As the title says, repairs to my railroad were needed after getting a new puppy this last November. She is a Golden Retriever that is just 10 months old and 80lbs of cuteness and very lovable. However she has also done a lot of damage to my railroad because she loves to eat redwood, which of course is what some of my bridges are made of. So the first area of repair is the curved trestle that has been on my railroad for over 8 years. Of course she didn’t do all the damage because I also discovered a lot of water damage also. The final decision was to remove the trestle, build up the retaining wall, and relay the track. I’m really into low or no maintenance at this point. The first picture shows the old trestle and the second picture shows the completed retaining wall filled and ready for track.

Hopefully if the weather isn’t to hot tomorrow I’ll get the track re-laid in this are so I can continue with other repairs and of course re-ballasting which is a yearly job. I also decided to add another staging yard to the back side of the layout for loading and storage of my trains and any visitors trains. The original staging yard was removed because it was in the way of the double crossover I installed last year. I really want to spend more time playing with my trains this year, so the easier it is to run without always having to carry everything from the shop to the layout will make it better.

So the first thing was to add a siding with a lead switch that will go into this new yard. This siding will also create a “WYE” between the inner and outer loop when completed. The first picture shows the new siding installed and ballasted. Hopefully you can see the #6 switch somewhere in the middle that will be the yard lead switch. The second picture shows the area on the outside of the layout with the start of the frame work for the yard. And progress will continue on a regular basis as I’m hosting our club’s August train club meeting on the 20th of next month, so “NO” butt modeling here. LOL. So enjoy.

Ooh, pretty. I like the gnomes.

Seriously, um, no pictures came through.

Please resend.

I see pictures, why don’t you. BTW my wife doesn’t allow any gnomes in any of her garden or railroad area’s. LOL

I see the pictures now. Plus there is a lot more text. Maybe I was having technical difficulties on my end and I didn’t know it.

Looking good. I like trestles, but the raised bed look is nice.

Chuck You should invite Devon, so he can learn how to ballast and lay track! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Looks good, Chuck. We will appreciate the yard, not having to time loading our trains with missing the 10:27. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Actually David, I think you may have log on when I put it in edit mode because the pictures loaded different then what I wanted.

Sean, Devon has an open invitation to come over anytime he’s free, which I don’t think is very much after talking to him last week at our club meeting. That boy has a lot on his plate, but it nice to hear that he’s taking a little bite at a time to get everything accomplished.

Yep Steve a loading yard will make it easier for everyone to load plus I’ll be able to run more also. After the yards built I’ll start on a 6’ x 16’ storage shed behind the hill just off to the south of the layout where Chris has her pine tree collection planted. That way I can store everything for the layout. But first things first.

Shame to have to lose the trestle, as I thought it was a wonderful scenery focal point… Nice work on the layout, tho… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Andy Clarke said:

Shame to have to lose the trestle, as I thought it was a wonderful scenery focal point… Nice work on the layout, tho… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Although I agree with you dad (which I don’t like) change happens.

Looks good Chuck!

Chuck,

What a shame to lose that beautiful trestle but I understand 100% about the maintenance issue.

The new infill blends well and in a year, if you didn’t have pictures to prove otherwise, no one would

ever know that it wasn’t always that way.

Seems that you were talking about this new yard area a coupla years ago when we visited, glad to see you moving forward with it.

Rick

Yes guys, I know the trestle was a real photographic area on the layout, but I just didn’t want to spend the time it takes to completely build another one, especially if we decide to down size and sell in a couple of years. I still have 3 other areas on the layout that has bridges. One is steel and the other two are wood. Of course the two wooden ones need some repair but not as much as the trestle so I can repair them fast. The one bridge on the upper loop, pictured below, will get wrapped with aluminum angle so it will look like a thru girder bridge. But that will have to wait until winter.

Actually Rick the new yard will be the second one added to the back of the layout. I added the first one shortly after you visited and it worked out great. But then I realized the yard was to wide and I couldn’t reach the double crossover switches going from the inner loop to the outer loop. So I removed the yard. This new yard will eventually be attached to a storage shed so I can store the trains outside and run anytime I want. If you look at the picture above, the new yard will start just about the middle of the station and go to the left. The double crossover is to the right of the station out of site.

OK, I remember that now:). Being able to run directly in and out of a storage area will add a lot of pleasure and spontaneity to your railroad fun.

Downsizing(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif) Been there and am doing that, it has eaten two years of my railroading life, be very thoughtful(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)

Rick

Well we made some progress yesterday and today. Yesterday we got the track replaced and ballasted in the new retaining wall area. My wife and I also decided to put a small town in this area behind the track so I needed to find the last #6 switch I had to put a siding leading into the town. It will run behind the station and water tower leading into a freight shed. The first 2 pictures shows the laid track up to the far edge of where the town will be.

The far left side of the above picture is where the switch will go, but of course this section of track also needed to be repaired because of “Deer” damage so that’s what I worked on tonight, repairing track. It was also a good way to sit in the shop repairing the track because all of last nights work also took my back out. I love getting old!!! Anyway the last 2 pictures shows the repaired track laying back on the layout along with where the siding will start. Hopefully my back will feel better tomorrow night and I’ll get this track laid and ballasted. Then I can start running on my lower loop again. Enjoy.

Sean McGillicuddy said:

Chuck You should invite Devon, so he can learn how to ballast and lay track! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

OMG stop. . .lol. I will be at chucks house next month to play on the new additions. I have never run a train at chucks.

The weather cooled off and my back was feeling ok, so we got more progress done tonight. I finished installing the switch for the new siding and the repaired track going up to the steel bridge. It’s all in, leveled, and ballasted. I still have to finalize where the siding will go, but that can wait until the lower loop is back up and running. That should be by tomorrow night. The first picture shows the overall area looking from the edge of the steel bridge toward the siding.

This next picture shows the same area looking from the other direction alone with the siding.

The last picture shows the next bush to be cut back and the track after the steel bridge that will get re-leveled and ballasted tomorrow. Most of the track around this corner is in pretty good shape, it just needs a little TLC. After that we’ll be back up and running on the lower loop, then I get to start on the upper loop which for the most part just needs to be weeded and a short section that will get re-ballasted. The repairs will be to the tunnel entrance and the upper bridge that the dog got, but they should be simple fixes for this year. My winter project will be to rebuild the upper bridge with aluminum angle, more like a girder type bridge.

looking good can’t wait to try it out