Nice to get some help Pete. Looks like you are having a lot of…“fun”
And her I thought you were going to wait till I got there. Certainly looks like more forward progress Pete. (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Wife and I went to Tucson Garden Railway tour on Sunday, saw * great RR’s with her sister Patty, her husband, our Brother in law Mike, had a great day. They had never seen a garden RR before and were blown away at how " intricant, detailed and how cool" they are, their words. They had no idea that they would have sound or lights on them or that people would weather the rolling stock.It was a fun day to show someone new this hobby that I have " gotten obsessed with" , my wifes words
Monday I hit the pile of dirt hard and after about an hour and a half I finally noticed on my paper I am tracking wheelbarrow loads that there were a lor of loads marked Sunday. My grandson Eli told his dad in their way home they should come and help Grandpa( me) and they moved 35 loads in about 2 hours! what a suprise when I finally noticed. about an hour after that my Bro in law Mike showed up saying he wanted to help because we got him interested yesterday. So another 55 loads have been moved, the pile looks really small and IF I don’t have to work today I will have it all finished, and have an estimate on how much more will be needed to fill it all in.
Also props to my wife , she was out all day yesterday helping rake the dirt, showing where we needed more to fill low spots and helped shovel and put the landscape fabric in place as we went along, she is the best at helping where she can. Pictures in a little bit to follow
So after doing a lot of shoveling I also had to play Sisyphus and roll the 3 boulders up onto the dirt pile, that was not easy.
The wall was supposed to be nice and straight line there but a wheelbarrow malfunction while dumping made a wobble in the line. past that wall is the front yard and to the left is the pile of dirt, wish I could have had a gate here to make the trips a lot closer.
the last bit of the 40,000 lbs remaining to be moved. I should get out there and try to get it out of the driveway.
You might be able to pound the blocks back in with a plastic or leather faced mallet, but quickly before you pack more dirt behind them …if it matters.
Way to add recruits!
John C. Mainly just a preemptive strike should someone get a string line out and tell me things are not straight!
Now that you are in the mode to move dirt, I think you ought to get a couple more truck loads (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)Might have you a side business there. Keep the pace and you’ll be laying track before long.
According to the landscape companies website product calculator I still am going to need another 12 tons more to finish. Dang sounds like way more than I had expected. take a week it to break to do this thing called work and I will round up another pile for that parking spot
Well bright and early this morning another Pile O dirt, this time 12 tons arrived and I spent about 1/2 the day moving some to the back, stopping work for a couple of hours to go have taxes done really kills the desire to shovel, A good burger shake and fries didnt help, but we got 40 loads moved to the back.the pile was all the way to the edge of the driveway, I did do some off the other side too.
since this is the cheap non screened dirt, ya takes your chances, and this load had quite a few of the large chunks of clay/caliche/hardpan type stuff, so bury it on the bottom and keep going
Great discovery on Friday I took some track out and laid it out then got some boxcars, I was HOPING I could squeeze 4 tracks in the yard area, but was expecting 3 tracks, well I can fit 5 with plenty of room between the cars! Now I may modify the access for one or maybe the 2 tracks on the left to follow the wall and meet up with the main line, kind of making the ability to do point to point, even if the 2 “points” are the same yard
So the 2 new track would follow the blocks and connect with the main line by the patio and the opening in the wall for wheelbarrow access. its approximately 120 feet from the wheelbarrow around the house to the pile o dirt, but I can throw a heavy rock to the pile behind me, if only ther was a gate on this side of the yard, oh well cannot have everything.
Side note: last week I easily zipped up the coveralls I use at work the had “shrunk” for the last 5 years or so.well since my open invite has produced Zero, Zip Zilch Nada help from the LSC community I will be back at it tomorrow morning. I am predicting 125 wheelbarrow loads, the wife guessed 140. we shall see who wins this bet.
Pete, you are just a bit far from me for me to “pop” over and help ya.
David, #1 thanks for the offer, I completely understand,and was only kidding!. I am guessing most of the people here if they were close would at least stop by to give advise on how to shovel/ move wheelbarrow/ pile the dirt or something.
#2 I wish there were people close by, the local club, Arizona Big Train Operators , I have contemplated joining , but being a long haul trucker I was reluctant to join as I would be unreliable as to help with shows and stuff with my wonky schedule, but that has. Kind of changed so I am going to see their modular layout and talk to Colin and maybe join the group.
Edited to to change my remarks.
