Garden Railway Forum

this is great looking very good looking forward too seeing this progress

More progress today, getting the other end of the present line ready to cross the path. First off, a quick review of yesterdays efforts.

Its rained overnight but everything looks good and Ive got a reference for the pier I'll be putting in today. First job, build the pier and get it set in position, in POSTMIX again, and checking its level and inline with the existing trackbed.


The reversing line comes in very close to this pier so a PECO small radius point was chosen along with matching curves to cut out any problems with dogleg joints in flexitrack, and maintain an even curve. The filcris again went together very easily, Im very impressed, and it wasnt long before the trackbed was taking shape. Single posts were put in around 2 feet apart with the outer rail set a couple of millimetres higher to give a bit of cant and aid progress around the sharp curves. Wheeeee!!!


Again lots of level checking and rail level sighting to get things nice and straight.
It seemed to go relatively easy and soon I had things well sorted and a complete connection. The diesel was fired up to do a few test runs and apart from a slight deviation where the filcris meets the blocks, my fault, I was knelt on the string line!, its looking fine and dandy!


Super elevation I believe?..... Dee Dah....

Great (and rapid) work, lovely to see such good workamnship.

I agree with everything Pipindo says about Filris. I'll be very interested to know if the elevated sections suffer from expansion problems. As Pip say, it IS very flexible and boy don't it expand! I'm burying all mine to shade it from the heat. It means most of the railway will be on embankments but it looks ok so far - even without tyrack on it!

Keep us posted on progress.

Sorry, had to chuckle about kneeling on the string line, been there done that.
As Andrew has said very nice neat work Pipp, the branch will make for interesting working.
Grant.

With NOBBY leading, the Down Evening Mixed swings away from Hollycross, closely followed by DELILAH with a motley collection of wagons. Well...I can dream a bit...  :?

Very nice Pipp, that's a beautiful loco and it looks great heading through the greenery!

Andrew

Thanks again Andrew, locos were despatched off to Rhos Helyg for R/C fitting, any other work, and repainting and lining, and I can't recommend Tony's work high enough. Further developments this morning included sorting out the realignment of the outer platform line to ease the connection back onto the main line. This involved dropping a trimmed block into the gap, set as ever in POSTMIX, before going to ASDA. Upon my return an hour later, the track was slewed across, secured, and a new (old!) section dropped in to complete the connection. The diesel did half a dozen passes without incident, and it was signed off by the Pway gang, or at least it will be when they return from the Railway Tavern. Hopefully!

Looking great already. Certainly helps when the planting is already well established.

Rik

Greetings from the Hollycross Railway Company!! First off, my apologies for the long absence just as progress and interest was bumbling along in tandem, Im back now though and ready to begin the next part of construction, though as some of you may recall, my methodology is somewhat 'unusual' so if anyone who was previously duped into believing I plan everything meticulously, it may be best to look away now!
Right, we have 2 sayings in Yorkshire, one is 'Ey up cock!', the other is 'OW MUCH?!', so when Lord Hollycross approaches anything like this, its very much what was good enough for the Romans, its quite good enough for him, Thank you very much! So...

String, in balls, very cheap, very useful and if its pulled tight, very straight and level!....so, if for instance, you tied one end of your string to a sleeper end.... ....then walk along, keeping it tight against the railhead.... ....pulled it tight, looking along it to make sure its straight.... ....then pinned it to a fence, for example.... .... You'd end up with a straight and in-line string line! Fun isn't it? So lets do it again then, from the other side of the gap! ....still with me? So now we've got 2 in-line string lines from either end of a gap, and a fence that wont blow down cos its tied to our railway....lets join em up.... ....and.... Wey Hey Missus!! The wooden rail has been secured between 2 fence posts to help keep things stable, but it really DID end up almost perfectly level!
And thus, Lord Hollycross's team ended up with a well surveyed, non engineered plan, which provided a line of route for the rest of the circuit, an ideal spot for a steam up area/siding area and most importantly, pork pie and beer bottle storage area, and under the shade of the trees. Right, me and the team are off to the Railway Tavern for some recuperation whilst you re-read it all in absolute disbelief and wonder however it all works! It has so far though, and it will. More later, Cheers chaps!
One more shot, because every garden railway project needs a train piccie
so, below, we catch intrepid Top Link Hollycross driver Albert 'Oi loikes t' go faaast' Bracegirdle and his regular steed NOBBY, trundling past with hopper wagons and wondering why there's string hung everywhere, and what was that loud TWANG!......

this is all brilliant looks like you have had a busy weekend nice weather for it too great use of a string line

Still laughing about Albert and the "Twang", in fact the whole story. Good to see you back at it.
Grant.

