OK I have been busy in the garden the past few days slaving away in the heat. I have put pics of what I have achived at the end of the post.
First here is a little history of me and my garden and how I've ended up in this fine mess:
I started this garden railway 2 years ago; the garden was a blank slate. Previous owners had a path down the middle, and all the rest was urine coloured stone chippings.
My original plan was to build raised beds from brick all around the perimeter, and just run trains in a loop. Both accommodating 8 ft diameter track. Sounds simple, nothing ever is.
The raised bed down the left side of the garden got built last year. Then I was ordered to stop playing and build 2 deck areas for SWMBO to sit on. So I did also using this as a great opportunity to build a tunnel under the steps to save stepping over the track.
Fast forward to Present day
SWMBO has said she wants to move in the next 3-5 years. I no longer saw the point in continuing my permanent brick and mortar bed. I decided to go for a less permanent wooden structure. It?s quicker to build and easier to remove at a later date. This way I get trains running by the summer.
The flaw in my plan is my tunnel under the deck steps had to be in a set location as the steps hide my bodge on the decking. Now I can only get trains under the step using R1 curves. Class 66 will not be going through it then R3 track will go along front of step making the R3 line the inner line of the two giving it less clearances than originally planned. I knew that decking bodge would come back to haunt me.
The other flaw is the gradient; I had to drop down from the raised bed to get to ground level to come under the step. This has become approximately 1 in 20 drop with sweeping bends. I?ve seen worse but feel sorry for visitors with little locos.
Due to various problems I have nearly given up my dream of big American locos and nearly went all R1. Still might if things don?t go as planned over the next few weeks.
Hoping to have a basic layout by June, that way I don?t have to do all my testing on a temporary test bed.
First pic shows my decking step, and how the outer R1 line will diverge to go under it. In the background you can see a high level, this is going to be a spur to get stuff in to a shed I never got around to buying!
2nd pic is a view looking up the garden from the bodged decking.
3rd pic shows those sweeping curves going up the gradient.
4th and 5th pic shows unfinished wood work to get back to ground level.
If this weather holds maybe I'll get some more done tomoory.
Any comments would be apppreciated, Except for the person who will point out I shoud not have curves on gradients, I am aware of this but unfortunately its unavoidable, the dog needs some grass.
First here is a little history of me and my garden and how I've ended up in this fine mess:
I started this garden railway 2 years ago; the garden was a blank slate. Previous owners had a path down the middle, and all the rest was urine coloured stone chippings.
My original plan was to build raised beds from brick all around the perimeter, and just run trains in a loop. Both accommodating 8 ft diameter track. Sounds simple, nothing ever is.
The raised bed down the left side of the garden got built last year. Then I was ordered to stop playing and build 2 deck areas for SWMBO to sit on. So I did also using this as a great opportunity to build a tunnel under the steps to save stepping over the track.
Fast forward to Present day
SWMBO has said she wants to move in the next 3-5 years. I no longer saw the point in continuing my permanent brick and mortar bed. I decided to go for a less permanent wooden structure. It?s quicker to build and easier to remove at a later date. This way I get trains running by the summer.
The flaw in my plan is my tunnel under the deck steps had to be in a set location as the steps hide my bodge on the decking. Now I can only get trains under the step using R1 curves. Class 66 will not be going through it then R3 track will go along front of step making the R3 line the inner line of the two giving it less clearances than originally planned. I knew that decking bodge would come back to haunt me.
The other flaw is the gradient; I had to drop down from the raised bed to get to ground level to come under the step. This has become approximately 1 in 20 drop with sweeping bends. I?ve seen worse but feel sorry for visitors with little locos.
Due to various problems I have nearly given up my dream of big American locos and nearly went all R1. Still might if things don?t go as planned over the next few weeks.
Hoping to have a basic layout by June, that way I don?t have to do all my testing on a temporary test bed.
First pic shows my decking step, and how the outer R1 line will diverge to go under it. In the background you can see a high level, this is going to be a spur to get stuff in to a shed I never got around to buying!
2nd pic is a view looking up the garden from the bodged decking.
3rd pic shows those sweeping curves going up the gradient.
4th and 5th pic shows unfinished wood work to get back to ground level.
If this weather holds maybe I'll get some more done tomoory.
Any comments would be apppreciated, Except for the person who will point out I shoud not have curves on gradients, I am aware of this but unfortunately its unavoidable, the dog needs some grass.
With your decking step could you not bring it out a foot or two making the step have more depth to allow R3 curves :thinking: Looking on pic 5 the clearence looks tight for a class 66 round that bush Dave have you tried it would hate to think it wouldn't fit after all your hard work .
