Making The Field Railway Track Bed - Adventures With A Digger In The Mud

[@TAWithiam]

In standard gauge railways, they say the 3 most important things for track maintenance are drainage, drainage, and of course, drainage

[@rusty911s2]

Tim's well ahead of you there: he appears to be building the railway IN a drain. Clever chap, that Tim. Always stunned on the rare occasions when there's a bit of sun on a WOW film. Sort of forget that, technically, it is theoretically possible for there to be some sunshine there.

[@cprgreaves]

I believe that the original advice was "Trains, Trains, Trains", but over the years, misunderstandings between the Yorkshire and Lancashire dialects corrupted this advice to "Drains, Drains, Drains". :groan:

[@Austriantrainguy]

That's for tunnels generally

[@clDTutube]

I love this channel for the gentle humour. Both in the videos and in the comments.

[@jacksonbuckner5756]

I was just about to write a much longer comment with the same message... well said! 😂

[@WojciechGamer]

I'm really happy you are now doing stuff on the railway again

[@futurecaredesign]

Yeah it was the first project that got me into this channel and I am glad it's back!

[@stephenhewitt5835]

Me too

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Me too!

[@clypeum5063]

After establishing your route and testing it you should build a small rock crusher on top of one of the wagons and crush old concrete pavers (which you can get for free). Pavers are easy to handle and already small so a small crusher will Work well. You would have a nice Railway bed for very little money!

[@peddersmeister]

Running off his little engine thing😊

[@Kittyintheraiyn]

Where are you getting them for free? He's in Ireland mind you.

[@andrewlalis]

​@@Kittyintheraiyn they're free if nobody sees you take them

[@Chr.U.Cas1622]

👍👌👏 Yeah, inventor Tim would even be able to build his own rock crusher.

[@jambusspeakermouse1325]

I believe in a previous video Tim said Sandra didn't want gravel in the fields. I may have got that wrong though.

[@rylandplassmann9095]

Hope Sandra gets well soon!

[@DanielleMoren]

The railway videos are my favourite series, good luck! You will need all the funding possible with this mega project 😃

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

Brilliant! Thanks Daniel : - )

[@robotspark363]

Even with such wet conditions you're able to make a very promising and exciting trackbed! It's incredible how in one week (and from our perspective, one video) so much is done to work towards the railway being finished... Best of luck to you Tim! 💖

[@Chr.U.Cas1622]

Dear inventor Tim. Because I fear that there will be a lot of rain in the future, please kindly allow me to suggest respectively ask something: How about laying down two layers of old fence/wire mesh to stabilise the ground under the sleepers at least a bit? This should have the same effect as putting branches under the peat bog railway track you mentioned. But the recycled fence mesh will not rot away (even if it's rusty already) and grass can nevertheless grow through it. Maybe there is a scrapyard near your or friends have fence/wire mesh laying around unused? Best regards, luck and health in particular.

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

Good idea - but I think the vegetation will quickly stabilise the ground. But I'll have a think..

[@TheSynthnut]

Was thinking the same when I saw Tim pulling out the chainlink. Would make a good basis of a raft. Clay is a menace for swallowing everything you throw at it. Even with brush, chaining and some ballast, you'd be suffering wet beds on anything more than ultra light rail!

[@ryelor123]

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 Where you live is a lot like north-east Iowa. The only difference is that we get less rain and its colder in the winter.

[@JanHenk-k1b]

This brought back childhood memories from when I was at my grandmas in Poland. Lots of soggy- and sticky ground and if you took a wrong step you'd practicaly sink to your waist! I am excited to witness the process and end result of your railway project!

[@jamesmisener3006]

Manure doesn't move itself, does it Tim! Might as well enjoy the solution. You might look at this as Tim is building a train set for himself at Christmas. There's nothing wrong with that, I'd say. Cheers 🇨🇦

[@jpeg1991]

Good too see great progress being made Tim! Diggers are fun. Please tell Sandra to take care and to not fret about making any videos until she's all good and mended.

