Thank you John or your kind words. I must admit to becoming a little concerned that by declaring just how difficult, to almost impossible, making the points and crossings was for me, that the main reason for posting in the first place is to be an encouragement!
It is perhaps not unreasonable to assume that building a miniature railway would require, as a minimum, a healthy pot of disposable income, a significant landholding, and a fairly well established engineering background - plus the workshop and appropriate tools to hand?
While I do accept that I am very lucky to claim a long garden, despite the problems associated with it's restrictively narrow width, and the fact that it had become a long neglected storage area (that is polite for what was in effect a dumping ground!) may otherwise in part fulfil one of the conditions, but I had set out to prove, mainly to myself it has to be said, that a lack of previous or practical experience, and an almost unbelievably meagre budget need not be a particular hinderance.
Having said all that, I am going to continue with the story of hard slog. While the sun shines and all that!
I can't help wondering how we have managed to accumulate so much rubble and rubbish in so small a space? The problem now is that it has been steadily cleared from the upper end of the garden, only to become piled up right where I need to work on the extension! It has got to go, but the precise arrangements for disposal have yet to be agreeably sorted amongst the various family members!
Meanwhile, I can at least continue struggling with realigning the uneven path and main line formation alongside. I'm afraid the points will have to remain clipped and somewhat pointless for the time being!
It does seem strange to be "weathering" track that will be permanently outdoors...
One curious neighbour came down to see what I was doing, and asked me why I hadn't made it out of steel in the first place... that would naturally go rusty?
I think he went away shortly thereafter, satisfied with the answer that it was too much b****y hard work bending and grinding ally! Either that, or the fact that I was flicking paint everywhere with a coarse brush?!
By the way, here is a conundrum:
Fence paint is supposedly meant for the preservation and beautification of wood, yet it fails fairly rapidly on such surfaces... however, when applied accidentally or otherwise on concrete, steel and in our case aluminium, it turns out to be incredibly durable!
Am I missing something here?
Sloshing a brown/black mix of the stuff on the sleepers might make them look nicer than the greenish yellow shade of freshly tanalised timber, but I am now only too aware that there will be not the tiniest trace of pigment remaining in little more than two years time, so that part is a complete a waste of effort.
Definitely missing something then!
Having gone to all the trouble of building the beast, I was dead keen to get it out of the house and installed, but when the day dawned, I decided that it might be prudent to sort out the level crossing instead.
I am glad I did as it happened.
Despite taking some care, I was unable to avoid disturbing the newly laid ballast and rails!
The old six foot path slabs were laid many years ago between the brickwork edge of the driveway and that infamous studio step, but did not fit the length. Back then, a friendly neighbour offered to cut a partly damaged one down with his power saw. With all the remodelling, that section is now redundant, but it has turned out to be of just the right proportions (almost to the millimetre!) for providing a new approach to the platform!
The slightly peculiar geometry going on here will hopefully make more sense when the footway is boarded over and further landscaping is completed.
Setting out the formation on this part of the extension is complicated by an awful lot of combined tree roots growing just beneath the surface. Mercifully, all appear to be peripheral, and I have been assured that cutting them should do no significant harm to their owners.
I am getting down to the last remnants of a bulk bag of essential limestone chippings, with just enough for bedding two more sections of rail beyond the points. Sourcing a local supplier of smaller bags to finish the job will be both urgent and awkward!
The pennies required have been ringfenced, but approval has not yet been granted for the preferred 15-20mm top ballast.
I made a mistake when choosing the type, grade and colour for the station area, finding myself occasionally being given gentle reminders of that error!
Pete.
