Friday 11 December 2020

A Video of the Railway

This video shows the garden pre-railway, some photos of its construction and a tour of the line.


Friday 4 December 2020

The Wychbold and Stoke Prior Railway - The First Five Months

I started work on the railway on the 28th June this year. The 1st December was a rare dry day so I was able to set up the railway for a photoshoot.

Toby at the Saltworks with a train of private owner wagons
The Saltworks with Stoke Works Station beyond
Emily in the bay platform at Stoke Works Station
The right hand side of the garden
Another view of Stoke Works Station
James passing through Stoke Works Station and the Saltworks
The bricks are roughly marking out where the platforms will be








Tuesday 10 November 2020

Stoke Works Station

I haven't been able to get much done on the railway over the last 3 weeks due to a combination of inclement weather, other aspects of my life getting in the way and idleness. However over the last few days I've been working on the site of what will be Stoke Works Station which, as you can see, will be adjacent to the Saltworks. The platforms of the station will be offset.

Looking down the garden. The left hand platform will be situated on the 3 slabs in the foreground












Wednesday 21 October 2020

The Saltworks

I've now completed the base for the saltworks area. It amazing how quickly I got this done once I'd purchased a concrete mixer off evilBay. I can now work out where the buildings will eventually go.


Mrs Edwards has already started to plant up the area between the railway and the fence. Hopefully by the time I'm ready to make my first video the fence will be fully clothed and so will not make an uninvited appearance in my films.


I will be making walls to surround the saltworks but not until I've made more progress with the mainline.


I should now be able to make rapid progress with track laying up the garden


Friday 2 October 2020

Progress Update

A general view of the railway taken from the bungalow on a very wet day in early October. The section next to the step will be made into a tramway section in order to minimise the potential trip hazard.


I've decided to concrete the saltworks area to give a firm level base for the track and buildings. Here is some of the shuttering in place.

On the opposite side of the garden I've cleared the site ready for the new shed.

Here's what it looked like before.


Sunday 20 September 2020

A Little More Progress

I have now dug out and roughly levelled the trackbed leading up to the top righthand side of the garden.

Looking up the garden. In the foreground will be Stoke Works Station. The lefthand point will lead to the bay platform.

Looking back down the garden. Stoke Works Station will be sited on the curve.

The top of the garden. The line will go through a 1 metre long tunnel at the deepest point in the cutting.

The inner track will be made from LGB radius 5 curves.


 

Saturday 29 August 2020

Auto Panning Camera Mechanism

 I've been experimenting with a mechanism to automatically rotate a camera to follow the curves on my new railway.


Monday 24 August 2020

The main line has been extended

 I am attempting to keep the main line level so just past the Salt Works it will enter a shallow cutting.



The Salt Works area under construction.


Thursday 13 August 2020

Harold the Helicopter Inspects Progress

Harold the Helicopter flew over recently and his co-pilot took this photograph. Construction has not progressed much so far this month.


Saturday 1 August 2020

Saltworks Trucks

New trucks for the Saltworks. The trucks are from the Bachmann Thomas the Tank Engine range and the decals were made by Custom Model Decals - https://custom-model-decals.com.


I've customised 5 trucks.


Wednesday 29 July 2020

The Saltworks Area

I've not managed to get much done on the new railway over the last couple of weeks but it's been a pleasant day here today in Worcestershire so I decided to have a go at designing the layout of the Saltworks Sidings.



The main line is the double track on the left of the photo. The Saltworks will occupy the area on the right of the photo where the 3 sidings are situated. The loop and head-shunt in the middle is where coal trucks will be held after delivery from the main before being taken into the Saltworks. Full salt trucks will also be parked here awaiting collection.




I've put cross-over points each side of the Saltworks loop so that trucks can be taken out onto the main line in either direction.

Monday 13 July 2020

Construction Week 2 Progress

Rain this week has hindered progress.

I have cut out a channel in the lawn for the double track section and I'm using bricks taken out of old electric storage heaters under the track. The section from Brookside Station to the top of the garden will be level so will run in a shallow cutting.

The cross-over points in the foreground will allow eastbound trains to enter the Saltworks sidings.

The Main Line
A westbound train heading for Brookside.


In B&W it could almost be taken for the real thing.



Monday 6 July 2020

Railway Construction Week One

Railway construction week one progress.

The Brookside Station Area
Making the station will be a winter project. Meanwhile I've cut a template for the platform from MDF.

A Dogleg

This will be a short tramway section as it is the main route from the decking to the lawn. As it's a high traffic area it will be concreted.

Converging Lines
I'm very pleased with the results I've obtained with my new rail bender. The tracks from Brookside Station need to converge until they are parallel. I'm using the blocks of wood to ensure the tracks are perfectly parallel.

Sunday 28 June 2020

The First Sod Has Been Cut

After 3 years of procrastination and 2 months of planning I've finally cut the first sod for my new garden railway! This will be the site of Brookside Station.

