Thanks to funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, construction on the branchline to the small oil and mining town is underway. Crews just finished laying track over a short bridge that crosses Dry Creek. More work is still needed on the short tunnel blasted through the granite hillside.
Meanwhile railfans were shooting video in the Mojave Narrows and Lassen Junction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4vmBcFPFoQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJtYY7JhGxo
Looking good John. Let’s hope the weather “behaves” for a few more weeks!
Doug, I am just hoping this wind event does not bring a fire and goof up attending the show on Sat.
John, looking good! Will that remain a dry riverbed underneath the bridge?
Wind is really blowing down here in Simi Valley.
yes the riverbed will dry and lined with rocks, its sole purpose in life is drainage during downpours… if you look closely you will see the end of a 3 inch drainage pipe that goes twenty feet to the access road below. This branchline was a real after thought when we rough graded the yard and built the retaining wall. The grade runs between 6-8% from the mainline to the top.
John Miller said:Sounds like a good geared engine district :)
yes the riverbed will dry and lined with rocks, its sole purpose in life is drainage during downpours... if you look closely you will see the end of a 3 inch drainage pipe that goes twenty feet to the access road below. This branchline was a real after thought when we rough graded the yard and built the retaining wall. The grade runs between 6-8% from the mainline to the top.
Well, considering that in my area there is a small tourist line that runs on a 6% grade it is not too unreasonable to have a branchline that runs at your grade. The original intent of the branchline was access to a mining district. Today this little line runs a 2-6-6-2T (the bachmann model is a model of it), 4-4-0 and a 2-6-2T. Here is a link for some info Black Hills Central
You done yet?
yesterday I finished staining the portal abutments and attaching to the portals. Once I get them in place, I can finish the tunnel off and start moving down the line. I think I am going to rebend the curve and widen that radius out just a hair, since it looks just a bit too sharp for my eyes.
As far as the grade goes, I worried about being able to climb it, so I did a little test. I ran a pair of GP30’s shoving a russell plow in a an inch of snow dragging two aristrocraft track cleaning cars up the grade and around the sharp curve without an issue. So me thinks an occasional NW2 or Mogul with a couple of cars will be able to make it, unless we see a boom in China coal exports then we might have to triple the hill with empties.
Doug, I got the portals installed and started the backfill. Didn’t have time to take any photos. Spending the weekend at my other house, and picking up my Dremel 580 tablesaw.
Doug - slow but sure.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/johnm/_forumfiles/west-portal.jpg)
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/johnm/_forumfiles/eat-portal.jpg)
Ah, the miners will be happy!
I also went in yesterday afternoon and did some excavation and widened the radius out a bit on the curve just outside the bridge, which seemed way too sharp. It was cold and getting dark so I didn’t have a chance to get the tape measure out but I think i am just a hair or too over a 4’ radius on the curve. I ran my MOW Gp40 around it a couple times and while its tight, I believe the mining outfit’s pair of NW-2’s should do okay. With winter weather in the forecast, i did spent a few minutes cleaning the mainline in anticipation of snow…its 2pm on Sunday and the rain has arrived.
The rain just let up here at 7 p.m. with no snow. You may just have damp ground to dig in!
according to the local RAWS we received just under an inch and and a half of rain, but just a dash of snow. 99% of my drainage improvements are working. I did loose one fake rock spotlight though, somehow it dislodged and ended up floating below lightning glutch.
I have one boxcar that blew over in the wind from the storm but everything else weathered it fine.
The ground on this side of the yard is just too wet to do much, yesterday I got bogged down running trains for my nephew that brought his HO Scale buddy over to see the garden railroad.
Right now I am at a crossroads on where I am going to place to mine.
The spot we now like is about 60 feet from town, not sure if I want to make that track investment or not! Perhaps a haul road and reload facility might be the short term fix.
With an unusually dry winter, we did make slight progress on the El Patron branch. We made the sharp turn and continued to climb to El Patron. Crews have installed the switch leading into the station and distillery. The track you see that veers to the right continues to climb the steep grade heading towards the mining district.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/johnm/_forumfiles/el-patron-winter-work.jpg)
Good to see progress. With this lack of rain I have to soak the ground before I do anything!
More nice work John.