Albert! NO!! I really don't care how much you 'can back up a bit!'......

Great update Pippindo.

How is the Filcris doing on the warm days? Mine is all at ground level and will be buried, even on embankments. The recent warm days have resulted in some movement due to expansion of those areas as yet unburied. I notice a significant proportion of yours is up in the air, so I imagine the problem could be more noticeable. That said your construction is much more rigid than mine, I'm just using runners held with 400mm long posts at 900mm centres and spacer blocks half way between, no top boards like yours and only single posts too. It's cracking stuff though and worth every penny. I've even ordered some bigger sections for other gardening jobs. You're right about the service from Filcris - it's second to none!

Andrew

This is a great thread, love the style so keep us updated please.

I took the plunge with Flicris recently for a non-garden railway project and was very pleased with the service although it is not cheap and they charge for delivery as the material comes direct from Germany by road.

The more popular it get's, the cheaper it will become...

Is that Albert's leap of faith!!! "I loikes to fly too". Love the look on his face, I'm sure I can do this"
Grant.

Prior to early retirement, I had 31 years train driving and met so many 'characters', dedicated and true railwaymen but absolute nutters some of them! I want to remember some of them at Hollycross and more will appear in due course with stories of unbelievable derring-do attached........
Filcris is brilliant! Its very easy to work with, its flexibility makes it so but CAN also be tricky but I've found that with enough support it soon firms up and haven't yet noticed any problems at all, including expansion Andrew. I did note last summer that the rail joints closed up in hot weather, as I'd expect, but nothing more. I've placed my upright supports at roughly 2 foot intervals, and on the new raised section will use a two-legged support every 6 foot or so for extra stability. The top boards help take out any slight irregularities and will have low sidewalls attached on the high sections, just in case Albert's ever late for his tea!

I look forward to future posts, especially if it involves recollections from the good old days. Whereabouts were you based?

I strongly suspect the rigidity of your track bed is down to the top boards. I've done a good deal more filling up around my construction and there are no further signs of movement. Mind you, it has been much cooler and I was away during the red hot weather after Saturday. I'll post updates if that situation changes.

I look forward to seeing more of your railway, it looks very intersting.

All the best,

Andrew

Spent most of my railway career based at Leeds Andrew, including 4 years as an Instructor/Assessor before returning to the footplate for a last spell at Harrogate. I then retired, sort of....... I'm the clean one, front right, and my steed for this trip from Carlisle to York is 37516 Loch Laidon, tucked in behind the 8F. I'm currently playing bus drivers with FIRST, again in Leeds!
Yes, the top boards on the track bed definately do tie everything together and stop a lot of the twisting. I usually fasten each of them with 2 screws initially so the Filcris can sort of find its own level as I progress, then I go back and add another 2 screws to each top piece and it all locks solid.

Yesterdays project was getting the steaming bay area in place. Its of timber construction for stability, with roofing felt for added protection, and will see the main circuit running at the back and 1, maybe 2 sidings inside for loco preparation etc. The gangers are aware that theres a tree ever so slightly in the way, and consulted Lord Hollycross about the problem. As ever, his solution was entirely practical and straightforward, " Aye lads, but it's a big b*gger an' it'd take some shifting. Nah, leave it be!" Job sorted! You'll see that the Filcris top framework is already in place, secured where it needs to be, and my next task is 2 'oles, 2 legs, 2 shovels of POSTMIX, then coffee and a doughnut!
Note the simple string line to which everything has been matched! Some matching paving will be put in front of the steaming bay and the lawn and flower beds tidyed up after to keep things nice.