PLANNING THE RAILWAY

Giving the 'rustic' nature of the area, it quickly became apparant that the ABR would be a private, agricultural railway, for the purpose of managing the estate, ie collection of almonds in the autumn and timber in the winter. Well that was the excuse anyway! Fortunately, being situated about 15 minutes drive from where we live, no consideration has to be given to domestic requirements!

After careful consideration and surveying a 'dog bone' circuit was decided upon with a yard area housing storage buildings, turntable etc. This area would have to be excavated by approximately 1 metre, the spoil being used to create an incline to the lower level where the almond trees grow.

 

The digging commences to create a 'yard area'. Approx 200 cu.m of soil and rock to be removed. Most of the spoil will be reused to create a 1:50 incline some 50 metres long to the lower level. It was to take over a year to get this part of the project completed and as of March 2007, I am still doing the final levelling, by hand, of the incline!

 

March 07 - The incline nears completion, however heavy rain at the end of March means a wait of several weeks before it is dry enough to go back on site as the soil is very heavy clay. The corrogated steel buildings to the left are the stables belonging to my neighbour. I plan to screen these from view with trees, eventually.