The EJ&KLR: Austrian narrow gauge in Cheshire

Re:The EJ&KLR project

I've annotated the track plan to show the 'zero' point, the station at 6.15cm and the climb up to the bridge (and 25cm clearance) with lengths and %'s marked.

Thanks for the help and advice to date - any more is still greatly appreciated :)

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Re:The EJ&KLR project

James , have you thought of making cuttings as a method of lessening your gradients? I must admit they attract wind blown debris, & you need to take water drainage into account (as you do with an embankment that can act as a dam) but they may enable you to run longer trains in the future. I am coming from the keep your railway as flat as possile school of thought.
Also you need to keep in mind ground movement, I would think your gradients would be more likely to sink/erode than a cutting , depending how you construct them, but there are no gaurentees!
At the end of the day its a leap into the dark
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

James the station areas on the H&MGR are about the only flat track, the rest is mostly 2%, a couple of slightly steeper, maybe 2.5% have worked themselves in over time. But no problems for most reasonably sized trains even behind our small loco's. So I think your planned grades will be fine.
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

I think I'm going to have a proper re-think, I'm sure 3% is fine from all your all advice guys, but John, your 2% sounds much more what I had in mind when I sketched the track plan out in my notebook. It's just when it's transcribed into track planning software you find there isn't as much room as you imagined.

To reduce the grade I need to add quite a lot to the length, and that's a problem. I might try a few 'flat' plans with a similar shape, but without a crossing.
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

jameshilton said:
It's just when it's transcribed into track planning software you find there isn't as much room as you imagined.
Click to expand...
You've hit the nail on the head there James with pretty much EVERY garden railway that's ever been planned/built - no one EVER has as much room as they imagined :@.
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

James i know you are enjoying designing track plans figuring out different senarios etc but best plan is to get out there throw down an oval and run some trains then you can add this, takeaway that, I know we all work differently and have a multitude of likes and dislikes but there is no substitute for seeing it for real.
I have numourous track plans stored on my PC that looked great and then you lay down some track and straight away can see the station would look a lot better in a certain area or that little corner is crying out for a mining complex. maybe something like a couple of trees scream out for a meadering track between them, Then just as you have it all sorted someone on here publishs some photos or a video of theirs and you see something you want to incorperate in yours
If you think about a real railway line its appearence is largely governed by the terain it sits in, so yours in your garden should be no different so by building around and over different obsitcals you will make it more realistic
when i started i wanted to build a Model town not just a railway but everything that goes with it at the end of last year because id aquired so much track from collections id covered the garden and had forgotten about roads and buildings and things making sence i had lost sight of why i started building it so this year its all been lifted and ive started again, But even yesterday i stood back and relised it was getting to crowded again
The one thing i have learnt is "keeping it simple keeps it real"

Now where did i store that double slip ?

Tony
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

Thanks chaps...

Yes - Tony - wise words... I am looking forward to 'roughing it out' in real life, I'm a bit stuck at the moment though as I only have an R1 curve, R1 points and a few straights, plus it's all 50 miles away from me 95% of the time! I had a look at a few of your videos, looks great fun - the problem with Mum and Dad's garden is size (it's massive) and finding a small part to work in that's both fun, interesting, not so big that it'd never be finished and also not too expensive!

The wife has suggested we could do something in our garden as well, but that can wait! Two simulataneous garden railway projects sounds lovely, but is probably unrealistic with time constraints this year, mind you I've stored that away for future 'darling, remember you said about building that garden railway...' in a year or so's time! :D
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

Hi James

I've not had a lot of experience from my small line, but when the time comes to do it again one thing I will definitely change is my gradient. I think someone on here worked helped me to work it out to be about 1 in 11. On a dry day a Stainz sized loco will just about get 4 small wagons up it and when it's wet this goes down to two or three.

One thing though is with the gradient it means a lot of the time I con't sit back and enjoy watching trains run as I constantly have to monitor speeds etc.

Ricky
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

798.03 said:
Gradients often mean when running analogue that you have to "drive" the train, unless you can find a speed that looks ok without slowing down uphill to a stand or speeding up to much downhill. I'm guessing that you'd quite like trains to run themselves and do so reasonably realistically.
Click to expand...

