Raised and relocated the railway

[artfull dodger]

I finaly got tired of achy back and knees trying to work on my ground level garden railway in the front yard garden. Espicaly as what started as track powered LGB, is now live steam only. So, I rebuilt the line, just above my waist height and relocated it to the back yard around our hot tub garden area. I got most of it up today, ran out of wood and time. Got the "swing bridge" installed so I can open the gate to the garden. I plan to put a fine metal mesh between the track boards on the fence at the far end to alow me to put rocks and dirt for some small plants. I should have my first part of my Lady Anne kit by Thursday this week. The boiler and body are on order and should arrive in a month of so. Here are a couple pics. Mike

 

[Madman]

I feel your pain. Good move.

 

[artfull dodger]

Age does nastyhing things to us. This is so much better, easier to detail and work on. I wired up a few of my building lights, really need to get brighter bulbs. Mike

 

[dunnyrail]

Good plan to raise the Railway. I have been working on my new line and nothing will be lower than 3ft.

Just a point that you may like to think about, using the actual fence posts and fence to support the railway whilst very tempting can backfire on you at some stage. You need to be sure that the posts are very solid both now and for the long term. Keep checking them for stability. Also if there are any problems with the posts if time and money become available think about putting in duplicate posts just to support the Railway. Use Metposts cemented into the ground with Postcrete so that the wood is well clear of any earth. This will be a fairly quick job and could be done over time in bits.
JonD

 

[GAP]

As a potential retiree with an eye of the future this is like my objective.
I am planning to have it on treated pine posts (CCA treated known as Koppers logs in Aust)
My idea is to have the track about 1 meter (3 foot) above the ground with some form of hedging plant underneath, as a soft fall for the inevitable derailment.
Any ideas/problems to look out for from anyone will be greatly appreciated.

 

[stockers]

They banned CCA in Europe. Shame because it worked.

 

[artfull dodger]

The fence has been up for several years, posts are in concrete and the ends are tied into the main deck and the house on the other end. So its very solid. Those hedge bushes will come back shortly, spring is just arriving. I plan to let them grow up and make a scenery block to hide the track a bit creating sort of a natural tunnel. MIke

 

[GJFREESTONE]

Hi Mike
I find a 5cm baton on the exposed sides.
It will stop drop offs guess how i know.
Graham shrewsbury.

 

[mike]

nice to have a fellow riser.. mines on concreat blocks, cemented into the ground, fensce post sit ontop of adampproof membrain, ontop of the blocks, to form a table leg structure, a leg every 4ft, in each direction, cross surportw of 2-4 channleised timmber make the table frame with marine ply3/4 thick as the tabletop.. after that..its fun

 

[vsmith]

Have you considered protecting your wood track deck so it wont warp from the moisture/drying cycle?

Over here many folks with raised layouts have successfully used asphalt roll roofing under the tracks to protect the wood deck surface.

 

[artfull dodger]

Yes, I plan to seal the wood with Thompsons water sealer, as soon as it stops raining and it drys out! Was going to do that this morning, woke up to it pouring rain. Never fails. Mike

 

[artfull dodger]

Today I finished the track/benchwork, water sealed all of the untreated wood with stuff from Olympic Paints(it was on sale at the local home center!). I got the track laid, installed my old layout and have been running trains all afternoon using my friends Regner Lumberjack that I built from a kit. It needed run in, so I put it to work hauling a train. I sold my LGB battery electric engine, really want to get a RH diesel by mid summer to run on battery power. I saw one for sale on one of the forums, just not in my budget at the moment unless the seller wants to take payments I will get some pics of the layout up shortly. Mike

 

[Trainman]

Having had a ground level layout I share the frustration (and bruised "track cleaning" knees) and have been running at waist height for several years. Best thing I ever did. I have had no locos fall off the track- except when some idiot freind shunted my new L&B coaches off the end of the back shunt , but all in all it has been good. I started out making track spline six years ago and have now progressed to 17mm tanalised ply painted with bitumen paint. On the edges I nailed a small 10 x 10mm peice of wood and then was able to lay ballast which has done wonders for the realism side of things.

 

[artfull dodger]

Here are the pictures for all of you that will be getting up in a few hours. Cheers Mike

 

[jclfan]

Here is my idea and how I covered the wood portion of my raised railroad. I went to my local roofing supply store, and purchased a roll of dark gray roll roofing. I cut the roofing into strips 2 inches wider than my track boards. I bend one inch over both sides, and attached the roofing along the sides with a screw and washer. I cut a 6 inch section and placed that, centered over every joint, so no water gets down to the wood. Looks like ballest and protects the wood.

 

[CoggesRailway]

it's not just the older guys who sometimes get fed up of being on knees messing with the railway- it actually puts me off too, and I am not old, yet...

 

[beavercreek]

it's not just the older guys who sometimes get fed up of being on knees messing with the railway- it actually puts me off too, and I am not old, yet...

You just look old Ian.........