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

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...

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

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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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

LittleRedTrain
 



I'm no brickie.

You don't need to be
 

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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!

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

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

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

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

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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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. 

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!

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.