Introduction
The Sandstone & Termite is a 45 mm gauge railway situated in my backyard in Loftus, Sydney, Australia. It is electrically operated with power through the rails. But these days I mainly use battery powered trains and track power is provided for visitors. The area occupied by the layout is about shape 20 x 25 metres. The sandstone ledge and my fight with termites in some of the timber trestles, resulted in the name of Sandstone & Termite Railway.
There are about 200 metres of track. Much of the track is above ground on 'baseboard' made from fibro and old fence palings. Above ground is so much easier to use, but I would like a little more garden for the trains to traverse.
One very important point to consider when planning your layout is to allow plenty of sidings right at the front of the baseboard where trains can be put onto the track without bending down or reaching over the mainline.
I make no attempt to model fine details. If it looks like a carriage at first glance then that is good enough for most of the people who see it. I'm more of a copier of the general ideas of a vehicle, not an exact modeller. I'm in the hobby for the fun of driving trains around the back yard, standing back and listening to the sounds and talking to the neighbours as they come to look.
I have been able to get into G at minimum cost by making my own track and trains. A hundred metres of track, 13 turnouts, 3 locos and 14 vehicles for around $AU1500, spread over 4 years (1993-1997. More has been spent since!).
I have enjoyed playing track surveyor, bridge builder and track layer as well as train driver and electronics designer. When the neighbours see me out with the spirit level and string they know there's an extension being planned. One of the great things about G is that you can get most of your materials at the local hardwarestore instead of specialist model shops, and you can use your normal power tools. I hope this convinces others to give it a go.
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The "Layout"
view Large plan of the line or the smaller versions below.
The layout can be operated as two separate continuous runs, allowing 2 independent operations (below right)...
or as a 200m long single track reversing-loop to reversing-loop (below left - the 4 colours show the 4 single-line sections. Black indicates 'station yards')
Here's the profile of the line gradients.
The best way to take a ride along the line is to go to the Pictures menu and select "clickable Map'. The following is a more detailed description.
The rails start at Termite in a 'workshop' under the house where there are twin reversing loops and 4 sidings to store all the trains.
The track leaves Termite through a hole in the wall, at a level about 120cm above the backyard,
crosses the path on the level, passes the small platform at Ironbark overlooked by a Dutch style windmill, and winds its way along the sandstone ridge, which is up to 3 metres high in places. A natural rock overhang forms a 'tunnel' and then we slow for the semi-circle curve which changes the direction at the boundary. Originally,this was the sharpest radius on the line (80cm) but has now been replaced with a 100cm radius curve on a higher trestle. With the change of direction we head downhill at 1:25 on the new trestle bridge, with the old bridge preserved on our left, then over wood-truss bridge (tomato stakes!), through a solid rock cutting then a steel-arch to cross the path again.
The 1:25 grade is the ruling grade for the line. We pass Fibro Flat station and the door to the workshop and Termite, is crossed by a lifting bridge and then we swing onto another low trestle and into the first station, Melaleuca, named after the tree it's under. The station is raised about 60 to 80 cm above the sloping yard on a hardwood, fibro and lattice 'baseboard'. It consists of a platform, a passing loop 4 metres long, a goods loop and a four sidings. The track here is 60 cm below where we started. This has become the prefered location for visitors to load their trains onto the track.
Leaving Melaleuca, we then slowly creep out onto the major engineering structure of the line; a horseshoe shaped
trestle on a 2 metre radius, 1.5 metres high and 10 metres long, followed by a straight 4 metre long
girder bridge
to finally get us down to ground level. All this is on a down grade of 1:33 on the straight to 1:40 on the curve. The line to Melaleuca
passes over us
on a trestle, and we are only at ground level for about 10 metres. We pass close to Maple Junction station, and continue on to the at magnificent station Sandstone - the headquarters of the line. This is a two-storey station (made from Hebel blocks). Sandstone has a crossing loop, 2 sidings, a turntable and a pair of engine roads (leftover from when it was the terminius of the line and now rarely used. It is on a raised garden bed about 60cm above the grass.
The line continues for under a rock shelf jack hammered out of the living rock. We continue down the
side fence on long bridges as the ground is falling away faster than the train can follow at 1:30 grades. Across two long steel arch bridges and we enter Ti-tree station. This is built on a 'baseboard' about 1m above ground and is 600mm (2') wide and 13m (40') long.
It has 3 loops, and 4 sidings.
Departing Ti-tree we are still on bridges as we climb to the site of the future Oleander Jn, then on at 1:20 - the steepest line. We cross under the line from Melaleuca and head into Maple Jn station. Then onto the 5 metre long viaduct constructed from Hebel concrete, around a reversing loop to the short Lilyvale platform. Lilyvale is the only "town" with any non-railway buildings.
This has taken us around the reversing loop ready to return to Termite.
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