Yup - And now that I have completed the survey I know my true elevation change too - at least as far West as the end of the block wall 
I have tomorrow off so if the weather clears early enough I’m going to try and find a place to cut in the switch that will be close to where the existing track grade begins. I would love to just head straight from West Es-cap-e, but the land baron doesn’t want me to cut a rail out of the wrought iron fence…
I cant wait till spring now. Looks like a good plan so far and it will be nice to have continues running.
Where the track goes above your desired height you can always build a deck along that section somehow. It gives you a nice place to sit and view the trains and brings you up closer to track level. Only disadvantage is cost of materials.
Since your going to add industry to the area you might as well might it a logging expansion. Maybe a sawmill, a siding to a spar tree. After all its for the Shay;-) Maybe come spring if you need a hand with anything I can come up for a day.
Thanks Shawn (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)
Shawn Viggiano said:
I desired
We all know that answer!
It’s pronounced close to that spelling and come spring you SHOULD be changing diapers as you let off your steam already but most doubt it was from a class A climax!
EDIT :
Double post
Daktah John said:
Jon,
How about cutting a turnout in right over the caboose in the picture? Maybe run parallel to the track heading for big cut along the wall, but at a lower level. Is continuous running a desire or just long runs? Thinking of running two directions from the basement and have them join somewhere out there in the vast back yard. I was thinking about a vertical view being something like a giant Horseshoe curve or even a tear drop. The basement trackage being the beginning and the end, no matter which direction you go.
Just another thought.
We heard you the first time Ric and please don’t bring up Desire
Sorry Rooster, it was posting slow. So hit it again. I know you hate that stuff, its like stripping the head of a screw with a power drill. Finger nails on chalk board, right?
Ric Golding said:
Daktah John said:
Jon,
How about cutting a turnout in right over the caboose in the picture? Maybe run parallel to the track heading for big cut along the wall, but at a lower level. Is continuous running a desire or just long runs? Thinking of running two directions from the basement and have them join somewhere out there in the vast back yard. I was thinking about a vertical view being something like a giant Horseshoe curve or even a tear drop. The basement trackage being the beginning and the end, no matter which direction you go.
Just another thought.
Thant’s my new tentative plan Ric. I like to use #6 on the main, and I only have a Left in-stock. I did some fooling around in RR-Track last night and with some change to the main I could use the left after the curve ends with the expansion taking the straight route. It might look a little odd though. To wet and cold out there today to experiment.
Ha it’s New England this is shorts and t-shirt weather!
Decided that screwing up the track flow to use the wrong switch just because it’s a #6 was dumb. I have “Wide” switches on the main indoors because there’s not enough room so they are valid. I have 2 each left and right in-stock so I went out with the switch template and clearance gauge today and I think it will work. A “Wide” switch will cut in nicely just past the fence with a just enough clearance to the fence on the right hand diverging route. Like Ric said, just beyond the caboose…
I also did some playing around with string and the laser level. Leaving the main here will keep track level about 20" above the ground where it parallels the main and under 45" above the ground when looping around the tree, which is workable. I forgot to take pictures, I’ll try and do that tomorrow. Here is a very tentative revised track plan based on heading straight for the tree. I need to confirm the location of the tree with an updated survey tomorrow, so this may not be workable as drawn. The grid is 24"…
That’s starting to look a bit more workable. Just don’t rush it. I spent close to one whole summer just figuring grades, distances, heights, and which direction I wanted to go. Then spent most of a winter just putting all that together into a track plan I liked. The previous winter was spent working on what I thought would be a suitable foundation for the whole thing. Whether or not it would actually happen and/or when depended on just how kind “Mother Nature” was going to be. Turned out she didn’t let me down…(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
I can see some changes I would make to your tack plan, but then I’m not seeing the whole thing in perspective.
Daktah John said:
Based on the input received here so far and some more dreaming last night I got out there with the string level today and did some move surveying. I realized that the easiest way to get closer to the ground is to not go up in the first place. Let me illustrate.
