Build a railway in a hole

Completion of a recent house rebuild left us without a railway in the garden for the first time for over 35 years. There is still a lot of work required in the garden before laying out a new line, so what to do?

The answer would be a movable outdoor line that with not much work could also be used as a filler display at fetes and exhibitions. The idea is equally suitable for coarse-scale “O” gauge or OO/EM in 4mm scale.

All lines require a solid base and although this line can be moved by removing and refitting screws, the base hasn’t moved in the past few months, despite the best efforts of recent storms. Essentially it consists of 6”x1” timber decking supported on 4” square timber posts. These latter are not staked into the ground in any way but the weight of the assembly prevents any movement.

There is a trade off between the radius and the width of the planks so the track does not overhang at any point, I tested this with a card template In my case, two sections of Mamod track fit neatly, giving eight pieces of wood to make the curve. The required angle at the ends of the wood can be either measured carefully from track or calculated.

When everything is cut lay it out on a flat surface and find the best arrangement with the smallest gaps in the joins- my cutting was not perfect but near enough. The joins are reinforced with 6”x6” offcuts underneath, each joint being screwed to a post. In my case the posts are 11” long to make best use of the available wood.

In my opinion, it's best not to have a manually controlled line at true ground level, the plants can always be raised if necessary to provide scenic breaks.

Finally everything below track level was painted with black fence paint to make it less conspicuous and the deck given a further coat of wood preserver; the wood itself weathers to a suitable colour after a few months outdoors so does not need painting.

For operation, the track is screwed down, but it can be lifted and the base broken into 5 sections each comprising two sections of trackbed and two legs should we want to move the line. It takes around 30 minutes to lift and box the track and remove the joining screws. I assembled everything with steel screws except those which have to be removed for transport. These are brass, which makes them quick to identify and they don’t rust in place. Reassembly takes slightly longer as the line has to be levelled; I use thin pieces of slate under the posts for this, plentiful in our garden at the moment!

The Mamod track scales at prototype weight around 25lb per yard, with sleeper size and spacing this would take a maximum axle load of about 5 tons on poor ballast, sufficient for small locomotives and stock. The thin sleepers look slim enough to not need ballasting and still look reasonable to my eye- certainly better than unballasted Peco or LGB.

Buildings and scenic details are whatever are to hand so long as they are weatherproof; everything stays out 12 months of the year. The rolling stock used was mostly built over 30 years ago and is still running well.

So, we have very simple line, that with an annual coat of wood preserver will last several years outdoors if necessary and can be moved around as needed or even taken to exhibitions with an artificial grass mat and pot plants to illustrate garden railways.

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