After a having an extended break from all things garden railway for a number of years I've been able to lay a simple line in the garden. Unusually when asking for the required planning permission to invade the garden I was met with a very encouraging response and told to get on with it, so I did.
Initially I laid a simple and small loop in the space that was available at the time:
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This allowed me to finally get out some stock out and see if anything would still run, thankfully Roundhouse engineering being what it is the steam loco ran perfectly albeit a little fast for such a small loop.
I was also able to experiment with converting a very old LGB loco to battery power using a portable phone charger, an initial test run gave around four hours of running at a steady pace pulling two LGB four wheelers with little drop in speed until near the end.
Once the first section was complete except for ballasting an additional area of garden came up for grabs so an extended track plan was drawn up and laid out.
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The track used is PECO G45 which I prefer over LGB track due to its smaller profile and is screwed down onto some well seasoned (91 years old) floor joists which have been split in half to something like 5" x 2" in size and are treated and buried in the ground. In between the track and wood is a weed proof membrane which covers the whole of the area used to hopefully keep the weeds at bay.
The loco to carry out the all important first test run of the Sheringham Mining Railway was a vertical boilered Regner which my Dad has given to me on a long term loan and plodded around at a nice slow speed with a few skip wagons. Eventually it will have some sort of bodywork made up, possibly going down the Toby the tram style.
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Since testing, slabs have been laid in the middle of the extended loop and the old bark chips which were over this part of the garden have been used to fill in round the slabs until such time when I can afford some stone for ballast. The only thing which I've had to pay out for so far is a box of screws for the track bed and some sand and cement for the slabs, so not too bad for around £35.
Now that the track is down, patio laid and planted I've been able to focus a little of the locos to be used, all of which will end up being modelled in 7/8ths.
Besides the Regner steam loco the line also has an old Roundhouse steam loco which has been bashed around a number of years ago and just needs the rear end addressing before painting properly and some finer details being added.
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The rest of the stock is all battery powered.
Firstly a scratch built steam loco which is loosely based on a LNER Y7. Using an LGB chassis it currently runs off of 3 AAs until such time as I can source another power pack.
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The second battery loco is again an LGB base but modified to run off of a portable phone charger power pack which has the benefit of a relatively quick charge, just needing a good USB charger to do the business.
The bodywork needs a fair bit of work but it runs which is the main thing.
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The third battery loco is based on a Marklin chassis and again modified to run off of a portable phone charger power pack. This is a bit slower but will pull more due to its weight. Again the body work is far from complete but it is getting there slowly.
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Rolling stock consists of some 7/8ths skip wagons and three LGB four wheelers waiting to be kit bashed into something local in design and more 7/8ths in size.
Future plans may involve one or two modifications to the existing set up with the addition of a branch to a mine and possibly a locoshed / charging area by the station area.
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This will involve some outlay for two points which I am currently lacking so this will have to wait a while until I have a reliable source of income.
But then I have enough to be doing in getting the rolling stock and locos anywhere near completion and the all important testing of course!
Initially I laid a simple and small loop in the space that was available at the time:
View media item 2300
This allowed me to finally get out some stock out and see if anything would still run, thankfully Roundhouse engineering being what it is the steam loco ran perfectly albeit a little fast for such a small loop.
I was also able to experiment with converting a very old LGB loco to battery power using a portable phone charger, an initial test run gave around four hours of running at a steady pace pulling two LGB four wheelers with little drop in speed until near the end.
Once the first section was complete except for ballasting an additional area of garden came up for grabs so an extended track plan was drawn up and laid out.
View media item 2301
The track used is PECO G45 which I prefer over LGB track due to its smaller profile and is screwed down onto some well seasoned (91 years old) floor joists which have been split in half to something like 5" x 2" in size and are treated and buried in the ground. In between the track and wood is a weed proof membrane which covers the whole of the area used to hopefully keep the weeds at bay.
The loco to carry out the all important first test run of the Sheringham Mining Railway was a vertical boilered Regner which my Dad has given to me on a long term loan and plodded around at a nice slow speed with a few skip wagons. Eventually it will have some sort of bodywork made up, possibly going down the Toby the tram style.
View media item 2208
View media item 2211
Since testing, slabs have been laid in the middle of the extended loop and the old bark chips which were over this part of the garden have been used to fill in round the slabs until such time when I can afford some stone for ballast. The only thing which I've had to pay out for so far is a box of screws for the track bed and some sand and cement for the slabs, so not too bad for around £35.
Now that the track is down, patio laid and planted I've been able to focus a little of the locos to be used, all of which will end up being modelled in 7/8ths.
Besides the Regner steam loco the line also has an old Roundhouse steam loco which has been bashed around a number of years ago and just needs the rear end addressing before painting properly and some finer details being added.
View media item 2292
The rest of the stock is all battery powered.
Firstly a scratch built steam loco which is loosely based on a LNER Y7. Using an LGB chassis it currently runs off of 3 AAs until such time as I can source another power pack.
View media item 2294
The second battery loco is again an LGB base but modified to run off of a portable phone charger power pack which has the benefit of a relatively quick charge, just needing a good USB charger to do the business.
The bodywork needs a fair bit of work but it runs which is the main thing.
View media item 2291
The third battery loco is based on a Marklin chassis and again modified to run off of a portable phone charger power pack. This is a bit slower but will pull more due to its weight. Again the body work is far from complete but it is getting there slowly.
View media item 2298
Rolling stock consists of some 7/8ths skip wagons and three LGB four wheelers waiting to be kit bashed into something local in design and more 7/8ths in size.
Future plans may involve one or two modifications to the existing set up with the addition of a branch to a mine and possibly a locoshed / charging area by the station area.
View media item 2302
This will involve some outlay for two points which I am currently lacking so this will have to wait a while until I have a reliable source of income.
But then I have enough to be doing in getting the rolling stock and locos anywhere near completion and the all important testing of course!
