# Garden Railway Construction.



## Tony Bird (Sep 30, 2018)

Hi,

A lot of the models I make are for use on garden railways.

About 8 years ago my wife who rules our garden said that the garden needed to be made easier to maintain! As I contribute little other than help move things around I could not but agree. She also suggested that we might like to lay a garden railway! She had already designed what she wanted done and it was found that with little modification a garden railway could indeed be fitted in. Contractors were consulted and given the design and early in April 2010 work was started. The work that should have taken about a week to do took three! The weather was appalling! Thankfully we were very happy with the soggy results.

The original garden.





Surveying for the railway.



One of the contractors at work.



The finished results.




Being of a sensible height so fairly close to the ground working on the garden railway shouldn’t have been a problem, but in recent years working close to the ground has been a problem, so it was decided to lay the track onto boards that could be worked on while standing. Then when complete the boards could be laid onto a prepared surface in the garden. The design of the track was to be a dumbbell shape. The track going around a raised flower bed at the top of the garden then with the help of two bridges cross a path and then run along the side of a wall to a removable circle of track just outside the house. The track which would be at ground level at the top of the garden would about 60cm (2’) off the ground at the house.

The track that was to be laid was Tenmille brass bullhead rail held in plastic chairs on wooden sleepers. This track looks very good but is labour intensive to lay. By choice I would have used Peco SM 32 track but the track  was a swap for an electric locomotive that I rarely used. So, with 90 yards of new track and 4 points thoughts were given to the designing and making the track bed. It was decided to use sections of 20 mm (3/4” ish) exterior plywood for the baseboards. After sealing the boards roofing mineral felt would be glued to their tops for the track to be laid on, their undersides would be painted and their edges protected with a plastic strip.

At this point our son came into the act as he has access to CNC equipment; for my birthday he gave me the 8 baseboards needed to go on the raised flower bed along with the plastic plates that would connect them. So, the first six boards were assembled and placed on the raised bed.
The gift.




With glue applied.




The covering.



Held down with weights while glue set.




A finished board.



The first six boards in place.





I will continue the Saga of the garden railway build in further posts.

Regards Tony.


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## modeng2000 (Oct 1, 2018)

Great to see you're keeping busy Tony.
Looks nice.

John


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## Tony Bird (Oct 1, 2018)

Hi,

It was now time to start laying track.  This circle of track would have two roads the inner dual gauges ‘G1’ & ‘0’the outer just ‘0’ gauge.  I run only ‘0’ gauge but occasionally repair ‘G1’ locomotives so the inner track would be used to test them.  There was to be two sets of curved points to connect the inner ‘0’ gauge track to the outer track.  Because on the inner track there was a common rail with the ‘G1’ track a special point was constructed.  The problem with ‘G1’is the different scales that use it G scale, G1, LGB etc they all have slightly different wheel profiles and axle measurements which can give problems with the check rails on points.  Our model club that runs most scales have used a special point, which is based on old tin plate track points such as used by Hornby, these points require no check rails.  The adaptation of this type of point I saw used on a layout some years ago so I claim no credit for the idea, though I might have tweaked it a little.

But first back to general track lying.  The rails are curved using a home-made rail bender that uses a compound slide as its basis.  Several track gauges both home-made and commercial we used along with a jig to keep the track parallel to the boards edge.  After the track was held down on the boards a piercing saw with its blade fitted up side down was used to square the ends of the track.

Type of track used.




Rail Roller in use.




Track gauges used.




 Board gauge in use.




Cutting track, the saw blade is upside down so the track is being cut upwards away from the base board.




Finished track on the a board.





I will put the photographs of the point construction in the next post.

Regards Tony.


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## Tony Bird (Oct 1, 2018)

Hi,

Making the points, first a scale drawing was made on lining paper of the track layout; which produced the compound curves for the rail along with the angle for the frog.  A jig was made to hold the rails that would make the frog while they were hard soldered.  Note for the running track the plastic chairs have spigots, which fit into holes in the sleepers and for further security pins to hold them down were also used.  The plastic chairs used on the points had their spigots removed and were held in place with pins only.  First the frog was gauged into place with one of the running rails and then the other running rail was gauged to the frog.  A template was used to position the rails of the switching section of the point which were held apart by strips of brass hard soldered to them.  The swivel section was gauged into place and its pivot point fixed.  There is a photograph of top to bottom a conventional hand-built point my RGR point and a Hornby tin plate point.  The check rails on the RGR point have no use they are purely cosmetic.  Because of the points design its point leaver works better towards the frog end.

