The Heatherburn Garden Railway (00) *PICTURE INTENSIVE*

old tom · by **old tom** on Sun Jun 22, 2008 5:36 pm

Terrific. I love the canal. Water is hardly ever featured in layouts.
Never tell us exactly where you live, we might be down there and 'liberate' it!

will · by **will** on Sun Jun 22, 2008 5:53 pm

It looks very good, especially the station.

87 101 · by **87 101** on Mon Jun 23, 2008 5:19 pm

Thanks guys for the feedback much apreciated. Yes the track has had the sleepers removed. It was a pain to do but the end result looks cool. Jake if you have a look in the tutorial section on railwayz I posted how I did it. :wink:

Right as i'm now on five forums I thought it would be easer if I just copy and paste any updates so heres tonights....

Yesterday in what seamed like a hurricane I managed to get the track for the main lines laid so now at last the indoor layout is fully connected to the first section constructed last year. I still have to set the track in mortar and solder the links across the joints but it is possible to push trains right round. I also extended the tracks from the bottom of the incline through the lakeside station area over the decking bridge and through the gap in the railings to the top of the wall. I have decided that the station at lakeside will be just two platforms now and so have slewed the tracks to the middle of the baseboard to allow for the platforms. If anyone has some old hornby platforms going very cheep PM me as I need loads!! Moving on to parkway station I have altered the track plan slightly so as to use the two LH points that were for st davids station. By changing one of the points from a RH to a LH has now created a space for the signal box to fit. I have taken a few quick pics but have to go out on a call so will post them later. ;-)

87 101 · by **87 101** on Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:43 pm

As promised here's a few pics of the new track laying......

KingEdward1st · by **KingEdward1st** on Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:45 pm

Looking good.

Some nice long running lines there

old tom · by **old tom** on Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:49 pm

OK Dave, I give up. How did you get the Domestic Authorities to agree to the railway? Please tell me and I'll use the same argument!

Terrific stuff.

87 101 · by **87 101** on Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:13 pm

OK Dave, I give up. How did you get the Domestic Authorities to agree to the railway? Please tell me and I'll use the same argument!

With great difficulty! Only kidding. The garden needed redesigning so I kind of redesigned it with building a railway in mind! Then it simply expanded. Actualy if you compare pics of when I started and now it blends in quite well. Thats why its taken so long yet i've ended up with the railway that i've always wanted so it was worth the wait. Trevor Jones (of rubbercrete fame ) said that a garden railway should be part of the garden and not just a railway in the garden so I have tried to make it blend in as much as posable. The new section including parkway station incorperates planters in the design so next year this new section should 'blend in' too! :roll:

87 101 · by **87 101** on Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:23 pm

Just aquired enough platform sections off ebay to build all of parkway station and most of lakeside!

old tom · by **old tom** on Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:27 pm

Hi Dave, My pooter (and slow broadband) go into meltdown when I view this thread. :evil:

Can you post any new pics using photobucket clickable views please?

http://www.rail-forum.com/how-to-post-c ... -t744.html

Cheers,

Tom

87 101 · by **87 101** on Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:38 pm

Sorry to those still waiting for pic’s they will appear soon. I have however been rather busy this weekend out in the garden. Saturday the platform pieces arrived so they were fitted together to form not one but two complete stations! The track at parkway station has been realigned to fit the new platforms. This weekend I have cut up the track into short lengths as per section one then soldered in all the link wires. All the track is now laid outside and the layout is electrically complete between lakeside and parkway. Tonight I managed to run a couple of test trains between the two stations and I'm disappointed to say the least! The problem is to do with power supply. The layout is being controlled by an old hornby controller that is giving out 15v when on full power. I have measured the track voltage at the far ends of the layout and am getting 15v yet my trains are painfully slow. So tonight I have decided to design my own controller that will give enough ' juice ' to power the locos outdoors. More details to follow later on that one.

87 101 · by **87 101** on Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:13 pm

Ok here we have the new platforms installed for lakeside station.......

Next a few pics of the new station Byerley Parkway note the simulated track balast made from mortar and stone effect paint!

