The Selby Garden Railway Layout

[mick]

As you can see above I have finally managed to begin erecting the train [garden] shed. Due to the unfavourable weather of late the shed sections have been stored alongside the house while I first constructed the concrete base and then managed to find suitable weather on a day when I had some assistance available to help get the sections put together. Thankfully, a task that seemed like it might be tricky for the 2 of us to handle was somewhat easier than first envisaged once I had fastened a batten to the side of one end section and used that to temporarily secure that section to the base. From then onwards it was plain sailing until darkness finally brought my work to a premature end for the day. I have covered the roof with felt and tomorrow I will be able to fix the windows in place and add all those finishing touches.

What will it be like once everything's up and running........

....well I've got a nice view of just about the whole layout from within the shed (might have to move that clothes drier thing though!).



It's envisaged that in the photo viewed from inside the shed, the line coming from the left across the covered viaduct section will enter the front of the shed to the right of the photo (to the left as you look at the first exterior view photo) whilst the line heading down toward the garden burner will enter the front of the shed at the left side (or right side as you look at the first photograph). At the moment it is intended that they will form a simple loop within the shed - the loop being comprised of a series of storage sidings, however, now that the shed is in place it is possible that plans may change as it's now easier to see what the best configuration might be. I had thought about removing the gradients altogether and not having the circuit run back beneath itself just behind where the garden burner is standing but I quite like the idea of seeing the trains running on two levels that way.

Hopefully it won't be too long before the Selby Garden Railway is back in operation.

[mick]

The exterior of the shed has now been painted with a shade of 'Woodland Green' preservative and some 36 hours later it's still not dry. I was going to give it a second coat but until I get the walkways sorted out it's fast becoming impossible to walk around the perimeter as the underfoot conditions are horrendous. The photographs of the shed area above bear no resemblance whatsoever to the actual state of the ground - especially to the rear and sides of the shed. I certainly need to sort out some suitable walkways but until it dries out a bit I can't see me getting anywhere fast.

[mick]

I don't feel as if I've done anything for weeks and perhaps in reality I haven't. Every time I decide to do something outdoors it seems the weather changes for the worst. I removed the temporary curve the other day in readiness for extending the tracks towards the newly erected shed and then woke the following morning to discover a 5 inch covering of snow had fallen!

The shed has still had just one single coat of preservative and looks decidedly rough and untidy at the moment. I could have taken a bit more care to get the felt roof covering fitted a bit better but it was my intention to stick it down rather than just use felt tacks, however, it was so cold on the day I was able to do it that the bitumen was almost solid in the tin and completely unworkable. In the end I had to rely just on the tacks so I'll try to sort it out later. At least it's keeping the wet out at the moment.





As for the tracks, as already mentioned I have now removed the temporary curve structure (see above) in readiness for extending the circuits towards and eventually into the shed. Within the shed I'm hoping to be able to have in the region of 8-10 storage sidings (4-5 for each direction) so that I can ring the changes during a running session. These storage sidings will of course be at a low level and will enter the shed somewhere around the third panel from the ground. As they're intended as sidings only that won't be a problem, in fact it opens up the opportunity of creating a separate indoor only layout above, which is something I'm looking forward to.

While I may not have made much progress with the layout I have acquired a number of new locomotives, all of which will be making an appearance over the coming months. In particular I have acquired several new class 37 and 47 diesel locomotives and I'm slowly building up a rake of the excellent Dapol FEA spine wagons which are incredibly detailed.

If the weather would just remain fine for a few successive days then perhaps I could get something cracking. I need to get the complete circuit back in operation as quickly as possible.

[mick]

Managed to spend a few hours in the garden yesterday (Sunday) and I've now finally got the track relaid where I had been removing the 'hump'. Having obtained some proper model railway layout wire I have also been re-bonding the track joins and adding them in places where there were previously none. In addition I've been fixing the track down at 4-5 inch intervals so that my little dog doesn't disturb it as he hops across! (It's either that or get rid of the dog!) I intend finishing all the existing track before I make a start on extending into the shed. The winter has taken it's toll on the surface of the running rails which are now very dull and a deep shade of brown but they clean up with no trouble whatsoever.

Reading about the Bachmann 'new products' announcement earlier on Sunday morning I was more than a little relieved to discover that there wasn't a great deal that took my fancy. I will certainly be in for the 'Evening Star' having missed out on the previous NRM version, but without going back for another look at the list there isn't much more that excites me. I guess that should be seen as a bad thing but with so much still to be released from last years announcement it makes for a welcomed bit of breathing space. We're still waiting for the Peppercorn A2's, the Robinson 04's, the Craven's 105's and a whole host of rolling stock so I have more than enough to be going on with for this year.

[mick]

Same old story, the moment I get something running the heavens open.

I'm not usually one for going to bed early but in an effort to have a good start today I kept away from the computer last night and went to bed instead. I was up nice and early this morning and raring to go. I got all the required tools out, armed myself with a quantity of cut lengths of wire and using a couple of breeze blocks as a seat I settled down to solder some more bonding wires across the track joins. I have now completed about as much as I can leaving just the long back straight where I am hoping to be able to lift the track slightly to lessen the gradient. I'll do that when I have the track at the right height to pass beneath the viaduct section as it makes it's way towards the shed. I have also relaid some lengths of track atop the viaduct and secured everything down nice and solid.

