A diary of Tramway Demiel

no progress this weekend (we're still waiting for the weedkiller to do its evil stuff) Anyway we're playing,sorry testing trains today!!meet the chief tester/wrecker!



mikey

I've either not given the round-up weedkiller enough time to work or I mixed it up wrongly but its taking its time!

We've built up the raised bed where the church and part of the village will stand and dug out the trackbed around the station. Granite chippings will be delivered this afternnon.;



Mikey

Today is my Birthday. I say that not because I hope to receive gifts of wagons, carriages, Reppingen locos, blank cheques etc. No. I mention it because glyn, my wife of 40 years has graciously given her permission for me to work on my railway all day without interruption!!
Progress at last!



This will be the 32mm gauge industrial line that will wend its way around the papermill. The board is where the dock area for the barges will be.

This is where the village will be sited;


Finally a general view of progress;


Glynis has also granted her consent to me building a 30 metre straight that heads outside the designated area and then loops back (should be fun for live steam) (but she doesnt know about that yet. Shh!)

Mikey

Its been a while since i updated the progress (its been a while since I did any work on it!), but I thought it was about time.The roads have been marked out and concreted, the trackbed has been laid and the fenceposts have been planted. Its a nice sunny day today and forecasted to be like this for the next week so we can catch up on things.





Mikey

Great to see the entreprise taking shape....trains running by spring?

Is this still to the orignal 'dogbone' plan Mikey?

Good to see the your progress Mikeyh. Very little progress with mine, at the moment the ground is to damp and motivation is required.
I must try and get something done as Geoff is visiting next weekend.

Know what you mean Peter. We have had six days of solid rain; the ground is like a sponge, but luckily the sun is out and should start drying things up. My problem is; I get so frustrated at not being able to do what i want, when i want



The plan is still a dogbone but with a turnout on each bend so that we can have a longer run around the perimeter if needed. There will also be an independant industrial line around the papermill. Roll on spring!!!

Mikey

Not much progress here either...

The combination of wet weather; the distraction of the indoor "test" layout in the barn and a potential pipe trench to be dug across the layout area mean that I haven't got much further than this - pictured in early October .....

Thanks Carl

I think I finally got the idea with pics.

Hellish complicated vs the other place !!!!

Brian

It is a bit more complicated but once you have hosting set up you just need to post the image url inside the image tags.

GSM is on a paid server like my website with loads of storage space.
This server is free with almost no storage space. But is usually very reliable.

We could go the paid route and do donations, badges and alike but then that's becoming too much and more like a business then.

Anyway what's happening in the picture? Who's the bloke pretending he's just dug all that lot and what's it for then?

Looks like a man on a mission with two spades and a sack truck.

Finally able to get some work done today. the snow has all gone and the ground is really soft again. finished digging the trackbed out and filling with gravel. the fence is working (no footprints in the snow!) Next step is to lay the track.



mikey

Looking good Mikey!!!! It certainly looking more purposeful / complete than mine.

Crack on with it Mikey and Brian..........you don't notice the cold or the grafting when you are on a mission.

I did plenty of work on my garden railway in the Winter months - I started in the garden in December 2006.

just took this pic from our bedroom window to get an overview of the track.It seems hard to believe theres over 200 foot of track/bed, it seems so small! HaHa but watch it grow!!. sorry about the telephone pole but France Telecom won't let us move it!



Mikey

Looking good, though, Mikey... I guess you need a small table next to that garden bench, to put your bottle of wine on!

you dont miss a thing do ya Clive!

the grand plan is to eventually open the fencing (roughly where the bench is) and extend the line 50 metres towards our boundary and then build another village. I'm only allowed to spend my gig money on the railway so if anyone wants a 60's/70's concert?

mikey

Bring the music kit along in July and we can have a jig ?

The Empire's taking shape. You've made some great progress Mikey.

GeoffW wrote:

Bring the music kit along in July and we can have a jig ?

....my mandolin too?

I just posted a long reply congratulating Mikey, but it seems it has disappeared into the ether? - Admin?

Not my fault...did you cliquez sur send?

Oui !

It's Friday the 13th...maybe it's FranKS fault.

Let me repost my long reply, I'll put its loss down to "Corbieres" induced finger trouble my end

Mikey

I'm really impressed with what you've done. I don't think it looks small, the French countryside has the habit of doing that. Why not take some low level close ups that always makes things look big.

I really must get my act together, I haven't laid a metre of permanent track yet, though we do have a fine garden pond, round which the track will run, (I'll post pics on a seperate thread rather than waylay (pun) yours).

The track bender should be here next week from Jeremy at Dragon, so if you want me to come over for a "bender" just shout, could bring the steamie too if required. I've taken the plunge and based on my own costings ordered 144 feet of Accucraft Flexitrack from Track-Shack to complement my existing 100 meters or so of secondhand bits and bobs. In the end the premium for new against the hassle of buying secondhand off Ebay just doesn't seem worth it.

Anyway well done - it's really motivated me to press on.

Cheers Brian