Thanks John, somewhere I have seen that video of that lift bridge, here or just blue link following on YouTube. Very cool looking. Dont mind at all
Well since it is winter, here in AZ that means outside work is OK. So I had been looking at the back, North wall and decided it needs something, and my plans for the Mountain do not seem to be working out so I copied (that sounds familiar, bridge from Diesel dude) Jim Rowson and made a small tunnel
I used bricks as a base, wall blocks for the height and 3 pavers as the roof. 3 of the massive stackable wall blocks are used for the “cliff” before of the inner track. Everything was glued together using Liquid Nails construction adhesive, then after a break to let it dry I shoveled dirt on it and then started tossing rocks on to give it some substance.
for the opening I have a readymade tunnel portal courtesy of the Mik Build Challenge from 2 years ago, and when I made it I didnt have double stack well cars it turned out to not be usable on my orginal planned spot, but here it will work just fine and there is clearance( not a lot)maybe from this ! !, but since cars do not bounce I think I will be ok. The portal is sitting on a flagstone base and a brick was placed behind the wall to keep a lot of the direct to dirt contact
plenty of room, until something settles anyway.
the west portal is more natural rock and stones. the “wall” on the left side is 4 rows of paver blocks I chiseled into pieces for a rock like look with a couple of rows of AZ flagstone for some contrasting layers. I look for different looking rocks on my travels and when I can i bring some home, the right side rock proved to be a perfect looking entrance . the large rock blocking the far side was there to hold the portal while the construction adhesive dried.
2 of the interesting rocks are the large one in the middle top of the picture, it has lots of layers to it, I found that one on a visit to my mom in her flower bed, and ASKED before i brought it home, the standing pillar rock to the left of the very dark one is a rock from a camping trip years ago, we were shooting and my step daughter hit this rock, not the can she was aiming for and knocked it out of the pile, so I kept it. I know I am going to re-arrange the rocks, or get more that kind of match, but for now I think it works ok
Looking good, Pete!
Nice addition Pete(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Pete, I really like the tunnel. The natural stone “portal” looks … well … natural (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)I prefer it to the wooden one but that is not to say that the wooden portal you built and the one Jim built the other day aren’t good looking, they certainly are, I just prefer the stone. Great to see you back working on the RR.
Yeah it’s been a while since I have been able to do much to it, so I need to get on the ball . The Boss just mentioned the ladies are coming over in about 3 weeks and she wants it to look “nicer” , so off I go the the landscaping for some rock and stuff
I think most Aussies are pro-clockwise than anti-clockwise. Some of us believe it is because our seasons are reversed to the northern hemisphere but the G-scale conspiracy theorists believe it to be a reminent of the Coriolis Effect.
Pete, the real reason I’ve posted is the build log indicated mentioned that some “ladies” were coming over in about 3 weeks and the Boss Lady wanted it to look better, and stops there.
Bit of a cliff hanger…
- Did the ladies arrive and did you pass inspection or was there a work order put in place?
- Was there an opening ceremony?
- Where do we go for the 2024 update?
that did go well, they were suitably impressed with what has been done to the back yard. They will be back in March to see progress and be able to hear things as the locomotives are almost all battery and sound now!