A simple Gauge 1 garden line

[Neil]

Many years ago in my wage slave days I worked at a day centre. The caretaker's duties included a daily check of the minibus; he had a special stick which fitted between dash and brake pedal so that he could check that the brake lights worked. Being a bit of a prankster I hatched a plan to borrow the stick each day when the caretaker was on his lunch break and shave a small portion off, the idea being that the stick looked the same but got increasingly difficult to position effectively.

Could you not employ the same technique Simon? "The lawn's looking a little scruffy darling; I'll trim the edges."

 

[Phill Dyson]

3 ten feet sections made from a rigid but light weight wooden design sections might be a worth a thought Simon ?........I'm thinking the less pieces, the less of a pain it will be to set up & get running each time maybe ?

Some pics plotting the proposed path of the removable section would be handy

Neils idea of shortening the gap a bit could be a go'er too .......I'm not sure about the steel section idea though personally, it could take forever to construct & prove heavy & cumbersome to set up ?

BTW I've had a few setbacks in the past with planning permission too ......... but I designed the garden from scratch with raised erm flower beds that just happened to plot the path of a garden railway

Onwards & Upwards !

Phill

 

[lancer1027]

Simon, you could always tell SWMBO it was her idea in the first place and what a great idea it was to have a nice permenant section across the lawn.. OK coats on and im leaving the building

 

[Steve Cook]

At the request of Simon (I wonder if its to help in the pacification of Mrs C vs Mr C in 'The Saga of the Garden Railway' ) I have taken a shot of the line and bushes at the station end - its all filling out quite nicely



A couple more 'trees' have made their presence known, some more Bonzai Bonsai modelling is called for after Camrail.

 

[Simon]

At the request of Simon (I wonder if its to help in the pacification of Mrs C vs Mr C in 'The Saga of the Garden Railway' ) I have taken a shot of the line and bushes at the station end - its all filling out quite nicely

View attachment 12501

A couple more 'trees' have made their presence known, some more Bonzai Bonsai modelling is called for after Camrail.

That's well green!

I've got to go, the dinners in the dog apparently

Simon

 

[Captain Kernow]

It's the in the ground bit that is going to be most tedious.
Simon

Simon - this may be totally off the wall, but thinking about the 'NIMBY' protestors to HS2 in the Chilterns, couldn't you tunnel under the main section of lawn. A bit of cut & cover, with a couple of cunningly disguised removeable sections for access?....

Some gradients, certainly, but it would certainly add to the operational interest. Obviously part of the existing raised section would have to be sunken to get to 'tunnel mouth' level, but what if that was the only way to get a continuous run??.....

 

[Dog Star]

And all of that reverberation / echo from hydraulics at full throttle as the service runs through the tunnel.

 

[daifly]

Simon - this may be totally off the wall, but thinking about the 'NIMBY' protestors to HS2 in the Chilterns, couldn't you tunnel under the main section of lawn. A bit of cut & cover, with a couple of cunningly disguised removeable sections for access?....

Some gradients, certainly, but it would certainly add to the operational interest. Obviously part of the existing raised section would have to be sunken to get to 'tunnel mouth' level, but what if that was the only way to get a continuous run??.....

Further thoughts on the above - you'd probably need to plan on pushing a giant bottle brush through before running to shift all the leaves, cobwebs, spiders and other vermin and detritus that will have made the tunnel(s) into their home.

You would also need to watch levels to prevent the tunnel(s) flooding. How about raising the lawn over the tunnel(s) rather than lowering the track (or a combination of both)?

 

[Simon]

Some gradients, certainly, but it would certainly add to the operational interest. Obviously part of the existing raised section would have to be sunken to get to 'tunnel mouth' level, but what if that was the only way to get a continuous run??.....

As far as I am aware the LSWR didn't operate any rack railways​

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I think Neil's right, I can probably get away with some "creeping permanence" coming around from behind raspberry bush​

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Simon​

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Trying to update the shop website and getting distracted by lunch the universe and everything...​

 

[Steve Cook]

A good day today (if one ignores the fact that I'm drying out walls and ceilings!).
Up at sparrows fart to give the newly MOT'd Caterham a good run round the local lanes, then back to cut the grass, trim the bushes and trees in the front garden, then do exactly the same in the back garden. A run with the live steamer, then out with the Pannier and Autocoach. Much faffing about later and I've got the the autoshuttle working nicely with the Pannier - in fact its running around with the Autocoach in tow now

I have spent about two hours this afternoon trying to get some useful video footage from both the train as it runs and from a lineside perspective, alas I've failed miserably on both counts Sorry 'bout that - I'll have another go soon.

