Ash Vale Light Railway

AHi All,

Some of you may remember I posted on GSM a few months ago with a few photos of my (then) garden and a track plan for it.

Well, before any track was laid, it was overtaken by events. I have moved house, and the nice thing about the new house is that it's mine, all mine <evil laugh>. This means I can do whatever I like to the new garden (which also has some interesting features to work a railway around).

Today was my first chance to get outside with a tape measure when the garden wasn't under 6in of snow, and of course, I then got straight onto XTrkCAD. The result is attached:

I figure it ticks all the right boxes:

• Continuous run with R2 and R3s on the main circuit. Only R1s are in loops and sidings. (I've also put short straights in between back-to-back R1s to lessen the effect)
• Possibility for end-to-end operations from the main terminus to the other station either way round the loop.
• Stations that can accommodate 6ft long trains
• A bridge across water!
• The patio is still largely free for me to use for other things
• It can be built almost entirely with track I already have in stock (bar a couple of R1 points and some R3 curves).

It'll have to be at ground or near-ground level (to allow the track to pass under the gate when it's open).
Power will be DC analogue (at least to start with, as I can't afford all the kit for DCC). I plan to make the bottom leg of the triangle a single isolated section which can have the polarity switched over as required.

I'd be keen to hear any comments or suggestions on the plan. It'll be my first garden railway, so I'll be learning as I go.

Next step will be to get outside with some track and loose lay it to see whether it all fits in reality. I'll keep you all posted with progress and photos.

Regards
Daniel

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Hi,

as that is just a plan, question is if u had bought track or if u go to buy track.
If second, i would change the switches and take longer ones.
For sure, this depends on what u are going to do on your RR.

If it is a small quarry or logging rail, R1 switches would be ok. If u tend to use US-4-axle-stuff or something, i would take other track.
R3 is ok, though.

Off that, i like that plan. It has the possibility to drive and to switch, u have a "through" station and a "head" station and a triangle to change direction.

All inside that plan. Like it.

Frank

..how slow must a man be to be run over by a shay?
www.g-scale-structures.de

coyote97

as that is just a plan, question is if u had bought track or if u go to buy track.
If second, i would change the switches and take longer ones.
For sure, this depends on what u are going to do on your RR.

If it is a small quarry or logging rail, R1 switches would be ok. If u tend to use US-4-axle-stuff or something, i would take other track.
R3 is ok, though.

I have already got most of the track, having been picked it up whenever I've found it some going cheap (either on eBay or through GSM members).
I did think about going for all R3 points, but they are just too expensive, my main interest is European narrow gauge, which should handle R1s, but if I do pick up any R3 points at a bargain price in the meantime, then I will use them instead.

good luck with the build daneil, best advices, go lay track down, the rest will fall into plasce...

RULE *8*

The most important rule...........
ITS MY RAILWAY, I WILL RUN WHAT I WANT, WHEN I WANT, HOW I WANT, AND IF YOU DONT LIKE IT..........
BUGGER OFF!

Looks good to me Daniel. What happens at the back gate?

Landquart Grusch Bahn
Running RHB on Massoth
I'm the boss in our house. SWMBO gave me permission to say so!
 
Openday 23rd June

A good plan - lots of potential. What height is it going to be. A small rise of just a few inches onto a little wall make operating far easier. I was lucky - my patio already had this wall, great for handling stock.
 

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Alan.

The Oxney Island Line in the heart of Kent.

http://www.pendleburymodels.com/

Philbahn

Looks good to me Daniel. What happens at the back gate?

The theory is that the back gate opens over the track (train services being suspended first of course). There's enough gap underneath it for it to clear the rails.
I might make it into a stable-door type gate, so that you can still open the top while trains are running (so any visitors can make their presence known and check for traffic).

stockers

What height is it going to be. A small rise of just a few inches onto a little wall make operating far easier. I was lucky - my patio already had this wall, great for handling stock.

I was originally thinking ground level, as a result of the gate issue above. However, having slept on it, I think that a few inches might not be a bad idea. It will also discourage the dog from lying on the track when he comes to visit.
It just means that there'll either have to be a grade to get it under gate level, or  lift-out sections.

It also means a lot more civil engineering. and although I can wield a wood saw and screwdriver, I'm no brickie.

