Non-Gardener builds an Observatory, Garden Railway and even Dabbles with Plants!

26th May 2023

We had some friends staying over the May week holiday, but I did manage to get the patio outside the kitchen and sun room jetwashed. We were quite surprised at the cream/pink colour that was revealed, 'though the pink doesn't show up that well in this picture. The side path and workshop patio would have to wait for another day. There were several areas where the mortar was crumbling and washed out, so those would have to be re-pointed.



30th May 2023

On the 30th, I got all the proper railway sleepers jetwashed, to get rid of plant growth, dirt, oil and soot. This was to allow them to be treated with an oil based preservative.

 

31st May 2023

The following day, I managed to get each sleeper loaded onto the wheelbarrow and trundled down the garden to the trackbed. While loading and unloading, I almost gave birth to several of my internal organs. I've no recollection of how I got them off the wheelbarrow and up onto the trackbed.



I'm guessing the sleepers are oak, or some other very dense hardwood, as they weigh a ton! Probably equal to three or more of the softwood decorative sleepers. They were still a bit damp from washing, so I left them to dry for a while.



I salvaged some of the old weed membrane that we pulled up and got the decorative sleepers along the hawthorn finished.

 

Good morning @ArmyAirForce, I am thoroughly enjoying reading your 'diary updates' and am in awe at the energy you have and the work you and your partner have put in thus far.
I would be very interested to know if you have done your patio repointing yet? and if so, how you did it? as I need to do this and find that you always use such a professional approach. I look forward to further instalments! thank you.

 

Yes I have. I've done it two ways - wet on the patio and dry on the path to the side of the house. For the patio, I mixed up some wet mortar ( with a little waterproof PVA mixed in too ) and carefully applied it with a small pointing trowel. For the side path, I mixed the sand and cement dry and brushed it into the gaps, tamping it down with a small stick to pack it in. Once I'd smoothed off the top, I just watered the path with a watering can to wet out the dry mix. The water was poured onto the slabs and allowed to run into the mortar joints, so it didn't wash it away. Both methods worked, 'though the dry mix is probably less messy with less risk of staining the slabs from a lump of wet mortar falling on them.

 

The three sleepers across the front of the gate were also pinned down and screwed together. I had to redrill one of the pinning holes, as it fell directly in line with the air raid shelter bricks underground. To hide the odd spacing of the pins, I'd be adding one more layer of sleepers. This would also give a better edge to the lawn for strimming.



With that done, the railway sleepers were dry enough to start treating. Several of them had some quite rotten areas; after all, they were removed as they were no longer serviceable. I picked the best side to be the upper face. The underside was given two coats of black bitumen, to help to water proof the surface touching the ground. Once fully dry, the top, sides and ends would be treated with dark brown "Creocote"; an oil based, environmentally friendly version of Creosote. I hoped they hadn't taken all the stuff that works out of it. Once painted and dry, I'd be in a position to start laying rail!

 

1st & 2nd June 2023

On the 1st of June, I took a day off from the railway to do some pointing work on the patio.

The following day, the sleepers were turned so that the sides could be treated with the Creocote. They were turned again for the upper face and once more for the other side. In some places, it soaked in quite quickly so further coats were added in these areas.

I also dragged some more earth from the pile to under the right edge of the weed barrier, to allow the sleepers to be positioned a little further away from the gate. In the picture with all seven sleepers laid out, they've been spaced out pretty much to their final positions. A yellow steel tape measure can be seen along the left side of the sleepers, which is the approximate length of the rail.



I ran out of bitumen when painting the bottom of the sleepers, but ordered another tin. I planned on painting the sides and ends of the sleepers to at least half their height, to help waterproof the lower portions, as I don't want to be digging out the ballast regularly to re-treat the wood.

Later in the day, after the temperature dropped a bit, I pulled the trailer out and unloaded all the R/C aircraft. This was to allow me to remove the four pieces of rail from the back of the box. Gardening is such hard work and I hadn't even touched a plant in ages!



There are two nine feet long sections and two pieces at seven feet six inches. They are HEAVY; and I thought the sleepers were heavy! Using some wooden levers, the rails were moved to the front edge of the trailer. Tie-down straps were wrapped around the rail and a piece of wood as a handle and they were dragged out to the edge of the drive. They were going to need a little trimming on the ends to be useable.

 

I’m shattered just reading what you’ve done over the last few years but the gate and sleepers were/are looking perfect. I, too, am in awe of your energy levels, wish I had a quarter of them. The outside area is looking so different ( better) at the stage of your photos though, very impressive. You must be very proud of your achievements, I would be.

 

Me too!

Thank you. Yes, I'm really pleased with the way it's all coming together. I'm currently working in our little woodland and will be looking to fit some concrete wood effect lawn edging next spring. That will keep the lawn and slated areas separate and allow easier lawn edge strimming. That should be the last of the major projects and then the garden can move to a care and maintenance footing, rather than construction!

