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Garden railway mark III: trackwork and bridges

Last modified: Fri Aug 3 08:49:52 2007

On this railway I am using the same track-laying technique that turned out to be quite succesful on our previous one. We lay the track loose and check that trains run OK. Then we pack soil underneath and around the sleepers to hold everything in position. We mix coarse grit and cement in about 20:1 proportions, and pack it between and around the sleepers, then brush it down so that the grit does not foul the rails. Finally, when we can see that trains run smoothly, we dampen the cement/grit mixture, which sets the cement. This forms a rigid, but not completely permanent, trackbed.

Having willing assistants doesn't always make the job easier. However, even the youngest railway engineers can slap a coat of primer on a metal girder bridge

Unlike our previous railway, which had `vanity bridges', that is, bridges placed because they looked nice, this one requires bridges that work. There are at present spans on the railway, of between 20 and 36 inches. In due course I hope to construct wooden truss bridges for each of these locations, but winter is coming and time isn't on my side. In the meantime, for two of the three bridges we are using metal girder bridge sidepieces screwed to chipboard bases. The girder bridge sides are from Garden Railway Specialists of Princes Risborough. They aren't cheap, but one pair of girders is long enough to make two small bridges (with a bit of hacksaw work), so the price doesn't work out too bad. And they look sufficiently good that it won't matter if I'm unable to construct the `real' bridges any time soon. The chipboard is a left-over from flooring the loft.
     

A quick-and-dirty wooden bridge -- costs under a tenner and built in a hour

So far, only one of the bridges is made of real wood, and that's a quick-and-dirty design of my own (see photo). It only uses one size of wood strip, and only four different lengths have to be cut. It isn't terribly realistic, but it will do for now.

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