The last two boards were then added to the circuit, these boards had pull off’s where points were fitted to allow the track to cross the path.  With these boards in place the first phase in the construction of the garden railway was completed.  It was to be sometime before the second phase of construction would begin mostly due to the fact that I now had a continuous test track; gone the excitement of chasing hot locomotives across the workshop floor before a trip to the model engineering club’s garden railway.

Point plan.



 Soldering frog.




Track gauges in use.




Rails for the moving section of the point.




Using track gauge to line up moving section of the point.




Soldering moving section of point.




Fixing running rail chairs with jig.




Final sections of track fitted.




Finished circles of track.





Regards Tony.


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## Tony Bird (Oct 2, 2018)

Hi,

We now have to move forward a year or so as no more had been done to the garden railway in this time, it was used as a test track.  My wife in her pottery class had made some house shaped tiles to use in the garden and the railway had gone through its first winter.

With spring it was decided to get a bricklayer to construct the next stage of the garden railway; he was to build a wall and several piers to hold some more baseboards for the rails after they had crossed the path.

First some foliage had to be removed which my wife did, then bricks were laid.  This done another year went by before a start was made on the baseboards to fit on the top of the walls.  First templates were made from 12” wide hard board. to check lengths and fits.  As each of the five boards was different they were cut by hand not by a CNC machine. Instead of plastic connecting pieces that had been bolted into recesses in the original boards these new boards used aluminium strips 1” x ¼” bolted to their underside with stainless steel bolts which held them together.  These boards were placed on the brick work to see how well they lined up; the track was then laid on these boards in the same way that it had been done on the original boards.   A pair of removable bridges to take the track over the path were constructed so the railway could be used in an out and back form.  This is how the railway stayed until recently.

The walls and piers built.




The hand cut base boards.




The new base boards in place.








Track laying.




Track in place.




The bridges.




My wife's ceramic tile houses.




Models of relatives that regularly use our garden. 





That brings the construction of our garden railway almost up to date I will continue with progress reports.

Regards Tony.


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## Tony Bird (Oct 11, 2018)

Hi,


The original circles of track has now been in place for eight years and the wooden sleepers are rotten.  So, instead of replacing them it was decided to replace the track with Peco SM32 track which has plastic sleepers.  It had been suggested by SWMBO that wouldn’t it be a good idea to finish the railway?  Though the original circle of tracks base boards were still in good condition the later boards that were out of the sun and were almost permanently damp had started to rot as well.  So, it would be quite a long job.

So before replacing the track used as a test track which was still just about runnable; a start was made on the raised circular section next to the house.

I have made two portable exhibition layouts for my own use and been involved in making three garden railways at the Cardiff Model Engineering Society.

My second layout is modular so can be erected in several sizes up to 25 feet by 15 feet.  All its base boards are bolted together and have folding legs which help reduce its size for storage.  It was intended that the boards next to the house would also have folding legs so they could be stored in the garage over winter.  On the portable layout it was found impossible two fit two folding legs to the curved corner boards so only one leg was used and the same system was used for the garden railway curved boards.  The single leg was placed at the centre of balance of the curved boards.  Its position was found by balancing the board length wise on a broom handle placed on the floor and marking the point of balance.

All the bolts and screws are stainless steel and aluminium tube is used as a bushes where the bolts go through the wood. The boards are constructed with 9 mm exterior plywood tops screwed to 2” by 1” baton edges, the boards and their edges are covered by roofing felt and the edges have a plastic strip screwed to them over the roofing felt.  The boards are held together using 1” by ¼” aluminium strips which are bolted to them on their top.  The track is laid so its joints are over those of the boards.  The track outside the house has a main line with a passing loop for steaming up.  There will also be a lifting bridge to give access to inside the track.

Except for the access bridge the garden railway at its house end is finished.  I am writing this while return home to South Wales from the last exhibition of the year for our model railway layout which was in the North of England.  When home and the layout in its winter storage I hope to continue working on the garden railway and if the weather is kind I hope to finish it for Christmas.  The photographs that follow is the progress to date.

Rotten sleepers.





Portable layout at full size.





Portable layout folding legs.





Garden railway boards legs retracted.





Legs erected.





Stainless steel fittings.





Aluminium tube bushes.





First three boards erected.





View from house test track in back ground.





Checking levels between base boards.




A few more photographs to follow.

Regards Tony.


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## Tony Bird (Oct 11, 2018)

Hi,

Further photographs.

Last board to be made outside the house.





Just needs a bridge.





Track laying.





Progress to date.





Regards Tony.


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## Tony Bird (Oct 22, 2018)

Hi,

Except for the access bridge all the new work is finished!  So, hopefully it will be finished this year.

