Planning a new garden railway

[kedwards]

Incorporating of a Stream and a Pond

Neither my wife nor I could decide exactly where the quarry branch should be located. We also hadn't incorporated in the garden design a couple of our original wants, namely a pond and a stream.

Recently we were sunbathing in the garden when our eyes were drawn to a slight natural depression in the lawn and she suggested that it might be the ideal location for a pond and rockery.

Immediately my mind went into overdrive. Could the rockery house the quarry. Would it be possible to run a line around the pond? What a great video location it could be. How could I incorporate a stream? I had always liked the idea of having a line running on bridges over a stream and the design so far had no stream and no bridges.

This is what I've come up with. It's very rough and nothing like a scale drawing - the line would be much longer than shown. Not only would it break up the large lawn area, it would be a much more scenic route for the quarry line and add another diorama with great video potential. I'm not sure about the triangle as quarry traffic would I assume all go in the same direction along the branch, i.e. to the main line, but I think it would look nice.

 

[PhilP]

Keith,
You really need the flow into the pond, not out of it..

It is normal for a stream to be 'dry', unless it is being fed with pumped-water. - The pond acts as a sump at the lower-end of the flow.
If you run 'downhill' from the pond, especially in wet weather, the sump at the end of your stream will be overwhelmed.
The stream will be mainly dry, in the colder months, so less chance of freezing damaging the stream-bed.

Pumping from the pond, also means the pump can feed filtration equipment. This gives you clean (and clear) water running down your stream.


You can arrange for the stream to be an overflow from the pond, but again the sump needs to be big enough to cope with the contents of the stream draining into it, when the pump is switched-off.

PhilP.

 

[kedwards]

Keith,
You really need the flow into the pond, not out of it..

It is normal for a stream to be 'dry', unless it is being fed with pumped-water. - The pond acts as a sump at the lower-end of the flow.
If you run 'downhill' from the pond, especially in wet weather, the sump at the end of your stream will be overwhelmed.
The stream will be mainly dry, in the colder months, so less chance of freezing damaging the stream-bed.

Pumping from the pond, also means the pump can feed filtration equipment. This gives you clean (and clear) water running down your stream.


You can arrange for the stream to be an overflow from the pond, but again the sump needs to be big enough to cope with the contents of the stream draining into it, when the pump is switched-off.

PhilP.

Thanks very much for this excellent advice. It's not quite back to the drawing board but I will look into revising my plans. I'm so glad I have been posting my musings to this blog. It is helping me avoid silly/expensive/difficult-to-put right mistakes.

Keith

 

[Greg Elmassian]

I have a couple of fountains at my house and have overflow drains to handle rain raising the level. I hear what you said about having the stream dry in the winter months to keep effects of freezing down, but most ponds themselves have a small amount of continuous circulation to keep things from freezing and ice on top, especially if you have fish.

So a small circulating pump in the pond and a second pump to run the stream bed... or a single pump with a diverter valve to allow sending the water to one place or the other or both.

Greg

 

[justme igor]

I am a very experienced pond builder/keeper ect.
If you dont want to have live fish, a circulation pomp would be good enough, and please dont nibble on the foil or rubber if you want to last it longer then ten years!!!!
A circulation pomp must be adequate enough to circulate your whole water within 4 hour without life fish, to avoid dead water.
For 10.000 litres pond you will be good with 2500 liters an hour pomp/no fish, with fish...upto sturgeons 20.000 l an hour!
If for some reason you would like to have fish(or turtles or iguanas or sturgeons.), make it a good match and learn about the species you would like to have, and you are stuck to a filter system((a lot of cheap labor intensive, not efficient) filters are available....A LOT)
But very nice setup indeed, i love the idea.
I would(but that is me!!!!) let them run not even 10cm/4 inches above the water level and spend some serious time on the bridges....But that is me!

Good luck and please keep us posted here, best

 

[dennishodge]

I love the idea of the rock tunnel leading to the water and quarry. I wonder if it’s possible to tweak the curve direction to make it more of a “surprise” destination. One of my favorite Thomas and Friends scenes for the set design work is from the beginning of Tale of the Brave where Thomas first enters the China Clay Pits, going through a tunnel and a bit of woods before going through a second tunnel and coming out into the light and a bustling industrial works.

if the depression is large enough, the whole complex could be hidden from the house like having the rockery as a ha-ha wall Of course, maybe you want to view your lovely work!

 

[kedwards]

A huge thanks to everyone who has made supportive and constructive comments. I will be starting work on the new railway this year. I intend to lay the double track section on the right -hand side of the garden first but cannot start until my sciatica has cleared up.
I will post again when I have started work.
TTFN
Keith

 

[kedwards]

As my sciatica shows little sign of abating I've still not cut the first sod on my new railway. This forced delay has been good in one way because it means I've been able to put a lot more thought into the planning stage.
I've started by doing some surveying the garden to see if the proposed track layout is viable. From bottom left to top right the gradients would be between 1:70 and 1:120.
The problem will be in the top left corner. The drop off across the top of the garden is around 1:20 which means the line will have to be on an embankment and the branch line will have to be on an embankment until about half way back down the garden.
An alternative would be to drop the height back to lawn level using a spiral.

The original station plan is on my blog. I will not have to make a decision until I start work on this section of the railway next year. Any views from members of this forum would be appreciated.

I've also decided to add a fourth station at the other end of the single track branch line which will be called Brookside.


More details can be found at The Wychbold and Stoke Prior Railway

 

[playmofire]

Embankments or viaducts? The latter might be easier on your sciatica.

 

[AustrianNG]

Are you going to have switchbacks with hairpin bends up the slope of the garden Keith ?
I have a few station layouts on my new LGB2 but they are typical of Austrian narrow gauge......
(Make sure your passing loops are as long as you can make them!)

 

[kedwards]

Are you going to have switchbacks with hairpin bends up the slope of the garden Keith ?
I have a few station layouts on my new LGB2 but they are typical of Austrian narrow gauge......
(Make sure your passing loops are as long as you can make them!)

Very nice layout. I like it a lot.

At the moment I'm preparing the right hand side of the garden and as I clear different areas the plan continues to evolve. The track needs to be level with the lawn as it passes the step near the bungalow and the original plan was to have it rise on a gentle incline up to the top of the garden. The reason for this was to avoid a cutting and all of the associated problems with cuttings on garden railways. I'm now minded to keep the track fairly level which will mean there will be a shallow cutting at the top of the garden. This will enable me to run the line through a short tunnel. The tunnel will carry the path to the wooded area at the very top of the garden. It also means I can reduce the gradient along the top of the garden. So whether I have spirals, switchbacks and/or hairpins will all depend on a final survey once I start work on the single track section.

Keith