I was glad I listened to at least this piece of advice when I built mine. I have a mix of waste high to knee high track elevation on 90% of my layout. There are a few spots I have to get on my knees but not many. And those are to many. Its really nice not having to get down to work on it. I was thinking about the incidental throwing of switches of needing to put a car back on the track. But I find I need to do a lot more than that each year to keep it running. And not having to get on my knees to work on it is very pleasant indeed. And after it has been in for as long as it has I would have done it differently and omitted a grade change altogether and put it all on a bench with walk throughs. The grade separation, especially on my layout, isn’t as “fun” to have as I thought it would be and it would have been nice to have it all waist high.
Well , raised mine with dirt, but all that did is at best along one side I’m working at 18-20” high stuff, everything else I am crawling on a higher lever of ground is all. Should have saved the cost of dirt and just left it on the ground. Oh well it will last tim I am done!
since i started my last (indoors) layout, i had everything from higher than two foot to lower than six foot.
that was good, because getting up a stepladder is easy.
only reason for getting under the tables were the cables running under the layout.
getting down was not so bad - getting up again was the problem!
EXACTLY!!! I can get down in about half a second falling on my face. Getting back up takes half a day 
My first layout was on the ground too, but I cheated a bit by digging a sunken courtyard, and chucking the dirt up to the side to raise that up. Track height was about 2’ - 3’ where I needed access. Weed maintenance did my head in tho…
Not really an option to copy that in Flaxton swamp. 
Cheers
N
That was a really pretty layout.
That almost got me to abandon my on-ground layout. I let it go wild for two years and didn’t run trains. It was quite a job to get it back. Now I try and stay caught up, but it is a lot of time.
Believe it or not , but it took me about 8 hours total to crawl around pulling weeds on and around my small back yard, don’t care for using roundup type things, so a screwdriver and knee pads are the tools I use
Neil I apologize if i missed it. I thought the current layout was your first.
Your first one is a beautiful. . .for a young man. Your current work will be much more elderly friendly. And between this thread and your rock casting thread I have no doubt this will be a show piece that won’t break the back when you need tondo some maintenance. The older I get (I’m a still young 53) the more I appreciate practical over pretty.
Beautiful Garden RR Neil!!! Was it you I was discussing Mondo Grass on the forums with years ago?
No need to apologise Devon, and thanks. It was sad when we moved. I went back to the house a few months ago and the courtyard was filled in, and the hills all gone. You wouldn’t even know what had been there.
I’m only a couple of years ahead of you - and practical is looming large.
Cheers
N
Holy moly Rick, that’s some memory you have. I did put in some dwarf mondo grasses in around the first tunnel, so I’m guessing that must have been you. 
That was probably around 15 years ago now… I dug around and found a pic - looks like I had a rock portal thing going on already…
They didn’t survive, eventually the thyme and sedums over ran them, or maybe I just didn’t water enough… 
Cheers
N
Progress for the week, framing all but done. Just a couple of blocks left to put in some of the wider spans.
Cheers
N
As a wood worker I am genuinely curious, what is the common construction lumber that you have available to you? Your in Australia right? I know Bill is and Korm is from South America. Forgive me if I’m wrong but I am remembering that you are from Australia as well. Here in N. America our building lumber is pine, spruce, fir, etc. We have forests full of soft wood lumber that is perfect for rough construction but isn’t much for finish grade hardwood. I know what we have and what we use for what. But i haven’t a clue what people from the southern hemisphere use for construction versus fine hardwood finish work. This is purely a wood nerds curiosity.
Devon you are a bit too far west. Try New Zealand
well, i don’t know all the wood types of the eastern djungles.
but here we got some i know.
Algarrobo, very dark green to nearly black. in argentina they make the black colonial furniture from that. turns very hard once it dries out.
red and white quebracho, rich in tannine heavier than water. good beams and similar uses. thin boards twist. needs less than ten years to rot where touching ground. exellent wood for hot coal - for blacksmithing and barbeque.
palo santo, green wood, got its name from being used for incence. very oily. fenceposts of that wood that were put by the first settlers (1929) are still not rotten.
Devon, if you knew that wood you would forget any other wood!
palo blanco, a very light wood was used for windowshutters, doors and furniture.
and the allrounder: palo borracho, the softest wood i know.
first settlers used them as coffins, i , myself still used them in a drought for my cattle. felling some, hollowing them out with a spade, for use as watertrough. the cattle fed on the wood, i took out.
there are some more woods, but not as important, than these mentioned.
nowadays we mostly use pine and plywood.
What wood do you use for studs in framing a house? This is truly an interesting conversation for me. As I am sure is true of all of us I know wood by its use. Certain wood is good for framing buildings. Some for nice heirloom furniture, some for throwing on a BBQ for smoking a brisket. Exotic (to me in N Ameica) hardwood i understand. But here in N America there is a giant difference between the wood we frame buildings with which is radically different than the beautiful hardwoods we use for furniture and trim work.
Soft spruce, fir, hemlock, larch, etc are the most available wood nation wide. Soft and lacks any character. So we make construction lumber out of it. But then we have oak, walnut, cherry, and others that are much harder and much more beautiful so we use it in finish work.
I love wood. I would say I even collect it. I have a giant pile of lumber and slabs just waiting for inspiration. So I am generally curious about what woods are used for what.
Thanks korm for giving me insight. You peaked my curiosity as to if I can get some of these woods locally.
To those who live south of the equator, especially those in Australia and New Zealand I formally apologize for my comments and ignorance. I dont mean to offend. I understand that one place is not the same as the other. I fully embrace and understand this is my lack of understanding and knowledge. I dont mean to offend or demean anyone. I am genuinely curious and wish to correct my ignorance with knowledge
none. we dont build your kind of houses. it’s bricks or adobe for us. better against heat and termites. for the roofstructures it was mostly quebracho.
for sheds, outhouses, stables and barns the first settlers used mainly quebracho and palo blanco.
nowadays for building we “import” wood from east paraguay. mainly a red wood named Yvra pyta and the green Lapacho. more and more often roofconstruction is made with steel structures - cheaper.
fir? i loved fir, while in europe. just use a blowtorch to blacken it, then sand it, you get a very interesting sight for paneling. and it was easy peasy to cut.
to love oak, you must know its price. to me it looks boring. about walnut i agree with you.
our palo santo must be a relative of what you know as palisandre.
and the palo borracho is very similar to balsa. but it twists as crazy, while drying.
building is much cheaper down here. a small brickhouse of about 800 sqarefoot, bath, kitchen, 3 rooms costs about US$ 27,000.
Korm
Cattle eh? What kind?
i started out with criollo and some geer.
later i bred in different directions. brahman, sta gertrudis and hereford. the latter i replaced with red angus. (plus some holsteins for the dairy)
but that is long ago. about 26 years ago i sold the ranch.