Dave1013

Hi all I have been working on the railway this week as I had some time off. Track bed is constructed and the permanent way is all but laid.

As promised here are some more pics. I have opted for a deck board track bed mounted on 2x2 stands with 2x1 support bearers on to which the beck boards are screwed.

Hi all A good weekend on railway construction. I was going for a height of two feet but ended up with 18".

Hi webba Like you I am going for a small garden railway. Kris came up with some good advice regarding curves and trains running successfully. I can recommend a computer railway design programme called AnyRail it has all the main gauges and most of the track manufacturers. I have used it to design three layouts so far. You can use it free for up to 50 track pieces. Good luck with your railway. Dave

Hi Jim Bob I use a damp sponge to clean my iron's tip. You can get them from Maplins and not very expensive. Just wipe the hot tip over the sponge. This way the tip remains tinned and ready to use. Hope this helps. Dave

Hi All Well a fine day, measurements taken and with the aid of the free any rail 5 software, I have a design on paper. All timber and hardware is on order as is the track. Taking all your comments into consideration, I have gone for flexi track and a raised track bed. I also had a chance to run my new Hornby live steam A4. Very impressive. Never played with live steam before,what a piece of engineering. I will post some pictures soon. Cheers Dave.

Hi Guys Thanks for all the encouragement and advice so far. I have concluded that a) joining this forum was a good idea, and b) building a garden railway is good idea. So far I can see that an elevated track bed seems to be the way forward. Two individual track circuits for live steam on one and DCC on the other. Hoping for a dry spell tomorrow so measurements and design can begin. Well if it's too wet I have a live steam A4 to test on my rolling road.

Hi Mark Thanks for your kind welcome and encouraging words. I have just won an auction for a Hornby live steam set. Best anti aging cure ever from 61 to a kid again in one fell swoop Interesting comment re track bed height. Can you give me a heads up as to what is the optimum height and why. Sorry but I did warn you re pestering I'm gonna make a start at the weekend so brace yourselves for more questions guys. I recon I'm going to enjoy this project. Cheers Dave

Hi All I am going to build a modest garden railway in OO gauge . Possibly with two separate track circuits to accommodate dcc on the inner with sidings, fiddle yard ect. And the outer for oo live steam. I envisage a track bed about a foot off the ground. Having never made an outside layout before I'm going to have to pester you guys for advice. Sorry (in advance) any tips or advice would be great Many thanks Dave