A Video of the Railway

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

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

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

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

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.

A view from the other direction looking back towards the bungalow.

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

Here's what it looked like before.

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.

 

Auto Panning Camera Mechanism

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.