Here you see several string lines. The two at the top are from track level at the original proposed switch location. The right one heads for that block retaining wall, the left one for the tree. The bottom string originates at track level where my outside grade begins, just past West Es-cap-e…
And looking down the two string lines from the tree…
And the top line where it reaches the end of the block wall. Here the string line is 58.5" above grade - 10 inches over my maximum design height…
Here we are looking back toward the origin of the lower line. If the expansion track where to start here and parallel the existing main, it would arrive at that white post at only 20" above grade…
One issue paralleling the main would be where the track would cross the steps. I think I’d rather head towards the tree than to have to deal with reconfiguring the cement steps…
Looking back toward Coal Dump from the grade origin point…
And finally, a long shot of the entire area…
The area to the left of the tree toward the existing track is a great candidate for lawn elimination, you can probably see the roots from a large Swamp Maple that refuse to stay buried which makes this area of lawn quite useless for anything else (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
If any of you guys are fans of “The Big Bang” series - is this what Sheldon and Leonard are always talking about as “STRING THEORY”?
Jon, on the step situation, it looks like you’ve already messed with that step with your current trackage. Couldn’t you just work a path through the area and incorporate the tracks in to the track plan. If you are using up yard and working at helping save the environment by not cutting grass, just think more curves and less straight track on the new trackage. Anything you can do to help Algore, keeps him out of the rest of our lives.
is this what Sheldon and Leonard are always talking about as “STRING THEORY”?
No, I kind of don’t think it is.
Ken Brunt said:
That’s starting to look a bit more workable. Just don’t rush it. I spent close to one whole summer just figuring grades, distances, heights, and which direction I wanted to go. Then spent most of a winter just putting all that together into a track plan I liked. The previous winter was spent working on what I thought would be a suitable foundation for the whole thing. Whether or not it would actually happen and/or when depended on just how kind “Mother Nature” was going to be. Turned out she didn’t let me down…(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
I can see some changes I would make to your tack plan, but then I’m not seeing the whole thing in perspective.
Until I have the back yard accurately surveyed for distances, the track plans are just getting ideas on paper. I hope to get some accurate measurements today so I can refine things a bit more. Preliminary thoughts are to work things more toward the left where the Swamp Maple roots make this a good place to eliminate grass.
I don’t plan on building nearly as fast as you did once you decided to go. I’m thinking that I might get the switch cut in and one bench section built in the spring. Then I will have a better idea of cost and time required to build further.
Daktah John said:
I don’t plan on building nearly as fast as you did once you decided to go. I’m thinking that I might get the switch cut in and one bench section built in the spring. Then I will have a better idea of cost and time required to build further.
I didn’t plan on getting that much done myself, but once I got started things just fell into place. And the nice weather helped. I just looked at it as a challenge. I also put a limit on how much I would spend each month on material which helped the budget. And reused a lot from the old layout.
Over the weekend I refined my site survey to get not only grades, but an accurate location of the tree and correct size of the available space. My previously posted track plans exaggerated the existing space and mis-located the tree I plan to swing around. With survey data in-hand I corrected my RR Track plan. Unfortunately, the available space reduces ability to have a sweeping curve before the reverse loop. This track plan is still very preliminary, but now that I have an accurate survey I can experiment with track plans and know that if I decide that I like one that it will fit in the available space.
First, some more photos. Here a template of an Aristo “Wide” switch is placed where I plan to break away from the main. This exit point is prior to the steep grade climbing the walkway and retaining wall toward Coal Dump Curve…
Closer to track level it’s easy to see the angle and distance to the tree. The string line is dead level and leaves the main at exactly 55 degrees. The tree is 25 feet away…
This wide shot shows the entire area available for development…
And finally, this shot from my living room window give an overview of the area from the other side of the tracks…
Once I had all of the correct data plugged in to RR-Track I modified the previous track plan to fit the space. Again, this is a very preliminary plan. The grid size is 48 inches…
Note that the half circle on the house side of the tree would not exist, I just couldn’t figure out how to hide it in RR-Track.
That I like. Of course, like all plans, they usually change once the first shots fired.
So how high will the bench work be?
There certainly is some “Timesaver” quality to the plan, using a reverse loop instead of a run around. Accomplishes the same thing. Also see an “Inglenook” puzzle, by limiting switching distances. I like it.
