Track and lawn mowing

Mobi

Mobi

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Move to a new house with bigger garden :D

But unlike my previous house, which had gravel garden, this house has traditional grass lawns.

When I run lawn mowers, can it ride over the tracks or that's simply a no no? :-\

I am yet to lay the tracks in new house.
 
You can do it, but you need to be careful how low the track-bed is, and how you take the mower over it.
I guess the other problem would be grass clippings, and other debris, unless you blow / vac before a running session??

You WILL eventually mangle a bit of track though. - Well, all I know who have done this say so. At least in private! ::)
 
Personally, I wouldn't recommend it, though strimming should be OK. Separating lawn from track is a better long term solution, even if you only put down a line of hard stuff to sit the track on, raised from the grass, then strim up against that.
 
I concur mostly with Martyn, except I wouldn't run a trimmer against the track, either. I think you will mangle the sleepers in the long run and you will need a lot of trimmer line. Clippings won't be a problem if you are collecting them.

We mow lawns for a living and I find mowers are very good at picking up things they shouldn't and they are also likely to snag, but if you mow the grass high enough then it may be ok. Then again, grass growing between the rails is not a good thing if you run track power.

At the very least I would spray a residual weed killer along the line, then you can mow along the tracks, rather than over them. This kind of spray is rather poisonous, obviously. :-\
 
Then what is the best (and easiest) way to lay tracks on grass?

Digging trenches and filling with gravel sounds too much work :-\

In the long term, I have a plan to replace real grass with artificial grass.
 
Mobi said:
Then what is the best (and easiest) way to lay tracks on grass?

Digging trenches and filling with gravel sounds too much work :-\

In the long term, I have a plan to replace real grass with artificial grass.
Click to expand...
Ah! you didn't tell us that!! ::) ;) ;)

Total residual weed killer..
Grade-off the site..
A GOOD membrane..
Artificial grass..
Loose-lay the track on ballast..

Run trains, sit back and enjoy!!
;) :D ;D ;D
 
I have seen a few lines in Germany, where the owner has simply taken out a line of turf where the track goes and then laid a string of thermalite-style blocks or block-paving paviors on a bed of sand to make them level - that seems a reasonable compromise, if the underlying ground is firm. :-\
This sort of arrangement -
Garten33.jpg
 
Digging a shallow trench, say 3" - 6" deep, width to meet running needs, line with some sort of plant excluding membrane and edging with metal or plastic lawn border (to stop the ballast running away) fill with granite chippings is simple enough if you want and ground level outdoor layout of the "floating" type construction.

Then use a "Flymo" to cut the grass. I`ve been dong that for 10 years. No mangled bits of track or other things ever. Flymo body will keep the rotary blades above rail height at all times. Small strimmer ok for those bits that the mower cannot get to, just make sure you have the guard on the side where anything delicate, track sleepers, point levers, beloved plants, etc` are. It`s all in the planning. Max.

And here is the proof. a Flymo goes over that cossover and 4 sets of points regularly. No mishaps yet. and there are lots of nooks and crannies that are dealt with by a small strimmer.
Layout N.JPG
Layout E.JPG


 
ViaEstrecha said:
I have seen a few lines in Germany, where the owner has simply taken out a line of turf where the track goes and then laid a string of thermalite-style blocks or block-paving paviors on a bed of sand to make them level - that seems a reasonable compromise, if the underlying ground is firm. :-\
This sort of arrangement -
Garten33.jpg
Click to expand...
Shame you can't buy those blocks here in the UK?

Unless someone knows different....
 
I searched for these when I was laying my track, with no success in the UK, and I ended up doing it the hard way, with shallow trench, membrane, edging, sand and ballast. In retrospect, I think I would rather have made a former and then cast my own blocks like these, as I ended up having to rip it up and redo it after only 3 or 4 years when the low quality membrane failed and then I bit the bullet and laid membrane of the quality I should have used in the first place! Most of my track elsewhere is laid on baseboards made of timber and marine ply, topped with thick roofing felt and sitting on blocks to keep it just off the earth, but that's even more effort to produce!
 
:) Use old bricks, or boxed concrete, to lay a mowing strip. Has worked for me for 15 years now. I often cringe when I see photos of lawn butting straight up to rocks or raised edging with no mowing strip.... thinking of all the unnecessary extra work in getting the lawn to have 'neat edges'.



Imagine, if you will, not having those bricks there.... the grass would be growing up into the rocks, causing no end of work to get it tidy looking. Use a strimmer, you say. Well, they haven't invented one, yet, that works for me..... string always breaking, reel flying off, spark plug fouling up etc.
 
Most mowing strips we see don't work. I don't know what the correct way is to install them, but I believe they have to be precisely the height you want your grass to be. Plus, I suspect your mower's blades need to be about the same level as the bottom edge of the body, so they cut very close to the strip.

For us the common solution is glyphosate. It supposedly bio-degrades in the ground. Just spray a narrow strip along any edges, etc. and mowing is a breeze.
 
;) Grass grows different in these parts.

OK, once, or twice, a year, I have to 'trim the overgrowth'... much the same as you do along a footpath. I use one of those roller cutters, or, if the kids have flogged that, the good old spade.

In reality, the strip provides a good even surface for the lawnmower wheels to run along.
 
New layout, why would one not do a raised garden so one does not have to bend down when playing trains. May take a little longer to do, but worth the effort I am sure.
 
Well said Tinker, a raised line on Posts and Decking would not take that long, possibly a weekend depending on the size of Layout. Grow Plants like Lonicera at the the Open Side like at Pecorama and you have added to the Garden a superb feature.
JonD
 
>:( Thread drift coming in here. We are talking lawnmowing, not the pros and cons of ground level or raised layouts.

Rant over (without causing offence, I hope).... must go mow my lawns ;)
 
Gavin Sowry said:
>:( Thread drift coming in here. We are talking lawnmowing, not the pros and cons of ground level or raised layouts.

Rant over (without causing offence, I hope).... must go mow my lawns ;)
Click to expand...

"One man went to mow. Went to mow a meadow ......." ;D Ground level and mowing grass would drive me up the wall. Oops! I'm already up it.
 
Point taken Gav, of course with LGB Track (or other make say Piko, Train Line etc) and a fair level lawn, what is wrong with lifting the Track every week or two? Change of Layout every time. There was a guy in the 16mm Society that did thus with Tinplate Track. My mate did too before he built his line as did I in Luton back in the 80's both with LGB Track. It does work well enough till you get the bug to cut Earth or Timber.
JonD
 
:( Been too bl**dy wet to cut the grass again, and as it was first-cut of the season, I left it long..
So, I think the little battery 'thing' would struggle.. Like the idea of change of track every cut. :D ;D ;D

Now, where are those points??? - Shed-trawling day, I think! ::) ;)
 
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