A couple of pics from this afternoons running

Arriving at the (only) platform



Going cross country back up the line



I know they are both slightly out of focus, but the train was running at the time

Steve

 

[lancer1027]

Very nice Steve. The planting looks great now its matured. I do like the sculptured trees

Rob

 

[Steve Cook]

Far too much fun....

I know, doing it again tomorrow

Very nice Steve. The planting looks great now its matured. I do like the sculptured trees
Rob

Cheers Rob They are coming on well and have some more company courtesy of a visit to the local nursery this afternoon. A selection of conifers for behind the line, some box to start masking off the trackebd above the mud monster protrusion and a couple of tiddly little lonicera jobbies to fill in a some of the resulting gaps.



After dinner, Ragleth came out for a post rebuild steam up - no more weeping and no new leaks after taking it all apart My little 'helper' even came over to see what the noise was



Fair to say he wasn't that impressed with either Ragleth or the new planting

 

[40126]

I know, doing it again tomorrow

Cheers Rob They are coming on well and have some more company courtesy of a visit to the local nursery this afternoon. A selection of conifers for behind the line, some box to start masking off the trackebd above the mud monster protrusion and a couple of tiddly little lonicera jobbies to fill in a some of the resulting gaps.

View attachment 12907

After dinner, Ragleth came out for a post rebuild steam up - no more weeping and no new leaks after taking it all apart My little 'helper' even came over to see what the noise was

View attachment 12906

Fair to say he wasn't that impressed with either Ragleth or the new planting

Steve, Your layout is an inspiration to me, when my 7mm takes shape, maybe later this year,it will be in the same vein. Raised off the ground with a border & plenty of foliage.

Lancer (Rob) & I have taken measurements for it. A thread will in turn be started.

Steve

Steve, Your layout is an inspiration to me. When my 7mm takes shape, maybe later this year, it will be in a similar vein.

I've got the measurements, helped by Lancer (Rob). A thread will started.

 

[iploffy]

+1

Very akin to Down Ampney.......

ATB

CME

Yes what's happened to the layout

 

[Steve Cook]

Cheers Steve and CME, very kind of you to say so

If I can help with anything just shout - I'll look forward to seeing updates on here

 

[Steve Cook]

Not much to report from my recent absence, a complete loss of modelling mojo and lot of work means I've done absolutely nothing railway wise for ages A bit more fired up after this weekend though, some infectious enthusiasm from Simon, plus a chance to catch up and chat with friends at the Shepshed show and the S Scale Society meet has seen some sparks of life in the mojo department. Got out in the garden on Sunday morning, a quick rail clean and plug in of all the controllers and it all still worked! No electrical joint failures so the stock came out for a run. Disappointingly, the Pannier played up, creeping along despite the controller being set to zero - this meant the auto shuttle function was next to useless. Can't figure out what has changed between now and the last time it ran, but the Ruston stopped working in sympathy about an hour later

Simon's stuff ran very well though, so they get to appear in the following photos

The Manning Wardle making progress down the garden





Simon contemplates DCC in the sunshine



The Class 22 idles just outside the station



The 48DS pootling up the line



The sensible thing to be doing right now would be to work out whats going on with both of the Gauge 1 loco's, so with that in mind I started an S scale wagon instead Not in the mood for fault finding, need to build something, but thats all for another thread...

Steve

 

[lancer1027]

Great pics Steve Especially the class 22.

The plants seem to have come on a treat now.

Rob

 

[marsa69]

looks like he's thinking 'Was that supposed to explode like that?'

 

[Dog Star]

Could this be a modern day version of the Tiffin scene from Carry on Up the Khyber?

You know, "Carry on Driving" starring Simon-the-Bookseller... trying to get the delivery dates for Wild Swan books using the "Dead Duck" applette on the latest in DCC handsets.

 

[iploffy]

Hmmm this things BLUE, I don't fully understand the mystic allure of this most wondrous thing, maybe if I paint it green and bash it with a hammer it will produce steam

or

Hmmm has anyone got a chain and I will soon drag those things off there and into the bushes