Bart, i hope to meet with some of you kindly folks in the years to come, with or without nail gun in hand. Planning my project has been a solitary mental exercise of mine for years, and it was only with the purchase of the first rolling stock that i made the effort to contact the hobby community. I am very glad that i did so, as the many threads on this forum present inspiration, as well as provide advice that i sorely need and, in some cases, have been wasting my time on trying to solve in my head, when a few good photos from experienced builders showed me exactly what i needed to know.
So Cat, when do you start?
Building buildings and bridges and such are not as hard as they seem.
Here is the build thread of my trestle:
http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/16831/spanning-keaton-creek-on-the-dbh
It really isn’t too bad. The key is making yourself a Jig. (That’s the piece of plywood I used to make the bents
As always there is a wealth of knowledge here to help you along. Cant wait to see your progress.
Jake, i have engaged the services of Nancy Norris of Gardenlines, and her grandson. my husband and i know how to garden, and i also have my own on-staff handyman-groundskeeper, five days a wekk.
My role is to commission architecture, sculpture, and sound-scaping from an array of amazingly talented model-makers and to maintain the landscaping and train operations; i will not be building models.
We will be having our first layout consultation with Nancy on October 28, 2013.
My goal is to have at least one train running on track with one trestle (nowhere near as elaborate as your AWESOME trestle, Jake!) and one tunnel, a replica of my barn and crossing signal, the first musical depot, and a background landscape of flowery mountains by mid-April, 2014, in time for my annual open house and folk magic festival in early May.
My hope is to also have a water tank by then, built by Pacific Coast Garden Railway Supply, but he is backed up on orders and cannot promise delivery before the end of May. Fingers crossed on that one!
The second season build-out will include a second musical depot and a second train, which will make the fantasy connection between East Tennessee and West Northern California. This is a RURAL railroad, so buildings will come after bridges, trestles, and tunnels. The ongoing repairs at the broken bridge at Doe River Gorge will be part of the second year build-out if i can afford it; if not, the Doe River Gorge gets moved to the third year.
The third season will bring a third musical depot. If the Doe River Gorge BrIdge repair scene was shoehorned into the second year, the third year will also bring a trolley line, and that will finish out the train stock – two trains and a trolley.
The fourth season will focus on landscape and track maintenance and architectural enhancement, with the addition of a lighted town comprised of circa 1927 industrial and residential structures to support the population in the trolley area.
This railroad will be a feature of my public shop and 2 acre grounds, which has a theme of 20th century Americana at its core. My target-year is 1927, but i include material from the entire inter-war period. My goal is to spend $20,000.00 the first year and $10,000.00 per year thereafter, for four years. After that i hope that maintenance and repairs will come in at an annual budget of less than $5,000.00, on the assumption that most train operations and upkeep can be carried out by my on-site handyman as part of his salaried employment.
Wow!! You have a great sized budget. It shouldn’t be a problem to achieve your goals.
Jake, Yes, i do have more budget than time. As some of you know, we sell Southern style hoodoo supplies and folk-magic charms, statuary, and talismans from all over the world. My property is open to the public and people come a long way to see the place. Some have flown in from Europe, in fact.
Installing such oddities on the property as the the blue bottle tree, the smallest church in the world, the farthest west See Rock City barn, the old crossing signal and bell, the world’s largest collection of fortune-telling tea-cups, a life-sized wizard, and an articulated skeleton in a redwood coffin (1880 vintage) have helped increase the “theme park” value of the shop.
We print and give away old-fashioned hand-fans at the little church. We recently installed a 1927 olive drab mailbox (think Main Street USA at Disneyland), and bought an antique oak postcard vending maching, which will dispense postcards for a penny (e.g. at a loss, as advertising giveaways) which people can mail in the post box.We have one of those great old brass 1914 era National cash registers in the shop.
Building our garden labyrinth last year was fun and cheap and the impact on visitors has been remarkable. They love it! We had a couple thousand free bricks on hand already, scavenged from the Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco and from repairs to the foundation at my daughter’s house in Berkeley), and the total cost was $700.00. Although the railroad will be more costly than the labyrinth, it will be closer to foot traffic and will give a bigger bang for the buck.
If it helps, you can think of me as the Walt Disney of hoodoo and conjure.
I wish i had HIS budget!
Don’t we all!!!