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Garden railway mark III: update Spring 2006

Last modified: Fri Aug 3 08:50:20 2007

It's over a year since I last updated these pages, and I've learned a number of things which have necessitated a complete reconstruction of the railway. At the time of writing, this is still underway.

All new for 2006 -- new trackbed, new pond, new waterfall, older kids

First, I hadn't realized how invasive and stubborn the weeds were around here. Even the gravel-and-cement trackbed which has worked so well in the past was not equal to the task of keeping the weeds off the track. I had exacerbated the problem by laying the track in what was, in effect, an 8-inch-deep cutting in places. Consequently, it was virtually impossible to get to the track to weed it properly. So, in practice, the track was unusable for a large part of the year.
      In the end I took the track up completely, and relaid it, using a method which I had originally considered and rejected -- putting the entire track on a bed of thick plywood. This can just be seen in the photo: I've cut the plywood so that it extends about an inch on both sides of the track. In time, when I've got the track where I want it, I will gravel it as usual.

Second, I've moved the waterfall from the end of the layout to the step between the upper and lower tracks, and the pond to the middle of the lower track. The water now falls from a small pool in the middle of the upper track, into the pond. This makes the waterfall look rather more natural, as it is now placed where there is a natural step in the level of the ground, rather than rising up out of the lawn as it previously was. It took a couple of days of heavy spade-work to get the ground flat and level both above and below the waterfall, and I've got rid of the cuttings and embankments of the old layout completely. Although the old layout looked more interesting, maintenance was completely impractical. The new layout provides much better access, and should look OK when there are some buildings and plants around the place.

Third, I've made the pond much larger (although that's not saying much), particularly in depth. The old pond did not contain very much water, and evaporated rapidly in the summer months. They butyl sheet lining was OK at first, but the children did seem to like stepping into the dry pond, and somehow the lining got torn. So in the new layout I've gone for a thick, preshaped pond former. It's about 4'x3', and 2' deep at the deepest point. There are shelves for planting, but I haven't got that far yet.

Fourth, I've moved the wiring boxes to the nearby wall, rather than simply laying them on the ground. The problem with the old arrangement was that the cable outlets were only about a half inch about the soil, and were (by bad fortune) in a location where rain ran off the garden and accumulated during storms. Because the cable outlets don't seal all that well, the boxes filled up with water. Now I've mounted the boxes on a wall with the cable outlets facing downwards, which is, of course, what I should have done all along.

So that's where things stand at the moment. There's a lot more to do, but I've got other things to occupy me for the Summer, so I guess it will have to wait until Autumn. [March 2006 -- in fact, it had to wait until next Spring, when I rebuilt the whole thing again. See garden railway, mark IV.]

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