[@kasbakgaming]

If you have that much clay in the soil, I wonder if you could use some of what you dig out to make bricks for building up the track bed? A layer of bricks along the sides of where the rail bed is going could help cut down on how much erosion occurs with all the water you have to contend with. And since you're building the rail line right past the area anyway, you could use it to haul clay mud back to somewhere dry that you could build a fire to help cure them, then haul the bricks back out as you build the track along.

[@the_retag]

Crushed brick is also great ballast

[@ryelor123]

It all depends on the clay. Some clay is great for making bricks and some will just make bricks that fall apart. You just have to dig some up and test it to find out what you have.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I learned this year that its easy to get the hang of the controls after a day or two. But getting the ground to go flat is super hard. Also a big excavator makes everything much easier if you have the space.

[@MorseB]

The trick is to build the railway as you go so you have easy supply and cargo access via rail! Looks great so far.

[@Cartilog-z4f]

Yes. I remember someone saying in a video "what's the point of having a railway if it doesn't help you do the heavy jobs?". I wonder who that was. :-)

[@dougdobbs]

Your persistence in the face of adverse conditions is an inspiration! I think you have the ideal conditions there to dug a pond and do some aquaculture! :) Well done, sir, thank you for letting us tag along on the journey!

[@madleech]

I feel for you Tim! First time I hired a digger I had the exact same weather as you had! Mud everywhere! But oh so much fun. It still amazes me that you can just walk in and hire such exciting big toys 😂

[@jessborn-c7z]

i‘m wondering how many of them end upside down 😜

[@Berkeloid0]

@@jessborn-c7z There are quite a few heavy machinery recovery videos here on KZbin, so enough do to keep a few recovery companies in business!

[@CricketsBay]

A lot. There opened a sink hole next to the jail in the city where I live. There was a guy on a digger trying to fish out the water pipes that caused it so they install good pipes and fill the hole. He fell in, while inside the digger and all. A very tragic event. 2 months later, new guy/new digger. Supposedly safer conditions. New guy survived. It took them a week to extricate the new digger though.

[@DasMusketKid]

5:15 I can already picture it. A beautiful line going through the nature.... 👍

[@bendordoy4815]

I always enjoy watching your field railway videos.

[@ron.v]

Yours is one of the few KZbin channels on which we can all click the "Like" button before we ever watch the video. We know it will be that good.

[@thomashverring9484]

I'm not sure how I came by this channel years ago, but it may have been the first railway videos, the monorail. I love it!

[@Not_Dane_Heart]

I am so excited for the continuation of the railway

[@jvmalta081]

for my land and house in sicily i bought a digger similar 1.5tons and its a must on a land and projects on going !!! many said its a waste of money but end up being jealous when they see what i can do in a few hrs in it !! never had operated one and now i am quite good at it ! also have an old Thwaites dumper i repaired (1967) , and an old Kubota 1977 13 hp 4x4. tools are a blessing when one wants to have many projects !!! hopefully I start my railway soon ! thanks for the lovely videos ! wish i had the time and patience to do videos of my projects and adventures !

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

I am very jealous!

[@eckosters]

There were lots of wooden roads here in Nova Scotia in the 19th century. They were, in your terminology, “sleeper roads”. They were used to transport timber from the forests down to the valleys. And do our primeval forest went - all of it. Also I cannot believe how wet it is there!!

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

Yes, there are plenty of examples of whole forests being felled for the railways. Ours were already gone when the railways arrived, so it was all imported from forests somewhere else.

[@TM-lo1im]

Great to already see your trackbed. 👌🏼Here is more money for more sleepers.

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

Excellent! - Thank you!

[@save9624]

Good job Tim! I love your railroad project! For the places where water collects, I think some cross drainage pipes would be necessary. And maybe if you bury some wood in the mud, it will hold up better, and the wood without oxygen will decompose slower than the sleepers on the surface.

