So I’ve sucessfully progressed to the paoint where trains can navigate the track…this year its time to give the layout some vertical interest…something pretty to look at when the trains aren’t running…I got a pond kit for my birthday some years ago…and moved it with me to the new house…its been safe in the trator shed till I unearthed it this spring…some planning and thought was put in to it…and a position waas determined…but feirst…some BFRs had to be placed behind it before the pond hole was dug…Whats a BFR you say? is a BIG EFFING ROCK!!!

The upright one in the middle is four feet long and in the order of 800lbs…I moved it…

You can see why the BFRs had to go in first…some of them just couldn;t be picked up and carried across a pond hole…

Don’t remember who it was, maybe Tiny, that built a crane / dolly for moving BFR’s. I use a hand truck, but even my biggest don’t come close to that monolith you have there.

Most of mine have been gathered from around the shores of Candlewood Lake. We bring them home on the boat deck. I swear they weigh less under water!

Not to put too fine a point on it, Bart, but a BIG EFFING ROCK is a BER, not a BFR.

We mustn’t upset Fr. Fred, you know.

And they really do weigh less under water.

Now you need to move them again to get the edge of the pond under them

Oh there are still plenty in the other three Strategic Stone Reserves for edging the pond…

…winking…

You got a trator shed? Wow! Hope you torture the buzzards there.

Torturing buzzards? what, you kill something and put an invisible fence over it so they can’t get to the carcass?

…grinning…

Fun w/ what??? U guys have fun with them?? They kick my butt. I’m going with the smaller ones!

Somebody moved my bigger ones and now they’re stuck there!

Ohhh… I … Wish I had a Bobcat…

Jon,

Not sure if Tiny had one, but I know JJ did/does. Made it from a “Cherry Picker” for work in the dessert in the middle of the night.

Joe,

I’d let you borrow mine, but it’ is a bit far to trailer it to your place.

Nice Bart, and good luck with all these efforts of yours. I’m sending along some contrarian views to consider, errors I’ve made that you might want to avoid, please don’t take offense.

I’m raising my pike right now from where it’s been for the past few years, about the height of that track of yours, say 18-24", to a new height of 36", which is kitchen counter height.

This is to make things right for operations.

My original completely landscaped loop is getting sacrificed in the process - lotta rock lifting and dirt digging and piling went into it too, but with all that it never got high enough.

I once had plans for a pond too. - probably we all get the notion at one time or another. But I decided it was too much of a maintenance hassle for my taste. I’m getting older, and I have less time than I used to! With the precious time I have left I want to run a railroad, not maintain fishponds and deal with scum, pumps, or any of that. I built fake creeks with rounded pebbles down where the water was and that was good enough for me. I found that everybode looks at the trains and pays very little attention to the scenery anyway!

I also got rid of the lawn for similar reasons. Not a blade of grass on my whole place. Having no grass is part of my famous weed control system. Around the L&S, grass is a weed.

Today’s newer, better, Littleton and Smallville Railroad is being laid on 6" deep wooden benchwork on top of 30" legs made from concrete blocks.

I just thought I’d pass all this along, as I see that what you’re doing there, you may want to cange in a very few years, and maybe writing this might save you some BS&T (blood sweat and tears)

To be honest, my old L&S built at that knee to thigh kind of height had a useful shelf life of only about 3-4 years, while the grandchildren were short. Your mileage may vary, but if roundy-roundies isn’t really your thing, or if it bores you PDQ, then you may well want to raise the RR more than that.

We’re into operations up here, and that means reaching the trains more easily. I also prefer to look at the side of my trains rather than the tops, and in a small yard like mine, you just can’t step back far enough to see them from the side if they’re low down.

All that being said, for simple train watching without a lot of switching moves, what you’re building may work out just great, I found that aspect lost interest for me very quickly.

Besides, for all I know, you may have a lot more going on out there than we can see in the pic.

Don’t give him any ideas John. Bart changes his layout about every five years (sometimes sooner and has been known to change scales on occasion… ).

Actually the height of the railroad was determined by the height of the floor in the shed that I use to store rolling stock…and everything was built to match…its roughly 24 inches and is just right for doing track maintenance while sitting on a five gallon bucket…it also seems to be a comfortable height for me (at 6 ft even) to uncouple cars and throw switches as I walk around.

The layout is actually going to be operationally themed, indeed Teardrop mountain is inside the loop formed by a branchline leading from a lumber camp to a mining camp, but there is a cutoff provided for continuous running as sometimes I do like to set up a train and just let it go around as I ponder, but it will never be fully landscaped as such. My plan is to plant shrubs and bushes as view blocks that stay or return every year to provide a backdrop and give the layout a bit of that “Secret Garden” feel…

I’ve had a pond for years, its no more of a pain to me than mowing the grass is…and with an acre or so of grass left theres no chance of doing away that, and I like the esthetics of hearing a little trickel of water while pondering…

I did however pick up five packets of forgetmenot seeds at Tractor Supply this evening to seed my earthen works with before grass can take over again…hopefully this will give me some color even if on a temporay basis til I can decide and aquire what I really want to plant around the line…

Steve Featherkile said:

Not to put too fine a point on it, Bart, but a BIG EFFING ROCK is a BER, not a BFR.

We mustn’t upset Fr. Fred, you know.

Friar Fred will know that BFR stands for Big Fuddle-duddle Rocks. PM Trudeau thought Fuddle-duddle was classier than Effing. (Way back in 1971)

He was pretty queer.

Bart,

Years ago when I had the first load of rocks delivered they were supposed to be “hand rocks”. Some of them turned out to be BFRs; no fun to move, but looking good once they were placed. IOW it’s worth the groaning and cursing.

Ahhh…all those ways of saying things without causing Bobby to cringe…!!

Ponds are nice. I have one. It’s 4 feet deep, and 12 X 6 feet in dimension.

Would I ever build another…NEVER, unless I had a stable, natural creek running through my property. I had a simulated creek built that looked nice, but was a pain to maintain.

The plan I have at this point, is to include, in the new “Pond Spur”, an unloading dumper, that will dump loads of stone dust (Crusher fines), or sand, directly into the pond.

The liner on my pond will not last forever, and when it starts to leak; I’ll fill it in by train !!

Bart; I can see a great use for that pond of yours.

It sure looks like an “Effin’ Big Bath Tub”, (EBBT) and would be great to soak in, after a long day at the salt mines…!! Or…put a roof over it, and brew bheer in it !!

I like your pile of rock. With it piled high within that loop, you can name the loop, “Bad Lands Curve”…a perfect place to dump “Traters”, and feed them to a local band of Buzzards…!!!

Starting a local Buzzard sanctuary, would attract bird fanciers, like that young Bruce Chandler, and partner, who also enjoy railroad OPERATION…and you need operators…!!

All kidding aside, Bart…it looks like you are having fun, but don’t ruin your back moving those rocks, or digging that hole. We all want you to enjoy good health, after your bouts with health problems over the past year…we want you alive and well, young fellow…

Fr.Fred