This last weekend (10th/11th February 07) I began taking up some of the track to make way for a patio.  This will use about three metres of the existing track and so the railway is going to have to change.  I thought long and hard about how this could be used as an excuse to improve the railway.  I want to keep the realistic appearance of a ground-level line but at the same time make it more self-contained.  This means raising it up, but only 30cm or so.  I plan to build a low wall all around a bent dog-bone shape and fill it up so that the railway sits that high off the ground.  This way the railway will be raised higher, giving me the chance to experiment with a number of ideas.

With the footings for the wall in place, I have begun laying the cement blocks for the rear part of the raised bed. 

Moving along now, the cement blocks have all been mortared in place and also the brick wall section has been laid.  It took about six sessions to do all the bricklaying as the sun gets pretty hot in my garden.  Each session got a little shorter as my bricklaying got faster.

As you can see, the end curves are fairly tight, though the Pico SM32 set curves fit well.  Next will be ordering a truck load of earth to fill in the bed...

With 2 truck loads of earth barrowed by yours truely and a bad back later the focus turns to where the track will go.  I envisage the track running around the inside of the wall, but with some parts curved so I can put trees in the way and loose sight of a train at those points.  This will give the illusion of distance and make for better photo vantage points.

The next picture will have lots of trees and plants as I'm in the process of adding stuff. 

With the track down but still in need of much adjustment, the plants and miniature trees are going in.  Lots still to do but it is starting to look like a railway again.

There are a number of empty spaces in which I will add buildings (when I make them).