Andy Clarke said:Why was the wife not mowin' while you lay track? That's how it works around here! Perhaps the "Bluestone Southern" needs to plant some "Pussy Willows" on it's massive line! ;)
Today was mowing day.... only takes 6 hours.... :)
Guess your not going to KC.
I had to cancel my going as well.
should be a nice weekend to get it done.
Because it’s MY tractor… 
No Geoff, not going to KC this year… Have other priorities…
Ric Stoppped by yesterday afternoon, so we did a little work on track laying…
Here’s Ric, working the east end of the EVWR trackage… The feet belong to John Bible, who was on his way home from the Kansas City Train Show…
This is a shot going west, of the EVWR siding, before it gets to Woodlawn Interchange…
The Interchange, arriving from the EVWR trackage…
Another shot of the interchange… EVWR trackage comes in from the left side, and the Bluestone Southern trackage is the short piece of trackage coming off the crossing… Needed to get the interchange laid out with track, to figure out exactly where the Bluestone Southern trackage would run… Hope to have the staked out today… Put done a box and a half of 6 foot long AMS track, 5 #6 Aristo switches and a pieces of Aristo track… Temps were 91 of a high, dew points were 68 and the was plenty of humidity… Basically, felt like I was in a sauna all afternoon… Was a good day… And, many thanks to Ric and Jan…
“Come on down and have a beer, Ric”. Yeah, and then look what happens!
That’s looking good, Andy. Now you need some ground cover…
Bruce Chandler said:
"Come on down and have a beer, Ric". Yeah, and then look what happens!That’s looking good, Andy. Now you need some ground cover…
Thanks Bruce…
Ric, knew exactly what was gonna happen, before he even got here, and he still came down… So did I, that’s why I had plenty of T-shirts available… Went thru 7 of them yesterday, all sweat soaked… Jan came down later in the evening and brought in supper with her, it was wonderful… we were all beat, and don’t think we could have cooked anything last night, if we tried…
Ground cover goes on sale in the fall, when they try and get rid of everything before the frost/freeze shows up… Last year, we were very fortunate that some friends found us some Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees for under 3 bucks each… Jane had already picked up this year, for that price…
Bruce Chandler said:See how he treats his friends! Poor Ric works hard all week only to have a RETIRED buddy make him work some more! :) Andy, The interchange looks awesome! We also like to rescue orphan plants for cheap as fall rolls around.
"Come on down and have a beer, Ric". Yeah, and then look what happens!
Andy looks like you accomplished a good bit. And had good company(friends) to boot.Makes almost any day good.
Dave
We had a great time and enjoyed helping to progress some of the Bluestone Southern (BS). The unseen culprit of the heat, is that working on that clay is like working inside a piece of very large pottery. As ground cover goes in place and past construction areas mature, you can feel very comfortable on a summer day surrounded by “Andy’s BS”, but the immediate area of the railroad that Jane and Andy are working on is really quite intense and they should be applauded for the size of task they have undertaken.
I figured that Ric couldn’t be “tricked” 
Sounds like you got a lot of track down. We like those dwarf Albertas as well. They really help set up the landscape. You might also want to consider Mazus…it likes full sun to part shade. It’s the darker green in this picture.
(http://www.jbrr.com/Pics/Layout/2009/IMG_6680.JPG)
It can be walked on and spreads fairly quickly. In fact, these patches were planted from an existing section. We started with just a few flats and I just keep digging out patches and replanting. The lighter green stuff is called creeping Jenny, which also will take full sun. It should be called running Jenny, as it spreads very quickly. It’s not as durable as the Mazus.
Andy,
It sure is nice to get some help. Especially with a “project” of the size you have.
The first couple of months when I started my GRR my brother was giving me a hand. Things were moving along quickly.
Now when my brother comes over…he doesn’t help and instead keeps me from getting anything done.
Things are moving much slower.
Ralph
Andy, have you considered golfcarts for your operating sessions? One could get lost following his train around that layout…“Yea, I think I’m still in Illinois, bit I’m not sure”…
Bruce,
Jane says that she tried that Mazus out here, but it all died on her… It never got any shade, it only got direct sunlight…
She’s taking “plots” of the thyme we have grown in the Bluefield area and transplanting them… That seems to be working well…
Once the track is in, then we start with the plantings… We have tried planting before, the working on the track and stuff, it’s too much of a hassel to work that way…
Ken, I do have golfcarts, can you scale yourself down to 1/29th??? Besides, it will just a fantastic walk, along with running a train…
Ralph, yes help is very much appreciated… Usually, my problem is trying to keep up with the help… Esp on days like yesterday…
Great progress Andy. Are you bending as you go, or are those sectional curves? In either case they look good, but if you are bending that’s amazing progress.
We had similar weather here and I decided to put off any outside work until the shade of the mountain showed up late in the day. Still got drenched 
Jon, Except for the switches and a couple of pieces of Aristo track Used on the BS trackage, all the track laid out for the EVWR yesterday was AMS 6 foot flex, curved/bended to fit the roadbed… This method takes a lot longer to install, than laying out the sectional track, as the rest of the railroad is… I bought a 2 rail bender from RLD…
With the sectional track, Jane and I laid out the track, and marked it’s location for the roadbed, then sketched the track plan, with all the pieces of sectional track marked… When we went back and installed Bluefield, for example, we installed all the track in about two hours, minus 5 pieces that needed to be cut to fit…
Yesterdays’ work took about 3-3 & 1/2 hours of actual work, and there’s not as much trackage as is in the Bluefield area…
I still have Aristo track on hand, and plan on using that on the Bluestone Southern Trackage thru to Woodlawn… The next step, is to lay it out, mark the roadbed area, then sketch the track sizes, remove track and dig the roadbed… Ground is like concrete right now, been a while since it has rained, but hopefully, we’ll get some in the next couple of days…
Jon Radder said:
Great progress Andy. Are you bending as you go, or are those sectional curves? In either case they look good, but if you are bending that's amazing progress.We had similar weather here and I decided to put off any outside work until the shade of the mountain showed up late in the day. Still got drenched
He’s not bending at all just sitting on the tractor.
Ric is the one that’s bending didn’t you see the picture!
Oh wait you mean track
Manwell Labore works for food and drink. He’s not very smart and must be told almost everything that needs to be done. He also has to be constantly reminded which direction to bend the track and how to use the track bender, again and again. It is easy to come in in the last couple of hours of a 100 hour project and take a lot of the credit.
This is like a person carving a statue out of a solid piece of granite and the guy cleaning up the final dust around the area taking some of the credit for the nice piece of art work.
I still have to constantly be reminded how this whole track plan is going together. Andy has the master plan and the script to get it done in his head. He has a few sketches and drawings to keep me pointed in the right direction.
Janes a good cook.
I’m still recovering from Saturday… Today, I just step out the door, and my T-shirt’s soaked… Have to re-arrange the railroad cars in the basement, so I can get the track to finish the EVWR branch line off…
temperature’s not real bad, it’s 88 @ 1430, but the dew point is 74 and the humidity is 64…
for me, that’s like diving into a pot of water, that isn’t quite boiling…
Yeah I can’t take humidity either! Can be 100 degrees and 0 humidity and I’m fine but 68 and humid…
I sweat like my wife does when she takes me out in public (especially if it’s formal and they serve beer).
davidr