The site of Brookside Station

Tuesday 23 June 2020

Experimental Track Laying

One of the biggest obstacles to planning the final route for the line on the right hand side of the garden was the removal of a garden shed. The shed has now been flat-packed, so I've been looking at how to turn the plan into reality.
This will be the site of Brookside Station. A single platform will occupy the area between the tracks. The single track branch-line will start at the bottom right of the photo. Bottom left will be a short two truck siding. The double track main line will begin at the dog.
Brookside Station
This will be the start of the double track main line. Brookside Station of just off the left hand side of the photo. The Salt Works Sidings will be sited just past the cross over on the right hand side of the track.
The Start of the Main Line

Monday 8 June 2020

Brookside Station


I've decided to add a fourth station at the other end of the branch line which will be called Brookside.
The original track layout for the bottom left hand corner of the garden was for it to be a large radius curve with the lawn on one side and a planted area on the other. However during the heatwave in May we found that this was where we ended up sitting in the dappled shade of the acer. So the plan is to tighten up the curve to radius 3 and this leaves room for the new station next to the raised bed. 
Brookside Station

Sunday 7 June 2020

Trackbed Surveying and a Spiral.

The garden has always appeared to be reasonably flat but looks can be deceiving. There was only one way to find out if my proposed track layout would be viable and that was to carry out a survey.
I hammered in pointed sticks every 2.4 metres along the proposed route and then used a long spirit level to work out height differences. So far I've only done this for the right hand side and the bottom of the garden.

Survey Stations
Here are the results.

Survey of the Right Hand Side of the Garden

Survey of the Bottom of the Garden
This means that I will be able to lay the line at ground level with modest gradients well within the recommended guidelines for garden railways.

I haven't carried out an accurate survey of either the left hand side or the top of the garden but I have worked out that there is a significant drop-off at the top left corner. A very rough calculation has shown that the gradient for a ground level line across the top of the garden would be an unacceptable 1:20 or thereabouts.

This means that where the branch line begins at Stoke Works Station it will need to be a quite a high embankment. 

I'm now toying with the idea of dropping the line back down to lawn level by incorporating a spiral. I've got plenty of time to make the decision as I will not be starting work on this section of the railway until next year.

Proposed Spiral



Saturday 30 May 2020

Where Do I Begin?

I've decided to lay the double track section on the right-hand side of the garden first and to start at the top of the garden. The outer curve will be made up of 6 radius 5 curves. The inner curve will be made of flexi-track.
The photo shows my giant homemade compass. At the centre it pivots around a tent peg. At the outer end I've drilled two holes the same diameter as a pencil - one at the inner track radius and the other at the outer.


Homemade Compass
The second photo is of the template I've made for bending the inner track rails.

Track Template

I've started stripping down and cleaning the flexi-track from the Sandwell Valley Railway.

All I need now is to borrow a rail bender.

Tuesday 26 May 2020

Incorporating of a Stream and a Pond

Neither my wife nor I could decide exactly where the quarry branch should be located. We also hadn't incorporated in the garden design a couple of our original wants, namely a pond and a stream.

Recently we were sunbathing in the garden when our eyes were drawn to a slight natural depression in the lawn and she suggested that it might be the ideal location for a pond and rockery.

Immediately my mind went into overdrive. Could the rockery house the quarry. Would it be possible to run a line around the pond? What a great video location it could be. How could I incorporate a stream? I had always liked the idea of having a line running on bridges over a stream and the design so far had no stream and no bridges.

This is what I've come up with. It's very rough and nothing like a scale drawing - the line would be much longer than shown. Not only would it break up the large lawn area, it would be a much more scenic route for the quarry line and add another diorama with great video potential.

I'm not sure about the triangle as quarry traffic would I assume all go in the same direction along the branch, i.e. to the main line, but I think it would look nice.

The Quarry Branch

Sunday 24 May 2020

The Garden - Just Add Track

These photographs were taken on Sunday 24th May 2020 before work on the Wychbold and Stoke Prior Light Railway had begun.

The first photograph shows the part of the garden where the railway will run. The shed in the bottom right was temporarily relocated onto the lawn when the building work was being done. That will be moved to the far right-hand corner before track laying. The hose pipe shows the approximate route that the railway will take on the right-hand side of the garden.


The area that the Wychbold and Stoke Prior Light Railway will cover
I intend to start track-laying on the right hand side of the garden. The railway will run between the lawn and the planted border. This will be double track. The Salt Works Sidings will be located where the line veers away from the border in the foreground of this photo. Stoke Works Station will situated be a little further along the line roughly in front of the ceanothus. As the garden is quite large I aim to use curves of radius 5 or larger.

The right-hand side of the garden
Stoke Prior Station will be sited at the top of the garden on the far side of the summer house. This will end the double track section and will be where the single track branch line starts.
The summer house is not long for this world. It will be demolished when the site is needed for the railway. Behind where the summer house is currently situated will be a woodland area which will provide a backdrop for the line. This will be the steepest gradient on the line.


The top of the garden
The single track branch line will meander down the left-hand side of the garden. Midway will be Wychbold Station. The line to the quarry will be located somewhere along the branch line. The exact location will be determined once we've decided on the planting.


The left-hand side of the garden
Those of you who remember the Sandwell Valley Railway will recall that my garden shed had a station makeover. This is where I'm hoping to site my new shed. The shed will be 16' x 8'. Half will be a shed and half will be a waiting room, and yes, it will look like a station building complete with platform and ramp.
Proposed site of shed
I've now started the laborious process of sorting out all of my track and cleaning it.


Track sorting