BZB (BRADYEISCHE ZIGSPITZBAHN)

[DickyC]

Good day all, Thought I would share with you the beginnings (finally) of my new Garden Layout, Since moving to Shropshire on the day of Lockup April 2020, my time has been spent trying to rebuild my business and also do up the "doeruper" 1960s Bungalow that we purchased back then. This has meant so far learning about 1960 soffit asbestos removal and replacement, building regulations, new kitchens and bathrooms and lots more indoors nightmares. I started on the "Garden" earlier this year and since Jan "by hand" have been removing a large elevated balcony (that was about to remove itself) and tonnes of the lovely clay we sit on here that was backfilled into it. I was told by the LOVED ONE WHOM ONE MUST OBEY that "you cant start that railway, until I get a patio and terrace" so plans were afoot to start the MAIN railway in the autumn of 2024 when I start on the greater garden and less "hard" landscaping.........That was until.....

 

[DickyC]

PERGOLABAHN RACK RAILWAY

A couple of weeks ago, I must have started to impress the wife with my hard work and dedication to her "Modern Mediterranean" courtyard patio I was creating for her, that I jokingly said to her

" You know what, this structure im building would look great with a rack railway climbing up the side of it " inspired by the amazing videos of the Diggle Valley RailRoad Rack Railway That blew me away when I first saw them and wanted such a thing myself. The name of my house is related the famous locally Hill I live halfway up so there is no shortage of Hill to climb. "YES " she said, That would look cool....

WITHOUT TAKING 2 SECONDS TO PROCESS THIS "APPROVAL" plans started in my head, how to this day this "approval" was allowed I am not sure and even my sister thinks it amazing it is happening.

THE LOCO: I converted to battery this lovely SchB Rack loco last year and have been amazed by its pulling power so I thought I could max out the gradient as advised by LGB (25%) as I would be climbing a good 1.7m over around 8 or 9m.



THE AREA:


Approval given while erecting the first stages of the Pergola, This protudes about 4.5m out from the house and sits within these concrete block raised beds


Anthracite grey being applied as is the theme across the garden, Supadec Paint from Sadolin is my paint poison.



I decided on the use of painted pine decking as the base as the superdeck is good for 3-4 years exposed weathering, The line will eventually link up with the "mainline" further into the garden, but this will not be next year now.


Testing that the 25% (1m length to 25cm height) would work out ok.





I decided to use a smaller 300mm rail section to breat the 25% gradiant up on each slope, Using the flex in the join between rails rather than physically try and bend the brass rail.



You can see the final destination/level in the dampproof cause of the house in the background. We live in a bungalow but it has a large "basement" and garage to one end.



Creating the curved section



Several reworks happened with section to get it to meet the the house wall correctly,



First 4m complete and testing with loco could not take place.

It was at this point the good with did inspect and said "my lovely courtyard, is starting to look like a fairground"..... dont worry I told her....have plans, big plans......

I would like to mention at this point my memories of the Jungfrau Railway I visited as a kid in the 80s. I will never forget stopping and getting out the train at the "EIGER" window Station and looking out, yes looking out and also at the next window further on as the rack railway used to do back then. At one "station" window we even saw climber setting off on a climb by opening the window and out they went... ! I liked these windows !

 

[DickyC]

SECTION 2:

Using the 145mm Decking for the base allows you to work out the ideal clearence, The next section hugs the "SOUTHFACE" of the rendered HouseEiger, I did not want to drill into the house brick so any support would be attached to the Pergola at this point.



I needed to be able to gain access to the Water feature and the train at some point so these cheap screens were purchased from the range, The wife was not a big fan of them so they will be used elsewhere later as my plans developed.



I butched the rack rails to get a better run into each of the sections, as i found many things on the loco and coachs were snagging on them while testing as using the max 25% meant it was quite a sudden change even with a 300mm track starter, but more about that later

 

[playmofire]

Wow, quite a dramatic undertaking.

 

[dunnyrail]

Very nice start, I have to say that I have one of those rack locs lurking in a box somewhere, battery conversion looks a possibility now. That Bamboo Nigra will grow, good variety that will like the cool of the paving and house brick behind it. As a clump grower it will not be as damaging as other worrying species, but at some stage you will need to think about keeping it iff the track. Perhaps a use for those unloved screens. A pic of my Nigra and how a modest few roots can grow. It is 15ft high but not spread much beyond the path and area planted in.

 

[DickyC]

Very nice start, I have to say that I have one of those rack locs lurking in a box somewhere, battery conversion looks a possibility now. That Bamboo Nigra will grow, good variety that will like the cool of the paving and house brick behind it. As a clump grower it will not be as damaging as other worrying species, but at some stage you will need to think about keeping it iff the track. Perhaps a use for those unloved screens. A pic of my Nigra and how a modest few roots can grow. It is 15ft high but not spread much beyond the path and area planted in.
View attachment 329539

Goodness, good advice. Yes have "contained" it within a concrete planter and as you will see added more !! but your very right, already discovered that and already enacted plans to try and compensate it..... think mountain snow/Avalanche shed ??

