# My Garden Layout - A Pictorial History



## RickV (May 25, 2012)

I thought I would start a thread about the construction of my garden layout 'down under' here in Brisbane, Australia.

Firstly a little history on my model railroad career in my introduction post in the New Members area: http://www.mylargescale.com/Communi...fault.aspx


Some notes on the layout:
This layout is not based on any particular area, operating rules, or for that matter scale (though I have a stronger interest in Gauge 1 than Narrow Gauge). The construction methods I have employed have probably evolved as much as the layout itself and I try to keep my mind open to new ideas and methods. I use bricks quite extensively though the plan is to replace these with rocks, viaducts, bridges, etc as they are only meant to be temporary. I'll be running both live steam and track power (with the future option of DCC or RCC powered by the rails).

After some negotiations with the 'Domestic Authority' (aka the Wife), a suitable site in the back yard was acquired:


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## jbwilcox (Jan 2, 2008)

Sorry, but the pictures are not coming across.

John


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

Posted By jbwilcox on 17 Jun 2012 08:46 PM 
Sorry, but the pictures are not coming across.

John
My bad - still learning how to post pics to this web forum and have just found that if I edit the post to fix broken links, it breaks the good ones.

Watch this space...I'll have it sorted soon.


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

All sorted thank goodness!

And here's one more from the weekend. The flexible ducting that runs nearest to the camera will allow me to plug in the train controller on the opposite side of the layout:


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## auburnrails (May 31, 2012)

Very nice!


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Nice work, and looking good. That track plan looks like fun, and your excellent roadbed will make sure iit stays fun


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice!


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## Bob Pero (Jan 13, 2008)

Very nice


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

Cheers for the compliments. It has been an interesting journey as I have predominately modelled in N-Scale so this a rather 'large scale' change for me....LOL 

In related news, Thomas and his coaches Annie and Clarabel arrived at our doorstep yesterday after having been ordered from Trainworld in NY on Friday morning our time. They will be given to my eldest son on his 4th birthday in September. 

I also ordered some street lamps and lighted clock which I plan to hook up to the existing garden lights so that they come on at night even when not operating trains. Once the pond and waterfall is in I'll be adding some underwater lights too.


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

You've got a great layout getting built there! Please keep us posted as it progresses.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Great looking layout Rick. 

The first photos had me thinking the yard was pretty much level.


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

This weekend's work:

Concreting for the outer loop is now complete and work has begun on the inner loop.




























After the inner loop has been completed then I'll start putting some plants in before tackling the ponds/waterfall/cave.


Sorry, having issues with posting pics tonight - will fix them tomorrow morning


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

Here are some updates from the past few weekends:



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## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Nice progress Rick. I hope you're initiating discussions with the authorites for the next expansion stage..? ; ) 

What are you using for the forms? Looks nice and flexible but holds the 'crete well. I had a mission using 3 ply a while back and am looking for something easier. 

Cheers 
Neil


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

LOL, I've dropped the occasional hint though until she returns to working full time (currently only part time after maternity leave) there isn't the funds to support an expansion. Plus after this is finished I want to focus on expanding my collection of rolling stock.

As for the forms. I reused the plastic garden edging that I was using up until this 'renovation' of the track beds. It comes in a 10 metre roll and is approx 2.5 inches high - and also quite handy when it comes to removing excess/spilled concrete on the outside as all you need to do is flex it and it breaks it all off in one move. It does however require approx 1/3rd more pegs to hold its shape than say plywood forms.

The next section of roadbed to be concreted includes a bridge abutment for which I will use plywood forms.


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## Tom Parkins (Jan 2, 2008)

That is a well documented construction and would be ideal for beginners to study. Nice work on the railroad and nice work capturing the construction.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for posting. Very interesting and good documentation. I'm sure some new folks will enjoy seeing one way of building a RR. Later RJD


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

Here are two photos of the form work for one of the last sections of trackbed to be concreted. This section also includes a bridge abutment next to what will eventually be a pond.

As I'm not ready to install the pond I haven't dug a proper hole for it and as such I'm not sure how deep the bridge abutment needs to be. So to ensure stability and ensure that there is no movement of the abutment if and when I do dig out the pond, I hammered in to the ground 2x lengths of PVC pipe to act as piles/footings. These go approx 1 foot into the ground and the tops will be encased in the concrete of the abutment.

Photo's were taken in the early evening so apologies if they aren't that clear


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

Forgot to mention: the piece of timber that is attached to the top of the plywood on the very end is to create a recess in the concrete for the deck of the bridge to rest on. 

