Here's my request for help with a new railway construction...

[Old Tom]

I've realised that it's really not possible to extend the old railway (I had a good look and saw that there'd have to be an awful lot of landscaping to be done if I wanted to increase it) so I've opted for a new location:

It's going to end up as a loop with a station and sidings that's just over 5m long by about 1.5M wide. But now I've got to work out the best landscaping option. :wits:

I don't think my original method will work:

I mounted the track on bricks and filled the rest in with compost. On the new location, the level drops by 6" at the far end and that bit also tends to suffer with a lot of surface water so it would all get too boggy or wash away.

I was wondering if compacted sharp sand would be OK as the base filler? Would it be solid enough to run my trains on? I don't want a permanent 'hard standing' (e.g. concrete) because I'll want to add new contours/plants/buildings/scenery as the railway develops.

Anyone got any bright ideas? Please?

Pretty please, with sugar on??? :love:

 

[minimans]

Tom have you thought about raising the bed up about 2 to 3 feet? it will than be possable to create your own drainage solutions and believe me at our age it helps with the live steamers! and take as much space as you can get away with otherwise you will be looking fore more space in the near future...........................

 

[Old Tom]

Tom have you thought about raising the bed up about 2 to 3 feet?

Yep, I did think of that but the cost would be prohibitive due to the need for retaining walls. I barley got away with the cost of the loco and rails! It's gonna have to be a max 6" raised bed unfortunately.

 

[Rob s]

Tom have you thought about raising the bed up about 2 to 3 feet?

Yep, I did think of that but the cost would be prohibitive due to the need for retaining walls. I barley got away with the cost of the loco and rails! It's gonna have to be a max 6" raised bed unfortunately.

Tom you could try the cut and fill method, ie dig 3" out of the high end and put it in the low end
this would give you a level base.

If you are going to use compacted sharp sand as a base, mix it dry about 8or10 sand to one of cement and lay it on a membrane, like the weed supresion type quite cheap from garden centres or builders merchants do a better one, but it might not be available in small sizes.

The membrane will stop the fines from your weak sand mix from migarting in to the ground below.

Mix and lay dry, compact then lightly mist with water, leave over night this will then give you a firmish surface to work off.

We use this method on jobs, where the ground is a bit wet or iffy before we concrete or slab/block lay, have done it for 25years+ and its only failed once, turned out there was an under ground stream right where we laid a patio.

Should have sussed it really the place was called Spring hill

 

[Old Tom]

Cheers Rob, that sounds an excellent plan.

Hard enough for my purposes but not needing a pneumatic drill if I want to change anything.

Thanks

 

[Rob s]

Cheers Rob, that sounds an excellent plan.

Hard enough for my purposes but not needing a pneumatic drill if I want to change anything.

Thanks

Yes easily broken up if need be, on the odd occasion we have gone back to a job and done alterations, a light fork over breaks up the surface, and then just walk up and down on it a bit,
and it crushes back down to sand again with the odd lump in it, and can be reused.

So long as the guy on the fork doesn't dig too deep

 

[dunnyrail]

Tom have you thought about raising the bed up about 2 to 3 feet?

Yep, I did think of that but the cost would be prohibitive due to the need for retaining walls. I barley got away with the cost of the loco and rails! It's gonna have to be a max 6" raised bed unfortunately.

Tom, have you though of Skip raiding, you could probably get loads of bricks or wood to raise your line. I am finding at the moment that loads of people in my area are doing work and fillling skips with bricks, wood, rubble etc. It grieves me to see loads of good stuff going to landfill that I cannot use just because my line is finished (in terms of heavy build) and I have no room for any more extensions. Still I should be moving in a couple of years time, believe me when I am building a garden railway NO SKIP IS SAFE.
JonD

 

[Rob s]

Tom have you thought about raising the bed up about 2 to 3 feet?

Yep, I did think of that but the cost would be prohibitive due to the need for retaining walls. I barley got away with the cost of the loco and rails! It's gonna have to be a max 6" raised bed unfortunately.

Tom, have you though of Skip raiding, you could probably get loads of bricks or wood to raise your line. I am finding at the moment that loads of people in my area are doing work and fillling skips with bricks, wood, rubble etc. It grieves me to see loads of good stuff going to landfill that I cannot use just because my line is finished (in terms of heavy build) and I have no room for any more extensions. Still I should be moving in a couple of years time, believe me when I am building a garden railway NO SKIP IS SAFE.
JonD

Skip Raiding is my favourit way to go shopping
Even better if you can find the skip companies transfer station, a small drink occasionally changes hands, but only if the items have any scrap value, and not often
All of the wood and roof materials to make my wood store came out of skips, took about 6 months to collect.

These electric cable trays also came out of skips
they are going to make the base for an extension of the current layout and provide more storage for logs ( I collected 25 pieceis of various widths at 3m long, plus 10 of cuts, total cost
£10 - result )

Edit - sorry about pic's and size i thnk i used the wrong option in re-sizer and when i changed them both sets seem stuck to the post ????

 

[Old Tom]

Great idea this skip raiding but luckily for me, it's not needed

All the bricks and wood etc. came from the garden (left-over from previous 'projects' ). I only had to buy sand and cement.

But I will keep it in mind for the extension that's already being thought about - and I've not finished this one yet!

 

[Old Tom]

I did a good day's labouring today. I used Rob's suggested dry mix and it's looking good up to now.

By late morning it looked like this:

And by 3 o'clock, the base is all laid (and I'm [STRIKE]knacke[/STRIKE] worn out !)

 

[bobg]

It is indeed. Good start!

 

[Rob s]

I did a good day's labouring today. I used Rob's suggested dry mix and it's looking good up to now.

By late morning it looked like this:

And by 3 o'clock, the base is all laid (and I'm [strike]knacke[/strike] worn out !)

Looking very good

Hope you misted it down well, it will keep absorbing moisture for a long time
If you walk on the finished surface be gentle, and if it scuffs up just damp it and tamp down again.
If you are going to use peat and real plants, it would probably be worth while putting another layer of cheap garden membrane down first, as the plants won't like the fresh cement for quite a while.
Looking forward to see further progress keep the pic's coming

Seems from the pic there is even room for future extensions.

edit-lousy spelling-i blame the cider

 

[tram47]

 

[Old Tom]

That's the easy bit done.... now for the ballasting to get rid of the 'dip' on the track that's the problem. I'm aiming make a slight incline on this section so that the Caradoc will have a good 'chuff' as she climbs it.

Here's the vid of the very first run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP5GnkKv1sk

Any good (and simple!) ideas as to how I can make a nice, gentle incline?

 

[marshman]

Good vid, like the wagon loads & the little Davenport looks a great runner. Your railroad will be an inspiration to many.

 

[stevedenver]

go easy on the grade-you can always add wagons