Building a railway on the side of a hill

[Anonymous]

The garden railways I have seen are all built on flat ground. My problem is that I live on the side of a hill. A steep hill. [:O] We have a small area of flat ground, but we paved it and use it for the driveway! Obviously I can't build a garden railway there.

Can anyone post some suggestions or photos of how to build a garden railway on a hillside?

All I can think of are long run that traverse the slopes with tight corners that allow for the train to switchback and then climb/decend to the next level?

HELP???

[FJ and G]

A dogbone configuration would work. WOuld need some trestles and/or some tunnels to do the turnaround thing. 1 or 2 folks have even used a helix. More ways than 1 to skin a cat

Or, the coolest thing would be a shay and switchbacks.

Or even cooler would be an open-pit mine

[tangerine-jack]

Hills? Man what I wouldn't give to have a hill! You have no idea how hard it is to design a nice garden railroad when the ground is dead pan flat. I have to build interesting elevations and topogrophy and use my brain and stuff.

I agree with Dave, a shay with switchbacks going to a mine over some trestles, cuts and fills would TOTALY RULE!!!!

Look, I'll trade you your hill for my pancake, fair?

[cabbage]

I have a layout on the side of a hill...My front door is one floor higher than my back door!!! The trick is to use a plank and post layout and some cuttings work. unfortunately the latter is very difficult here in Derbyshire due to the extreme lack of top soil and the super abundance of: Derbyshire Millstone Grit, Bunter Sandstone, and Shap Limestone!!!

My layout varies from plus 90cm to minus 60cm. The hill slopes 1:5 across and 1:7 down -then rises 1:3 uphill. It is in this relative flat area of about 11m square that I built my layout...

regards

ralph

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cabbage

I have a layout on the side of a hill...My front door is one floor higher than my back door!!!

Sounds like my property! (I have a 60' elevation drop from front to back).

How about some photos of your layout to help out a newbie? [:D]

[FJ and G]

if you survey your hill and post a detailed elevation plan, you likely will get some creative responses.

[Ray Dunakin]

Here's what I've been doing with my hill...

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=32116967

:)

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Ray Dunakin

Here's what I've been doing with my hill...

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=32116967

:)

WOW thanks for the inspiration and the ideas!

Now, how do I sell the idea to my wife? [:(]

[Anonymous]

Melensdad
go to page 3 on general discussion new pictures, i used chimminy blocks, land scaping blocks , and i made trussel bridges , my tracks go from ground level to 22 inches off the ground. E-MAIL me through the forum ,i'll send you a few more pictures . BEN

[FJ and G]

My yard slopes 12% so I used bridges and fills. It's still under construction, tho finished entire mainline today!

A rough photo

[Anonymous]

What % grade or what is the typical rise-to-run (inches to feet) that a garden train can be reasonably expected to climb?

I'm using all Marklin MAXI engines and rolling stock; I'm not sure if that is any lighter or heavier than any of the other brands so I'm not sure if that will make any difference?

[vsmith]

2-3% is best
4% is doable but I dont know how your MArklin stuff works on grade
5% if your into logging with shays and short trains

[whiterab]

Our area is hardly flat in that we are building in a ravine behind the house. We do have an advantage in having lots of room so I could build a long (and narrow) layout to keep the grades down to 3% using a folded figure 8 layout.

We did have to build a retaining wall to get an intial flat area for the town and to get room room for the major curves at the lower level. The upper level curves will be done with a cut on the east end and a long trestle on the west end.

Be prepared by doing lots and lots of planning and surveying. Building on a slope requires lots and lots of dirt moving to get good grades but the effort is really worth it. It's not the sort of thing you do quickly on a weekend or two.

You wanted a picture so here is the west end expansion we started this spring to give you a quick idea of the construction methods.

[FJ and G]

A strong back and shovel or small backhoe works wonders

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

A strong back and shovel or small backhoe works wonders

I've got 3 tractors with front end loaders and one with a backhoe. Digging is not going to be the problem![:)]

At this point I've picked the spot where I want to build, I've also picked up a pallet of retaining wall stones, but need to get the backhoe into the area to do some digging. My thought is to recontour the slope and actually build a wall behind the layout to hold back the hillside, that will leave me with much less of a slope to deal with for the trains so they will have more gentle grades and the flatter area will make a layout easier to design.