With the nights drawing out and the weather improving, (hopefully), thoughts might be turning to gardens. In this video I give you some tips on building a garden railway, using mine as an example. www.pnp-railways.co.uk
I am impressed with what you have done in a relatively small space. I notice that most of the time your locos are running free, at first I thought radio control but having watched all, I think you just set the speed controller to a low setting. Can you carry a couple of passengers round those 8ft radius curves or is it only safe for unloaded vehicles. Very nice set up, thanks for showing us.
Thank you for your comments. I have a selection of controllers, some are fitted with a joystick safety type, others are just knobs that can be set to a certain speed and some can control the sound and horn on the larger engine. The small Ruston is fitted with remote control for power only. The big engine will easily pull myself and one other person round or several children providing they keep still.
I made it out of some spare pieces of wood plus a few new pieces. It`s to my own design but based roughly on a real one. I just thought it adds a bit more interest to the railway. Thanks for your kind comment.
Thanks for your comments. There is no easy way except hard work. Unless you have room for a small digger. Keep gradients to the minimum possible, the maximum depends on the type of locos and rolling stock. Obviously 4 children are lighter than adults.
@@nutmeg5032 thanks for the quick response, I'm looking at building a railway in my back garden and its going to need lots of curves. Im just wondering how you created your curves so evenly, do you need a template or anything when your bending the rail?Also do you know how much the alice quarry hunslet steam loco can pull. many thanks
My wife asked me to build a 5" gauge railway at our home in Portugal. Hope to be running in the next few weeks. Biggest problem we had was levelling our land, it took two years to get the bed laid.
Yes gradients can be a problem, even the smallest ones. But the work involved will be worth it. Good luck with the railway. Perhaps you could film it sometime, I would like to see it.
@@nutmeg5032 Just a little work to be done. The rolling stock has been re-painted, the loco controller burned out so I got another. I have just a bit of work to do on the siding and into the engine shed, plus signaling. My grandchildren came over in October and drove several days, they are coming back to Portugal later this year, and I hope their mother will have a drive too!
I'm considering starting a garden railway and I was looking at pnp, would it not be possible to pour a small amount if concrete into the sleeper to add weight to stop them lifting?
I wouldn’t bother, just use a rough type ballast, I use 10mm pea gravel and I’ve not had any issues. Alternatively you could use wooden sleepers although that requires more skill in setting the gauge. Basically you need the ballast to grip the sleepers. Hope this helps.
There is a motor on each axle powered by 2x 12v car batteries, and controlled by electronics via a hand held speed controller.sound modules and horns are similarly powered and controlled. I hope that makes sense.
Love that you built your own track. Myself wouldn't bend rails using wood brick method. I would however figure out how to put together a bender using cpl wheels. Like an English wheel for shaping metal in car industry. That way you can have a smooth curve transition.
To help stop derailing due to heating of the rails in summer, if you elongate the holes in the rails for the fish plates it will allow the rails to expand and contract the fish plates will still hold the rails but you shouldn’t have as many issues …the holes don’t need to be expanded a great amount possibly 2mm on 6 mm holes would make a big difference 👍👍
Yes thanks, I forgot to mention that, that`s the trouble with these videos, you always remember something afterwards. Also you must leave a gap between the rail ends, although I have not had too many problems, perhaps here on the coast it never gets hot enough. But thanks for your comment.
you shouldn't really use pea shingle because the stones are round. these don't lock together, and move around. a better material is the 15mm granite chippings as they do bind together, and that is why the sleepers eventually walk themselves out of the ballast as each time you go over it, the ballast will move and work their way under the sleepers lifting them up. if you changed your ballast you'd probably find the plastic sleepers will bed in much more solid
Thanks for your comments. It has been mentioned before, but most of what I use is actually pea gravel and to be fair I’ve never had any problems with track lifting ,but I know it does happen, and it seems to affect plastic sleepers more.
Hello .. wow it's really wonderful video, Thank you for sharing, I really want to building garden railway but where can i buy all this stuff from? much appreciate,
Thank you for your comments. The track and rolling stock can sometimes be found on ebay. Or there are other suppliers of new and used items, such as Maxitrak of Kent, England, or PNP Railways also in England. Hope this helps.
I like your railway and your signal box. You have got quite tight radius curves. My five inch garden railway uses steel rail as I found the Aluminium rail too greasy for my 1/37 gradients. All my fishplates and track use stainless steel nuts, bolts and screws so I can always undo anything. Sleepers are preserve treated wood and some skip salvaged scrap 7/8" thick PVC Ex fascia boarding that will never rot. This cuts up to size with a normal jigsaw and then a quick spray of matt brown paint.
Thanks for your comments. I’m afraid my railway was put together over time using some track which my grandson had used when he was young. This added to when ever I could with some refinements such as wooden sleepers . Your railway sounds much more professional, well done.
Thanks for your comments. Both green and blue locos are the same, overall length 1250 mm. wheel centres on the bogies are 240mm. I have some very tight curves (2.4mm radius) but a long loco or wagon will go round provided it`s on bogies.
Now you see why some Australian railway tracks are distorted. Australia gets far higher temperatures than the UK ever does. When you now the lawn does your mower miss the tracks? Good layout though.
Wow Nutmeg50%, you have a really lovely railway there. You have inspired me so much. Thank you. On the note of the plastic siding warping in the sun, it really does not distract from the overall effect of the railway. You know about it, but unless you point it out to people, they won't even notice. Enjoy your trains, I am jealous. Best wishes.
Roy C Horton, you do actually need planning permission... From your Better Half. But then again, it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission 😂😂😂
I think that the problem with the plastic sleepers is not that they are hollow.- they are designed that way to allow the ballast to fill the voids and hold them well in place. I think that your issue is the pea shingle. Ballast, as on the big railway, should have sharp hard edges to enable it to lock together. Pea shingle stones just move against each other allowing the sleepers to move. Limestone chippings of a suitable size - I use 8 or 10mm - allows the track to move a little bit but for the most part holds it firmly in place. This ballast drains well, is cheap to buy in big bags and breaks up very easily if you decide to make changes.
Thank you for your observations. I do agree about the ballast having sharp pieces in, I actually use pea gravel, which I mistakenly called peas shingle in the video. But in my experience with mine and other railways, wooden sleepers are superior in any type of ballast.
@@nutmeg5032 I've used 14mm green granite for ballast. These angular stones bite the sleepers. My PNP plastic sleepers aren't yet lifting, but I'm now looking out for it. I've only laid the track down last year, so a little way to go. Nice video - -thanks for sharing.
@@RanmoreCommonRailway Thanks for your comment. I think yours will be fine, any ballast that grips the sleepers should be ok , it’s just that I prefer wooden sleepers as they are not so smooth as plastic, also if you run live steam they don’t melt from hot embers .
Great video, thanks for posting it! I've often wondered about doing a railway like yours, but being unsure of a method has put me off. Do you think you could give an estimate of what it cost you for the rails, sleepers, points and ballast please? many thanks, Pete.
Thanks for your comments Pete. As a rough estimate I would say about £32 per metre. That`s for aluminum rail, plastic sleepers and chairs, fishplates and gravel. But you could use timber sleepers with screw fixings which would be cheaper. Also the larger the layout, ecconomies of scale would work in your favour. ie, you could buy the gravel in bulk bags. But it`s not a cheap hobby. Hope this helps.By the way, that’s for plain , does not include points.