Well, folks, after a long period of prevarication, mainly due to almost non-stop widdling rain, I finally bit the bullet and have begun in earnest to prepare for the rebuild of the Vibona Bridge RR Co. Inc.
Got loads of metal spikes for the uprights [fence posts], lots of timber from a local house building project for the track base[all legally bought, I hasten to explain] lots more old shelving for the cross-slats, and half a million woodscrews to put it all together with.
THIS version will be 30 inches high at the house end, and around 15 inches high at the back end yard - a choice I made because of a combination of advancing age and decrepitude and ever-heavier locos. The Garratt weighs almost 40 pounds ready to roll - NO fun to bend over and place on a track at ground level with eight very wiggly sets of wheels hidden underneath two wiggly chassis to manoeuvre.
This version of the track will only be around 80 feet or so for the circuit, but it WILL be double track in 45mm and another teeny track for H0 - a steaming bay will be built later on.
Sadly, the shape of my backyard, with a teeny workshop in one corner, prevents me from being more adventurous, but I’m sure that I’ll get around to enjoying it eventually. In spite of what you might read in magazines and see on the TV, very few of us live in mansions or castles, and even less of us have a couple of acres to play trains.
In fact, MY backyard measures 27 feet square, and that includes an 8’x6’ workshop/shed in one corner…
Even the flowers grow one on top of the other in the competition for space.
I’ll keep you posted, if anyone is in the least bit interested in how the poor do it.
Graders
tac