Do Bananas make good track supports?!!

[midnight miller]

Hello John

Looking good , How deep are the footings below ground ?


                                                            John

P.S. The shop is not prepared to stock bricks !

[John Candy]

John,

I hope deep enough!
The auger drilled down 14 inches for the plastic post holes, I then enlarged the holes to a square to a depth of around 8ins.
The ground was pummelled and concrete fills the post plugs and the surrounding flat area.

John

[John Candy]

Over past five days I have mixed 840 Kg of concrete and mortar and used in excess of 200 bricks (plus a few concrete blocks).

That has provided the supports for only around 45 feet of single line track!
The brick piers have had two layers of cement rendering applied and given a stippled/roughcast finish, ready for coating with Mid-stone masonry paint (if the rain holds off long enough for the rendering to dry out).

More cement, ballast and timber being delivered today.

What at first sight might appear to be a more-or-less level garden turns out to have quite a steep slope across its width. The lowest point is some 28 inches below the highest.... at one point the "low level" double track circuit will be around 30 inches above ground level and the high level line will cross above it at around 40 inches (before descending to a junction between the two and then climbing away again).

Huge lumps of limestone rock and tree/shrub roots are proving main obstacles and are slowing progress.
The house was built for keen gardeners who had a quarry lorry deliver an enormous load from the High Peak... so much that the garden is littered with stuff and they gave a lot way around the village!

It won "Best Garden in the Village" award in those days......not much hope of that any more!

My legacy for future owners will be tons of buried concrete!!

John.

[John Candy]

Today (Wednesday) the concrete mixer remained sheeted over (in the expectation of rain....which never came) and my aching back was given a rest.

Nonetheless, yesterday saw more progress and a further three piers were raised and rendered, including the first of two crossings of the low level (twin track circuit) by the high level single track. The total of concrete and mortar mixed to date has now topped 1000 Kilos!

For this latest activity I used "Castle Quickcem" rather than "Blue Circle Ordinary Portland" and this enabled the piers to be constructed and given two coats of render, with a rough cast finish, in under 8 hours. Quickcem costs three times as much as Ordinary Portland but the saving in time is well worth the additional cost.
Downside is you have to work very quickly, since a "mix" remains workable for only 15 minutes but has structural strength in just over an hour.

Photos show the three new piers : The single pier is the last before the track crosses the pond (note large rock moved from where the pier now stands) and the twin structure marks a junction where the high level track splits to form two sides of a triangular junction. Looking through the twin structure, the twin track line curves away along the course roughly marked out by the bricks.

John

[John Candy]

This photo shows some of the previously mentioned rocks littered all around the garden which are proving a problem and these are by no means the largest....some weigh well in excess of 100 Kg and have to be levered out and carefully "rolled" ( a job for the "steel toe-capped" boots)!!

[Peaky 556]

Lovely work John, I envy the time you are able to put into it.  More power to your elbow and may the good weather continue!
You mention a crossing of the pond and I wonder what span and type of bridge you have in mind?  I have presumptiously designed a bridge to span 17 feet across my pond (presumptious because planning approval not yet received).  Using a bow-string design constructed from 25mm square hollow section steel, I was pleasantly surprised that it has a predicted load capacity of well above my own weight!
Cheers
Tim 

[John Candy]

Tim,

I haven't yet resolved the issue of bridges : There are two crossings of the high level line over the low level circuit, as well as two removeable sections to allow access with the mower (one high level, one low level) plus crossing of the pond.

Thankfully, the pond is not very large and the line crosses just the corner and a single span of 8 feet should see it through.

The 40 foot viaduct will (as mentioned in earlier message) be of plate design, and of timber, with resin overlays to represent the plates.
Having just seen the article by Peter Lucas in the Newsletter, I have to admit the plastic drainage channel method has its attractions in terms of simplicity and speed of construction!

Regards,
John.

NOTE: You can follow this project at
http://g3forum.org.uk/index.php?topic=1099.msg5922#msg5922