Raised track advice

[westlin]

I've recently moved to a house a) with a big workshop but b )a large garden. I want to build a raised track for 3 1/2 and 5 but need some advise on building approach. I can find lots of advise on ground level but nothing on raised.

It won't be a full loop but a good run around 3 sides.

Aware I will need pillars, but other than that I'm not sure how I join them together.

Thanks

Stephen

[mbrown]

Have a look at Martin Evans's book "Outdoor Model Railways" (1970). Despite the title, there is a great deal about passenger carrying tracks in our sizes, not just scenic lines.

Malcolm

[westlin]

Thanks ill take a look

[Cro]

I’ll get some photos tomorrow at Dads but essentially concrete blocks as pillars and used railway sleepers for the beams works a treat.

Adam

[kipford]

I have not built a raised track, but this is a close up of one built by someone I know in their garden. I do not know that much about it but I do know the pillars are cast concrete, I think he had three moulds and cast three every day. The track is Aluminium rail mounted on wood sleepers, but plastic ones would be ok. The track support is square tube. hope it may be of use.
Dave

track close up by Dave Smith, on Flickr

[westlin]

Thanks guys, the more pictures and ideas the better.

Many thanks again

Stephen

[Jim Woods]

Have a look here at a private garden railway in NZ. similar to the construction to my own clubs track

www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=4420706441289294&set=pcb.3494652983945088

Jim

[Gary L]

Mar 14, 2021 20:23:21 GMT Cro said:

I’ll get some photos tomorrow at Dads but essentially concrete blocks as pillars and used railway sleepers for the beams works a treat.

Adam

Agreed. Also, give some thought to what soil you are on. On clay our local club originally just extended the piers downwards as foundations, but over time they subsided. The most recent extension did not bury foundations at all, but laid them on concrete rafts something like 30” square and cut into the turf for just their own depth, around 4” or so. I can’t be sure of the dimensions but you get the general idea. Much more satisfactory for this terrain.

HTH

Gary

[dscott]

Ours is very portable and a place in secret you can try something out before making a fool of yourself at the Club.
OR NOT!!!
The supports all stack nicely and the track just gets hidden somewhere.
I made the boxes Flatpack and at one time was bringing each home from work on the train from Plymouth!!

David and Lily.

[Cro]

Gary,

Yes we dug down and set the posts in surrounded by concrete. One pier I build up on top of the slabs outside the shed but this is only our test track of around 40’. I’ll get some photos shortly.

Adam

[westlin]

Many thanks

[Cro]

As promised.

Untitled by Adam Cro, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Cro, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Cro, on Flickr

Adam

[westlin]

Adam, thanks for these, are the blocks free standing or set on concrete pads.

Stephen

[Cro]

Stephen,

They are set IN concrete. We dug down around 8-10” from memory and set the blocks down in on bottom of the hole and filled with concrete (might have even been post Crete come to think of it, it was 15-16 years ago I did it now. The sleepers are simply sat on top and it came out pretty level.

Adam

[Gary L]

Mar 15, 2021 22:18:51 GMT Cro said:

Stephen,

They are set IN concrete. We dug down around 8-10” from memory and set the blocks down in on bottom of the hole and filled with concrete (might have even been post Crete come to think of it, it was 15-16 years ago I did it now. The sleepers are simply sat on top and it came out pretty level.

Adam

That’s more or less how our original track was built. Burying a support in concrete helps stop the top from waving around, but does little to stop it sinking under its own weight, (and old railway sleepers work fine but they are very heavy). In clay in particular you need plenty of bearing area.

Mind, this sinkage was over a period of several decades, and some soils have better load bearing quality than Somerset clay. How permanent will the track need to be?

Gary

[delaplume]

You could always put a slab in the bottom first--- they are quite wide and should prevent any sagging......At my previous house I used 1ft square, 3mm steel plate welded onto the vertical steel tubes.

Our club track at Oswestry uses the same railway sleeper build and that's over 1/4 mile long.......We use flat, steel set into the sleepers rather than Aluminium for the rail......

These are very early photos but you get the idea ??


  

[stevep]

Our track at Tiverton is steel bar, fastened to concrete 'A' frames.



The 'A' frames sit on concrete pads cast into the ground. They are not fixed, and we don't have any expansion joints - the frames move on the pads to take up thermal expansion. I believe there may be a layer of roofing felt between.

[delaplume]

Hello Steve,

that looks like a nice track to run on.........

[oldnorton]

Hello Stephen

Are you sure you want raised track? Slightly more comfy for legs but that is the only benefit. Much easier to build on ground level, you can add points and sidings and play proper train-sets! A 3 1/2" engine could pull a 5" driving truck.

Have you seen the GL5 activity and pictures?

Norm

[airspeed]

Hello all,

I am also thinking about building a short raised track in the garden.

Suggestions as to the height of the railhead above the ground would be gratefully received.

GD