To reward myself, at around 1pm I decided to test my handiwork and so coupled up my controller to the track and got out the Hornby sound-fitted Black 5. It's surprising just what a difference it makes having a bit of sound coming from the loco (or in this case the tender) as opposed to not having sound at all. Even if it's not of great quality it's still much better with some sound than without.

I gave the rails a quick wipe over with the track rubber which removed the past 3 months of accumulated grime easily and sent the Black 5 on its way with a nice whistle! Before the loco buffers had reached the top curve it began drizzling and I hurried to protect the top vented Gaugemaster transformer before the rain got inside and caused any damage. I gave it a minute or two in the hope that the rain would ease but it only got worse and so I packed everything away and came indoors. It's now brightened up again......

[mick]

I thought I would nip outside during a break in the drizzle to photograph one of the track joins I have been bonding over the past couple of days.



I'm no expert when it comes to using a soldering iron but I've managed to get a nice firm joint. Just a short length of 16/0.2mm 3.0 amp layout wire soldered across the rail join to maintain electrical continuity should (or more probably when) the rail joiners fail. Surprisingly I have not yet burned my fingers!

The photograph below shows the same joint but with the missing sleepers now replaced. Of note is the fact that the rails you see in these photographs have been exposed to the elements outdoors without being cleaned since late last year. They've stood up pretty well and putting a shine back on the rail tops is no problem for the trusty track rubber. I've read somewhere that using a metal polish helps to reduce tarnishing of the rail top so I'm going to test that theory on a short length.



An finally, although no work has been done either inside or outside to connect this in with the rest of the layout, here's the garden shed now having had 2 coats of green preservative. Perhaps I need to look at giving the fence a coat too and then making a pathway up to the shed door and getting rid of some of the rubbish that has accumulated behind the shed.

[mick]

Made good progress today and I've now relaid most of the track on top of the viaduct to remove some rather annoyingly large expansion gaps and bonded all the rail joints. I've also realigned a couple of sections of track along the far side of the garden which I hadn't initially laid as straight as what I could and should have done. Slowly but surely I feel I'm getting on top of it all and will soon be able to commence extending the track into the shed.

My treat for getting something done today was to run one of my sound-fitted 47's. In the end I decided it would be a good idea to get all my recent class 47 purchases out and take a group photo. Only 2 of them have DCC chips so they were on static view but I did take a short video of the sound-fitted one in action which if it turns out okay will be uploaded later. Not having a complete circuit at the moment, it's far from easy trying to operate a controller and a video camera so no doubt it'll be somewhat shaky at best.

As for the group photographs well here we go.









In no particular order they are:

47406 Rail Riders
47461 Charles Rennie Mackintosh
47541 The Queen Mother
47474 Sir Rowland Hill
47535 University of Leicester
47975 The Institution of Civil Engineers

First impressions of the new Bachmann 47 are very favourable. The two I have tried run extremely well and they certainly look the part. I especially like the look of the large logo BR Blue 'University of Leicester'.

The only trouble with getting them all to take photographs is that they all have to be packed away again. Better do that now - you should see the state of my living room!

[trebor1845]

What a great job and really inspirational, have enjoyed video clips, keep up the excellent work and reporting same. Might even get me started.
Rob

[mick]

What a great job and really inspirational, have enjoyed video clips, keep up the excellent work and reporting same. Might even get me started.
Rob

The forum's big enough for all of us Rob so make that start and grab yourself a thread - you know you want to!

Thanks for the post - much appreciated.

Mick

[mick]

Right, it may not look much but this represents a lot of progress for me. I've been toying with the idea of making a start on extending the track base for a while and I've finally got that all important first sod dug as they say. Having also obtained sufficient materials with which to actually construct the base we're now on our way.



The photo above represents the area involved with the extension into the shed. It's not that extensive so it shouldn't take even me too long to complete. Working out the gradients and the correct levels for the footings is the time consuming part. The radius of the curve in the photograph is seven feet which still looks rather tight outdoors doesn't it?



The photo above is a reverse view of the same area as before looking back towards the garden area from the shed. Practically the whole of the layout is in this shot.

The view looking towards the shed from the long back straight section is seen in the picture below. The track falls away to pass beneath the viaduct section before rising very slightly to enter the shed at the second panel from the base. The ground itself actually falls away towards the shed making the blocks appear lower than they will actually be. The line coming from the viaduct section to the right will fall gradually and enter the shed also at the second panel from the base.



Finally one of the advantages of an outdoor layout is the length of straight you can accommodate even in a relatively small area. The angle of the shot might make it look longer than it actually is but there's going to be plenty of room down this straight for scale length running - if the loco's are powerful enough to make it up the gradient that is! Modern diesels are fine even hauling heavy loads but steamers really do struggle with large loads so there's going to be some work needed on those that will be working out of the shed.