My main concern is the section on the patio. I don't want to attack it with a pickaxe, so can anyone recommend the best way of supporting track on it without breaking the bank?

depends on how high it should come.

A good friend of mine layed his tracks on some foam-plates with a sort of cement coatage. Its something u need for building and renovating houses.

The plates can have just 6mm (just as a sort of cover) up to 50mm thickness. The 50mm-ers are suitable for building a kind of table:
just cut them as "stacks" in a length, put it puward on the ground and lay big plates on top of that as an even area where u can e.g. put easily a station on.
under that construction u can put some not needed flowerpots, a bucket full of G-Scale ballast or things like that. The space isnt lost.

For lesser heigths, i would lay down a plastic foil, put on some ballast and dirt and build-in the RR. But be careful. to fill an area with just 3 or 4 inches of material, u might run often with the pushcart.....

Both methods allow to "back-build" the RR, just with some stains on the patio.


Frank

..how slow must a man be to be run over by a shay?
www.g-scale-structures.de

LittleRedTrain
 



I'm no brickie.

You don't need to be
 

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The Wild West Sussex Railroad lurches on 

Well, buoyed by the positive comments on here, I thought I'd spend the evening testing how the plan relates to reality.
Surprisingly well so far.

The photos show track for bottom-left corner of the plan loose-laid on the ground.





As you can see, the conifer trees are the biggest obstacle here, and I'd rather not remove them if I don't have to.
I may move the whole thing a little further from the fence to give me a bit more breathing room.

More challenging will be the pond area (top left of the plan). I'd forgotten to include the conifer in the corner, so i'll have to find a way to work around it.



The neighbours probably thought I was nuts, crawling around the garden on hands-and-knees at night.

These guys certainly did:



I haven't told them yet that their hutch is being compulsory purchased and relocated to make way for the terminus!

[Edit: Just realised I missed a 300mm straight out near the bottom left conife, I thought it looked a bit tighter than it should, still works though]

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LittleRedTrain

The neighbours probably thought I was nuts, crawling around the garden on hands-and-knees at night.

Wait 'till you start playing trains!

Rob Guinness
Stout Controller
Madog & Mersey Railway Co (SM32)

In my Father's roundhouse are many loco sheds.
 

Looking very good, I like that track plan. My own railway construction is on hold as we're planning to move house in the near future and I'd rather wait until we get settled before I begin any major construction. It's very frustrating though! Occasionally I lay some temporary track in the garage or out on the lawn but it's no substitute for the real thing. But keep up the good work and let us have plenty of progress reports.

Glen

My Flickr photo site 
My YouTube videos

a good start buddy - twas the way  i started ,chuck it down and see what fits

http://www.youtube.com/user/mbif?feature=mhum

At least you've got some assistants for ferreting around for bits

If the world is round how come I always fall flat on my face?

Just keep going, you will find that it grows and changes as you go along and don't forget the testing, you need to do a lot of testing. Mike's an expert on this subject

Bram
GSS GSC

In Leafy Warwickshire

Time rich, cash poor but enjoying life 'cos nobody leaves this world alive

I was speaking to a friend of mine today who has some bricks that are going spare.
(They were actually destined for an OO gauge garden railway, but never got used)

I was wondering whether I could loose-lay the bricks on the patio, drill and fit rawplugs into the top, and then screw a wooden board(s) into the top of them to act as the track base.
Has anyone tried anything similar, and if so, did it work.

My main concern is what happens if the bricks get kicked by accident? Will gravity plus the board holding everything together keep them in place?

Like this you mean?, works fine for us
 

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Matt 

I think it is  a great plan but do one thing.  The areas were you have two curves changing direction like in an S curve.  Put a 1 foot straight track in.  I noticed in the few shots you have, shows no straight in between the curves that change direction.  This could cause problems especially with  anything bigger then a two axle car. 

Kittatinny Mountain RR
http://kittatinnymountain.blogspot.com/

Yes i think that is one thing everybody would agree on. Having only had our railway down for about a year it is already one of the things we wished we had done differently. It can really detract from the realism of a nice long train.
 
Accucraft chopper couplings hate s-bends too!

Matt 

Thanks for the tips.

Matthew, that looks pretty much what I was thinking of. What wood do you use for the top, and how well does it stand up to the weather?

