Large Scale Central

Bluestone Southern Update

Track and Trestles
#1

We hosted the GGRRC Picnic last weekend, and we needed to get some trackwork completed, prior to the picnic… Ric stopped by Friday evening and helped for a few hours, and he even came back on Saturday to help, along with other club members, Dan & Rita Patterson… Friday evening was spent, screwing track together on the roadbed Jane and I have been working on. Saturday morning was cutting track to fit, re-ballasting the new & old trackwork, and placing the Temporary bridge in for the Hilltop Subdivision, as seen below:

Previous trackage had been laid in the ““Sparta”” area, as seen below:

Track coming out of “Sparta”, branch line on the left, and mainline on the right, going thru the cut:

Branchline, as it continues along the bluff and under the Hilltop Subdivision bridge:

Branchline, as it comes from under Hilltop Sub.,

Temporary loop from the branchline, into the mainline, where it came thru the cut:

I made the loop, so we could run trains out and back, since I had no place to turn any trains, and a temporary loop was easier to install, considering the time limits… Picnic was 3 & 1/2 hours, after the rain stopped from hurricane Ike… was a bit windy to start, but the winds died down as the day progressed… Lucky, we only had 1 and 1/4 inches of rain that morning… Did wash out one area, slightly… Ric made a temporary fix, and we did run a few trains… Sat evening, Dan did make a video of his train, pushing a video camera on a flat, arount the layout, it came out great, just need to figure out how to transfer it to the computer, or disc, to save it…

#2

Looking good Andy. Is that your Kubota ? Handy tool to have when working on a project of that size.

#3
Jon Radder said:
Looking good Andy. Is that your Kubota ? Handy tool to have when working on a project of that size.
Thanks Jon, and yes, that's my Kabota, bought it used just as it sits in the picture, when we started building the house out here.... it's a 97, and only had 627 hours on it, when I got it used... I used it to move a few ""hills"" out here, after the foundation was in, and use it to haul aglime for roadbed, move rock for the driveway and road, mow the 7 & 1/2 acres... It's seen some abuse, since i've had it, everything out here is all clay, and like concrete, except when wet, then it's only mud... I've put a "hard" 600 hours on it, in the 3 years, i've had it... Burnt out the original clutch, using it as a ""track bucket""... Clutch and pressure plate had purple burnt marks all over it, and the mechanic, wouldn't use the screws, cause they were all purple... But, I knew I was going to do that, and that's why I bought it....

I also use it to cut out the trenches, for the retaining wall foundations…

#4

I don’t think you could even come close to abusing one as much as our guys at work do. They’ve broken the digger off it’s mounting pins more than once trying to do a job that really required a much bigger machine. The welder that came out to fix it took one look and in his thick accent said - “Ahh… Koo-Bow-Tah, fine Russian tractor” :slight_smile:

#5
Jon Radder said:
The welder that came out to fix it took one look and in his thick accent said - "Ahh... Koo-Bow-Tah, fine Russian tractor" :)
I love it..... :)
#6

Good lord I just soiled myself…looks great! Thats a lot of track to maintain at ground level…wish I had that much space…Looks awesome. Here I thought my 75 feet of a straight double track main out and back was banging.

#7
David Russell said:
Good lord I just soiled myself.....looks great! Thats a lot of track to maintain at ground level....wish I had that much space....Looks awesome. Here I thought my 75 feet of a straight double track main out and back was banging.
David, there are some things that should remain to ones self, This comment that you made just might be one of them.

NASTY IMAGE

old timers soilin’ themselves whil thinking about trains

geez, is this what my future holds for me?

#8
Mark Dash said:
[i].[/i]geez, is this what my future holds for me?
You should be so lucky :D
#9

Good grief, Andy…you’re really goin to town on that layout!!

