Elevated Railway

[butch1]

I am planning a railroad on posts in my backyard.  I am wondering if anyone else has done this, and has any information.

I plan on using potted plants, and some shrubbery will be part of the scenery.

[GearDrivenSteam]

I had originally started doing this, but changed my mind because of several things. Cost being the number one factor.

[butch1]

Material cost?  Since it is essentially a series of bridges connected together?

I actually started with the idea of attaching most of it to the fence at the back of my yard.  Then it becomes an outdoor shelf layout except for the turnarounds.  I plan on staring with a dogbone track plan.

If I use the fence, it will be easy to attach "building-fronts" to it.

[dwbeckett]

sounds like a good idiea check some of the posts in the conctruction section

[altterrain]

Yes, it has been done a lot. Posts are usually pressure treated lumber or pvc pipe. A club member showed his off recently at the meeting at his house. The layout was build with help from some of the other members. For pics go here - http://www.wvmgrs.org/ > Meetings (clickable link)> scroll down to the Sept. meeting and "more photos" for more pics.

Also under "What we do" is Team Layout. Click on that and then Team Layout Photo Archives. You'll find 3 work parties ant Jack and Mary's that show the construction of the layout. 

-Brian 

[butch1]

Thanks for the link.  I had not considered PVC pipe.  Is it filled with concrete?

Wife and I are originally from MD, so it is interesting to see familiar terrain.  Now live in FL, where the landscape and weather are considerably different.

[cabbage]

Here we call it "the plank on post" system. Yes I have used this system and I will use it again for my next railway. The main problem is the posts (believe it or not). I used "MetPosts" which are 60cm long metal spikes into which you bolt your posts and then saw to length. I used 150mm x 25mm planks on top of 100mm sq posts, the planks were edged with 50mm x 25mm "stringers".

viz:

The structure was made from "tanalised" AKA "tanalith" timber and painted with ordinary water based fence paint on a 2 yearly cycle. It was strong enough to stand on and coped quite easily with the fact that my railway was on the side of a 1 in 5 slope...

The next railway at my new home, (we have only been here a year), will use brick piers with wooden planks and stretchers between them. The brick piers are being used because there is insufficient depth of soil to drive a MetPost into in the part of the garden I want to build the new railway in.

It is a tried and trusted method. The only problem you might have is with the maths in calculating the angles to cut the planks for. However most "chop saws" have the angle cuts marked on them. For a 4 side corner select 22.5 deg (octagon cut) and then butt it up against a 90 degree cut. This gives you the 11.25 deg you need!!!

regards

ralph

[GearDrivenSteam]

Yes. The cost of materials was too much for me, especially since there was no existing fence.

[lyctus]

In my previous house I had an elevated section that ran around the rear of the garden joining two garden bed based sections. I mounted the form ply channel sections on treated pine posts. I routed a continuos slot 1/2" in from each long edge the same width as the thickness of the ply (3/4") and used cross linked PVA to glue the side pieces into the top plate,making a sort of 'box section' which I further strengthened with intermediate spacer pieces. It functioned well for about 4 years until my wife decided we needed a new house (she did express concern for my garden railway...but what do you say ? !!) so it all came down. It has taken 6 years for me to get to lay sub-road for the re-incarnation ! (THIS WEEKEND !!!) An elevated railway will work and has the height advantaged for 'worn out back' folk. 

[bigboy]

There are several methods to elevate your railroad without having to build brick retaining walls and fill it with tons of soil. I am building my current garden rail road with a system that was developed by a man named Roger Smith. He hangs out on the Large Scale Central web site. He has posted a great article on how he makes his raised bed layout. Briefly, he makes up frames with 2x4 treated lumber that are 3 to 5 feet wide and 8 feet long. Make the frame with 2x4 stringers on both sides with 2x4 cross members spaced every 2 feet. Use a pair of 4x4 treated posts to support each end and the middle of the frame. That would be six supports for each frame. Then cover the top of the frame with 1/2" hardware cloth. Cover that with weed block fabric. Add a 1 1/2" by 1 1/2" treated strip of lumber along the outside edge of the long side of the frame. You can join as many frames as needed to make the layout. Use the ladder system to make the track support layout and put it on top of the frame. You can install treated 2x4 risers on top of the frame to elevate the ladder supports to achieve any grade you want. Now you can fill the frame with soil flush to the top of the edge of the frame. Install your track on the ladder support system, apply balast and you are ready to run. The best part of this system is that you can have real plants growing in the soil around the tracks. You can place buildings, rocks, bridges and any other type of structures on the platform. When you are done you have a raised bed that looks as nice as if it was on the ground. If it rains the water drains through the soil and weed block fabric onto the ground. Being raised makes wiring simple. Just run your wires under the framework and come up through the platform wherever you need to make a connection. When this system is finished it looks 1000% better than just laying your track on a wooden base. It sounds like a lot of work but once you get started it is not very difficult. What is nice is that you can make the height of the track at any elevation above the ground that suits you just by cutting the 4x4 support posts to the approiate height. You don't have to move tons of soil and stone. By keeping the width of the frame to 5 feet or less you can reach into the middle of the layout without having to climb around the tracks as you would on a normal layout on the ground. I could not have made the layout on the ground with my bad knees. Now I have the look of a real garden rail road at a height I can handle.

 

Big John

[bigboy]

You can try this link to the article on building an elevated garden rail road. I hope it works.

 

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/stevec/poc%2orr/poc_main.pdf