[@MJTVideos]

Add some crush stone or concrete to make sure the sleepers don’t sink. You can also use rebar and some sleepers to make small retaining walls to prevent erosion of the raised soil. Love the railway videos as always!

[@Swaggie255]

I love these home railway updates, trying to give me an excuse to build my own

[@-Katastrophe]

Drainage might be important to consider in the low/wet spots, you may want to consider installing some drainage ditches or pipe under your rail bed.

[@Hyratel]

the amount of drainpipes would likely double the net cost of the railway, and I'm not sure how well it would drain all that clay (clay LOVES to hold onto moisture, and conversely, tends to shed water once compacted)

[@toyotaprius79]

Better to tear down fences than trees 👍 look forward to seeing the line progress!

[@johnosullivan675]

Who else is surprised that Tim didn't decide to build his own digger?

[@csongorvarga]

Looks great Tim. I think this is a rather scenic part of the railway. Maybe you can add a small halt with a short platform and a bench :)

[@SiqueScarface]

4:30 Terry Pratchett once wrote a novel "Diggers". Maybe they are naturals to drive those.

[@dennisolsson3119]

I bought a 650kg digger (5k eur) last summer to dig a pool. Two wheels, two legs and a turntable-thingy. A fantastic machine! I am also considering becoming a digger-driver if I grow up.

[@rjung_ch]

Brilliant, thanks Tim! 👍💪✌

[@geoffburrill9850]

Great work, that boggy corner needs some rubble to stabilise the ground. Diggers are great but do make a mess in muddy ground.

[@balateera]

learn how to dig yourself out again... wow... what a mud adventure you had! And your will to overcome any difficulty is so impressive. So well done : )

[@anthonysutherland9487]

You could build a simple loco with a small petroleum mower and a belt that can be tensioned to drive the wheels. Much better assistance than human power.

[@Chr.U.Cas1622]

😱 Oh my, what a challenging muddy mess. Although Murphy's law kicked in quite heavily, you nevertheless did very well in your wellies. 👍👌👏 Congratulations 🎉 I only wish that you had rented an excavator with one of those thumb attachments on the boom so that you could've removed the tree trunks with the digger (instead of doing all this heavy lifting). it looks like that this year living in your country is in need of even more rubber boots wearing than ever before. But you nevertheless fought through all those difficulties like a knight in shining armour on a white horse. I don't mind that it was the raincoat that shined and your "white horse" was actually a yellow cat. 😁 ;-) Of course I'm eagerly looking forward to watch the next video about the useful garden railway Thanks a lot for making teaching explaining recording editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and especially health to both of you. Post Scriptum: Get well soon, Sandra.

[@DianeD862]

Tim we think you’re a genius with what you are doing so incredibly amazing 😻 and Sandra as well incredible hope Sandra gets good recovery with her hand .Happy Solstice for tomorrow.All the best to you both and the animals.🌲🌲🌲🎄🎄🎄🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@TransCanadaLimited]

Wishing you the best of luck with this project!! 💚

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

Thank you so much!!

[@britishtechguru]

The beauty of your railway is that if the soggy ground gives way, it's a simple matter to pull the track up and then use the track that's on solid ground to carry rock to the soft part to build the trackbed up.

[@AndyMcBlane]

Nice work with that digger, bet your muscles are happy too :-) Thanks again for the great video. Sure does make me appreciate the Australian weather more.

[@Berkeloid0]

True but we do have to worry a bit more about when the next rains will come, so there's always a catch regardless of the weather.

[@Austriantrainguy]

I love seeing you building the trains again! Keep it going

[@vanmanmarc]

Around the rocky outcrop the ragged rascal ran his railway rails.😂😂

[@meirionevans5137]

Good effort, Spruce brash is good material to lay on boggy ground. Very tough.