 

[dunnyrail]

Avalanche Sheds work very well with blank side blocking out what you do not want to see/get in but still having visibility the other side. A small one I built for my pal in his Swiss Mountains.

 

[DickyC]

Oh and why BRADYEISCHE ZIGSPITZBAHN ?​

meet BRADY (BRADYEISCHE) the Cavalier



and ZIGGY (ZIGSPITZ) The Dutch Stabyhoun.....

 

[DickyC]

SECTION 3: The top station,

Located on the middle of the Three levels with the table, bbq and cushion box, This is where the line ends.. I had at this point run out of Rack rails so more were requested and in the end a full new pack of 12 acquired for the final push.

A framework for the back and seat were created, track laid and a buffer placed at the end. The spec from the wife was for it to blend in...



Again, nothing attached to the house brickwork



This cheap Pizza oven thing from Aldi is CRAP by the way ! dont waste your money on it (£99)



I then spent the next week dodging showers and using this stuff ! three tins infact and I found it quite a challenge !

 

[DickyC]

THE WINDOWS ON THE EIGER !

View attachment 329592 Construction of the Jungfrau Railway

Eigerwand is a currently disused underground railway station on the Jungfrau railway, which runs to the Jungfraujoch from Kleine Scheidegg. The station is situated just behind the north wall of the Eiger, and its principal purpose was to allow passengers to observe the view through a series of windows carved into the rock face. Trains to Jungfraujoch used to stop at the station for five minutes.[1][2][3][4]

However, since late 2016, after the introduction of new, faster, rolling stock, the Jungfraubahn no longer stops here.[5] Indeed, much of the 2017 publicity material fails to acknowledge that this viewpoint station ever existed.

Ok, well windows into the courtyard... After spending a week staining 65 4.8m x 50mm x 25mm Slates I started the task of panelling the edges. This was to create a nice barrier but also cover most of the track bead, with little glimpes here and there below seats, corners and across the windows ! which the good wife quite likes now (phew ! )







These kind of remind me of old tram seats or basic railway seats.




Then slowly we got some plants in, the Bay tree has been looking for a new home for many years now so hope perks up a bit now.







Appearing into view !





The end of the line ! I Will do a video of the line soon, Im just waiting on some new Magnetic couplers, As this will solve the problem better of the the wagons "riding" the loco a little on the approaches to the gradients.

 

[DickyC]

The snow shed/ Bamboo SHED !

As pointed out by dunnyrail quite rightly, the bamboo on the back of the Pergola (put these to create more of a screen between nosey neighbours and to cover my work cabin) really would start to play havoc with the trackbed, so a a adhoc scrap wood useup started. and as with everything painted in Anthracite !





I still think there will be a fair bit of maintenance quired with this as the stuff grows quick !



Once my new magnetic couplers arrive I will do a video and post, thanks for reading and looking !

 

[DickyC]

Larger picture of the whole route, from side to side of picture, please ignor all the mess at the font, thats the next project after some decking !

 

[PhilP]

Some serious infrastructure there..

Can you reach every part of the track, without taking the laths off?

PhilP

 

[DickyC]

Some serious infrastructure there..

Can you reach every part of the track, without taking the laths off?

PhilP

Believe it not Yes, The windows are an arms length away from an trouble and the two ends can be reached from the side (last but one picture) or above as its all open. I learned my lessons from my first ever layout a few years ago and a 1m long tunnel ! Like with most layouts it the radiuses that cause most problems and when rack climbing you dont want to go fast ! Plus I need to gain access to the back of the water feature.

 

[dunnyrail]

There are 2 types of Bamboo in growth terms, clump forming (like your and my Nigra) and runners. It is the runners that are getting a lot of bad press recently. I have 3 plants that are runners, all are in large pots which keeps them in check. So long as they are not in full sun all day maintaining them with water and feed not too much of a job.

 

[DickyC]

right these jobbies arrived today, big improvement to stop the rack loco and wagon riding each other with the LGB couplers. Also had to weight down the "gash" wagon a fair bit to help adhere to the tracks.. Think I will 3d print some these myself in the future as there still not as good as the old LEGO magnetic couplers I had in the 80s as a kid, they have much better articulation... yet another project for the list.






Lead weight wrapped up !

 

[DickyC]

CAB RIDE ANYONE ! sorry couldnt resist the cheese fondu music !

 

[DickyC]

Route Video

 

[Gizzy]

I've fitted those magnetic couplings to some of my rolling stock.

However, on the Snowdon Mountain Railway, I believe the loco is not physically coupled to the loco. I would assume this is the case for most rack railways (but not the MGB or ZB)....

 

[Software Tools]

I would assume this is the case for most rack railways

Not in my experience. If there is (any more or less) flat part if the line, there always seems to be some of hard coupling between the loco and coaches.