Building a Garden Railway Pt3 - ECML cutting

[GeoffB]

Hi Guys,

A few months ago I posted some pics and info on the building of my garden railway, based on a ficticious version of the ECML. Since then (during our changeable summer) I have rebuilt sixty odd feet of new baseboards and widened them to take 6 tracks down what will eventually become a cutting some 25+ feet long, turning into 4 tracks on a curve into a through station and then into two tracks across viaducts.

The boards of the original line were showing their age (in other words, they were rotten!) and had to be replaced. As the idea was the above eventually, there seemed no time like the present and I might as well go to the full width to get where I wanted to be in a year or two's time.

So the old boards were ripped off, revealing the support beams to be in excellent order. A few coats of Cuprinol (does exactly what it says on the tin!!) and the original 4"x 2" timbers were ready to accept the new tops. These were prepared by cutting to shape and size, the edges routed to a bullnose to allow the felt to wrap round without splitting and then treated to three coats of Cuprinol. They were then screwed to the beams and additional strengthening added along the outer edges (well about 1 1/2" in) and adjustable cross beams screwed to the support piers so that the tendency to sag would be alleviated. After the two main straight runs of 24ft and 16ft were done, the corner curves were cut and shaped to suit and screwed in place and treated.

Torch on felt was then put on all the boards, which, as I am no roofer, was a little bit of a job doing it all by myself. After much chuntering and beating the elements and in between downpours, the felt was on and then finally wrapped under to complete the job neatly.

The twin tracks down the long 23+ feet long (to be eventually) viaduct section (the boards which had been put into place a couple of years ago when the original line had been moved to accommodate the ground level 5" gauge), were laid, taking some 16+ yards to complete.

The last curve will eventually be in a short tunnel, which will emerge from twin track into six tracks in a cutting. The idea behind this cutting is two fold. First to be like a sort of ECML flavoured cutting and the second is that it will be a sort of "semi-hidden" sidings where I can "hide" trains.

The six tracks were laid taking some 50 odd yards of track and six sets of turnouts. This then reduces to 4 tracks round a 11 1/2 ft radius curve into a through station, which is still in the build.

I will put some photos on later tonight.

Regards,

GeoffB

[GeoffB]

Here are some of the photos of the build, and finally showing the six track min line cutting section. I still have to decide what to make the cutting sides out of as it will eventually be built up on one side as a rockery whilst the other side must remain reasonably accessable for maintenance and the like.

The tracks are now pinned into placed and will eventually be ballasted. I have tested out the centre main lines with the little J71 a coaching stock, which ran well with no ill effects so it should soon be a runner.

The station area is in the build, the two main lines being laid, but all the turnouts and the double slips etc have to be made yet, so it will be runnable as a straight through at the moment until they are ready for laying.

The turnouts on the cutting section (where the tracks emerge from the tunnel) are 8ft radius Marcway and on PCB sleepers which are thinner than the peco track, so an extra layer of felt had to be torched onto the main felt and rolled down to the required thickness to keep the tracks at the same height. The turnouts at the opposite end (where they go into 4 tracks) are peco, so no problem there. The peco turnouts here are only 6ft rad, which as these two roads will be for goods traffic mainly will be quite acceptable in such a "tight" radius.

More later - but here are the photos.

GeoffB

[GeoffB]

These are the pics that should have gone up first.

[50A]

Superb stuff Geoff.
The curves look tightish on the 5" ground level, so you are probably not running 9Fs etc.
The O gauge is fantastic though, gives a great impression of size and length.

Andy

[GeoffB]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for those kind words. I'm hoping to put troughs down the centre two tracks - as per Langley or Wiske - for the A4s/A3s an run the slower passenger on the middle up and down trackswith the goods on he outer tracks.

The idea is that I will be able to "hide" trains in the cutting as they emerge from or prior to entering the tunnel section, then I can run some sort of timetable as and when I want. The whole line will be, ideally, operated by up to 4 or 5 people, but can be operated by just one as need be. The total run is 240+ feet, over half of which is 4 or more tracks.

The cutting sides are currently being researched to find suitable materials to make them out of,so that I can represent a grass sloping bank - similar to many on he ECML, but its got to be extremely weather proof and colour fade resistant! Anyonewith ideasare always welcome. I have looked at many ways but not come up with anything totally satisfactory to date. Planting is one idea, but that takes about 2-3 years to grow sufficiently to do the job - I used this idea on the embankment for the road under tunnel - you can just see it on the inside of the curve.

As regards the 5" - no, unfortunately the 9F will have to go somewhere else!! The 5" Butch (sorry guys, but it's LMS!!) runs really well round the 250ft run, the minimum radius is 15ft and most are 18-20ft or more.

Regards,

GeoffB