dan_the_v8man

Instead of the shuttering I used on the previous sections I'm using treated timber gravel boards made into a frame work which the are going to get filled with bricks, gravel and concreted up to the top sitting just higher than the lawn and flower beds

Well with ballasting out of the window and no locos to play with, it only meant one thing. Digging! Might as well make the best of the wet soil. The straight run up the garden was initially going to go Infront of the fence but after my daughter took great interest in the trains they've been moved lawnside so she can follow them around the garden

While it was raining I turned my attention to bench after the cranks slipped on my 08. This one's been boxed up since Dapol released the BR blue one so well out of warranty even though it's common problem with the first batch. I've contacted Dapol but so far they've been less than helpful. Never mind, I'd got another Dapol 08 I'd won on eBay last year. Unboxed it for the first time to find nearly all the glazing loose. Stuck it on the test track and guess what, the cranks spun on that too! Grrr! So great sellers out there, kicking myself for not getting it out sooner.

Of course the second I got the SBR applied the sky turned grey and its poured it down for two days straight So out with the sheeting.

I pre-ordered my 08 from Hattons when they were first released and it's been sat boxed up until I started my garden railway last week. I've run it literally 15 mins and the cranks have slipped. Has anyone else had this issue? A forum Search revealed nothing but another group lead me to believe it was a common problem

Did you get the Hunslet finished?

Now with a level track bed attention turned to testing ballast. I screwed the track in place as a temporary method. I'd decided grano dust and SBR as a binder would be a good method that should stand up to toddler abuse! I screwed some lawn edging into the concrete to stop the soil migrating onto the track bed. I'm hoping with time it will dissapear into the plants. I'd seived the grano dust to obtain a finer grade however it just resulted in a dust laden mess that was a nightmare to work into the track and was under scale which pushed me back to grano dust in its raw state. I brushed it loosely into place and then watered it down into position. I was quite happy with it till it dried and looked far too blue. So I'm now giving it a few days to weather, sprinkled some dried soil in place and hoping the colour calms down before I apply the SBR

So with some track on the concrete it was time for a test. I'd got a Dapol 08 still boxed up and ordered a Fosworks DCC RC set and a board from Fil Downs and rather quickly had a battery RC loco running. It was then I found out what I thought was level concrete was far from level but fortunately nothing a diamond wheel in the angle couldn't sort

A bit of digging and some hardboard shuttering and had a go at casting the concrete track base. I quickly found out I'd underestimated the dimensions for the loop and that infact I was limited to the set track curves

Fast forward to lock down and I had time to start again. First thing was a bit of landscaping and building a rockery for the middle of the loop. Some rocks were acquired from a trench that was being dug and a trip to the garden centre was required. I'm fairly in experienced when it comes to gardening so this is a learning curve

So a couple of years ago I had a raised bed put in the garden with the intention of it forming a turning loop. We hadn't done much with the garden since moving in a few years previously and having a second daughter put a hold on any further progress

Hi Michael, Any update on the 7mm Janus? Would love to have one running round my garden!

Here's a photo of the actual location in question, I may have a few more

Amongst the many mills I used to work at, Thrybergh was one of the ones I used to cover

I've just checked my Dutch 31 that I've not had out for a long time and it appears to be going the same way. I've sent an email off to Hornby so fingers crossed!