Author Topic: 3.5 inch guage garden track  (Read 2451 times)

Offline craynerd

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3.5 inch guage garden track
« on: October 05, 2016, 10:35:40 AM »
Morning,
I was hoping to hear from anyone with their own garden track - 3.5" guage or bigger. I've got a reasonable size garden and I'm sure I could fit something in, but half of it could be permenant but the other half would need to be temporary so it could come up when not in use. I've also only been on a raised 3.5" track. This seems even more problematic when having to hold the weight of a few people as well as the loco. My uncle had a raised guage 1 running in his garden but of course this didn't need to bear anywhere near the weight this would. I'm struggling to find too much info online. There are a good few sources of track online, looking at about £200 for 10m which is quite affordable for the project. It's how to physically lay the track and especially if it was raised. Any help, thoughts, opinions, suggestions... would be welcomed.

Thanks
Chris

Offline Steamer5

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Re: 3.5 inch guage garden track
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2016, 08:28:21 AM »
Hi Chris,
 No expert on this by any means!

Have you checked out clubs on line to see if any pictures are posted showing there track for ideas

So please take this with a large pinch of salt!

I would suggest that if you can go for a raised track, 3 1/2" isn't wide & when you are sitting behind the center of gravity on a ground level track is all wrong! Had an interesting experience on ground level 5" when I was leaning out to check injector preformance as I started going around a curve!
So a couple of options would be.....either a cast "low" wall say 5 or 6" wide,  say 12 to 18" high, not having your legs bent to strange angles helps the fun! Replace the concrete with blocks,  don't think bricks would work.  My local track has low pillars at about 4 or 5' at a guess with a concrete beam cast on top. Another track I visit used to have concrete blocks on end set on top of 400 or 500 square pavers, the track bolted to these, the rail was probably 30 to 40 mm hi & over time had deformed enough that as you ran you could feel the undulation.
I'm sure for a home track timber piles & beams would work fine. You could always cast pipe into concrete in the ground as posts with a tee on top & timber beam. The same could be use at a guess for the removable section, the concrete in the ground with a section of tube cast in & the tee section with pipe attached that would slip in.
Hope some of this may help.

Cheers Kerrin
Get excited and make something!

Offline michaelr

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Re: 3.5 inch guage garden track
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2016, 01:55:21 PM »

Offline Bobsmodels

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Re: 3.5 inch guage garden track
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2016, 05:44:13 PM »
Chris

I attached some photos of 3.5 tracks I used to run on.   I only saw one 3.5 on the ground and it was a bit of a challenge to ride on one of the passenger cars.  I ran the locomotive and you really  had to be balanced.  Part of that train you see on the trestle ran on the ground, seats were attached to the top of the passenger cars.  The last three passenger cars were pulled by a Hudson and you rode on the tender.

A club I belonged to started building a raised track using a 2 x 4 treated lumber A frame.  The track was never completed.  It was going to sit on 12" x 24" x 2" concrete pads.

I think if you do this elevated is the way to go.

Here is a link to lots of tracks you may want to scan them and contact ones with 3.5 to get some advice.

http://discoverlivesteam.com/A-clubs.htm

Bob


 

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