Katzhagen - Building Phase
"Area design"
always had been - until I had to think about the track's exact alignments - nothing but a branch of study at German universities for qualified engineers in my eyes. What a simple-minded misconception !Like in ancient H0-times in my parents' house basement, I again miserably failed in drawing a track-diagram. At least in drawing one which was realizable in some practical way in the garden. Too many temptations regarding all sorts of main or branch lines here or there or perhaps elsewhere too...
All of a sudden it happened, the first day of my vacation 2003. With the same brute force as - to your very surprise - Christmas crashes into your living room each year. Early in the morning, on the 30th of June, 2003, I found myself in the sunny garden with a bunch of red track-boxes and started to put out a circuit. With corrective counselling by the government ("Oh dear ! Not here, the apples WILL fall down in autumn" - "Nope, neither there, I'm planning on a vegetable bed there") the course grew noticeably nevertheless. Around noon the tracks' definite alignment was clarified, after a train took a first testride along the 120m course. A final feasability study showed that is was possbile to implement two stations as well as a freight station and a dead-end branch.
High Noon and one foot under
Two men are called to arms: spades and wheelbarrows. They inexorably fight their way through the green. In the evening 30m of excavation is done - with catering support by the government. Two days later 10m3 of soil have a new home in the forrest at the lot's end. Before placing 14 tons of sand for the foundation the required cables are led into flexible tubes, which are placed in the excavated route.
The last cart after 10m3...
24V DC and data - 2 cables - that's it.
The excavated course of 30cm depth and 25cm width is filled up with sand
which is compacted with a tamper until a 5cm deep channel for the 25cm wide
flagstones is created. The tamper and a spirit level are used to align
the flagstones.
The main station's foundation
