Last Sunday (June 27) I had open house for the Orange County Garden Railway Society and neighborhood with ~80 people in attendance over a period of about 3 hours.  Mick and Liz Spilsbury from the Bay Area Garden Railway Society and Carla Breitner from Santa Clarita Valley Garden came down for the showing.  They put out the GRNews Newsletter and host the website.  I asked Carla for some photos of the old build challanges shown in place because this has never happened.   This...

Those of you that have operated here know that the viaduct at Dead Rooster Gulch has an incline toward the southern end.  This has been getting worse in the last couple years, due to settling of the fill.  I decided to run a level line and its settled almost 4 inches, which translates to about a 3 percent grade!     So, first project this year is to cut the track there, jack up the end of the viaduct to level, and then reattach and re-line the track over the High Bridge....

Folks, found this presentation on YouTube, it is the rocky mountain railroad clubs online presentation for July it discuasses the restoration efforts for the loco and future plans. also some EBT discussion/updates at the very end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDcKjm5ud20  

Well after a couple of years a few starts and the most brutal summer it is time to plant some garden to liven up a little of the layout. Since this is going to be a dry wash for the foreseeable future I planted some  Assylium here to add a little to the bridge I really should write down and keep a record of what I plant. All the small plants at the base of the hills are new. The lantanas on the left side of the windmill flower are volunteer plants that came up on their own and have su...

The main layout is currently taken apart. We are getting ready to terrace the hill it's built around. In the meantime, I've put together a small temporary track around the koi pond so I can run trains. Thus was born the Waterside branch of the Sprite Valley Railroad.     [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51272131677_2a08661d25_h.jpg[/img]     Waterside at night.     [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51273362148_f40511e7bb_b.jpg[/img]   ...

Regner Heisler

We finally got the first operating session of the year in this past weekend... Thanks to Jane's hard work, the railroad ran very well... Had about a dozen people each day...  Got a tad of rain on Sunday afternoon.. One shower stopped operations for about 7-8 mins, but that was all.. I believe Jane got some pictures, which if she did, will be posted later..

It's probably been 2 months since I've used JMRI to create a switch list. During that time, no thanks to LSC & Facebook, I have acquired quite a few more cars.  Being a mostly rainy day today, I wanted to run a train on the indoor division. JMRI refused to build a train with more than one car. A quick look at the build logs showed why: There is only one open car spot at each end of the railroad. JMRI has tons of cars wanting to move, but no where to put them!   So, it's time to a...

Each of my turntable pits has a support rail for the turntable bridge.  On one pit I use code 250 brass rail and for some reason the rail has become very brittle and broken in numerour places.   Are there some manufacturers of code 250 brass rail that is better for this application and should the rail be heated while bending to avoid stress cracks?   Thanks   Stan    

Reworked part of the backyard to get rid of an old fountain that we discovered was a mosquito factory. Added some raised 2x6 boards and gravel and moved the Aristo circle of track and 2x4 buildings from the wine barrel layout. I replaced the wine barrel with some HLW circle track so I'm hoping it will be more durable now. This is now a permanent fixture in the yard. Going to relocate the wine barrel layout but I have to transfer it to a better roller base. This is the same raised bed planter tec...

Aloha,   2021 is fast upon us, and I am busy evaluating options and budgeting the casbh for the main push in 2021, the "Rehabilitation of the Missile Sponges," the upgrading to near-model status of cheaper motive power we acquired to let the youngest visitors and crew interact with the Triple O.  To that end: Has anyone tried / used the motor blocks from Smallbrook Studio (link)? Will they hold up to the elements, namely rain, high humidity, high temperatures, and proximity to th...

  Since I use the Freight Shed option to host my pictures here I have been reluctant to start posting this build addition to my railroad because of the warning by the site owner that all will probably be lost when he upgrades the site. This seems to be coming true as most of the photos I have posted over the last dozen years are already gone from the threads, making the information they contain pretty much useless.  However this may last a while and maybe someone will enjoy it while i...

Below is a list of  track I have from my project. Some of this track I bought new, but most of it was bought used. I decided on a smaller "layout" than I originally planned.I have attached a couple of pictures.16 - 1' straights  $2.00 each08 - 2' straights  $2.50 each06 - 4' straights   $5.00 each12 - 1100 curves R1  $2.50 each43 - 1500 curves R2  $2.00 each02 - Right hand turnouts $5.00 each02 - Left hand turnouts  $5.00 each Or make me an offer on the wh...

3 January, 2021  - Ridge Live Steamers, Dundee, Florida . And we start a New Year with Car Card / Waybill Operations here at the Ridge Live Steamers on January 1 -3, 2021.  Ran the passenger train to the hourly schedule, yesterday (Saturday).  Early runs today are annulled do to rain, but traffic should pick up as the weather moves through this afternoon.  We start putting  the 116 pieces of rolliong stock away at 2 pm.   Jan was the Conductor and Bo provided Secu...