Whitchurch & Test Valley Railway - A new start.

A

Andrew H

Registered
Hello All,
As the summer holidays started this week and the weather is in my favour (well mostly, its hot work digging in the sun), work on the garden has commenced. The garden was in a bad way with tall weeds covering a lot of bricks and stones half buried in the flower bed. So over the last 4 days we (Me and Mum) have been clearing the beds and digging foundations for retaining walls.
The Plan:
Bed1withrailwayplan.jpg


Bed2Withrailwayplan.jpg

The Progress:
The trench is not the actual track level, the level will be closer to lawn level.
IMG_6298.jpg


IMG_6303.jpg


IMG_6301.jpg

I hope to be posting more updates soon as i don't have much to do half the day because i can only do 10-15 mins in the sun. I will also try to draw up a track plan to make it a bit clearer.
 
Great start Andrew :thumbup:
 
a great start, good luck with the build:thumbup:
 
Very good!! Now don't be too much of a task master with Mum.
 
Just a thought Andrew. Have you considered including a continuous run (ie a circuit) somewhere in your plan? You could put in an extra link either from the blue bit back to the red bit - or from the yellow to the red (assuming the gradients will allow). That way you can still run end-to-end but have the option of running something round and round when the fancy takes you. Sometimes it's nice just to have something chugging round in the background while you're out in the garden doing something else.

I'm sure many on here will tell you a bit of tail-chasing can be very restful when you don't fancy doing a full running session.

Rik
 
Hi
Thanks Rik, I have considerd it but the problem is gradients as our garden is sloped. But I will try to work something out.
Thanks,
Andrew
 
Hi Andrew - it's great to break ground and start isn't it! I would definitely recommend a continuous run if you can, even if it means the run up the hill is quite gentle but the run down is quite steep so you can only really use it one direction. It's definitely more relaxing than running end to end :)
 
Hi all,
Thanks for all the feedback. I have tried adding a link line to the plan. I think that will work.
Photobucket is not working so I will upload the plan later.
Thanks again,
Andrew
 
Hi
Photobucket started working.
I have added a link at the bottom in green. Not sure if the run is long enough but it dose not interfere with anyone elses plans so i think thats the best i can come up with.
gardenrailwayRevised.png

Andrew
 
Good thinking Andrew. My idea was to put a link by the shed (as in purple here). That might give you a longer run but clearly I don't know your terrain and so might not work in reality or might mess up your plans for the stream.

68c6ad7ce7c5434a8b3fd1d715035f18.jpg


Really good to see your pictures as the railways develops - thanks for sharing with us.

Rik
 
Hi
Thanks Rik, I am afraid that where the purple connects to the blue, the blue is in a cutting approaching a tunnel. Another possability may be going though the shed:
gardenrailwayRevisedOpsion2.png

Thanks
Andrew
 
Brilliant idea, Andrew. That way you can include two stations in the circuit and have additional emergency cover if it starts to rain. And you can still run the railway end-to-end. I notice from the photo that the door is in the middle of the shed wall so your idea would be feasible as long as you and the family don't lose too much storage space. Anyway, it's your railway so you should decide what you want to do and how you want to do it. End to end running is more realistic but round and round is a lot more relaxing for those times when you just want to sit back and watch the trains go by.

All the best with your construction-work. I really enjoyed that stage of building my railway - it's as near as we ever get to being a real navvy in railway modelling! Keep posting the photos - on here we just love watching a railway grow from its early stages - and you will have a record of how it develops over the years.

Rik
 
It's also good to see it in 'stages' as it's good to have something up and running quite quickly to keep motivation up :)
 
Hi all,
Over the last 2 day i have not got much done on the railway. I have been busy laying a patio (not easy).
IMG_6324.jpg

However I did get some hardcore laid in the trench and now I am waiting until I can get some gravel.
IMG_6317.jpg

Next job is start laying foundation for the wall around the bed with the harbour station in it (got to start thinking up names for stations).

Andrew
 
I like the idea of the link through the shed. Definitely a good idea to have some form of continuous circuit for those times of extensive testing, and we like testing we do :bigsmile:
 
Its coming along nicely - like your foundations:thumbup:
 
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