Motivated by the excellent progress on other layouts now spring has come, decided that it's high time to update progress on my own track.

I'm afraid I don't have an imaginative story behind my railway, just a desire to provide a workable scheme to run a large cross section of loco's and rolling stock. I would have liked to make it French but to date everything is German(LGB) metre gauge or British Narrow Gauge 1:18. Equally the name CFHC is just a working title until something springs to mind.

The whole layout area is about 30 meters by 20 meters with a 1:25 slope across the whole area.

I initially planned like others to use R1 curves and turnouts but have now abandoned that in favour of a fast level loop incorporating two R5 turnouts.

Here's the final scheme I'm working to ...

I've posted these pics before, but they show where I'd got to last Autumn...



I'm standing where the stream and bridge are going


Baguie the dog is lying on what will become the passing loop

Tomorrow I'll take and post some pics to show development in the raised sidings area

I hope to make progress over the coming weeks, I had 4 Cubic Metres ballast (for concreting) delivered today and Flexitrack and rail bender should be en route

B

Beautiful day today so ready for some serious concrete mixing ...

The pond is in ...

This is my temporary outside loop - R1's looking silly outdoors ...

The raised sidings area ready for surface concrete ...



And afterwards ....

Progress at last brian! Just wondered if you had put a foundation under those stone blocks?. I did the same thing about 5 years ago by building a raised flower bed.The weight of the blocks and loads of rain caused the ground level to drop and broke up all my concrete within 6 months. If you have done a strip foundation then ignore this!!

mikey

Some great Empire building.
I like the different levels and the figure of eight track plan. I have that here too but much lower.

Are those sidings for 'steaming up' and maintenance or just storage or station area?

If they are for steaming up, access and bending over might be a bit difficult although the height is good.

As you are going to run regular steam I would recommend a good accessible dedicated steaming bay off the mainline where you can make a mess.

Also if you have 2 passing loops each half way round the circuit you can run two trains non-stop hands-free in opposite directions.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with the name, CFHC sounds good to me.

Thanks for the tips guys...

No concrete foundation, but the stones have had 5 months of wet weather to settle, so here's hoping.

The sidings area was for a few buildings and stock storage - to date I've steamed up off track - but a seperate feed area is a good idea. Perhaps the passing loop can be for steaming up in the meantime. I can only afford R1 turnouts into it, so fast counter running trains are probably off the menu for the time being.

Anyway I see this very much phase one - just get some permanent track bed down - I'm hoping things will develop over coming years!

Cheers B

More days of fantastic weather, so have been hard at it with the concrete mixer again.

Having concreted the "passing loop" area, I find I have enough room for three tracks and following Carl's advice a steaming up branch (marked red on the plan)




Pics of actual track in area tomorrow.

B

If you do all your steaming up and preparation here it will keep most of the mess off the mainline especially with Accucraft locos not being the cleanest.

If you can do it, it is advisable to have some sort of drip tray or good drainage under the track for oil and water. Steam oil doesn't really evaporate and stays a stick mess lying around.

Looking good Brian. While Zelda's warming up you can assemble your train in the loop ready to go.

Wow, I missed this in the week... good progress Brian, here's hoping for some continued good weather for you!

Going very well Brian.

I can see you are in the "Zone"............progress will be steady from now on.

Hi Brian.
I`m in the same situation as you,building up slightly from ground level so as to have a crossover loop.I was also thinking of useing gutter sections sunk in the soil and then filled with ballast as a means of avoiding track movement if I have any settlement problems.I like the idea of brass angle over a ash pit for the steaming bay.Have just started to mark out where I think track should be laid,but plans are still abit fluid.