About the Ashburton Forks Railway.  

About The Railway.
   The AFR is a 3rd time lucky railway with the first 2 being learning curves & a lot of fun on the way. The 2nd Railway was abandoned and pulled up after AFR management decided to modify it's operation & increase the running length of its mainline. The managements main interest is the NZR rolling stock which will be the main stay of the roster with the freelance models being a close 2nd, but also keeping things interesting I will be running USA Trains 1:29 for the long trains. This is to add a bit of variation to the running of trains for the visitors to the railway. 

The above plan gives you a rough layout idea of the route the trains take with the shed being the main point of operation. The shed on the North side has a 10m passing loop on the main line branching off to a yard on the south side. There are tunnel portals at the West & East ends heading out into the garden, the East end has a level run over a wooden truss bridge (No1) to a single span steel girder bridge (No2) then we hit a 2% grade down to a 4 span steel girder bridge (No3) & at the end of this the grade increases to 3% until we pass under No2 bridge where we level out. We are now heading West passing over the concrete path & entering another passing loop outside, then we head out of the loop & up another 2% grade until we enter the West end tunnel portal of the shed.

Above Left & Middle; American muscle at work just crossing No3 bridge easing onto the 2% grade. Above Left; Same train throttling up for the 3% grade, passing a switcher on banking duties (if required) sitting in the loop.

The main line is wired up for single & dual train running track power, we run 20volts @ 3.5amp with lap-top power supplies supplying the East & West sections but with a flick of a switch we can go to 20volts @ 5amp for double heading or long trains when on single running or just the East section when dual running with a bigger power supply doing the work!! Single is great when working on the railway or operating on your own & having a train running around. Dual takes a bit more thinking with a remote in each hand with trains running  loop to loop where they  can pass, but 2 people we can travel loop to loop & swap trains or sections resulting in a lot of fun!    

As with most garden railways we learn as we go along & by our mistakes but there is always progress in one form or another. The AFR now has its final track bed down so we can concentrate on other projects slowly progressing in many ways.