Also it is higher than it looks (approx 21cm/8.5 inches)


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## harvey (Dec 30, 2008)

Hi Rick,
Really enjoying your post here, I guess you don't have to worry too much about frost heave. You've done quite a few changes during the construction, do you have a master plan?
I'm sure your eldest son will get lots of pleasure from Thomas et al. I think these sets are the greatest thing since sliced bread for getting youngsters interested in the hobby. 
How do you deal with the pond considering the heat you get in the summer. I'd be interested in knowing this.
Your comment about ordering the Thomas set from Trainworld and getting it within a week is really interesting. Here in Canada mail delivery from Florida is four to six weeks, California ten days and Illinois three weeks. Last year I mailed my sister in England a book from Queenstown, New Zealand on the 25th of January, she was reading it on the 27th. They all blame each other here and nothing changes.
Looking forward to seeing more progress.
Thanks again.
Cheers.


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

Hi Harvey, 
Thanks for the compliments (and to everyone else who have also said the same), I have gained a lot from other people's experiences so it is only fair that I share mine too. Living in Brisbane and near the bay means that we don't get frosts and on the very rare occasion that we do then it only affects the grass and not the ground so we're pretty lucky in that respects.

Unlike my previous layouts in both OO and N scale, this one is unplanned and has evolved as it has been built. The goal here is fun more than realism and up until I started to concrete the track beds, I built everything with the idea that it wasn't permanent, this in turn gave me the flexibility to evolve the layout into what you see now and also allowed me to experiment with different techniques and ideas.

As for the pond, it will be exposed to direct sunlight from early morning until early afternoon in summer and I have learnt from previously building a pond for my Mum's backyard many years ago that the shallower it is the more it evaporates and the greater the scale of temp changes which some fish and plants won't like. Plus fish also like a place that is out of the sun to hang out. So I intend to make it about 40-50cm deep (1.3 to 1.6 feet) and will probably concrete it as well. Though I have also thought that I may just concrete some parts (ie the sides) and use a pond liner with rocks on top. At this stage I'm thinking that I want to have a small pond that feeds a waterfall into the upper pond that then feeds a stream into the lower pond. Under the waterfall and feeder pond will be a tunnel for the main line.

When getting stuff posted from the US, I've been using both FedEx and DHL with DHL being the star performer so far - of the last three times they have transported train stuff from New York, it has been picked up from the shop and delivered to my house within 60 hours! It costs more but is worth it for the speed and reliability.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By RickV on 17 Jun 2012 08:31 PM I thought I would start a thread about the construction of my garden layout 'down under' here in Brisbane, Australia.
....... 


Thank you RickV. You have motivated me to get back to work on my layout. I started with a "flash" of activity 4 months ago, and then it sat like this for 4 months.

 

One problem is the scope of my project got out of hand. Getting the track level on the curves where the natural grade of the lot slopes about 1 foot for the 20 foot diameter of the curve, that is way more difficult than I anticipated. And the amount of fill to level the garden that will be enclosed by the track I estimate at 10 cu. yards. That's a lot of wheelbarrows of yard sand to be hauled. 


Because the layout is intended mostly for live steam running, level track is one of my design parameters.


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## harvey (Dec 30, 2008)

Hi Rick, 
Now look what you've started, Don is back at it with his layout and I'm out doing upgrades to mine. I guess there's always improvements to make, we just need to be given the right motivation. 
Cheers.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

After another flurry of activity, it started to rain. This is a good thing. I have to pace myself.









Here it is when I stopped due to rain.


 

 

With any luck, it will rain all day.  

Then 4 months of rest until the next "workin' on the railroad" happens.


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## harvey (Dec 30, 2008)

Come on Don you can do it. 
Just look at your before and after photo's, a great leap forward.
Maybe you could recruit some local helpers, a case of beer or cool aid can go a long way.
Looking forward to more progress pictures.
Cheers.


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

Posted By SailorDon on 11 Jul 2012 06:52 AM 

Thank you RickV. You have motivated me to get back to work on my layout. I started with a "flash" of activity 4 months ago, and then it sat like this for 4 months.


One problem is the scope of my project got out of hand. Getting the track level on the curves where the natural grade of the lot slopes about 1 foot for the 20 foot diameter of the curve, that is way more difficult than I anticipated. And the amount of fill to level the garden that will be enclosed by the track I estimate at 10 cu. yards. That's a lot of wheelbarrows of yard sand to be hauled. 


Because the layout is intended mostly for live steam running, level track is one of my design parameters.




LOL - I know that feeling. The last few months have seen the most activity in its 2.5 year history. There have been months go by where nothing happened.

You could reduce the amount of fill needed by cutting into the hill on the high side and lowering the level of the entire track. You could angle the dirt down on the sides to reduce erosion or you could retain the sides with rocks or bricks or even concrete. The added benefit of doing this is that you then create fill and from a nearby source, reducing the wheelbarrows of yard sand to be hauled across your yard.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By RickV on 12 Jul 2012 03:47 AM

You could reduce the amount of fill needed by cutting into the hill on the high side and lowering the level of the entire track. You could angle the dirt down on the sides to reduce erosion or you could retain the sides with rocks or bricks or even concrete. The added benefit of doing this is that you then create fill and from a nearby source, reducing the wheelbarrows of yard sand to be hauled across your yard.


