Construction of the trackbed
In the front garden the railway is laid on a wooden base covered with two layers of roofing felt glued and nailed in place and supported on the steel legs from old tables. The area is underplanted with Lonicera nitida which has now grown above the trackbed and sheilds the line from view when trains are not running.
In the garage the track is laid on a bench made from the old kitchen units topped with two old fire doors and a shelf from a piece of redundant worktop. There are drop down covers to protect the railway when not in use.
Before laying the track a layer of ballast chippings is glued with bitumen roofing adhesive onto the bed, to help drainage, and the track laid on top then ballasted with lose ballast. Track is Tenmille brass flat bottom rail fixed with brass pins to soft wood sleepers cut from timber salvaged from the builders skip. The sleepers, soaked in brown spirit based preservative for a couple of weeks before use. The oldest have been down seven years without problems apart from a couple of sessions re coating with clear preservative. Points are of similar construction.