Garden Railway Forum

hi all

having just go the go ahead to build a railway in the garden i was wondering the best way to lay track thanks in advance

plewsy2105

There's almost as many ways to lay track as there are garden railfarers! The one thing that most * will agree on though, is to make sure your trackbed foundations are as solid as possible

* The one's that don't agree, will, eventually

ok how do i go about securing the track or do i lay it as on the real railways?

You can do it several ways and it depends on the garden. If you want track that is solid and you can walk on, lay it on concrete blocks and attach it every so often using wall plugs and screws or using a rowlands mix or some other ballast cement mix. My line is laid on a variation of blocks, concrete base (which is quite expensive) and paving slabs. Attaching to paving slabs by drilling holes is not easy at all and will wear out masonay bits quickly beacuse of the high flint content. It is up to you and will depend or your needs.

As long as you dont mind spending a long time cleaning and do not want to walk on it, i see no reason not to lay on loose ballast with wooden stakes to hold it in place at regular intervals.

My adivce is to lay the line close, but not at ground level. This minimises soil import and has the advantage of keeping it clean. Do not lay at the lowest point of the gaarden as this will fill with leaves even if you do not have trees in the garden.

plewsy2105 wrote:ok how do i go about securing the track or do i lay it as on the real railways?

If you have a concrete base, whohich is more than likely.

what we do at our club is  do a concrete base/ foundation, cut some wooden battons not much wider than the sleepers ,  then set them out every so often, screw them into the concrete,  nail or screw the track onto the battons, then ballast it all with some ballast mixed with a concretey like stuff.

or you could jsut screw the track straight to the concrete, but not as good as the first idea

theres probably easier ways tho..

like so, but the battons are wider to alow for another track

So many different methods, just for gods sake don't do what SLR midge did and anchor the track only in a few places onto thermolite block which is laid onto soil, or even use soil for embankments! The only reason the SLR north stays together I think is because the vegetation holds everything together!
Basically I would suggest a firm foundation, full thermolite blocks laid one after another (with no gaps, unlike Midge...) laid onto compacted soil (or gravel which would be better) I'd say is the bare minimum. I use a cast concrete base, with the screed concrete poured between 2 pieces of shuttering. The concrete mix was 1 part cement to 4 parts sharp sand. No stones meant it was reletively easy to drill. It does take time and the foundations need to be good (ie a few inches of hardcore below the concrete)
I hope this is of help, and good luck with the railway

andysleigh wrote:What we do at our club is  do a concrete base/ foundation, cut some wooden battens not much wider than the sleepers ,  then set them out every so often, screw them into the concrete,  nail or screw the track onto the battens, then ballast it all with some ballast mixed with a concrete like stuff.

When I last relayed the MDLR, I went to my local reclaimed flooring yard and bought damaged hardwood parquet flooring pieces, which are around 9" long by an inch-and-a-bit wide. I set these across the track bed on the sub-base one builder's level apart and levelled between each piece, also ensuring each piece was level across the track. I was able to make final adjustments when the concrete went in: the floor pieces (which will stand being cut in half for single track and being split lengthways if you're REALLY stingy like wot I am) ended up being flush with the surface of the concrete. Fixing the battens for my wooden-sleepered track was a doddle and you also have the advantage of being able to make fine adjustments to level as you screw the track down. After doing all that, the ballast is largely cosmetic.

ok thanks for the help guys i plan to build the line in several sections for ease of construction at the moment i have no stock or track iv only got a limited amount of money untill i get a job (which could be very soon ) iv already planed what to buy with my first pay check

thanks again

plewsy2105

Yes it is, but you're using LGB track which is (allegedly) elephant proof! My Brandbright / Tenmille track is much less robust - in fact if I accidentally tread on it, it gets wrecked!

I was considering building a low brick wall under ground. On which to fix my track. I have stacks of old bricks which ought to make a firm track foundation - especially round the curves. I don't like the idea of concrete much.

My track bed is built in two parts, the ground level and raised sections. The ground level is laid on concrete bricks sunk into the floor. This is done by cutting out the hole required, then packing the earth under the brick. Level the brick up and pack pea gravel around the sides to keep it in place. This method is quite strong enough for our purposes and I have used the same method for 4 years without any major issues. The raised sections are gravel boards laid ontop of old fence posts secured into the ground using the same method mentioned above. This has also proved a solid track bed although the odd board has "cupped" over the years. I can put some pictures up if required

Hancockshire wrote:I planned(& still)to put the track on levelled out soil & if it's not level, go over with a trowel. To keep the track down, I am planning to use moss for two reasons
1-Doesn't make the line stand out(until a train comes)
&2- appearance, I think it looks more realistic(how many railways had pristine balance in the 40's).

Oh I wonder how long that will last... At least peg it down somehow. If you really can't use any robust trackbed, I'd dig a bit of a trench, get some pea gravel or whatever, then pour it in and then peg your track to it with stakes screwed to the underside of sleepers every so often.


My railway's built on mainly concrete paving slabs, but the new extension is partly wood on stilts, and old railway sleepers just plonked into the ground then staked eitherside to stop em shifting.

If you really can't use any robust trackbed, I'd dig a bit of a trench, get some pea gravel or whatever, then pour it in and then peg your track to it with stakes screwed to the underside of sleepers every so often.

Seconded I'd also line out the trench with a "weed blocker" of some description - buy a roll of black bin liners and just roll it out along the trench (ie dont unwrap the bags!)

I did exactly this for the first incarnation of the W&LR, wanting to get something running quickly. The reasoning behind it was that LGB track, for all its faults, will "sit" in the ballast pretty well (unlike smerty two - esp flexitrack). So I speak from experience (Take a look at "The History" section of my website )

Moral of the story? Get firm foundations down - you won't regret it