Garden Line, Pt.2 - May-August 2020

Quite late in updating the blog, unsurprisingly. It's been a particularly busy few months.

Following on from Part 1..

25/05/20
Trench-digging continues, with frequent trips to the back of the house, to dump the spoil. Wouldn't mind having some 1:1 scale portable track and a few skip wagons right now..

08/06/20
The gravel roadbed is about done, as is the planting at this end. The van's not far off, either - should be living in it by this time next month. 

For now, I'm leaving most of the plant labels in place so I can keep track of what I've planted. Once they're more established and stable, I can do away with the labels. 

After watching others do battle with it from this side of the world, for some years now, I finally found some of the dreaded MYOB/babies' tears at the nursery the other day. $15 a pot wasn't cheap though, so I bought two - one was broken into clumps and planted in a couple of BBQ trays to propagate. The other was planted whole, behind the van in full shade, and the surrounding area given a "top dressing" of good potting mix. I'd like to give it a good start so that it might thrive in spite of our sweltering, windy summers. 

 Some more planting along the West (house) side. The plants in front of the gas bottles are in a plastic window-sill-type flowerbox, which sits in a gravel and brick pit. The edges are then covered over with mulch. Having forgotten to photograph it when I was building it, I'll get a photo when the box is removed next time a bottle is changed out. Still need to build a portable ramp for the bottle trollies..

These hardy shrubs will obfuscate the air-conditioners. I'll be keeping these trimmed and in their pots, for if and/or when the aircon units need access for servicing. 

13/07/20
After the final push to complete and move into the van, (always minor teething issues to iron out, though) I was able to return to the garden. This time round, I'm allowing some weeds to grow, rather than constantly chasing them. They help fill in the gaps, and they look after themselves. Anything too obtrusive (in the way or with large leaves) gets pulled, though. This toilet vent is also obtrusive, being adjacent to the future alignment. I have a suitable building with which to cover this, whilst allowing airflow to continue.  

Had a bit of a sort-out before moving my things into the van, and found this forgotten slab hut I'd made some years ago. We'll see how it holds up in this fairly sheltered spot under the eave - it's only made of tongue depressors and pine, coated in polyurethane..

 19/07/20
After having moved into the van, I was finally able to move the larger palms around this side, sinking their pots into the ground to allow some chance of taking them with us one day. I was using them as privacy screening outside my bedroom window, to compensate for the substandard back fence. With the palms in place, locations for a few buildings and further planting could then be better determined.

The neighbors finally pulled their fingers out and fitted their guttering yesterday. I've only been waiting eight months to fit those remaining fence extensions... 

 

Predictably, the North face of the cutting under the van is prone to washing out, due to the rain running down the ends of the van.
This photo was taken after I'd cleaned it up; might make some sections of log cribbing for the problem spots, or look at re-directing the runoff

The ground around the Northeast corner of the van is currently being levelled off, so that it looks presentable when we eventually move out..

I also realised that, whilst this line is still primarily intended to be a test track, let's be honest: I will be having fellow modellers over to run trains.
And we all know there can never be enough siding space, even when there patently is.
To that end, a yard and possibly a running shed, will be built on a low elevated section along the fence at left. Connection will of course be via the earlier-mentioned line alongside the van. I'm calling this "Phase Two", and will get to building it when the current work (Phase One) is running. I'll have to find spots to plant these excess shrubs.. 

 With that, "Phase One" is about ready for the navvies to get their collective arses out of the pub, and do their thing.

21/07/20
Starting from the middle of a curve isn't ideal, but because the garden is so small, there's little room for error in track alignment. So it made sense to start with a spot I need to be accurately-placed.

Besser block caps provided a solid foundation for the South crossing. Some large flat-blade screwdrivers make reasonable "stakes" with which to hold flex track in shape - and quite good for packing gravel between sleepers. The cordless drill is also nice to have, this time 'round.

A battered 1980s Stainz, crudely converted to battery power using leftover bits and a PWM speed controller poking through the roof, makes an ideal track tester. It's nice not to worry about chipping paint, or other damage with this loco. Poor old thing will get a proper rebuild, one day.. 

 No derailments yet. Only using enough gravel to merely support the track - it'll be ballasted proper with a mix of crusher dust, sand, cement and oxide dye.
Not sure if the weather will allow more track work tomorrow, but it's nice to just watch the little Krauss trundle about this short section.

 Cheap pavers are split in half with a hammer and cold chisel; simply to stretch money. These are spaced every 2-3ft, the track being screwed to them via wall plugs.

It was getting dark, so this one's a bit blurry. A butane torch was indispensable for removing stuck rail joiners with (gently) vice grips. 

27/07/20
Another few yards are down, allowing for the first train on the tramway. The Mk.1 wholestick trucks are on test after repairs.

The line to mid-right will be laid as part of Stage Two. 