I hope you enjoy the video of my efforts so far.



Regards Tony.


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## ShopShoe (Oct 23, 2018)

Well Done Tony.

The railway certainly adds interest to your garden.

Thank You for posting,

--ShopShoe


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## almarghi (Oct 24, 2018)

veeeery nice!!!


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## minh-thanh (Oct 24, 2018)

Very interesting.
I have a question: What kind of engine do you use ?


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## Tony Bird (Oct 25, 2018)

Hi,

With the exception of the bridge all the new work on the garden railway is finished so the original track has been lifted to be refurbished.

Lifting in progress.




All boards removed.




A board ready for stripping.




The board with track and edging strips removed.








The eight boards will now be left for some time possibly weeks to dry out before they are sealed and painted before the edging strips and new track is fitted.

*I have a question: What kind of engine do you use ?*

The track is 'O' gauge and I make and run 16 mm scale steam locomotives to run on it.  If you are not familiar with the scale it is based on full size narrow gauge engines running on 2 foot gauge tracks hence the 32 mm model gauge equals 2' gauge full size or 16 mm equals 1'.  This makes a small full size tank engine about 10" long and 4" wide as a model.  They are quite heavy which is the reason they haven't been run over the temporary bridge of track held in place with four fish plates and much lighter R/C modified children's toys being played with instead.

A start has been made on an aluminium bridge which might get completed today.








When the lift bridge is finished and played with, the raised section of the garden railway will be stored over Winter in the garage.  It is rather optimistic to hope that the pleasant weather being enjoyed at the moment here in Old South Wales will continue long enough for me to refurbish and replace the boards that I lifted the day before yesterday.

Regards Tony.


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## Tony Bird (Oct 25, 2018)

Hi,

Well I didn't get as far as I hoped with the bridge as the relaying the track took longer than expected and by 5 pm though it had been a sunny day it was starting to get cold.  The bridge  now will work but the track hasn't been secured to it and its sides need finishing.

The bridge raised.




The bridge lowered.




The hinge and stop.




Locating cheeks.




Buffer stop awaiting my wife's paint job.




New Track work.





Well that's it for a few days as we go to foreign places well England to visit friend and relatives.

Regards Tony.


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## Tony Bird (Oct 29, 2018)

Hi,

A little more progress:



Regards Tony.


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## ddmckee54 (Oct 29, 2018)

Tony:

Do you have interlocks to keep an engine from approaching the opening if the bridge isn't down?  Or is everything beyond the bridge powered through the bridge?

Don


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## Cymro77 (Oct 29, 2018)

Tony Bird said:


> Hi,
> 
> We now have to move forward a year or so as no more had been done to the garden railway in this time, it was used as a test track.  My wife in her pottery class had made some house shaped tiles to use in the garden and the railway had gone through its first winter.
> 
> ...


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## Cymro77 (Oct 29, 2018)

Tony, I really like your namesakes, hopefully they will have nesting spots!


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## Cymro77 (Oct 29, 2018)

Tony, quite an improvement over the setup when I was there.  Your ability and creativity never cease to amaze.  Don't forget a place on the line for SWMBO's ceramic village!  The Dragon Lady said I could use a portion of the backyard to build my own, we have a beautiful area, but I have never had the nerve to get started on it, now it's probably too late.  Though I am starting on a Dribbler"?" engine,  good to see you back on HMEM, I have been missing your articles.  Regards  DW


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## Tony Bird (Oct 30, 2018)

Hi Don,

*Do you have interlocks to keep an engine from approaching the opening if the bridge isn't down? Or is everything beyond the bridge powered through the bridge?*

There is no track power.  The engines are either steam or battery powered both of which can be radio controlled.  Thomas the Tank Engine is a child's toy bought from a charity shop for a £1 or so fitted with an inexpensive can motor and powered by four AAA cells and controlled by a radio control usually used in 'OO' model locomotives.  Regarding the bridge we are just careful to keep it closed.  The modified toys are used to entertain children at model exhibitions while the large kids play with the steam powered ones. Following is a video of my portable model railway in action which I hope you enjoy.



Regards Tony.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi David,

Good to hear from you.  Yes not a lot of postings this year as we have been away a lot. So, I really started on the GR too late in the year but have done better than I hoped, the work on the original track can continue in the shed and with help I might get it back down in the New Year.

Yes Gaynor's tiles will be in place on the GR when it is finished, her models of our relatives cost a lot less to feed than the live one ones.

I would like to see your progress on the Dribbler is there a post of it?  If you want simple construction designs for a raised GR let me know as a friend of mine has made in my opinion a very good one and other that the track quite cheap.

