"Where the fun in that?" Some people forget, its never about the cost of a project. Its what brings you joy.

You really start to realize the extreme cost of Hornby's models when a real life sized railway becomes cheaper to make.

Gotta agree, prices are getting realistic. Incidentally, your railway is much cheaper than a similar sized HO setup. Looks like a lot of fun, really useful. Thanks kindly for sharing.

No idea how I ended up here - but listening to an affable Irish guy talk about his backyard railway was lovely :)

Little jhon wanted to build his own railway system ,he made a track using GALVANIZED round STEEL and ecofriendly wood veneers and pegs that he borrowed from his aunt. Lovely video the sentence above is an internet meme from nowadays

"where's the fun in that" .... is the perfect answer to so many youtube comments

For about 20 feet it costs me about $40 USD in steel, I got scrap wood and pipe for free. Design is exactly the same but the wood is 2x4s This video series has been great inspiration for my 15” gauge railway, keep up the great videos!

i'm building a replica of your railway but 5" gauge, around the goat field.... its great fun and thank you for the inspiration. simon and dorothy in France.

This calculation, even for the cheapest metal garden railway gives a good understanding how ENORMOUSLY expensive real railroads are.

I really appreciate your strong grasp of the economics on this as we as your pragmatic optimism. It’s how I try to be.

also, running costs for a push railway are MUCH lower than that of a quad bike, AND it's also greener, as your not burning fostil fules to run it.

the sound of those rails brings me joy

Apparently the HS2 railway line will cost £100 per millimetre, so you're doing pretty well!

amazing thing is your railway, per foot, is _cheaper_ than most pre made _model_ railways in N or OO gauge..

While I wouldn't use this as a "scale" railway set up, this would be fantastic as a functioning narrow gauge system for use around a farm. I could see it now, a small critter powered with a cheap gas engine and a couple dozen cars to haul vegetables, building supplies, feed, hay/straw, manure, chemicals, firewood, fuel, gravel, etc... And the whole thing is both flexible and easy to maintain, all for the cost of a used pick-up truck.

Life is for having fun and having your own railway!

A hand OR pedal operated Section Trike would be easy enough to bodge together, to allow "powered" (man) locomotion, and heavier loads ( or more flat cars!). Gudonya from Down Under.

I may be daydreaming, but I imagine in 5 years time we'll see you with 3 full wood sheds, a proper charcoal kiln, 12 more wagons, and a cute little turntable interchange. I am quite excited looking forward to the future!

I watch your videos when I can and I find it absolutely amazing your railroad is coming along real nice and from a U.S. point of it fairly cheap price wise . I started mine when I had one with metal fence post or as we call them in oklahoma T- post it worked really well . Anyway I enjoy watching your videos and your progress. Keep it going sir

4:14 "we in Ireland live in one of the most expensive countrys in the world." I was going to complain about the prices here in NE America. but it was just the supplier I was looking at, here are the cheaper prices I found 1/8'' x 2'' x 20' = ~39$ ea - €37 1/8'' x 3'' x 20' = ~59$ ea - €56

The wider the gauge, the better the stability. The flat bar steel for rails, solves a lot of headaches. Its relatively light,easy to impart gentle turns and not heavy to work with. For a light railway not using a locomotive it looks ideal. the downside is contact area available for wheels which are driving, trying to grip the rails as they do on a locomotive.

4:21 "yours is probably cheaper" Sweden: "screams in taxes", Jokes aside, thanks for giving a rundown on how much the parts cost. Not sure how much I would have to pay, wouldn't be surprised if it's at least twice as much with how much everything become more expensive.

I've never known anyone who had a railroad at their house. I'm enjoying your progress.

Tim your a genius we marvel at what you do my husband thinks you marvellous 🤩.With your inventions.Will watch on later .Help us to relax for the weekend.GodBless. Love Ireland 🇮🇪.

I love your railway, wish I had a flat enough yard and a reason to build one. Keep up the great work

honestly this is so great to see the progress on this and it looks so much fun too. Your breakdown of the costs is actually one of the better ones i've seen arround and a nice overview.

