Arosa Line

[grizzmo]

Hi all , as I have enjoyed looking at the great variety of railways displayed here, I thought I should add my project we started in February this year.
I have wanted a garden railway for years, and finally the 3 magic ingredients came together this year. Time, energy and money. This photo shows the area I have to play with roughly 3-5m by 12m.The nice looking grey shed is my train storage area, its nearly finished , the rough looking shed is my workshop(on the list of things to fix up).There was a lot of work done just to get this area cleaned up .Please note there will not be any trains or track till the end of the year at the earliest ,have got to let the fill settle. I just thought some of you might enjoy seeing the prep work.






Two of my helpers, helper on the right is considerably more helpful.






We are building a big raised bed for the railway and scenery , with a section along the workshop wall supported on posts. We went with stacking blocks for the retaining wall and raised bed for ease and speed of construction. We wanted to have the walls finished and the bed filled before winter , as that is our wet season here in tasmania.






Once I dug and layed the foundation (200mm of compacted roadbase), and the first row of blocks is layed with a string line and levelled on a bed 20mm sand. The walls go up very quickly, well especially since my son was doing must of the heavy work.





Was good to start filling the bed.



Have had some of this concrete sitting here for years to start this, i have a very patient wife.

 

[grizzmo]

The work continued on


Gardening and ponds are some of my other hobbies, so had to leave space for a pond.




On to the last part




nearly there


The last of the real hard work


Now its the fun parts
the pond and putting in the rocks.

 

[Paul M]

Wow! Tht will be some line. I wish I had the space to do something similar.

 

[grizzmo]

Wow! Tht will be some line. I wish I had the space to do something similar.

I am pretty lucky space wise, I wasn't sure if I shouldn't gone a half a metre wider, but i didn't want to take up too much of the yard ( it really narrows there because of my workshop) and i was thinking when i am even older do i really want to have to climb up onto or try and stretch into the middle for maintenance. So that ship has sailed .I do hope it will be something good when i have finished otherwise i have wasted a heap of energy

 

[dunnyrail]

Superb set up, are you intending a line into the workshop/stock storage shed? It does make like so much easier for a train session. My stock gets run out of the shed with 10-15 mins of fun shunting before the session starts. Locs live indoors for security.

 

[mike]

Fantastic start, I agree with the stretching as we get older ..

 

[Gizzy]

Looking forward to seeing this layout develop....

 

[grizzmo]

Superb set up, are you intending a line into the workshop/stock storage shed? It does make like so much easier for a train session. My stock gets run out of the shed with 10-15 mins of fun shunting before the session starts. Locs live indoors for security.

Yes that was one of my must haves, the first photo on the far right you can just see the hole I left in the wall its green foam blocking it. There will be a lift up bridge, as that's the main walkway to my chookies .Plus i will be cutting a door plus another entry for trains in the unfinished wall of the container.

 

[grizzmo]

Looking forward to seeing this layout develope....

There is still some more to post, we got a bit more done before winter and a heap of rain and bad weather called a halt to play .If its ok I have a heap of dumb questions about the rhb I would love to ask you.

 

[grizzmo]

Fantastic start, I agree with the stretching as we get older ..

Thanks, the stretching part is high on my mind as I was injured in a work accident and stretching and twisting is difficult now, so I can't see that getting any better as I get older.

 

[DickyC]

I thought the dog was dead at first as I scrolled down the page ! some kid of Dingo you had shot ! lol

Looking great, I love these types of concreate blocks you have used, easy to use, shape and nice finish. they are a bit of a rarity here in the UK and come at a big cost, but have seen them in europe.

 

[grizzmo]

I thought the dog was dead at first as I scrolled down the page ! some kid of Dingo you had shot ! lol

Looking great, I love these types of concreate blocks you have used, easy to use, shape and nice finish. they are a bit of a rarity here in the UK and come at a big cost, but have seen them in europe.

