Page 5 - March April 1999

IAN WHEELER’S
“WYO AND FAIRWEATHER RAILROAD”
GARDEN HO
passing sidings on opposite sides of the garden, a forked bridge a’ la Keddie, leading to one arm of a large wye, and a three-track dead-end yard in a roofed area of the patio. The name, by the way, was coined on the basis that the track plan consisted of a wye and an “O” and had to be operated on a dry day. The bulk of the trackwork sat atop an embankment about a foot high which ran round the perimeter of the plot. A tunnel had to be constructed under the laurel tree to preserve the line from the wrong sort of leaves and the massed incontinence of the resident flock of sparrows. Another tunnel burrowed through the base of the grape vine as a means of keeping the little tendrils from attaching themselves to anything within reach. At two points, removable bridges were needed to allow access without resorting to pole-vaulting
or limbo dancing. Total circuit length (never measured) was about 100 feet, so trains had a run approaching two scale miles. The concept was deliberately simple (to make it reliable) but a giant oval of track is almost as boring as a small oval of track. A little more work and a few more snaking curves would have paid dividends.
Some Civil Engineering Stuff
The entire track bed is heavily-creosoted softwood and plywood, covered with thin roofing felt which drapes over the sides. All the track is Peco code 100 pinned down through the felt.
Foundations are of two types:
a) concrete or breeze blocks laid on edge on a shallow bed of sand and cement and...
b) 2”x 2” wooden pegs driven into the ground.
Track bed sections were screwed to the foundations before felting
The removable bridges were created from lengths of aluminium extrusion which came my scavenging way. To these I added
12mm plywood decking and preservative but no felt (they are stored indoors). Track was pinned down as elsewhere. Bridge abutments incorporated levelling screws but, apart from this, only rail joiners were used to fix bridges in place.
And how did that work?
Surprisingly well. The peg foundations were harder to put in than expected and will, of course, rot sooner than concrete blocks. Once under way, the block method was quite easy and made laying a curving track bed easier than with pegs. It has all been stable but the roofing felt weakens if it is allowed to become buried in the surrounding soil. A better method of fixing and electrically connecting bridges was always planned but never materialised. Track has survived well but plastic does become brittle after a couple of years in the sunlight. It pays to avoid any vertical stress when pinning down, or ties will inevitably break. Though never ballasted (I ran out of Round Tuits) the track has weathered to a realistic dirty grey and blends well with the roofing felt.
Some Electrical Stuff
Power routing was designed for two conventional ‘cabs’. Due to the long cable and track runs, all feeds used 32/0.2 equipment wire to reduce voltage drop. They feed the middle of each track section to even out any losses at section breaks. Every track joint was electrically bonded. Turn-outs were powered, via push-rods, by Peco solenoid motors housed above ground in weatherproof boxes. Cable for these was equivalent to 7/0.2 equipment wire. All the track and turnout feeds pass through ducting under the track bed to preserve the wires from beasties and gardening tools. They converge on a weatherproof box on the patio and terminate in two large plugs; one for power and one for turnouts, which in turn connect to the removable control panel. Any controller can be plugged in, as long as the output leads are fitted with a phono plug. The panel incorporates a simple capacitor discharge unit which will ‘fire’ the point motors convincingly over a cable run exceeding 50 feet.
Rating the Electrics
The feeds have never failed and show no noticeable loss of voltage. Rail joiners are still the only electrical connection to the bridges and have been surprisingly reliable. The point motors have likewise never failed electrically (although there has been some mechanical jamming due to rusty push-rods and one complete melt-down which was never explained). The cab control is satisfactory and I wouldn’t mention it except to say that DCC makes life a little easier - as long as you and your gang all subscribe to the new technology. DCC should also make for more reliable running on account of the higher continuous voltage between track and wheel. Naturally the track needs cleaning in the usual manner anyway.
APRIL 1999
5
(continued on page 7)