I like the fun part of it. One of those systems would work for us two ol'ladies bringing in the groceries from the car. You never cease to amaze. Great job Tim. Blessings to all ❤

I enjoy watching your videos! Great fun and good ideas. But to justify a railroad, you need to have a lot of stuff you need to carry. I live in my single family home, and the only thing I need to carry a lot of frequently is firewood for my wood stove. I use scrap wood gleaned from businesses in the area, and I chuck that wood in my Chevy Astro van to carry it to my home. I have a pav ed driveway in the front of my home with a large wood crate I use for storing cut firewood, and an unpaved driveway along the side of my house. I dumped a load of crushed rock on that side driveway circa 1987 or so, and while grass has grown up around that completely, it still provides support for my van when driving on it and prevents it from getting muddy. When I drive a load of wood home, I back into that side driveway which provides access to a basement door. Inside the door is a table saw I use to cut the used lumber to length, nail and all. Once cut I can carry that wood to that front wood crate for storage, or carry it up the basement stairs in a box to be burned in my stove. I also store wood under cover beside that side driveway. So I'm able to use my van for moving a heavy load of firewood, and I can unload it and store it from my van pretty easily. Once store, I can pick up lengths of lumber and cut it to length on my table saw. All this can be done pretty easily as part of my daily life. So I can't really think of an application for a railway like yours. What I've devised is quite simple and efficient, and more or less cost free, wood included. Wood comes from businesses that are a half mile away or about three miles away. The scrap wood I get is odds 'n ends from a lumber yard or lumber used for packing large sheets of granite ---- 2x4, 2x6 and such lumber. I can often get a van load when I'm driving around for other purposes, so often I don't even to make a special trip. I enjoy making fires, and even now in early May, a fire is needed to take the chill off the house unless it's sunny. So I'm afraid I can't think of an application for a railway. DARN!

I'd love to see you make a human powered cart. Keep up the good work and have fun!

Tim, seeing you ride the wagon like Superman at the end is quite a joyful sight

Tim, Thank you for the update and the cost break down. One thing that people need to consider is YOU built it for YOUR needs and their needs/desires may be different than yours. You have done an outstanding job on the design, development and building of the railroad track, switches and carts. Looking forward to more of your videos.

Train surfing man that kool

The last one is my favourite

Good to see you're back on track and having some good weather. Another interesting video. Thanks Tim.

Great work and idea! I'm doing a 7 1/4" scale.

You are a big child! Love it!!!

Greetings from the USA, keep up the good work. I love the railway.

It would be fun if we had a discord server or something, because discussing stuff like this would be quite fun I'd reckon

Best final scene EVER!~

Once upon a moon, no civil, mining or industrial project was complete without a narrow gauge rail system. The movable, flexible track is genius and could be used for light transport without needing ballast in temporary situations no doubt. Wish we had a big enough plot to warrant something like this too!

It was honestly more expensive than I had thought!

That looks to be the best and easiest homemade rail answer I’ve seen so far!

Look Tim, soon to be a new Olympic discipline 🙂

Love it. One day, one day.....

We've loved watching your railway grow... our garden is far too small to justify one (20ft long maybe?) So we enjoy watching you build yours!

Just had to laugh when you went flying down the rails. Your enjoying your life! Great work!

I never felt that the prices were artificially low. In Hungary today 6m of the 50x8mm flat steel would cost 20k HUF, around 52 EURs, double that and it's 104 EURs just for the two sides and not counting for anything else. Everything is expensive here and we are the center of Europe. So, I think you are pretty lucky. :)

You are a superman!

Thanks Tim 👍 All the best to you both Robin

Thanks Tim.

Thank you so much for sharing your adventures in engineering, I'm loving every update.

Excellent work Tim, well done .

my good mate in Somerset doing the same

Outstanding! Thank you for the breakdown! Much better than a quad, as the railway is long lasting, and has given you so many opportunities for creativity and engineering! Take good care! Cheers from Guam! 🇬🇺

Thanks Tim

Information with a smile. Wonderful!

With all the money it costs the fun you get out of it is priceless. Great video bro. Safe travels

Ab So Blinkin Luvverly! Well done and keep them coming.