Because the natural slope of my lot is 12 feet down from the road surface to the bulkhead at the lake 110 feet away, I don't want to be moving any dirt "downhill". The soil under the house has already shifted where the previous owner had to spend $15,000 on foundation repairs. 
Where I am building my model railroad, the soil is hard as a rock when dry, and a gooey mess of clay and swamp gumbo when wet. It would be more work to level the existing area by cutting into the slope than to fill what I have with 10 or 15 cu. yds. of yard fill soil that I would have delivered and dumped in my driveway. To ease the pain of transporting the fill dirt by making 1,000 trips with the wheelbarrow, I have made a deal on a brand new tractor. I pick it up this weekend. 



 
It's also good for mowing the yard.


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

@ Don - I meant to say earlier: nice background to your garden layout!

A tractor should make life a lot easier and fun too! Just don't do what a neighbour of a friend of mine did on their tractor while mowing the grass - the guy setup an esky (icebox I think you guys call them) in the middle of his lawn and would pull out a fresh beer as he passed by. Problem is by the time he got to the end of mowing his lawn he was somewhat drunk, missed the esky and crashed into a tree!


I had the day off yesterday which I put to good use in between some annoying rain showers.

One side of the bridge is now complete and ready for me to dig out the future pond:





The track beds for the outer loop are now complete (with the exception of the bricked area of the inner loop which those with keen eyes will note is somewhat higher than the new track bed). If the rain clears this weekend I hope to have some trains running again.

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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

So as not to put my railroad build stuff into your topic, I started a new topic to detail my efforts, mistakes and successes.

http://www.mylargescale.com/Communi...fault.aspx

I'm hoping to get the track complete this weekend and maybe get some train pictures (and videos).

I will try to avoid MWI (that's Mowing While Intoxicated) when I get my tractor.


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

We have trains! Despite the forecast for rain for most of the weekend, it held off long enough to get some work done including cleaning the track.



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I installed a shelf to put the power supply and transformer on and it also doubles as a shelter for the switch box below (currently sitting loose while I run a new cable for the building & street lights) and power board that is yet to be installed. As you can see, it has plenty of room for the all important refreshments....

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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

Here's a brief update of what's been happening since the last time I posted (not that much):


The neighbour and I finally got around to fixing our common dividing fence which was damaged when Tropical Cyclone Oswald passed through on Australia Day (Jan 26) this year. The bit we had to fix is adjacent to the Train Garden and also happened to be built on our side of the property line. Rebuilding it gave me an additional 1.5 to 2 inches down its longest length:












This in turn has allowed for some minor track modifications and I now plan on putting an island platform in the enlarged space in the middle. The track at the far end of the photo has been positioned to allow the fitting of a #6 switch for a future 4 metre/13.12 feet diameter curve for that day in the distant future when I can afford a live steam Mallard or Flying Scotsman or 9F etc.












I've also been stealthily acquiring land on the other side of the garden when I replaced the loose brick retaining wall with a more permanent timber one with picket fence on top. The bricks are required for another project I'm going to start so they are slowly being recovered from the garden and replaced with more permanent structures.










You can see the difference here (security cameras make for good time lapse cameras as their position rarely changes):












Finally, I also upgraded the switch panel to something bigger (I have yet to stick on the labels):












Current plans are to rebuild the brick viaducts and temporary bridges either with their permanent replacements or in the case of the outer loop, a temporary track ladder until such time as I build the trestle bridge. I'm also going to install the beginnings of a single track spur line that will run down the side of the house to front yard where it will return via a reversing loop. Eventually this will be upgraded to a double track.


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## RickV (May 25, 2012)

Inspired by the need to have everything up and running in time for my eldest Son's 5th birthday, I got working:

The bricks used for the temp viaduct and its foundations have now been removed and as I'm using fixed track I have laid it out temporarily so as to work out exactly where the new temporary track support is going to be placed:




































Having cleared a space among the kids toys I got to work screwing the spacers to the plastic garden edging which is enjoying it's third incarnation on this railway. It was first used as edging to keep the ballast and bark chips separate, and the second time was as the form work for the concrete roadbeds. The spacers have been made from the off-cuts of the timber palings used for the new fence. It might not be pretty but it does what I need it to d




































Unfortunately I was so engaged in what I was doing that I forgot to take photos of the construction of the remainder of the track ladder however here are a few that show its placement and the adding of the track on top: 
















































Here is a new point/switch which is for the branch line that will eventually makes its way to the front of the house and first 12 feet of track:


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