Alright, Pete, you gotta slow down … you’re making me look bad (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif). You got track down and everything. I guess the next update you’ll have trains running (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif). Love to see the the dirt moving. You’re going to have a nice layout. Thanks for sharing your progress.
Looking good Pete, it’s starting to take shape! When I was building our garden RR at the old house, I was working second shift at the time. It was summer so I would come home turn on a big light on a pole and work on the layout for a couple hours. To keep me motivated I laid some track on a section that I had graded and put out a couple cars to push around. I even put power to a section and ran an engine back and forth. Just that little bit was very gratifying and rewarding and made the work more enjoyable. I would recommend that you take a little time to “play” once you get the dirt all moved.
Steve
Pete Lassen said:
David, #1 thanks for the offer, I completely understand,and was only kidding!. I am guessing most of the people here if they were close would at least stop by to give advise on how to shovel/ move wheelbarrow/ pile the dirt or something.
#2 I wish there were people close by, the local club, at the last few open houses were not all that interested in answering question I tried to ask, they seemed to be more interested in talking to other members, so that has kind of kept me from joining.
#1, play sidewalk supervisor? Yea, but we are doing that through LSC in a way.
#2, yea. I have not joined clubs for that reason too. And it aggravates me when the one club I belong to does that to someone. They keep saying how they need more “active” members, but then they cold shoulder folks who haven’t been around for forever.
Pete,
I can understand why the ABTO Club Members may not have talked to you or answered your questions during the Open Houses, they are usually a bit busy making sure everything is going right during the Open Houses (kids that parents are not watching, derailments, and other distractions). I would like to know how long ago this happened, because everyone currently in ABTO that hosts their layouts for Open Houses are very friendly and will answer questions and talk to those that come to see the layouts. I for one and all of the others that are in ABTO are always ready to answer questions. I have invited you to our Club Meetings, but were turned down “because you are not a club kind of person”. I am always open to talk to New Members and/or someone that is interested in large scale trains or garden railroads. Again, I will extend an invitation to our next meeting in April. It is our annual BBQ and Auction. There are about 150 items for sale at the auction. Track, rolling stock, locomotives and structures that have been donated to the Club. All of it is in excellent condition. However the Auction is only open to Members of ABTO. You are welcome to come and join on that day if you like and participate in the auction. PM me and I will give you information on the date and time. Also we will have our Module at the Falcon Field Open House in Mesa on March 24th if you would like to come by and meet some of us. I will be happy to answer any of your questions.
Colin Criswell
Board Member ABTO Phoenix, AZ Area
David Maynard said:
#1, play sidewalk supervisor? Yea, but we are doing that through LSC in a way.
Pete
I did not see this tool in your pics…
This is the most important tool when back filling ( Compaction is the key) fill in lifts and whack the crapp out of each lift! (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Usually I send my shovel with a kickstand, it’s as effective as I am standing there holding it up.
Sean McGillicuddy said:
David Maynard said:
#1, play sidewalk supervisor? Yea, but we are doing that through LSC in a way.
Pete
I did not see this tool in your pics…
This is the most important tool when back filling ( Compaction is the key) fill in lifts and whack the crapp out of each lift! (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
2nd this. If you don’t pack it down as you go, you may find next year the soil level drop to the 2nd course of retainers. Pete, If I lived nearby, I’d surely lend a hand. I love to shovel! Luckily, I have plenty of snow right now.
Pete, I 3rd what Dan said … the part about the packing, not the part about loving to shovel (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif). But I would come by and help if I lived just a wee bit closer. But I would bring a larger bucket with wheels and a motor so we could drink more beer and do less shoveling.
Is it done yet?
Dan, I thought about renting a skid steer but the side gate is right by the gas main to the house and a hose bib also. My luck would be hitting them both and then not being able to put out the fire!
Sean and Dan. Well that’s another story, I had planned on spreading the dirt and then renting a plate compactor to pack it down, but in my overzealousness move the dirt , that thought went right out the window and was never mentioned out loud, so now I am planning on filling the whole area to get some tracks on the ground and not do much in the way of landscaping for a year then next spring coming back and filling in to low spots and then bringing in the final top 1/4 minus material to be the actual “ground” and then adding the ballast and hopefully I will have acquired all the needed switches and con proceed with finalizing the track plan and start on the details, like all the grandkids will have a building with their name on it and the keep telling me what they want their business to be and how large. They want it. , especially my grandson Eli, he wants a huge complex of buildings for his ideas of ”his” business Empire.