Some days you really want that lovely Slaters Plasticard. Sadly they don't make it in 1:1 scale so for the garden railway I've had to use real bricks.
For the last few days I have spent my mornings building a wall to enclose the raised flowerbed that will contain the line in the garden. First there is a wall made from concrete blocks and then to make it look pretty, a brick wall. The double wall is then topped with flag stones and should end up at just the right height to sit on when drinking tea outside. Planning, as they say, is everything.
To be fair the tea drinking part has been tested, purely in the interests of science obviously, and works well. This isn't a serious garden railway, it will be a simple circuit to exercise our G gauge engines a little.
Brick laying isn't actually too difficult. If you get the mortar to the right consistency and check everything as you go along the results, even with someone as untrained as me, can be quite acceptable. The downside of not getting a professional in is that the whole job takes a lot longer - I bet a proper brickie would have built this wall in a day whereas I took 2 just for the brick bit. Practise certainly speeded up my work, I went from checking every brick with the spirit level to doing 3 at a time, accuarcy improved too.
With the benefit of a days break from mortar mixing, the results aren't too bad and there is a real sense of satisfaction in looking at my work. I'm not going to knock up a real building a for a while and I certainly appreciate the skill employed when I see a brickie in action a little more.
Anyway, I must go, I have an urge for another cup of tea with 6 sugars in it...
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