends to be much straighter because it is running along the bottom of the valley than the route from Filisur toward Bergun where it is following the valley sides to gain height.

 

So before you decide on the final design it might be worth thinking about what sort of "landscape" you're going to have the track running through.

 

That's a valid point, a lot more tunnels on the Davos-Filisur route to keep the line straight too though. As above, the 'landscape' will mostly be working around existing bushes and shrubs so I should get good meanders in parts of it (plus a spiral, just because), but there's also likely to be long straight bits 'hidden' behind the shed etc.

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  • 3 months later...

Question: I have 1 of these: https://www.trainli.com/LGB-items-that-are-out-of-production-engines-passenger-cars-freight-cars-338/ml-31521-p-3624 and despite watching many many hours of RhB videos on youtube and looking at many pictures I can't recall ever noticing these coaches in red in a service train. So does anyone know where were they used?

 

Cheers

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Great that. I hope you've got a dropper on every piece of track..lol...

No DCC here ;)

 

  

Oh you’re going to get poorer in 2019 ;)

https://www.lgb.com/lp/18/rhaetische-bahn-sonderedition/

Oh cr@p, I'm going to get much poorer when they release that in plain red... I'd better start being nice to Mrs SG.

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  • 4 weeks later...

There's no train around the Christmas stick this year, but I am currently sat with a couple of trains on the floor and the tree in the background.

 

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This isn't just to wind up Mrs SG, I'm trying work out the logistics of making part of 'Godfrey Pass' a transportable terminus... interesting challenge when it's all through stations! But with a max train length loco + 8 I can half a terminus potentially for a sensible indoor length... thought process continues...

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I'm thinking of using the scissor crossing and half the main through station. The 2 lines off the scissors create a balloon loop via the fiddle yard, 1 line straight into a tunnel, the other over a big curved viaduct first. Should get away with no handling of stock, catenary bases would be fixed but the rest removable so it doesn't risk damage in the garden. I'd still have enough 'Christmas' r1 spare to help create the off scene tracks.

 

So there's the meat of an idea there, just like a fine plan. It wouldn't need all my stock either, 2 to 3 passenger, 1 freight with spare wagons, so could be operated as either early 2000s, or late 1980s as mood suits.

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  • RMweb Gold

Think I'm similar to you at the moment, my railway is closed down for the winter and all I can do now is to look at the latest new arrival and compare it with the pictures I took of the real thing when the RhB organised a viewing of the plow in action:

 

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Only problem in real life is that the RhB could not organise any snow...… but maybe here if we had any snow it would be the wrong type of snow!!

 

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Seasons greeting from the EG&SNNR to Godfrey Pass 2

 

Keith

 

 

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That's a beautiful item right there! If the annual Daily Mail prediction of worst winter in decades ever comes true I look forward to seeing it in use. I've seen videos of the real one but it's always been hidden in a shed somewhere when I've visited.

 

Merry Christmas

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