Great looking track work! Looks like some high speed running is called for.
Bob Hyman said:
Chris,
The fake rocks are made from acrylic. Same stuff as used in spas and pools. They’re only about a quarter of an inch thick and are fairly lightweight. I got three of them (all identical) at Home Depot a few years ago when they were on close-out for $25 each. I seem to remember the original price was around $80 each.
I don’t know if it’s a nationwide sale, or local for the Chicagoland area, but Menards has fake rocks on sale this weekend, saw it in their Memorial Day weekend flier this evening. $20 for small, $25 medium, $30 large.
“What was it the Engines said,
Pilots touching,–head to head
Facing on the single track,
Half a world behind each back?”
You may recognize this as the opening stanza from Francis Bret Harte’s poem commemorating the opening of the Pacific Railroad in 1869. Well, I have borrowed it to commemorate the completion of the 365 foot long outer loop on my Choctaw Coal and Railway Company’s line. Sure, it may have taken me a bit longer than it took the UP and the CP to build the Pacific Railroad, but they had a few more workers than I did.
CC&R engines #5 and #6 brought company VIPs from both ends of the line to witness the completion. They met at the highest point on the line at a spot that will someday become the boomtown of Aurora. Since funds were limited, they decided to forgo the traditional golden spike for a solid aluminum “Split-Jaw” to join the final rails.
After I get the track properly ballasted, I will post a video tour of the loop. Thanks all for your encouragement and motivation to get this loop completed.
Bob
Your Welcome…
Job well done Bob.
Chris
Looking good Bob. Hope to see you again in Massachusetts. I think you proved at Ken’s that you have a good mind for solving swithcing puzzles and don’t let the juidges get you nervous.