Obstacles to extension removed

There has been no progress this month on the railway itself. However lots of jobs in the garden have been completed including removing the obstacles at each end of the railway which have been preventing further track laying.

Firstly at the top of the garden the summerhouse has been demolished and temporary tracks laid over what was its base.

Here the railway will emerge from the cutting and then run on a low embankment. It’s a shame but the slab base of the summerhouse is at little too high and the first row of slabs will have to be taken up. I’m toying with the idea of using the Cain Howley viaduct sections that I brought from the Sandwell Valley Railway when the embankment gets higher as the lawn drops away. As this is a double track section I will need to use the angle grinder to slice them down the middle and then fill the gap with concrete. The join should be invisible when the track has been ballasted.

At the other end of the line the base for the new shed has been completed. When I build the shed I intend to leave a 1.2 metre platform in front of it. The single track branch line will run alongside the platform before it wends its way up the garden.

Finally I’m having to carry out some remedial work at the Saltworks sidings. This area of concrete was very badly frost damaged so I’ve taken it up and will lay these three slabs in its place.