[@shebrightmechanics4033]

Would do a ton of good to run a compactor through the path to have a decent rail foundation so it doesn't sink

[@jacobbutler4812]

Love the traditional bog line! Can't wait to see it finished and running trains

[@Santafefrank]

Thanks Tim it looks great 😃

[@TheKontrakontrakontr]

every time I see you working on those projects I want to hop on a plane and help you

[@gbentley8176]

Water off your ducks back mastering the Mini digger. Once used you will find loads of jobs to use one. Happy Christmas to you all. Best from very wet Hampshire.

[@JohnStokes-c1o]

What you had there was a digging bucket. You could have done with a ditching/grading bucket really. Would have made your grading (leveling) much easier. Still looks like a good jod done and you can always grade it by hand.

[@Adrian-j3q3n]

Looks like you had a fun time. Good to see things moving along with the railway. Regards from Italy.

[@xanaxsnax]

Huzzah for rail content! Keep them coming, truly fascinating and yet somehow also calming.

[@springwoodcottage4248]

You may find it interesting to research Percy Hobert’s Funnies that were used on D-Day to cross over clay whilst under fire. Other than the crocodile all of the Funnies would give you useful ideas. Incidentally the Grey Fergie tractor, launched just after World War 2, could be equipped with tracks to go over mud & such. Thank you for sharing!

[@codyrapp7253]

Another thing that may help is to have a lower point next to the tracks for drainage that way you dont have to worry about flooded or sunken tracks.

[@martinsto8190]

a new path around the back, I wonder what Flora would make of how it currently is without sleepers. Edit: this is useful information about how to deal with muddy ground.

[@Traderjoe]

Boy, the weather there is miserable! I hate doing heavy work in weather like that. My back aches just thinking about it. As soon as my feet start slipping in mud while trying to budge something heavy my back starts going out. I know it needs to get done, but I don’t have to like it haha. I think the machine is great. And I know you are limited by space and cost and it’s probably a good compromise. I wonder if these machines break down a lot with all the dirt caught up in their mechanisms.

[@ThePCPitStopInc]

Nice to see your working on the railway again I very much wish you and your family a merry Christmas hope to see more of your projects any new updated plans for your velocar enjoyed your series on that. Stay Safe and Warm

[@Marcus-ki1en]

For the hole, how about a trestle? It would allow you to make a gentle slope (grade) and you would not have to worry about soggy bottoms later on.

[@CricketsBay]

A trestle sounds like a great idea.

[@guzziwheeler]

Well, Tim, you picked a fine week to rent a digger. My son is a professional excavator operator. In such severe weather and soil conditions, they just quit and wait for better times. He says, it is not worth it. Shoutout from Southwest Germany!

[@zakszazso9860]

This field railway is better than Hungarian State Railways itself!

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

That's brilliant! Thanks so much Zakszazso!

[@PeteFox-i8d]

Thanks Tim

[@SimonAmazingClarke]

Excellent work Tim.

[@fivefootthreetothreefoot]

As somebody who has witnessed bord na Mona peat trains in action I can very confidently say your railway will work. In many cases bord na Mona did not even use plastic sheets. They simply layed track directly to wet peat. This could then support peat trains of thousands of tunns. If the rail ever sank too much they just put a wooden plank underneat. It is very surprising just how much One bit of wood can support in bad soil so mabe in the bad bits use some wooden sleepers as well as the plastic. One thing is to make sure that the line in the soggy part is very level as if it is not then a pool will form and the rail starts to sink. For peat lines this used to distort the gauge but those rails where not secured to the sleepers as well as your pegs so in your case it would probably pull apart at the fish plates. Also the peat rail used to also sink badly at the fish plates as these had no support so make sure they have sleepers underneath at the fish plates. Another thing BNM did was they had a hollow underneath the sleeper which have a huge amount of support. When Many of the peat lines were lifted you could tell where the sleepers were from high area's in the mood rather than low areas you would see when a normal no neat line was lifted. The sleepers sort of acted like canoes on a lake supporting the line Keep up the great work. I genuinely believe that your track is built better than the Bord na Mona Track in terms of joint strength.