87 101 · by **87 101** on Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:38 pm

Sorry guys I forgot to post the viaduct pics from the other night so better late that never.....

87 101 · by **87 101** on Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:41 pm

Hi Dave, My pooter (and slow broadband) go into meltdown when I view this thread. Can you post any new pics using photobucket clickable views please?

Sorry about the pics Tom. As im now on four forums I find it easer to copy and paste the updates. Will try and do clickables next time. :wink:

KingEdward1st · by **KingEdward1st** on Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:47 am

Your layout is looking better and better everytime. I love that huge station and the ballasting is superb. Whats the maximum length train it can take?

old tom · by **old tom** on Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:05 am

87 101 wrote:
Hi Dave, My pooter (and slow broadband) go into meltdown when I view this thread. Can you post any new pics using photobucket clickable views please?

Sorry about the pics Tom. As im now on four forums I find it easer to copy and paste the updates. Will try and do clickables next time.

Easy to forgive you Dave, because the pics are worth the wait! Wonderful stuff.

87 101 · by **87 101** on Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:49 pm

Thanks guys. Parkway station can take seven coaches although the maximum length I will be running is six+ loco due mainly to the graident around the rockery and also platform length at st davids.

Well tonight after what must have been the hottest day so far this year I went out the back to check the track and am pleased to say that it has'nt distorted at all thanks to cutting it into short lengths. Now I just need to finish wiring up the rest of it! :wink:

will · by **will** on Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:41 pm

It's coming along great. I wish i could make progress as quick as you.

87 101 · by **87 101** on Wed Jul 02, 2008 5:23 pm

It's coming along great. I wish i could make progress as quick as you.

Its just looks that way! It will be two years this october since I started construction and only now is the railway starting to take shape. :wink:

Power issues now solved thanks to me finding a 24vdc power supply in the garage. Last night I used it to power up both the main lines and ran a few test trains. Now my 86's will go up the incline with no trouble at all! The track voltage is 24v but drops to about 18-19v when a loco is running on it. Now im thinking of automating the garden section with manual control of the branch possibly using radio control. Watch this space! ;-)

87 101 · by **87 101** on Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:19 pm

Well despite the great British summer that now seems to be here work continued on the railway between showers. Saturday we went over to Locomotion at Shildon as there was a toy collectors fair on. I managed to obtain station buildings for both the new stations. Lakeside now has the hornby booking hall on the down platform with a smaller hornby waiting room on the up. All that’s lacking now is a footbridge and canopies. For Parkway I managed to get an old triang station building, small waiting room and length of platform with said waiting room attached complete with barrels and a light for the grand total of £1. Also I got half a circle of second and third radius track for the storage sidings. These have now been laid and are just awaiting points to complete. Yesterday I made a start on the control systems. I have decided to stick with conventional control for the indoor section with a simple automated set up for the outdoor bit. For the branch line im going to experiment with radio control! Another development yesterday was the installation of the CCTV system. This consists of a bank of 9" JVC colour monitors mounted above the control area relaying live pictures from the garden. At the moment I have two cameras operational one at parkway and one at lakeside. These are installed at the ends of the platforms and give a good view of the stations. A third cameras will be installed in a proper camera housing and mounted on the back of the house giving an overall view of the railway. I might even use this camera as a web camera sometime in the future. Hopefully if the rain holds off tonight I can get some more soldering done outside if not I will concentrate on the indoor section. Hopefully the railway will be operational in time for my 40th in two weeks time. Pic’s to follow later....

87 101 · by **87 101** on Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:26 pm

So much for doing any work outside tonight. The minute I got out the soldering iron it started to rain. :evil:

Anyway heres a couple of pic’s as promised. First here's the new station buildings and their respective cameras.....

Next heres a few of the monitors note the storage sidings on the bottom....

Finally heres the first relay being installed. This switches the power to the down main line in the middle of the formation. The relay will be controlled by the point motor and will allow the indoor layout to be bypassed at the push of a button. Note the copper wires these have been glued in position and will eventually be covered with ballast while the relay will be disguised by a building. Wiring the electrics like this keeps the cable runs short and less complicated.....

The Heatherburn Garden Railway (00) PICTURE INTENSIVE

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