7mm 7mm in the Great Outdoors

[Al Tait]

I thought long and hard about creating a new thread for my Garden layout but it doesn't really fit with the layout thread or my workbench so here it is. As this Covid thing has put pay to all last years jollies and we wont be going far this year either progress has been made on the house and garden. Part of the plan for the garden is some raised beds which would incorporate a track bed for my O gauge models to be able to allow them to stretch their legs a little.

As things have progressed I've been able to place a few models for pictures. Initially only on an end wall which won't have track on when its complete.







Then this morning as most of the block work is complete, just the tops to do around the bends basically, Cam popped round and we made a start laying track:







As you can see we couldn't resist a play when we'd done. Work was cut short due to a lack of plastic fishplates, we both thought we had more but never mind. Hopefully more progress to be had over the coming weeks.

 

[Bagpuss]

Will be ace when you have it finished. Nice to see a 7mm garden railway. Most garden railways are SM32. I love the loco's. I started to make one in my garden its only a small end to end at the moment.
I built it run my modified Big Big Hymek on. No track power as it is a battery radio controlled loco. It is 7mm on the cheap.

 

[Al Tait]

Cheers Bagpuss, all being well we will have a twin track loop. Additional bits should arrive tomorrow but rain stopped the rest of the track bed getting done today.

 

[Bagpuss]

Look forwards to seeing more of you line in the future

 

[Al Tait]

Weather has stalled progress but our builder has finished the blocks now so we have a full trackbed, just got to fill the void with rubble and soil now. A delivery today included a couple of ScenEcraft resin buildings to house some of the electrics, rude not to have a play!

 

[Al Tait]

A break in the weather today has meant Cam and I have got the outside of one of the curves in, we could't resist a test run to make sure it wasn't too tight so out came the Corpach Paper trip!!

 

[Al Tait]

Tested the scrap train on the curves we've laid so far as I was worried it would be a bit tight but they hare fine. Just need some dry weather to lay the rest of the track and wire it all up.





I always forget the buffers spin on 156. Needs little bit of work when I get the motivation.

 

[Al Tait]

Well, after expecting the weekends weather to be a write off, significant progress was made in the landscaping yesterday and the track laying today. We now have a full loop, not that it is fully wired yet but that will coming in the next few weeks. More wire and conduit ordered which should be here in a day or two. Apologies for the repeat of using 37423 and the cargo waggons, but its the easiest loco to grab and they are the longest wagons we have for gauging purposes!

 

[Al Tait]

Half an hours playtime after work. as the weather perked up. Conduit all here now just waiting on wire now.









I'm sure you will all get bored of these pictures by the end of summer!!

 

[adrian]

I'm sure you will all get bored of these pictures by the end of summer!!

Not likely - that's going to be a cracking circuit with the landscaping.

 

[Al Tait]

Two staging sidings gone in this afternoon and some of the wiring has started to go together. Hope for some dry weather next week and I've a 'free' weekend too so we'll hopefully make more progress. 37427 the test loco of choice today.

 

[Al Tait]

Sun has been out this afternoon so I couldn't resist a play, Cam's round tomorrow and we have a full day so there should be some significant progress in the Garden!

 

[Al Tait]

Not much progress to show this evening really, but we now have the back storage sidings wired up which meant the bed around the pond can be filled and planted and the wiring for the stabling roads at the opposite end have also now been wired so that small bed can be properly filled and planted. So with a combination of wiring and fish plates (we won't be relying on fishplate), much testing ensued!







Not the best shot but I really quite liked this view, unfortunately it will get obliterated with more rocks and plants tomorrow.



We did have Cam's 33, 37427 and a rake of Turbots out but I've completely missed photographing them! 37156 & 27427 both ended up on the Naughty steps but 156 is back out after fitters attention.

 

[Al Tait]

Hopefully have some more progress this weekend/next week. But Cam has been round this evening with a couple of interlopers, some strange green contraption an something a little more modern:







I've also done a test piece of track/ballast on a spare piece of block. See what this looks like in the morning:

 

[Al Tait]

Looks like last nights ballast experiment has been a success, its set rock solid. Now to try a section outside properly!

 

[Al Tait]

Managed to get a section done yesterday morning before we went and and I am relatively happy with. The different ballast I use around the hut isn't great so my need re-doing.





With nothing else much on today it was too ice to be inside so I cracked on! One cure half done (second track to go in) and the other end just abut done bar the very inside which will get done once the wiring has been done.





Finally a posed shot in the Sun, I think layouts look so much better once the ballast is down.

 

[Al Tait]

Slow progress the last week or so but we're now really getting there. One ark is now fully wired and so has been shuttered off to start filling with soil, 7/8 track lengths to cut and lay then the back straight and second arc to wire.

 

[Al Tait]

We now have two train running, wiring still to do but both Up & Down roads are now complete. Bit of a dark shot as the light had failed (Sun is back out now after I packed up).

 

[Pencarrow]

Looks like last nights ballast experiment has been a success, its set rock solid. Now to try a section outside properly!

View attachment 144223

View attachment 144224

Making good progress!

Out of interest, is it just the usual PVA mix you've used on the ballast? Exterior grade waterproof PVA?

 

[Al Tait]

Making good progress!

Out of interest, is it just the usual PVA mix you've used on the ballast? Exterior grade waterproof PVA?

2mm granite chippings and exterior grade waterproof PVA (SBR). I have found as long as the ballast is a good 2mm size then the SBR would just coat it without the need for wetting first, just added with a pipet. Time consuming but worth it, will see how it fairs when the rains come this winter!