|
Summer 1999 We finished the initial
loop the first weekend in June. At this point we had a
Polly 1, Bulldog one bogie chassis and a 4wheel wagon.
|
|
The freshly laid track looks really smart. At this
point we still hadn't reinstated the paths. |
|
At the end of the garden we had to create a small
cutting. As can be seen from this picture the soil kept
falling on the track. |
|
The original pond can just be seen on the left. There
is also a heap of york stone where we cut the railway
through the path. |
|
April 01 . Nearly two years on and we had started
to put in a branch up the left side of the garden.
Initially this was just planned as a cut across.
|
|
April 01 As part of the branch across we required a
crossing. This was built up on a steel plate before being
trimmed, coated in underseal and eventually burried in
concrete.
|
|
May 01 Two years on we had had enough of carrying
engine and stock out of the gararge. By this stage we had
the grand plan of extending the cross line to run inside
the outer loop at the end of the garden.
Here Andrena and my Dad are digging the base for the
new shed.
|
|
It was amazing how much soil appeared in the centre
of the garden. At its peak it was nearly eight foot tall.
This area is where the station is. Bit of a change. |
|
May 01 Having removed the top soil we brought up
the foundation with hard core. These bricks were broken
up and eventually compacted with a wacker plate.
|
|
June 01 As we couldn't face puring the concrete
slab we got a company to lay it for us. As my brother was
at home and wanted to enlarge the pond I got him to mark
out and put in shuttering for the concrete gang to lay
down a concrete edging.
|
|
June 01 - Shed base complete with the track put
down temporarily in the original location. The eventual
plan is to move the track over and install a new inner
track.
|
|
June 01 - The inner track continues across the
garden. To help save space this bit of track is set in
the path.
|
|
Aug 01 - The lovely flat concrete makes a great
storage area. Due to two weddings in the summer progress
ground to a halt.
|
|
|
|
September 01 - The new alignment being put in. This
is where the tunnel is. The idea of a retaining wall was
born as to the right of this picture there is and eight
foot spoil heap. The tunnel wall / retaining wall was
built roughly where the right track is.
|
|
Sept 01 - Looking down the garden. The new
alignment of the track can be clearly seen at this stage.
The black on the left was roofing felt used to line the
trench before ballasting.
Stupid thing to do as roots easily penetrated it and
it broke down, letting the ballast sink in to the clay.
Use a garden fabric such as Terram for this job,
otherwise you will forever have weeds growing through
your line.
|
|
October 01 - Start of the shed. My dad used to
work at a training centre which had a load (shed load ha
ha) of bricks surplass when they stopped teaching
bricklaying. These were used to form a retaining wall
alon the front of the shed and a curved retaining wall
which eventually became the tunnel wall.
|
|
October 01 - At this stage we wern't planning on a
tunnel. As you can see the wall is built on it own
foundation and not on a slab. It is only later that we
decided to concrete the floor and built a wall on the
right.
The floor slab was cast one evening after work.
Andrena and my dad didn't want to but I pushed them in to
it. I got the task of bringing forty 25kg bags of ballast
through the house on a windy night/ I know it was windy
because I had to close the doors behind me.
That was one of those silly things you do - laying
concrete till 11pm at night.
|
|
October 01 The second piece of the concrete up
stand wall. This wall is to hold back the soil to the
right. If you cast concrete in shuttering always use
strong plywood. On the first piece I had the frame
stopping short on the bottom edge of the plywood by about
100mm. The pressure of the concrete forced the plywood to
bend and spring the shuttering up.
A mad panic of scooping up concrete in to dustbins and
a quick rebuild of the shuttering followed.
|
|
February 02 The walls complete we then moved on to
the roof construction of the tunnel. The railway
originally ran to the left of the yew tree. Unfortunately
the yew got moved a further two times before it decided
it couldn't cope.
|
|
March 02 Soil moved up against the tunnel and shed.
The window set happened to be a spare from work. The
profiled valance is plastic and was cut using a jigsaw.
At this stage we hadn't really thought about doors but
assumed we could build something.
|
|
April 02 It was my wifes idea to turn this area in
to a station. By swinging the track over we managed to
get two platforms in. The location next to the tunnel
meant we couldn't have an island platform. The points in
the foreground are for the cut across of the loop and
weren'y very useful.
|
|
April 02 Taken from the shed roof. The cement mixer
is sitting on the original path and at the point were the
inner loop crosses. As of this photo there is little sign
of the inner loop.
|
|
April 02 Station area. The original crossover
points are still in place.
|
|
May 02 A concerted effort to get the inner loop
finished. This was taken on a Friday lunchtime. By Sunday
we had the inner loop up and running for an open day.
|
|
May 02 Just in front of the shed we managed to get
a short siding in place. This was put in steel then cast
in concrete. We also formed an ash pit in the concrete
which at the moment has some lovely weeds groing in it.
|
|
June 02 View form the house. By this point in time
we had the inner loop complete and even managed doors on
the shed.
This is one of the last pictures taken on my old Kodak
digital camera. Hence in the next section the quality
improves.
|
|
|