#10
Ken Brunt said:
Good grief, Andy................you're really goin to town on that layout!!
No he's not, Ken. He is slower than molasses. He has another 150 foot retaining wall to build and a whole area to level off and flatten out, but he still wants to eat, sleep, go play on other people's railroads and uses excuses like it is too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry, typical farmer. He has a pond he needs to build and hasn't even started on it, yet. Let alone the pole barn and the caboose to watch the trains run. And then there is the basement with the floor to ceiling mountains and a quarry that should be larger than most people's railroads. Besides that, I go out there to run trains and I have to walk through mud instead of nicely landscaped paths.

People shouldn’t have this much fun, it just isn’t right.

(boy is this going to hurt after he reads it.)

:wink:

#11
Ric Golding said:
Ken Brunt said:
Good grief, Andy................you're really goin to town on that layout!!
No he's not, Ken. He is slower than molasses. He has another 150 foot retaining wall to build and a whole area to level off and flatten out, but he still wants to eat, sleep, go play on other people's railroads and uses excuses like it is too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry, typical farmer. He has a pond he needs to build and hasn't even started on it, yet. Let alone the pole barn and the caboose to watch the trains run. And then there is the basement with the floor to ceiling mountains and a quarry that should be larger than most people's railroads. Besides that, I go out there to run trains and I have to walk through mud instead of nicely landscaped paths.

People shouldn’t have this much fun, it just isn’t right.

(boy is this going to hurt after he reads it.)

:wink:


And he wants cargo to go thru ““Consolidated””?? what was he thinking???

Ken, it’s coming along fine… Ric’s like my wife, ““and just why can’t we get a 10 year plan done in two years””??

Now, if the feds would let the taxpayers bail me out, I could get a little something done… hehehe

#12
Ric Golding said:
Ken Brunt said:
Good grief, Andy................you're really goin to town on that layout!!
No he's not, Ken. He is slower than molasses. He has another 150 foot retaining wall to build and a whole area to level off and flatten out, but he still wants to eat, sleep, go play on other people's railroads and uses excuses like it is too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry, typical farmer. He has a pond he needs to build and hasn't even started on it, yet. Let alone the pole barn and the caboose to watch the trains run. And then there is the basement with the floor to ceiling mountains and a quarry that should be larger than most people's railroads. Besides that, I go out there to run trains and I have to walk through mud instead of nicely landscaped paths.

People shouldn’t have this much fun, it just isn’t right.

(boy is this going to hurt after he reads it.)

:wink:


Picky, picky, picky…:wink:

#13

Ric never stepped in the mud, he kept throwing my cliff rocks into it… I think he lost 5 of them as of today… Probably take me an hour and a backhoe, just to find and remove them from the mud…

#14

…grinning…

#15
Andy Clarke said:
Ric never stepped in the mud, he kept throwing my cliff rocks into it.... I think he lost 5 of them as of today........ Probably take me an hour and a backhoe, just to find and remove them from the mud....
Mud, mud, glorious mud, Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood. So follow me, follow, down to the hollow And there let us wallow in glorious mud.
#16

I think we’re just going to have to stop by there and see what the REAL story is. :wink:

#17

Trust me the story is real. When he’s done, I’m going to write a book titled - “Fun Things You Can Do With A Soy Bean Field”.

#18
Bruce Chandler said:
I think we're just going to have to stop by there and see what the REAL story is. ;)
Bruce, Anytime, guests are always welcome..... :)
#19
Ric Golding said:
Trust me the story is real. When he's done, I'm going to write a book titled - "Fun Things You Can Do With A Soy Bean Field".
Do i get a free copy????
#20
Mark Dash said:
David Russell said:
Good lord I just soiled myself.....looks great! Thats a lot of track to maintain at ground level....wish I had that much space....Looks awesome. Here I thought my 75 feet of a straight double track main out and back was banging.
David, there are some things that should remain to ones self, This comment that you made just might be one of them.

NASTY IMAGE

old timers soilin’ themselves whil thinking about trains

geez, is this what my future holds for me?


Mark…
You must be about 16 then because I’m 38…lol