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

Thank you! Yes, I must go and have a look at those railways before they all disappear.

[@NirateGoel]

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 They've all finished carrying peat unfortunately. Last one was I think a year ago. There's a few odd movements still running but from what I gather it's sporadic.

[@bhami]

I've never heard "digger" used to describe that machine. Many Americans would call it an "excavator", but I (71-y-o American) have always called it a "backhoe".

[@xanaxsnax]

I live in Oregon and they are more commonly called Diggers or Excavators. There’s even a local company PDXdigger. Backhoe sounds like someone you’d meet on a street corner 🤣

[@NirateGoel]

A backhoe here anyway is just an excavator arm for the back of a tractor.

[@Berkeloid0]

"Digger" is a pretty common British term. The US seems to use fancier words for machinery, like how they use "elevator" instead of "lift". "Backhoe" is generally short for a backhoe loader, where you have the large loader bucket on the front, and the backhoe on the rear.

[@Kurt-tq6ew]

Great progress Tim despite the weather 👍🏻

[@redoktopus3047]

Great to see videos on the railway. A bigger digger would have sunk right down to the bedrock I bet haha. You did a great job considering how mucky it all was.

[@RealLuckless]

Getting a thumb attachment to go with the bucket is one of the best upgrades on a basic digger setup like that.

[@crestfallensunbro6001]

he is only renting it so i dont think any kind of modification is on the table

[@HaydnMillerUK]

Try using straw and the surrounding leaves and shrubbery, then use ballast. This will help make sure the track won’t sink, hopefully.

[@BuzbyWuzby]

Here in England the holes that the (Irish) navvies dug out in order to use the soil to build embankments Etc. are called 'borrows'

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

Thank you - I shall hang on to that..

[@noahrousseau8801]

Really exciting to see some work starting on the new railway! it’s amazing what you can get done with even a little digger

[@RattiDave]

To misquote Bill The Bard, "Methinks the laddy doth protest too much". For your second try at using a digger, you were doing just fine. I'm glad you are working on the railway again.

[@victorwild3225]

With all that water you should consider a canal and a barge, which can later be superseded by a railway?

[@buffplums]

Your railway is growing. I would imagine the next project is to build yourself a little locomotive. You could get an old air compressor tank and maybe an old ICE and use the high pressure air stored in the tank to power the engine. Probably a 2 cyclinder motorbike engine but you’d have to modify the valve timing to remove the compression stroke

[@krzysztofsledzinski7539]

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that on this boggy ground it would be a good idea to drive wooden piles to rest on a stable base under the mud, then rest horizontal beams on them and attach sleepers to them.

[@tomtruesdale6901]

Very nicely done considering the weather you had to deal with. Can't wait to see more.

[@geoffreykail9129]

II think that your best option for the low spot is a bridge. It will leave you a place for rain water to go. Filling will bloc a low water coarse.

[@andymanaus1077]

Hi Tim. I own a mini excavator and it's a great little machine. Unfortunately, the cost of hiring mini diggers is inflated by careless hirers. Very frequently people exceed the capacity of these little machines and return them damaged. While hirers are liable for the damage it is often impossible to recover the full cost of parts, labour and downtime. Responsible operators like you end up subsidising the careless ones. If you decide to hire another mini excavator, consider getting one supplied with a "thumb" attachment. Thumbs are becoming more and more popular with excavator operators. They make the removal of logs, hay, thickets and many other things much easier. If you find that sections of the clearing are too soggy even after some dry weather, try mixing some dry cement into the top six inches of soil along with some stone ballast.

[@feldbahnkanal8194]

I recommend that you add some material to the water hole, otherwise the mud will slide away over time

[@dfishpool7052]

Heello Tim - great video - George Stephenson would have bee proud of you. He had similar problems constructing the Liverpool to Manchester railway at Chat Moss and he did the same as you - he built a massive raft of brushwood - I suspect that it's still there!

