CP - King's Bridge Subdivision

This page is a description with photographs [click to enlarge] of the CP - King's Bridge Subdivision, which was the Thursday Choirboy's garden railway. Unfortunately it is no more as the owner has relocated but plans are already in the works for an indoors empire. For information on larger scale model railways that are rideable, visit the estate railways page.

Operations

The fun aspect of garden railways comes when you have trains running to an operating plan, freight cars with specific destinations and industries on spur tracks. Refer to my Freight Operations Page for more information on operating a model railway. Outdoor layouts can easily implement a car card or tab marker system to add variety to their car movements.

The King's Bridge Subdivision has two eastbound and two westbound freight runs daily as well as a commuter car service and yard switching activity. Eastbound freights service Krate Industries (trailer on flat car facility), King's Bridge Warehouse Co., Robin Hood Mills and the King's Bridge RR Repair Shop. Westbound freights service Axford Sand and Gravel, J&J Oil Storage, Robin Hood Mills, and Harrison's Nurseries.

EMD GP9	Alco S4	GE 20 tonner
EMD GP9 Cab	Budd RDC	GE 40 tonner

Maintenance

The no-so-fun aspect of garden railways is the high maintenance required primarily caused by the real-life outside environment. Winter snows, rain and roadside beasts (chipmunks scale well!) keep the track crew in shape.

Engines should be fueled (recharged) after each session. A universal charger such as the MAHA MH-C777-Plus2 works well. Throttles should also be checked on a regular basis or have a screwdriver and batteries in the toolbox.

Cars must be carefully weighted as low in the frame as possible if operations is part of the game. Steel wheels help a lot!

Couplers need constant attention. Height, centering and coupling action can be tuned between running sessions. Height can be adjusted to either a 'standard' gauge or referenced to a particular engine. Centering is tricky with the common 'talgo' couplers used. And damn impossible with articulated talgo's (best fixed by replacement) seen on some cars. The coupling effect can be improved with lubricants and fiddle-work.

Talgo (ie. connected to the truck rather than to car) couplers allow very sharp turns but introduce a toylike look to otherwise attractive models. For absolute realism, replace the talgo coupler with a draft box! Cut levers could also be added for operations oriented railways. CutLever, CutLever 2

Structures

The following are the industrial spurs and stations on the King's Bridge Subdivision.

Krate Industries	Warehouse	RR Repair Shop
Axford Sand and Gravel	J&J Oil Storage	Harrison's Nursery
Robin Hood Mill	King's Bridge Station	Toronto Station

Engineering Works

Railends need a way of stopping cars from hitting the dirt. Wheel stops and bumpers are two solutions. Bumpers can come as prefab equipment or be basic abutments with ties (easy to construct). A common bridge form at the turn of the century was the Howe Truss bridge. BrewerPlans offers a variety of bridge plans.

Scenery

Garden railway scenery is the domain of gardening with small plants. These images are of the junction and the Robin Hood mill route.