28/07/20
The bridge in the Southeastern corner of the yard will be built from cedar. When I built my handlaid track some years ago, I set aside a bundle of sticks ripped down from cedar planks, for use as point and bridge timbers. The term for of milling both sides of a log, so that it doesn't roll away, is unknown to me, so I'll just call them "paralleled" logs. A pair of sticks had two sides each, whittled down to resemble "paralleled" logs. Whittling's rather enjoyable, though I don't see myself carving anything more than miniature logs any time soon..

A scale grain effect was added with a wire brush.

30/07/20
The crossings have all been concreted. In the initial batch, I used leftover gravel from the pathway, which was unsurprisingly too coarse for use between the rails. That was dumped elsewhere as fill, and a new batch mixed using crusher dust instead. The first crossing turned out very nicely. We'll see how it holds up once cured..

31/07/20
Once the crossings had turned "green", flangeways were carved out with a screwdriver. The edges of each crossing were straightened, and the surfaces of the second two smoothed, somewhat. During mixing, I'd forgotten to add some brown oxide to tone down the starkness, so I thought I'd try mixing some oxide with water, and brushed it over the partially-set concrete. How it turns out remains to be seen.


Just to see how it looks, some crusher dust was spread over a short section. Looks great, but certainly too well-maintained in appearance. Will pack this lot down a bit, paint the rails, then apply the aforementioned "proper" ballast mix, in time. 

01/08/20
The remaining bridge parts have been made, and the stringers cut down to suit the curve where the bridge is to be assembled. Pre-weathering the components with the vinegar and steel wool method. In the past however, I've found that not all types of wood are affected by the treatment. Another pre-treatment deals with this - soak the parts in tea, and allow to fully dry, prior to the vinegar bath. Whilst I have stained cedar with the vinegar method, I don't remember weather it needs the tea, or not. Easy enough just to do it anyway.

Part 3 here.

A New Garden Line, Pt.1 - March 2020

In starting this series of monthly or bi-monthly general updates, I'm attempting to write more regularly, in addition to the usual project articles. Though as you'll read below, it'll be some time before "The Works" have returned to normalcy, and the backlog of projects can be worked through..

Long story short, my folks and I put our money together and moved to another rental house back in August of 2019. Their plan is to save up over "a couple of years" for a house deposit, but the way the world is going, I'm not convinced that's entirely realistic for us. These new houses are crammed together like sardines, built like cardboard boxes, and priced like five-star hotels. I digress..

In any case, I find myself in need of some sort of tramway on which to test whatever with which I keep myself busy building. It'll also function as a test-bed for structures and scenery - When we buy a house (if I live that long?) I'd like by then, to have a stockpile of weatherproof structures, track and detailing ready for use. I've spent so many years building things, testing by trial and (mostly) error, I just want to get on with building something reliable to enjoy.

21/08/2019
The slate here is pretty dismal, but at least (besides the slope towards the fence) it's mostly a blank slate. The future garden/tramway area is roughly 13' x 28'.

I've plenty of track leftover from the Bad Old Days, and the Bli-Bli Cutting Day. This isn't quite all of it, I'll certainly have more than enough.

A smattering of plants salvaged from the last garden also helps. 

 

 20/11/19
A railway isn't the only thing planned for this side-yard, so the fence needs more privacy extensions. The fence itself also needs disguising. Some jasmine plants were bought to cover it, with chicken wire as something to climb on. The neighbors have started erecting a shed on their side, so I'll have to wait for them to render it's walls, before I can fit the last of the fence extensions, and the second, higher roll of chicken wire.. The owners of the house aren't concerned by any of this, as we have a spotless record in over 20 years of tenancy, and even though when we move, I'll be taking as much as my own added plants etc. as possible, we're still increasing the value of the property with this screening and future garden - at no expense to the owners. Worst (unlikely) case, if the owners don't like it, I figure anything I put in, I can pull out later.

Some of the jasmines have been re-potted in some old buckets with drainage holes, to let their root systems (and therefore the rest of the plant) expand a little. Bricks, old and new, will be retained with star pickets, and hold the earth away from the fence, when I get to levelling the yard.

The timber under the gates has been packed up a bit, as the yard slopes not only toward the side fence, but also toward the gates. I still don't think the yard will be level enough. I'll likely re-hang the gates a couple of inches higher, and so that they open outwards, rather than inwards. 

I'd never calculated volume for landscaping before, and quite frankly, chronic fatigue is a vicious bitch, so I gave up and erred on the side of caution, ordering nine cubic meters of soil.

Honestly, I was rather shocked when the truck turned up. Accounting for settling, this was almost double what I really needed. But it was only $225-ish including delivery, so I'm not complaining.

The 16mm scale navvies got stuck into moving the pile. Needless to say, they soon gave up, leaving their tools onsite, then headed to the pub. They say they won't be back until I provide them a workable place to lay track..

 The garden cart was pressed into use, and I slowly chipped away at the pile over the next fortnight, moving a cart-load or six, then going inside to work on things less exhausting for a few hours.. I had a bit of help some days later, for which I was grateful.

