South Cerney Garden Railway (Piko G)

[SouthCerney]

Introduction
I have always wanted a Garden Railway and finally got the chance this Summer to start building one. Last year we had artificial grass fitted in our back garden and at the same time replaced a small front lawn with gravel. I realised that this was the perfect site for a small railway, with good drainage as it had been dug out and filled with Type 1 and a weed proof membrane.

This is how it looked about a month ago:

And this is how it looks today:


I shall add further posts describing the design and build process up to now and future plans if anyone is interested.

 

[Portsladepete]

Very civilised operator seating! Like the shape of the layout, very imaginative.

 

[Paul M]

Welcome to the forum, it looks like you've made a great start already

 

[AndyA]

Looks great!! How to use a simple area to good effect.

Andy

 

[ARIA31]

I like very much the circuit.
Very good start !!

 

[Rhinochugger]

A garden always looks better with a railway track in it somewhere

 

[mike]

O very nicely done

 

[PhilP]

Neat!

Welcome to the Forum..

PhilP.
(Yes please, post some 'construction' details..)

 

[palstig]

Looks excellent. I echo the comments of an earlier poster who said he liked the track plan.

I think more planting and landscaping over time will help it mature.

Paul

 

[SouthCerney]

Decisions
I had to make a number of decisions before I started building South Cerney Garden Railway and will go through the thought process in case it helps anyone in a similar position.

Taking these in no particular order:

Layout Inspiration
This was an easy one for me, I wanted to base my layout on our local village railway station that closed in 1963, our village trust has a website with details and a track plan which I wanted to recreate if possible: South Cerney Station
As can be seen I have managed to recreate the track plan although have had to compress all of the lengths due to space constraints:


Gauge and Scale
As a youngster I had a large Hornby OO layout and recently unpacked it which got me thinking again about a garden railway. I initially considered O Gauge given the wide availability of British ready to run rolling stock. I bought the June 2020 edition of Hornby Magazine which featured a large O Gauge layout and the Heljan Class 50, it looked great but was very expensive. I then considered G Gauge which seemed to fit in better with garden planting and did not appear to take up any more space, but most importantly it seemed to be a lot cheaper!

Motive Power
Although live steam would have been my first choice I could not justify the expense. I was also a little concerned about the problems with keeping the track clean for regular DC powered locos although this does seem much improved with DCC. I was hoping to start with a couple of cheap starter sets and upgrading these to DCC again was looking pricey. I was intrigued about battery powered RC but there did not seem to be many options at my price point. I then came across the new PIKO Roncalli Starter Set which seemed ideal but was not yet available.

Track
I did briefly consider going with plastic track as it would have been much cheaper but there was a very limited range with only one radius of curve and points. I was also concerned about longevity and reduced options for running, but the main factor was resale cost. Brass track seems to retain its value well which cannot be said for plastic track and so the extra initial outlay seemed to be justified. In the UK the choice was then LGB or PIKO, I looked closely at both, the pricing is very similar but I decided on PIKO as the track geometry seemed simpler using a carefully thought out approach which made the design simpler, at least for me, although I have had to resort to Pythagorus and use Sin tables to work out some of the measurements, nice to know my school mathematics wasn’t wasted!

 

[Flying15]

Decisions
I had to make a number of decisions before I started building South Cerney Garden Railway and will go through the thought process in case it helps anyone in a similar position.


Taking these in no particular order:

Layout Inspiration
This was an easy one for me, I wanted to base my layout on our local village railway station that closed in 1963, our village trust has a website with details and a track plan which I wanted to recreate if possible: South Cerney Station
As can be seen I have managed to recreate the track plan although have had to compress all of the lengths due to space constraints:
View attachment 271698

Gauge and Scale
As a youngster I had a large Hornby OO layout and recently unpacked it which got me thinking again about a garden railway. I initially considered O Gauge given the wide availability of British ready to run rolling stock. I bought the June 2020 edition of Hornby Magazine which featured a large O Gauge layout and the Heljan Class 50, it looked great but was very expensive. I then considered G Gauge which seemed to fit in better with garden planting and did not appear to take up any more space, but most importantly it seemed to be a lot cheaper!

Motive Power
Although live steam would have been my first choice I could not justify the expense. I was also a little concerned about the problems with keeping the track clean for regular DC powered locos although this does seem much improved with DCC. I was hoping to start with a couple of cheap starter sets and upgrading these to DCC again was looking pricey. I was intrigued about battery powered RC but there did not seem to be many options at my price point. I then came across the new PIKO Roncalli Starter Set which seemed ideal but was not yet available.

Track
I did briefly consider going with plastic track as it would have been much cheaper but there was a very limited range with only one radius of curve and points. I was also concerned about longevity and reduced options for running, but the main factor was resale cost. Brass track seems to retain its value well which cannot be said for plastic track and so the extra initial outlay seemed to be justified. In the UK the choice was then LGB or PIKO, I looked closely at both, the pricing is very similar but I decided on PIKO as the track geometry seemed simpler using a carefully thought out approach which made the design simpler, at least for me, although I have had to resort to Pythagorus and use Sin tables to work out some of the measurements, nice to know my school mathematics wasn’t wasted!