Lol , the dog only has 2 speeds flat out or nothing ,there is a border collie under all the dirt. The blocks are made at our nearest regional city launceston, i went with them as they had a 20% off sale .Glad i did, good quality and easy to use . I ended up having to go back after a few months as i was a dozen short, they still gave them to me at the sale price.

 

[DickyC]

Lol , the dog only has 2 speeds flat out or nothing ,there is a border collie under all the dirt. The blocks are made at our nearest regional city Launceston, i went with them as they had a 20% off sale .Glad i did, good quality and easy to use . I ended up having to go back after a few months as i was a dozen short, they still gave them to me at the sale price.

Used to live near Launceston myself, but the one up on the moors tutherside of the world in Devon, hee hee ! I see him alive and well in the pond picture (few) my dog is the same but he is usually covered in Brambles !.... Is that a trick of the light or is it the YELLOWEST sand ever !

Just google mapped where Launceston might be, is that Tasmania ?

 

[grizzmo]

Used to live near Launceston myself, but the one up on the moors tutherside of the world in Devon, hee hee ! I see him alive and well in the pond picture (few) my dog is the same but he is usually covered in Brambles !.... Is that a trick of the light or is it the YELLOWEST sand ever !

We have nearly all your place names down here. No trick of the light, it is paving sand no idea why it so yellow, but it is great for under the pond liner as you can shape it near vertical and it will stay put, unless it rains and gravity wins. Yes i live in tasmania on the north west coast about a 100kms from launie.

 

[grizzmo]

We have had heaps of rain here over winter and unfortunately I didn't get other projects finished up hill of the railway and way too much water has been collecting in front of the blockwall. So something had to be done about that. I removed the gravel that was on the ground . I then put roadbase down and compacted it ,the ground now slopes back from the wall and from my workshop too.


Next i dug a shallow trench and put in agpipe and I joined it in to the wall drain at the end. I know it seems silly to put the roadbase first and get it perfect . Just to go and dig it straight up, but it is heaps quicker and easier.


Dirt cleared away and gravel that was spread across the ground is now in the trench .Since I have done this it hasn't rained at all , so i am waiting to see if this works well before i put the final finish gravel down. Probably will not rain now I want it too

This shows the storage area i nearly finished off over winter., There will be a lift up bridge across the aisle, i am not sure where yet and another way out for trains at the right unfinished part at the end .I think this should be plenty of storage , well at least for a very long time lgb stuff sure is pricey.

Well that catches this project up to date , 3 months of hard work and 3 months of winter. I will be working on the pond this week so hopefully will have something more interesting to show next week.

 

[curtis]

Wow, looks fantastic! Very much looking forward to seeing how it evolves!

 

[grizzmo]

Wow, looks fantastic! Very much looking forward to seeing how it evolves!

Thanks, if it turns out looking as good as the railway you have done curtis I will be very happy indeed. I was intending to use besser blocks and rendering like you have , but once I worked out the amount of time and work for the concrete foundations. Plus walls and rendering it would of taken me till next year at least , so I went with the stacking blocks instead.

 

[curtis]

You're too kind. I love the building up you've done with the heights of your layout. Do you have a track plan to share?

Regarding my walls, I had a cheat in that I had paving down already and the builders in - they were the ones that did the hard work. I just moved earth and built the track

 

[grizzmo]

You're too kind. I love the building up you've done with the heights of your layout. Do you have a track plan to share?

Regarding my walls, I had a cheat in that I had paving down already and the builders in - they were the ones that did the hard work. I just moved earth and built the track

Sorry it might seem silly but I don't have a track plan at the moment .I did have one before I started, but I did a pretty big change of plans. I was intending to make a british themed railway with short trains and shunting at stations. Using the bachmann thomas range as a base and detailing them up into better models .The plan was storage to terminal station with a continuous run in the middle and 3 passing stations. I will do a separate post about what i am planning now and why.

 

[grizzmo]

Well I didn't have to wait long for it to bucket down and the new drain worked a treat. So now when it dries out I can get back to working on the pond and moving rocks