Under analogue control it is not difficult to automatically reduce the running speed on down grades. You just have an isolated section connected to the rest of the track through series rectifier diodes.
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

Thanks chaps - I think the issue here is that the area Mum has specified for the railway is a clean slate! Therefore I'm dreaming up not the track but the landscape!!

Good feedback on gradient and performance too - thanks... Working out the maximum track order and then I'll talk to Jeremy at Dragon G-scale :)
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

One think I did to aid planning was get a can of marking out paint and spray out the envisaged alignment. As others have said it always looks different on the ground. Unlike you I luckily had lots of existing features to negotiate, I think a blank slate could be harder. Perhaps consider where planting will be going as well.
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

Well I've gone back to basics and drawn up Version 11...
This gives me the station, a flowing set of curves with ample opportunity for landscaping and trains in the landscape. It removes the original comprimises of R1 curves (minimum is R2 in places, R3 and R5 where possible) and has opportunity for future expansion by replacing an R3 curve on left with a point and either going above or below to a terminus station.
It feels big enough to be worthwhile, small enough to get going this year - I'm happy. Thanks for the help and advice - it's easy to get carried away with planning - but hopefully it does result in a solution that I'm happier with. Just waiting final approval from the 'authorities' (i.e. Mum) and I'll get the track order placed this week :)

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EDIT:
PS - the blue blobs...
The top one represents THREE LGB short wheel base coaches/wagons
The left bottom one represents a U-tank and THREE short wheel base coaches/wagons
The right bottom one represents a U-tank, two bogie coaches and one short wheelbase coach/wagon...

Which is what I'm after - for now :)
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

Topologically that's near enough the same as my Wild Strawberry Line, only real difference is I have another siding coming off the "right hand" passing loop and heading off "downward". Oh, and the two "inside" sidings come off the loop half-way down, but I'm fortunate that the domestic authorities granted permission for my loops to be long enough to accomodate two trains each.

I reckon you'll have a nice line there!
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

Nick it would be a lot easier if I was building this at my home, as the wife is quite supportive. This has the added complication of going at my parent's home - and as a sort of tribute to my Dad it's tied up emotionally as well. It will feel great to make a start though :)
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

Although the shape is different (you have a lot more room to play with than I did when I started) your latest plan also has exactly the same features as the original WGLR. You are exactly right to say that it's very easy to get carried away when planning. A simple plan is much more achievable and can always be added to as time goes on.
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

Track ordered! Thanks for all the help in the planning stages guys, I'm excited about taking the railway into the garden for phase 2 of the line :)
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

Cant wait to see Phase 2. I think having grades on the line will just make the layout more intresting. Some ways to avoid the steeper grades is to build a trestle or a high line. I did that on my RR. Keep the layout simple and work on one section at a time. Once you start laying track down you will most likley end up changing the track plan. When I first started I had few things I wanted on my line. 1- I wanted a grade 2- I had to have a mountain with a tunnel going through it. 3- I wanted an s curve 4- the line had to have a trestle. 5- The line had to have one nice straight away. From that point i just started laying track down. I started with the s curve and then just went from there. Make sure you plan on ways to get into the layout for maint.
For me grade and not so perfect track work was not a big deal because I wanted to run mainly logging type engines. Good luck and cant wait for progress pics.
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

it will look great when done, cant wait to see it. it should work well too with all the planning that has gone into the grades etc. i just built my grade and hoped it would work, and it did........ few!
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

Very much enjoying this thread... I found that even though I tried to avoid gradients I ended up with them on my current layout. Some unavoidable, some just not built well enough but decided i liked them anyway!!
 
Re:The EJ&KLR project

Thanks chaps... when I say Phase 2, I actually mean out into the garden (Phase 1 being the indoor 'carpet' line)... Phase 3 expansion will have to wait until 2012! :)

With all this talk of orange HSB Kof's I thought I'd share another shot of my repainted Liliput 'non-Davenport'...
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