Leaderboard

I have been looking at others layouts for a while now and so I thought i'd share my recently constructed loop, its was constructed just after Easter and consists of a single loop with one siding running on dc. I'm happy to provide more details if anyone is interested. I have just added a couple of photos to show off what has been completed so far, ill add some more in the future with trains running. I'm also wandering whats the best way to attach videos? It looks like ill have to upload them to youtube unless there is another way.

I got hold of a Punkt cutter for £10 on eBay, started to wear after 30 or so cuts. You'll know when it starts snagging and your wrists hurt. Not sure if wet cutting helps, but the blocks are like sponges, when they get wet they stay wet. Ended up with 50 arches, making them rise at a 4/100 gradient while keeping the arches lined up is best avoided, my brain hurts. The left hand side of the viaduct I gave up through boredom and layed a concrete base on a 4/100 slope into the gazebo instead, then mastic'd them into place on top. Seem solid enough. I got sheets of OSB, cut loads of 8ft long 4" wide straights. Got the tape and string out to measure 60" radius curves for my tracksetta gauge. It was then simply a case of felting them and screwing them all down. Tracks going down over the weekend, then need to work out how to waterproof the point motors on a passing loop. Eventually I'm going to put a Wye junction in to get into the back of the garage, probably next year now.

Two lovely videos - a real summer feeling. Great to see those grimy locos, esp the 56 and 37. It must take you a while to put all those wagons onto the track. And the flowers are superb, a fine show.

Part 2 and 3 of July's filming. The new Cavalex Warflat wagons feature in part 2.

Continuing with the Southern theme from Geoff and Josh's visit, here's a Class 73 on what looks almost like a Gatwick Express: Never mind about the absence of a conductor rail. After which we move to the Uckfield branch where this Turbostar, having left Victoria far behind, cruises through the Kent countryside on the single track section near Cowden:

I'm not sure I'd rate what is in that video as a great blueprint. Track hanging off the edge seems like inviting problems.

Update Geoff and Josh came over yesterday, as usual bringing a whole range of exciting models to run. Here by way of a foretaste is a shot of Josh's very detailed (and high quality sound fitted) "Clan Line" on one of the Surrey Hills excusions that are once again coming through Dorking every few weeks:

Hello Tony, I see from your message on Thomas's thread that you are still in hospital. I'm very sorry to hear that. Of course all of us here send you our very best wishes and hope the doctors will let you go soon. I'm sure you will get better much quicker once you are home again. So all the best to you - and keep on moving ahead! Andrew

Id probably stay away from MDF as it absorbs moisture like a sponge, my limited experience is with 16mm OSB which with a coat of shed paint and covered in roof felt has seemed to have held up well, though it has only been in existence for 3 months so in the long term I dont know.

No wood is the best wood imho. Concrete or plastics are best for a long lasting trackbed.

Since I've borrowed most of my ideas from others, that is completely fine. There are some changes I'm making to the boards which I will update soon. I've not done much since the last update due to giving myself awful tendonitis in my right knee so I couldn't get down to the level to do anything, I did manage the soldering before that though and the test run was successful. I've decided the two boards would be best semi-permanently fixed to each other to keep them level to each other and make them easier to lift while I'm cutting the grass. I'll do that, refix the track and hopefully I can start moving onward again.

I've started with the rocks this weekend.

Bonjour et bienvenue. I'm not a modeller either, I prefer just playing. That's why I've gone in to the garden as there is no need to make scenery. There is no such thing as a silly question, as they say. Your english is fine, no need to excuse it Barry.

I suppose the answer might depend on whether you mean ground or slightly above ground garden railways or raised baseboard in the garden railways. I think there is a raised baseboard railway somewhere on the forum that wasn't much bigger than a typical 2.4m x 1.2m shed layout but in the open. I saw a video where a kid laid out a small oval on his parent's patio, not sure if that qualifies as it wasn't permanent. In terms of ground level or just above ground level railways, I've seen a few in small gardens like my own which is roughly 7m x 5m. There is no minimum size.

I never realised that China used Siemens Velaro units. High Speed in the garden isn't crazy, high speed on a 3m x 2m board indoors would be crazy. 🤣

Locomotive failures Robert came to visit this week with a couple of new engines, the first (continuing with our theme of 0-4-0s) was a B4 LSWR shunter. She was a good-looking lady as these photos of her shunting at Weymouth Docks show. Sadly, despite being almost straight out of the box her performance was abyssmal and she will soon be wending her way back to Dapol's agents for repair or replacement. Staying with the Southern, we then ran resident Hornby West Country Ottery St Mary, seen here in a traditional pose on Foxdale Bank: But it wasn't her day either, as the second axle on the front bogie kept derailing. Closer inspection showed that the metal tyre had separated from the plastic wheel insert: so that probably needs careful application of superglue. Last up here is tender-drive A4 Bittern, again by Hornby. She ran very well but also had minor problems with one front bogie axle on which the plastic inserts seemed to have difficulty remaining in true alignment, although this didn't affect the ability to stay on the track. First photo shows her with an express on the East Coast Main Line near Peterborough: After that we submitted to the inevitability of the implausible fixed headboard sticker and ran her on the Tyne-Tees Pullman, although in some photos she seems to have wandered off the ECML into the wilds of County Durham or beyond: In the interests of accuracy, it's only fair to point out that the tender drive didn't actually have sufficient adhesion to haul nine sluggish coaches all the way round the layout.

