Rebirth of the Larton Grange & Bebington railway

[flyingsignalman]

Thanks for the kind comments
I always seem to start my railways when the weather's turning cold (My last one I started in November!).

 

[flyingsignalman]

Thanks Paul, the space I have is about twice as big as I had in the last garden! it's a bit daunting trying to plan it out but I'll most probably keep blundering on till I get it sort of right
Not too much done recently; the weather's been nice and the front of the house needed painting before Winter
Some more plants went in today, in between showers.

 

[Dinas Bryn]

Evening Keith, its looking great, I note you have a spade for Mike but you didn't mention CAKE, I find when he comes he always has good ideas, Keep at it Les

 

[Bram]

Excellent job of work there Keith, it looks first class

 

[flyingsignalman]

Despite my high hopes last year things didn't progress as well as I expected. The weather made it difficult due to the clay soil I now have to deal with.
The start of this year saw the living room redecorated and then the kitchen needed tiling (put off from the previous year, so I couldn't duck out of doing it). Fortunately as the "to do" list got shorter, the days got longer and with the recent good weather I've been able to get back into the garden.
A posed shot to recall the winter

In the spring the plants grew....

I did wonder if I would get the line cleared but a few days weeding saw me able to run a train

I also changed the short loop and siding into two sidings

The next day I had cleaned the track enough to run my LGB diesel
some pics of it running

The next job is to level and ballast the track properly before thinking of extending it further into the garden.
However I remember posting something similar last year.......................

 

[yb281]

It's all progress Keith .

 

[mike]

great to see the new railway emergeing keith

 

[BarmyAndy]

Looks great to me. Ballasting seems to be all ways the last job to do

 

[flyingsignalman]

The "to do" list grew a little longer yesterday with the arrival of an 8 x 5 x 2 preformed pond.
Josh was here today so he helped me start the digging. Here he is checking the tools

Later on after running out of energy I ran a train (or two) to wind down

Soil dug out from the pond will provide a foundation for the extension
but the ballasting still needs doing:impatient:

 

[Shawn]

Wow thats looking awsome. Cant wait to see more.

 

[mbiff]

well nice and big garden to fill full of railway

 

[flyingsignalman]

Thanks for the comments

The plan is to eventually run up on the left hand side, crossing the garden by the bushes in the middle and then back down the right to the garage/workshop which is just out of the picture on the right. I expect it to be a year or two before I reach there.

 

[Steve]

Looks brilliant , i don?t envy you digging the pond out , hire a mini digger there will be one hell of a lot of soil coming out .

 

[flyingsignalman]

Funny you should say that...............
I started digging yesterday afternoon, did some more this afternoon and still have a bit to do.
Fortunately the first 12" or so down is reasonable soil (I reckon it must have been the veg patch once) and the next 12" is good, solid, heavy clay
So now I have two sizeable piles of soil which will form the raised beds that will support the next stage of the railway

 

[C&S]

Interseting looking line. How's the digging going? Do keep the pictures coming - looking forward to seeing this one progress.

 

[flyingsignalman]

The digging's come to a temporary halt (fortunately!) as the pond is now in the hole in the ground.
I got piles of soil now (painful, but not as rich as piles of gold!).

We will be putting a safety grid in the pond (should arrive by friday) so we won't be worried when the grandchildren are in the garden.

 

[dragon]

This is worth following. Please keep the pictures coming.

 

[flyingsignalman]

Today we had a trip to Shrewsbury, which you may know is reasonably close (close enough for me ) to Back2Bay6 so we had to call in
I'm pleased to show you my latest acquisitions/early birthday presents to me

I had hoped to give them a run but the weather was slightly inclement, to put it politely, so these are posed shots when the rain stopped.

 

[BarmyAndy]

Your new purchases look very nice. As does your railway

 

[jameshilton]

The new purchases look lovely - the tram loco is an LGB classic. The starter set wagon is a great base for a repaint if you're feeling brave