02/12/19

The garden area is now mostly levelled. The opportunity was taken to try out a track plan. Still not sure if I'll include the buildings in this setup, or leave them around the back of the house to test their weather-proof-ness..

 The gas bottles (for the hot water system) need to remain accessible for the gas people and their bottle trolleys. Two removable bridge/ramp units will be made from marine plywood, to allow the trolleys to pass over the track - once I decide on a track layout.

 17/12/19

At this point, garden work ceased. My future house and workshop (a 1965 Viscount Duralvan) needs a lot of long-overdue care, then moving into place, before the garden can progress any further.

29/03/2020

Garden work is still on hold, but what with this new-fangled plague, I thought it prudent to visit the local landscaping supplier for everything I should soon need, in case this part of the world completely shuts down. This should be enough crusher dust, sand, drainage gravel, cement and bark mulch for the garden..

19/04/20

Caravan's slowly getting there, but it's a "crash" day for me, so I'm working on something easy instead. It's painted rails, or no rails for me, and it's a hell of a lot less painful to do it at the bench, than it is laying on the ground. El-Cheapo Gloss Indian Red sticks strangely well enough without primer, and fades to a nice flat rusty brown over a few months. The throws still need painting and weathering.

25/04/20

The throws masked off, etch-primed and sprayed with Dulux Metalshield flat white. The counterweights still need some red paint, yet.

25/04/20

 After five months of work, the caravan has progressed to the point that it can be moved into the yard. Within another month or two, I should be moving in. Famous last words, indeed..

28/04/20
  I'm sick of working on the van, and the side yard has been neglected for far too long. Some track has been temporarily plonked down, to help determine precise locations of some pavers to be dug in.

A water supply line was piggy-backed onto the garden tap out front. It's potable water, so it'll supply the sink in the van.

A tee and another tap was added for the garden. The water line will continue under the path to the van, through the holes in some besser blocks under the path. My first non-steam plumbing job is probably quite amateurish by professional standards, but at least it works, and I can always obfuscate it with plants.

Given I went to the trouble of re-timbering that second-hand curved point, (at bottom right) it would be a shame to let it sit in storage for who knows how many years until we buy a permanent place. I'm not planning any extensions to this line (it is after all, a test track) but it certainly provides options..

03/05/20
After a delivery of another 2m³ of drainage gravel, (What was I originally thinking with five bags?!) the pathway was laid out.
Scrap aluminium tube from the van, and a bubble level, make short work of smoothing this soft, sandy soil. I've also made a start on bringing the plants around to this side of the house, to help them acclimate to the moderate differences in sunlight exposure.

07/05/20
Lots of progress in the last few days. The trackbed areas have been roughly levelled and the dusty soil finally covered with a nice woody mulch, that in time, should fade to resemble the "floor" of the Queensland bush. After discussion of the tramway on the Gardenrails forum, I reworked the track layout to better suit the yard. Being so busy with the caravan, it never occurred to me, to put the passing loop and sidings opposite to the gas bottles. The plants on hand have been plonked roughly where they'll be dug in - though I'll likely shuffle them 'round again, when some more plants are delivered on Thursday.. A level crossing will be concreted here. 

The gates have been re-hung - they now open outwards, away from the garden. The neighbors' shed's a bit of a hold-up, waiting for them to fit the guttering - they have to come in our yard for that job. Once that's done, I can fit the remaining privacy extensions to the fence/gate, staple up the remaining chicken wire for the jasmine vines against the fence, then dig the plants in and start on trackbed in that area. Not all that bothered by the hold-up though, the caravan will still take precedence for at least another month..

Four skewers with little duct tape flags were also planted, to remind me where to plant four 5ft tall palms when the time comes - I'm currently using them as privacy screening outside my bedroom window around the back of the house, because when this place was built, the developer (unsurprisingly) cheaped-out and made the fences untenably low. 

Water's now hooked up to the van and the leaks chased up, so the pathway was finished. A small fern and mossy piece of wood salvaged from the last garden were then put in. Another concrete level crossing is to follow..

Several feet away in the van, the new workshop is slowly taking shape.


17/05/20
Some more plants delivered, and in trying to use up that pile of gravel out front (yes, I over-ordered again) I got to starting on the gravel-filled trench roadbed.
Mum's a bit of a "tropical enthusiast" and has a number of Dracaena plants, that I've noticed to resemble scale palm trees - if kept small. To that end, I've been watering and fertilising them for some months, cultivating the offshoots. I've been doing the same with her Jade plants for some years now, which make reasonable miniature "trees".

I left most of these in their pots when I planted them. This will limit their size and make it easier to take them with us when we move out.
I must say, I like where this is going..

The line branching straight ahead will pass behind the plants and through a cut-out in some reed screening, down the side of the van and out of sight. The idea at this point, is to use it as a storage siding.

With the weather turning very wet, I think I'll get back to whittling down the list of interior jobs on the van..

Part 2 here.