Damnation!
Edit for page 34 and my answer on page 33
" Rooster " said:
pack the step full of crushed stone ā¦has worked for me close to 10yrs now and I run wheel barrow loads over it as well.
Page 34?
Thatās the plan. Its one of the reasons for the box steps. The rest of the pathways will be crushed basalt so I figured I could do the steps to match. I filled it mostly with dirt but saved about two inches for stone. Do you think thats deep enough stone or should I fill the stone deeper?
Install filter fabric over the dirt before you add the stone.
This will keep the stone on top of the steps.
Always leave plenty of ways for the water to escape!
Looking great there buddy ā¦ strange seeing track work ā¦(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
strange seeing track work ā¦
Yea, I was getting used to a really long build thread, that didnāt have any actual railroad building going on.
Sean,
Thatās a great idea on the filter fabric. I will be buying a bunch of the heavy duty stuff they use on roads. Its expensive but its the best weed block I have ever used. I should of thought of that, but thatās why I love this forum through all the beatings you guys come up with some key nuggets.
I knew I would get the nod of approval from management once visible RR construction got under way. It should move along at a decent clip now. Today I want to get that opposite side step in and then get the PVC pipe in place. Chuck gave me a great idea on this. The reality is your never going to pound PVC pipe into my ground. Wonāt happen, if you could get it to go down without shattering it, it would never go in straight. Heaving isnāt much of an issue so no need to beat the frost line. So I will use the post hole diggers to get down about a foot into native ground and then cement the post in place and eventually bury with fill. Since the ladder is made I can use it to hold all the posts in place when I pour. then everything will be straight and where I want it. I have a bunch of sprinkler flags somewhere so I will lay out the rest of the ladder and put a flag where I want a post. This should be a fun day.
Time to get moving.
So here is the end of the weekend progress. The reverse loop ladder is in. I do Have a couple more posts to pour for it.
Here is the other set of steps and two of the PVC posts.
On areas where I could support more than one track I teeād the PVC and made two uprights.
Here is a shot of the whole thing. After these pictures were taken I moved a bunch more dirt and leveled off all the ground for the section of bench for the wye and all the way along the rest of the house. Next up will be to make the section of ladder that will climb up to the bench.
Next weekend will be busy. I need to put together a modeling talk for the NP convention. But I need to get some work on the layout done as well. The following weekend I will be in Wallace for the convention. But I am taking the week off so should be able to squeeze in some layout building.
Is this the same Devon ???
Sean,
Heās on a roll now! 
Sean,
I knew this would happen. I am working just as hard and just as fast as I was before. I am putting in just as many hours as I ever was. This difference now is the results are more tangible. More gets accomplished in a more visible manor. I am still right about on schedule.
BUTā¦
I am thinking about entirely changing the steps and procedures that I am taking. When I started construction on this I was going to be 30" off the ground at the high point and 13" at the low point. It was all going to be ladder construction. Well today things are much different. I am 5" higher which may not seem like much but when your building raised beds thats a lot more rock and a lot more dirt. I also switched to half bench work which is considerably more time consuming. I had planned to do all the ladder and track laying this year and filling the beds in next year. But I can see a practical problem with this. Moving dirt and rock with the ladder and track in the way will not be user friendly. Since I have to access the layout from the center I have to move the materials through the layout instead of around it. In this regard I have already painted myself into a corner. This weekend I realized I am building this backwards. I have one opening to my layout and I have closed it in with a raised bed and ladder. that means I am climbing over it to access the rest. Not good. It crept up on me. So I think I am going to switch gears and build more progressively doing both the raised beds ad the ladder work at the same time working from one end to the other. That means abandoning the notion that I will have a running train this year.
With this in mind I can fence off the area the layout is in and take down a section of front fence and access it from the front yard for moving rock and dirt. I can continue working from the direction I am and extend bench, ladder, and beds progressively toward the front of the house. It is just more logical and will in the end be less of a fight and maybe even allow me to get more done faster and more efficiently. I have to be honest I think I got more tired climbing over stuff and around stuff and moving dirt ten times than I did on actual construction.
This is a great opportunity to give a shout out to Chuck Inlow. His ladder method and the suggestion on how to get it in is just excellent. Being able to prefab the ladder in my shop and then take it to the layout is most useful. Only minor adjustment need to be made once it is at the layout. With its rigid construction setting the posts was a breeze. He suggested digging the holes because of my ground with a post hole digger and then anchoring the post to the ladder to cure. This was an excellent idea and will yield a nice ladder. It is very firm and rigid.
Sean McGillicuddy said:
Is this the same Devon ???
Body snatcher?
Imposter?
Someone light a fire under his bottom?
Chemically induced spurt of production?
