RAILWAY RESTORATION CONTINUES

By Debbie Bulloch



My garden railway restoration project is moving slower than I had expected. In addition to clearing weed, rocks and other garden “debris” from the track there are also two other major jobs involved.

First, the track has suffered from years of benign neglect. As you can see from the photographs below, sections of the track are not level. While up and down tracks may be fine for a rollercoaster ride, trains require perfectly level, perfectly smooth track to run properly.

The second, and biggest problem, is delivering electrical power to the track. The trains run on electrical power and every inch of track must be electrified. If there are electrical gaps in the track, the locomotives may slow down or even stop. There are over 100 feet (33 meters) of track running in the shape of a dog-bone loop so the challenge is to keep electricity flowing to the whole track.

Electricity to the track is delivered by special transformers. The transformers change (or transform) household A/C current (alternating current) to D/C current (direct current). The previous homeowner took the transformers with him, so now I must find transformers to power the track.

One available alternative is to modify the trains to run on battery power; that, however, is expensive and time consuming. In order to change the locomotives to run on battery power, each locomotive has to be opened up, battery packs fitted inside the locomotive and some sort of radio control (R/C) installed to control the train's speed. Right now, a rheostat in the transformer controls speed by regulating how much electricity goes to the track – the more electricity going in, the faster the trains run. With battery power, however, each locomotive must be individually controlled, so that is why R/C is needed.

I will keep you posted of progress on the DBRR (Debbie Bulloch Railroad). By the way, DB stands for Deutsch Bahn or German Railways, very convenient, eh?

All aboard ... chooo...choooo...







When restoration work is finished on the DBRR, it will (I hope) look something like the railroad shown on the video clip below.

A GARDEN RAILWAY COMES BACK TO LIFE

By Debbie Bulloch



The man from whom I bought my current home was an avid train fan. Like my Father, the previous owner had a collection of trains made by the German train maker LGB

When I bought my home, one of the selling points was the outdoor, garden railway layout that the owner had built years earlier. Garden railways originated in Europe but have now become very popular in the U.S. The garden railway in the home I bought is built on a raised planter bed and it features tunnels, a waterfall and a small pond.









At his death, my Father left me his collection of large scale trains but other than Christmas time, when I set up the trains around the Christmas tree, I did not have a regular place to run the trains. With an outdoor, garden railway already built, I now had the opportunity to once again play with my Dad’s trains.





Unfortunately, however, the previous owner had been ill and so he did not have the time and energy to keep the outdoor layout in running shape. Like a real railway, a garden railway requires regular maintenance. The tracks need to be kept clear and in shape, plants need to be trimmed and weeds have to be cleared.

The first year after I bought my home I was too busy with other matters, so the outdoor layout laid in a messy state of disrepair. Every time that I saw the little train cars sitting on the track, I would promise myself that I was going to clear the layout and bring it back to life. Alas, life’s other obligations kept me from spending time rebuilding the train.

This year, the coming of spring has awakened my train-building ambitions. I hope that by the time summer arrives the little trains will be running in my garden. Stay tuned and watch the rebuilding process unfold!

Choo…chooo…!!!