Oh great. Now I want to make a railway.

Awesome, ever since I saw it the first time I knew I just have to make the same at my farm in Zambia. It will be awesome. Thanks for sharing this with us all.

Oh Me Next! I admire your resourcefulness using a little to do a lot. Sell tickets for rides!

So... it is a lot of fun but a garden tractor is cheaper, shame. I mean I will still have fun with a tractor but railway is another level of fun 😁

Way out West, I just your videos, the railway ones are by far my favorite, your natation is fantastic. Please keep them coming

It's all about the journey. . . love your thinking

one thing i'm really looking forward to the locomotive being built even if its just a start on the chassis

Nice job on your railroad

I have considerable frost heave on wet ground. I have considered driving poles to build on top of, but it's a big job! Maybe a small railway sometime... Thanks for posting this!

I wonder if small gauge local railways will return for industries such as farming. With the rising cost of fossil fuels today it is becoming much more expensive to run farm equipment. With a small gauge, flexible track, steam powered railway farmers may potentially be able to use less fuel by dropping off grain or collected produce onto mobile trains that then take the long journey back to the collection points. These small engines could potentially run on steam and their fireboxes could burn any available fuel from scrap lumber to waste oil to coal. This could potentially help farmers save on fuel costs in the long run. With a flexible and easily modifiable track they could also run much more heavy duty cranes into the field to assist in recovery and repair of downed equipment even in potentially soft or muddy terrain. An interesting thought experiment. There are probably many downsides Im not thinking of.

can't wait to see what you finallly settle on for a locomotive! Great progress!!

Great video Tim! I really needed a good bit of practical common sense edutainment today. Thanks! 😁👍

Nice fun hobby project obsession! Very useful too!

Wow, that's not as bad as I expected. I could do that someday.

very cool! thanks.

Keep up the good work, we'll need railroad eng. in SA soon. Your vid. will be good training material.

Although your railway is mainly for industrial purpose, I think it could work as a leisure railway too! You can take a ride whenever there’s some free time to kill

Wow looks like a fun ride~

Gold star 🌟 for making us smile 😃 😊

Lovely ending :)

Indeed! Les in UK

Brilliant 👏

"Where's the fun in that?" lol

Very very very excellent I like it

You're a BIG KID :) You'll be tying Sandra to the track next :)

tempted to do this in my property in east europe

I admire your commitment to thrifty imagination!

This is nice and very affordable

Great job buddy

What would be kinda interesting is how you do the curved sections of track down the end of the new section of track. Cuz one rail has to be longer than the other, while maintaining the same gauge.

Super cool 👍. Great design. I have Mini tractor and still want to make

Actually 15inch/381mm is the small size for commercially used rail. 600mm/2ft is quite common, but those lines can reach kilometers

As hard as it is to believe we pay more than that for steel in Australia and we don't even have to import it. Presuming that those lengths you are using are 6metres long, that amount of steel would cost the equivalent of 88 euros in Sydney.

thank you for this video while this looks cool, I think I'll still stick with rubber tire carts although I am seriously considering converting them all to steel wheels, because tire replacement every 5 years is a pain

thx

AMAZING!

“Where’s the fun in a quad bike?“ -this guy, apparently

While I do agree with you, I have to say that riding quad bikes can also be quite some fun :)

Have to agree with the fun part :)

AWESOME except for one tiny detail, that is also needed. THE FISH PLATES...Can't go any further then 20 ft without the fish plates. CCHHEERRSSSSS

I'm surprised at how cheap your rails are even with the high prices, how much is one of those big basket carts? My grandma had a rather large yard with a garden going all the way around the back starting on either side of the house (think 1950s US suburbs but the fancy 2 story homes) As she got older she had trouble hauling her tools around so I built a monorail that went around the garden and hung on the side of the fence posts with the cart hanging below the rail. It was some bent rebar for the supports and a similar (but smaller) flat bar rail. I even made a little box to push the cart into to keep it safe and dry on one end.

I wouldn’t go smaller than 10’ gauge for anything practical. You would have to have a much better roadbed to avoid tipping over.