After giving this some thought and after discussing it with the wife, the easiest way to proceed from here is to work progressively from where I am at toward the front of the house. I am going to put up either the permanent fence or a temp on the back yard side and take out a fence panel. This will allow me to haul in rock and dirt where I need it without the ladder being in the way; work smarter not harder. But this will mean not having a running layout this year likely. I wasnāt planning on rock and dirt work this year. I can do all the bench work I think this year because that needs to be in before the ladder and there is not dirt there anyway. As it is up against the house it wonāt impede movement. Also I will have to build all the ladder so i know where it will go in order to build the beds. With what I have experienced thus far nothing is goign to go as planned so its better to have the ladder physically done and placed then I will know what I have. I can disassemble sections and remove it as I work putting it back as I go. Thats the real beauty of Chuckās system.
One thing about living on a giant boulder field that spans two states (OK one valley that crosses state lines) is that finding landscape rock is as easy as driving around and finding a pile and asking to haul it off. Used to be you didnāt even have to ask but now some people actually sell the dang things. But for most of the farmers on the prairie they are just tickled to have someone to haul it off for them and they have been kind enough over the last 150 years to make nice piles for you. I have found one such guy. He told me to help myself and showed me ten piles I could pick from. The only request was to leave what I donāt want in the same nice pile. This is on the way home from work and he said I am welcome anytime. So I figure I will take about a 1/4 of a pickup load at a time and alternate between building up rock walls and filling with dirt. I took home my first load of rock yesterday and tonight (maybe my aunt is in the hospital with a wicked lung infection that has collapsed the lung, she goes into surgery today @4.) or tomorrow i will place it where I did the construction last weekend.
Devon
What if you just build a raised layout ā¦ Just continue with the great looking bench work!
Think about it, old age is chasing you!
I mean ā¦ if Ken can do it!(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Sean McGillicuddy said:
Devon
What if you just build a raised layout ā¦ Just continue with the great looking bench work!
Think about it, old age is chasing you!
I mean ā¦ if Ken can do it!(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
I thought very seriously about this. And I will have a ton of bench work thats for sure; over half of it. But the I do want some pretty big mountains and rock work and stuff like that plus its gonna get real twisty and have a 3% grade. Plus cost. The benchwork is a terrific idea but dirt and rock are free.
Build the track and bring up the dirt and rock up later ā¦ you can enjoy your trains while working.
Nothing is free young man, nothing is free.
Sean McGillicuddy said:
Build the track and bring up the dirt and rock up later ā¦ you can enjoy your trains while working.
Are you not paying attention at all??? Do you just chime in??? lol(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif) This is exactly what I was doing when I came to the realization that the track will be in the way in a big way if I build it first. I am already climbing over it, crossing it, throwing dirt on it. It just isnāt at all practical to build it first and bring in dirt and rock later. Way to much work and potentially damaging to the track.
It is way better to work progressively. I can wait a few more months to run trains.
Ya, he still has a couple of club meetings between now and the end of the year that he can run trains at. Oh, you mean run trains on his layout. He did way back on page 31. He ran his GP-9 back and forth in his new yard. LOL
Keep up the good work, youāll get there in your timing.
Devon Sinsley said:
Sean McGillicuddy said:
Build the track and bring up the dirt and rock up later ā¦ you can enjoy your trains while working.
Are you not paying attention at all??? Do you just chime in??? lol(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif) This is exactly what I was doing when I came to the realization that the track will be in the way in a big way if I build it first. I am already climbing over it, crossing it, throwing dirt on it. It just isnāt at all practical to build it first and bring in dirt and rock later. Way to much work and potentially damaging to the track.
It is way better to work progressively. I can wait a few more months to run trains.
Whoa there partner!!!
What if you did what Bob McCown did ā¦ host a help build my railroad meeting with your club?
WE do this all the time ā¦ help clean up , build , move dirt etc. Can you see were Iām going with this???
Sorry to hit that soft spot Buddy.
Sean McGillicuddy said:
Devon Sinsley said:
Sean McGillicuddy said:
Build the track and bring up the dirt and rock up later ā¦ you can enjoy your trains while working.
Are you not paying attention at all??? Do you just chime in??? lol(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif) This is exactly what I was doing when I came to the realization that the track will be in the way in a big way if I build it first. I am already climbing over it, crossing it, throwing dirt on it. It just isnāt at all practical to build it first and bring in dirt and rock later. Way to much work and potentially damaging to the track.
It is way better to work progressively. I can wait a few more months to run trains.
Whoa there partner!!!
What if you did what Bob McCown did ā¦ host a help build my railroad meeting with your club?
WE do this all the time ā¦ help clean up , build , move dirt etc. Can you see were Iām going with this???
Sorry to hit that soft spot Buddy.
lol, no soft spots, theyāre rubbery when stuff hits them it bounces back so be on guard, lol I know I could have one of those parties and I would get help. My club is a good bunch of guys. I might reserve that favor for next yearās āpre open house hurry up and get done before the deadline emergencyā.
I am trucking along really rather well. And honestly I am not in a real big hurry to run trains. Maybe I am weird but I donāt have this overwhelming āneedā to be running trains on it. I am having fun building it. I am spending more enjoyable hours on the construction than I would running trains I think. So I am good and I will get it done. This weekend and next will slow progress some as I have to prepare a lecture this weekend and give it next. But I am also taking the week off next week so may compensate for it.