Regards Tony.


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## Tony Bird (Oct 31, 2018)

Hi,

As the weather remains kind instead of taking the raised part of the garden railway apart for storing in the garage along with the original test track which is drying out prior to being painted and having new track laid it was decided to run a steam model.  The model that came to hand was a gas fired VB locomotive with oscillating cylinders designed by Dave Watkins way back in 1996.  It is a model of George Henry a De Winton quarry locomotive this particular model is a modified version , I have two other models of  with different engines all of which run well.  I hope you enjoy the video.



Regards Tony.


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## Cymro77 (Oct 31, 2018)

Thank you Tony for sharing - Idris is pretty cool.  By the way, you are a lucky stiff!!  We had snow last night!!  And now it is snowing again!
DW


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## Tony Bird (Nov 8, 2018)

Hi,

The weather is starting to get colder, darker and wet so the out side work on the garden railway has ceased until the spring.  So a last play was had before the removable parts of the layout were stored in the garage. 



During the winter the original boards will be refurbished and the new track laid on them.

Regards Tony.


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## Tony Bird (Nov 28, 2018)

Hi,

Though winter has put stop to working on the garden railway; jobs that can speed up laying the track come spring are being done.  The original test track boards are being allowed to dry out before they are refurbished and the new track laid.

The original circular test tracks consisted of a dual gauge 45/32 mm track and an outer 32 mm only track.  There were four points that connected the 32 mm track of the two circles of track.  There were a further pair of points that connected the outer 32 mm track to the removable sections of the running road.







This worked very well but it was a lot of work scratch building the six points which were all different.  So, it was decided to have no points on the running road so it would just run on to and off the circular bed.  There would be a dual gauge inside this track to allow locomotives and stock to be tested when the removable sections were lifted.

The original dual gauge track had specially cut and drilled wooden sleepers and used the same rail and plastic push in chairs as the standard 32 mm track. 






There were three ideas for the construction of the new Peco based dual gauge track all of which had been successfully used on the Cardiff MES garden railway.  One of the Peco 45 mm tracks shares the same rail as the 32 mm SM32 track that is being used.  Other than the distance between the rails the track differs in the number of sleepers per yard used; 45 mm has 36 sleepers and SM32 has 24.  As the rail and chairs can be bought separately the easiest and quickest though most expensive way is to lay 45 mm track and then glue the chairs with the rail to the sleeper for the 32 mm track.






Probably the most attractive of the three systems is to strip the 45 mm track and put it back together using only 24 sleepers per yard and use the same system as above for the third rail.






Another way with an interesting appearance is to alternate 45- and 32-mm gauge sleepers.






As I don't know of any commercially made dual gauge track with plastic sleepers, I was going to use one of the above systems.  As can be appreciated I have many yards of perfectly good track, fish-plates, many hundreds of sleepers and still quite a lot of new wooden sleepers some of which are dual gauge.  I had considered using the old track with new sleepers for the test track, the old track had lasted eight years and it would be fairly easy to replace when necessary.  Over winter my usually nearly empty garage has my box trailer in it, this usually requires a bit of a tidy up.  During this operation I found some 6 mm thick grey PVC sheet left over from another job.  A thought, could it be cut up to make sleepers!  My very inexpensive circular saw was set up to cut 10 mm wide strips.  The rather coarse blade caused the thin strips of plastic to move up and down a lot.  A piece of metal clamped the saw’s fence stopped this happening. 










The sawed strips.







To be continued.

Regards Tony.


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## Tony Bird (Nov 29, 2018)

Hi,

To continue:

The strips were clamped together for cutting to length.






Enough strips were cut for eight yards of track to be made.






First a hole of a chair was drilled in one end of each sleeper.






A jig using the drilled hole as a reference was used to position the other two holes needed. 






The chairs were pushed into the holes.






The chairs were secured with the aid of a soldering iron.






The prototype track was assembled.






It was then put outside to weather and see if the cold and ice will have any effect on the chair/sleeper joints.  only another 7 yards to make!

If I had thought of making plastic sleepers earlier, I wouldn’t have had to buy 48 yards of track and each section of track could have been just lifted its rotten sleepers replaced and relayed!






Regards Tony.


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## Tony Bird (Dec 13, 2018)

Hi,

After realising that I would have to do without easy access to a test track though the winter it was decided to carry on fitting the track to the base boards in the warm workshop rather than the now cold and damp garage.  It was a bit cramped working on the track in the workshop but two days ago the last boards were laid and the first continuous runs on the track could begin.  This event was recorded for posterity at;



Regards Tony.


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