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

Really?! How interesting!

[@cobba42]

500 for a week? I wish I could have found something that cheap when I needed one 3 years ago. And while, yes, nobody starts out an expert, it is great fun learning to drive one. best week in a vehicle I had!

[@Ellnebo]

might it be worth planting something in the rail embankment with roots that can bind the loose clay together.

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

You're right - but I think they'll arrive on their own very quickly anyway

[@aidanscapeing]

if the muck sticks to your boots its too wet to work. the white clay is called Mala, its pure rubbish, it was used to fill up the center of ditches around the countryside when they were being built.

[@vbart1776]

Buy a quad runner and build four wheel carts. For the soft areas do standard spreading techniques like putting down logs, i.e. rail, ties but you don’t have to put it where the ground is solid. This is the reason why railways are only for very high volume areas anymore, Thatch or branch which as needed. Also, since you do not have a gradient problem like railways you could also do alternate routes which have higher slopes. Still a fun, hobby and KZbin series.

[@stephenhewitt5835]

Nicely done Squire 🇬🇧

[@TomLeg]

What a wind! I hope Ireland doesn't get blown away

[@patchcoatgrey3434]

Sounds like a small bridge made from felled trees might be in order for that hollow

[@woozleboy]

With larger/wider sleepers, you can spread the surface tension out, but eventually you'll need rock ballast for drainage and water control. Real life engineering in the field is fun, huh?

[@wendyduwe3995]

Clay soil can be extemely problematic when soggy. You need something solid to cushion the rail tracks. I have experience with driving on clay soil and it can be really nasty when wet and it's easy to get stuck or tip over wagons as well. From Wendy's hubby.

[@teabagmcpick889]

Get well soon, Tim's Sandra

[@MrNoUsername]

All that mud reminds me of when the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (LMR) was being constructed. A section of the line had a very big problem to overcome for the railway to be completed, and that was Chat Moss Chat Moss was a wide 5,000 acre stretch of bogland being 24 to 30 feet deep, and right in the path of the LMR line. There's no doubt it could easily swallow a horse and cart The solution to this ended up being to float the line. Drainage pipes made out of empty tar barrels lined with clay were laid end to end across either side of the railway forming "drainage pipes". Woven wooden mats topped with tar were laid on the marsh and covered with brushwood and gravel stone. The weight squeezed water from the moss into the drains. Eventually, the land was solid enough that rails could be laid The Chat Moss section was completed by the end of 1829, was interestingly the cheapest section of the railway to build, and is still in use today

[@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299]

Thanks for this - very interesting!

[@Assassinlexx]

Help with the camera. Use a child size umbrella with a couple of straps to hold in place. Think again about using a old battery wheelchair to pull the rail wagons.🤔👍

[@Cartilog-z4f]

Or just get one of those digger babies to drive for him, so he can hold the camera properly.

[@ferguscosgrave7510]

Well done

[@dannyk3115]

Love the track every boy dreem , when we going see a steem train ? One day

[@tubularap]

Congratulations with the extension. It will roll and look great in the spring.

[@richardbrobeck2384]

great video lots of progress !

[@libertyauto]

Watch out Andrew Camarata, there's a new excavator operator in town. Thanks for your videos.

[@fanOfMinecraft-UAs_channel]

Oh, I kind of hoped you're going to build a little bridge to cross the hole, But I knew it wasn't likely to be the case, as you need to cross with the digger

[@joethompson11]

Amazing what you can do in 5 days!

[@nilton61]

I would consider putting down a layer of load bearing coarse aggregate base. 50x0.8x0.15 m makes 6 cubic meters. i don't know the prices in your region but 30-50 euros/m^3 sounds reasonable. with the additional cost of transport you should get a total och maybe 500-800 euros. As many have stated here drainage and stabilisation is crucial

[@Countryboy2105]

Btw I love your videos Cannot stop watching😊😊😊!!