Garden Railway Forum

Well, finally after a year of pestering, the first footholds were made by the inspectors of the D&FGR, and the layout of Dolwyddelan with the run round loop and siding were laid out:











OK, i know it's early days, but i've made a start at least! I'm going to be away for a couple of days but once i get back, Plan B will commence on Phoenix, and the main yard (the bits pictured) will be build!

Looking good.

May I sugest that you buy some track that's more to scale.

Always good to get started, good luck with the build.

Well hey! I was wondering when you were going to get around to it! Well done you

At this stage, I'd not worry too much about what track you're using (ie use what you've got!) but maybe think about burying the sleepers in the (now to be permanent ) ballast.

Thanks guys!

I am going to be using a fair bit of my older stuff (the standard gauge stuff) but i am also getting some SM32 track as well from peco (hopefully in the not too long distanct future!)

What i'm going to try to do this summer is just get the basic bits of track down at least, and if i have enough spare time, maybe i'll think about little bits and bobs like ballasting!

Great progress! I need to start now and catch you up I suppose!

Regarding the track problems, I know that SOME stuff for Sm32 doesn't like the 0 gauge fine stuff, as the flanges hit the tops of the chairs due to the rail depth - my mate Ben has some. So that's worth thinking about for future purposes.

What about using the 0 gauge stuff in sidings and stuff like that where it isn't going to be run on as much? Then use the Sm32 on the main running line.

I'm going to use as much finescale in sidings etc as pos, but i am going to have to use some on the mainline to try to keep costs down (the main strech is longer than i expected!) I'll also upload the track plan soon (most likely tonight)

Well, it's been a while and nothing has happened since! (mainly cause of the blumin rain! ) but here is a track plan of the layout:



The dotted lines are the edges of paths and it also shows the layout of the main station (Dolwyddelan) with the run round loop and siding.

Looks like a good plan. Why the extra height of the bricks?

wuld it be possible to incorporate some more curves? Just thinking it may get a bit boring with a huge long straight.

I nearly had a return loop and never came up with a final solution to how I was going to operate the turnout.
How are you planning on tackling it?

Oh, and never mind the rain, get out there ya wuss! I've been out in it and remodelled the top end of my line and squeezed a new station and town in, so when it stops raining I can get the detailing done

Well, the above plan may not have fallen into place, but another has....












Yep, the York & Poppleton Light Railway is now open for business, and two days ago the first official passenger train was run, with Britomart and Pheonix double heading!





If your wondering how the track has been laid, it's just my old track from Wales just placed on the patio slabs!

What is the track, Peco?

I'm suprised it doesn't melt/burn if Britomart comes to a stop above it

Yep Peco finescale stuff, needs replacing really! and nah, it stays in tact quite well surprisingly!

Well, there's been very little progress on the line, mainly because some Blackbirds decided to build a nest above the line, so was instructed to not go out and run trains incase it scared them away. Luckily they've given up (nothing to do with me, honest!) and ran the first train on the line in a while, and what better to run was Snowdon, which needed one last test run before it was "signed off" after it's "B" exam, and here's a small taster (and also the first video for the line!) of the loco working hard!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5iSIbo9UVr4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

OK, so it seems that I can't embed the video for some reason, so here's the link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iSIbo9UVr4

Cheers James - are you selecting "Use Old Embed Code" from the YouTube menu??

I was using the code at the bottom of the video under "Share", but strangely enough it worked on the mamod forum!

Try "Share", "Embed", then make sure you select "Use Old Embed Code".
Copy the code and paste it into here (don't use URL)