SwannyUK

I make cuts in the lengths of wood about two thirds depth and every 100mm or so. I then offer it up to where it needs to go, secure one end and see if any more cuts are needed. Once happy I screw in place then use wood glue in the cuts and on the outside edge just for belt and braces.

https://youtu.be/voX_E8pdjXg Please excuse the old random coaches used, just for testing until we get our own stock together :-)

The Pickle Line is open! It's taken about a month of solid work and swearing but we finally have a running train. DC for now. I'm off to sleep for a long time. Video to follow

Almost there! Had that moment today where you step back, look at how much work you've put in and suddenly feel VERY tired ha.

Another section done, ready for the bridge to be installed.

A few hours spent on the station building tonight. Some light weathering to the roof has helped dull down that "shiny new" look. Just the canopy and small details to go.

There is a very excited little boy in our garden at the minute...oh and my son haha. Trial fitting then it's back off to dad's for a paint job.

Cheers Andrew. I'll be using it almost like 2 separate layouts. When outside I'll just have a couple running around whilst I potter about, not needing to worry about the garage section. The 2 medium points they need to navigate should be reliable enough (I hope) that I can just leave the trains running on the mainline. Should I want to swap trains I'll head in to the garage.

Some good weather so more progress made today ready for the bridge to be fitted later this week. I could have taken the easy option and done a straight run but decided to add some interest with an "S". Once complete I'm hoping to put some nice big shrubs or plants either side of the bridge between the track and the fence to give the impression of the trains breaking out of cover.

All the track is now down in the garage, just in the process of wiring up. Having a play about with ideas for the station area. I'd love to have the station building on the road bridge level but due to having 2 very "inquisitive" cats I'm going to be developing some sort of hinged top that will sit flush on top of bridges either side of the scenic section so little paws and teeth can't get at my signals etc in the future!

Thanks Mick. I actually popped out today and moved a few coaches around and all seems well. I'm now waiting on some post spikes to arrive so I can construct the next section which will attach to the bridge. With a bit of luck the bridge will be ready to trial fit in the next week or so. During the on and off weather I've made more progress inside and laid about 80% of the track for the stations and depot.

Cheers Mike!

I went with just a few mm wider than streamline in the end. My sweeping curves are actually a lot wider than 3rd radius than I first thought so should be fine. More progress today and a few pics of the garden to give you an idea.

Track spacing - i've set widths to streamline in the garage as no two trains will pass on curves. Outside we will have a couple of curves that trains will pass on, I take it set track spacing is the safe bet here? In which case have folks been running streamline then moving out to set tracks for curves or left it all at set track spacing? The two sections where we will have track running side by side through a bend won't be anything less than 3rd radius.

I'll have to do a short video to show the space but this might give you an idea. About another 3m to where the fence joins from the left (in the process of painting) then around to the bush where the loop will be. For anyone wondering what the mesh fencing is, we have 2 house cats who have the back garden to roam around. The system is really good as they can't get out and other cats can't get in 👍

I had a brief window of sunshine yesterday afternoon so got the felt on, just needs wrapping around and tidying up today then we can hopefully get some track down. The next section will be moving from the slabs in to the garden and over the 1m bridge currently under construction

The weather put an early end to my progress today so we decided to go in the loft at dad's for a play instead 👍

Still a work in progress but gets used regularly especially now my little lad knows it's up there haha.

Thanks, I've made sure no corners were cut so hopefully should stand up to the weather. Not sure how long in total but I'd imagine a good 4-5 minute run.

Cheers Mick. That's a good point regarding seeing a screen in the sunshine, the wireless handset might be the way to go. It would also be easier for my little lad to control a train. Luckily I read a few posts regarding points outside before starting. All points, signals etc will be in the garage with nothing outside. I wanted to keep it nice and simple outside with the more complicated stuff inside for some shunting fun when the weather isn't great. We are very lucky with our garden as the layout will mainly be around the corner out the way (This is why planning permission was obtained relatively easily from my wife haha) As for stock, I'll be borrowing some of the trains from Dad's loft railway to start with. The era moddled there is mainly steam (no particular period) with the likes of the Scotsman, 3F, Pannier and a few diesels in the mix with a class 25 and 44. In time it will be anything goes really. Probably mainly diesels, I might be able to sneak a few in that I want 👍

Evening all, I'm Chris from sunny (well, sometimes) south Devon and I'm currently in the middle of building my first garden railway for my little lad who is 4 this year. A quick bit about me I suppose. My father and I built a 00 gauge layout in my bedroom when I was about 8, we then moved to the loft and expanded. We moved to Devon and again started a project in the loft this time switching to DCC. Years have flown by! We were just getting to the scenery part of the loft then I moved out, got married and had a little dude with another on the way. My son is MAD on trains and with permission from the chief we have been given the green light to get a garden railway setup. It will be a single line loop which doubles back on itself giving the impression of a double line most of the way around and my dad is building us a nice bridge to add to the interest. We are using inside the garage as our main station and "Thomas style diesel works". I've done a lot of research and went with 18mm ply supported by lengths of batten, treated fence posts, paint, 15yr roofing felt etc. There seems to be a million ways to do it and a lot of opinions on the right way so I've just gone with what works for me. The layout will be DCC operated with point motors, signals etc and hopefully controlled by something like the Z21 system so I can tweak train speeds from the comfort of my chair in the garden using my phone or tablet. I'll be having a go at building the platforms from scratch and also a dabble at weathering buildings etc for the first time. Anyway, enough waffle, lets have some pictures Hope everyone is staying safe and enjoying the nice weather when it appears. Cheers P.S - I decided to call it the pickle line as that's our nickname for our son