The Heatherburn Garden Railway (00)

[87 101]

Where has this year gone ! The last time I ran a train round the garden was april 2009 and the last trains to run on the undercover section was my birthday last july !! Since then the line has been mothballed due to lack of time and funds and also the constant threat of having to sell up and move has not helped with my motivation on the project. Yesterday I decided that I had to pull myself out of depression and do somthing about the state of the back garden. Fortunatly the electric strimmer still works so armed with some new strimmer wire it was time for some weeding !!

















































Today im thinking of finishing off the render on the wall.

[87 101]

I think that this will be the start of Heatherburn Mk2. The trackbed is still as sound as the day it was built and the track just needs a blooming good clean. The rails still have the coat of WD40 that was sprayed last year so there's not realy much to do to get the railway working again. This morning I have made a start on removing the soil from the back corner of the garden. I have an idea of building a low wall to create a raised flower bed that is well away from the railway line. The area between the railway and the wall will be graveled and will give me better access for maintaining the line. This is the area im working on..



The concrete bridge that I made three years ago has split where the deck joins the abutments so im thinking of rebuilding this bridge using foamex...



This is the origanal track base and as you can see its in pritty good shape considering that its nearly four years old..



You can clearly see the two part construction used as the mortar for the track bed had pushed the shuttering out slightly. The concrete base that it sits on is about a foot deep...

[87 101]

This afternoon I decided to do somthing a bit more drastic and scrap the rockery! This was brought about for a couple of reasons one being that every time I switched on the pump for the waterfall the water dissapeared. After a bit of investergation I found the leak but to rectify the problem I needed to take the waterfall to bits. Consiquently this ment removing a lot of the plants so I figured that it would be a good time to start again.





I did take the opitunity to dig out the big dock leaf tree that kept sprouting in the middle of my alpines!





The damaged bridge that crossed the pond also went the journey



Today also saw some major work carried out on the viaduct as closer inspection of the damage caused by all that snow revieled that the mortar had come away from the concrete base. As I want to build a waterfall round the viaduct I thought that it would be a good idea to fix the trackbed using resin.



So first I removed the front cover and then all the mortar from the track







Note the rubber blocks embedded into the concrete



A clean up with a brush and an old vac cleaner





Then came the resin







There is still quite a bit of repair work to do to the viaduct but at least I have made a start.

[slackbladder]

Yikes Dave.. a man on a mission proper job..

Good on ya mate.

[Metadyneman]

I've watched your railway from a discreet distance, and can see the passion behind it. The original idea was fantastic and I have to say very, very ambitious. The landscaping and the way you built the railway to fit the land rather than the other way round is very commendable. I had a garden railway very similar to yours in the early 1980s. It was fantastic for it's time. Had four through running roads into a 10ft by 6ft shed (which was bloody cold in winter). But other things distracted me and the railway got less (none) of my time. It sewed the seeds for a later day though with something a lot simpler and easier to manage, one wife two houses and three cats later, the Bambrough line was born in 2003. It's a simple twin track main line on which I derive a HUGE amount of pleasure and have very little to worry about if I don't do a bit of gardening. I loved the Heatherburn garden line in it's heyday... If you can make it live again, well done mate, just don't make it too labour intensive. That's my advice for what it's worth.

regards

Jules

[markh]

it looked like a real disued used line looky you didn't hit the buildings & the work is a proper good job keep it up

[Metadyneman]

Something tells me this line is dead , If I'm wrong then that would be good

[thomas the plank engine]

Here's hoping the Dr Beeching has not got to it yet

Ian

[87 101]

Not quite dead although it has come close to being scrapped ! For a few months we thought that we would have to sell the house due to finanical issues not to mention the uncertany of my wifes job. The repair that I did to the viaduct last year worked well and stood up to the realy bad winter we have just had. Hopfully this year I can scrape together some funds to complete the landscaping of the garden that will prevent the green stuff from growing everywhere.

[thomas the plank engine]

Great news that Dr Beeching has failed to close this railway down.

As always Dave we know how busy you are so will just sit back and wait for it to happen, which I know you will do, given a bit of 'spare' time.

Ian

[87 101]

Today I have invested in a new shovel so that I can make a start on work in the back garden. I have come up with a plan of building a timber frame right across the back of the garden about 6 feet wide. This will then support some climbing plants, stop those kids from climbing over the fence and if I fit some strips of clear plastic between the slats will keep most of the weather off the railway. I have drained the large pond that I put in last year and removed the liner so now I need to decide on where it will go. The area where the big pond was will then be turned into a sunken patio area with a brick built barbaque (always wanted one) set into the curved wall that will follow the line of the railway. The idea will be that the railway will be eye level once you are sitting down. I might even build the seating into the wall cos that would look realy cool. I have also thought about having some blue trailing flowers planted around the viaducts so that the blue flowers look like water flowing under the arches. Anyway weather permitting work will start tomorrow on rearranging the landscaping and water features.

[hafgood]

looking forward to seeing the rebirth....

[87 101]

A few pics of yesterdays pond replacement.

[Metadyneman]

Lordz.. It look like a scene reminiscent of the aftermath of the Beeching closures!

[billa.1268]

No it's not! There's still track on the trackbed!