The SCGR, then and now

Hi all,

Well seeing as I seem to have rediscovered some enthusiasm for resurrecting my line (assisted by some encouragement from a very excited little person ) I thought it might be an idea to create a thread on here to chronicle the proceedings. I hope to be able to bring together pics of the line in its heyday, along with some of it in its decline and fall, and - I hope - some showing its renaissance and who knows, ultimately back to its former glory.

For a bit of a background, I started developing the line way back in 2003. Here's a map:



At the moment I am concentrating on resurrecting the 'Chipside' area, as it was the area most engulfed in wild vegetation. If I can get that rebuilt, then I'll be in good shape to complete the rest of it.

Back in 2003, it looked like this:



In 2006 (10 years ago!) the goods yard, like the rest of that area, was maturing nicely... perhaps a little too nicely:



The line started to fall into disuse around 2010, to the point where it was taking an unfeasibly long time to get the line cleaned and cleared well enough to get a train completing the circuit unaided.

By 2014 the ivy, which I had foolishly planted in the belief that it would enhance the natural setting for the line without overstepping its bounds, had all but completely engulfed the whole thing:




Moral of the story - do NOT trust ivy, it cannot be trained, tamed or otherwise persuaded to know its place. Lesson learned, very much the hard way.

Lovely to see an evolving renaissance. Looking forward to seeing more.

Here's how it looked the following year, during yet another abortive attempt at line clearance. Yet more evidence of rampant ivy over-running everything

Then, back in July I had to take some time out to look after my wife while she recovered from an operation. During that time I learned what a vacuum cleaner looked like, how to operate a washing machine too... I also found myself yet again returning to the garden to somehow try and tidy it up. The tipping point for me was spotting that the ivy had reached the decorative block walling separating my garden from my neighbour's, and was proceeding to grow through it! That was it for me - the ivy had to go:



Unfortunately this meant completely dismantling the Cotswold stone 'wall' as the ivy roots were pretty much intertwined with the stones.

It also meant that the Lonicera bushes had to come up too, as their roots were all tangled up with the ivy. In truth they were getting too big and unwieldy and obscuring most of the line from normal view; another compelling reason to lose them:



The rest of this side of the garden quickly followed suit:

Next was a whole load of weeding, digging up clumps of grass etc:









I decided to keep the Hebe and the Lavender bush as they are comparatively slow-growing, and certainly not invasive. Plus, when cut back, they are very convincing G-scale trees, I think

The next step (and in this I am right up to date with my progress) was to lay a more stable, weed-proof bed for the track to run on. I decided to use 'Celcon' blocks as these are light, and easily cut to required shape with a saw - preferably an old one of course!





The excavated soil was used to back-fill the stones as the wall (more shallow this time) was re-built.

This last weekend saw a flurry of activity to get the track-bed re-laid for the through line and the station area. Several hours of back-breaking labour later:









Only the goods area to do, now, and then I can maybe look to doing a bit of planting

A short video clip, courtesy of my Vimeo account:

https://vimeo.com/186099480

A bit more progress today: replacing one of the dilapidated old wooden bridges with a more modern, hopefully more weatherproof design. Firstly, though, another short trip down 'Memory Lane' - this is how the bridge looked when brand new, back in 2003:



I was really proud of this as it was made quite cheaply and easily (from 3 pieces of garden trellis), and it really blended in with the garden. Of course, the problem was always going to be what would happen when the weather took its toll. I guess in a way I should be grateful that it lasted as long as it did.

As part of the overall task of rebuilding the line, I came up with an idea for replacing it. Some weeks ago I obtained some plastic piping, which seems to be used in preference to copper piping these days, and came up with a basic design:



Then finally today I had some time to make a start on construction:



I decided to make the cross beams wide enough to incorporate a walk-way to the side of the bridge, to add a little visual interest and give some of my figures a place from which to watch the trains!

There is still a fair amount of work still to be done, but I am quite pleased with how it's worked out so far.

Very creative, wouldn't have thought of that.

Thanks, Laurent. I am looking forward to making this look like it is decades old and rusting away

A rare opportunity arose today, while wifey took herself and her mother off to London for the day, I took the day off work and set to making some more progress on Bridge No 1. Firstly, some bracing pieces for the top:



Then, some supporting chains:



Finally, for now at least, some 'fence posts' for what will be the walkway:

A belated catch-up from last weekend: A modest bit of progress on Saturday morning; I wanted to see whether or not my idea would work before committing to doing the whole walkway, so I did just a couple of sections of the walkway running to the side of the bridge. The sections are cut from a roll of aluminium mesh, glued on with CA glue ( aka 'Superglue' ).



I left it overnight to see how it fared. After a cautious prod here and there the following day, it looked fairly solid.

I found myself giving the track a good clean ahead of my grandson's visit later that day, and amazingly I managed to clean it to about half the circuit... much to his enjoyment, as this video clip shows:

https://vimeo.com/album/4187735/video/189041094

Some more progress today. I had 5 Celcons left unused, so rather than do the Chipside goods area I turned my attention to 'Deweys End' section (see map at the top of the thread).

This section was initially completed in 2004:



Over time, it evolved slightly, including the addition of a 'private siding' for a pipe manufacturer. This was taken in 2010:



Of course, as with the rest of the line, 6 years of neglect allowed nature to take over, and even the attempt to clear it back in 2015 made little discernible difference. This is how the eastern side looked today, prior to work starting:



Then, for the first time in 12 years, the track was lifted, and the 'weed-proof' covering removed:



Then the last of the blocks were laid:



In doing so, it showed that the blocks that form the station platform were too low, so these needed to be dug up and relaid to maintain the height relative to the track bed.

With the remaining blocks all bedded in, the track was repositioned. Of course, the opportunity was taken to perform a quick 'system test':



Still a fair way to go, but it's a start!

Last Sunday was a landmark day - the first time in more than 6 years that a train has successfully completed a full circuit of my line

https://vimeo.com/album/4187735/video/189527542

More progress today - another 5 blocks laid, however I am all out of bags for holding the soil that I have dug out:

This weekend, more heavy duty bags have been procured, however the weather meant that there was not much opportunity to progress the new track bed in this area - but, 4 blocks is 4 less still to do:



Of course, as with any excavation work there is always the possibility that archaeological evidence will be uncovered revealing past endeavours:



Hopefully more progress next weekend!

Well done Clive, crack on, a difficult time of year for major works, but worth it as you'll be ready for running next spring!

Lol was very difficult to get the 'mojo' fired up with the damp drizzly weather - I need to make the most of the relatively mild weekends before the frost makes the ground too hard

Hi Clive I just caught up with this on the forum, all looking hopeful  I hope you manage to keep your ‘mojo’ well fired. It will need it this weather.

I could do with a few more degrees on the old thermometer, Peter, to be honest. And somewhere to park the bags of soil I am excavating! I am not a cold weather person by any means.

Nice work Clive. Spring timetable for 2017 looks promising.

Fast forward a couple of years - I have spent a fair bit of time making a more permanent track bed from sunken celcon blocks, completely rebuilt all my old rotten wooden bridges, and converted one of my locos to battery power! No speed control, however the thing travels at a sedate-enough pace to not really warrant it.

My latest project - a new station building (half relief) for the Dewey's End station:



It's the old Pola building with the side walls cut in half, and a scratch built slate roof to make it more 'British' looking

I still have the remaining bits which will eventually go on the Water's Edge branch station.

a small building very successful, congratulations.