Today's activity Better to take the photos in historical order, although there's a story about the C21st images below. So, we begin in the 1950s with the Jubilee taking its train through some idyllic parts of northern England in high summer. Listen to the birdsong! First, passing Throstlebeck Sidings Crossing Foxdale Bank Coasting across the girder bridge and romping down Bamboo Curtain Straight Moving on, the twentyfirst century proved to be most frustrating as the Bachmann intermodal wagons are particularly demanding in terms of track quality. The aged and warped timber which constitutes the DGR trackbed really is not to their liking. It proved impossible to get the rake to do anything like a complete circuit of the line without derailments left, right and centre. There seems to be very little play on the bogies, so any vertical twisting of the track just sees several bogies bouncing along on the sleepers. Having tried things in both directions, eventually I gave up trying to run the intermodal train and just took photos of it. At least they don't indicate the extent of the aggrevation. Then, for consolation, out came the Jubilee and nine coaches - which somehow seem to ride much more successfully than those container flats - so the day provided some enjoyment after all. We start with the Class 66 making an adjustment to the rake at Throstlebeck international container depot: Then heading away down Bamboo Curtain Straight towards the coast Powering across Foxdale Bank and rattling the furniture in Foxdale Carr Hall and crossing the Northern Viaduct (really must add those fiddly hoses onto the front) Having reached the port, the loco duly retraces its steps with another train of containers for Throstlebeck Last seen returning across Foxdale Bank, soon to be home:

Hi All, just thought I'd share my new project from Sunny (well actually it's been raining all day) Sydney. Still in the planning/build stage. Im using an existing retaining timber wall for most of the track bed. it's a simple single loop of track with a relief section for the station. I've got all my OO British Rail rolling stock, plus lots of German Swiss HO stock, so will run them all.

A quick update on the layout. I finished the reverse loop at the far end last weekend, and I've started to lay the bitumen felt as a track bed. I'm hoping to get the track Layed in the next couple of weeks, but it seems that track pins are hard to source at the moment!! I'll be using the sandstone tiles for the station platform area, which will look pretty realistic. The German station can be swapped for a UK station depending on what trains I'm running, and I'm looking to get some more buildings in the future. 'till next post. Cheers, Marcus

So with the ‘Brio’ blocks assembled and checked, the next stage was to put some tops one them. These arrived in the form of some 9mm ply....which was reclaimed and free! ...and then some upvc cladding to the sides, and some roofing felt on top.... ...and finally, some nice GWR Green (current livery) to tidy everything up... I’ve started painting the posts a stone colour so that they bland better with the garden. It’s surprising just how sturdy the structure is! This brings my work up to date, with all of the main sections done bar the felt, and once I’ve done that, I’ll make the frames up for the station area. Watch this space....

It may seem a little strange to have what would normally be a permanent structure, bolted together, so let me explain. We currently live in a rental property as my father is terminally ill, and we may need to up sticks at shortish notice - hopefully not too short notice as I like having my Dad around. I’ve not seen any ‘portable’ garden layouts before, but those of you that already know my modelling style know that I don’t do things by the book, and if I start off with a plan, it’s normally 6 times removed when it gets to its final incarnation! The triangle originally had three double junctions but I wasn’t happy with it, so I decided I’d take one of the return lines underneath the straight lines to / from the shed, but this didn’t quite work out how I thought, due to the rather large Minorcan Palm, so Plan C arrived whereby one set of lines now go under the other and converge by the shed. These pictures will explain.... The gradient works out at 1 in 48, and this is achieved by lowering the right hand chord slightly as it passes under the other lines and then it rises to meet them just before the shed. ....more pictures to follow...

As I add more pictures, things will be very self explanatory (in answer to your question Mick). Here’s the first section mounted on the posts - these, believe it or not, are 40mm polypipe... Each section is bolted together with M8 blots.... ....here’s more of the sections being assembled together.... I’ll post some further pictures shortly.

So now you’ve seen the plan, it’s time to show you what it looks like. The whole thing is built like set track, wooden blocks of varying angles 4/5/6 degrees screwed and glued together to make a frame... The frame is bolted together in 6ft-ish sections and sits on top of PVC pipe posts, sunk in to 8” of concrete. The frame is treated 75x22 timber and once assembled, it’s given two coats of wood protector.

Made a bit of progress on the line today, completing the transition stretch from Sycamore Curve viaduct to the start of Foxdale Bank, which will be crossed on a disguised timber shelf. The contour curves should look good, but may be a pain to construct as each section will have to be completed and bedded in (screwed onto preservative-treated timber pegs driven into the ground) before the next one can be designed and cut. Today's progress saw just two yards of track laid. Here's today's inaugural train, with a BR Standard Class 4 loco running off the viaduct with a local passenger service in the mid-1950s - definitely needs some super-elevation adding in due course: Starting to get some mountain atmosphere - the West Highland Line, perhaps? Still looks a bit like a railway on a shelf, but no doubt nature will weather and stain that timber soon enough so that it blends in better. Finally, we see the Class 4 paused at a signal. Just as well really, as the track goes no further today.

HI Andrew, many thanks for the kind words, was home 2 and half weeks before I ha to go back, this time a hospital in Ipswich will know tomorrow how long I be in . Tony from down under