Monday, May 07, 2012

I'm gonna need a bigger wall

Untidy Line

With the weather finally giving me a break, I've moved out to have a look at the garden railway. Whilst basically intact, it needs a bit of tidying up. The overgrown narrow gauge railway look is fine in theory and I'll admit that the photo certainly imparts a bucolic air, it's a bit rubbish if you want to run a train.

On the corner in question, the problem is the ground level rises so over time the gravel creeps down and covers the track. Brushing it out of the way will work, but I'd rather not have to do this all the time.

Man and wallMy plan had involved a line of those Jigstones wall elements between track and "hill". On taking the first outside, it became apparent that this wasn't going to work. As you can see from the photo, they aren't very tall. My hill is too big for them to retain, so I'll need to find something taller.

This isn't to say that all my wall casting has been in vain. On the left hand side of the curve, we also need to hold the gravel back. It is the same level as the track so all I have to do is demark the to areas with wall. Then the small stones for ballast will stay one side and the decorate versions on the flowerbed, the other.

2 comments:

James Finister said...

I have a similar problem where the track of my garden micro layout borders the path. I'm in the middle of building a retaining wall using waterproof cement with scribed stonework - but really the finish should represent the supposed geographical area. Ian Stock used cut slate.

There's another idea here http://gardenrailwayrealism.pbworks.com/w/page/13270208/Walls%20from%20real%20stone

The late Peter Jones used "woodchips" cut from old fence panels to represent slate walling.

Phil Parker said...

That's a very effective wall, and quite a simple way of producing it.

I'll post my solution later in the week. It's not as good as the one you linked to, but I like it.