I have thought about building a M&SWJtRly 2-6-0 as per the picture on the station/village web site
Food for thought for your railway perhaps
Possibly around a secondhand LGB 2-6-0 chassis or a shortened/rebuilt Annie chassis

 

[SouthCerney]

I have thought about building a M&SWJtRly 2-6-0 as per the picture on the station/village web site
Food for thought for your railway perhaps
Possibly around a secondhand LGB 2-6-0 chassis or a shortened/rebuilt Annie chassisView attachment 271701

The M&SWJR was very interesting and I wish I had your abilities to recreate such a loco. Although based around the track layout there will be few similarities although I would like to build one of the multi-arch bridges that feature on the line.
Are you a sailor by any chance with your username?

 

[SouthCerney]

Planning
Before I could start construction I needed to come up with a detailed design so that I could order the track. The site measures about 4.8m by 4.6m and slopes down by about 15cm. My son was keen to have at least one bridge and so I came up with some designs that exploited the slope to gain height whilst keeping the track at ground level.

South Cerney Station
As I mentioned in my original post I wanted to use the track layout from the former station in my village:


This has quite a complex layout for a small station and it was a challenge reducing the length to 3.6m to fit lengthways with a first radius curve at each end. I did consider having the station on a diagonal to give me more space but I did not like the appearance as much.

In the absence of any suitable track layout software I used Visio on my work laptop to come up with a few designs using a modified LGB template that I found online.

This was one of the early drafts:


This seemed to work quite well so I calculated what track I needed and added a couple of points and a few extra straights as I was keen to have a passing loop.

My biggest challenge was that I wanted to get two of the Piko Roncalli Battery RC Starter Sets but these were only on pre-order and I needed the curves in these sets to complete the layout. I emailed Darren atTop Slots n Trains who as well as offering a great price also offered to send me the curves now and would then remove them from the sets when he received them so that I could start building immediately, a top bloke!

A few days later I received a very large box containing the following:


I quickly checked that I could recreate the station layout as planned


All looking good, in my next post I will start on the construction side of things.

 

[Flying15]

The M&SWJR was very interesting and I wish I had your abilities to recreate such a loco. Although based around the track layout there will be few similarities although I would like to build one of the multi-arch bridges that feature on the line.
Are you a sailor by any chance with your username?

Sorry No
The Flying 15 refers to the name given to Rhodesia Railways 4-6-4+4-6-4 Garrett type locos
One of my earliest large scale builds 5/6 years ago
There are some images on the RHDR 4-8-2 thread
Good luck with the track
Chris

 

[Northsider]

Good to have a prototype to work with/on: all the difficult decisions have been made for you! Keep the photos coming!

 

[Rhinochugger]

The M&SWJR was very interesting and I wish I had your abilities to recreate such a loco. Although based around the track layout there will be few similarities although I would like to build one of the multi-arch bridges that feature on the line.
Are you a sailor by any chance with your username?

Sorry No
The Flying 15 refers to the name given to Rhodesia Railways 4-6-4+4-6-4 Garrett type locos
One of my earliest large scale builds 5/6 years ago
There are some images on the RHDR 4-8-2 thread
Good luck with the track
Chris

I asked Chris the same question a couple of years ago

 

[SouthCerney]

Construction
I considered a number of options for building the track base. The area was already prepared for a patio or artificial lawn with a deep layer of Type 1 covered with a weed proof membrane and Cotswold stone chippings. I could have laid the track all at ground level but wanted to have greater interest and more opportunities for planting so decided to include a low raised bed in the design. I spent time deliberating between the aerated concrete blocks and wooden sleepers with the track laid on treated wood covered in roofing felt.

The first photo shows the sleepers laid out roughly to make sure it all fits.


I cut the sleepers for the curves making rounded ends to the raised bed.



And the final photo shows the track roughly laid to make sure the main loop all joined up.

 

[wandgrudd]

Not wanting to put you off put have you tested the slope, I can see potential issues with the entrance and exit being so close to the curves, it may cause some instability of rolling stock i.e. derailments. It also looks a bit steep but that will somewhat depend on what you are wanting to run up or down it?

 

[SouthCerney]

Not wanting to put you off put have you tested the slope, I can see potential issues with the entrance and exit being so close to the curves, it may cause some instability of rolling stock i.e. derailments. It also looks a bit steep but that will somewhat depend on what you are wanting to run up or down it?

Hi Wandgrudd, thanks for the feedback. The slopes look steeper than they are as the site slopes by about 15cm away from the house and so the maximum gradient is a more reasonable 1 in 40 or 2.5%. The raised bed looks flat but it is sloping in the opposite direction to the track, I was originally going to step it but the woodwork would have been more complicated!

I made sure that the curves were always level and have only had a problem trying to start when stationary on an uphill section with my Piko BR80 and trucks full of real stones. It will also derail if going too fast into a curve at the bottom of a slope but I kind of expected that, just need to take care. If I had more space I would have had more gradual curves and gentler slopes but I needed enough height to clear a train on the bridge.

I am hoping that the battery trains will not be any worse when they arrive, fingers crossed!

Cheers, Richard

 

[SouthCerney]

I have just checked and one of the slopes is 1 in 24 or around 4% and this is where I had the derailment going downhill, not sure I can do much about reducing that but I have a few options if it becomes more of a problem, thanks again!