 

3rd ~7th June 2023

On the 3rd, the sleepers were treated with Creocote again and the following day, I painted three quarters of the way up the sides and ends with bitumen. I also painted the footprints of the rail chairs with bitumen, since water could gather there.

Also on the 4th, Lynne trimmed the Camellia bush in front of the kitchen. She makes me chuckle as she can never remember its proper name and calls it her chlamydia bush!



On the 6th I collected the steel for the other gate post mount and welded it all together. It was then given a coat of Hammerite and left to cure.

On the morning of the 7th, I painted the gatepost mount a second coat of Hammerite over all the areas that had been already painted. Once cured, it could be turned over and the underside painted. I also painted the anchor bolts that hold the main gatepost onto its concrete footing. After lunch, I began to transport rail chairs from the garage to the trackbed. Two chairs at a time, plus six chair screws was as much as I could carry in the wheelbarrow. They are very heavy. Why is everything I do such hard work?

 

While there were already holes in the sleepers from previous chair screws, they were very tight to screw in, especially the last couple of inches. Even with the two feet long Stilson wrench, it took two hands and a lot of force to get the screws all the way home.



Actually, I left them with about a sixteenth of an inch of play, to allow the chair to move slightly on the sleeper. This should help with alignment once I drop the rail into the top of the chairs. It took most of the afternoon to transport the chairs and to get them screwed down.

The middle sleeper of the seven must have had a different style of rail chair fitted, as the hole spacing was out and didn't line up with my chairs. As a result, I had to do some drilling to make new holes. That left a load of wood chippings on the weed membrane, so I got the garden leaf blower out and blew it clean, then packed all the tools away.

 

8th June 2023

The two shorter lengths of rail needed the ends trimming square, before they could butt up against the longer rail. As can be seen in the first picture, the ends were very untidy. I picked the two straightest ends and took my angle grinder to them. It took some time, but I got both cleaned up and square enough that they should fit together well.



Here's the rail after grinding. Despite ear defenders, I think my ears are still ringing 16 months later!



The next small step was to get my builder's line out and check the alignment of the rail chairs. I'd roughly lined up the sleepers based on the chair mounting holes, but once the chairs were fitted, I was able to get a much better alignment. The sleepers were tapped left and right with a large mallet until the chairs all lined up with the string.

I then used some timber sitting in the chairs to make some final adjustments to the heights of the sleepers, using some wooden packers to lift any that were a little bit low due to slightly uneven ground. The 9th would be the big day to move all the rail down the garden and get it fitted.

 

My BIL would love all your railway work @ArmyAirForce as he is a railways fanatic. He knows all and sundry about trains and associated workings so he’d be well in with you, talking the talk and thoroughly enjoying himself….as you obviously do! Mm precision is a bit too much for me, throw things in and as long as they look good, I’m happy.
I must say though, when thinking about about all your individual jobs, with all the precise workings you have done, making them seamlessly blend in with the surroundings outside has been a major success. Nothing stands out , nor looks “ odd”, it all merges in with the actual garden.
That is a real achievement.
I almost panicked when I didn’t see my “ tonight’s instalment” on your story, as your postings had slipped over into the next page on here

 

Change of topic - how big is that plane of yours? Do you have any pics of it all in one piece?

 

There's a picture of it on the first page of this thread with my wife beside it, giving an indication of size.

Here's some dimensions.

Wingspan - 17 feet 3.5 inches
Tailspan - 7 feet
Length - 12 feet 4.5 inches
Take off Weight - 135 pounds ( with full fuel load )
Engines total 200cc giving 18.6HP and turn 2 feet diameter propellers.
The main wheels are caravan jockey wheels.

 

9th June 2023 - The Big Day!

Lynne said I was going to need to find a bunch of friends to come around and help carry the rails down the garden, as there was no way she was going to manage. I had wondered myself, how I was going to move them, until I realised that we'd had a fairly long period with very little rain. The lawn was actually rock hard, so I could just attach each rail to the Dodge crane and drive them down to the bottom of the garden. I'd figure the rest out once I got them there!

Step 1 was to get my Dodge Weapons Carrier out of the garage and assemble the crane on the back. Nylon ropes attached through bolt holes in the rail and connected the rail to the chain hoist on the Dodge crane. Another rope was tied to each end of the rail and was fastened to part of the crane frame inside the Dodge. This triangulated the rail to stop it from swinging around while I was driving.



The rail was picked up from the driveway, near the garage, reversed through a gap in the hedge onto the lawn, then I swung around, heading backwards towards the play house and level crossing gate. The playhouse limited how close I could get, so once there, the rail was raised with the chain hoist, then the jib was lowered, swinging the rail further back from the Dodge. It was then lowered onto the sleeper wall, next to the railway.