Paul Butler concludes his new railway project
I started work on phase 2 of the railway around March 2025.
Again soil dug out to a minimum depth of 100mm (sometimes a lot more lol) wooden pegs again to get the level correct and any old hard core that was available tamped down and concrete poured in. I then ordered 185 bricks and 60 concrete blocks to finish the job. The second balloon loop was marked out again using the 48 inch radius curve templates. Concrete blocks were laid on the outside and bricks at the front. More 40cm x 40cm paving slabs were purchased, cut to size and fitted. Any small unusable pieces put in the cavity between the brick and concrete blocks.
Eventually the balloon loop was finished and track laid. Then it was nice to put a diesel and coaches on to have an uninterrupted run along the main line. That left the sidings and shed spur to finish the job off. Larger 45cm x 45cm paving slabs were used for this. More track laying on the spur and it was finished! Well not quite.
Paving slabs were then laid to give easy access to the sidings and shed roads. This left a big hole in the balloon loop so 2 tons of topsoil was ordered which had to be wheel barrowed from the front of the house.
I am quite happy with the overall project and enjoyed building it. A total of 515 bricks, 110 concrete blocks and too many to count concrete slabs were used along with many bags of sand and cement.
More about the CVLR to follow at a later date.
Paul Butler
April 2026.
