ThomasI

Hello Paul! just seen your question. I use for this purpose facade paint as used for painting plastered houses. You can actually get them in all common colors and shades. Best Regards Thomas

My friend Manuel was fast with the points. Again the installation of the servos and the decoder.

Hello Mick! It does not matter if it's done professionally from any objective point of view, it just depends on it is working on the one hand and on the other hand looking good as well. Both seem to be the case with you. One of my monthly German railway journals which I have subscribed, had recently a report on the construction of a garden railway (ok was in Gauge 1 and not in H0/00). They went seriously into the garden with a concrete mixer truck to concretize the route with enormous effort "quite professionally"!! Certainly the demands on the substructure in Gauge 1 are slightly higher than in H0/00. But I have not even concreted the substructure for my garden terrace ... ... I think professional can sometimes mean "completely exaggerated". 😂 Regards Thomas

For single-track track sections, I have now decided to use this Roco Line track with ballast. Simply because it saves you the tedious work of ballasting. And the ballast is with Roco more realistic in size than it's with Kato Unitrack.

From the bridge down into the curve of the high-speed route. Their area with the narrowest radius disappears in the tunnel, are only radius 730mm ... 😄

Hello Tony! Speaking of the curve decking beyond the bridge, this has been in place for five minutes, once the glue and cement are stable, it's time to lay the tracks. But your progress is also very considerable, I really like such generous and extensive station facilities. Regards Thomas

So, the high speed turnout is fixed and back and already glued on an HPL board for the second try.

So, after the frustration has passed and the summer has come back to Germany, I start in the next corner of the garden with the further construction. The curve sections of all tracks will run in tunnels, since the curves are relatively narrow and also because they are practically behind and under the bush in the garden corner. The top two red tracks on the map belong to the high-speed line, which is about 100mm higher than the conventional main line, which represents the two lower violet tracks on the plan. The upper violet track and the two lower red tracks branch off to the left (not on the plan) from the high-speed line and are in a downgrade to connect to the other main lines below the plan.

My dog does not tolerate cats on the railway. And the two rats that were stupid enough to walk along, he immediately punished with death penalty. What has probably spread among the rats, because since then, they have cleared the area widely.

So, my friend Manuel now has the ambition to make the high speed crossovers all weatherproof. Of course, I can not say if he can do it until the end of the gardening season this year. I'll lose a lot of time. But today I've demolished the substructure that had been damaged by dismantling the switch and rebuilt it. Now all I have to do is hope that Manuel gets there fast.

So have just found that it has solved the "threshold" for the moving froh. I was allowed to remove the whole switch again, which luckily survived without further damage. The rest of the area around but not. And I have no idea how I put the threshold again at the moving frog and that even so that does not happen to me somehow soon again. I can not do more than soldering. Out is the dream of the generous HSL through the garden. I'm just very frustrated, of course, I can still continue to build and reschedule, with switches from Peco and Tillig it works as I know. But at the moment I have lost all desire, I do not know if I carry on.

So, as I'm still waiting for the delivery of more HPL plates, I ballasted more sections and built a retaining wall against the ivy.

Really nice, your tracks in the mountains. Since I'm a bit jealous that my garden is just so flat ... 😃

First test run...

Well, it's not that bad in Germany right now. But I think there are more variants of the same product in the UK, be it in terms of color or form. Then you realize that individuality in Britain is historically anchored a little longer than on the continent ... 👍😎

I think your design with the aerated concrete blocks always very complacent. Unfortunately, in Germany, such aerated concrete blocks only appear to be white and have much larger pores. All hardware stores in my area have only those, mostly Ytong. Although they can be worked well, but since they are very absorbent, they can hardly be designed with a satisfying result in a different color... When it comes to crafting and DIY, you simply have a broader and better offer in the UK.

ViTrains does 00 too? I'm amazed, you get nothing on the continent at all.

Hello Mick and Tony! According to the German regulations, even a real turnout has to be installed in such a place, the so-called protective switch (Schutzweiche), which directs the train to a stump track in case of danger. The stump track is in such a situation mostly but only a few feet long so there ends the train in the flora or the ballast. The advantage of the British variant, of course, is that it takes up less space and is likely to be less expensive to purchase and maintain. The advantage of the German variant is likely that, if a train is derived in a dangerous situation, the derailment does not take place on the continuous track and therefore no damage to the track, so far in the case of use, the consequential costs are lower. In any case, I also have to install some such protection switches, but I'm still not sure if I actually provide them with a functional drive ... ... at least in the outdoor part of the layout there are just a few good reasons to keep this effort.😎 Regards Thomas

So I need "other eyes": The transition between the left bridge part which is in a slight slope that runs out and the plane running in the right bridge part, is that still acceptable or is it too obvious?

Hello Tony. I German the plant is called "Eibe". A yew can grow up alone to a respectable tree. The yew has dark green foliage which looks like pine needles and it is evergreen. Their "leaves" but especially their small red berries are quite poisonous. From the route parallel to fence for routing parallel to the hedge I get a curve with 3.5 feet. Because this is a bit low for the high speed section, I did not want to go under 7 feet in the visible range, I plan the first 15 ° of the curve with 5 feet, then the next 60 ° in the tunnel with 2.5 feet and then the last 15 ° with 7 feet and transitional arch to the straight, then visible again. Regards Thomas

Hello Tony! At the yew hedge ends my property. Therefore, behind the bush will be a curve and the track will continue along the hedge. The curve may be covered with a tunnel. Since I'm going on vacation for three weeks on Sunday, this will only be tackled afterwards. Best Regards Thomas

The bridge is making progress. It still lacks the bow in the middle. But waiting for the curing of the whole two-component glue takes. For that I have already freed the further route.

The bridge construction takes longer than expected.

Under the bridges only landscape. I leveld the ground board to make it easier with all the pillars. I fix the pillars on that WPC-board and cover that board later with gravel and stones and a few plants so that it will look like a dry river bed.

The foundation for the next bridges. It is later covered with split and planted. The superstructures for the bridge of the high-speed line are already ready for installation. In front of the bridge of the high-speed line comes at a somewhat lower level then another viaduct of the conventional main line.