2007 - 2009

Well, finally an update to the construction page and covering two whole years of progress too!

I seem to recall writing on the old Hoginwood website, that I felt that constructing a railway in the garden would be easier and quicker than a remote location. Whilst I don't necessarily think that is untrue, it was perhaps an oversimplified view. Since moving into the house there has been (and still is) an awful lot of renovation and improvement work to do which has kept me away from railway construction. These two photos for example show some of the progress made in the garden.

Although railway construction was not on the agenda at all during the first twelve months of our occupancy, it was taken into consideration for the future.

The sharp eyed amongst you may notice that the bricks being used while I was grading this section of the garden are not placed in random positions. In fact they just happen to describe a curve of fifteen foot radius and a measured 2.5 percent gradient.

With the proposal to place the railway in the garden comes a much greater need to think carefully in advance about construction techniques, visual impact, access for gardening tasks, supply of services such as electricity and so on. Whereas in the woods I could pretty much bang the track down wherever I wanted, I am finding that the garden is taking more planning and preparatory work.

I have started to run a complete external electrical system that will allow relatively easy placement of external sockets in the future, along with a separate circuit for external lighting. This all needs to go in before the railway to avoid problems later on.

I was determined to get some track down this Spring (2009) and the chosen site of phase one was a long straight stretch along the back of the garden on a 2.5% grade. I decided it was prudent to put in a retaining/dividing wall at this location to keep the railway and lawn separated.

During the early part of the year I managed to get half the foundation in for the wall. Unfortunately, the current economic slow-down is having an effect at work and the result of this has been a reduced level of income for us both. This means the retaining wall did not get built.

Not to be completely outdone though, I put down a few track panels on the earth behind the wall footer. The track is in the correct location and at the correct 2.5% gradient, it's just about 200mm lower than the final level.

At least this summer I have somewhere where I can play and carry out load testing.