My intention was to have short straights, 80mm I think, between the reverse curves, but I don't actually have any yet so couldn't use them in my loose-laying exercise. I'll go for some that are a bit longer if they'll fit.

Basically it was 18/19m outdoor ply, although that picture is the very early stage of building...
 
Roofing felt was added and pvc edging to hold the balast in
 

 
 

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Matt 

Thanks, that looks nice, simple, effective and like it won't break the bank.

Hullo Daniel,
 
I like the track plan and I look forward to seeing the layout build progress.
 
Re brickwork, I've visited a layout in Cambs, where all the paviour type bricks had been glued together using silicon. Easy to dismantle if you get it wrong, and a good method if you can't lay mortar....

Gizzy, CME of the Logs, Gravel and Bricks Railway...

Cab Ride http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSrHIVmq8KY

Weybourne http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uY24RZzumM&feature=related

Shunting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGSD45IraEU

LGB MTS with PC Control

Well, I decided to take advantage of the nice weather today to do some loose-laying and checking. (Sadly no Testing)

After acquiring a couple of SH R3 points from Glendale, I've modified my passing loop plan to eliminate the R1 points.


I think I might have to reduce the length of the straight section a tiny bit to allow a little more clearance where the tracks converge.

I also loose-laid the triangle which connects the main loop to the terminus.


Of course, I had to get some stock out to test clearances. Sadly the track is too dirty and uneven to consider testing.


I now also have a small supply of bricks and rubble, which was removed from my garage when a rear door was installed. This should provide a start for civil engineering

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Well, taking advantage of the decent weather on Bank Holiday Monday, I made a start on the baseboards for the terminus station, assisted by my friend Adrian (who is a garden railway veteran, though in HO rather than G).

I've given up on the idea of using bricks, as I had very few in decent enough condition for re-use.
Instead I'm using 'Metpost' fence post bases, supporting cut-down fence posts and a standard ply and timber top, covered in roofing felt for waterproofing.

Step 1 was to loose-lay the track and decide where the supports would go:


Next the baseboard tops were built.


The fence posts were hammered into the Metpost bases and then attached to the bottom of the board. Finally, roofing felt was laid on the boards for weather protection.

The bin liners are covering the framework that the adjacent baseboards will attach to.

Of course, I had to check that the stock fitted OK.


Next phase: The three tracks will merge into one alongside the fence (so you can walk alongside them) and then fan out into three loco sidings.

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Well you have been busy mate.
 
This topic also threw up some interesting track laying ideas i may store for the future.
 
Look forward to seeing a lot more of your railway as it matures.
 
Jason.
 

Jason.

The Waterloo Creek Railroad Video Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/jisonga
 
My Partners Animal & Wildlife Video Channel - http://www.youtube.com/wildlifevideo

Since my last post, things have been moving on slowly and steadily.
A couple of months ago, I completed the baseboards for the loco sidings alongside my conservatory. I then hit a snag when it came to preparing to lay track.

Having read the various posts on here about ensuring electrical connectivity, I decided to go for the belt-and-braces approach and bond track sections.
However, as others have found, it's hard work soldering LGB track, even with a 120W gas iron.
Eventually, after having a high-velocity blob of solder come within 5mm of hitting me in the eye, I decided to give it up as a bad job.
I'm now using fishplates + graphite paste for joins between new/clean sections of track, with Hillman rail clamps used for second hand/dirty sections (after cleaning the ends with a fibre-brush.

After this decision, things moved quickly, and today I finished off the track laying in the terminus and sidings. (With additional entertainment provided by those kindly people at Farnborough airfield).


A view along the station wih the Stainz on testing duties. The loco sidings can be seen in the background.


A more general view of the terminus itself. The vegetation is going to have to be kept in check for normal running.
The two roads nearest the camera will have an island platform between them. The rear road will be for loco run-round/freight. The short siding will be for the station pilot or a spare loco.


Checking the platform roads for length, a couple of GSC members might recognise the stock on the middle road.

The end of the day saw the first train movement, with the Stainz moving up and down the station. This was achieved by using some LGB track terminals (which had to be attached above, rather than below the track as there isn't a way of getting them underneath track once it's pinned down).

Next step is to build the control panel and wire everything up. The advantage of using rail-clamps is that I can put a crimp on the bolts and supply power through that, rather than trying to solder the wires onto the rails.

