Now I have this problem everything time the wind kicks up and it isn’t pretty… I do have a good portable blower but the needles do stick under the track so I have to dig them out.
You need one of those track cleaning cars that has the rotating brush on the front to clear the track, a guy makes them and advertised in GR. Not cheap but work great for your kind of problem.
Regards, Greg
Greg
I have used a whist broom along with other types of tools and nothing will get the needles out easily. They seem to stick together. I thought about a snow type shed over the track but good gravy I have too many pine trees and would have to make over 50 feet of shed. I might make a short shed just to see if it would do the trick.
Cheers,
How about giving it a good cleaning and throw some of that garden sun shade stuff over the track until you are ready to run. I have a very large redwood in my yard and fear the same problem and I am planing on covering the track during that time of the year.
John said:John
How about giving it a good cleaning and throw some of that garden sun shade stuff over the track until you are ready to run. I have a very large redwood in my yard and fear the same problem and I am planing on covering the track during that time of the year.
That would be a very good idea. I have to ponder the idea of a shed too. Hmmmmm…
Decisions decisions,
Perhaps a chainsaw?
Daryl -
That is a ton of needles. I have about 40 feet of track directly under pine trees and I get needles, but nothing nearly as bad.
I think I’d vote for the cover when not in use. For while I covered one stretch of track that is directly under the edge of the roof with plywood strips to keep the rain off. Every time it would rain all the ballast would wash away. I gave up on it though and just decided not to replace the ballast. The track is on PT roadbed in this area.
Another option - the easy way out - Just clean off enough needles to run with a brush and leave the rest as natural ballast.
Jon
Wow Darryl,
That’s about the most extreme case of “needles” I’ve ever seen on a raised railroad. Most of the debris I get just blows off and onto the ground. The suggestion for using a landscape fabric or sunshade sounds the most feasible. To save work the fabric could be attached to the roadbed on one side and just folded back to hang over to use the railroad. Slats attached to the loose side would help hold it down when folded back and provide a basis for mounting small hooks to hold the cover(s) in place against the benchwork when pulled over the tracks.
I know what you mean by the needles sticking. I sometimes have them stuck on portions of my pickup and they don’t come off easy.
Now that looks like “a challenge”. I like the idea of a “snow fence”, in this case a “needle fence”. Thinking like the big boys, it seems like that is how they would remedy that type of problem or depending on cost, move the track. To me, this is one of the natural problems that must be overcome and makes Garden Railroading, such a unique hobby. Did you know on the Unitah Railway had to buy a steam shovel to constantly keep one portion of the track open?. It worked its whole career in basically one location. Looking at the picture, again. How about a thin trestle of track with minimal benchwork. Don’t give them a place to lay and be capable of hitting them with a blower from underneath? Have you ever seen our portable steam track? I think some would stick, but many couldn’t.
Might try Home Depot or Lowes for a section of open gridwork shelving.
Greg Elmassian said:
You need one of those track cleaning cars that has the rotating brush on the front to clear the track, a guy makes them and advertised in GR. Not cheap but work great for your kind of problem.Regards, Greg
Darryl, the guy who makes those is just over the river in Vancouver, WA I have this laurel tree that has two seed pods attached to a leaf that acts to carry the pods in the wind. The stems are thin enough to catch in the rail joints, and the pods are hard enough to derail some of the rolling stock. But you don’t get too much wind sitting at the mouth of the gorge!!!
Nick
Ric
Since I might have to replace some of the wood due to extreme weather from tooo much rain and then this summers heat, the wood has suffered quite a bit. The open grid looks interesting and I’m going to take a look at the stuff this morning. I have a Home Depot about eight blocks away and just a few blocks more is Lowes.
Thanks fellows for the help as always, knowledge abounds and is appreciated.
Cheers,
Darryl,
The stuff I used was not shelving, but open grid work used for retail store display. I really wasn’t thinking of you replacing all of your wood, but I thought you might be able to find some shelving that would serve as a bridge in the area where the needles become so thick. I thought that maybe if you could get a blower under the frame work and direct the flow of air opposite of how the needles got there, you might be able to get them to dislodge.
I use a shop-vac.
Use the “blow” end to move it, the “suction” end to pick it up.
I’ll have to get some shots of Mound House after a blow.
Yet, we run trains…