Large Scale Central

Bluestone Southern's Hilltop Subdivision

Track and Trestles
#1

Below are some pictures of the Bluestone Southern’s Hilltop Division, phase 1 completion… waiting on the next rain, to settle the fill… Once it’s settled in some, I can then trench out and lay the mainline… It will be a mainline, with a long passing siding, once it comes off the bridge…

The wings still have to be completed, so the second level can be filled, and settled, to get ready for it’s track… The second level will run around the front of Hilltop Subdivision, in a U shape… The Second level will be the branch line of the Evansville Western RR… The bottom level, in front of the Hilltop Subdivision Wall is the Sparta subdivision…

#2

Now if you don’t get it to the point where we see trains running real soon were gonna have to call it the
“Girl Scout Southern”
:lol:

Looks awesome Andy!!!
:wink:

#3

Looking real nice Andy…

#4

now that you need rain it most likely will not come.

Looks great and I can’t wait to get to run on it.

#5

You can move that to my yard Andy…we’re getting plenty of rain…it’ll settle real quick.:wink:

Great work!

#6

Nice. I should be out there in the fall to see it in person!

#7
Quote:
now that you need rain it most likely will not come.
Like the year we built the pond. We had to wait and wait and wait 'cause it wouldn't stop raining. Then we had to pump and pump to keep the water out while we worked. Then it stopped raining and we had an empty hole till February.
#8

(So what’s with quoting in this silly forum?)

#9
Tom Ruby said:
(So what's with quoting in this silly forum?)
No problem, just as long as you do it correctly. :P :P

You could also do it this way:

said:
(So what's with quoting in this silly forum?)
#10

Thanks all… It’s a project… trying to get the “wings” installed today…

Ken, they are saying, rain/thunderstorms all this coming week… I think I’ll keep it here…
Besides, yours is looking great… :slight_smile:

Bruce, my goal this year, is to get it able to operate some, by fall… and hopefully, get the ““Woodlawn Junction”” area completed…

#11

Andy,

I seem to recall a thread showing your layout plans.

Link please?

Also, describe how much is complete, what’s left to go.

Did any others influence the design of the layout? Any others helping with the landscaping/track laying?

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

#12

Looks great , maybe this Fall I can railfan on the E&W branch , a lota work there Andy .

#13

Dennis, any time your in the neighborhood, your most welcome to visit…

Joe, I originally wrote an article on the Bluestone Southern RR, and how it was laid out, to operate with a computer car forwarding program called ““Railop””…

The first page basically shows how the railroad flows, and subsequent pages tell about how it will operate and so forth…

The 7th page shows track plan diagrams of the basement, starting in the upper left hand corner, where the tracks come in from the outside… The track plan is for the lower level of the train tables, and includes a few coal mines, a Poultry plant called ““Ric’s Chicks””, and ““Matheson Paper Mill””, along with a marshalling yard for the unit coal trains to set up on…

The second diagram shows where the tracks come out of the house, coming into Bluefield…

All the tracks on those two pictures of track plans are down…

here’s the link to the article:

http://www.largescalecentral.com/articles/view.php?id=104&page=1

www.largescalecentral.com/articles/view.php?id=104&page=1

ok, if it don’t link, then cut and paste…

The third track plan shows how phase one will eventually be on the outside… I estimate, that I probably have 50% of the track down as of this time… Hmmm, ok, maybe 2/5ths to half placed of the track placed…

I have had help from Club members… Ric & Jan Golding, Dan & Rita…

Ric was very instrumental in helping me get trackage place on the Bluefield area… And helping me ballast the past couple of years, before a club meeting… Dan and his wife, Rita also helped ballast last year…

My wife and I have mostly done all the retaining wall work…

previous progress reports are in these articles:

http://www.largescalecentral.com/LSCForums/viewtopic.php?id=9742

http://www.largescalecentral.com/LSCForums/viewtopic.php?id=9563

http://www.largescalecentral.com/LSCForums/viewtopic.php?id=7973

Any other questions, Just ask… :slight_smile:

#14

Andy,
What can I say except it looks great. But, the more I look the more I see that reminds me of a proposed plan. Not recalling the posters name I have to ask does your plan at some point go to an existing pond quite a ways down hill?
I recall one from a few years back that showed a house setting like yours with pictures of a pond overgrown with plants a good bit down hillthat was just getting started, and have wondered what happened to the vision. If it is you, you’ve really come a long way. Remarkable.

Dave

#15

It’s ok to ignore your illegitimate son…I’ll go sit in a corner and cry that my father doesn’t want me!!
:wink:
Now stop waving your weiner around and show us that string of autoracks behind a line of MUed diesels! 2x4 Wooden bridges don’t cut it on a class 1 modern day railroad …you need steel and lots of it!
Once again …“Looks killer Andy”!!!

#16

I just ;ooled through those links. That is some layout. I have not seen many that large and very well done.

#17

David M. This plan has been formulated in my head, since looking at this property about 5 years ago… There is an area, down in the southeast corner of the property, where the wife and I do plan on putting in a pond… However, there is no pond, nor has there been one here, since i’ve looked at the property… the whole 7 & 1/2 acres was all bean field…

Son, don’t pout now, we know we are a little late with your meds, but everything will be ok… We’ll just couble your dosage, and you’ll be right back to normal… :slight_smile:

Shawn, thanks… I am one of those semi modern era diesel freaks… I want to be able to run multiple units with 25-30 cars trains, and not have them look overly large on the layout…

#18
Andy Clarke said:
[i]<Snip[/i] I want to be able to run multiple units with 25-30 cars trains, and not have them look overly large on the layout...
I'd say there's a pretty good chance that you will attain this goal :D The stone work is fantastic.

Where do you find the time ?

#19

Jon, I am retired… saying that, mostly We try and get the stonework done in the spring, or fall, or just early in the mornings… Heat & humidity does a job on me… all I do is sweat…

Once the base layer of the walls are in, the rest of the wall goes rather quickly…

The end wall of “Hilltop Sub” base was ok, but I had to careful, because it had to interlock with the side walls coming in from the north, once the base wall got to that height…
We started the base, a few weeks ago… then it rained again, so area was all mud… It dried out enough this weekend, to get in there and almost get it fiinished… Got the east wing done Sunday and about half of the west wing…

Of course, rain is anticipated all week here, in one form or another…

#20

NO photoshopping is being done to any of these pictures. What you see is what is there. Jan and I went south to check on the progress, yesterday. Plants are green and everytime there is less mud in the old places and new places with fresh mud. Andy is still writing his How To book - “Fun Things To Do With A Soybean Field”.