I also plan to start work on the next baseboard (so the throat point doesn't end up hanging in mid-air. This will be an interesting exercise, as it's the board that contains the triangle section and will also be venturing into the jungle part of my garden.

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Coming on really nicely mate all looks very well built which should help with soomth running, please keep us updated with progress.
 
Jason.

Jason.

The Waterloo Creek Railroad Video Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/jisonga
 
My Partners Animal & Wildlife Video Channel - http://www.youtube.com/wildlifevideo

Looks very nice indeed.  Please keep on posting the pictures! 

Chef Des Trains: Ruritanische Staatsbahn/ Uritán állami Vasutak/ Ruritanian Railways
Off the beaten track in Middle England (but worryingly close to Bromyard)

Well. progress towards the end of last year hadn't been as good as I'd hoped (work, women and weather getting in the way).
However, I've made it my New Years Resolution to get the railway finished track/baseboards wise this year, and I've been making a good start over the last couple of weekends.

On Sunday 9th, I built the small oddly-shaped baseboard adjacent to the existing terminus, which will be one corner of the triangle.

Like the terminus, it is standard ply top with timber frame, covered in roofing felt.
The photos shows it in place, with some track loose-laid.

Then, I spent last weekend dodging raindrops installing the baseboards as far as the back fence.


Here, I'm using 6in wide decking as the track bed.
The baseboard alongside the fence is screwed onto horizontal chunks of fence post, which are then attached by metal brackets to the bottom of the fence (once I found sections that weren't completely rotten).
The rest of the decking is on top of short fence posts, which are inserted into spiked Metposts.
At the time of the photo, not all of the supports were in place, but by the end of Sunday, all baseboards were in and secured.
The track here is only loose-laid at present until I've put in the boards for the other two sides of the triangle (to make sure everything aligns correctly).

I've got a week off work next week, so, weather permitting, hopefully I'll make some more progress.

--
Daniel

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Looking good so far.  Glad the weather is holding up for you.

Kittatinny Mountain RR
http://kittatinnymountain.blogspot.com/

Hi, looking like you will have a great railway.
One observation - you have used insulated fishplates on both rails for your station sections. It is not necessary to break both rails - it works fine to keep one side of the track conrinuous and just break the other side. This also makes wiring up much easier as you only need one wire to each section.

Alan.

The Oxney Island Line in the heart of Kent.

http://www.pendleburymodels.com/

I agree, common return does make life easier, but I went for the double-insulated joins as I want to allow each section to be switched between two controllers (which could potentially be on opposing polarities).

That way, one person can be doing some shunting in one platform or the sidings, while someone else brings in a train from the main line.

Point taken.

Alan.

The Oxney Island Line in the heart of Kent.

http://www.pendleburymodels.com/

 
Looks like good solid progress.

Progress continues, despite the rain.



The baseboard for the next leg of the triangle is in place and secured. You can tell where the track was sitting during alignment by the dry spots on the board!

The track along the straight leg is now also secured into place.

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Progress continued today, with the baseboards for the third leg of the triangle installed and track loose-laid on it.

The two points are still loose, and the baseboard under the one on the left is just temporary, until I work out how far I need to extend it for the next seciton.

Unfrotunately, there's a bit of a gradient on the curved section, but hopefully it won't be too much a problem

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The 'Head of Steel' continues to move forward, slowly, but surely.

Today's progress

The overall view of work done so far.
The next phase is to complete the loop round the pond by connecting the point on the left to the other end of the triangle on the right. This will give me a continuous run for testing while I'm working on the main line (which branches off at the new point will and run behind the tree).
If the weather holds, I might even get it done tomorrow.

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Well thankfully the weather held (despite some rain last night) and I was able to complete the last bit of the initial circuit.
 
As it was getting dark, I rigged up some temporary wiring, to allow the Stainz and 4-wheelers to run the first train round the circuit under its own power.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olnv5BdBQ9U
(Apologies for the poor quality, my camcorder's not great in low-light).
 
I've now decided that, now trains are running, the railway needs a name, so I've settled on the 'Ash Vale Light Railway', and renamed the thread accordingly.

superb matey - keep at it

http://www.youtube.com/user/mbif?feature=mhum